Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Frederick Hankey, his wife, Elizabeth, and Julia immigrated to Shakopee, and on November 20, 1867, Julia married Joachim Jacob Unze, the second of thirteen children born of Joachim Unze and Dorothy Elizabeth Selle from Krampfer, Bradeburg, Prussia. Joachim was born in 1844.

They married at St John’s Lutheran Church in Shakopee. Joachim and Julia had four children, including Mary Rose (1868), Julia Sophia (1873), Jacob Henry (1874) and Albert (1879). They farmed in the Eagle Creek area of what became Shakopee.

On January 14, 1882 in Spring Hill, Joachim died. He was 37 years old. He had returned from the market in Shakopee, put his horse team in the barn, and entered the house, according to the January 19, 1882 Shakopee Argus. He unbuttoned his coat, placed the packages on the table, and suddenly fell to the floor, dead. After Coroner Hirscher checked and declared the cause heart disease.

Almost one year later, Julia suddenly died.

Julia was unwell, but not serious. The next day was much worse, and by Wednesday, she was dead, according to the January 18, 1883 Shakopee Argus. Though some people thought it might be suicide, Coroner Hirscher made an investigation and decided that Julia died of natural causes.

Her four children were left orphans but eventually were adopted by George Unze and Margaret Rielander Unze.

Julia Hankey Unze was buried in the early part of January 1883 at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

And that is when the body snatchers showed up.

Night watchman Gifford was in the cemetery. He noticed suspicious tracks near the new grave of Julia Unze. He contacted the trustees, who investigated. They opened the grave and found that it was filled with earth, according to the January 11, 1883 Shakopee Argus.

There was no body.

Gifford reported the tracks of three men. They were wearing either moccasins or stocking feet. They drove into the field adjoining the cemetery with a single horse hitched to a bobsled. They were accompanied by a large, heavy dog.

Was there an organized gang of professional grave robbers, who disposed of their ghastly plunder in distant cities and medical colleges?

All the doctors’ offices were searched. No luck. Nothing happened until May 1883.

A headless body was found floating in the river near where the creek emptied into Conter’s Lime Kiln. It was a nude body of an adult female, decapitated, and with the left leg amputated, according to the May 17, 1883 Shakopee Argus.

A jury was summoned and an inquest was held that afternoon. They decided that the deceased was an unknown person who had met her death at the hands of a person or persons unknown to them. They buried the body.

The county attorney didn’t like the verdict, and so they again disinterred the body. Same results, and the body was buried again.

The May 17, 1883 Shakopee Argus noted the person or people had “undoubtedly decapitated the body and buried it upon the banks of the river, or shoved it under the ice, naked, as they would have done with a dead hog.”

Julia Unze had a scar on her left leg, which would have aided in identifying the body. Because this was the leg that was removed, it was clear someone knew that.

“Haunted in their dreams, they must dread the appearance of the pure, bright light of day as being a constant reproach upon their dark deeds,” said the May 17, 1883 Shakopee Argus.

Bibliography

Shakopee Argus, 19 Jan. 1882.

Shakopee Argus, 11 Jan. 1883.

Shakopee Argus, 18 Jan. 1883.

Shakopee Argus, 17 May 1883.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper

On July 9, 1955 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Julia Perez was born to parents Braulio Perez and Cecilia Lugo-Arocho.

Mayagüez is a city and the eighth-largest municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, and is also known as La Sultana del Oeste (The Sultaness of the West), Ciudad de las Aguas Puras (City of Pure Waters), or Ciudad del Mangó (Mango City).

Mayagüez is in the center of the western coast on the island of Puerto Rico. It has a population of 73,077.

Mayagüez lies today on two former Taíno Cacicazgos (chiefdoms). The Taínos constituted the majority of the island’s inhabitants at the time of contact with Europeans in 1493 and called it Borikén or Borinquen. The Taínos came from South American branches of Arawakan speakers, more specifically from modern-day Venezuela, and lived in small villages. They were farmers who domesticated crops as pineapples, cassava, and sweet potatoes supplemented by fish and seafood, according to Wikipedia.

The city has had several natural disasters. It faced a major economic downturn due to the closure of its textile factories and tuna industry, which were the principal industries of the city for the greater part of the 20th century. Over 11,000 permanent jobs in these two industries were lost in the city during the 1990s, and because of this, Mayagüez became the jurisdiction of the United States with the second most industrial job losses during the time, second only to Flint, Michigan. Once the third city in population and importance in Puerto Rico, population numbers for it have been relatively stagnant, and it has lost population.

Julia Perez left Puerto Rico to the United States in the 1970s. On May 27, 1978, at Ascension Church in Minneapolis, she married Michael F. Montiforte, Jr. They were blessed with five children, Michael, Natalia, Bianca, Lydia and Diego and later two grandchildren, Charles and Olivia. Julia Perez-Montiforte lived in Shakopee, where her friends admired her dimples. At the young age of 60, Julia Perez-Montiforte passed away peacefully Wednesday evening, October 14, 2015, with her beloved family surrounding her at the University of Minnesota hospital bedside.

Julia will always be remembered in the hearts of her family as beloved wife, mother, grandmother and sister. Left to honor her life and mourn the death are her children Michael F. Montiforte III, Natalia C. Montiforte, Bianca T. Montiforte, Lydia F. Montiforte, Diego E. Montiforte; grandchildren, Charles P. Stearns, Jr, Olivia S. Demuth. Preceding her in death are her husband Michael F. Montiforte, Jr. and parents Braulio Perez and Cecilia Lugo-Arocho.

According to Nancy Kowal, “Her kids were her world. She always had a smile and we shared a lot of laughs.” Deb Hoffman remembered Julia “for all your lovely bright colors and smiles. I will always remember your brilliant smile it could melt the snow on the worst snowy days. You could always make me feel better when I was down and out with just one of your bear hugs and I was good to go.”

Brian Blair noted “Jules was a wonderful woman who always kept on upbeat attitude despite the many painful struggles she had. I had the privilege of being her friend and boss for the last several years and can say she was one hell of a person and worker who always gave her best.”

“The first thing I think of Jules is her attire,” said Mary Mansur. “No matter how cold it was outside Jules was always in her tank tops with straps fanning herself while the rest of us were in our sweaters and sweatshirts. She always had her work ready for me to pick up when I would roll the cart down the aisle. Sitting behind Cheri knowing the two of them were always up to no good, Cheri mostly, or as Jules would call her ‘Cheryl.’ She will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart. She talked so loving of her children and grandchildren. She left you all a legacy to carry on.”

Bibliography

“Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayagüez,_Puerto_Rico.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Julianna Boppre was born in Bambert, Ontario, Canada on June 27, 1847. She was one of eight children born to Franz Adam Boppre (1813-1886) and Mary Margaretha VonHein (1811-1852).

Julianna spent her early life in Canada, in Waterloo County.

Julianna and her family attended the first Catholic Church in the area. The log church built in St. Clements around 1840. In 1853, the log church was deemed too small and in 1858, a large brick church was completed. A brass band from Buffalo, New York gave a concert before the church dedication. At the time of its opening, it was said to be the largest and finest church west of Toronto, according to The Catholic Church in Waterloo County, Book I by Rev. Theobald Spetz.

Records from 1846 about the entire township indicate that much of the land had been “Queen’s Rush, crown land, where fifty acre lots were given away to actual settlers,” according to William H. Smith, 1847 and published by H. & W. Rowsell, page 213.

The area now called the village of Wellesley on the Nith River was first settled in 1847, by John Smith and was originally called Schmidtsville. The post office opened in 1851 and the village was renamed Wellesley after Richard Wellesley, First Marquess Wellesley, the eldest brother of Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington.

The community quickly grew to be the largest economic center in rural Waterloo County, with a wood mill, feed mill, a grain mill (which still stands after being constructed in 1856), leather tanner, cheese factory, restaurants, and housing, and many other businesses that also brought much trade to the town from the nearby farms and farming villages. By 1864, the village also had two stores, a flour mill, three wagon makers, boot and shoe shops, a hotel, two churches, and a school with 78 students, according to the County of Waterloo Gazetteer and General Business Directory, For 1864.

On February 22, 1867, Julianna Boppre married Paul Joseph Fischer (1842-1938). Paul’s parents were Mathias Burkard Fischer (1801-1861) and Margaretha Schmidt (1800-1860). Three years later, Paul and Julianna came to Minnesota, settling on a farm in Eagle Creek near Shakopee.

Fifteen children were born to Julianna and Paul. One child, Nicholas, at age six, was run over by the local freight train, according to an article on August 14, 1891. Nicholas was hanging on the side of the passing cars. He lost his right foot. The amputation was made by doctors Dunn and Smith.

The following ten years were spent in farming, and then the family then moved to Shakopee where they remained.

The death of Julianna Boppre Fischer occurred at her home in Shakopee on Monday morning, May 9, 1910, after an illness covering a period of about two years with diabetes.

During the last two weeks she had failed rapidly and the Friday prior became very ill, gradually sinking in a comatose state in which she remained for thirty-six hours preceding death.

She left five brothers and three sisters residing in Canada.

The funeral took place Wednesday morning at nine o’clock from St. Mary’s Catholic Church of which she had been a devout member. The funeral was attended by a large concourse of relatives and friends. Rev. Father Lee conducted the funeral services and the remains were laid to rest at the Catholic Cemetery in Shakopee.

Bibliography

County of Waterloo Gazetteer and General Business Directory, For 1864. Mitchell & Co., 1864. p. 201.

Spetz, Theobald. The Catholic Church in Waterloo County. Book I. Catholic Register and Extension, 1916.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Josiah Cooper was born August 31, 1828 in New Paltz, New York, child of Josiah (1785-1855) and Hannah Ellis Cooper (1784-1870). Little is known about his family; he is believed to be the youngest of their five children, according to Arlene Gable, in a family history sketch sent to Don Wagner at the Shakopee Heritage Society in 2002. Arlene is the great-granddaughter of Josiah Cooper, and her research was used in this brochure.

Josiah’s early years were spent on a farm in New York. In 1846, Josiah, at age 18, went to New York City to serve as an apprentice cabinetmaker.

In August 1848 at the old Frederick homestead near Harrimans (Turners), New York, Josiah Cooper married Harriet Frederick. He was then 20 years old; she was 17. Harriet was born on May 9, 1831 in Harrimans, New York, the youngest child of Jacob and Catherine Stevens Frederick.

Josiah and Harriet’s first child, Jane Ann, was born in 1849 on the Frederick homestead. In 1851, the family moved to Pennsylvania, probably because Josiah had a job as a cabinetmaker there. Their second child, Catherine Emma, called Kate, was born there. They moved back to New York, and in September of 1855, Josiah and Harriet had a son, James. It was clear that they waited for the birth of the child before moving west.

The treaties forced upon the Indians opened up southern Minnesota for the colonist-settlers, who moved from the east to the area, which family lore called “the wilds of Minnesota.” Harriet’s father, Jacob Frederick also had some Bounty Land for service in the War of 1812. So around 1855, Josiah and Harriet headed to Minnesota. Harriet’s brothers, Francis W, Frederick, Albert Frederick, Jacob Frederick, and sister Polly Ann Frederick Ferrill and their families, as well as Harriet’s parents, Jacob and Catherine Stevens Frederick, all made their way to Minnesota.

Family lore noted that in October of 1855, after the birth of James, they travelled by “train and ferry to the end of the line” in Shakopee, to Harriet’s brother, Francis W. Frederick, who had land about three miles from Shakopee, which has become Valleyfair. One eastern relative who stayed behind said that they left by oxcart to the west.

In 1855, it seems likely they travelled by train to Albany, New York, or perhaps up the Hudson River by riverboat that far, thence through the Erie Canal to the Great Lakes, through the lakes to Milwaukee or Chicago, overland from Milwaukee to Minnesota, or if from Chicago by canal or overland to the Mississippi and then north on the Minnesota River to Shakopee, said Arlene Gable.

Josiah and Harriet arrived as settler-colonists in Shakopee in October of 1855, which was not the best time for people to arrive. Perhaps they did not know about the rigors of a Minnesota winter, or maybe they had to because they wanted to wait until James was born, but luckily, they had a place waiting for them with Harriet’s brother. They set up their own home nearby, and by November 7, 1856, James Cooper died there. Charles Henry Cooper was born in 1857, and in 1860 Jacob Fred Cooper was born on land near that later became Valleyfair.

It was in 1860 that records show that Josiah and Harriet received patents for bounty land that was reassigned to him in Eagle Creek Township. The land is just south of the Minnesota River and a short distance southeast of what was later Valleyfair. Jacob Frederick Jr, Harriet’s father, and Nathaniel Ferrell owned land that was now part of Valleyfair. The land was very poor, and Josiah could not find work as a cabinet maker in Shakopee, so he made ax handles, and did other work in Shakopee, in addition to farming.

On August 15, 1862, Josiah volunteered for three years in military service in the Civil War. Josiah was 34 years old. The military allowed the volunteers to gather their crops before they were mustered out, but once the U.S.- Dakota War broke out, they abandoned the crops and headed to Fort Snelling. Josiah Cooper joined Company I, Ninth Infantry of Minnesota Volunteers.

He remained at Fort Ridgely until the summer of 1863, when he proceeded to St. Paul and acted as provost guard until ordered south in October 1863.

While Josiah was away, Harriet and the children lived with Harriet’s parents in Shakopee. Eliza Stella Cooper was born in December 1862 while Josiah was in Fort Ridgely.

Josiah Cooper was appointed corporal on September 30, 1862, and served as a carpenter in the quartermaster department. He was promoted to sergeant on December 1, 1863, and he drilled the troops. Josiah was 5’6” tall with fair complexion, light hair, and hazel eyes. He headed to Rolla, Missouri for seven months, then headed to St. Louis and ultimately to the Battle of Guntown, Mississippi on June 10, 1864, where they were defeated.

During this battle, Josiah was double tapping to the front when he suffered sunstroke and fell out. The intense heat in Mississippi made him fall off his horse. Josiah was sitting beside the road with his head in his hands by two buddies, William Dean and Fred Merrill, as they were retreated. “Leave me alone!” said Josiah, but they did not. One carried the gun and the other dragged him along.

Josiah mustered out of the infantry on August 24, 1865 at Fort Snelling. He was nearly 37 years old.

In the Spring of 1866, Josiah Cooper and Jacob S. Frederick went to Ashley Township in Stearns County, Minnesota and picked out homesteads.

They returned to Shakopee and brought their families back to Ashley in covered wagons drawn by oxen and wagons drawn by horses. Josiah worked as a cabinet maker in Sauk Centre. Their last child, Rosa Zaddie Cooper, was born in 1872.

The family moved to town in 1873 so that the children could receive the benefits of an education. The Sauk Centre Herald, on June 21, 1873, noted “the tide of immigration is flowing northwest and westward in a continual stream,” with trains of travelers moving through town. Eliza Stella Cooper died in Sauk Centre in 1874 of bronchitis.

Josiah died on November 3, 1905, at age 77. Josiah always smoked a pipe and eventually had a rose-like growth on his cheek. It was cancer, which had begun on his lip. He was buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Josiah’s wife, Harriet, died on July 3, 1929, of old age, and was buried next to her husband in Sauk Centre.

Bibliography

Sauk Centre Herald, 21 June 1873.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Joe was enslaved in the South. He did not know his last name. At some point, Joe moved north and arrived in Eden Prairie. People called him Old Joe.

It is possible that Joe moved north with William Weiser who was a private in the army when he joined the Ninth Pennsylvania on August 15, 1862. William was in the army until August 24, 1865, when he retired as a sergeant. After he retired, and before he headed back near Shakopee, William bought and liberated twelve people who were enslaved. He then moved back to Eden Prairie in 1864, and William brought the freed enslaved people with him to Minnesota, where the twelve African Americans were to work on the farm. According to the Shakopee Tribune in 1919, “All ran away except Dan and another boy.” That “boy” might have been Joe, who lived in Shakopee and Eden Prairie, while Dan Eddings moved across the river and lived and died in Shakopee in 1919.

Joe Graham lived with François Rivière and his family. François was a Franco-Américain, a citizen of the United States who had French Canadian heritage. François was born in 1833. He owned a cooper shop in Shakopee, and Old Joe, who was probably a younger Joe at that time, probably worked in the cooper shop in Shakopee until 1874.

Initially, farm and food products were shipped to Shakopee in barrels. In fact, starting in the early 1800s, goods such as food staples, grain, seed, and animal feed were packed in tins, boxes, and wooden barrels for transportation. Cotton sacks gradually replaced barrels as food containers with the stitching machines made it possible to sew double locking seams strong enough to hold the contents of a bag.

Once the flour bags were invented and spread to Minnesota, François quickly sold his business and bought a 600-acre farmstead. The Red Rock Lake Farm was in Eden Prairie, and the acreage went down to Red Rock Lake, across the river from Shakopee.

The Red Rock Lake Farm was pre-empted in the 1850s by Judge Charles Collins. A cabin structure was built, and watermelons, potatoes, wheat, and corn were planted.

The property was sold many times between 1855 until 1874. Then in 1874, if was sold to François La Rivier, or Frank Rivers, and his family. Joe also moved with the family to the north side of the Minnesota River.

After living and working with Frank Rivers for several years, Joe moved to the Horace Goodrich home.

Joe later went to live with John Goodrich on Staring Lake in Eden Prairie. When Goodrich opened his summer hotel Joe worked around the buildings, caring for the boats, working on the lawn, and helping with the luggage of guests. Joe also worked around the kitchen. Joe drove a surrey with a fringe on top, picking up guests at the Eden Prairie Train Station.

Joseph Graham also drove a carriage for Dr. H.P. Fischer in Shakopee. Dr. Henry P. Fischer was a medical practitioner in Shakopee, and in 1909 he founded the Mudcura Sanitarium.

Joe drove Dr. Fischer around during his house calls from about 1894 until 1900.

Affectionately known as Old Joe, Curt Brown noted that he died of cancer in 1900 according to an old leather ledger that shows early Eden Prairie settlers and their births and deaths.

Helen Holden-Anderson, in a book called Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years, discussed Helen Goodrich Mastin, who was a descendant of John Goodrich.

She heard that the Goodrich family, who owned the hotel, had a small wooden cross over Graham’s grave. They planned to add a fine marker to replace the small cross. But over time, it never happened, and the grass grew up and there was no sign of Joseph Graham’s grave.

Eighty years later, Katherine Case, a longtime president of the Eden Prairie Historical Society, remembered the story, and she remembered from oral history that Jonas Staring, an early settler, had gone to Memphis to buy a horse.

The anecdotal stories said that Joseph Graham was asked to ride north on the train with the horse in a livestock car, and that Jonas Staring would find work in Minnesota.

And so, in 2003, a new gravestone was added on the north side of Eden Prairie Cemetery, 103 years after Joseph Graham, who worked in Shakopee and Eden Prairie, died.

Bibliography

Holden-Anderson, Helen. Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years, 1979.

Shakopee Tribune, 1919.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

In the 1800s St. Paul served as the head of navigation on the Mississippi River. The lower landing provided entry for most people and goods coming north. Like many early groups to the region, African Americans settled near the riverbanks to ensure steady work and food. The river was also a route along the Underground Railroad, providing passage to slaves escaping to Canada, according to CultureBrokers Foundation, Inc.’s Points of Entry: The African American Heritage Guide to Saint Paul and “Lower (Lambert’s) Landing” from St. Paul Historical.

Minnesota was created as a free territory in 1849, a year before Joseph Farr arrived in St. Paul from Galena, Illinois. Although slavery was not allowed in Minnesota Territory, many vacationing southerners traveled north up the Mississippi River with enslaved people during the summers, staying at hotels including the Fuller Hotel (later called the International Hotel), which was located on the northeast corner of Jackson and Seventh Street in St. Paul, and built by David L. Fuller. Later his brother, Alpheus G. Fuller, ran the hotel. The land was given to the brothers, and $12,000 was raised as a bonus. It was opened on September 25, 1856.

The Fullers accumulated wealth by giving slaveholders lodging (about $6,000 a month). So even though the Fullers were not from the south, but from Connecticut, they still supported slavery by benefiting from the money collected by southern slave owners, according to Dr. Christopher P. Lehman in Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865: A History of Human Bondage in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The national Fugitive Slave Law, passed in 1850, required that escaped slaves be returned to their owners. This gave a measure of federal protection to owners who either visited the territory with the slaves or that human property that managed to come within its boundaries by other means, according to the CultureBrokers Foundation.

During the 1850s, St. Paul was a way station on the Underground Railroad. Many African American men and women found the way to freedom on the Canadian side through the people who came to their rescue at St. Paul. William Taylor, a barber, James Hywadin, David Edwards, and William Taylor’s nephew, Joseph Farr, who helped at the barber shop, participated in rescuing many of the enslaved people.

Joseph Farr told his story in 1895, according to editor Deborah Swanson in an article, “Joseph Farr remembers the underground railroad in St. Paul,” in the fall 2000 edition of Minnesota History.

Joseph was involved in the Underground Railroad in St. Paul when he arrived here in 1850. “There was no society or anything of that kind, but we were doing whatever we could,” said Joseph. Eugene Berry used to take care of the escaped slaves out of Galena. Another agent in Galena used to get up all kinds of schemes to get the slaves away from their masters. “He would disguise them was well as he could and get them aboard the Dr. Franklin, and then Berry would take care of them and stow them away among the freight.” Then Joseph remembered “When the boat came into St. Paul my uncle, or one of the others…would be at the wharf and the fugitives would be brought to my uncle’s house, where I lived,” according to St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1895.

In one instance, an enslaved man left the Fuller/International Hotel to Mr. Taylor’s place. “We got him right out into the county, and the next day there was a great ado made about it. He was a valuable man and his master offered a big reward for his capture. We sent him to Point Prescott, Wisconsin, and thought he was safe enough there.” An African American, who was supposed to help, heard of the reward and came into town and “gave the poor wretch up.”

A young mulatto girl who escaped from her master in Galena, was secreted on the boat coming this way with the help of Eugene Berry. “The girl was a handsome, robust creature, and her features were almost masculine. She adopted the familiar disguise of a man, and arrived in St. Paul clad in a suit of finest broadcloth. She was light enough to pass for a white person, and had no difficulty on the boat,” said Joseph in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1895. “She was young and fine looking and would probably be worth a couple of thousand dollars in the South, so it was a sure thing that there would be a great effort made to find her.” The southerner came to Taylor’s barber shop and offered $30 to find her. While he talked, the woman escaped with the help of Hywadin, who disguised her and sent to Chicago, and then to Canada. A few months later, Joseph’s uncle got a letter from her, saying that she was safe.

At David and Alpheus Fuller’s hotel, many southern people including a planter who stopped there with his family and an enslaved woman, arrived in St. Paul. After talking to her, she said she wanted to escape. “We fixed everything to get her out of town but it took a couple of days to do it, and before we got all the arrangements made the girl got homesick for her master’s family and insisted on going back.” Joseph thought if she did not want to escape, it wouldn’t happen, and after promising to say nothing about the people who tried to rescue her.

According to Joseph, the Dr. Franklin, the steamboat, collided with another boat at McCartney, Wisconsin in May of 1854, and Joseph remembered his clandestine activities ended about 1855. Newspapers and the Winslow House register indicated that many parties of southerners and their “servants” (enslaved people) visited the area and stayed at hotels including the Winslow House as late as 1860, according to Swanson.

Joseph Farr and his wife, Sarah, had four children in St. Paul. He died in St. Paul on December 29, 1910 at the age of 78, according to the December 31, 1910 St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Bibliography

CultureBrokers Foundation, Inc. “Lower (Lambert’s) Landing.” Saint Paul Historical, accessed 23 Aug. 2026. https://saintpaulhistorical.com/index.php/items/show/253.

CultureBrokers Foundation, Inc. Points of Entry: The African American Heritage Guide to Saint Paul, 2008.

Lehman, Christopher P. Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865: A History of Human Bondage in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 2011.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1895.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 31 Dec. 1910.

Swanson, Deborah. “Joseph Farr remembers the underground railroad in St. Paul.” Minnesota History, Fall 2000.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Joseph Daniel Fischer was born on March 26, 1869, in Carlsruhe, in Carrick Township, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. His parents were Paul Joseph Fischer (1842-1938) and Julianna Boppre Fischer (1847-1910.). They occupied a farm in Canada. When Joseph was two years old, the family moved to Shakopee.

Joseph grew up in Shakopee and attended school here. In 1898, he moved to St. Louis, but two years later Joseph moved back to Shakopee.

In St. Paul, Joseph married Annie Christine Kreger at the Church of St. Agnes on July 25, 1900. Annie Christine Kreger was born June 28, 1871, in Waconia, and died in Shakopee in 1951. Her parents were Andrew Ferdinand Kreger (1839-1916) and Mary Ann Moormann Kreger (1845-1916).

Joseph and Annie took up residence in Shakopee, where they had four children: Evelyn Margaret Fischer Strunk, Beaty Anna Beatrice Fischer, Cyrus Joseph Fischer, and Joseph Daniel Fischer.

Joseph opened the Shakopee Stone Works. In an article in the Scott County Argus on August 4, 1898, Joe, along with John Ring, worked to turn out blocks of cement at the rate of a hundred a day. “Everything at the works has been arranged to give the greatest convenience, and the way that the cement blocks are turning out from the mould show that the firm knows its business.” The Shakopee Stone Works was in what is now the library block in downtown Shakopee. “Out in the drying lot are rows of several hundred blocks now going through the ‘sweat’ while on the drying racks within are those of later manufacture. In another place is a section of walk laid to show the appearance of the finished pavement.

“The blocks are made square, 18 inches in size, and in octagons. The colors are white and slate.”

While in St. Louis, Joseph learned the science of the work from people in the cement stone works. The firm let people know that they could put down the walk for ninety cents a yard, or furnish the blocks for sixty cents a yard.

In another article in the Shakopee Tribune on November 18, 1904, Joseph and his brother-in-law L.G. Hoffmann of St. Paul leased the building belong to the Conter estate on Lewis Street (formerly occupied by Joseph Spindler) and were in the process of opening a meat market. Hoffmann was an experienced butcher and would be in charge of the shop.

Joseph was an industrious man who loved his work. In fact, this love of work, an admirable quality of character, brought on his untimely death, according to the Scott County Argus on November 28, 1929. He recently had some health problems and so was not permitted to carry on the labor. But Joseph did not give in to the demands of health. Ten days before he died, Joseph was engaged in the construction of a chimney on a residence in Shakopee.

“It was while he was making an examination of the work which had risen about a foot above the roof of the dwelling, that he fell about sixteen feet from the roof to the ground,” said the newspaper. “His limbs were severely injured and he sustained a fractured skull. The latter proved fatal and death occurred on November 25 at 5:45 a.m.”

Joseph Daniel Fischer’s service was at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, with Father Savs officiating. He was interred at the Catholic Cemetery on Tenth Avenue.

Bibliography

Scott County Argus, 4 Aug. 1898.

Scott County Argus, 28 Nov. 1929.

Shakopee Tribune, 18 Nov. 1904.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Joseph Bernard Schleper was born on April 11, 1928, outside of Farming, Minnesota, at a farm! He was the youngest of nine children of Herman and Mary Dingmann Schleper. After chores, Joe used to practice baseball with his six brothers and his father.

He graduated from Albany High School in 1946 and enrolled at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Joe was drafted as a pitcher by the Detroit Tigers and played minor league baseball for one year before returning to finish his college education at St. Cloud State University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1951. He was drafted into the US Marines and served his country during the Korean War from January 18, 1952, until January 17, 1954.

He married Rose Marie Weidner on August 16, 1954, in Regal, Minnesota. Together they had eight children: Joseph Herman, Linda Marie, Jeanne Patrice, David Robert, William John, Gary Michael, Thomas Patrick, and Jennifer Anne.

Joe began his teaching career in Belgrade. After eight years he accepted a teaching and coaching position at the Shakopee High School in Shakopee in 1962. In 1966 Joe became the high school’s athletic director while continuing to teach sophomore history and coach varsity baseball. He served as president of the Minnesota State Baseball Coaches Association from 1972 to 1973. Joe retired as the Shakopee High School baseball coach in 1976, and as a teacher in 1989.

In 1996, Joe High School Hall of Fame, a member of the Albany High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, Joe was a past president of the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association.

He received the Dick Siebert Award in appreciation for contributions toward high school baseball in 1980. In 1990 he retired as the Shakopee High School athletic director, was elected into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, and became the executive secretary of the Missota Conference, a position he held until his death. Joe was a charter member of the Albany High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996, and he received the Jim Dimmick Retired Baseball Coach Award in 1997.

He was inducted into the Shakopee High School Athletic Hall of Fame on May 31, 1998, just a few weeks after he died. Also after his death, the baseball stadium at Tahpah Park in Shakopee was named Joe Schleper Stadium. A few years ago, a second ballpark was named after Joe and his brothers in Farming, Minnesota. The Schleper Brothers Field was named in 2017 and has been the home of the Stearns County League Farming Flames since 1946. Herman Schleper convinced the church in Farming to build a baseball field. Joe’s father, Herman, brought in loads of dirt for the original field in Farming!

Joseph Bernard Schleper died on May 8, 1998, and was buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Helen McCann White in the book Ho! For the Gold Fields: Northern Overland Wagon Trains of the 1860s mentioned the first African American arrived back when Helena, Montana was still the Last Chance gold camp. Joseph Allen, a hack driver from Saratoga Springs, New York, arrived there with the Holmes wagon train in 1864.

Pre-dating Uber drivers by about 160 years, the hackmen used to provide transportation to locals and visitors alike. Hackmen used to rule the streets of the city, taking people wherever they wanted to go. Joseph Allen was a hackman from Saratoga Springs when he, along with several other people, headed to Shakopee, Minnesota in 1864 to join the Holmes wagon train to the gold fields out west.

The Shakopee Argus, on April 30, 1864, announced that Thomas A. Holmes would again go west. On May 7, 1864, Holmes called a meeting with prospective travelers at the National Hotel in Shakopee.

“By the middle of May, Shakopee’s main street was thronged with emigrants and cluttered with their wagons. Most of the group came from towns and farms in southern Minnesota.” Others who joined the Holmes train came from Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The emigrants left Shakopee on May 19, 1864, and they straggled up the Minnesota River Valley.

The size of the train can only be approximated, but a guess would range from 113 to 175 wagons, and 200 to 300 people. Fourteen women also joined the train.

Less than half of the emigrants are known today. A few of the members included John Brounworth (farmer), James Hair, Trume Henry, John H. Jurgens (blacksmith, merchant, and miner), and Frank Kennedy (livery business) of Shakopee. John C. Sommerville and his wife, Sophronia along with Trume Strait (farmer), John H Tibbetts (jeweler), George W. White (bricklayer and miner), Paul Weydert (wagonmaker, farmer, and rancher), his wife, Mary A. Geyermann Weydert, and their baby, Peter also headed out. And Joseph Allen, a hack driver who was African American, also joined the train.

In Shakopee, merchants were thrilled to be supplying many of the emigrants’ supplies.

The wagon trains included food supplies, which were stowed near the front, within easy reach. It took about three or four months to get to the gold fields, though the emigrants were advised to take enough provisions for a year. “Flour, dry beans and peas, corn meal, oatmeal, hominy, rice, and other cereals were commonly included in the food stocks, as were crackers, zwieback, sugar, salt, pepper, saleratus (baking soda), lard tea, and coffee. Bacon ham, salt pork, and cheese were popular,” wrote McCann White.

A few emigrants took chickens and a few pigs to butcher on the trail. Root vegetables like onions, potatoes, turnips, as well as dried apples, peaches, raisins, pumpkins, and sweet corn were also added. Some jars of preserved fruits and vegetables were put into barrels of flour to keep them from breaking.

Besides food, the family wagon contained furnishings for life on the trail and in their new homes at the mines, wrote McCann White. Lanterns, candles, frying pans, a Dutch oven, a wash tub, and a clothesline, along with a ten-gallon pail or barrel for water, and a bucket of tar to grease the wagon wheels were added. Picks, shovels, pans, and mining implements were also added to the wagon, and a tent, trunks of clothes and bedding, along with tobacco, ammunition, or boots were included. Medicine, soap, herbs, and whiskey would be tucked away in odd corners of the wagon.

Most accounts of the African American men and women, free and slave, who came by overland routes were members of companies organized by whites. The African American generally remained nameless or known only by their first names. The common relationships of the African Americans were servant, laborer, or enslaved person. However, at least three men of African ancestry were guides for overland parties, including James Beckwourth, a black scout, fur trapper, Indian chief, and guide, and an unnamed Black interpreter who spoke several Indian languages, and well as French.

Sometimes the diaries had occasional commentary who observed African Americans in companies nearby or passing through. Those who did write about the African Americans in their diaries used the designations Negro, black, or colored interchangeable. They did not distinguish between enslaved people from free men or women.

In 1864, Chinese Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, and Jewish people were living in Helena.

Joseph Allen arrived in September of 1864, but according to Ellen Baumler, moved on afterwards. No more information about Joseph Allen has been found.

Bibliography

Shakopee Argus, 30 April 1864.

McCann White, Helen. Ho! For the Gold Fields: Northern Overland Wagon Trains of the 1860s. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Joleen Marie Benoit was born in February of 1950, daughter of Jerome Leonard Benoit (1921-2012) and Elizabeth “Betty” Scroggins Benoit (1925-2006). She was the third oldest of six children in the family.

The Shakopee Jaycees sponsored her in the pageant, which took place on June 10, 1972. Joleen had just graduated from Shakopee High School in 1972.

Joleen had played guitar for four years and always enjoyed music. She sang in choral and folk groups, according to the June 20, 1973 Shakopee Valley News.

Joleen was also involved in high school productions, including a lead in Guys and Dolls and The King and I.

When she participated in the Shakopee pageant, she sang “Killing Me Softly With His Song” by Roberta Flack.

Patty Kelzer won, but then was named the Queen of the Lakes, and Joleen ended up in Austin, Minnesota, where she sang again, and won the Miss Minnesota pageant.

So, she represented the city of Shakopee in the Miss America Pageant in September in Atlantic City.

Although she did not win, they expressed her hope for a career in entertainment. She added that she hoped she would fulfill her dream of preforming on Broadway or singing with a big band.

On February 3, 1980, she married Michael J. Crosby, also known as Michael Joseph Krzyzaniak. In was not a good marriage, and she later divorced him. He ended up orchestrating a $20 million investment scam, where he persuaded 6,000 people, including veterans, to buy a medallion honoring the people of the Vietnam War. In 1993 he was guilty. He escaped, but finally was found in Florida. He served time in a federal prison, and then was caught again, and at age 64 was sent to prison for 151 months in 2013. He died there.

Joleen, after the pageant, went on a Miss America USO Troops tour, and recorded some songs. A few of them were popular for a time.

“I was a singer in our tour group – played a twelve-string guitar. I went on to perform in Brazil and Japan, and eventually had a number one record in Japan in 1990,” said Joleen Benoit.

Joleen remembered, “Simply happy to connect with others who have experienced the ‘magic’ of this tiny little island dropped in the middle of the most beautiful ocean in the world…the Indian Ocean…!”

In 1982 Jolen was named host of PBS’s Nighttimes Variety and was part of the show’s all female band, “Women Who Cook.” They became quite the rage in the Twin Cities in the early 1980s and she and the other ladies performed a sold-out concert with the band at the historic Guthrie Theater.

She was also an entertainment reporter and co-host of the Good Company variety show at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis from 1989-1991.

In 2000, Joleen also released a holiday album called Another Year.

She has had a very successful music career and currently runs her own production company.

Bibliography

Shakopee Valley News, 20 June 1973.