MINNESOTA BORN AND BRED

In response to Julia Schrenkler's challenge, Share Your History: How Did You Arrive In Minnesota, 

I have put together the following ...

MINNESOTA BORN AND BRED - Part I

My Minnesota roots are deep and strong. I've lived here all my life. I was born at the old Miller Hospital in St. Paul, now United Hospital. I went to school here. I was married here. I raised my children here. When I go to the grocery store, I almost always run into a friend or two.

St. Paul is a good-sized city with the charm of a small town. I am constantly amazed how people are connected to each other here. There is always someone that went to school with your brother or lived across the street from you aunt's second cousin! We know the history and family background of our neighbors, just like they do in small towns. And I like that - a lot! The winters are long and cold; lately the summers have been beastly hot. But I plan to stay ... because St. Paul is home!

Years ago, my brother Joe researched our family genealogy. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for putting so much of our history together. I know that a maternal great-grandfather settled in St. Paul in 1873, crossing the Atlantic via steamship, then journeying to St. Paul by train, where a brother was already living. He had been a cabinetmaker in his native France and secured a job working for Osgood & Blodgett. Ten years after arriving, my great-grandfather, along with another brother, went into business for himself. They opened a little shop on the West side of St. Paul, where they manufactured wooden boxes. Their business grew and so did their reputation. My great-grandfather's company became extremely successful and provided the interior woodworking for several St. Paul landmarks: the Court House, the old Field-Schlick department store, the Lowry Medical Arts Annex, the old First National Bank Building, and the old St. Luke's Catholic Church, now known as St. Thomas More.

One of my great-grandmothers was born in Little Canada in 1855, three years before Minnesota became a state. Her second son, Frank, was my maternal grandfather.

My maternal grandmother, Wilhelmina (aka Minna), was born in Kiel, Germany and came to America as a baby in 1882. Her father, my great-grandfather, worked as a laborer in the Kiel shipyards. Her parents left Germany because the Kaiser wanted her father to re-enlist in the Army. With a wife and baby daughter, he didn't want to be in the Army any longer, so the little family emigrated to America.