Peter Sand 1823-1894

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Monday, I stopped at the Benton County History Museum in Sauk Rapids to ask about a conundrum we've been researching: Where are Peter and Angelique (Stoltz) Sand buried? (These are Michael Sand's parents, and my grandmother Elizabeth's grandparents. They emmigrated from Schoenfels, Luxemburgh in  1857).

We knew they first settled in Iowa, then moved to Le Sauk township, Stearns Co, Minnesota three years later.
Le Sauk township is the west side of Sartell roughly at the blue square on the map, above. Larry found the census from 1870, below, and subsequent censuses show they were neighbors of the Sartell family. (Peter's daughter Kate later married Linton Sartell).
So, I went to the Sartell Public Cemetery and the Catholic Cemetery next to it. The middle of the public cemetery is the Sartell family plot, but I couldn't find Linton or Kate, tho they must be there. I thought, too, that her parents would be there, or nearby. They're not.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Now, THIS is SO cool: Larry was looking at the Globe Newspaper online at the Chronicling America website, Library of Congress.
In April of 1886, a really horrible cyclone swept thru St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Rice and Buckman. If you click the link, you'll see the reports and descriptions of the devastation. But look--the middle column on the front page on April 16th has a list of people who lost property in St Cloud. Ninth from the bottom is "Peter Sand, house....$300".
Incredible! In 1886, Peter was 63--did they retire to St Cloud? We know Angelique died in 1886, but not necessarily from the storm.
Then, wow, in the St Cloud city directory of 1894-95, Larry found this:
Ok, so, 8 years after the storm, Peter Sand lived near the pro-cathedral, Holy Angels, and what would later be Cathedral High School. I'll need to go see if there's a very old house on that corner one day soon!
:::::::::::::

Back to what I found at the Benton County Museum....on a microfilm of the Sauk Rapids Free Press newspaper published 4 January 1895: Peter died at the home of a daughter in St Cloud. Maybe 414 8th Ave N was the home of his daughter?
Then, from a family tree Larry discovered online, we found that Angelique (aka Angeline) was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St Cloud. A quick call to the Stearns History Museum gave me the info I needed to go find the graves: Block 6, lot 82, space 1.

Another family mystery solved, and a truly interesting bit of our history is no longer forgotten. Yay!