Pictorial Atlases of Morrison County, Minnesota

SEE why these books are so cool?

A great idea for an epic historical novel

There must be a budding writer in the extended family, or someone from Buckman or Pierz township, who could effectively write the story that played out over Catholic and public schools between 1888 and 1955 in Pierz.  No, it wasn't JUST Pierz, but that's where it was most intense and most divisive.
Bombs were set.  People were excommunicated.  Families were divided (possibly even Heschs).
The problem went on for so long and so many were embroiled in it, that it must have seemed like a way of life eventually.

Whoever writes this novel will need to do one helluva lotta research, but what an interesting book it'll be.

"How To" books on Farming

In the FARMER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA from 1905, potential field or garden crops were listed with what soils were best and what the crop was good for.  Produced by the J.I.Case Plow Works in Racine, Wisconsin, it was probably distributed as a premium or given with the purchase of a piece of equipment--nine pages of which precede the first chapter. ☺ ( For anyone intending to move to a farm in the near future, this book might be helpful, cuz there's a section on Livestock as well as one on Poultry).

(Not Faverolles, BTW)

Some of the strange crops included in the handbook are SALSIFY  and DANDELION (as a salad green) and MARTYNIA (a real head-scratcher), and GINSENG before it was discovered by hippies.

But for really in-depth info and VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS ON AGRICULTURE-GENERAL AND SPECIAL, HORTICULTURE, STOCK  RAISING, GARDENING, FARM LAW AND BUSINESS, FARM ARCHITECTURE, HOUSEHOLD  MANAGEMENT, HOME TREATMENT OF THE SICK AND CASES OF ACCIDENTAL  INJURIES, HOME OCCUPATIONS FOR YOUTH, FIELD SPORTS, ETC.,  WITH NUMEROUS TABLES RELATING TO FARM PRODUCTS,  FERTILIZERS, LIVE STOCK, FRUIT, POULTRY, WAGES, INTEREST, ETC., ETC.,  [plus] TWO THOUSAND ILLUSTRATIONS NEARLY ALL PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK.....

let me recommend the American Farm and Home Cyclopedia from 1883.  When you click the link, you'll notice "contents", which is also clickable.  Even if you're firmly entrenched in your house in town, try a random page, and realize that that was the general state of enlightened farming the year grandpa Anton August Hesch was born.

You're welcome!

Sister ship to the Olympic

Two of dad's uncles, Math and Theo, went to Europe in 1914 on the RMS Olympic, which was built along side the Titanic with the same design..  Of course you recall the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912....which made Math nervous for the whole ride, with good reason.  Click here to read the Memorial Edition.  Wow, huh?

(For Math and Theo's story, click DIARY on the left sidebar).

Victorian Illustrations

There was a lovely series of books published around 1912-1915 that are known as the Mary Frances books, written by Jane Eayre Fryer.  Larry found three of them on Internet Archives and I'm totally enthralled!  The story lines are sweet, and an attentive kid could learn to sew or garden or even grasp the fundamentals of cooking if s/he had a copy of the books, but what delights me are the beautiful drawings and (my) ability to screen capture...lol

        Just LOOK how beautiful they are ( flower panels in particular). The garden book illustrator was William F. Zwirner, while Jane Allen Boyer did the sewing book and most of the cooking book (with Margaret G. Hays).

BTW, the bird above is a 'sewing bird' which I'd never heard of before.  Evidently, it was a Victorian  gadget that held the other end of your sewing project.  ►This pic shows it better--pushing down on the tail opened the beak.  It was also called a third hand, and was especially useful when hand sewing a hem or running stitch. (See? Ya learn something every day).

This is a collage of some of the dolly illustrations in the sewing book....

                      ...and these drawings were a few of the pictures of Mary Frances herself.

 You realize you should watch for more of these fillers here on HH, right?  Good ☺

Thanks for the gift, Larry!

Odds and Ends

There's a diet pop stand at the fair
run by a gal named Rhoda
Sells teeny little hamburgers
and cups of Minnesota.
~~~lol~~~

A photo illustration from the White House Cookbook.
Notice all the 1887 details.

The People's Newspaper covered a  huge area--"West of Milwaukee and north of Davenport"--but that's where thousands of Germans settled.  

I love this ad.  "Railroad and government lands" for sale all
along the route, a ton of information,  reduced rates for settlers
AND Westinghouse air brakes?  Life was good!  

I keep seeing the same ox cart photo in articles and books , as tho there's only ONE available.
So, here's a different Red River ox cart train photo from a book at Internet Archives...
nope, I don't remember which one, but it's beyond copyright...lol

This is from a book  of Catholic priests serving
 German settlers in the United States,
with the translation about our great great uncle,  August Rausch.

 And THIS is from a charming series of books from 1912-13 that Larry found yesterday...but I'll tell you about em in a separate post ☺.

Rural road building in 1883

There's a really wonderful old book (set of books?) published in 1883 which pretty much walked you through how to do EVERYTHING on the farm, and why.  Most immigrant farmers would have benefited from these books if they could have slogged thru the verbiage, and also realized that the 'farm' he speaks of was NOT in Central Minnesota...lol

For instance, dad mentioned maintaining roads in the Buckman area with the team.  Reading "Rural Roads and Bridges" starting on page 838, I'd be really surprised if that much care was taken to "do it right the first time".  In fact, I imagine that roads were mostly wagon tracks that eventually got dragged smooth by the nearest farmer who couldn't stand the low spots any longer...  

....that never existed in rural Minnesota!

There were mentions of corduroy roads and contracts to haul rocks for road repair in the Buckman News column of the Little Falls Herald.  (I asked my 91 year old "consultant" what that was all about and he said the rocks acted like a culvert, letting water flow thru under a road).  None of that was according to The American Farm and Home Cyclopedia. ☺

Once you've clicked the link to the book, scroll back and forth.  There's info on all kinds of things you've wondered about, and a lot you didn't think to wonder about!

More terrific old books

Larry found another of those "I-had-no-idea-there-ever-was-a-directory-like-that" sort of book.  It was intended for use by traveling shows as they planned tours--everything you'd need to know about the town,  theater, accommodations, railroad service--Julius Cahn provided a necessary and appreciated service.

HERE'S the 1905-1906 version, open to the St Cloud page.  Interestingly, the 1901 edition had a listing for Pierz, but it's not in this one.

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A book I found today was put together, I believe, by Popular Mechanics Magazine, but it was for boys who wanted to build something.  It looks like there were successive editions of it.


Here's Volume one (1913) of The Boy Mechanic: 700 Things for Boys to Do

and Volume two (1915)  The Boy Mechanic: 1000 things for Boys to Do  If you want volume three, you'll need to find it on Internet Archive.com ☺