History of Madelia and Northfield, Minnesota with Jesse James Gang in old Newspaper

Northfield in the media.
I wonder why the author or producers of the well known old tv show called the "Golden Girls" chose Northfield, Minnesota location as the location for Rose Nylund's [ Actress Betty White ] made up towns called "St. Olaf " and "Gustavus" where Rose was suppose to be from. The Fake towns were in fact names of colleges at Northfield location. Perhaps she or they had heard something about the members of the Jesse James gang activities there and the locations just stuck in their minds. [. ] Decorah Iowa and North field are known as good places to begin your research on your Norwegian descendants. Maybe they chose the location because Nylund Nyland is more of a Swedish name than maybe Irish ? [ Yes I looked up name origination, it always helps to browse it.] That's a mystery to solve another day.


The Meyer children attended public school in Madelia, so the news of the robbery at the town of Northfield and the apprehension of the members of Jesse James gangs near Madella had been told since primary grades. Once I heard about having surnames James and Young, in the family, I pursued the information about the gang quite a few years ago. I was relieved to learn our family were Youngs, and they were the Younger brothers.

Searching the News paper archives
Currently, I was searching for a 1945 - 1946 newspaper article at ancestry.com for a newspaper from Madelia, which might have had something about Herman Meyer's house fire for my lewisville minnesota blog, The Meyer home was thirty miles from Fairmont, Martin county and ten miles from St. James. Maybe about fifty from Mankato. I have been running the names of all but St. James into Ancestry newspapers in hopes of some article. [ It has amazed me how much the name of Madelia has been popping up.]


The newspaper article below titled "Bad un"s in 28.Sept.1876 - newspaper -The Constitution
[ from Atlanta Georgia ] in column six about the capture of some of the Jesse James gang was a real delight. It would be even better if it were from a Madelia or local newspaper, but I doubt any archives go back that far for Madelia. Maybe Mankato or Northfield or some other large city near there. Just a few weeks ago, I had been browsing the Minnesota Historical Society pictures and one particular picture with a small article about the pose that went out after the gang, and a picture of the of the Flanders Hotel in Madelia where the Jesse James gang members were seen. I remember reading that one person in that pose died.

For more like this clipping go to Ancestry.com 

Locations descriptions and Names
Of interest in the article of course is the location descriptions and the names.
I had read before of the name Sorbel of a Hanska area recognized some faces. similar to this news articles account about the young hero Oscar Oleson. The article at Minn state Historical collection mentioned that one of the posse - Charles Pitt had been killed.

Found on line. Copyright

One particular name in this article that I will pursue for more information sometime is the surname PITT. M&M had mentioned the surname Pitts to me. I knew some Pitts who had come around from Madelia, I think, to do the Meyer sheep shearing before Dewey quit raising sheep.

At times over the years, I had read something about the path the gang took and that they stopped at a Creek, etc. My curiosity had been caught. I wondered if they came up from the south,west or even the east and then which way would they travel on horse?. Would they ever have stopped at the Meyer little Creek. Gangsters were always after railroad Passengers and the railroad ran north and south not even a mile east of Sunnyslope Farm. However, I am not sure the train was not known to take passengers. [ One once that I know of in another newspaper article. ] If one reads and looks at the Minnesota Historical Reflection collections, one can see how open and undeveloped the land was at that time. I would say, more so than the area of Churdan Iowa surely was, when our ancestors moved into the Highland areas.

online copyright

The good guys
It is amazing that we hear that such a bunch of bad guys could be so well liked by the public, yet there was talk of lynching. And I am proud to learn of the sense of fair play that those who held him captured in Madelia exhibited.

Historical reading
I hope you enjoy reading the clippings. and the Minnesota Historical links to Northfield and Madelia. Perhaps take the time to browse the Refection in the Minnesota Historical collection.
- If you have time, you can google for more information. For instance, I found one article which claimed the bandits chose the First National bank because the bank president was a former union officer. This information reflects back to their lifes history and attitudes of theirs towards their civil war years.

I wonder how well travelled that article in copies etc., was across America. Lots of historical tidbits on the gangs activities and life were added to our history of the event over the years. This the case when history of one region becomes every ones.


My Article Source :
http://search.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=6388&iid=news-ga-atlanta-theconst.1876_09_28_0001&rc=3931,2208,4053,2241;3884,2500,4012,2533;3665,3042,3802,3075;4060,3171,4216,3204;3941,3563,4034,3596;3981,3858,4051,3891;3723,3954,3789,3987;3806,4188,3961,4221;3791,4446,3921,4479;4490,2962,4653,2995;4391,2996,4559,3029;4485,5612,4623,5645&pid=459599873&ssrc=&fn=&ln=Fire+Madelia+Lewisville+Fairmont+Mankato+Minnesota&st=g

-Ancestry.com. The Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002.Original data: The Constitution. Atlanta, GA, USA. Database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.

More on Nyland or Nylund in Minnesota.
Swedish and MINNESOTA
NORTH FIELD, SWEDISH INSTITUTE
Ass kickin'

Twice Told Thursday? / Food for Thought.Thursday via a Story

I told you the last time I posted, that I was not going to read those books about ladies, who wore hats and wonderful gowns that I had gotten at the book sale. And now I tell you it again. I am not going to read an entire book from the book sale. Oh okay, you got me!. I looked at one and carried it to my chair. It was devoured by the big overstuffed chair.

Well making a trip to the 'you know where' I decided to carry another one along rather than my lap top. Intending to leave it by the tub for when I would be in for a soak and relaxing read later with something that was okay to absorb a little soap bubbles; I changed my mind sitting there bored. I read the first page and well, I am now at page four.

The book is called Fancy Strut by Lee Smith an author of five novels from North Carolina State University. On page one the proper society dame Miss Iona is strutting along on her way to work with a hairdo that she has had since 1934. The town grew around her home. So that means it's been many years now since she was very young. She is descriptively described in great detail, that is why it took to page four to reach food for my thoughts. which I will tell you real soon.

I am going to give the passage from the book on page four, because I it found slightly humorous and well it put me 'on the edge' enough to cause me to stop further reading. I will give you bread crumbs or clues to gain your clues. [ Oh oh no you think that I'm going to spout social issues of some kind. ] Any [ ] s with comments are supplied by me, of course.

Sitting behind her father's old desk, [ I can picture her now from the descriptions given earlier] Miss Iona nibbled delicately at a slice of candied orange peel and mused upon her destiny. She saw her self as the custodian of beauty and truth in Speed, [ her town that she lives in] the champion of the pure and good. As society and ladies' editor of the weekly Messenger she controlled the public life of Speed.

She announced the births of babies in her column " Hello There" and she wrote all the obituaries. In between she took care of the Weddings and Anniversaries and parties and club meetings, [ This author left out all the other commas not me.] and all the other important events that marked the passing of time in Speed.

*What was the good of having a party if Miss Iona didn't write it up? You might as well not have bothered. What was the good of wearing a silver lame' dress if Miss Iona wrote you up in beige lace. The truth is what you read in the paper.

Sometimes Miss Iona was incomprehensible. Once she put Grecian urns of bougainvillea in every home and at every wedding for months on end. sometimes she draped everyone in mink regardless of the season. She decorated tables to suit her fancy, and put peau- de- soie slippers on whom she chose. Owing to these penchants, Miss Iona was a figure of much controversy in Speed. [ Well how would one guess that]. In the woman's pages of the paper, everything was elegant, Brides came down the aisles in beauty grace and light, and sometimes their dresses weren't mentioned at all, so that if you wanted to sit down on your sofa at home and read the paper and review the whole thing in your minds eye, you had a hard time with nothing but beauty and light to go on. [ Laugh,- I love this author]

Some people didn't like the way Miss Iona did obituaries [ oh no ], but there were others who held that they were beautiful. For one thing the obituaries never read, "So- and- So is survived by, " They read, " left in sorrow to mourn the passing of their beloved are ..." And there were many other differences between the style of obituaries in, say, the Mobile paper and the Speed Messenger.

Miss Iona was exactly as old as the paper. She had become ladies editor when her father was publisher, and she herself was a young girl, all those years ago. Now her father was dead, his successor had retired and there was this new editor, this progressive young man who was active in all the civic doings of the town. His name was Manly Neighbors, and it was surprise to all that he kept her on....... But Manly Neighbors was still a young man, and he had been taught to respect his elders. Besides, there was a gentleman's agreement in the past. So he kept her on and often didn't even attempt to edit her copy. Her copy was beyond him, and beyond hope, from Manly Neighbors' point of view. He wrote his pages and she wrote her pages and that was that. ............ Manly was decent, but he was progressive.He hoped Miss Iona would die or retire soon, but he never voiced these thoughts.

So what do you think it was in this story that made the known

to be genealogist Ms. Meyer

halt in her reading to come here so quickly to post?





My comment:
Let's see what is it about the article that causes me to laugh and to be slightly disturbed. Is it possible, was it possible, an editor could have such leeway. Did they? I have admired the flowery obituaries, and wedding reports, party reports of the older newspapers. I have even enjoyed the plain and simple gossip news of the old home paper. Which said so and so visited so and so. They all contained the clues and were the Bread crumbs left behind by my relatives [ Who were not always in the full knowledge of the true facts] for me to find; which could help me to further in any little search.


Note: Sliightly different here than the story but a valuable lesson all the same that I had to learn the hard way, was to be careful of reporting speculations. .