History Episcopal Schools Faribault - Educators and Connections to Minnesota's Pelican Lake Nature 1906 - Oct 2014!

Johnston Hall the remaining Limestone building on the Seabury Seminary Campus in Faribault, served the Episcopal Church for many years.  Grateful I could donate a walnut bookcase, once housed in this buildings library, built in 1888, to the Cathedral of Our Merciful Savior.   On the national register of historic places, this building is once again (after 1986, was used to house clinics etc) threatened to be demolished by the District One Hospital Board's inaction to put on a roof.   There is a meeting of the Faribault City Council March 5th, 2013 at 6 PM to see if the mayor, John Jasinski and others can lend their support to integrate this building into the Campus of District One Health Center. 

For the history of Seabury, that left Faribault in 1933 see 

http://seabury.edu/history/history-seabury-western-theological-seminary.html

: Seabury-Western Theological Seminary was created in 1933 by the merger of Seabury Divinity School (1858, Faribault, Minnesota) and Western Theological Seminary (1883, Chicago, Illinois).

In 1858, James Lloyd Breck founded Bishop Seabury University in Faribault, Minnesota, to provide education from primary school through theological studies for both Native Americans and Euro-American settlers. He envisioned his “School of the Prophets” as the center of evangelism for the about-to-be organized Diocese of Minnesota. The Seabury Divinity School, which emerged, continued its missionary consciousness and, in the twentieth century, developed a distinctly evangelical character.

- See more at: http://seabury.edu/history/history-seabury-western-theological-seminary.html#sthash.iTd2wvSC.dpuf 

Victor Pinkham,  a graduate of Seabury,  taught at Seabury Divinity School until it moved to Chicago.  Completing his PhD at Harvard in the 30's, his only child, Winifred Elaine Pinkham Leonard, remained with her grandparents, the Jenkins, who taught at St James School, graduating in 1940. The Pinkhams moved  to Northfield where Victor taught history at  Carleton College and was the  rector of All Saints Episcopal.   FE Jenkins, first headmaster of St James, purchased land on the SE Shore of Pelican Lake in 1906, and envisioned a boys camp there that is found on the 1920's map of the area. 

District One Hospital was built in Faribault on the old Seabury Campus.  Here are Dr Burton Orr, General Surgeon on the left with my father, Paul H Weaver MD, General Practice in the surgical suite perhaps even at St Lucas Deaconess Hospital before  District One was built.  I remember that dad left early for "8 o'clock" surgery on the east side of Faribault where the hospital was. 

Keeping with the thread of Educators of the Shattuck, St James Schools and Seabury with Pelican Lake, John A Foster and Fredrick Haeberle are two key figures.  They founded a real estate company in Faribault early in the 1900's and later platted Sunset Beach along with SE shore of Pelican Lake, Crow Wing County.

This map circa 1920, was found in the cabin purchased by the three Weaver brothers from Faribault, Jim, Jack and Tom (this author) in 1967, shows area of red markings, Sunset Beach my Lake Marquis and Shattuck Camp NW of Lougee Lake. On the back of this maps was the label: 

In Dec 1913, according to the Faribault Republican, The Home and Loan Company, was incorporated by JA Foster and FL Haeberle and Frank W Ferris who entered the business of platting land, building and selling homes in Faribault. 

Fred Haeberle taught business at Shatuck School from 1904-1937.  He and John Foster were involved in platting Sunset Beach On Pelican Lake in 1920.

Having built a cabin centered around an ice house brought across the lake on ice during WWI, here are Bernice and John Foster in 1959, taken behind their cabin on Lot 14, Sunset Beach. 

The second cabin built on the SE Shore of Pelican, likely is this one, built in 1913 by FE Jenkins.  This photo was recently discovered by his great grandson, Jim Leonard, who now lives permanently in the Pelican Lake area. 

This 1914 photo labeled with the assistance of Winnie Leonard (Winifred E Pinkham Leonard) , includes Fred Haeberle,  FE Jenkins and Rev Levering, who all worked in Faribault with the Episcopal schools.  Levering was the chaplain at Shattuck.   Looks to me like some wrapped fish, ready to be smoked...What do you think?  Comments welcome.  

 In mid October of this year, Jim Leonard who lives on the property purchased through his great grandfather FE Jenkins, sent this photo to the Weaver Family. Jim Weaver, now owner of the century old Haeberle Cabin, had arranged for a new road built to allow fire fighter access with the current truck specifications to serve cabins on the shore.  Here is the Haerberle Way sign for the road intersecting with Pelican Lake Road in the woods behind the cabins.

And Haeberle Way at the intersection with Leonard Road at the other end of the road.
Last evening, Oct 23, 2014 I met the archvist at Shattuck School, Lonnie Schroeder, who spoke about the history and relationship of Shattuck-St Mary's with the city of Faribault.  Perhaps she has other information about the life and history of Fred Haeberle to share for future generations. I am sending her the link to this page and plan to visit Faribault this year planning for my 50th High School Reunion in mid August 2015!  :-)

Winter Season Choices in Minnesota 2012 -2013

Transformation and Travel have been some recent themes in my life.  I visited Manny's home in Waconia on Thanksgiving Day, prior to the winter season, and like me, he was doing some letting go of stuff!   I noticed this photo on the wall of his garage, and recognized the Stratocruiser Boeing created after WW II.   I remembered traveling on one of these that Northwest Airlines had, and as a young lad, I was able to go down the stairs into the drinking lounge, that is on the belly of this plane! Now it is up on my south wall of my nest! 

http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/m377.html

Winter is a time of contemplation and reviewing my life and writing about my family and genealogy has become a passion of mine.  Thanks for your reading here and any comments are most welcome!

On the south wall of my nest, I have  this painting, made by my father, Paul H "Pete" Weaver during his time at Antioch College, Yellow Springs Ohio, when he was an undergraduate liberal arts student there from 1928 - 1931, when he transferred to Ohio State University in Columbus. 

While at Antioch, PH Weaver was influenced by a sculptor , Amos Mazzolini. 

And this image, one of my favorites of my fathers, was created through him, after one in the Biography of Mozart by Martha Davenport.  This is called a bas relief work of art.  My good friend Greg Larsen, musician and music teacher extraordinaire' always admired this as well. I treasure the tradition of music in my family and those I love and connect with. 

On Christmas Day, my good friend Gary Engler called me and wondered if I was going to the Day of Reconciliation, 150 Years after the Largest mass execution in American History in Mankato MN, where 38 Dakota men were hung the day after Christmas, Dec 26, 1862 by the river there. Knowing the history and the importance of living in the spirit of reconciliation, we drove down the Minnesota River Valley, Mne Sota Wakpala, Valley to Mankato on this cold winter morning.  Riders here are coming from the west, and then runners from Ft Snelling from the north to meet at the site.

This new scroll with the 38 listed was dedicated and speakers such as Jerry Dearly, Lakota, sang prayer songs, olawan, to honor the ancestors and those present this day. 

Some of the riders in the cold, were families who rode in from the west. 

The colorful gathering of those on horses meeting in the area when the runners came over the bridge across the Minnesota. 

 Between Christmas and New Years,  I visited Nate, Sue  and Jess in St Cloud.  Here is Jesse, with a new table top, on the floor he just had shipped to his place to provide a surface for 8 to play board games in his space.   Grateful I could support him in putting on some table legs and a couple of chairs during my short visit! 

After an hour or two of work, Jess is standing next to the table with some of the chairs with examples of some of the board games he enjoys.   Ah, the many ways of enjoying the Minnesota Winters with friends and family.  Thanks Jess for the fun time. 

Being aware of tunkashila,  the energy of the elders and warmth of the Unci, the grandmothers, I decided to contact Dixon Bond again, founder of the Carleton Singing Knights, to work on the archives of Dacie's home here at 110 Union Street in Northfield.   Here is the welcoming sign for those who joined in the brunch which has been a tradition for Carleton and the community since Dacie Moses opened her home to Dixon and the group in the 1950's.   I sang here, 3 times a week from 1965 - 1969 as a member of the Knights.  Fun to see the tradition continuing. 

Dacie's dining room table where students and community members still gather to eat and play cribbage. A snow storm was approaching this day and my green pony and I took to the road back to the Twin Cities.   

I called ahead to my friend Bob Pahl who lives in Bloomington and mentioned the disc golf course at Moir Park on Nine Mile Creek as a possible place to enjoy the energy of the day.  It was my first time playing on a course with the cone shaped targets, which on many courses have been replaced by flexible chains.   Here is #1 with my orange putter disc for scale! 

With the Nine Mile Creek bed in the background, Bob throws up to one of the goals on the 9 hole course, that we played twice as the sleet turned into snow. 

Here is the "Finish" , the place we stand to throw to the final 9th goal on the course. My disc bag, a gift of my friend Steve Wolfe recently for scale.  What a fun simple walking sport to stay grounded and have fun playing with friends and family throughout the year.

Another Page on my Genealogical Journey - Find a Grave!

Having used ancestry.com to find the Glessner grave sites in California recently, I decided to see what the site "Find A Grave" would be like if I volunteered to take a photo of a request. Well, there was a request for finding Gracie Page at Lakewood Cemetery here in Minneapolis after I joined yesterday, and Carpe Diem.....I seized the proverbial day and here I am this morning!  This is a cemetery  I have visited many times, mostly riding my bike through.   Our senators, Humphrey and Wellstone rest here.   So here I pulled up with the green pony in front of the Lakewood Building this morning after some snow and ice over the weekend. 

Chris was very helpful and friendly when I requested information about Gracie.  He explained the grave would be easy to find, as there is a family named monument to see above the snow.  Here he is providing me with a map to the location. 

As a seasoned researcher, I took some photos of the information in the files here.  Actual death dates and the plot and grave number. 

Bigger view with the map of the family plot on the left, very complete information in my experience. 

This is how the site looked when I arrived at section 8, lot 76....now to find the 5 markers under the snow and ice. 

I paced off 10 feet where Gracie's marker was supposed to be, and viola'. I scraped off the snow and used my car plastic ice scraper to find the lettering on grave #6

So Gracie becomes Grace Leona Page who died at age 16. 

Here on the other end, are grave's 1- 4 ,which when I scraped the ice off, I had difficultly reading.  Out of respect to Mother Earth and the Pages, I employed some of Trader Joe's Italian pink lemonade to melt the ice and scrape so each marker could be read. 

 The last interred Cora Page Sunderland, is in grave #4.  I had to scrape some sod-dirt off on her first name. Can mostly read it here 1871 - 1965.

 The closest grave, #1, with the camera shot is Stella Althea Page,  1864 - 1945.

Number Two is Stella Graves Page,  1829-1909

Then #3 is the Reverend Emery Harkness Page 1818 -1888.

So there you have it.  My personal experience starting the work on Find A Grave

You can search the site, go to

http://www.findagrave.com

One Hundred Years 1913 Photos from Cousin, Helen B. Lourie, Noah Elwood Weaver and Betty Eicher's Family Remembrences

 

National Bank of Cincinnati $10 bank note from the late 1800's, that I inherited from my Ohio ancestors. 

My father, Paul Henry Weaver (1910-1982), carried on a long time correspondence with his cousin, Helen Barbara Lender Lourie (1907-1981), who was born and lived in her youth mostly in Cincinnati, later she lived in Stearns, Kentucky, and finally in Rugby Tennessee.   The above photo of Helen is of her at 6 1/2 yrs of age and I found in my fathers archives after he died, age 71, in January of 1982 here in Minnesota.  

And another of Helen Lourie, PHW's Cincy Cousin as he would call her. 1924 and with a house cat likely at her home. She was listed as a stenographer living at 4756 Hamilton Ave in Cincinnati in the 1934 city directory.  She never married. 

Fortunately, I picked up the correspondence in 1978, prior to dad's death, and visited Helen in the forests of Tennessee that summer.  Reflecting her early involvement in restoration of the town of Rugby Tennessee, according to her Jan 20, 1978 letter to me, "I have been Secretary-Treasurer since its inception in 1966."   The Rugby Colony settlement was founded in 1880 by Thomas Hughes, English author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, and current information can be found on their website:

http://www.historicrugby.org/ and blog http://rugbyweek.blogspot.com

This is the back of the photo, likely in the penmanship of her mom or dad, unless she was very precocious at that young age.  Helen's mom, was Genevieve "Jennie" Oberhau, grand daughter of Louis Charles Oberhau and Dorothea Emma Lender, and great granddaughter of Fredrick Beno Lender and  Barbara Bohlender Lender.  Barbara Bohlender's younger sister, Eva Margaret Bohlender, married Franz Eicher Aug 23 1843 in Cincinatti Ohio. Thus the cousins here - Lenders and Eichers

Here is a photo in Noah Elwood Weaver's album looking northwest over the Paper Mill in West Carrollton, Ohio known as Friend Paper Company, where he worked during the decade of 1910-1920 when his son was young. 

My dad, Paul Henry, is seen here at the foot of the hill on the George Eicher farm, with his mom, Edna Eicher Weaver.  Edna is the youngest daughter of Henry Eicher and Emelina Helena "Lane" Paul, and granddaughter of Franz Eicher who homesteaded this farmland in Sect 15, Miami Twp, where she and her sister Esther and brother Charles were born. 

This is a composite photo, showing the open farm land in the Miami River Valley in 1915.   George Eicher, son of Franz Eicher had tobacco sheds and a barn on the land, near an apple orchard.   Henry Eicher who did not farm had a home on the Bellbrook Road where he had a garden, and lived with his first born daughter Esther Eicher under the top arrow, "Henry Eicher's Homestead"

Here are Henry Eicher and his grandson Paul Henry Weaver sitting on the seedling hothouse on the 2 acres he gardened and raised small livestock on.  Looks like a day to collect eggs here. 

Employees on the front steps of Friend Paper Company in West Carrollton, with Noah Elwood Weaver, (1985- 1973)photographer, standing on the steps.

Here on the same steps in 1984, is the author on the left with, wife, Susan Elizabeth Johnson Weaver on the right. Photo taken by cousin Bill Eicher (1927-2006) who gave us a tour of the Eicher-Weaver topography and sights in the Greater Miami River area on our way East, to Georgia, North Carolina and eventually Vermont!

Betty Eicher, with Henry Eicher, grandfather, and cousin Paul Henry Weaver ca 1915.

Betty Eicher, Born Ethyl Elizabeth Eicher Feb 22, 1913 daughter of Charles Albert Eicher, in Miamisburg just before the great flood, wrote the following in her memoir.  that she sent to her only sibling, Bill Henry Eicher, born in Feb 1927, 14 years her junior.   Betty became a school teacher in Franklin OH, having graduated from Ohio State University.   She had a life partner,  Mariam "Mary" Parker Brown, born in Franklin OH 24 Dec 1884 and the two of them moved to Lakeland Florida, well before the time of same sex union, much talked about today.


on pages 11-12,

Greater Miami River Valley - Photographs by Noah Elwood Weaver

I inherited the photographer albums of my paternal grandfather, Noah Elwood Weaver (1885-1973) who made many images from the late 1890's, throughout the first half of the 20th Century.   Here he captures a canoeist on the Great Miami River at West Carrollton Ohio where he lived all of his married life, 1909 - 1973, 

The West Carrollton Dam at higher water on the Greater Miami. 

Recreation on the Greater Miami River, CA 1905, West Carrollton Dam, wading and boating. 

Springtime likely on the Eicher Farm, Sect 15, flowering dogwoods, Noah Elwood Weaver, unknown woman, Edna Eicher, Charles Eicher and unknown woman. 

Three women, Edna Eicher on right likely on Hydraulic Canal, West Carrollton. 

West Carrollton OH environs with Greater Miami River 1895. the Hydraulic, dark line above West Carrollton,  noting the Eicher farms in section 15. Other dark line through town is the Miami and Erie Canal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_and_Erie_Canal

Current Satellite View of the area. 

https://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&q=West+Carrollton+OH&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8840880c7663047b:0x1d88be21d7a15f5d,West+Carrollton,+OH&gl=us&ei=rG_8UIOnNtL2rAGo3IGgBw&ved=0CIwBELYD

Bridge across the hydraulic canal by West Carrollton and Evergreen Cemetery. 

Summertime view of Hydraulic Canal looking NW West Carrollton OH

Wintertime view of Hydraulic Canal looking NW West Carrollton OH

Downtown West Carrollton Union Building with Miami and Erie Canal bridge and interurban train CA 1910

Paul Henry Weaver (1910 - 1982) , son of Noah Elwood Weaver near a leveling lock of the Miami and Erie Canal in West Carrollton

Greater Miami River CA 1905 - six women and a man, near West Carrollton OH by Noah Elwood Weaver.  Edna Eicher, far right. 

Greater Miami River flood plain - Esther Eicher far left, Noah Elwood Weaver center front. 

Placid view of Greater Miami CA 1905.

Miami Township, West Carrollton 1875, with Erie- Miami Canal- Hydraulic Canal and Franz Eicher Farm Section 15.