They could weigh up to 1,600  pounds, but quality millstones were so valuable that some 19th century immigrants lugged them along when they departed Europe. The expertise of millers was equally critical. Until mills were established, the earliest settlers in Minnesota of European heritage had to grind their wheat by hand. Some, like native Americans, pounded grain in a mortar. … [Read more...]

Some families have had long-standing church and political affiliations, and local historian David Beckman realized it was so for his father’s family in Mound Prairie Township of Houston County in the 1950s. While the Bible Belt across the South was staunchly religious and Democrat, the members of the Evangelical Church on South Ridge in Houston County associated being a good … [Read more...]

Was it just the wind or something more sinister? “Never would I venture alone into the dreaded Ghost Hollow,” wrote David Beckman about his 1940s boyhood on a farm between Houston and La Crescent. His father told him the story of a hanging in Ghost Hollow, where the man’s ghost still roamed throughout that coulee, “spooking all who dared intrude into his domain.” David’s uncle … [Read more...]

It was a life-changing journey for those of European descent who first settled southeast Minnesota in the 1850s, especially for those having recently immigrated across the Atlantic Ocean. But one of the most colorful journeys was that of eventual Spring Grove resident Anders Brynildsen Foss, who before crossing the Mississippi River in 1854 had not only crossed the Atlantic but … [Read more...]