PLEASE CONTACT:
The Polk County Historical Society
Robert Street East
Crookston, MN 56716
218-281-1038
Open daily from 1-5 pm starting May 19th... until September
Those interested in genealogy may wish to check, also- http://www.mnhs.org/library/collections/
CROOKSTON-
04, 1906, 1908, 1911, 1915-16, 1930, 1935, 1940-41, 1949, 1952-53, 1956, 1958,
1961, 1963, 1964, 1966 (Museum only), 1967, 1969 (Museum only), 1970, 1972,
1973, 1974, 1976 (Museum only), 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1987-88,
1989, 1991, 1994 (Library only), 1995 (Library only), 1996 (Library only), 1997
(Library only), 1998 (Library only), 1999 (Library only), 2000 (Library only),
ALEXANDRIA-
1979
BEMIDJI-
1988, 1989
BRAINARD-
1986
DEVILS
LAKES – 1985,
1989
GRAFTON
- 1987-88, 1991
GRAND
FORKS – 1918,
1919, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1945,
1948, 1955, 1959, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1985, 1987, 1988L
HIBBING
- 1986-87, 1989, 1990
INTERNATIONAL
FALLS – 1983,
1985
John LaBrier sent the above
picture over. His Great
Grandparents are on the porch, and his Dad’s Aunt Maggie Regan Andrist is
there also. The house was on Jackson
Street & taken around the 1890’s.
left to right
Daniel Regan (son of Tim), "Duke" the dog, Maggie Regan (Mrs. Frank
Andrist, daughter of Tim), Margaret (English) Regan (Mrs. Tim), Michael F. Regan
(son of Edmund), Edmund Regan (son of Tim) and Tim Regan.
During the past few months we have had inquires about these surnames, and or folks: Gervais, Rude, Fengstad, Farstad, Ralston, Toutant, Moreau, Burkardt, Wold, Hancock, Carpenter, and Hatlestad.
Charles Fertile Murray of Oregon wanted to know how our Fertile got its name, but we had to send him on to Iowa, because the village of Fertile was named by a group of farmers who came to this area in an attempt to raise corn for shipment to St. Paul. These early settlers came from Fertile, Iowa and named the new settlement after the Iowa region.
Jim MacKenzie wrote from Brighton, Ontario
My g/g/uncle Frank Sheasgreen, a native of Miramichi in New Brunswick, Canada, came to Crookston at the age of about 25 in 1879-80. He was according to a biographical sketch written in 1903, for 10 years manage of a planing mill owned by the Red River Lumber Company in Crookston. It is information about Mary Alexis Buckley… Frank’s second wife that he is trying to locate.
Paul Spendley wrote from England…
… it would be interesting to see if Judge Spendley is a distant relative! Will enquire further.
I
am an MSc in Renewable Energy currently working with Oxford Instruments
(recently produced the worlds largest superconducting magnet for NMR).
My wife is an Oxford Graduate, now working as a History
teacher in the city.
Bob
Jacoby sent the following message via email.
I am with
the Glacier County Historical Society in Cut Bank, Montana.
We have
some material that the Museum in Polk county might be interested in having.
It Is some old papers from a Dr. Nerrall who came from your area to ours
in the very early 1900's. We have a lot of history on this man, however these papers
are form his time in your county.
Then Ann
Worth sent some material over snail mail which told us the following:
Dr.
Paul Neraal, Pioneer Physician Dies in Cut Bank, Montana… 1959
A. pioneer
day doctor, first to establish private practice in this section of Montana, Dr.
P. C Neraal, died at his home her Saturday. His death was due to complications
incident to advancing years.
Personally
a kindly and considerate man, highly esteemed by his, fellows in the medical
profession here and statewide, Dr. Neraal had a long career in his profession be
fore coming to Cut Bank and in the years of practice here, the enjoyment of
official honors, the affection of family, relatives and the earlier and later
residents in the community.
The
birthplace of Dr. Neraal was Hol, Hallingdahl, Norway, and the date of his birth
was July 9, 1872.
After! his
arrival in the United States he attended the University of North Dakota, Grand
Forks, later the University of Minnesota Medical School, and he graduated from
the Medical School of the University of Iowa at the age of 26.
His first
establishment of a medical practice was at McIntosh, Minn. He was married to
Martha Narvesonin 1905, at Erskine, Minn. (Martha Vienna was born in Dodsville,
Wis., of parents Mr. And Mrs. Ole Narveson.
The family moved to Alexandria, Minn., where she attended the public
school. She was educated as a
teacher and taught for a number of years in the public schools.)
Because of
a progressive lung ailment he was advised by a physician friends to seek a
higher altitude in the west and he and Mrs. Neraal lived in Canon City, Cob.,
for a period.
They came
to Cut Bank in 1913 and the doctor filed on a homestead on the Marias slope.
After a period of rest and recuperation, Dr. Neraal opened an office in town and
continued practice. He retired in 1949, shortly following the death of Mrs.
Neraal.
Many Offices, Honors
Soon after
he opened offices here he was appointed Great Northern railway physician, and
continued in that capacity until his retirement. He was named president of the
Tri-County Medical association, was a member of state and national medical
associations, was Glacier county coroner and health officer for a number of
years.
On Dr.
Neraal’s retirement in 1949 he was awarded a 50-year pin by the Montana
Medical association.
Born
July 10, 1906, in Crookston, Minn., she moved to Cut Bank in 1913 with her
parents to live on a 160-acre homestead southeast of town. She graduated from
Cut Bank High School in 1925 and attended the University of Montana and then
University of Washington, where she graduated as a pharmacist
In
the fall of 1932, she went to work for her father, Dr. P.O. Nerral, in his
doctor’s, office. He was the Montana Power doctor, Great Northern doctor and
the Texas Company doctor. He was also the Glacier County doctor and health
officer for the City of Cut Bank. Dr. Neraal was the county registrar until he
died in May 1959. In June 1959, Pauline was made the registrar and she held that
position until she retired in 1983. It was quite a record for members of one
family to be the county registrar from the formation of the county until 1983.
Pauline’s
mother died suddenly in 1949 and her papa in 1959. She loved her papa and took
care of him to the end.
She
built the old post office where LeMitre Box and Edward Jones are today. She.
owned and managed many rental properties in Cut Bank well into her late 80s. The
stock market was her hobby and love most of her life. She lived in the same
house for 82 years.
She
loved the senior center though she thought she was not old enough to go and did
not start until she was 82 years old.
Pauline
was unmarried most of her life. When she was 86 she married her “champion and
protector,” Richard Allan Mataisz, Sr.
