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/
Polk County Historical Society… May 01
He Walked.
The
Pioneer Resident of Polk County 32 Years ago Walked from Duluth to Red RiveThe
one man who has been in Polk county longer continuously than any other man in
this vicinity walked from Duluth to the Red River thirty-two years ago this
summer. We refer to Andrew Kemble,
the well known market gardner at East Grand Forks.
Mr. Kemble is a native of Germany, and had traveled over the United
States considerable before settling down here, having visited three quarters of
the states in the union. His trip
through the wilds of northern Minnesota, much of the way through dense forests,
and swamps with many lakes and streams to hinder, was no small undertaking.
His first stopping point was at the mouth of Goose river near the sited
of the present town of Caledonia. He
remained there until the following spring when he came on down to Grand Forks. He located on the point between the two rivers, the Red Lake
and the Red on the beautiful site where he has lived ever sine, engaged in
farming and gardening. A large portion of his farm is within the limits of the
city of East Grand Forks. Besides
excelling in raising vegetables Mr. Kemble has made a success of many varieties
of fruits, including apples, crab apples, plums, raspberries, strawberries, etc.
Clipping
is dated 3/24/1902
Michael
Becker, from Dublin, Ireland sent this over via the internet.
My
Great grandfather Peter BECKER came from Luxembourg as a boy or young man
between about 1850 and 1863 and his family eventually settled in Minnesota in
Wabasha county. Family history
mentions him working on a riverboat on the Mississippi during the American Civil
War. Later he moved to the Crookston area where his wife Mary Biever's family
had also moved (first Belgium township and then Euclid). Mary Biever and her
family came from Udange and Arlon in Belgium (Just across the border from Lux.).
Marys', parents were Michel Biever and Maria Schortzin.(or Schortgen) Peter
Becker and Mary Becker had four children: John, Romanus, Elizabeth and Michael
Peter Becker my grandfather. By 1895 some of
them moved to Los Angeles.
HIS
FATHER-IN-LAW MICHEL BIEVER
Approximate
Timeline of Michel Biever
Born
Belgium
aboutt 1827
Married
Udange, Belgium
1851 age 24
Emigrated
1861 age 35
Moved
Wabasha
1866 age 39
Moved
Reeds Landing
1870 age 43
Moved
Crookston or Belgium
1879 age 52
Moved
Euclid
1880 age 53
Died
Euclid
1894 age 67
The
Biever's, Michel, his wife and Children and two of Michel's brothers, came from
what is called the Luxembourg province of Belgium near the borders of France and
Luxembourg. Michel said he was a Belgian, another brother said he was French.
They are said to have left home in late 1861 and sailed on the ship Sir Robert
Peel from Antwerp Belgium and landed in New York on 17 Feb. 1862.
Some reports have John coming later and that Michel and the other brother
were the first of the Bievers came to Wisconsin. In 1866 they relocated to
Wabasha and in 1870 they moved on to Reeds Landing also in Wabasha county Mn.
The
following is a story that a descendent told, (she would have been Michels
brothers granddaughter who lived in Alexandria Mn.) When the Biever boys left Belgium there mother cried and
cried saying she would never see her sons again, And I am sure she never did.
That a said note, but on a happy note they enjoyed there life here. She said
Michel
always wanted his daughters to look perfect and bought the finest clothes for
them they were the envy of the rest of the family, he loved spending money on
them and his wife
PETER BECKER'S MARRIAGE IN
WABASHA
While
in Wabasha county Peter Becker married Michel and Mary Bievers' oldest daughter,
Mary Biever, (b. about 1854 in Belgium) possibly at St. Felix church, Wabasha.
there were four other daughters, Clara, Maggie, Anna, Kate and two sons Henry
and Tim. When Michel and his family relocated to the Crookston area they left
their 16 yr old daughter Clara to marry John Wodele of Belgium and Wabasha and
that must have been about 1875 since Clara
was born in 1858 and she was only about 2 yrs old when they came to the
United States. Brother Henry married Tereasa Muller also of Wabasha and they had
a daughter who later married Armedus O'Claire in Crookston.
It
looks like the Michel Biever family left
about 1879 for the Crookston area, taking along Henry, Tim, Mary, Anna, Maggie
and Kate for a short time until she returned to Wabasha. Maggie remained in
Crookston.
(An
ad from Crookston mentions the Belofour Bros. Garage, Taxi and Wrecker Service.
A Polk county History mentions Robert H. Balfour who was born in Ontario may
8,1880. He married a Margaret Biever in Crookston in 1908. He was in charge of
the office of the Red Lake Milling company in Euclid as the grain buyer for the
region. The history does not mention any children,)
CAPTION
TO NEWSPAPER PHOTO OF LEON BIEVER (Nephew of Michel?) Leon Biever SR. -- Mike
and John Biever (brothers) were instrumental in settling the Euclid area with
the first Catholic services held in Mike and Mary Biever's home in the 1880's.
Michael Biever built a rooming house in 1884 and John Biever ran one Euclid's
seven "blind pigs". The Mike Biever family is recorded as habing come
to Wisconsin from Belgium in 1861 and to Wabasha County in 1866, and finally
Euclid in 1879. They had a large farm which his son Timothy ran. The John Biever
family is reported to come from Bordeaux France in 1893. A son, Leon Biever Sr.
spent his entire life in the Euclid area. Two of his chldren, Leon jr. and Rosie
(Mel Hoeff) still live in the Euclid area, with another son, Joe, living in
Tacoma, Washington.
CLUE
TO A RELATIVE OF PETER?
There
is a 1909 obituary of M. E. Kirsch who married Elizabeth Becker who may have
been a relative of Peter Becker
VALLEY
PIONEER PASSES AWAY
M.E.
KIRSCH DIED WEDNESDAY AT 9:45 A.M., FOLLOWING OPERATION
COMPLICATIONS
SET IN WHICH, FOLLOWING THE SHOCK OF OPERATION, CAUSED DEATH
Wednesday
at 9:45 a.m. M.E. Kirsch one of the most prominent citizens of Crookston,
breathed his last, following an operation for appendicitis performed at St.
Vincent's hospital. He stood the shock of the operation well, but, owing to a
chronic ailment, diabetes, with which he had been afflicted for many years,
complications set in which proved fatal.
M.E.
Kirsch was born in Belgium, Oct.15, 1846, being 63 years of age Friday. He came
to America in 1860 and settled in Wisconsin..........
........His
family settled in Wabasha, Minn., and Mr. Kirsch joined them there in 1867 and
secured a position as clerk and bookkeeper. In the fall of 1871, he opened a
general store in Minneiska, Minn.,where he conducted a profitable business for
three years. He then removed to Reed's Landing, and in the fall of 1878, he
disposed of his interests there and, in company with three others, came to Polk
county, taking land near Euclid........
...........Mr.
Kirsch was married in 1869 to Miss Elizabeth Becker,
whose
death occurred Sept.26, 1904. There are six children, John N.,
Adolph
P., Miss Phronia, Mrs. W.E. Rowe, Arthur and Ralph........
************************
Mr.
Kirsch's history parallels that of Michel Biever to a remarkable degree and they
certainly knew of each other if they and their families were not in fact well
aquatinted.
LASTLY
THE FAMILY STORY OF HOW AND WHY PETER BECKER AND FAMILY MOVED TO Los ANGELES
Family
legend tells of him owning an ice-house in the Crookston area presumably along
the Red river of the North. One spring, a flood of bigger than usual proportions
swept away all the competing ice houses and the unfortunate rivals had no choice
but to make an offer to buy out his business which he seems to have accepted.
Flush with cash the family relocated to Monterey Park a suburb of Los Angels in
sunny Southern California. the widowed Mary Biever and her son Henry and his
wife and family also moved there.
They
must have moved there before 1895 since a I have a letter with an envelope that
he received from a man in Crookston dated Sept. 10 of that year.
Does anyone have more information on this family?
Dr. Dennison was a pioneer doctor from this area. This is a picture of his wife’s mother:
