History of New Rockford- July 8, 2019

On July 4, 1902, County Superintendent of Schools Grace B. Putnam went to Minneapolis for the National Education Association meeting. John Dutee, Sr., was in town. Jacob Allmaras took second in the “Fat Man’s Race” in Fessenden.

On the morning of July 5, two of Peter Dodds’s colt were killed when a bolt of lightning hit the wire fence they were standing near. Mr. and Mrs. B.W. Rantz went to the Chautauqua for seven to 10 days. Going to the Chautauqua for two weeks were Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Mulvey and family and Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Stoddard and daughter, Mrs. F.E. Diemer. Elevatorman P.H. West went to Minneapolis on business; he returned on July 14.

About 5 p.m. on July 5, a strong wind blew in a severe four-mile wide hail storm northeast and east of New Rockford. A partial list of losses included Elias Anderson, 50 acres, 50% loss; W.C. Bowers, 70 acres, 50% loss; Valentine Fertig, 220 acres, total loss; James Hackney, 250 acres, total loss; C.C. Hanson, 110 acres, 50% loss; Sidney Hewes, 160 acres, total loss; Axtle Johnson, 250 acres, total loss and 1050 acres about a 25% loss; H.B. Johnson, 100 acres, 50% loss; J.W. Rager, 225 acres, 50% loss. Peter Dodds, Martin Larson, S.O. Lee, A.R. Prouty, S.N. Putnam, A.J. Richter, and Robert Utecht all had losses between 25 and 75%. George Setz and his family were caught in the hail storm, but were uninjured.

On Sunday morning, July 6, druggist William Bucklin drove to Ft. Totten and caught the flyer from Devils Lake to Grand Forks, where the night before his sister and her husband (Mr. and Mrs. L.C. McCormick) were found dead in their bathtubs, either a murder-suicide or a double suicide by poison. Also that morning a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hutchinson.

On July 7, George W. Johnston and W.G. Carter were in on business. At 3 p.m. Louise Jeanette Fertig, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Fertig, and Bennie T. Fay were married in a Catholic ceremony, Father McDonald, in the bride’s parent’s home on Villard Avenue. Miss Nellie Hester and Dr. Charles MacLachlan were the attendants. At 8 p.m. the Right Reverend Cameron Mann, Bishop of North Dakota, and assisted by Rev. D.H. Clarkson held Episcopal services in the Baptist Church; it was the bishop’s first visit to New Rockford. Mrs. Otho Lathrop, who had spent weeks in a Hankinson hospital, had been released. She was fully recovered and that night she and her young son Llewellyn left for Forest Lake, Minn.; from there they would go on to her old home in Afton, Iowa.

From July 7 to July 9, H. Peoples and C.J. Maddux, along with 60 farmers, were on the NDAC Excursion.

The Eddy County Commission (P.J. Braman, W.C. Schwoebel, H.P. Halverson) met on July 7 to 11, part of the time as a board of equalization and review.

On July 8, in baseball at Carrington, it was Carrington 14; New Rockford 4. John Martin was in on business. Helmer Sylling came down from the Sheyenne Valley. Rev. and Mrs. J.R. Beebe and family left for a visit with friends in Aberdeen, S.D.; Rev. Beebe returned on July 17, while his family would remain two weeks longer. That evening the New Rockford Band serenaded newlyweds Bennie and Louise Fay.

On July 9, Mark Hulbert was in New Rockford. Joseph Christ of Superior was in on business. Mr. and Mrs. Axtle Johnson were in shopping. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Larson and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Anderson went to Leeds to visit and then went on to the Chautauqua.

On July 10 at 10 a.m., there was an auction sale at the S. McDowell farm seven miles southeast of New Rockford, W.M. Chamberlain, auctioneer: 21 horses, three cows, four gang plows, one set iron harrows, one set wooden harrows, one hackney harrow, three mowers, one hay rake, four binders, two drills, two fanning mills, three new wagons, six bundle wagons, six hay rakes, one buggy, one Minneapolis threshing outfit, one feed grinder and 19 sets of harness.

On that day, John and Lulu Arnold arrived to spend the summer; he would assist Mr. Gage in the Andrews & Gage Elevator that fall; Mrs. Arnold would clerk at Rodenberg & Schwoebel’s. John Henry and his sisters Miss Pearl Henry and Mrs. Kate Barrett were in town. Will Young came in from Tiffany; he said he had been caught in the July 5 hail storm, but was not hurt; his crops suffered light damage. In baseball it was Esmond 11; at New Rockford 7.

The July 11, 1902, “New Rockford Transcript” listed the following New Rockford people at the Chautauqua that week: Jacob Chamberlain; Mrs. W.H. Cole; Miss Cora Davidson; Miss Harriet Davidson; Mr. and Mrs. James Davidson; Miss Nellie Davidson; Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Dresser family; Howard Eidemiller; James Hamilton; Mrs. F.G. Haver; H.G. Hudson; Ross Klingal; Fred Lahue; E.H. Martin; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Maxwell and family; Mrs. H.J. Mitchell and son; Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Mulvey and son; A.C. Olsen; Mr. and Mrs. Peter Prader and family; Mr. and Mrs. B.W. Rantz; Charles Ruetenik; Mr. and Mrs. Hugh J. Scott; Mr. and Mrs. D.Y. Stanton and family; Mr. and Mrs. James Thomas and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard; Miss Jessie Treffry; and Mrs. Viola Woodward. From northern Eddy County were Clayton Hall and his sister Vannie Hall. From Plainview and northern Foster County were Miss Josie Anderson; Martin, Eddie, and Eli Anderson; Ludwig and Hans Hanson; Miss Rachel Olson; Gilbert Roaldson; and Miss Serena Roaldson. Coming from Sheyenne were Knut Bymoen; A.H. Johnson; Mr. and Mrs. F.L. Kermott; Floy and Jet Richter; and Miss Sylling.

While H.G. Hudson was at the Chautauqua, James Walsh was assisting in Hudson’s confectionary and restaurant.

Mrs. C.J. Maddux was in Minneapolis with her son Charles, who was very ill with inflammatory rheumatism and a cold that threatened to turn into pneumonia.

A special train had passed through New Rockford, carrying North Dakota National Guardsmen on their way to the state encampment at the Chautauqua, where they would remain until July 15. It was the first such encampment in many years.

On July 11, C.S. Bosworth and Fred Dutee were in town. Miss Sybil Head returned to Dawson after a long visit with her aunt, Mrs. H.G. Hudson; conductor Humes watched over the “little lady” on her train trip.

Not all the precincts had representatives at the Republican caucuses on July 12. Chosen as delegates to the State Convention were Fred Dutee, Dan Ducke, James Hackney, H.P. Halverson, J.L. Kinnaird, Dan Larson, P.M. Mattson, W.J. Morris, Simon Nelson, J.W. Richter, and J.R. Winslow. Gilbert Bymoen of the Sheyenne Valley attended.

On that day, the Eddy County Commission appointed the following as election inspectors and locations for 1902: H.J. Mitchell, New Rockford, court house; G.W. Johnston, Sheldon, Smith School; George H. Fields, Tiffany, Clark School; D.D. Dailey, Colvin, Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Carroll residence; S.M. Nelson, Sheyenne, Olsness Hall; Peter Hanson, Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain School; J.J. Anderson, Dutee, William Mattison School; Joseph Christ, Hall, Hall School; Andrew Anderson, Pitt, Plainview School; Ben Nelson, Fay, school.