History of New Rockford: Feb. 6, 2023

On Sept. 27, 1905, Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Rosenberger took their infant son Raymond to St. Paul for an examination of an enlarged gland in his neck. Sheriff George Fahrer and Mrs. John Collins transported Edith, the 15-year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Neutzel, to the State Asylum in Jamestown for treatment; she had been suffering from a long bout of melancholia brought on by “over-study.” That afternoon, Lawrence Butler was helping to lath the Mr. and Mrs. E.S. Severtson residence when the sharp lathing hatchet he was using slipped and cut a deep gash in his left index finger. William Blow was the operator for the G.W. Brownell steam engine when a spark was carried by the strong wind from the engine to one of the loads of bundles going to the machine; the spark was unnoticed since it was on the underside of the load. Half the load had been fed into the machine before the fire was noticed and by that time it had turned into a large blaze under the wagon. It took some strenuous work, but Blow and the crew were able to save the steam engine; however, the rest of the bundles, the rack, and the wagon were destroyed.

From Sept. 27 to 29, J.M. Mulvey and G.S. Ericson were hunting prairie chickens and ducks near Minnewaukan.

On Sept. 28, Miss Mae O’Connell arrived from Minneapolis for a visit. Mrs. Carrie E. Fay left to join her husband at Banff, N.W.T., Canada. Mrs. Sade Mendenhall left for her home at Adel, Iowa, after visiting her son for two months. Joseph Phillips also left for Adel, Iowa, after his harvest work ended. That afternoon, little Miss June Severtson was playing with her dog when the animal tripped her and she broke her collarbone.

At 6:45 p.m., Sept. 28, Dorothy Ada Dresser, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Dresser, died at her home after an illness of a little over a week. Her funeral was at 10 a.m. on Sept. 30, with interment in the cemetery north of town. Her gray gravestone in Prairie Home Cemetery reads “DOROTHY DRESSER BORN APRIL 3, 1903 DIED SEPT. 28, 1905.” It rests on a large base stone. Her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. George Woodward were down from Devils Lake and her uncle and aunt Mr. and Mrs. Frank Woodward were over from Maddock for the funeral.

The Sept. 29, 1905, “Transcript” contained a Card of Thanks from Mrs. E.B. Thomson, Mrs. J.E. McCue, and Mrs. Frances Wilson to the many friends who helped during the recent illness and death of their mother Mrs. Sarah A. Bacon.

Mabele [Mabel] Kennedy provided some School Notes: On Sept. 25, Miss Lillian Lund left the school due to illness and Mr. Moro substitute for her in the seventh and eighth grades. That day, Minnie Cahill and Kenneth Kinnaird joined the second grade, and Alf Syftestad and Louise Dunham entered the third grade. On Sept. 27, Miss Trainor visited the school. Primary student Cyril Medvid, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Medvid, missed school that week due to a broken arm which he broke on Sept. 24 while playing with his friends near a barn.

Mrs. E.A. Gammell had been quite ill for a few days, but was better.

A note stated that a former employee at the H.J. Radtke cigar making business had become a railroad brakeman.During the week contractor F.C. Davies had a crew of men laying a cement sidewalk from Dakota & Lamborn east past the A.H. Crawford residence, the Baptist Church, and the P.J. Braman residence to the Elias Saad general store. [Today this would be on the northside of 1st Ave. N. from the former Chevrolet dealership to just east of the alley.]

The Great Madden [Dr. James Madden], an authority on eyes and the inventor of EZY-EYE-SPEX, was in Barlow on Sept. 29 and at the Hotel Davies in New Rockford, on Sept. 30.

On Sept. 29, Toller M. Huff was in on business. William Steinbach was in town. Miss Sarah West went to Manfred, N.D., on the Soo Line to teach for three months. Mrs. Norman Treffry and children left for a long visit with relatives in Oelwein, Iowa; Mr. Treffry left to join them on Nov. 24, indicating he and his family would remain in Iowa. Her sister-in-law Miss Jennie Treffry accompanied them; she would stay the winter and then join her parents in their new home at Boise City, Idaho. That evening, the Phillips Academy Musical and Literary Society met to elect officers and reorganize: Harry Burt, president; Harl Aldrich, vice president; Gertrude Buck, secretary; Pearl Goss, treasurer; the Program Committee was composed of Prof. Stegenga, Miss Elizabeth K. Chapman, and Ralph Beebe.

On the morning of Sept. 30, Mrs. Peter Schafer, 54, died at her home in eastern Wells County of heart trouble. She had not felt well for some time, but her ailment was not thought to be serious, so her death was a shock. Her funeral was held on the morning of Oct. 2 in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church near Kiner, led by Father W.A. Gallahue, with interment in the church cemetery. She left a husband and five children. [I think this is the Katherine Ackermann Schafer, Jan. 24, 1850 – Sept. 30, 1905, interred in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church cemetery at Bremen.]

On Sept. 30, J.W. Perry came in from Fargo, where he had been undergoing medical treatment for his damaged eyes; they were somewhat better, but his overall health was not. Martin Duursma was in town. Mrs. W.J. Morris and Miss Burger were in shopping. Miss Ethel Bauer returned from Bowdon, where she had just completed a term of school teaching. Donald Niven brought in a load of 35 large pumpkins he had raised. Miss Harriet Waters went to Jamestown to visit; she returned on Oct. 24. Mrs. George Reutenik returned to her Seattle home after a week visiting her father-in-law Rev. N. Reutenik. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, Mrs. Maurice Oliver was in Oberon visiting her husband. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, Mrs. James Walsh of Great Falls, Mont., visited her brother J.C. Smith and family.

On the evening of Sunday, Oct. 1, manager H.W. Wilson engaged a new central operator [unnamed] at the telephone exchange.

On Oct. 2, Mrs. John Murphy of Reynolds and Mrs. G.S. Newberry of Carrington visited their cousin Miss Mame Sheehy. P.J. Hester returned from a business trip to the Twin Cities. Joe Dutee was in town. Pat Byron was up from his Barlow farm; he had 10,000 bushels of No. 1 Northern wheat in his granaries. Barlow merchant C.F. Hansch was up on business and to visit.

That day, two of the three Eddy County Commissioners (Dafoe and Gunvaldson) met. County Auditor W.C. Schwoebel had received bids until 2 p.m. for sealed bids to furnish lignite coal in carload lots “on track” in New Rockford or delivered to the basement of the courthouse. The Commissioners voted to accept the bid of the Zenith Coal Co. at $2.86 per ton.