Guest Post by Student Worker Noah Kroells
While here at the archives, one of
the plethora of tasks that I’ve been given is working on what is known as the
Obituary Index. This index is an extensive list of every obituary that’s been
printed in the Mankato Free Press. My fellow student workers and I’s role in
this process is going through and checking the entries to ensure accuracy.
Throughout this process I’ve found
numerous interesting people, such as once I found the founder of Mankato.
Parsons King Johnson, He founded the city in 1853 and was in actuality the
first settler. He served as the county’s first Register of Deeds and the first
Postmaster in Mankato. He even represented the county in the state legislature
from 1856-57. He also held the title of justice of the peace for a period of
fourteen years.
Another interesting person that
I’ve found was Joseph Godfrey, he was an African-American that fought alongside the
Dakota in the U.S-Dakota War. Born into slavery he and his mother were sold to
Alexis Bailly and he spent most of his childhood in the Bailly household. Once
he grew older, he was hired out to Henry H. Sibley, the future first Governor
of Minnesota, as an aide. However, he ran away due to bad treatment and joined
the Dakota. He would later move with them to the Lower Sioux Agency and even
marry a Dakota woman. In August of 1862 he would join the war, though his role and how much
he participated is disputed by conflicting accounts. He
surrendered with a group of a thousand Dakota and was the first tried by the
military commission. He would testify against 11 of the Dakota that were later hung and was able to escape execution. He was then sent to Camp McClellan in
Davenport, Iowa where he served three years of a prison sentence before being
pardoned. He left and settled on the Santee Reservation in Nebraska where he
lived out the rest of his days. (Francois, Sherick. "Godfrey, Joseph (ca. 1830-1909)." MNopeida, Minnesota Historical Society. http://www.mnopedia.org/person/godfrey-joseph-ca1830-1909 (accessed April 26, 2019).)
Check out the obituary index for your research needs.
Check out the obituary index for your research needs.
This is just a small sample of the
intriguing people that I’ve come across during my searches. But this is just
the tip of the iceberg, for any of these people could be described as
interesting for whatever reason. For as Ernest Hemingway once said, “Every
man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he
died that distinguish one man from another”.
