Note that a Location map is at the bottom of this page
Real time Calendar for your convenience
"Carl Rivinius vs. John Fast:
A Claim Contest Overshadowed by Machine Politics."
January 12, 2008, 1 P.M. Berea Lutheran Church
Presented by Jim Gessele
While researching hometown county newspapers for a recent writing project, Gessele unearthed an intriguing 1906 account of an immigrant farmer's pending loss of homestead through procedural contest. Digging deeper, he discovered the contest was only one facet of a larger storm to hit McLean County, North Dakota, in a year the state put its newly enacted local primary election law to the test. Learn about Alexander McKenzie's machine politics death grip on the North Dakota scene and the insurgency that arose against bossism. Learn how German-Russians were both players and pawns in the battle and that they were not quite as apolitical as we have assumed.
Jim Gessele is a longtime North Star Chapter member, most recently serving as Chapter President. A former German Language teacher, Gessele has translated many scholarly articles. He is past editor of the GRHS Heritage Review and has researched and written extensively for historical publications. Most notable among his projects is the translation of the memoir of Magdalina Hecker from the Black Sea village of Munchen that became "THOUGH, MY SOUL MORE BENT, Memoir of a Soviet German."
(meeting map is at the bottom of this page)
10 AM to Noon Berea Lutheran Church
Featuring the Library and ask questions of others who are there to assist in your genealogy questions.
Followed by
Through Grandfather's Eyes, Postcards are a View to the Past
by Duane Stabler
February 9, 2008 1 P.M.
The February Genealogy Workshop will feature Duane Stabler, who has a unique collection of historical postcards which he has used to give people a way to see what small towns (in Duane's case, north-central South Dakota) looked like in the early 1900's. This is the time when his grandparenets were young people and may have had the opportunity to get to town after putting in some long hard hours on the farm. Duane's collection consists of postcards from Eureka, SD, and other communities surrounding Eureka, but he also has postcards from areas where German-Russians moved after leaving the Dakotas. One such area is Canada, where Duane found relatives and learned that those families moved at a time when postcards were frequently used as a means to stay in touch. Postcards, at the turn of the 20th century, were the email of the day. They were used to just say hi, how is it going? Or they were used to indicate where people were as they traveled to do various types of work. Photographers were able to capture much of this as a result of new technology that enabled this piece of history to be recorded. The talk will be interactive since Duane will allow all to participate as he talks about the cards. Don't miss this chance to see what life might have looked like in your grandparents' younger days.
March Planned meeting
Unique Food-ways of German-Russians
by Sam Brungardt
More details to follow
Directions to the meeting location unless otherwise published
The Location of Berea Lutheran Church (were many but not all meetings are held) is shown by the start in this map. The best way is to travel down I-494 to Lyndale Ave S and then exit and travel north to W 76th Street. There is a stop light at that intersection and you need to take a left turn (going west) until reaching Emerson Ave S, turn right - the parking lot is on the north side of the church.