The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-03-25
The Story of My Grandparents
In Minnesota

father ana MS IdHllly leII tiicii iioiiiS
in Sunny Kansas to come to the I'M
settled region of Minnesota. They
made this journey in a covered wag-
on, drawn by oxen. There were many
hardships connected with this trip,
but in spite of this fact it was en-
joyable. There was the constant fear
of Indians, which they imagined they
saw in every bush. The wild tales
they heard on every side did not help
to reassure them. Every night they
went to bed they did not know wheth-
er they should awake to find them
selves free, or the captives of the
Pawnee Indians. They bought their
food in hamlets through which they
passed. Often they would run out
of supplies; and being prevented by
some mishap or other from gaining a
town, they would be forced to go to
bed hungry.
When they reached Minnesota, the
first town they went to was New Au-
burn, which was made up of four or
five families. This was shortly af-
ter the New Ulm massacre, and IN
passing through New Ulm they saw
many horrible sights. The wreckage of
the massacre had not yet been cleared
away. There were the bones of peo-
pie lying on the ground, the charred
logs of the cabins which had been
burned. They stayed in New Auburn
during the summer months, hen they
decided to move further north.
They went to Big Birch Lake, near
the present site of Grey Eagle. This
was then a wilderness with only a
few families scattered here and there.
They cut logs and built their cabin.
This house was very cold, and the
winter was long and hard one. My
grandmother and the children were
left alone in the day time, and she
kept gun ready to use in case of an
Indian attack. There was a tunnel
built from the house to the woods in
back of the house to use in case of
need.
They had been hearing stories
about the dreadful massacres of the
Indians, in the country near Osakis.
They lived in deadly fear of these at
tacks. They set up most of the night
and when they did go to bed, it was
with a Ratchet and gun by their side.
Grandfather had warned my grand
mother that if they were attacked,
she must keep perfectly quiet, take
the children, and go into the tunnel
while he would remain and fight the
Indians. One night after they had
retired they were awakened by ter
rible pounding on the door. "The
Indians of course" ran through their
minds. Grandmother gave one awful
scream but quickly became quiet
realizing the danger of the situation.
She grabbed the children and quickly
made her way to the door of the tun-
mel, while grandfather snatched up the
gun and went to the door. He called
OFT, "who's there?" and was answered
by the voice of one of his friends. He
opened the door and peace was re-
stored. Never was friend given a
more welcome reception. He had just
come through the country where the
Indians HAD been; and he told them
that the Indians had turned their
course southwark, so they had moth
ing 10 fear. They returned to bed
with easy minds, to get the rest they
had missed curing the last week.
In the spring of 1877 a number of
families were added to the small
group on the lake shore, and it was
decided to establish a post office. My
grandmother wrote notices, which she
had grandfather post on trees, to get
the people together to sign a petition
for the post office. This petition was
signed and sent to Washington.
Of course if the place was to have
a post office it must also have
name. The name of Grey Eagle was
decided upon because of the large
number of these birds around the
vicinity. The postoffice was estab-
lished; and my grandfather was ap-
pointed mail carrier, while his broth
er was the first post master.
Now that the post office was start
ed the people became more enthused
about building village. So the first
road was begun; it ran from Birch
Lake to the present site of Grey
Eagle, and then to the west toward
Sank Centre. All the men of the
community worked on this road so it
up rapidly, until the hamlet was well
connected with the parts of the coun-
try near it. A great many of the
roads today are these roads, which
have been remodeled. They were
very we'll built, considering the very
poor tools and machinry with which
they had to work, and the small
amount of help which they had.
A few months after the beginning
of the post office, the first store was
started by Sylvester Callahan. This
was a small general store where the
people could get their supplies instead
of going to town further distant
from their home.
The following year school was
built out of logs for the children Of
the community to attend. A teach
er, Sadie Trace, was secured, and
school was started. They could not
have school in the coolest part of the
winter because of the cold and of the
distance the children had to walk.
When they did have school some one
had to go around and collect the emil
dren and take them for fear of the
Indians; each morning one of the
oder persons of each family took
turns and would start out and collect
all the children and accompany them
to school. He would call for them
again at night and see that each one
got home safely. This was tiresome