History of New Rockford: Dec. 9, 2019

The Nov. 14, 1902, “New Rockford Transcript” stated that Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Flater were settled in San Diego for the winter.

The upper story of the Patch Block was completed and the carpenters were finishing quarters for the Buck & Couch Drug Store. Prader & Goss had just installed a new lighting plant for their general store and also a modern cash register.

A.A. Pettit was a new salesman at Mulvey Hardware. Lawrence Butler had taken a position with Buck & Couch Drug Store and would learn the pharmacy trade.

Skating on the James River was “the finest it has been for many years.”

The latter part of the previous week Mrs. R.P. Allison returned from a lengthy visit with her son E.G. Allison and family in Jamestown. B.G. Allen returned from Knox, where he had gone at the beginning of the fall.

On Nov. 14, John T. West came in from the east end. John M. Ducke, John Hogan, and William Cornish were in from Tiffany. James O’Connell left to attend business college in Minneapolis. Robert Stoppe left to visit his old home, Granite Falls, Minn.

On Nov. 14 and 15, the Eddy County Sunday School Association Convention was held in New Rockford at the Congregational Church. Rev. John Orchard, general field worker for North Dakota and Montana, lectured on the evening of Nov. 14.

On Nov. 14, E.M. Thomson went out horseback riding when his horse slipped on the frozen ground and fell. Thomson’s leg was pinned between the horse and the ground. Thomson extricated himself, but limped for the next few days. That evening the Ladies’ Aid of Tiffany sponsored a Calico Carnival in the Tiffany School, with a supper in a dining car adjoining the building. Tickets were 25 cents. All ladies were to wear a calico dress and bring a fine needle and coarse thread; all men were to wear a calico tie. Any failure to wear the items would lead to a 15-cent fine for ladies and a 25-cent fine for gentlemen. A 5-cent fine would be imposed on anyone who did not converse. The 8 p.m. supper was followed by the program which was followed by the sale of calico and other items. With the president being ill, the vice president Mrs. M.E. Tarbell acted as the emcee. The event was “very successful” with $133 being raised toward furnishing a church after enough money was subscribed to build one.

On Nov. 15 John Gust Mobag [sp.?] and Anna Ukkelbag [sp.?] were married by Judge W.C. Beardsley in his judicial parlors; they would live on his farm eight miles east of Barlow. P.J. Hester had a closing out sale of all his personal property at Rood’s Livery Barn on Chicago Street South. S.P. Pisel bought a horse at the Hester sale. The next day he hitched it to the back of his wagon and started for home. In front of the Hotel Davies, the horse suddenly reared up and dropped over dead.

Gust Larson and Christ Berge were over from Twist. Granville Egbert returned from Minneapolis. P.J. Boyle was in from near McHenry on business. Sidney Hewes was in from Tiffany. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Nieman were in shopping. Peter Fried, Jr., of Jamestown came up to visit his sister Mrs. J.L. Prader, Jr., and her family at their farm southeast of town; he returned home on Nov. 25. Theodore Doyen was up from the Barlow area on business and to attend the Catholic Fair. Perry and Charles Blomquist were also up from their Barlow farm to attend the Catholic Fair. Also attending were Mr. and Mrs. Pat Byron of Barlow. That night a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Brownell.

On Nov. 17, McHenry merchant R.J. Howden was in New Rockford for the Masonic meeting; he returned home on Nov. 19. Mr. and Mrs. Ole Golson were over from Freeborn to shop. George and William Burnett were in town. J.R. Engberg was up from Barlow. W.C. Bowers came in from his farm. J.L. Pisel left for a winter in Roxbury, Kan., where he planned to be married on Nov. 26. John McNally went to his old home Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

On Nov. 17 and 18, George Lovell was in from eastern Eddy County.

From Nov. 17 to 19, Dr. T. MacLachlan was over from McHenry. M. Mattson, Jr., was in Fargo on business.

From Nov. 17 to Nov. 22 or 23, there were Union Revival Services every evening in the Congregational Church; Rev. C.S. Mason, field evangelist for the Florence Crittenden Mission, assisted the local pastors.

On Nov. 18, Jesse College was in on business. Barlow merchant Charles Hansch was in New Rockford. W.J. Morris was in from Plainview. William Chambers left for his home in West Concord, Minn., after a summer in Eddy County. Mrs. E.M. Stitzel and children went to visit their old home in Michigan; Mr. Stitzel accompanied them to Jamestown.

On Nov. 18 and 19, Louis Mortinson [Lewis Mortensen?] was up from Barlow on business.

On Nov. 19 Nels Faar came in from his farm. John E. Setz came in from eastern Eddy County. J.W. Young was in from near Tiffany. L.A. Arbogast came in from Duluth to check on his elevator business. Charles Hatch and Erve Spracher came in on business. Dick Trembly came in from his Larrabee farm. Emmett Searing, who had a chair in the Stanton Barber shop, left for Butte, Mont.

On Nov. 20, David Herron, John Dutee, and John Seckinger were in from eastern Eddy County. Seckinger claimed he had received $5 more for his load of grain than he would have received in any other close market; he could also buy his winter supplies in New Rockford 20% cheaper than in any other area town. James Hackney returned from Souris, where he had been a grain buyer. Mrs. O.W. West came down from Velva. Mr. and Mrs. John Ducke, Sr., and their daughter Mrs. Maggie Riley and family and Mrs. James Wiltsie and family left for San Diego. Mr. and Mrs. H.W. Clark, A.D. and Alva Tomlinson, and Fred Pietszch were planning on going later. In the afternoon Joseph Uetz and Martha Mathis were married by judge W.C. Beardsley at his residence; the couple would live on the P.J. Hester farm four miles south of New Rockford. That evening Mrs. R.R. Woodward, Mrs. W.E. Radtke, and Miss Nell Davidson were initiated into the Eastern Star Lodge.

The Nov. 21, 1902, “New Rockford Transcript” said New Rockford had a telephone connection to Eden, a rural post office about nine miles northeast of where Hamberg would be located in 1910.

An announcement said that Rev. S.E. Ryan, for several years the presiding elder of the Jamestown District of the Methodist Church and then a pastor in Casselton and Larimore, had accepted a call to serve the Bates Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis. Rev. Ryan had preached in New Rockford in 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1899.

Notices: Physicians & Surgeons Dr. Chas. MacLachlan, Stimson Ave. West, telephone 43b; Dr. C.J. McNamara, Mattson Hotel, telephone 8a; offices in the Masonic Block over Buck & Couch’s drug store, telephone 43a; Dr. G.D. Murphy, physician & surgeon, office and residence over Babcock & Bucklin’s drug store, telephone 26a.

An ad—E.H. Martin Dray Line, telephone 50A. Another ad—City Coal and Wood Yard, R.M. Kennedy, prop.

Steam heating plants were being installed in the J.M. Patch Block, the Bank of New Rockford, and Rodenberg & Schwoebel’s.

Mrs. E.S. Severtson was better after several bad days with tonsillitis.

The previous week, Andrew Ohrner lost a bunch of keys and was hoping for their return. Mrs. O.E. Couch returned from a visit with her parents near Sibley Butte in Burleigh County. Miss Olive Couch of Bismarck arrived to visit her brother Orley Couch and his wife Sadie.