History of New Rockford: May 16, 2022

On Jan. 10, 1905, the Eddy County Commission appointed W.C. Dresser as vice president and Dr. Charles MacLachlan as superintendent of the county board of health, and C.J. Maddux and Dr. Charles MacLachlan to serve as commissioners of insanity and to act with the county judge as a board of insanity.

On Jan. 10, Miss Nora Kennedy came up from Fargo for a visit. That afternoon, Berthal Roush and Rose Farrell, both of the Tiffany area, were married by Father W.A. Gallahue; they would live on the A.F. Prouty farm southeast of town. The annual meeting of the First National Bank stockholders was held; all the officers were re-elected and a dividend of $1,000 was declared and added to the surplus. President Thomas L. Beiseker and Vice President E.K. Volkman attended. That evening, students at the Phillips Academy put on a music program to accompany the lecture: “How the World Looks to a Blind Man” by Carlton College graduate, Dr. Alexander Cameron, in the assembly room; the audience was large, but not as large as it should have been, according to the “Transcript.”

From Jan. 10 to 12, Walter Immel was over from Fessenden to visit his sister, Mrs. H.G. Hudson and family.

On Jan. 11, the Eddy County Commission voted to pay the following bills: $6, J.R. Winslow, milk for Mrs. Cahill, county poor; $45, Mrs. A.G. Gardner, Register of Deeds’ clerk for Dec.; $45, Mrs. W.C. Schwoebel, Auditor’s clerk, Dec.; $40, James Brosseau, janitor’s salary, Dec.; $25 and $15, C.J. Maddux, appointed to represent Van Kuren and Howard Smith, respectively, in district court; $17, New Rockford Light and Water Improvement Co., light for Dec.; $90.82, Powers Elevator Co., coal for court house; $37, Dr. Charles MacLachlan, attending to county poor; $16.75, Prader & Goss, supplies for county poor and court house; $65.95, Buck & Couch, supplies for county poor; $14, E.P. Cosgrove, fastening courthouse storm windows.

On Jan. 11, Stephen Walsh was in from Tiffany on business. Frank R. Ponto was down from the Sheyenne Valley on business and to visit. That evening, a small black lady’s purse containing a ten dollar bill and some coins was lost between the A.H. Crawford residence and the Hotel Mattson.

A report on Jan. 11, showed the following: The Bank of New Rockford, Ernest S. Severtson, cashier, had resources (assets) of $172,294.28, down $3,857.72 from the $176,152.00 of Nov. 11, 1904. Checking accounts amounted to $92,562.45, down $6,947.96 from the $99,510.41 of Nov. 11. The Jan. 11 statement of the First National Bank of New Rockford, James E. Hyde, cashier, showed resources (assets) of $84,951.44, up $2,968.36 from the $81,983.08 of Nov. 11. Checking accounts were $22,402.15, down $3848.54 from the $26,250.69 of Nov. 11.

On Jan. 12, the Eddy County Commission selected the following as a jury list: A.J. Anderson, Anton Anderson, Chris Anderson, William Anderson, Tom Ashby, Thomas Ashland, M.E. Babcock, Rev. J.R. Beebe, Osmund Benson, S.O. Bervick, D. Bohmbach, Patrick Boyle, W.T. Buck, John Burgeson, J.E. Cady, Jerry Carroll, W.J. Carroll, Charles Conant, John Debilt, William Ducke, J.L. Everson, O.W. Eldred, J.W. Ellingson, Gunder O. Flaagus [Flaagan?], John Geiger, Laverne Goodrich, Christ Guler, Peter Guler, Herman Hallquist, P.P. Hallquist, Philip Hammer, Hans Hanson, L.C. Hanson, G. Hellmeg, F.E. Johnson, Martin Johnson, T.G. Kellington, Peter Kline, Christ Kvale, D. Labhardt, George Lake, Alex Lawson, Andrew M. Lee, S.O. Lee, C.C. Lyford, L.E. Lyman, Anton Martinson, Lewis Martinson [Mortensen?], John Mattson, A.P. Melberg, John Misel, W.J. Morris, John Myers, Andrew O. Nelson, Nels Nelson, James Newville, Charles Nieman, G. Noraker, Daniel W. O’Keefe, Iver Olson, O.P. Olson, Ole Pehrson, George F. Putnam, H.F. Rodenberg, Ole Sedahl, Ole Skustad, J.V.N. Sundberg, Otto Torkelson, Lars D. Tweed, and P.H. West.

On Jan. 12, Conrad Taverna was in on business. C.H. Babcock (returned Jan. 14), George M. Pike (returned Jan. 16), J.A. McAuley (accompanied by his wife), all of New Rockford, and Dr. William M. Bartley and A.H. Johnson of Sheyenne went to Fargo to take various degrees of the Shrine [Masons]. E.S. Severtson (returned Jan. 16), S.G. Severtson (returned Jan. 16), Dr. Charles MacLachlan, and Frank E. Reed (returned Jan. 16) accompanied them. Druggist O.E. Couch returned from Bismarck.

The Jan. 13, 1905, “Transcript” said that Sheriff George F. Fahrer had received a couple of excellent crayon pictures sketched by Sam Clark, an artist friend of Fahrer’s from Lancaster, Ohio; the pictures illustrated a favorite bear story the sheriff was fond of telling.

Earlier in the week the thermometer hovered around -30.

In School Notes, the members of the Ancient History class debated the question, “Resolved, That Caesar was a Greater General Than Hannibal,” on the afternoon of Jan. 12. The eighth grade was studying Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Great Stone Face.” Katherine West had entered the third grade. Jessie Hammer, John Cahill, and George Ramberget had entered the seventh grade. Several members of the first grade had stopped coming to school because of the severe weather, but would return in the spring. John F. Goss visited the upper grades on Jan. 12.

H.J. Mitchell was confined to his home part of the week due to symptoms of appendicitis. Mr. and Mrs. William Norton of Kidder County were visiting J.H. Lake on the George Schwoebel farm south of town; Mr. Lake had been ill for some time, but was improving.

E.R. Davidson, cashier at the Eddy County State Bank, had taken a position with the State Auditor’s office in Bismarck that was to last two years.

On Jan. 13, the Misses Nettie and Mary Jensen went to Flora, N.D., to visit their parents. Erick Lindstrom went to Sheyenne to serve as cashier, while S.G. Severtson was in Fargo; he returned on Jan. 17.

On Jan. 14, Frank Alderman came over from Lakota to visit his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Dutee. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Logan returned from their Minnesota trip. Dewey Alexander returned from Bowdon, where he had been a grain buyer that fall. Martin Johnson was in from Plainview.

On the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 15, Barlow businessman Arne Tausen drove up to visit in New Rockford. That afternoon, Mrs. A.C. Buck drove up from Barlow, visited with friends, and returned that evening.

On Jan. 16, W.C. (William) Hayes, 60 years, 17 days, died of cirrhosis of the liver after being ill for several months. His funeral was at the First Congregational Church on Jan. 18, Rev. J.R. Beebe, and under the auspices of the Century Lodge, A.F. and A.M. #60, with interment in the cemetery north of town. [His grave and its gravestone in Prairie Home Cemetery, Wm. C. Hayes 1844-1905, are next to that of his wife, Lucy A. Hayes, Oct. 19, 1849-May 26, 1914. He had arrived in 1882 and lived in the Tiffany area.] He left a wife and one daughter, Mrs. J.M. Shannon. Mrs. Hayes’s brother, Charles Williams, had arrived during her husband’s last illness and remained after the funeral. One of her relatives, Mr. LaMotte, the owner of a hotel in McHenry, and merchant R.J. Howden from the same town attended the funeral.