History of New Rockford: Jan. 16, 2023

On the morning of September 9, 1905, Harry Hawthorn, the 14-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hawthorn, and two boys from the gypsy camp along the river went out on the water in a boat. A shotgun they had along was somehow discharged and the pellets lodged in young Hawthorn’s left leg, just below the hip, along with parts of the wooden paddle. He was taken to the Ed Martin residence and the doctors were called. They dressed the wound and decided that amputation might not be necessary. However, he passed away on September 16. The upper grades of the New Rockford School attended his funeral since he was their former schoolmate. A committee made up of Pearl Aldrich, Lynn Radtke, and Edna Stanton wrote a resolution of condolence to the parents, brothers, and sisters of their departed classmate from all the school students. [His large, gray gravestone in Prairie Home Cemetery has the name “HAWTHORN near the top left, plants carved near the top right and bottom left, and in an oval “HARRY HAWTHORN BORN MAY 1, 1891 DIED SEPT. 16, 1905.” It rests on a lichen-encrusted base.]

That day, W.C. Dresser, Mrs. H.J. Mitchell, and Mrs. W.C. Schwoebel returned from the Minnesota State Fair. Mrs. Fannie Goulette of Sheyenne was down to visit her friend Mrs. E.P. Cosgrove; the two ladies knew each other from when they lived in Glencoe, Minnesota.

On Sunday, September 10, Mrs. James B. Dafoe was taken ill at her farm home on the Sheyenne River; her health improved during the week.

At 9 a.m. on September 11, the New Rockford Schools began the new school year. Enrollment was 160. E.S. Youngdahl was the Principal and C. Lillian Lund was the Assistant Principal. Other staff members were Miss Belle Hutchinson, 2nd year, Grammar; Miss Marie Bolstad, 1st year, Intermediate; Miss Anna B. Weiss, 2nd year, 2nd and 3rd grades; and Miss Edith M. Schmidt, 2nd year, Primary.

On the morning of September 11, Frank F. Cripps died at his home about six miles southeast of town from appendicitis, after an illness of two weeks. His parents came in the previous week and were with him when he died. On September 12, they took the body to Cripps’s hometown, Perry, Iowa, for burial. He had resided in the area five or six years and left a wife and two children, who accompanied the remains to Iowa. That morning Frank Layne opened a new term at the Schwoebel School. National Bank Examiner E.S. Tyler checked out the books of the First National Bank and found the institution to be a sound one. Jacob Kehler returned from his trip to some southern and western states. Mr. and Mrs. George Treffry returned from the West Coast; they visited their daughter in Denver and went to the GAR encampment there, went to the Lewis & Clark Exposition in Portland, and passed through seven states. Tom Kellington was back from a trip “down the line” for the New Rockford Roller Mills. Miss Harriet Davidson returned to her studies at Hamline University. Mrs. F.G. Haver and Mrs. Charles Pake went to Jamestown to visit friends.

On the morning of September 12, James P. Knox of eastern Eddy County died from lung trouble. About two years prior he had fallen and the conclusion was that the disease stemmed from that incident. About three months before his death, he had an operation in Fargo, which seemed to give him some relief, but around six weeks prior he went into a decline and never recovered. He had lived in Eddy County for seven years. He was survived by his wife; seven children all under the age of fifteen; a sister, Mary Marie (Mrs. Louis) Beauclair, a brother John, who was his neighbor, and another brother Tom of Canada. He had two life insurance policies of a thousand dollars each: one with the Catholic Order of Foresters and one with the Hibernians. The funeral was on the morning of September 14 in St. John’s Catholic Church with interment in the cemetery north of town. [His large limestone gravestone topped with a cross in St. John’s Catholic Cemetery has the dates of Feb. 22, 1852-Sept. 12, 1905.]

That evening at 10:30, Mrs. Sarah A. Bacon, 74, died at the J.W. and Alice Rager residence. Her health had begun to fail about three months before. With her at the time of death were her children—Mrs. Frances Wilson, Mrs. E.B. Thomson, and Mrs. Abbie McCue—and her grandchildren—Miss Frances Thomson, Mrs. Dorothea Lewis, William Wilson, and Eddie Wilson. The funeral was at 4 p.m. September 14 in the First Congregational Church, Rev. J.R. Beebe, with the Royal Neighbors in charge. Interment was in the cemetery north of town. [Her gray gravestone in Prairie Home Cemetery has her name and “Aged 74 yrs.At Rest.” She had been born in Ohio.]

On September 13, Mrs. E.R. Davidson arrived from Bismarck to join her husband, who had come in on September 2. Erick Lindstrom returned from Goodrich, where he had gone to check on his farming interests. Mrs. Lon Fellows arrived from Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to be with her father Peter Lies, who had been ill for some time on his farm west of town; she was a cousin of Mrs. A.H. Crawford and the VonAlmen boys. Guss Gullicks was in on business. That night a little rain stopped threshing the next day.

On September 14, Miss Muriel Ramage of Worthington, Minnesota, arrived to visit her friend Mrs. C.H. Babcock and her family; Miss Ramage’s father arrived the next day. W.E. Griffith of Belvidere, Illinois, came in to visit his brother and family on their farm south of town. John M. Ducke was in from Tiffany on business. H.M. Clark went to Jamestown for a meeting of the Alliance Hail Association; he returned on September 16. Mrs. E.M. Morris and children left for Dickey, N.D., where they would meet Mr. Morris, who was a grain buyer there.

On September 14 and 15, Dr. J. Ross MacKenzie was up from Carrington on business.

The September 15, 1905, “Transcript” said Mrs. M.B. Hersey had a Washington Weeping Palm for sale.

A letter from E.S. Youngdahl, the new school Principal, informed the patrons of the school district that they might lose the high school as a classified institution due to lack of students. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction had sent a letter some time before to the school board president informing him that if the enrollment at the high school for the coming year did not reach twenty, the New Rockford High School would be dropped from the classified list. [It was rated a 3rd class high school.] Among other things, it would mean the loss of $200 in annual state aid. “The remedy lies in the encouragement of the attendance in our public schools and especially the high school.”

In “School Notes,” the boys were breaking in the new gymnasium floor. J.C. Shoop was the new janitor. There were eleven seats vacant in the high school room, a room that could seat 36.