STRONG FAMILY ASSOCIATION MEETING IN DOVE HILL MANSION AUGUST 10, 2013

 

Strong Family Association of America has been in existence for many years, but I joined just recently, Its 2013 annual meeting was hosted by my first cousins once removed,Todd, Dick and Ford Nicholson in White Bear Lake and St. Paul, MN . We arranged our summer itinerary so we could attend. We parked the RV at an Elks Lodge in Stillwater MN, an easy commute to the venues for the meetings.   The Friday evening function at the White Bear Yacht Club was attended by 27 and the Saturday dinner by over 30 at Dove Hill Mansion in St. Paul.  It was great to socialize with other descendents of Elder John Strong who migrated to America in 1836.

The history of the mansion is interesting and uplifting. The mansion was built by railroad tycoon James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad, as a wedding present to his son Louis in 1903. An addition was built on its front 1913. When Dick and Nancy Nicholson bought it, perhaps 15 years ago, there was no furniture and the home and it had suffered deferred maintenance for many years. Since then, they have completely restored the house including furnishing it with period furniture putting up period wallpaper, cleaning and resealing all of the woodwork, and doing everything necessary to restore it to its former grandeur. They installed a kitchen on the first floor for the family and completely restored the large kitchen in the basement for use by caterers, complete with a restored dumb waiter which carries food, etc. to the second floor ballroom which they use for large family parties and, more often, are loaned, without charge, to various non-profit organizations for fund raising dinners.

Dick and Nancy Nicholson live in the less formal back of the house, which has four floors and is serviced by a large elevator.  This includes a complete swimming pool and exercise area in the basement (original to the house) along with the caterer’s kitchen and a large storage area.

The business meeting was held in the large dining room. The historian/webmaster, Ed Barnard, fourth from the left, asked for help in digitizing lots of data about the Strong family in the 24 shelf-feet of archive files he has.

At the head of the table were the secretary, Helen Stoutnar and President, Bob Cihla. The next gentleman is a member of the board of directors. Interestingly, just four of us at the business meeting had the surname Strong!

 

Here are most of the members who attended the Saturday night dinner at Dove Hill Mansion.

Eighteen in attendance were descended from Elder John’s son Ebenezer  or were married to Ebenezer's descendents. My first cousin, Abby Jane Nicholson Hodges, is in the center of the first row. She and I were the oldest ones there descended from Elder John and son Ebenezer.

These attendees descended from another son, Jedediah, if memory serves me.

We had a nice dinner in the ballroom. The speaker is third from the left on the subject of  the mansions along St. Paul’s Summit Avenue and why they survived.

Here is the youth table, all Hodges and Nicholsons.

 

 

CHIPPEWA FALLS’ COOK-RUTLEDGE MANSION

 

We parked at a small RV park near Chippewa Falls WI for 5 days and toured the area, including Eau Claire. The weather was fine, and the park even had free wifi!

But before we take you to the mansion, we must recognize that Chippewa Falls the home of Leinenkugel Brewery.

Lots of folks were touring the brewery and visiting the gift ship/tasting area on this sunny day,

 

The mansion was built in 1873 and extensively remodeled by its second owner in 1887. An interior decorator guided  the remodeling, resulting in very nice  millwork and trim, decorated ceilings, and fancy wallpaper.  It has 5 rooms on the first floor and  three bedrooms with servant’s quarters on the second .

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This is a small part of the nice flower garden.

   Here is the coal burning fire place in the family sitting room. I have lost a little weight but have a ways to go. Note the image of the photographer in the mirror!

 

The parlor is reserved for special occasions and guests.

The silver platter bears the name Rutledge, and his picture appears over the desk. The third family to occupy the mansion had at least one member of the family living there for 58 years! Mabel Cook sold it to the Chippewa County Historical Society in 1973.

The ceiling has a decorative design as  well as  the  trim  at the top of the wall. The  horizontal board is for hanging pictures without using nails which would crack the plaster wall. The lighting fixtures were either powered by gas or by gas orelectricity as electricity then was not reliable.

The  stained glass window is at the landing of the grand staircase.

This desk is in a bedroom. Note the wall paper.

The doll (at the left) is a life sized model of the lady of the house so it could be sent to the dressmaker in lieu of the lady spending time there.

 

One of the bedrooms with the highly patterned wallpaper and ceiling treatment.

 

Master bedroom

OLD WORLD WISCONSIN

We  met Waukesha friends Dale and Mary Graves on July 30 for a fine afternoon at Old World Wisconsin, a project of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Original buildings from areas of Wisconsin have been relocated to replicate various ethnic settlements as they existed in the1800s. Many of the areas had costumed docents to talk about the specifics of the area.

 

This lady told us that this building was made of cross sections of branches of trees left after the timber cutters had cut the best trees. the slabs were set in mortar. This particular building was constructed as a small home for parents who could no longer work. It was located near their childrens’ farmstead so the children could look after them.

The docent demonstrated hand threshing of wheat – beaten with a stick to separate the wheat from the straw. Then the straw is raked to one side and the wheat swept up.

 

Here the blacksmith lets the girl turn the handle powering  the fan to bring the fire temperature to 3000 degrees.

This docent explains the products carried in the general store.

These buildings represent the farmstead of the German farm.

SIGHTSEEING AROUND SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

 

Jo and I took a ride one day west of Beloit to Brodhead and  Monroe in the heart of the cheese making country.  (The pictures are taken by a Canon A1100IS 12.2 mp camera.)

Fortunately the Brodhead Railroad Museum was open while we were in the area. Above and below are two views of a Fairbanks Morse switcher locomotive made in Beloit while I lived there.

 

Downtown Monroe - The store at the white sign reading Baumagartners sells cheese in front and beer and cheese sandwiches in back.

The white sign behind me modestly claims “Through this portal are served the best cheese sandwiches in the world.”  When visiting, I order a swiss on rye bread with horseradish mustard. GREAT!

 

And here is the bar area. Sorry that the signs are not readily legible.

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Painted farm animal statues decorate the sidewalks.

 

 

Downtown Monroe has the traditional square in which the county courthouse is located. This one still is in use, including the courtroom.

I asked one of the locals where he buys his cheese, and he referred us to this store a few miles from Monroe. The cheese is delicious!

BELOIT VISIT, WM. B. RESEARCH

We spent 8 days in late July parked at the farmstead of Peter and Sue Hanewall. I spent much of my time on weekdays doing research on my great-grandfather, William B. Strong. I am digging up facts on his life in Beloit before and after his railroading career to assist Tom Hoback and his professional researcher in assembling facts for a book on Wm B. Tom plans to write. So far I have gotten information from Beloit College, Beloit Public Library archives, Beloit Historical Society, Beloit City Engineer, Rock County Historical Society, Rock County Register of Deeds, Beloit Township  and Turtle Township.

Our hosts, Peter and Sue Hanewall.

In the office of the Beloit College Historian I learned that Wm B attended one semester of the Beloit College Academy in 1851 when he was 14. Classes were held in this building, Middle College, then the only structure on the campus.

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Four Indian mounds are located on Partridge Farm, the farm Wm B assembled  on the outskirts of Beloit after he retired as President of the AT&SF Railroad in 1889. They are listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Many farmers have leveled these kinds of mounds to create more acres of farmable land, but Wm B did not. The mound above is in the shape of a turtle with a very long tail. That below is readily visible due to its height.

When I lived in Beloit I had the impression that the Strong Building was named for Wm B. Not so, I discovered. It was built in 1929 by his son, Fred Moore Strong. Wm B died in 1914. Wm B may have bought the land on which the present Strong Building stands with a frame multi-story building on it.

The Strong Building is located at State and Grand in the heart of downtown Beloit.

Wm B provided the money to build and furnish the Gridley Congregational Church, next to the cemetery for which he donated 15 acres of land for expansion. It is located at Strong and Partridge Avenues.

Wm B also created three subdivisions for homes near the cemetery and church.

Here is the Strong Family plot in the cemetery. Wm B’s grave stone is in the lower left. My parents and other close relatives are buried on the opposite side of the Strong Monument.

HIGHLIGHTS OF TWO MONTHS IN COLONA

 

An early stop in our summer travels is the Indian Trails RV park in Colona on the outskirts of the Quad Cities  (Moline and  Rock Island IL and Bettendorf and Davenport IA just across the Mississippi) Jo’s 95 year old mother lives in the area, as well as her sister Arla and her descendents. Jo’s sister  Barbara and husband  Mike Williams, who live near us in Mesa, also spend much of the summer here in their fifth wheel trailer. Our stay this year was two months, ending on July 19.  I was gone about 10 days to join Cousin Ken in the Canada fishing trip which is the subject of another blog. While in Colona  I had a hernia develop and had laparoscopic  surgery with mesh, extending our stay a few weeks.

 

Twice during our stay part of the park flooded. During the first flood we were parked in a low area so that we had to wade through 5 inches of water to get from the car to the motor home. The second storm dropped 4.3 inches of water in the area.

 

 

Here  sisters Arla, Barbara and Jo are enjoying happy hour in the Williams’ 5th wheel   

  While I was recovering  from my hernia surgery, management of the park was kind enough to let us park our motor home next to the Williams’ 5th wheel for almost a month.

Below is the view from the other end of our RVs. This spot did not flood!