St. Paul Mayor Latimer and the St. Paul Public Library

Way back in 1989 I had the pleasure of meeting St. Paul Mayor George Latimer. One of the large genealogy conferences (NGS) took place in St. Paul. I found out that he was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and had an interest in family history.

He accomplished many things for the benefit of St. Paul over the 14 years he served as our Mayor. He still resides in the city and has had a great honor bestowed upon him. The central St. Paul Public Library in downtown St. Paul is being renamed the George Latimer Central Library.

I love this library building and took the bus to it as a child, researched there for school projects while in high school, even went there with a special beau (that's all I will say about those visits!), and used it for family history research. 

To read a very nice article about Mayor Latimer and the library at Twin Cities.com, click here.

The St. Paul Library's website is here.

The trains are back at St. Paul's Union Depot!

National Train Day is this Saturday, May 10th. It's a great week for trains in my area. After a 40+ year absence, trains are again arriving and departing from Union Depot in downtown St. Paul. The first "new" arrival was late last evening. And late it was, by 70 minutes. 

The Depot has been beautifully refurbished. It is now a place where travelers can board local buses, MegaBus, Greyhound, Jefferson Lines, and in mid-June, the Green Line light rail opens. That line runs from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis.

The Union Depot is a place where my paternal Grandpa Earl James Stuart took my cousin Dave and me to watch the trains. Grandpa was a superintendent with the Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, & Omaha Railway. His brother LaMer Stuart and Uncles Fred and Lou (L.F.) Slaker worked for the same railroad in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A maternal Great Granduncle Sam Dow (Daoust) worked for the Omaha as did maternal Great Granduncle Thomas Hanley, a half-brother to my Grandpa Michael Hanley. I keep writing about these men in hope some descendant of theirs ever reads my blog!

Facebook has helpful pages you may not know about!

Have you spent time exploring Facebook? I love keeping in touch with my children, grandchildren, cousins, nieces, friends, colleagues, and others via this social media tool. High school graduating classes have pages as do families, historical societies, family organizations, surname groups, newspapers, school reunion groups, libraries, genealogical organizations and businesses, restaurants, plus even dogs and cats.

Some pages require that you ask to join and be accepted into the group. Others simply hope that you "like" the page. Whether you are on Facebook now or will be joining, be sure to click on that cog wheel in the upper right hand corner and then on settings where you will be able to set various privacy and notifications parameters.

I am learning and also having fun with some of these pages. I love the pages about St. Paul history. Most of my life was spent in St. Paul. A few of my favorite Facebook pages:

• Old St. Paul Minn : www.facebook.com/groups/190978714441142/

• St. Paul Revisited:  www.facebook.com/SaintPaulRevisited

• You know you're from Roseville MN when. . . .www.facebook.com/groups/187655801277036/ [All the cousins on my Stuart side grew up in Roseville, my family has shopped in Roseville forever, and I now live in Roseville.]

• Mountain View Historical Association:  www.facebook.com/MVHistory [My oldest son was born in Mountain View, California when we lived there for a year.]

• Rawdon Historical Society:  www.facebook.com/groups/162120912771/ [My Copping ancestors settled in Rawdon, Quebec, Canada in the early 1800s.] 

St. Paul's Pilgrim Baptist Church celebrates 150 years

Sasha Aslanian, a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio, has a wonderful story today about Pilgrim Baptist Church. The church is celebrating 150 year of existence. It was founded by former slaves.

Sasha relates ". . . Robert Hickman, an escaped slave from Missouri who 150 years ago led slaves traveling north on the Underground Railroad, a physical and spiritual migration that Pilgrim Baptist celebrates this month."

The name Hickman is definitely a recognizable one in St. Paul's black community. Unfortunately, when they arrived in St. Paul, members of the group were forced to separate with some going to different places in Minnesota. This sad occurrence may have solved a research mystery for me.

 " In 1866, Pilgrim Baptist Church moved to a permanent home in downtown St. Paul, making it the first predominantly black church in Minnesota. Church members celebrated with a baptism on the shore of the Mississippi."  Today the church is located on Central Avenue in St. Paul.

Robert Hickman, a 39 year old preacher is listed on the 1870 census of St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota (page 15/1097, line 6). The census entry states he was born in Missouri. Here is a view of his household on that census from Ancestry.com.

 Please click here to read the great story on MPR's website.

For more on Robert, read this website www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/hickman-robert-t-1831-1900

Tour Landmark Center, St. Paul

Oh, I wish I could take part in this free tour in downtown St. Paul. Landmark Center is a beautiful old federal courthouse building that today houses various offices and cultural entities including the Ramsey County Historical Society.

"Nooks and Crannies
Come to the Landmark Center, St. Paul, for a Nooks and Crannies tour, Sunday October 9, 2011, 1 p.m. See areas usually closed to the public, including the legendary North Tower. Free."

For more tours, classes, and other events check the October 5th issue of the Local History News from the Minnesota Historical Society. Click here to read it.

Hamm's Beer and Brewery History

Hamm's Beer -- a name synonymous with the east side of St. Paul. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran an article a couple days ago reminding me of the long history of this St. Paul institution. I don't think that I will ever get the song from the commercial out of my mind. I figured that I might find it on You Tube and here it is!

What's the genealogy connection? There is one. Years ago I was a subcontractor on a research project that involved the genealogy of the owner of a brewery in Brooklyn, New York. That was pre- online research days. I found that the beer collecting hobbyists have produced books to assist themselves and that much historical background is found in some of those. Books exist that tell about the history of beer cans, breweries, brewers, and even breweries in a given city or area. Visit Worldcat.org and type in terms such as "brewery history," been can collector," and similar search terms. Today a lot of that info is online but the books are generally better for genealogical purposes, especially those with source bibliographies.

A guide to beer cans, their provenance, and worth might detail the owners of a specific beer brand over the years. In the one I worked on, the books detailed the owners and even listed information from land tax records as to who owned the brewery.

If your ancestor wasn't the owner or brewer, your family history could still benefit from the history of a brewery where a family member worked.

Brewery Collectibles Club of America

Buffalo Brewery History

Roslyn Brewing Company (Washington State)

American Breweriana Association

A source for purchasing many such books: http://www.beerbooks.com