Re: NY Jesmer Family Research
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In reply to:
NY Jesmer Family Research
Joyce Wilson 5/03/00
You received this from John Jesmer Jr [email protected]
http://members.icq.com/6099015http://members.icq.com/6099015
---Kevin Jesmer
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> This is a rough draft of a paper that I'm working on It is an
extremely rough draft but I though you might want to read it so far....
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> The Jesmer family was involved in the "Great Western Expansion"
which occurred throughout the nineteenth century in the USA and
Canada. For three generations the Jesmer family lived in and farmed
the St. Lawrence Valley, near Massena N.Y. and Cornwall Ontario. They
were hard working French Canadian Catholic farmers. But in 1867 a
landmark event occurred. Two men, Joseph Duhaut-Jasmin and his son
Joseph A. Jesmer, along with twenty three other family members, made
decisions to leave their old lives in Upper State New York and embrace
the hard life as pioneering farmers on the western frontier. Perhaps
they were enticed by the lure of cheap farm land.Perhaps they were
encouraged by the Catholic church to move west. Whatever the reasons,
they, twenty five in all, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts,
uncles, cousins and friends, all packed their wagons with all they
could and travelled towards Minnesota. They stopped in Taylor Falls,
on the Mn/Wisc border and purchased land. They also stoped in St. Paul
and moved about 60 miles north to Greenbush township that fall.
Initially Joseph A. Jesmer purchased 160 acres of land on section 32,
about seven miles west of Princeton MN. It was an area of dense
timber. There, in Greenbush Township they built a log cabin and
established the "French Settlement". Some began to farm, some began to
work in the forest industry, others opened stores and still others
carried on to destinations further west.Many settled in the
surrounding towns like St. Cloud, Princeton, Duelm, and
Minneapolis/St. Paul.
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> Joseph A. Jesmer was born on January 5, 1832and raised in the
Massena/Raquette River area ofFranklin County, Upper State New York.He
was the eldest of ten children born to Joseph Duhaut-Jasmin and Julie
Plamandon. His father was a farmer, but early in life, Joseph decided
to work on one of the many ships that transported goods along the St.
Lawrence River.
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> He began to work on a boat on the St. Lawrence River and was
faithful to his work until he became the captain of the ship.
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> In 1846, at the age of twenty four years old, he married his first
wife, Mary Ann Robideaux at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in
Hogansburg, New York. There he began to build his large family. He and
Mary Ann had six children while living in Hogansburg: 1. Nelson
Adulphus (b. Oct 12, 1857), 2. Sidney Joseph (b. April 1, 1859), 3.
Mary Jane (b. Oct. 14, 1860), 4. Lewis (b. July 1862 5. William Edward
(b. May 1864), 6. Joseph lll (b. March 1867)
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> In 1867, at the age of thirty two, Joseph and his wife, Mary Ann and
six of their young children, as well as fifteen close relatives
decided to make to 1200 miles trek to South/central Minnesota.
According to Janet Evers, a Jesmer descendent, now dead, "The four
Jesmer brothers arrived in the area about 1867 and Nelson Grow and
Adeline Jesmer in 1869. The Robidoux's, other Grow's, DeShaw's,
Belair's, etc. came along later." There was no railway lines
established to where they were going so they would have packed their
wagons with what ever provisions they needed to help them as they
pioneered new farms. Travelling west, they would stop in Taylor Falls,
on the MN/Wisc border,and purchased land from the federal
government, who was eager to sell the land and set up new commmunities
in order to collect taxes.( According to the Bureau of Land
management: Eastern States. 7450 Boston Boulavard Springfield VA
22153-3121 att. GLO Records Access Section)... Joseph purchased
Section 32, township 36-N, Range 27W, Fraction Section: N, Meridian
4th principle, Meridian-1831 Minnesota/Wisconsin, Acres = 160, Mille
Lacs County, Document No. 499, Misc Document Number = 583, Authority=
May 20, 1862, Homested entry = 12 sat. 392. Signiture present = yes,
signiture date = 9/1/1874, Land Office = Taylor Falls.(a person can
order this document)They landed in St. Paul and stayed until the fall
when they traveled 60 miles north to Greenbush township and built a
log cabin in the densely wooded area.Simply speaking, his land is
seven miles west of Princeton. When travelling on Highway 95, turn
south on 160th steet and turn east on 20th street and you will be on
the north edge of section 32.His land was the north half of section
32.
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> When Joseph and his family arrived the area was wilderness. There
was some logging going on. Joseph came with his two brothers, Adulphus
D. Jesmer, and Neslon E. Jesmer. Between the three brothers all they
had was $1.65 and a sack of flour. Together they built a log cabin and
began the long arduous task of clearing the land and planting crops.
Nelson E. Jesmer began to work in a logging camp where he saved his
money and later opened a general store in Princeton and did very well
for himself.(His general store was a large brick building called the
NJB building. "Nelson Jesmer Building". Eventually it burnt down.
Adulphus D. stayed with Joseph and continued to farm. According the
"The History of the Upper Mississippi Valley" (p. 678) Joseph's farm
grew until it was a, "well improved farm of 320 acres." Which is one
half of a section.
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> The following are exerpts from, "History of Mille Lacs County". by
Historical Research inc. From the Depopt Museum. Released by the Mille
Lacs County Historical Society 101 south 10th Ave. Princeton Minnesota
55371 612-389-1296. Dr. Norene A. Roberts, principal investigator.
July 1985. (reference are not included in this e-mail)It was given to
better understand the world the Joseph A. Jesmer lived in.
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> "Permanent settlement in Mille Lacs area lagged behind other parts
of the state. Little developmentoccurred prior to the panic of 1857,
and the ensuing depression reduced immigration and capital spending
for the remainder of the decade. The Sioux uprising in the summer of
1862 in the southern part of the state and the fear of a similiar
Chippewa revolt in Mille Lacs County further deterred permanent
settlement.
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> It was not until after the conclusion of the Civil War that
lumbering on a large scale and significant local development occured.
Development was facilitated in 1864 when the state legislature
authorized the construction of a road from St. Cloud to lake Superior.
> By the summer of 1864 this road was complete into Mille Lacs
County.The construction of this road meant that supplies could be
regularily shipped and delivered to the lumbering camps and the few
settlements that existed in the county.The road was an immense
improvement over the frequently impassible Federally built road which
had been constructed in the mid 1850's. One effect of this rod was to
gimve St. Cloud merchants a virtual monopoly on supplies for the Rum
River lumbering areas.
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> Despite the increase in lumbering activity, in the 1860's and 1870's
Princeton remained the only place of permanent settlement within the
county. Hotels, several stores and a steam-powered sawmill were the
first buildings to be built in the 1850's. IN 1867 Benjamin Soule
built a sawmill.Three years later he also built aflour mill, powered
by water with a capacity of twenty tons a day. Within several years,
two other flour mills were operating within the city.
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> Service businesses located in Princeton and bolstered its economy.
Doctors such as E.C. Gile, from New York, were drawn to this
previously unserved area, as were shop keepers and merchants.The
county's first newspaper began publication in December, 1873, but
survived for little over two years. R.C. Dunn commenced publication of
the Princeton Union in 1876, and continued as publisher of this paper
until his death in 1918. The bank of Princeton first began operations
in 1880.
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> Another local industry established about this time was brickmaking.
Beginning with the Duncan (Dunton?) Brickyard in 1876, Princeton
became one of the largest brick producingareas in the state. This
early Princeton brick is recognizable by its distinctive
reddish-orange color. This industry was active until about 1910, when
new types of brick, new technology, and economies of scale forced all
but the largest brickyards out of business."
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> "...With the constructionin 1882 of the Minneapolis and St. Cloud
Railroad, a branch line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba,
from St. Cloud to Duluth, Mille Lacs County obtained its first direct
railroad access to the rest of the state. Transportation to the Twin
Cities was facilitated in 1886 when the St.Paul, Minneapolis and
Manitoba Railway built its line from Elk River north, through
Princeton, to the existing line...."
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> "Agricultural settlement first began in the grassland areas near
Princeton about 1855. In 1859 there were six farms in the county, with
a total of 86 improved acres. Most early farming was merely incident
to the lumber industry. Settlers opening farms left their families in
their little breakings while they spent winters and spring in the
woods and on log drives. When fall came, the remaining hardwoods could
be cut for railway ties and for cordwood. The lumber camps served as a
ready market for produce grown on these farms.
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> By 1881 the amount of cultivated land had jumped to nearly 4,000
acres, still small in comparison to counties to the west and to the
south, but a substantial gain from earlier levels. As a probable
result, less food needed to be imported from other parts of the state,
which at that time was expensive due to the relatively primitive state
of transportation facilities in the area.The crop statistics for 1881
show wheat the major crop, followed by oats, corn, and barley and rye
in small amounts. Potatoes were a major crop as well. Other products
included sugar cane, tobacco, wool, butter, cheese and honey. At this
time, agricultural production was almost exclusively concentrated in
the southern townships of Princeton, Milo, and Greenbush.
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> The demise of lumbering in Mille Lacs county neatly corresponds to
the largest period of agricultural growth in the county. Beginning in
the 1890's and continuing into the first decade of this century many
of the cutover lumber lands and hardwood forests were cleared and
either planted or used for pasture, depending on the soil conditions.
Dairy farming increased in importance, as transportation advances
allowed milk and dairy products to be shipped to the Twin Cities.
Creameries, ussually organized on a co-operative basis, were
established in nearly all the communities in the county. Potatoes
continued to be a leading crop in the southern part of the county,
reaching a production peak of 661,494 bushels in 1919. Wheat
production peaked in 1899. It declined following the development of
large-scale wheat producing farms in the western part of the state and
in the Dakotas."
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> According to a letter written by Janet Evers the people associated
with the Jesmers were either relatives or friends. "They were like a
clan and didn't like outisders like the Minnesota Swedes". She
remembers going to her grandparent's farm and seeing all of the french
people by themselves on the lawn speaking french. She stated that the
New York French stuck together for so many years, marrying back and
forth. She stated that the first two generations that came to
Minnesota did the same thing.
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> Joseph A. Jesmer's life was not without tragedy. At 42 years old a
baby died when it was only two days old. At 55 years old his first
wife, Mary Ann died of cancer. At 56 his father, Joseph Duhaut-Jasmin,
who apparently followed him to Minnesota, died on February 2, 1888.
And at 57 years old his teenage daughter, Ida died on April 13, 1889,
at the age of fourteen.
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> But despite of these tragedies, Joseph went on with his life. He
began the long task seeing his 13 children marry. Nelson Adulphus
married in 1885 and again around1891. Sidney married 12/25/1890,
Mary Jane married 10/28/1882, Lewis 1/14/1895, William on 1/25/1894,
Joseph on 1/14/1895, Eunice on 10/6/1892, Eugenia on 1/3/1898. (The
rest of Joseph's children married after his death.) On March 31, 1891,
Joseph himslef married a woman named Rose Mallotte. So between 1880
and 1898, Joseph had two new born children (Luella b. dec 22, 1880)
and Hubert( b. April 15, 1884.)He buried his teenage daughter Ida
(April 13, 1889) and his first wife, Mary Ann (July 26, 1889), and his
father, Joseph Duhaut-Jasmin (Feb 2, 1888). He married off seven of
his children and he, himself married his second wife, Rose Mallotte
(on April 1, 1891), not to mention he became thegrandfather to
approximately 19 grandchildren. One can imagine all of the
christenings that this French Catholic family attended. All of these
factors, coupled with the daily hard work that farm life demands, and
the fact that he would have sent many of his children out west, it is
no wonder that he died of a stroke on September 28, 1901, at 68 years
old. (no disrespect intended). The point that I am trying to make is
that Joseph A. Jesmer lived a very busy life, both in his early years
as a pioneer farmer and in his later years as a father, and
grandfather. There was no time to despair or be depressed about the
tragedies in his life.
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> Joseph's obituary could be found in the Princeton paper. It reads,
"Princeton, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota. Thursday, October 3,
1901...A Greenbush Pioneer" ...Death of Joseph Jesmer at three score
and ten...One of the pioneers of this section..close of a useful life.
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> Joseph Jesmer, of Greenbush, who sufferedan appopleptic stroke
last Tuesday, mention of which was made in the Union last week, died
at his home last Friday at 2 a.m. He never regained consciosness, the
attack affecting the whole system and proving fatal in a short time.
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> The funeral was held on Monday at the Greenbush church at 10:30a.m.,
and was attended by a large number of relatives and friends. Rev.
Father Levings said mass, and the sermon was preached by Father
George, of Pittsburg, Pa. The interment was in Greenbush cemetery.
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> Among the relatives from a distance who were present at the funeral
were: Joseph Jesmer jr., of Norway, Michigan. A.D. Jesmer of Park
Rapids, Minn., Miss Libbie Grow, of St Paul, Joe Lafontisee, of St.
Paul, brother of Mr. Jesmer's widow. And E.G. Waldhoff, of North
Branch, son-in-law of Mr. Jesmer.
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> Joseph Jesmer was born in Franklin county, New York, in 1831, when
that region was a wilderness, and with the other members of of the
family assisted his parents in clearing out a habitation in that new
country. Young Jesmer left the farm when he became a young man and
went to boat in on the St. Lawrence river, which occupation he
followed until he bacame the captain of a boat. In 1867 in company
with his wife and six children , his brothers A.D. and N.E. Jesmer he
started west, landing in St. Paul and coming the fall of the year to
this section, and locating on what is now Greenbush. Then the region
was a wilderness of dense timber, and they hewed out a cabin of logs
for their future home. His two brothers were not married, and the
three brothers, after pruchasing a sack of flour, had $1.65 between
them. A.D. Jesmer remained with Joseph while the other brother, now
the prosperous merchant of Princeton, came to the frontier logging
campand worked for Wm. F. Dunham for some time. Joseph and A.D.
remained in Greenbush, where Joseph remained until his death. His
first wife was Mary Ann Robideaux, whom he married beforecoming
west. She bore him fourteen children, ten of whom are still living.
His wife died nine years ago, and seven years ago he married Rosa
Mallotte (widow) of St. Lawrence county, New York, who survives him.
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> Besides N.E. Jesmer, of Princeton, there is another brother Moses,
who lives in Denver. A few years ago A.D. Jesmer moved to Park Rapids
Minn., where he now resides. There are three sisters living, Mrs.
Peter Robideaux, Mrs. N.A. Grow, (widow) both of Greenbush, and Mrs
Mina Parsian, residing in Port Huron, Mich.
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> Mr. Jesmer was one of the most enterprising and progressive farmers
of Greenbush and during his long residence there always took great
interest in the welfare of the town. He never sought public honors,
perferringto perform his duty as a common but faithful and loyal
citizen. He belonged to a class of good, sturdy pioneers to whose
untiring energy the progressive West owes a great deal." (The obituary
was received from Sue Kirkey: geneologist)
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> Rose, Joseph's second wife, had been married to Joe Mallotte. They
came to Minnesota in 1883. But her husband, Joe, died on Sept. 28,
1889. But she married Joseph A. Jesmer on April 1, 1891 and became the
step mother to about six of his children who were still living at
home. They remained married for nine and one half years until Joseph
died of a stroke on Sept. 28, 1901. Later Rose lived with her step
son, Sidney Jesmer in Princeton MN., until her death in 1911.)
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> The following is the obituary of Rose Jesmer, Joseph A. Jesmer's
second wife... "Death of Mrs. Rose Jesmer. Mrs. Rose Jesmer died at
the home of her son-in-law, Sidney Jesmer, in this village at 10
o'clock on Tuesday evening , June 27. Death was caused by a
complication of ailments superinduced by Bright's disease. Mrs Jesmer
would have lived to 73 had she lived until August 3 of this year.
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> Funeral services will be held at the Catholic church, Princton,
tommorrow morning and the interment will be in the Greenbush Catholic
cemetery. Rev Father Levings will conduct the services.
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> Mrs Jesmer was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, on August 3,
1838, and on February 2, 1863, was married to Joseph Mallotte at
Hogansburg N.Y.. Shortly after her marriage she and her husband went
to Canada. In 1883 the family came to Minnesota and settled on a farm
in Greenbush. Her husband died on October 30, 1886, and on April 1,
1891, she married Joseph Jesmer, who died on September 28, 1901. Since
his death she made her home with her children and step children. She
leaves five children. Mrs., Sidney Jesmer, Princeton, Mrs. Louis
Jesmer, Baldwin, Louis Mallotte, Greenbush, Joseph Mallotte, and Mrs.
Wm. Paul, Marble Minn. There were no children by the second husband.
Ten step children, two brothers, and fourteen grandchildren also
survive her.
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> Mrs. Jesmer was one of the kindest of women, loved by all who knew
her. She lived her life in accord with the golden rule - doing unto
others as she would be done by. Her step children loved her as they
did thier own mother, for she proved worthy of their affection. Her
children, step children, and hosts of friends will greatly miss this
true christian woman." (the obituary was sent by Sue
Kirkey..geneologist)
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> Joseph was buried with his wife Mary Ann and his daughter Ida, at
the same gravesite in Greenbush Catholic Cemetery, on section 32,
Greenbush Township, Mill Lacs County MN. ( The cemetery is about seven
miles west of Princeton MN, off of Hwy 95. Tune south on 160th st. and
proceed about 3/4 of a mile. Turn east on Apple road and go about 1/2
mile. Turn north on 155th and go 1/4 mile. Turn south on 20th for a
few hundred yards and the cemetery is on your right.
(036/27/32/NEN?))The cemetery is a tiny cemetery,in the middle of
section 32, with about 20 headstones.It is difficult to find as it is
a tiny obscure cemetery and nobody seems to know where it is. Most of
the headstones are old and faded. Some are of new marble. Joseph's
gravestone is white, not marble. It is about four feet tall, thin,
four sided in an oblisk shape. Each side is a tall thin cross. On the
north side is Joseph, on the west is Mary Ann, and on the south is
Ida. The other side is blank. On the west side, near the edge if the
cemetery, is a small white faded gravestone. It is one foot high and
rounded. The top of the stone is faded and can not be read. The bottom
says, "the children of J&M.A. Jesmer1871? and 1879." The dates are
not easy to to read. Could this be the stone of their two day old
baby? The grave yard is mowed and well kept. There is a sign with
black lettering saying, "Greenbush Catholic Cemetery" with black
crosses on either side of the word "Catholic". The cemetery is
surrounded by by a wire fence. There are a few houses around, the
owners of which farm 60-145 acres. There are many trees and fields of
corn or potatoes.There are two barns, probably built in the 1940's,
but none of the origional buildings appear to exist. I took note that
Joseph was buried with his first wife and not with his second wife.
Could this be a Catholic custom or practice? Is Rose Jesmer buried
with he first husband, Joe? But it is beautiful that he was buried
with his first wife.
Thank you, -John
[email protected]
and my ICQ is 6099015
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