Cabinet photograph of Truman Elwell Rickard (1881-1948) in winter attire. In 1904, as a University of Minnesota student, Truman Elwell Rickard (composed the music and wrote the original words for "Hail! Minnesota," which became the Minnesota state song in 1945. Rickard later married Grace Larson, a daughter of L.W. Larson, a prominant early Fosston settler.
James George was born in 1819 in New York state. In 1942, he married Rhoda Pierce. He lived for a time in Ohio where he was elected to Register of Deeds for Butler County (Ohio). James George served in the military during the Mexican War. He moved to Minnesota in 1854 and settled in Oronoco township (Olmsted County) on land acquired with a government warrant issued for payment of his services during the Mexican War. In 1858 he moved to Dodge County and help found the village of Wasioja. He later became interested in recruiting soldiers for the Civil War. He served in the Second Minnesota Volunteers and raised many of the recruits for Company C of that unit. At the close of the Civil War, he returned to Oronoco. In 1870, he opened a law office in Rochester and practiced law for many years before he died in 1882.
Martha Muir (Dieter) was born in Glasgow, Scotland on August 16, 1824. When she was about eighteen years old, she immigrated to the United States with her sister's family and settled in Ormo, Wisconsin. She married Jacob Dieter on July 21, 1859 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She lost her husband during the Civil War and she died on January 17, 1904.
Kafka became Sexton (custodian) of Temple Mount Zion in 1874. He was responsible for the care of the Temple, keeping the heat on, collecting contributions, and carrying out the directives of the congregation president. Whether the pay for his service was insufficient can only be conjectured, but Kafka left his job for a post on the St. Paul Police Force.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives