When I lived in Florida, I always thought of Minnesota as home. Now living in Minnesota, I just want the weather of Florida.
Last week I had an opportunity to participate in a seminar funded in part by the Ford Foundation at the Poynter Institute, located in St. Petersburg, Florida. I joined 30 people from around the United States, including international participants from a mixture of journalism and non-journalism backgrounds, now participating in the media, such as blogging, in a newly coined term referred to as the Fifth Estate.
I’ll tell you more about the Fifth Estate and what I have learned in upcoming blogs.
If you are wondering about the music in my video, it can be found at http://podsafeaudio.com or go directly to artist Robin Stine’s page from her â€Day Dream†album. The music is Creative Commons License, meaning the artist keeps all rights, but you, the blogger, can use the work by giving credit to the artist. Learn more about Creative Commons License is if you are blogger.
By Jannet Walsh
Murdock, Minnesota
Gopher Prairie, Minnesota is a fictitious town modeled after the late Minnesota author Sinclair Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Center, Minnesota. You can board a train to Gopher Prairie found only in the book “Main Street” at the nearest library. Try to read a digital version, available free online or a Google book is also a great way to read.
My mother Margaret (Glieden) Walsh, of Litchfield, currently residing near Superior, Wisconsin, told me stories from her childhood growing up on a farm near Brooten, Minnesota about not being allowed to read Lewis’ “Main Street†as characters in the book were believed to based on local residents near by Sauk Centre.
“It is true that Lewis’ fiction often contains similarities to Lewis’ own life,†according to The Sinclair Lewis Society website.
You might want to learn more about Sinclair Lewis from an online Google book by Mark Schorer.
If you have been following my blog, it has moved from Area Voices to Staff Blogs at wctrib.com.
The change will be easy if you enjoy reading about my journey of moving from Florida and returning to live in the rural community of Murdock, Minnesota. You can find my blog by just going to wctrib.com, look under Staff Blogs found in the center of the home page or go directly to http://mnnativedaughter.areavoices.com.
I’m now working at the West Central Tribune as a reporter and photographer part-time. The job started this week and I’m very excited to return and live in area my family has lived for at least 133 years. My family of my father, the late Martin J. Walsh Jr., were immigrants that moved to Minnesota. If you are from Litchfield, you might just be one of my classmates from Litchfield High School!
In the years 1875 and 1876 the late Archbishop John Ireland started a Catholic colony adjacent to Murdock and DeGraff, the very location my family still has a farm. A church was first built in DeGraff, St. Bridget parish. The people in Murdock did not have a way to travel to DeGraff, so a second parish was started as a mission church of DeGraff in 1894 in Murdock, now know as Sacred Heart. Read more about this blog.
I also want to invite you to join me at AreaVoices.com and create your own blog. Just select a topic related to health, money, travel, family or food. I’m sure you have an interest in one of the topics and you can share your ideas with the community on AreaVoices.com. See you there!
Ok, it’s really that simple, yet it has confused many people, including myself. My first name Jannet, sounds like Jeanette and is the name of my late grandmother Mary Jannet “Jennie†(Foley) Walsh, 1886 – 1985 of Murdock, Minnesota. Here is the story of my name, as I know it. My late father, Martin J. Walsh Jr. and my mother Margaret Walsh, also the name of my aunt and a few other relatives, wanted my first and second names to be the names of my grandmothers. There was confusion about the spelling of grandmother Walsh’s name, so they verified the spelling recorded in Stephen Foley family Bible. (I would love to see that Bible one day!) My mother told me they wanted to make sure of the spelling and were almost late for my baptism at the Church of St. Mary in Willmar in January 1964.
My grandmother’s grave marker uses her nickname Jennie at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Murdock. The memorial cards from the funeral list her name as Mary (Jennie) Walsh, born March 23, 1886 in Louriston Township, located in Chippewa County in Minnesota. Above is a photo of my grandparents Mary Jannet “Jennie” (Foley) Walsh and Martin J. Walsh Sr. in Murdock, Minnesota, circa 1950s.
The late Rev. Thomas Diehl officiated the Mass of Christian burial. There was a gathering at the house in Murdock after the funeral. I remember saying to Rev. Diehl that my grandmother’s name was really Jannet and he responded by telling me that her name was Jennie, with no room for discussion. I remember thinking here we go again with my name.
If you search for the origin my unusual name of Jannet there are references to Scotland. It is listed as a variant of Jane, from the French Jeanette, sounding like “ j(an) –netâ€, see reference.
There are many stories associated with my name. The most unusual might be from the time I worked at a newspaper in Nebraska. An editor would send messages written in red ink to one of the section editors to correct my name to Janet, although my was spelled correctly. On my last day of work at the red-ink editor wished me the best of luck and called me Janet!
Did my parent’s make the spelling up? If you are reading this and know where I might be able to see the Stephen Foley Bible, I’d love to see how my grandmother’s name, the official family recording in 1886.
If you have a copy of the Swift County history book published in the in the 1979, I am listed as a grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh and my name is spelled Jeanette, showing history is not always correct. Seems to be a lot of confusion about my name!
Well, you can call me Jannet, sounds like Jeanette. If you can’t figure out my name, I have included an audio file to help you.
My Minnesota Native Daughter blog has brought me relatives and two stained glass windows.
I’ve had a few people write to tell me of our family connections since I started this blog. It’s been a great opportunity to find forgotten or misplaced information. My lost relatives, or family that I’ve maybe never met, have also told of wonderful family treasures we share. The windows below to the church and are for all to share. (Click on photos to enlarge and right click to save images.)
Found Great-Great-Grandparents, Cousins
Since returning to live in Minnesota, I have found there has been five generations of my family, following the line of my father to great-great-grandfather, living in Minnesota and six generations in the United States. Before my return to Minnesota I only knew there to be history dating back to my great-grandparents in the Walsh family in the United States.
I will now have to visit the grave sites of my great-great-grandparents in DeGraff, Minnesota at St. Bridget Parish Cemetery. One of my newly found Walsh cousins, Margaret Walsh Tomlinson, now living in Canada, has given me the directions and location of the graves. My plan is to make a rubbing and I am sure my newly found cousin would love a copy! (Note to self: Do this before the snow starts to fly. Make that a blog.)
Found Family Stained glass Windows
How could it be I did not know about two huge stained glass window dedicated to my Great-Grandparents Michael Francis and Mary McGinty Walsh in Murdock and also my grandmother’s family, Stephen Foley? It seems my mother Margaret Walsh of Litchfield would have been hot on the trail of this fact or maybe I just forgot. (I really didn’t know!)
There is a stained glass window of the Saint Thomas the Apostle, also know as Doubting Thomas, dedicated with the inscription of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Walsh, my great-grandparents on the south side at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Murdock. Cousin Margaret was also the person that informed me of this grand find.
Saint Thomas is responsible for bringing Christianity to India in the area known as Kerala. In 2008 the first saint born in India, Saint Alphonsa of Kerala, was officially named a saint by the Vatican. See my related blog on Saint Alphonsa.
This morning I received information from a cousin from my grandmother’s side of family about a stained glass window of Saint Paul dedicated to the Stephen Foley Family. Stephen Foley would be my great-grandfather, if I have it right. I didn’t know the connection, but I am glad to be informed by cousin Maggie Dolan Harp, thanks! I will update with a photo and video in another blog entry.
See my grandmother Jannet “Jennie” (Foley) Walsh, 1886 – 1985, in video posted below. I will tell you more about the unusual name of Jannet in another blog. The image is believed to be from circa World War I, as told to me by family.
According to information from Swift County, the second Sacred Heart church was built in 1925, with the first Mass prayed at midnight on Christmas of that same year. The art glass for the stained glass was imported from England and Germany, installed by the Forman Ford & Company.
In the years 1875 and 1876 the late Archbishop John Ireland started a Catholic colony adjacent to Murdock and DeGraff, the very location my family still has a farm. A church was first built in DeGraff, St. Bridget parish. The people in Murdock did not have a way to travel to DeGraff, so a second parish was started as a mission church of DeGraff in 1894 in Murdock, now know as Sacred Heart.
As a child I always understood the story to be an Archbishop from Ireland helped bring my ancestors to this area, not Archbishop Ireland. It’s good to know the Catholic colony is still going strong in the DeGraff and Murdock area.
It takes correct pricing, a personal committee and prayer to sell a house in a bad economy.
I left my home in Ocala, Florida for the last time on Aug. 14, 2010 thinking it would be the last time I would be able to call it my home, taking photos from my car. I had just placed the house on the market to sale a few weeks earlier as I was moving to Murdock, Minnesota to be near my family.
Pricing
The number one key to selling my house was listing the house at the correct price. If you want the house to move in a market flooded with foreclosures, then you need to get the pricing right. If you are upside down in your mortgage, meaning you owe more than the value of the home, pricing is a more difficult decision to make if you still owe money on your bank note. Get help from professionals, such the bank or a real estate agent to get you moving.
Personal Committee
You will need help if you are selling and moving. I suggest you gather your friends and enlist their help as your own personal moving committee, but try to keep them going with food and drinks. The day before I departed, I had a few friends over to my house to help me pack my car, including a few strong and handsome men as I couldn’t lift a few of the items into my car. My real estate agent Andres Murrle with Coldwell Banker Ellison Realty was on hand to help me pack along with friends from work. Lucy Tobias, an author and expert on authentic Florida, but more importantly a dear friend, helped ease the pain of my departure.
I ordered pizza, and we shared a few stories after loading the car. I had invited the Rev. George Maniangattu, sounds like “money-in-got”, of Our Lady of the Springs Catholic Church in Ocala for the “last supper” of pizza at my house. It was my intention to ask him to bless the house, or even better, the keys of my house for a quick sale. Knowing that Rev. Maniangattu has close contacts with the saints, really, I needed all the help I could get. His great-great aunt Saint Alphonsa of Kerala, India was canonization Oct. 12, 2008 at the Vatican. Learn more details about the holy event at my other blog and my multimedia project with The Florida Catholic.
After the pizza and packing, my friend Lucy emailed a few of her friends that I had my house on the market and told them to check out my house as I had reduced the price. It turns out that one of the people she emailed was interested in my house and is now the owner!
Prayer
After Rev. Maniangattu prayed over my Florida house keys, I said in front of my friends something like a desperate person would say, “Can you do that in seven days?” Meaning, can you sell my house in seven days. That day was Aug 13, 2010 and it was on Aug. 20, 2010, seven days after an offer was made on my house. So why and I tell you this? I thought I said something very foolish in front of my friends, but I didn’t. My house sale was final on Sept. 7, 2010. The saintly connections turned out to be great and have left a few of my friends amazed, along with myself. I think of it as a blessing as I don’t have to worry about the Florida house and the monthly expenses.
Now I have moved, sold my house in record time and just need the next part of the miracle to appear, a new job in Minnesota.
I restored memories yesterday at the Forest City Stockade, located in Forest City, Minnesota.
In fact, in 1976 my family attended the Bicentennial celebrations at the Forest City Stockade. The walls of the stockade were restored along with a museum. There is now a pioneer village located outside the walls of the stockade you can enjoy walking around the historic buildings and replicas of pioneers in Meeker County. Find out about the special celebrations at the stockade.
A Few Facts
“On September 3, 1862 during the Sioux Uprising the citizens of Forest City erected upon this site a stockade for the defense against Indians. Early next morning soon after some 240 people had taken refuge there, the stockade was attacked. The Indians were driven off but a state of siege existed for ten days before the people were relieved by Company B of the 8th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment.” (From the Forest City Stockade Historical Marker) Click here to learn more about the stockade.
How to Get There
The Forest City Stockade is located about 6 miles northeast of Litchfield, Minnesota and about 1/2 miles south of Forest City on Highway 24. View map here.
Minnesota Native Daughter 