No Fool...

     Ann Mary O'Connell was born on 1 April 1902 in Derrynane Township, Le Sueur County, Minnesota. She married George F. Burns on September 20, 1923 at St. John's Church, St. Paul, Minnesota.
      George died on January 5, 1935, leaving Ma with 6 kids and one yet to be born! 

      Dad often says he can't believe how smart Ma was.  She ran the store and could stand up to the salesmen who came into the store.  After she closed the store, she worked for the Ramsey County Welfare Department and worked her way to department head. 
     She was a strong, smart, independent woman!  She met her circumstances well.
     "I never murmur!" I wish I got that gene!



    

Generations....

     The news of the day is that Evan Daniel Borton was born this morning at 3:02 am. Son of Amanda Burns Borton; daughter of Maureen Burns Fischer, daughter of Richard G. Burns, son of Ann Mary O'Connell Burns, daughter of David Thomas O'Connell; son of John Galvin O'Connell.

     In our Burns family, there are 4 generations alive presently.  There is a photo of Dad's great grandfather with his descendants.  This photo didn't seem to be in the possession of any of the Burnses. Ma didn't have one.  I got this from James Moriarity.  We were researching Galvins together.  Ma (Ann O'Connell Burns) told me that John G. O'Connell's mother was a Galvin and that is why he used G. for his middle initial.

      In this photo are John G. O'Connell, his daughter Ellen O'Connell Ronayne; her daughter Mary Ronayne Doherty and her son James.
     This picture brings up a lot of questions.  Why isn't John G.'s wife, Mary A. Pyles O'Connell in the picture?  Who instigated the sitting?  Why was this in the possession of the Moriarity family?
     Anyway, the reason I bring this up today, is that I am encouraging a generational picture of the "second cousins", as I call them, with Dad.  Here is the one that we took with Dad and Stella.  It will be a new tradition!

Permission Granted...

     I contacted the Minnesota History Center Library to clarify the rules and was told it is okay to put this picture on the website.  So, this is a picture of The North End Improvement Club from about 1931. It is at 1079 Rice St. in St. Paul.

Founder of the North End Improvement Club

     Speaking of lost books...I once had a copy of the Silver Jubilee Anniversary--North End Improvement Club (1922-1947) program, but somehow managed to lose it!
     Here is the opening paragraph from this booklet:  "In the spring of 1922 a young man appeared one day in the Progress Office, the local newspaper, then managed by H. G. Mueller.  He ordered a thousand handbills, which he later distributed in person all thru the North End District.  It was a call for the residents to meet at Hedman's Hall on a Friday Night in April.  This man was James J. Hogan. At this first meeting about 25 residents decided to meet the following month and organize a club in the interest of the District.  Thus on May 8, 1922 the North End Improvement Club of St. Paul, Incorporated, was organized by the citizens of the North End District of the City of St. Paul and dedicated, especially to the GROWTH AND PROSPERITY of the North End of the City."
       The 25th anniversary celebration noted the fact that the club had been maintained uninterrupted for the last 25 years. The work of the club was to advocate for the North End so that it would receive the improvements such as sewers, sidewalks, etc.
     Another mention of Jim Hogan in the book said:  "Jim Hogan and those early founders did their work well.  They safeguarded every avenue along the path of progress.  they built the Club not for a day or a year, but for the long and successful future."
     "Jim Hogan, founder of the club, was a very original and forceful character.  He had been a member of the North End League and was not discouraged over its failure.  In one of the early meetings it was reported that the only method of securing money to buy the desired playground for the district was to sell certain city property.  One of these was the Lafayette Park.  Nothing daunted, Jim agreed to go out and sell it.  In April 1924 he reported that he had practically sold--but the fellow died on him before he could complete the transaction."
     The building is still in existence today and is now called The Klub Haus.  The Minnesota Historical Society has a picture of the North End Improvement Club from the 1930s in its collection. I'm too cheap to pay to put it on the web.  The photo that appears here is from the Klub Haus website.  It looks like the Coen Brothers used it for a movie set!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to ye!

 Enjoy these Irish jigs!  Tom Billy shares a common ancestor with us!

Contentment is wealth / Tom Billy's Jig

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