Oral History Transcriptions
An important aspect of the Aitkin County Historical Society is gathering information from the people who are a part of the history of our area. We call this our "oral history program." We remain consciously aware that the elderly people in our area have a wealth of information from their experience and from their parents' and grandparents' experiences. To lose this information would be losing part of our history.
The truly important and most interesting history is of the common working people, not just the follies of the rich and famous. It is important that we get firsthand memories and reminiscences from the people who experienced it. It is essential that we document the abundance of information while it is available. We have a list of people who are second and third generation from this area. We have a need for people who would be interested in interviewing these people. It's a very enjoyable and fascinating experience.
These interviews can be written or we have audio and video equipment available. We are confident that there are people out there who would really enjoy getting involved in this project. We need your help. Anyone who has an interest and would enjoy conducting interviews can contact the Depot Museum. We will provide complete instructions and interviewing tips to help you get started. We are continuously adding names to our list of people to be interviewed from throughout the entire county. Please help us gather this wealth of important historical information. - Mary Rea, past administrator of the ACHS.
Below is a list of the histories that have been transcribed from recorded interviews. If you would like to listen to the recordings, stop into the Depot Museum and we will set you up to listen to them.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Botilla, John and Elsie
Cairns, Bob
Cartie, Ernest
Cummings, Alan
Davis, Georgiana
Ekelund, Wally and Harry
Farah, Joseph P.
Hanson, Olaf
Hendrickson, Erma
Hogan, Lydia
Hogan, Floyd and Lydia
Holum, Eddie
Jackman, Harold
Jacobson, Oscar
Johnson, Mel
Kelly, Virginia and Bob
Lake, Aili
Laucamp, Francis Anderson
Lueck, Fritz
Mattson, Lillian
Nelson, Alf
Palisade Memories
Peterson, Gene
Pittman, Herman
Schwab, John C.
This 63-page document was written by and donated in 2017 by a gentleman who uses the pen name "PineView." He writes:
"I was about 6 years old when I came to Big Pine Lake in Hazelton Township (circa 1957), along with my parents and sister. We built our cabin in the Pine View Addition with the help of our relatives and friends. A few years after the cabin was completed, we would go for nature hikes. One such hike led from our driveway down the road, down the steep hill, past the Pine View Resort, past the Garrison cutoff, past a long grassed-over archaic road to the vicinity of a pond and an "S" curve hilly road. Near this area there was a long driveway, rather obscured by large trees. At the far end of this driveway was a padlocked chain drawn between two steel posts. Walking past the chain we found ourselves within a large open meadow with the hilly side populated by red-sumac. I remember finding the remains of a long extinguished fire. Within those remains I found a chrome handle, perhaps from a door or trunk on an early automobile.
"I suspect the door handle may have been my inspiration in finding out the history of this location. At that time (circa 1960), I had no idea who the original inhabitants were or how far back in time they would have resided there. Also at that time, I knew that doing historical research would be very laborious and time consuming.
"However, after my retirement, I was able to access the historical data, quite easily on the internet. This revealed that it was the Schwab family that owned this property and as early as 1882. Trips to the Aitkin City Hall revealed birth, land ownership data and County Commissioner records. The Crow Wing County Historical Society, surprisingly had John Schwab's autobiography, as dictated to a WPA worker in 1939. The National Archives had John's original homestead papers. The digitized or microfilmed newspapers at MNHS produced news items about the Schwab family as they lived out their lives. I regret that I never located any portraits of the the Schwab family for inclusion in this work."