SELHS Christmas Party

The 2014 Christmas Party for the Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical Society was held at President Mark's home.   We had a potluck lunch and a lot of visiting.  

After lunch, the men and women separated and visited, and talked about local history as well as who was back from the hospital and who had passed away and so on.  

Mark had some items out on the table for us to identify 

No one knew what this was.  It is about 6-8 inches long and the spindles rotate and the dual spindle part rotates with a staple-like lock in position hook at the bottom. 

 A finger leather tool for cutting narrow strips of leather -- like shoestrings. 

 A portable harness riveter. 

Partially shown hand clipper, and another harness too for punching or riveting leather. 

The men's discussion centered around North Dakota as George Laier told us his father, Mike, homesteaded near Williston in 1908 and stayed a few years before returning to WI.  George Williamson said his grandfather, John Nelson, homesteaded in North Dakota and was out there for a few years too about the same time.  Mark's relatives lived in ND for a time too.  All of us had connections to folks who had tried it out and sold out long before the oil boom, or we probably would all be millionaires now. 

George Laier mentioned that he and Lloyd Westlund started the Cushing Rifle Club in the back of the north bar his Dad owned. He thought it was in the 1950s.  We decided that would be a good topic for a newsletter for SELHS. 

We discussed which veteran in the Wolf Creek Cemetery should be singled out for Memorial Day special research.   We decided the 5 Lagoo Boys, who all served in World War II would be a good project and we think that one of the relatives, Marlys, may already have done our research work for us.  Russ H will contact her and see about this.    Each year we do a booklet on a soldier in Wolf Creek Cemetery for Memorial Day and try to get relatives to come and help us remember their service. 

In trying to remember the Lagoo names, we came up with 
Buck, Dick, Levi, Eldie, and Andy, but were not quite sure if we got this right, and of course these are nicknames.  I will make my next post about the Lagoo Family and we can check on the information there.