A Two Year Lube, Fluid Check and Battery Exam

Spent Thursday at the clinic getting some tests. Hadn't been in for 2 years, and everything is wonderful except my weight, blood pressure, thyroid level, heart rhythm, 1/3 shrinkage in my back vertebra from osteoporosis, and a few dozen other minor things. 

The test results would bother me a lot more except I feel fine.  I wouldn't have gone in at all, except my ongoing prescriptions won't get refilled without a few status tests to see if I need more, less, or can idle along at the current levels.  Like my father, I go see a doctor when I don't feel fine and only after a few weeks of not feeling fine.  And right now I feel fine!

The doctor thought my feeling fine was likely early dementia, and if I started feeling better than fine, I should be tested.  

 My body is being donated to the Mayo medical school, so a couple of med students stopped over to check me out and left rubbing their hands with eager anticipation!  This gift of what is left of me meets my frugality principle:  I get someone to haul my body in the back of the pickup to the Mayo loading dock and dump it off and no other costs, and a year or so later a few ashes are returned to my family to be snuck in a relative's plot at Wolf Creek. 

Recycling me also appeals to my scientific bent.  If someone can learn about the effects of a life lived on a rich diet, low exercise, and intellectual challenge, then great.   If all that is learned is how to cut and paste in surgery, even that is fine.  Even better would be a few parts reused, although I hope to use up mine to the fullest extent before passing them on.    

After the exam and the edgeline BP, I promised to lose 25 lbs, exercise regularly, give up salt, and try to cut down on lying both ways.

I have a followup BP and weight check in a month to see if my promises are actually being followed.  I figure if I lose 5 lbs in a month and my my BP is 149/82 (rather than 150/83) I will be given an "atta boy" and left along for another 2 years!

I made a point of weighing in with my shoes on and my pockets full, so emptying them and removing my shoes should get me half way there!   

Often someone sits down at the Atrium piano and plays a song.  If only I had listened to my mother and continued my lessons, I too could sit down and impress the old sick folks sitting nearby.

Famous bronze statue of man passing a kidney stone and crying out "Why me, Lord?, Why me?"

Everything is stored on the computer!

The inside of a Family Medicine exam room -- for a Nurse Practitioner.  A place to hassle out of shape, overweight old people, while getting paid to do it.  The perfect job for a masochist!

The blinds are closed on the ground level room--the view is out to the north and second street.  

Everything about your health record is instantly available on the Mayo Clinic computer system.  The Clinic just signed onto a new project to replace the existing system with a system called "EPIC."  A huge job for the IT professionals (which I used to be at Mayo).  

A private booth so you can change into a flimsy gown with dignity and privacy before getting an exam that probes your inner-most cavities. 

Some of us look better clothed.  An old man taking a selfie. Does he look like his blood pressure and weight are above average?  Some of us are happy to be above average any way we can. 

Is the fuzziness is due to essential tremor, Parkinson's or neuropathy?    

And after the exam, I can look up everything in the online Mayo Patient application.  Here are some notes from Thursday's visit.  The PHQ is a depression test -- some questions to see if someone as old and decrepit as me is likely to off himself in the next few weeks or months, giving the clinic bad publicity.  The 0 on the test means zero thoughts of ending it all in the last week.  

IMPRESSION/REPORT/PLAN #1 RN blood Pressure check PATIENT EDUCATION Patient reports having had previous education on diet and diet which could lower his blood pressure. He laughingly states that he could be motivated to lose weight and watching his dietary intake if it meant not taking a medication, but is willing to if that is what Dr. A____  feels is necessary. 

He reports that with his Myasthenia Gravis Dr. A___ was worried, but now that he no longer has symptoms, he feels great. 

His PHQ-2 was 0 with no suicidal ideation. I will review with Dr. A___ and contact the patient with additional recommendations. He uses Mayo mail out pharmacy

IMPRESSION/REPORT/PLAN Dr. A___ has reviewed. Per Dr. A____ the patient was told "by new guidelines based on age, blood pressure less than or equal to 150/90 is acceptable, so he is right there. At this time she would recommend working on diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes to see if this number can decrease some, but he can hold off on medication initiation at this time. The patient states he is well aware of what needs to be done, it is just getting his head and body to go along with it that is the hard part. He plans to work on this. He will continue to monitor his blood pressure at home and notify Dr. A___'s office if blood pressures are going over 150/90

IMPRESSION/REPORT/PLAN  Per Dr. A___, labs test from 1-29-15 including TSH was elevated at 13 and TPO Ab was also elevated. Recommended to increase Synthroid from 75 mcg to 88 mcg (although with the elevation he may need 100 mcg) then recheck TSH in 8-12 weeks. Patient states he is taking Synthroid on an empty stomach at least one half hour prior to breakfast. BMD osteopenia, is stable and improved compared to last check. Recommended to continue Fosamax at this time for at least 5 years.

I had tests for ongoing thyroid autoimmune disease (my immune system has met the thyroid gland, decided it is an enemy and is creating antibodies to destroy it --TPO antibody test).  The treatment is to let the immune system wreak it's destruction and take synthetic thyroid medicine to compensate for the lack of thyroid output.   

I had tests for osteoporosis and have been taking a bone density medicine Fosamax, and that appears to be working and so I get to continue that.  I would very much appreciate increased bone density, although the opportunity rises rarely.  

As part of my winter overhaul, I am getting an eye exam to see if my cataracts have "ripened."   My vision is OK, although increasingly my world view is dimmed by floaters (air gaps in the vitreous humor).  I find these gaps in my humor distressing.  It appears that my large doses of prednisone in 2012-2013 for myasthenia gravis (still in remission) did do a little extra mucking about ( I think the medical term might be some other word) with my vision.  

Anyway, I feel fine, it is nice to have someone worrying about my health, and I suppose I will have to try to cut the BP as I have a followup check in a month to see if I am headed in the right direction.  

The goal of modern medicine is to keep one alive until all of his money and insurance are used up paying for the privilege.  I am trying hard not to abuse Medicare and my insurance by having a living will that says "if Mr. Hanson is unable to enter his password into his computer within 1 minute, you should pull every plug that connects him to life and Facebook and his blog."

Good health to you all. 

Cousins

The Hanson cousins got together for our cousin Marlys' funeral.  Left to Right front
Russ, Everett and Marvin, sons of Vivian Hanson
Behind: Norman, son of Lloyd Hanson
Brad son of Glenn Hanson
Harvey son of Gladys Hanson Roberts
Michael, son of Esther Hanson Haselhuhn
I didn't get cousin Pat (Maurice Hanson) on the photo although she came for the visitation.

Mike and Marlys were twins.

Cousin Arne 1932-2015

Some photos of my cousin Arne Karlsson who lived in Skee Sweden on the farm my great grandfather left to come to America. 
He passed away last week at age 82.  

Lillian and Arne in 2003 when they visited the Hansons in MN and WI

At the grave of Olaus Hansson our common great grandfather in SW Minnesota (Syllerud Lutheran Church)  

Raymon Hansson, his mother Mary Hansson, Arne Karlsson and Lillian in MN at Gammelgard the Swedish museum near the Twin Cities

Our MN neighbor likes to use old machinery.  He let Arne drive the old Farmall pulling the corn binder.  Arne never grew corn as a field crop in Skee, Sweden, as the climate there was too cool with the ocean nearby (it is 10 kilometers inland from Stromstad). 

My co-worker's son, Tyler, shows off his Belgians to Arne and Lillian in MN.  Arne loved his horses and collected carriages, buggies and carts.  He was a farrier in his early days, hauling his equipment around on the back of a motorcycle!

You can read the farm history collected by Arne for a book on the valley the Swedish family (Olaus Hansson) lived.
Ranna Farm History

Granary Dust

Such a beautiful January day in 44F and even a little sun breaking through occasionally, and with son Scott here to give me an hand, we tackled another cleanup job--the farm granary.  

Step one in cleaning the granary:  add some props to the somewhat rickety stairway going up.  Dad was 160 lbs, Scott and I are a little bigger and the steps are a little older.  This is actually the "after" photo with a pile of oats, hulled by mice, below the landing.  I did the same last year, and the oats doesn't grow, just sprouts an nice crop of toadstools.  I plan on using it for mulch in the garden.  Not even would the birds eat it as it is thoroughly mouse chewed.  

Aug, 1948, with elm lumber sawn that spring from the woods along Wolf Creek, Dad, his brothers and the Fors boys stuck up the first new building on the farm since Dad moved in back in 1941.  The war was over, farmers had some money left from the good prices during the war, and with a new Farmall B tractor, farming was going to be on a larger scale.  

Below in the garage Aug 1948

The old granary was actually an old farm house pulled from 1/2 mile up the road (on the same 60 acres where the trees for the new building were cut) down to John Nelson's farm on Evergreen Av. 

The story of moving the old house down here was like many stories in the neighborhood, one that showed "character" of the folks nearby.  We are not sure when it was moved, but likely around 1920 - 1930.  The story came from the Nelson family who did the move.  

Houses were moved in the winter time when the ground was frozen and snow covered.  Using screw jacks, the building was raised a foot or two in the air, then big logs were slid under the middle (hewed flat on the bottom and rounded up in front like a ski).  The house was then lowered on the logs, fastened tightly, and on a chosen day the neighbors gathered for a house moving party.  

John Nelson had a nice team of horses that he hooked directly in front the house.  The team was likely 12-20 feet out in front connected by log chains.  In front of that, neighbor Gullicksons's team was connected with harnesses to do a 4 horse hitch.   Mr. Gullickson had a very good team and was quite careful with them as well as having somewhat of a reputation of looking out for himself ahead of his neighbors (this, of course, is the Nelson version of it).  

Not moving the house here on the farm, but one from the internet.  Much larger house, many more horses here.   In the old days, winter was the time to pick up a house and move it.  Even some moved back and forth across the St Croix River on the ice.

Anyway, the move was across country on the flattest route possible rather than by roads.  Fences were let down, and all the way over was level except for one hill that had to drop down somewhat steeply and then back up less height.  

As old loggers and used to hauling huge loads of logs, the Nelsons were prepared with hay to put in front of the runners under the house to slow them down going down the hill.  The two teams were in front and as they started down the hill, the house decided to come along faster than the horses were walking even with the hay.  

The Hanson Farm in the 1950s looking towards it from the east. Silo (replacement for a wood silo), new wall under the lower part of the barn, the pump shed, and in the big poplars, the house.

The result--the house ran up on one of John Nelson's horses and broke it leg, requiring it to be shot.  According to John, he tried to get Mr. Gullickson (Walter's dad) to speed up his team, but he refused to push them any faster than a walk and so the house overtook the back team, 

Well, after than long side story, the old house was rat and mouse filled and a terrible granary for an up and coming new farmer.  So it was torn down, and the new granary built in time for the August 1948 threshing of the oats.  

Grandpa Pearl Hanson loved Rumely Oil Pull tractors and since about 1915 or so he always had two of them until the later years when he kept just one.  He pulled in his big separator (threshing machine), lined up the Rumely and tightened the belt and the next day the Rutsches, Noyes, Uncle Chan, Uncle Maurice, Uncle Alvin and other neighbors all came to haul oats shocks in and run it through separating oats from straw.  The blower built a huge straw stack and the oats got sacked and hauled by wagon to the granary where it was carried up to the second story (above the car/tractor garage) and dumped in to the bins.  

I first remember the threshing, then grandpa bought a combine and we no longer need a crew and neighbor Raymond got an elevator, Bert Brenizer bought a 1950 (?) pickup truck and we unloaded in the field into the truck, hauled it to the granary and shoveled in the elevator and up into the granary it went. 

My first job was in the granary, shoveling the upcoming oats into the bins and spreading it out.  Unbelievably dusty!  After two days or so of this, I was unable to breathe through my mouth for the next month.  I suppose it was an allergy.  But that was just part of farming.  

Scott is nearing the finish shoveling out the oats hulls in bin 2

The spots are dust in the air and on the camera lens.  We hadn't quite filtered it all through our lungs yet.  In the corner are old lathes, a TV, screens and windows, oats, in the upper corner, a full 2-horse harness unused since 1948 and other junk to be sorted, burned, recycled or saved.  

The last time oats went into the granary was the mid 1980s.  Then Byron and Dad both got rid of their cattle, and the oats that was up there just sat until last year when I got ambition enough to shovel out one side-- probably 100 bushels.  The mice had spent so much time in the oats bin that each kernel was chewed and only the hulls and dust remained.  I couldn't take any more of the dust so let it sit a whole year, until today when, with Scott's help, we emptied out the other side too.  

Bins for oats, soybeans, rye, vetch, and storm windows were separated by old doors.  That cameraman needs to dust his lens!

The fanning mill with the washing machine motor connected in place of the hand crank.  

Full 2-horse harness set that I plan to pass along to Mark Johnson, my neighbor with work horses (probably very early some Sunday morning when no one is stirring--a driveby delivery!).  They are pristine--having been unused and shedded since 1947 when Dad bought the Farmall B from Nicky Jensen in Cushing and gave up horse farming.  "I can go out at night after I finish milking the cows and with the B plow more land with the lights on than if I used the team of horses all day long.  And I don't feel sorry for overworking the B."  You can see a brass hame ball sticking out on the left.  I don't have the horse collars though.  I think we used them to cushion the outhouse seats!  At Mark's place last week at the SELHS Christmas Party, he showed me some of the harness tools--leather punches, riveters, cutters etc.  I think with just a little oil and elbow grease, they would be ready to use!  There are bits, eye flaps, all sorts of metal buckles, and stuff, and of course these are genuine leather. 

The fanning mill is filled junk set on it.  On top is a heat houser for the Farmall Super C.  It was a canvas cab that Dad used in the winter.  It has a clear plastic windscreen and sort of funnels heat from the engine into the driver's area.  Dad had farms spread out over about 2 miles.  In winter, he might haul wood from one to the other or plow snow or spread manure running the tractor at 15 mph up and down the roads--very chilly without the heat houser.  

A Farmall Super C with Heat Houser (not mine).  I have to clean up the one in the granary and see if it is functional and maybe put it on the Super C next winter.  I also have an umbrella mount for an IHC tractor to that I used during my 4 year career as a Stokelys Bean picking migrant worker.

A Deere and Webber # 1 with carrying handles.  Probably 100 or more years old.  Fanning mills were to clean the oats, rye, beans or whatever so farmers, who planted their own seed, didn't plant weed seed too.  Also, if you had wheat to grind for flour, you ran it through the mill to clean it.  You dumped oats into the top, ran the crank (or motor) and it worked its way down over several screens and a big fan to shake, screen and blow out the chaff.  Great grandpa in Sweden threshed on the threshing floor with flails and winnowed the seed by throwing it in the air to let the wind blow away the chaff.  Always as the old sayings goes, separating the wheat from the chaff.  We shoveled out only chaff as the mice ate the core of the oats. 

After it was shoveled out, and some of the items moved aside, it is starting to look a little more manageable.  The walls are about 5 feet on the side and so very quickly it is comfortable standing in from the edge.  The floors are tight, planed and smooth and will make a nice wood floor -- after a lot of sweeping, vacuuming and a scraping here and there.  Not sure what kind of wood they are--maybe elm, but could be basswood too.  Not much "grain" in the wood, just in the cracks!

The stairway down.  Maybe I should put a stairway inside the garage to the upstairs (note I am already not calling it the granary!)

The photos show some of the items stored in the granary.  The floor is nice, the bin partitions will all come out, and there will be a nice big open area for something.  Maybe a wood working shop?  Maybe an apartment for visitors.  Maybe we will take up farming and fill it with oats again!

My neighbor George asked me about selling my fanning mill last year about this time.  His cousin makes beer, and George was thinking about growing an acre of wheat and maybe trying some hops over on his family's Bass Lake farm.  However, what we dream about in January does not always come to pass in spring.  I told him since I have two fanning mills, this one and a Hero in the youngstock barn, I though maybe I might be able to spare one!

Finally we come to a narrow inner tube for a tire.  Old ones never were thrown away, as one never knew when you might need some stretch rubber for a band, or even for a sling shot.  This one has some cuts indicating use for something.  I would have liked to have found an old real red rubber tube, but that is life. 

Scott and I are now in the house coughing up oats, sneezing chaff and itching all over.  But, the granary is much closer to being in control again.  The mice will have to move on, I hope. 

Deaths in the Family

Two cousins passed away this week.  I guess that shows how old we are getting. 

Arne Karlsson, a 3rd cousin of my Dad lived in Skee Sweden, very close to the Sweden - Norway border not so far from Oslo Norway. 

We got to know Arne from our genealogical research started in the late 1990s.  At the 1999 Millennial Hanson family reunion, cousin Albert brought the naturalization paper of one of the Swedish brothers who came to Wisconsin.  It gave the name of Hjalmstad Sweden as the "from" location and Red Wing MN as the "too."

After a several kindnesses of volunteers we managed to find Arne still living on the farm and in the house my GG grandfather Olaus Hansson built.  Arne was my father's generation, great grandson of Olaus. His grandmother and Dad's grandfather were sister and brother, the sister staying in Sweden. 

A neighbor, Stefan, sent us some photos of Arne by email.  It was the first connection anyone in our family knew about in 100+ years. 

Arne, his wife Lillian, his sister Mary and son Raymon, and Stefan all visited us in 2002 in MN.  We drove out to western MN where our common ancestor, Olaus is buried.  In 2003, Margo and I returned and visited them in Sweden.  In the 4 weeks of visiting over two years, we became friends as well as reestablishing cousinship.  

Arne was, as far as I can tell, the very last of the family who actually milked cows, and kept cattle and ran his own farm.  He was 82 years old.  He was a modern farmer with tractors and combines, but loved horses.  He had a wonderful collection of old buggies, wagons, carriages, and carts.  He had been a farrier in his early days before taking over the farm his great grandfather Olaus had started.  

 The family home in Sweden with around the table entertaining the American branch. 

Arne with the cane walking one of the farm paths that have been walked by our family since at least 1850 or more.  

The Skee, Sweden, church where generations of our family lie. 

Bronze age burial mounds along the Church Walk -- the path that generations of our family walked to church.  I asked Arne, "Do you think they might contain our relatives?"  "There is no reason to think are relatives are not buried here."  

Arne and his grandson Anton filling a bag with soil from the Olaus Hansson farm for his cousin to bring back to America and sprinkle on the graves of the three Swedish brothers and their father who came to America, leaving the daugher to continue the family farm here.  Anton and my son Scott are both 6th generation descendants of Olaus Hansson. 

Dad and Mom at the end of the table with our Swedish visitors at the Wisconsin Hanson farm 2002.  Everyone in the photo for Stephan on the left has passed away.  Dad and Arne were 3rd cousins -- American and Swedish branches. Each of their farms were about the same size and the two likely could have traded farms and felt at home farming in each other's country.  

******

  Cousin Marlys Haselhuhn Bergeron

Dad was one of 8 children of Pearl and Hannah Hanson.  He was number 7 and Esther was number 8.  Both are gone and their children are moving into the mature years too.  

Esther married Ralph Haselhuhn and they lived in the Centuria/Milltown area.  They had two children, Mike and Marlys, twins.  Mike called me this afternoon to let me know Marlys Haselhuhn Bergeron had passed away and the funeral was Tuesday.  
I had many first cousins through my Dad's side.  Sadly, many of them have passed away leaving a small and scattered group left.  We see each other mostly at funerals.  Tuesday will be the next gathering at the Redeemer Lutheran Church in St Croix Falls, visitation at 10am, services at 11.  

The front right girl smiling broadly is Marlys at the Wolf Creek School sitting by her friend Sharon Harris.  Next row back is brother Marv and our cousin Mike -- Marlys' twin brother.  Behind them is Jerry Jansen.  Alphabetical with the H's and a J.  

I will add the obituary when I get it.  

In reviewing my 1st cousin generation from Dad's side,  still left are:  Glenn, Ardyce, Brad, Harvey, Mike, Pat, Norman, and brothers Ev, Marv and me.  Gone are Allen, Deloris, Betty, Vernon, Marley, and brother Byron. Several others died at birth or as babies, as we are still of that generation where birth too often took away babies and sometimes mothers.  

  Tuesday will be another gathering of the cousins to say goodbye to the group of kids I remember so well. 

Visitation 10:00 AM  Funeral 11:00 AM Jan 27th
Redeemer Lutheran Church
200 North Adams, St. Croix Falls, WI 54024, United States

Obituary for Marlys P Bergeron
Marlys P. Bergeron, age 73 of Centuria died on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at the St. Croix Falls Regional Medical Center in St. Croix Falls.

Marlys was born on November 25, 1941 in Rice Lake to parents, Ralph and Esther (Hanson) Haselhuhn. She attended Wolf Creek School through the 7th grade and then attended Centuria High School graduating in 1960. She married Carlos Bergeron on May 4, 1961and they soon started their family with the birth of their first child, Carmen. Marlys worked doing child care and elderly care before taking a job at the St. Croix Falls Hospital in the housekeeping department where she worked for 25 years retiring in 2003. Marlys loved doing crossword puzzles, reading, playing cribbage, gardening and canning. She especially loved her Turtle Sundae’s at Dairy Queen! She will be remembered as a happy and joyful person who always had a smile.

Marlys is survived by her husband, Carlos; children, Charles (Angie) Bergeron of Fall Creek; Carmen (Steve) Holten of Centuria and Julie (David) Thaemert of Centuria; grandchildren, Michael, Josh, Ashley, Nathan, Jamie, Josh, Brooke, Luke, CJ, Alex, Evelyn and Katie as well as her 11 great grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, Michael (LouAnn) Haselhuhn of Turtle Lake. She is preceded in death by her parents, son, James in 2002 and an infant daughter in 1964.

Lagoo Family

In thinking about Memorial Day 2015 at the Wolf Creek Cemetery, some of the SELHS members suggested we take the 5 Lagoo brothers who were World War II veterans from Wolf Creek.  Back in 2005, one of the family wrote up a history for the River Road Ramblings Newspaper column.  

The photos and information about the Lagoo family from Marlys Swanson Sacia.   

Orvil Widvey's painting of the Lagoo House at Wolf Creek

Joe Lagoo -- father.  He was, according to his daughter, 1/4 Chippewa.

Mother -- Scandinavian Amanda Peterson Fors 

The Lagoo sons were Albin, Eldie, Edwin, Andy and John.  Daughter Alice was one of the original members of the Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical society.  Her daughter Marlys has done much family history and provided me with the photos and a writeup of the family back in 2005.  

Here is part of it
Lagoo Family History -- Marlys Sacia
 My mother, Alice Lagoo Swanson (1921-2003) was a charter member of the Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical Society.  She had always been interested in local and family history.    Much of the following information is from her memories of stories told to her by her father, Joe Lagoo (1877-1951).  More recently I have filled in some bits and pieces by doing a little Internet research.  

  Decedents of the Lagoo (Lego, Legault Deslauriers, Deloria) have lived in northwestern Wisconsin since the mid 1800s.  Oliver (Levi) Legault Dit Deslauriers was born in Montreal, Canada in 1818.  His wife, Charlotte, was born in 1822 and we believe was from the Cadotte family of Chippewa’s from Madeline Island, Wisconsin.  Church records indicate that they were married by Father Barage on Jan 6, 1839 at La Pointe, WI.   Oliver was a hunter and trapper and some sources say that he was a party to the treaty at La Pointe.  

The name Lagoo is probably a phonetic spelling of the French name Legault.  The many variations of the last name make tracing family history confusing.  Each generation  used many of the same first names.  This adds to the confusion of keeping track of who was in which generation or branch of the family.  I think that Oliver and Charlotte had at least six children.   Benjamin (Sophia Cadott,), Levi (Sarah Martin), John (Mary Shambo), Mary (Jack Arbuckle), Vitaline (Joe Powers), and Elizabeth (John Mitchell).  Elizabeth (Lizzie) was a baby when they traveled to this area.  Her daughter, Hattie Mitchell Nelson, told the story that her mother was riding in the back of the wagon and bounced off.  Fortunately they had not gone too far before noticing that she was missing.  

We assume that Oliver (Levi) and Charlotte lived in this area for a while since most of their children originally had some ties to this area.  However, we do not know where Oliver and Charlotte were living in later years or where they are buried.  A Levi Lagoo is listed on the tax rolls at St. Croix Falls in 1849.  His property was valued at $50 and he paid a tax of thirty-five cents.    Son, Benjamin once lived in the Town of Sterling probably around the area now known as Lego Creek.  His son, Levi, lived near Cushing but moved to Federal Dam, MN.  Daughters Mary and Vitaline married and lived in the area of the Clam River.  Lizzie raised her family in the Taylors Falls area.  John (Joe Lagoo’s father) married Mary Shambo on December 1866 in Polk County.  

It is interesting to note that John’s last name is listed on the Polk county marriage records as Deloria while his brother Benjamin who was married that same year uses the name Lego when he married Sophia Cadotte.  By 1879 when John homestead 160 acres in Eureka Township (North West quarter of Section twelve in Township thirty five, north of Range nineteen West in the District of lands subject to sale at Falls St Croix, Wisconsin, containing one hundred and sixty acres), we know that John was using the name Lego because that is what is on the homestead certificate.  John’s three children who died at a young age are buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery and the name Deloria is on their stone. We believe that Mary is also buried at Pleasant Hill but there is no marker.  Mary’s Mother Charlotte and Charlotte’s second husband, John Rice, are buried in the Wolf Creek Cemetery.  John Rice and his son Tusang were Civil war Veterans.  

John and Mary had seven other children.  Benjamin, Frank, Joseph, Albert, Nira, Lottie (Charlotte), & Maude.   John and Mary and four of their children are listed in the 1880 United States census as living in Eureka, Polk, Wisconsin.  

An old news clipping written by E.E. Husband in 1953 about Polk county wild game stories relates that  “John Lego, Sterling, sold 19 deer to P.B. Lacy, St Croix Falls merchant, in January 1873.”  Husband also says that  “Wild game was legal tender in pioneer days.   J. N. Johnson of Osceola sold and shipped 5,000 pounds of venison in December 1877.  Markets called for the best of meat and old timers have told about hauling just the saddles or hind quarters, to Stillwater.”  John Lagoo was a farmer, hunter, trapper, and also worked in the woods.  After his wife, Mary, died, John sometimes lived in the area of Cloquet, MN, where he had another daughter, Rose Lagoo Ritchie.  He died there in 1914. 
    Of  John’s children, only Joe Lagoo remained in this immediate area.    Alice thinks that her father attended a school call the Nash School in the Eureka area.  Joe married Amanda Fors (1893-1978) (her parents, Vedick and Wilhelmina, came here from Sweden in the early 1880s and sometimes used the name Peterson) in 1911 in the town of Sterling.  Marriage records show that they were married by George E. Wilson, Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Polk.   
    Joe and Amanda raised seven children in the Town of Sterling.  (Albin, 1911-1977;  Eldie, 1914-1976;  Edwin (nicknamed Dick because he had blue eyes like his Swedish Grandfather, Vedick), 1914-1984;  Andy, (nicknamed Buck because he favored his Indian ancestry) 1916-1985;  Alice, 1921-2003;  John Levi, 1924-1997;  and Mary who was born in 1920 and now resides in the Good Samaritan Home in St Croix Falls.)  They lived in various places around Sterling but lived the longest in the home where daughter Alice and many of her siblings were born.
            As a teenager (early 1930s), neighbor Orlow Widvey painted a picture of the Lagoo Home.   He used a Holly Sugar bag for the canvas of the oil painting.  About 25 years ago Orlow gave the painting to my mother Alice Lagoo Swanson.  Another old neighbor and rural mail carrier, Wally Peterson, made a frame for it from old barn boards.    The home was located at the southwest corner of River Road and Sunny Acres Lane.  Looking at the painting of the small home now, it is hard to imagine nine people living there.  Alice remembers it having a kitchen and living area and a small bedroom downstairs. A screened porch offered some relief in the hot summers of the 1930s. Upstairs there were two small attic rooms, one for the older boys and one for Mary, Alice, and baby brother Levi.

Mandy and Joe didn’t actually farm but always had a big garden and raised a few animals.  Sometimes Mandy sold butter and eggs.  Mandy was often called upon by a neighbors to help deliver a baby and would sometimes receive a pig or lamb for payment Mandy’s mother was also a midwife.    Joe worked at Nevers Dam and also the WPA (Works Project

Administration) in the 1930s. Some of the boys worked for the Civilian Conservation Corp during the depression.  Money that they earned was sent home to help out the family.  Alice also remembers that a couple of her brothers rode the rails out west to try and find work.  All five boys served in the military during World War II.   Joe and Mandy never owned a car.  They used horse and buggy as their transportation around the area until their horse, Babe, died in 1942.

            In the mid 1940s they bought the Hanson place on the corner of G and River Road.  At that time County G did not follow its present path.  There was a road between the house and the creek.   Some history says that this property was once the location of one of Wolf Creek’s two Black Smith shops.  A wooden dam on Wolf Creek was located just south of the property.   Great grandson Brad Swenson and his family now live on the property.  There was an old barn near the location of Brad’s garage.

            Mandy worked hard but always had time to have fun and to be a good neighbor.  She was known in the area for doing monologs at various community functions.  She cooked delicious simple meals.   She was probably happiest working at or sitting in the corner by her old wood cook stove.  There was always a pot of beans, fresh baked biscuits, and snickerdoodle cookies for who ever might stop by. 

             There wasn’t a well on the property so drinking water was hauled from neighbors in cream cans.  A pail and dipper sat on the kitchen counter right next to the cookie jar.  No one seemed to mind that everyone drank from the same dipper.  Milk came from a quart jar from a neighbor’s farm.  A telephone call could be made by going to Roger’s Store where you could also get a huge ice cream cone for a nickel.  Water from the rain barrel was used for washing.  The wringer washing machine that sat on the porch was a

 luxury that was not available until electricity became common place in the 1940s.   The many inconveniences were just an accepted way of life and Mandy made everyone feel comfortable in her humble home.   

*****
1910 US Government Hearings on the NW Wisconsin Indians. From book:  Page 628    
https://books.google.com/books?id=WtQqAAAAYAAJ
   (Mary Lagoo Arbuckle)

STATEMENT OF MARY ARBUCKLE.

Mary Arbuckle, a Bad River Indian, having been first duly sworn by the chairman, testified as follows:

Mrs. Arbuckle. My name was Mary Lague before I was married.

The Chairman. Where were you born?

Mrs. Arbuckle. I was born up to Marion.

The Chairman. In Minnesota.

Mrs. Abbuckle. Yes. sir.

The Chairman. You are of Indian blood?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes; I am a half breed.

The Chairman. Of what tribe?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Well, the La Pointe tribe. That is what we belonged to.

The Chairman. La Pointe band of Chippewa Indians?

Mrs. Arbuckle. My mother was born there. She was raised there and married there.

The Chairman. What was her name?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Charlotte Cadot. Her father was Gus Cadot, and ho used to keep the trading posts all over there—La Pointe and Superior. He used to trade with the Indians all the time. Of course, my mother, she was quite young when her mother died. After her mother died then the old folks took her. Then the old folks died, and they put her in the missionary school. Then she was married from there to a man by the name of Lague.

The Chairman. Where was she married ?

Mrs. Arbuckle. At La Pointe.

The Chairman. And then afterwards they went down to Marion?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes. sir.

The Chairman. Did they live there long?

Mrs. Arbuckle. No, sir; I was not a year old when they moved there. They moved up to the Falls.

The Chairman. St. Croix Falls?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes; St. Croix Falls on the Wisconsin.

The Chairman. On the Wisconsin side?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes; the Wisconsin side.

The Chairman. How long did they live there?

Mrs. Arbuckle. They lived there until I was quite a girl. I guess I must have been about——

The Chairman..Where did you move to then?

Mrs. Arbuckle. From there we—well, we lived there on along until she raised her family, and then we were on a farm a little ways from there.

The Chairman. How long have you lived here at Odanah?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Well, it is going on eight months since we moved up here.

The Chairman. And you moved up from St. Croix Falls?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Moved from Shell Lake; about 11 miles from Shell Lake we had our farm, and we sold our farm.

The Chairman. Is your husband a white man.

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes. sir; he is a white man.

The Chairman. And you have never been put on the rolls here?

Mrs. Arbuckle. No, sir; not here, but in Shell Lake; there was an agent there, and he called up all of the Indians, you know, there that belonged there.

The Chairman. That was Mr. Allen, wasn't it?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes, sir. That belonged up here, and so

The Chairman. Have you ever applied to the council or committee up here?

Mr.s. Arbuckle. No. sir; I did not. 1 was going to. I came downhere when they were holding the council, of course, and I asked about it.

The Chairman. Your name is on the Allen list.

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes; it was down there.

The Chairman. That is all, I guess.

Mrs. Arbuckle. So they didn't have time to bother with me, they were putting down other names, and I have got my two girls I would like to put on.

The Chairman. Aren't they on the Allen list?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes, sir: I think they are. Here is the paper that was made out [producing a paper].

The Chairman. All you .can do here is to give this evidence. If they are on the Allen list then they will follow whatever becomes of the Allen list, probably. We can't do anything except take the evidence.

Mrs. Arbuckle. I think they are.

The Chairman. Are your girls married?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes, sir; two girls married. Only one now, and the other one is a widow. She lost her husband.

The Chairman. What was your daughter's husband's name?

Mrs. Arbuckle. Ferguson, and one is named Nell Powers. That is the oldest girl. I didn't have them all on. I don't think. One was John Arbuckle, one Matty Arbuckle, the other one was Joe, the other Lizzie, one Ledy Arbuckle. and Mary Arbuckle. I don't know whether he put them all on or not.

The Chairman. Was Ben Lague a member of your family?

Mrs. Arbuckle. He is a brother of mine.

The Chairman. Do you know where he is enrolled?

Mrs. Abbuckle. Well, I know he was at White Earth, but I haven't heard since. I don't know what he is doing there. I haven't heard from him for years, only what I get from other people that goes over there.

The Chairman. That is all, I think.

Mr. Beaulieu. Well, with regard to the Mille Lac Indians; I represented them about twelve years. I looked after their interests, and I wanted to ascertain where they were living, but during the last twelve years I had a great deal to do with (heir removal; that is, I assisted them to select allotments after they removed to White Earth. In fact, up to this week I gave an estimate to the Chippewa Commission, just before I left—and I arrived in Mille Lac on Tuesday night, where I have been to look after the interests of those Indians, and. of course. T inquired where the Indians were. I knew them. I knew most of the families. ;ind I have a list that is an original list, an enrollment list, and I inquired where they were—and I will say that this is this family allotment—and the Indians would tell me, that they were living at Tamarack or at Sandstone. They called the St. Croix River 'Kechesebe.’ and they say they live on both sides of the river.

SenatorPage. Did you ascertain where they lived, how they existed fifty or sixty years ago, or did you make our investigation to cover the present time ?

Mr. Beaulieu. No, sir; there were a good many Indians who claimed to belong to Mille Lac. and in 1902 there was $40,000 paid to them for their improvements, and at that time those St. Croix Indians claimed that some of their relatives and parents lived there and that they were heirs to the improvements that had been made there, and at that time I looked it up and found out that those Indians lived all along Snake River and the St. Croix.