Historic Memories by A. E. Sturges, Wright Co., MN
(Memoirs of A.E. Sturges)

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[The original is a small booklet with four pages of text; it must 
have been written after 1944 and probably before 1950.  It may 
have been done in 1947, the date on a similar-sized pamphlet 
A. E. Sturges distributed in memory of his father, James Sturges.]

HISTORIC MEMORIES
	By A. E. Sturges

Well do I remember the old house my father built on the side of Buffalo 
Lake in 1859 near where the Buffalo Cooperative creamery smokestack now 
stands.  I was born there. 

My earliest recollections are of my uncle Lewis killing a hive of bees 
to get the honey.  This was accomplished by digging a little hole in 
the ground and sticking a stake in the center of it.  A small amount 
of sulpher was wrapped in a cotton rag tied to the top of the stake.  
This was lighted, and the box containing the bees was placed over it.  
I could not have been more than four years old at the time.  

My next item of early memory was my father? severe illness on his 
return from the Civil war.  Then came the birth of my brother, James 
D. Sturges, which took place in a new house on Block 66 just south of 
the present Skelly Oil station.  My father had sold our house to Col. 
George A. J. Overton.  This temporary house was our home until a new 
and permanent home was built in the same block in 1869-70.  

My first recollection of a funeral was that of Mrs. Solomon Varner, 
who was buried under the shade of a tree on their farm one mile 
northwest of town on old 69.  

My grandparents lived just south of the present Pure Oil stations.  
The old Taylor House containing the post office was on the corner just 
in front of the present Lakeview Motors garage.  Mr. Taylor had a flock 
of domesticated wild geese.  The ganders were very cross to any young 
children, making it quite an adventure to go to see my grandparents, 
since sling shots had not yet been invented.  

I distinctly remember one very cold winter when the spirits thermometer 
registered 49 to 51 degrees for three days running.  

Now we arrive at the school age.  The old log school house stood on 
the side of the hill near where Willard Peterson? garage now stands.  
It consisted of one room with a board seat running around three sides 
of the wall with a box stove in the center of the room.  A chair and 
a small table were provided for the teacher.  For desks the children 
had a board in front of their seats on which to rest their slates and 
books.  Discipline was enforced by a dunce cap, standing on the floor
and by switch.

The birth of James D. Sturges on Feb. 19, 1868, was a very important 
happening at our house.  I can still see the old lady (Mrs. Washburn) 
as she looked when she showed the little chap to me and told how she 
had found it in a hollow log between their place (which was a half a 
mile west of town) and here.  I soon began making plans of how I 
could get the most work out of him.  

These plans never worked out.  We grew up as children do, and when 
Jim was old enough to go to school, it was a frame one-room building, 
which stood where the Swedish Mission church is now.  Here we 
received our entire schooling.  As boys, we availed ourselves of 
every chance to earn a nickel.  We were encouraged by our parents, 
who offered us good advice and even delayed their own work to allow 
us a chance.  They never took or used our earnings themselves.  	

As a young man I was always interested in the cause of temperance, 
as a result of my parents? example and their warnings of the evil 
results of intemperance.  

Col. Overton had a little terrier dog that was a constant companion 
to him but a perfect menace to everyone else.  Its name was Major.  
It would run into anyone's house, jump onto their table and run the 
full length of it even through it was set, ready for a meal.  When 
people complained, Col. Overton would laugh and say he was powerless 
to do anything as Major outranked him.  

About that time the settlers had a bee to clear the cemetery ground.  
Some men were cutting trees, some hauling them together, others 
rolling them into big piles to burn.  My uncle Lewis was in the 
latter group and was sitting on the edge of the pile waiting for 
more logs, when Col. Overton came along to view the work being done.  
He was followed by his dog Major.  As the dog got even with my uncle, 
he grabbed it by the nose so that it could not even whine.  He drew 
the dog's head over a log with one hand, and with the other he picked 
up an axe and cut off the dog's head and poked the carcass into the 
pile.  Though the dog was diligently searched for the disappearance 
of Major remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the times.  

We were among the moderately thrifty class.  We always had plenty 
plain, wholesome, well-cooked food.  My mother made our clothes and 
patched them as they wore thru.  However, two rugged boys sometimes 
overworked her.  Once I remember a more fortunate matron calling to 
me from her doorway to look or the rag man would catch me.  Such 
cuts made deep impressions on young minds, and we were counseled 
to avoid them.
  	
I remember my first store pants.  How proud I was and how the boys 
laughed when I told my teacher she would not know me in the afternoon, 
for I was going to wear my new pants.  

I saw my mother make coffee from burnt wheat or bread crusts when 
our supply was out.  

Good cows sold for $25 each.  Men's wages were $1 a day for 10 
to 12 hours of work, and boys were lucky if they could earn a 
nickel.  Many girls worked for a dollar a week at housework.  

Twenty-five cents was a big sum for a fourth of July celebration.  

As we grew up, Jim leaned to farm life, and I craved the mercantile 
calling.  

My father hired extra help for himself in order to let me accept 
a position in the C. E. Oakley store.  The latter was a noble 
character and a successful merchant from 1881-1883.  I had to 
quit store life in 1883 for a time because of a goiter.  

On June 6, 1882, I was married to Adelaide Covart and began our 
housekeeping in rooms over Oakley's store.  

Early in 1883 my wife and I hired out to work on a farm in 
Traverse county for $26 a month ? $6 a month for her for cooking 
and $20 a month to me for farm work.  As was the custom then, we 
received no pay until after the harvest and threshing in the fall.  

With that seasons wages and about $300 assistance from my father 
and about the same amount previously saved from my wages as a clerk, 
we bought two and 8/100 acres of land.  We built our own house there 
and lived there for over 50 years.  

From early in 1884, I worked at carpenter work, worked in the 
county treasurer office as extra help for a few weeks. On Oct. 
20, 1887, I was appointed railway postal clerk between Chicago, 
Ill., and St. Paul, Minn.  Nine months of the time I was in the 
mail service I lived in McGregor, Iowa.  

After retiring from the mail service, I persuaded my father to 
build a store building on lot 10 of block 66 in Buffalo, where 
I went into the grocery business on capital borrowed at 9 per 
cent.  After being a grocer for 18 years, I sold my business 
in June 1907.  

During that time I had invested my surplus money in land and 
then I began to improve what was afterwards to be known as 
Sturges Park addition to Buffalo.  I built the pavilion and 
ran it for a number of years before selling it to the Fransen 
memorial association in 1917.  I began building houses to rent, 
working at painting much of the time.  I platted Sturges park 
addition on Dec. 13, 1916, and bought, wrecked and converted 
into dwellings the house where I was born, Shimmins Drug store 
and the Dudley opera house.  

Mrs. Ellen Sturges, my mother, died on Aug. 10, 1910.  My father, 
James Sturges, died on Oct. 12, 1926.  
My wife and I were the sixth couple in our immediate families to 
celebrate our golden wedding anniversary.  We were blest with 
four children.  Our oldest child, Bessie Ellen Sturges, was born 
March 9, 1885, and was graduated from Buffalo high school.  She
attended Duluth Normal school and taught for a time.  She married 
Supt. R. J. Moulton of Dawson, Minn., and now lives at Pierre, S. D. 

Paul Eugene Sturges was born on April 8, 1889 and was graduated 
from Buffalo high school and the University agricultural college.  
He taught two years and then went into the life insurance business.  
He married Ruie Olson of Blooming Prairie on March 20, 1917 and now 
lives at Seattle, Wash.  

Chester James Sturges was born on Dec. 29, 1896 and was graduated 
from Buffalo high school and Iowa University medical school.  He 
married Lillyan Thompson of Franklin, Neb., on June 2, 1923.  He 
followed his profession successfully until his death Feb. 23, 1944, 
at which time he was on the regular staff of the Veterans hospital 
at Minneapolis.  

Myra Eliza Sturges was born on Aug. 8, 1898.  She was graduated 
from Buffalo high school and Iowa State Teachers college at Cedar 
Falls, Iowa.  She taught school for two years and then married Ray 
J. Little on Aug. 7, 1921.  They now own and live in our old home 
in Buffalo.  

My wife, Adelaide Sturges, died on Sept. 25, 1935, after being a 
semi-invalid for several years.  

Fishing in fishing season furnished profitable occupation for years.  
Hunting season furnished recreation every years and nearly always 
netted a good supply of game.  I was a steady participant.  

Coming onto the stage just after the pioneer hardships and enjoying 
the fruits of their labors, we lived in the flowery age of Minnesota 
history, enjoying the bounties of nature, even they were sprinkled 
with years of hard times.  
We have seen our state grow, and have tried to keep in line and have 
paid more than $7000 in interest money, which is proof of what could 
be done in those years.  


[The original is a small booklet with four pages of text; it must 
have been written after 1944 and probably before 1950.  It may 
have been done in 1947, the date on a similar-sized pamphlet 
A. E. Sturges distributed in memory of his father, James Sturges.]