Who says no one is reading newspapers anymore?

Last week, The Crookston Times published an article about my recent trip to Crookston with my parents and our search for more information about my great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs (here's the blog entry I wrote about the article).  The day the article ran, I received emails from two men who had read the story and had information to share.

One man had played in the high school band under G. Oliver's successor in Crookston, T.W. Thorson, and has a band program from a 1906 concert where G. Oliver was the director and his wife, Islea, was the accompanist.  He's going to look for it in his files and send it to me.

The other man is the grandson of Harry H. Chesterman, who moved to Crookston with his parents in 1892 at the age of 7 (G.
1

One of the challenges of researching my great-grandfather's life is that he was in the newspaper all the time.  It would likely take me years to track down every scrap of coverage of his band rehearsals, band concerts and band-related news published during his 60-year directing career.

I think he would be pleased to know that he's once again making news in one of those newspapers, the Crookston Daily Times, 90 years after he moved from the town.

A question: What do my grandfather, my dad and my husband all have in common?

If you answered that they're all musical, that's certainly true.  But the less obvious answer I was going for was this: they all like(d) to fish.

Me fishing with my dad, William, off the dock on Lake Brophy near Alexandria

How can I possibly connect music and fishing?  If you don't know, then you haven't read a joke book lately. 

• How did the fish practice piano? With its scales, of course.
2

The Northfield Community Band takes the stage at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 17, for its first concert of the 2010 season.  The band is playing on Bridge Square during the Taste of Northfield, and I'm looking forward to listening as I investigate the culinary offerings of the town's participating restaurants.

The Northfield Community Band has played summer concerts for more than 100 years.  It's a wonderful tradition.
2

My dad and I are booked to give a presentation about G. Oliver Riggs next month at St. Cloud's historic Barden Park.  The offer to pay us in free root beer floats certainly was an incentive.  But mostly we're excited to have the opportunity to discuss the connection between the park and G. Oliver (the G. stands for George), who conducted summer concerts there throughout his almost 20 years as director of the St. Cloud Municipal Band and St. Cloud Municipal Boys' Band.
3

You can't have a proper adventure without a good soundtrack.  As my dad, my mom and I drove around northern Minnesota and North Dakota earlier this week, researching the life of my great-grandfather, we had the perfect musical accompaniment: songs that G. Oliver's Crookston band performed in the early 1900s.

Songs The Crookston Band Played

Volumes 1 & 2

Crookston Road Trip 2010

The Crookston City Band, circa 1900.  Director G. Oliver Riggs is in the center.
1

I’m back in Northfield after a three-day whirlwind trip that took me more than 350 miles north of home and more than 100 years back in time.

Seeing so many cool old buildings still intact in downtown Crookston and Grand Forks gave me a feel for what it might have been like to live there in the early 1900s.  I hope the residents of those towns recognize and appreciate what they possess, which is something so many communities would love to replicate: a sense of place that’s meaningful and unique.

It was great having G. Oliver with us Wednesday as we retraced his life in Crookston and Grand Forks.  Even though this G. Oliver was only a cardboard cutout, the handsome, tuxedo-clad bandmaster helped us break the ice as we tried to explain to people we met why we were so interested in old photos and historic buildings.

I especially felt that the force of G. was with us when we entered the Crookston Times building seeking information and left as the subjects of a news story.  G.
2

My parents and I spent the day in Crookston, the northwestern Minnesota town that was home to my great-grandparents a century ago.  Here are some things I learned:

1. The best color shirt to wear on a road trip to Crookston is green.  G. Oliver clearly didn't get the memo.

Dad, G. Oliver and me before the 3 1/2-hour drive from Alexandria to Crookston.

2.
3
Popular Posts
Popular Posts
About Me
About Me
Blog Archive
Blog Archive
Labels
Labels
Loading
Dynamic Views theme. Powered by Blogger. Report Abuse.