Olmsted County Adventures: Haverhill

 

This evening, we headed to Haverhill!

Haverhill is now a township in Olmsted County. I recently purchased a DeLorme Minnesota Atlas. As I was surveying Olmsted County this afternoon, I noticed just east of Rochester the "Haverhill WMA" (Wildlife Management Area). So that's where we headed this evening just before sunset! Silver Creek runs through the area.

The 1885 edition of "History of Olmsted County" has two pages about Haverhill. It had a few names in its early days: Zumbro, Grant, Shermon, and eventually Haverhill. The first non-native settlers in Haverhill came in 1855.  

Here's the Wildlife Management Area (as well as Justin, Maeve and Finn): 

On our 20-minute ride back home, I said, "Hey, I bet there's a cemetery around here." As it turns out, there was a very small cemetery nearby called Haverhill Cemetery (or Vernon Cemetery). So we stopped. 

Abigail Robinson - died 1865. 

Ezekiel Dennis - Died May 25, 1870. 

There were several stones in a pile with a lot of brush that were pretty hard to read. 

Frank Atwood Burbank died at the age of 12 in 1872. 

Frank's father, M. A. Burbank, was the business manager of one of Rochester's early newspapers - the Rochester Record and Union. He was also a teacher for a long time. M. A. = Moses Atwood. His spouse was Serena. They are buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Rochester. 

Interesting tidbit connecting today's Olmsted County Adventure to yesterday's...

Moses and Serena had several children in addition to Frank, who died at the tender age of 12. One of their daughters was Emma. Emma married Elbert Vine (of the Viola Vine family!). Elbert's parents were Wendell/Wandell and Henrietta! Elbert's grandparents were Lydia and Henry! Wendall/Wandall is the fellow who hosted the original Viola Gopher Count and then served lemonade. 

Small world, eh? 

It is humbling and grounding and good to be connecting more deeply with the history of Olmsted County. I'm grateful to be here now and thankful for access to so many books and resources that give context to this place and the people who have called it home.