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Book/Printed Material Our pioneer days in Minnesota,

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About this Item

Title

  • Our pioneer days in Minnesota,

Summary

  • Gertrude Vandergon wrote her reminiscences in a series of lengthy letters addressed to her children. It is difficult to date these letters accurately because of conflicting information in the preface and epilogue, but she seems to have begun them around 1940 when she was eighty years old. In 1867 Vandergon emigrated from Amsterdam, Holland, to Silver Creek, in Wayne County, Minnesota with her family and several other members of the Reformed Church. These were prosperous mercantile and professional families lured by the inaccurate representations of a land agent and anxious to provide broader opportunities for their offspring. Vandergon's letters initially describe disappointed hopes and diminished expectations. Eventually, the author's family learned to cope with long winters, hoards of insects, and the demands of an unfamiliar environment. As her parents began to cooperate and interact with their neighbors, they acquired the skills they needed to prosper as farmers. The Atlantic crossing receives considerable attention here as do events such as births, marriages, and deaths. The author describes in considerable detail the round of rural tasks, traditional and innovative, that she and her family learned in their struggle to survive.

Names

  • Vandergon, Gertrude Braat, 1860-1941.
  • Workhoven, Cornelia Vandergon 1887-

Created / Published

  • [Holland. Mich., Holland Letter Service, c1949]

Headings

  • -  Frontier and pioneer life--Minnesota

Notes

  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.

Medium

  • x, 138 p. group port. 22 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • F606 .V3

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 49003667

Online Format

  • online text
  • image
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the materials in the Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 materials. The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, General Collections and Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Further copyright information is also available at American Memory and Copyright.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Vandergon, Gertrude Braat, and Cornelia Vandergon Workhoven. Our pioneer days in Minnesota. [Holland. Mich., Holland Letter Service, 1949] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/49003667/.

APA citation style:

Vandergon, G. B. & Workhoven, C. V. (1949) Our pioneer days in Minnesota. [Holland. Mich., Holland Letter Service] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/49003667/.

MLA citation style:

Vandergon, Gertrude Braat, and Cornelia Vandergon Workhoven. Our pioneer days in Minnesota. [Holland. Mich., Holland Letter Service, 1949] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/49003667/>.