Coming soon:
The Mystery of Mary Traveler Resolved. Her Secrets Revealed.
According to local lore, in 1888 a train stopped at Stillwater, Minnesota. A woman traveling with her toddler son was removed from the train because she had become severely ill. The woman soon died without being able to reveal any information about her identity, her origins, or her destination. Her son was too young to speak. And so the community buried her anonymously as Mary Traveler. Her surviving son was raised by a foster family and named Eddie by them. This story was first told by Anita Buck from oral tradition and published in the Stillwater Evening Gazette for May 10, 1974. Hank Sampson broadcast his highly dramatized Secret of Mary Traveler that very same Mother's Day weekend. The story has since become a local legend.
Research begun in 2023 has uncovered a much different version of events along with Mary Traveler's true identity and her biography before and during her life in Stillwater. It also reveals a detailed account of her son's life after she died. The authentic story features a cast of well-known characters from Old Stillwater who reveal a moving story of community. The full report will offer a theory as to how the tale long told was constructed. Please watch this space for the free book as a downloadable PDF later this summer 2026.
A Minnesota St George Family.
Joseph St George and Marie Louise Vaillancourt arrived in Duluth, Minnesota in 1881, having previously lived in Bay City, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio. Research begun in 1997 finally resolved the origins of this St George family by about 2005. Joseph and his sons and daughters Anglicized their French Canadian name St Jore dit Sergerie to St George during these early years of life in the United States. This report will trace the origins of the St Jore dit Sergerie name in France and for the first time give a complete and accurate report of several generations of Joseph and Louise's descendants. Watch this space, but please be patient!
Phernetton Origins.
Christopher Phernetton brought his family from Canada to Western Wisconsin in about the year 1863. The surname Phernetton is unique and has stumped genealogists for decades. Research begun in 1997 and revisited in 2015 has finally resolved the mystery of the origin of the Phernetton name along with a heartrending story of his origins which confirms some of the story of him being orphaned that was retained in family oral tradition. Watch this space, but please be patient!
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