MN MN - Goodhue, Unidentified Body of elderly white man found in unmarked grave in 1984.

[Richard]

This building, which is still located on a corner in Goodhue, Minnesota served as a liquor store, food market (during the prohibition era) and as the Goodhue Post Office.

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Old Post Office, Goodhue, Minnesota.

 

[Richard]

A stoneware crock made at the Pottery in Red Wing (Goodhue County), Minnesota. Before the advent and widespread use of refrigeration, food was preserved and stored in crocks like this one.

There was a Clay pit near Goodhue village where a high-quality type of clay was mined for use in making various kinds of crockery and sewer pipes. Many immigrants came to Goodhue to work in the Clay pits during warmer months.

Photo taken at the Dedication of St. Peter's German Lutheran Church in Goodhue on September 22, 1912. Note the Goodhue town band at right.

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[Richard]

Unknown white male
Height about 5 ft 3 in
Age estimate 60 - 70 years
Remains: mostly complete skeleton
Long healed broken femur, possibly caused him to limp. Broken nose closer to time of death.
Cause of death not determined.
Poor dentition missing and worn teeth, no fillings.
Discovered in 1984
Buried in a shallow grave in sitting position.
Rough estimate of death year range: 1924 - 1934.
Remains available for DNA testing.

This case is in the jurisdiction of the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office, Red Wing, Minnesota.

 

[Richard]

Could this unidentified man have been a military veteran?

There isn't much information to directly support such a conclusion, but here are a few thoughts on the matter:

- The age estimate and possible death date range would put his birth year (roughly) sometime between 1840 and 1870. This might have made him eligible for service during the Civil War or the Indian Wars.

- Many newly arrived immigrants oftentimes had difficulty finding employment and enlisted in the military. In particular, many Irish and German born men signed up. There were a number of Irish, German, and Scandinavian families on the farms around Goodhue.

- This man's height of 5 ft 3 in would have made him a prime choice for the cavalry, which favored smaller men. The average height of a US Cavalry man was 5 ft 6 in.

- The long healed fracture of his left femur might have occurred as a result of a fall from or with a horse. Mounting and dismounting of a horse is done from the left side.

A very common injury to cavalry men was to their left leg. The femur (thigh bone) is the largest bone in the body and difficult to break. Such a serious injury as a broken femur would probably have made retention or reenlistment difficult. It would have caused mobility (walking or riding) issues even after mending.

Admittedly the above is speculation on my part, but I wonder if this unidentified man's name might be found on a regimental muster list or medical injury/hospital report somewhere in the archives?

DNA analysis could give some idea as to his nationality or birth country. A better estimate as to his death date would also help in narrowing down the search for his identity.

 

[Richard]

Could this man's death and burial be related to bootlegging or illegal alcohol production?

... History remembers Prohibition as one of the great failures of American public policy. It failed to end the consumption of alcohol in America—economist Clark Warburton estimated that in 1929 alcohol consumption was 70 percent of pre-Prohibition rates. And it failed at great cost. While federal spending on enforcement was never a large share of overall spending—less than 1% in 1929, for example—the vast returns to the illegal production and distribution of alcohol (bootlegging) caused a surge of violence across the country. The economist Burton A. Abrams estimates that Prohibition resulted in 29,000 homicides, “roughly equal to the American lives lost in the Korean War.”...

LINK:

The lessons of Prohibition in Minnesota

Ninety years ago today, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, the first line of which read: The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. This was the amendment, ratified in 1919, which inaugurated the nationwide prohibition of...

www.americanexperiment.org