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

 

[Richard]

Searches of Census records and local newspapers of the era have failed (to date) to show any missing persons fitting this unidentified man's description.

He could have been a migrant worker or homeless person passing through the area with no family connections or persons trying to locate him.

He could have been a resident of a county "poor farm". These were residential buildings, often located in rural areas which housed and cared for elderly or disabled persons who had no family or means of support. Goodhue County had such a place located on Highway 61, between Red Wing and Cannon Falls. The records of that poor farm are maintained in the Minnesota historical archives, but access to them is somewhat limited to researchers. They are available for viewing, but not online.

What is available online is a listing of persons buried in the cemetery that was adjacent to the poor farm, along with many death certificates. Unfortunately, this man is not listed in that record, having died and been buried elsewhere. IF he had been a poor farm resident (his age and disabilities would have qualified him for residence) then he would be listed in other records of the poor farm.

A possible connection to this man might be a man of similar age named Daniel or Dan Harington/Harrington/Herrington who had been a live in hired man in 1920 at the O'Reilly farm adjacent to the farm where this unidentified man's grave was found. Daniel was born in Ireland in 1859 and came to America in 1875 at age 16. He died at the Goodhue County Poor Farm in 1926 and is buried in the poor farm cemetery. Could he have known this unidentified man - perhaps a fellow Poor Farm resident?

 

[Richard]

The Goodhue County Sheriff Department still has this an an open/unsolved case. I was allowed to view their case file.

The file indicates that although the autopsy did not find any indication of foul play, the description of the burial indicates that it was done in a hurried and unconventional manner.

The body was buried only one or two feet below the surface, and in a "crouched or fetal" position.

The autopsy report indicates that he had suffered a broken nose at some time, as well as a broken (and well healed) fracture of the left femur (upper leg bone). This injury would likely have caused the man to walk with a limp.

Dentition was poor. Many teeth were missing, and those found with the skull were worn down. None had fillings. Some teeth had been missing for a long time, as evidenced by the sockets of the jaw bones filling in. A few teeth were more recently missing. An abscess cavity was noted where teeth were missing. Sepsis from this, it was speculated, could have contributed to the man's death, but there was no way to determine that positively.

Most of the skeleton was present for examination. From a number of measurements, it was determined that the man was about 5 feet three inches tall, and was between 60 and 70 years of age.

The condition of the bones indicated that they had been in the ground for "a moderately long length of time". "This would be on the order of from 20 to 100 years, but probably within the middle range of this estimate, probably 50 to 60 years buried would be a good estimated time".

This estimate would place the burial date some where between 1924 and 1934.

There was no indication in the file that any clothing or personal items were recovered from the burial site.

This man has remained unidentified since his grave was discovered in 1984.

This case has not (to date) been picked up or featured on any missing person/unidentified websites other than here on Websleuths. If it were featured, it might list the following vital statistics:

Unidentified Man
Location: Found in sitting position in a shallow grave behind a farmhouse in Goodhue Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota
Date found: 1984
Race: White
Sex: Male
Age: Estimated as 60 - 70 Years
Height: Approximately 5 feet 3 inches
Weight: Not stated
Clothing: None found or mentioned
Dentition: poor with many missing teeth. Record available.
Condition: Complete skeleton available for DNA testing
Left femur bone had a long-healed fracture. Nose had recent fracture. Probably walked with a limp due to previous leg injury.
Remarks: Varying estimates as to how long the body had been buried. Most accurate estimate indicates about 40 to 50 years, making the date of death and burial sometime between 1924 and 1934. Investigators could find no reports of missing persons from the area for that period. It was thought that he might have been a migrant farm worker. Death and burial might have been related to illegal liquor activity during the Prohibition Era.

Investigating Agency:
Goodhue County Sheriff's Office
430 West 6th Street
Red Wing, Minnesota 55066
Phone: (651) 385-3155