Oak Ridge Cemetery MN

“HOT enough for you ?? Need to cool off? Try the Sellner Water Toboggan says Fritz Sellner and son Herb from Faribault.”

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Friederich “Fritz” Sellner and wife Julia came to the USA from Germany in 1881 and settled in Faribault in 1887. Fritz first worked for the Faribault Furniture company as a cabinet maker then started his own company called the Sellner Woodcraft company in early 1912.

His son Herb worked alongside him at Faribault Furniture starting at just age 20 in 1907. It was quickly noted that young Herb had an exceptional talent for inventing and making things. He was given the VP position at Sellner Woodcraft when Fritz started it in 1912. They made furniture, wooden lamps, and various novelty items. By the end of 1912 they were shipping over 500 lamps per month.

By 1920 the company name changed to Sellner Mfg and Father Fritz and Herb began working on their first large fun novelty beach ride they called the Sellner Water Toboggan. There was nothing else like it.

The first installation was at Jewitt's Point on Cannon Lake in 1921 and then many more quickly followed around the State including at Pequot Lakes, Detroit Lakes, Alexandria, Bemidji, and at Antler's Park in Lakeville.

Plans and kits were drawn up too so out-of-state parks could build the ride with their own local lumber and Sellner would supply finished toboggans and other hardware. It was a huge success.

Sadly Father Fritz fell sick and died in 1924 at age 66, passing on the company to Herb just as business was really expanding. Fritz was very proud of Herb and eventually many other members in the Sellner family were employed by the firm, even up through 2010 or so. That's nearly 100 years.

Father Fritz is buried at Oak Ridge as is his wife Julia who died in 1928. Their sons William and Martin, both Vets, as well as 3 year-old son Fred are buried next to them. Martin's wife Elizabeth is also with us as well as is their remarkable daughter Donna who just passed on last year. She lived to age 96.

After Father Fritz died, son Herb went on to design the famous Tilt-A-Whirl ride in 1926, of which over 1000 were eventually built.

Herb fell sick and died in 1930 having lived only to age 43. He and his wife Frieda and their 2 sons, Walter and Arthur, are buried together at Maple Lawn cemetery in Faribault. Herb's siblings Louis, Frederick, and sister Hedwig are there too.

When you look a many successful people you find that they grew from good roots, many times provided by a guiding parent. Such was the case with Herb. His Father taught him the wood-crafting trade, eventually leading to starting and running a family business together, which then paved the road to wider and more sustainable success that lasted decades. No doubt Father Fritz meant the world to Herb, and he carried on proudly in his name.

Yes, this summer is indeed HOT!! If you think of all the water slides and water parks that have been built since, to kept millions cool and amused, may have emerged from what this creative and hard-working Father and son team did in our quiet little town a mere century ago. It makes you smile and proud. We thank them both.

Everyone deserves to be remembered.

Clifford and Ethel Smith, lived, farmed, and raised a family right across the street from Oak Ridge for over 40 years. Oak Ridge is located at the corner of 30th street NW and Faribault Blvd (Hwy 3), and their Woodcrest Farm was at 18270 Faribault Blvd. They rest together in Section A, sharing a modest headstone and basic foot-stones. With a little bit of research we now know their story.

Clifford was born in Wisconsin but was raised mostly in Austin MN where he graduated from high school there in 1891 then began teaching in Castle Rock. He soon married his girlfriend Ethel, 3 years older than he, and then took the principal position in Carver.

After this they then opened up a grocery business in Wood Lake MN, near Granite Falls, but then decided in late 1902 to come to Faribault to farm and raise Jersey cows.

Flowers were their main passion, and they became lifelong members of the Minnesota Horticultural society, Minnesota Gladiolus Society, and the Minnesota Peony and Iris Society. They fit in well, socializing in the local Ag circles and routinely winning ribbons at the Rice County Fair in flower, veg, poultry, baking, and dairy categories.

Clifford and Ethel first had son Maurice in 1895 followed by Lucy, Allegra, and then Dorene who was born in Faribault in 1913.

We did find a wonderful family photo of them from 1902 taken just before they moved to Faribault. The unknown girl in the photo, per the 1900 census, is likely their housekeeper, Mary Falkingham.

Of their 4 children, Allegra had the most interesting life. She graduated from Faribault High School in 1919, and then attended college at Mankato Teachers' College. She taught school in Rice Co. in the early 1920s.

Allegra then married Joseph Cook in 1923. He was a widower with an adult son, Clyde, and an eight-year-old daughter, Evelyn. Joe was then 44 and Allegra only 22, just a few months older than her new stepson Clyde.

They resided in Milwaukee in 1924, with Joe having retrieved daughter Evelyn from Indiana relatives who had been caring for her. Clyde was grown by that time, and on his own.

In the fall of 1925, they moved to Huron SD into a three-room furnished apartment on the third floor of a large house. It was here that Joe and Allegra's first child, Luell Clifford Cook, was born in the fall of 1925.

Joe worked intermittently for the railroad so they were always rather poor. They all worked in the big garden, and Allegra and Evelyn canned vegetables and fruit for resale to make ends meet.

Joe and Allegra's second child, Cresta Corene Cook, was born in early fall of 1931. She was named for Woodcrest Farm, and also for Allegra's sister, Dorene. Cresta weighed around 9½ lbs., and was plump and pretty, but being so poor they had no bassinet so she slept in a bureau drawer.

Their financial situation grew ever more desperate when in 1931 Joe had permanently lost his railroad job and they had to then move to Faribault and live with her parents, Clifford and Ethel.

During this period Joe became very interested in raising flowers and so he helped Clifford's commercial flower business – peonies, iris, phlox and gladiolas. This became an absorbing passion for Joe too for many years. He was very professional about raising glads — knew the names of all his varieties and kept the bulbs carefully separated when he dug them in the fall.

When they finally got back on their feet in 1937, Joe moved the family to his hometown in Indiana where they prospered keeping a large flower garden, making money selling bouquets and providing flowers to churches for weddings and funerals.

A note about Allegra. She was an uninspired housekeeper, but was meticulously clean about her food and dishes as well as her person. She took great pride in keeping all her pots and pans scoured bright, and loved to have company to dinner, preparing elaborate meals and serving them on pretty dishes. She was an excellent cook.

Joe passed away in 1961 at age 82, so Allegra, now 59, sold the household goods at auction and moved to Rochester, Minnesota to live with John Chapman, her brother-in-law, widower of her older sister Lucy. John had been Clifford's hired man many years before, and Allegra had been in love with him. Her parents would not let them marry because she was only sixteen, so he then married her 20 year-old sister Lucy instead.

When Allegra moved in with John, he stipulated that she must keep house properly, and she did. She was a good cook and made a pleasant home with him. They did not marry because she would have lost her small pension as husband Joe was a Spanish war veteran. John was always cautious about money, and thought it would be foolish to give up steady income; and Allegra concurred.

He provided well for her though, and they had a happy life together for six years. He was stricken with lung cancer and died in 1968. She then moved in with one of her children then passed-on in 1982.

While all this was going on with Allegra, Clifford and Ethel stayed active with Ag activities locally, eventually leading some of the societies of which they were long-term members. Clifford died quietly in 1939 and Ethel joined him in 1949 at age 83, dying from a stroke.

The farm property was sold and a new house was built on the lot in 1960. Perhaps some of you remember the old Woodcrest Farm or maybe one of their children.

It was a joy to discover some photos of them and piece together their story to share with you. They had a good life it seems, and now they rest peacefully in our care.

Everyone deserves to be remembered.

Mystery time!

Old cemeteries hold a lot of mysteries, and we have plenty at Oak Ridge. One involves the Ruggles family plot in Section E. Their handsome granite obelisk marker in this plot of 6 grave-sites lists 6 names and dates for 6 of their family members, yet 3 of their listed dead died well before Oak Ridge was even formed (1857). How can this be? See pics.

Did they reinter these 3 to Oak Ridge from other cemeteries or properties? Are their bodies even here? Could these be CENOTAPHs? -- memorial markers for people buried elsewhere, location known or unknown?

Let's first look into our old records to find clues. Of the 6 Ruggles-owned grave-sites we find that only 3 are known to be actual Ruggles burials and a 4th being one for an "Edward Clark, age 28."

So now let's check genealogy, census records, and old newspapers.

Let's start with the Ruggles member with the earliest birth date. That would be Mrs. Lydia Ruggles (1796-1885). She was the first of the family buried in this plot. She was married to Mr. Spooner Ruggles Sr (1795-1874), had 12 children with him, and lived in Illinois.

Upon Spooner's death in 1874 she moved to Faribault as one of her sons, Liberty, lived here. She is listed in the 1880 census living with Liberty, his wife Catherine, their son Arthur, and niece Jennie. See pic.

Liberty and Catherine were early settlers, arriving in 1856. They bought land for their first home from John Shields who eventually started Shieldsville. Catherine was the older sister of Mary Ripley Mott who was married to Rodney Mott, also a prominent early settler in the area.

Mother Lydia's time in Faribault was short it seems as she died in 1885. Son Liberty had her buried in one of the 6 grave-sites he purchased when the cemetery was formed.

The next burial in the family plot, per our records, was for Edward Clark in 1888. It turns out that Mother Lydia's last child was a daughter they named Lydia Jane, in 1834. Lydia Jane married a Mr. Lucius Clark and they had son Edward Clark in 1860, and lived in Illinois.

In 1880 Edward was classified by the State of Illinois as an “idiot” and institutionalized. He may have then been moved to the Faribault State Mental Hospital soon afterwards as he had family here; Liberty and Catherine were his Uncle and Aunt. He does have a separate marker in the plot but it is not very legible, but at least now we know how he's connected.

Unfortunately, Liberty's wife Catherine fell sick and died next at age 74 in 1897. It was likely about this time that Liberty procured the marker we see today. It is made of granite, as only about then were motor-driven machines available to cut, chisel, and polish such hard stone. It's beautiful. We suspect he had all the names and dates added to the stone we see leaving only his death date blank. He died in 1910.

As for the remaining “Mystery 3 Ruggles,” we found no evidence of any of them being reinterred with us, but we think we figured it out. These 3 are listed on one face of the obelisk marker with Mother Lydia, as well as on Mother Lydia's ground marker. (see pics)

Sarah Maria Ruggles (1826-1839); Age 12.
Thomas Carlton Ruggles (1831 -1850); Age 18.
Spooner Ruggles Jr (1828-1852); Age 24.

It turns out these were 3 of Lydia's 12 children, and they indeed have no known graves elsewhere. We did a pretty thorough search too. All but one of her children (William) outlived Liberty and those others who did die prior to Liberty we were able to find records of their graves' locations online.

Sarah, Thomas Carlton, and Spooner Jr have no burial records that we could find, and only Spooner Jr has a public record of his death.

It's not all that surprising, as in Illinois, where they all presumably died, a search found only 5 people named Ruggles who died prior to 1852 with publicly known graves, and all but 1 was an infant. Not much more we can do.

It's pretty reasonable to conclude, therefore, that by Liberty adding his 3 siblings' names and dates to these markers, it was his way to establish a memorial to honor their lives and to connect them to their mother.

He must have known that no one in the family knew where these 3 were actually buried as by then it was also many decades later. It likely will remain a family mystery, but we know more now than we did yesterday, which is progress. There are numerous other "Ruggles" family members around Minnesota, so if you know of any, send them a link.

All that said, we don't plan to change our cemetery records but we will make a note about what our research found.

Everyone deserves to be remembered.