The 1880 Train to the Dakota Territory
1885 map of Ransom County
William and Margaret and the children moved to the Dakota Territory in March of 1880, when son Jim was six, son Thomas three and son Robert was just under a year old. Dale McMichael [deceased] tells an oral history that relates how William and Margaret Cowan came to the Dakota Territory. Dale was county judge in Eastern North Dakota and is the grandson of Margaret’s brother, Robert McMichael. According to the story, William Cowan, his wife Margaret, and their three children, along with Margaret’s brother Robert and his wife Aggie (Von Egmond), and their children, left for the United States to homestead on the free land that was to be settled. They sold their farms in Canada, loaded their horses and housing goods on the railroad newly opened to the west, and left for the Dakota Territory I am told that, when they arrived, they found the free land had already been staked. Later census records indicate that William owned the farm and it was not mortgaged suggesting that it indeed was acquired through homestead.
William and Margaret’s child, Robert A. was born on April 21 of 1879 and was eleven months old when they settled at Shenford Twp near what would become in 1881 the new town of Sheldon. This places the date of their move to the Dakota at March of 1880, in the fourteenth year of their marriage. New towns were opening up fast and William opened his livery stable at Shenford while Robert McMichael opened his in the neighboring town of Leonard.
Robert McMichael’s livery stable at Leonard was just a few miles to the northeast of Sheldon toward Fargo. Later, Robert moved his livery stable from Leonard to Wahpeton. At Wahpeton he raised horses for many years and they became one of the elder families of that area. The city library in Wahpeton is today built on the land that once was Robert McMichael’s stable.
In the summer of 1988 I lunched with Agnes Schroer of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, granddaughter of Robert McMichael and she adds another dimension to their move to Dakota. It seems that Elizabeth McMicheal (William’s mother-in-law and mother of Margaret and her brother Robert) was getting on in years (born about 1820 and now about age 60) was getting forgetful and dementia. It could have been arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, or whatever. In any case, her son Robert told Agnes that he would never have placed her in a home for the aged and demented and was angry about the unfortunate thing that then happened. In those days, there were no nursing homes like today - people who seemed out of touch were locked away in a home for the demented (insane asylum). Such homes were custodial only and it was known that folks committed there had little care or contact. What happened at the McMichael home was that two other of her sons came home to visit their mother Elizabeth and told her that they wanted to take her for a buggy ride. Well, instead, they took her to the insane asylum. She fought all the way and in the scuffle, she cut her arm on a fence wire. Within thirty days later she died at that asylum of blood poisoning. This places Elizabeth’s death likely in late 1879, just prior to the time that Robert McMichael and his sister, Margaret traveled to the Dakota Territoryin March of 1880.
It may be a coincidence, but it is conceivable that the events of their family regarding her mother may have had something to do with the decision to move to the Dakota Territory. Agnes also adds in this story that Robert (and apparently William, as well) went first to the Dakota Territory to check out the opportunity. When they found a place at Shenford, they then brought their families out. It is clear, however, that the opening of the railroad to the territory and the availability of land made this move possible. Settlers moving in included primarily Scots, English and Norwegians.
There were apparently other Scots from Hullett Township in Ontariowho settled in the area of Sheldon as well. For example, according to a student paper (NDSU), Family History 1952, by Darryl Anderson 1934 -, his great-great grandparents emigrated from Dumfries, Scotland to Hensel, Ontario, and in 1880 moved to the Dakota Territory where they homesteaded near Jenksville, N. D. (Ransom County). Not only is Hensel just south a couple of miles from Seaforth but Jenksville is the original name of the town of Sheldon! The village was called Jenksville prior to 1881 when the post office opened and the new town’s name changed. [This paper is found in the Institute Room, North Dakota State University Library at Fargo.] In case you didn’t get the point here, this family made the journey from the same place in Scotlandto the same place in Ontario and ended up at Sheldon just as our great-grandparents did. History tells us that people moved in groups as they emigrate from place to place and, I’m sure, there was some contingent of people within this group making the same journey. This family and our great-grandparents both immigrated to Sheldon area in 1880.
1885 United States Atlas – Ransom County, North Dakota
According to The Early History of Ransom County 1835 - 1885, Published at Larimore, N. D., 1918, H. V. Arnold, author and publisher, 1848 - 1931, p. 71,“the history of Sheldon dates from June 23, 1881, when B. D. Wilcox purchased the present town site from the Fargo and Southwestern Railroad which was then being built. He bought all of section 17, the section upon which Sheldon now stands, for $3,200, but having no money with which to pay for it, he sold it three weeks later to E. E. Sheldon for $3,800.” Mr. Sheldon platted the land for a town and thus, the town of Sheldon,GreeneTownship, Section 17 of Ransom County was born.
From this point forward in this story, I will generally refer to William as Bill. I do not know how he was referred to prior to Sheldon but, at Sheldon, he was known in the community as “Bill.”
William and Margaret’s child, Robert A. was born on April 21 of 1879 and was eleven months old when they settled at Shenford Twp near what would become in 1881 the new town of Sheldon. This places the date of their move to the Dakota at March of 1880, in the fourteenth year of their marriage. New towns were opening up fast and William opened his livery stable at Shenford while Robert McMichael opened his in the neighboring town of Leonard.
Robert McMichael’s livery stable at Leonard was just a few miles to the northeast of Sheldon toward Fargo. Later, Robert moved his livery stable from Leonard to Wahpeton. At Wahpeton he raised horses for many years and they became one of the elder families of that area. The city library in Wahpeton is today built on the land that once was Robert McMichael’s stable.
In the summer of 1988 I lunched with Agnes Schroer of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, granddaughter of Robert McMichael and she adds another dimension to their move to Dakota. It seems that Elizabeth McMicheal (William’s mother-in-law and mother of Margaret and her brother Robert) was getting on in years (born about 1820 and now about age 60) was getting forgetful and dementia. It could have been arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, or whatever. In any case, her son Robert told Agnes that he would never have placed her in a home for the aged and demented and was angry about the unfortunate thing that then happened. In those days, there were no nursing homes like today - people who seemed out of touch were locked away in a home for the demented (insane asylum). Such homes were custodial only and it was known that folks committed there had little care or contact. What happened at the McMichael home was that two other of her sons came home to visit their mother Elizabeth and told her that they wanted to take her for a buggy ride. Well, instead, they took her to the insane asylum. She fought all the way and in the scuffle, she cut her arm on a fence wire. Within thirty days later she died at that asylum of blood poisoning. This places Elizabeth’s death likely in late 1879, just prior to the time that Robert McMichael and his sister, Margaret traveled to the Dakota Territoryin March of 1880.
It may be a coincidence, but it is conceivable that the events of their family regarding her mother may have had something to do with the decision to move to the Dakota Territory. Agnes also adds in this story that Robert (and apparently William, as well) went first to the Dakota Territory to check out the opportunity. When they found a place at Shenford, they then brought their families out. It is clear, however, that the opening of the railroad to the territory and the availability of land made this move possible. Settlers moving in included primarily Scots, English and Norwegians.
There were apparently other Scots from Hullett Township in Ontariowho settled in the area of Sheldon as well. For example, according to a student paper (NDSU), Family History 1952, by Darryl Anderson 1934 -, his great-great grandparents emigrated from Dumfries, Scotland to Hensel, Ontario, and in 1880 moved to the Dakota Territory where they homesteaded near Jenksville, N. D. (Ransom County). Not only is Hensel just south a couple of miles from Seaforth but Jenksville is the original name of the town of Sheldon! The village was called Jenksville prior to 1881 when the post office opened and the new town’s name changed. [This paper is found in the Institute Room, North Dakota State University Library at Fargo.] In case you didn’t get the point here, this family made the journey from the same place in Scotlandto the same place in Ontario and ended up at Sheldon just as our great-grandparents did. History tells us that people moved in groups as they emigrate from place to place and, I’m sure, there was some contingent of people within this group making the same journey. This family and our great-grandparents both immigrated to Sheldon area in 1880.
1885 United States Atlas – Ransom County, North Dakota
According to The Early History of Ransom County 1835 - 1885, Published at Larimore, N. D., 1918, H. V. Arnold, author and publisher, 1848 - 1931, p. 71,“the history of Sheldon dates from June 23, 1881, when B. D. Wilcox purchased the present town site from the Fargo and Southwestern Railroad which was then being built. He bought all of section 17, the section upon which Sheldon now stands, for $3,200, but having no money with which to pay for it, he sold it three weeks later to E. E. Sheldon for $3,800.” Mr. Sheldon platted the land for a town and thus, the town of Sheldon,GreeneTownship, Section 17 of Ransom County was born.
From this point forward in this story, I will generally refer to William as Bill. I do not know how he was referred to prior to Sheldon but, at Sheldon, he was known in the community as “Bill.”