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"Place
is far more than a matter of geographical
landscape, it is an emotional complex of associations…; it is the human
communities that inhabit landscapes—their attitudes and values, their
particular ways of arranging and expressing themselves and relating
both to
each other and ‘the outside,’ [culture] . Place,
too has something to do with history
itself…with ancestry, and
the dynamics created by the confluence of the personal and the
collective; with
spirituality, in all its formal and informal guises; and always, with
inevitable change, both inner and outer.'
-Mark Vinz & Thom
Tammaro Writing
from the Midwest (Northfield Heritage Committee, 3)
Why did people end up where they did? And how were they shaped by land or how did
they shape the land
they choose to live on?
The Settlers of this area often chose to go west because that was were
the promise of new beginnings laid. Booster, explores,
newspapers, and other people who traveled through areas reported and
promoted certain areas. This was also the case in this
area. This would draw people, as was the case with some of
the settlers like John W. North, Daniel Kirkendahl and most of the
families examined in this study. Similar settlers were also drawn
by the familiarity of
friends or family members already living in the area. For the
North and other settlers studied this also played a role in why they
came here. Often one
member of a family would move and then later the rest would follow
after hearing what the place was like. This was illustrated in
the case of the Drake family. Sometimes whole communities would
transfer to a new area or others would be drawn by communities that had
developed in areas. Economic emphasis in certain areas would also
draw people based on interests and professions. This was the case
for some of the farm families attracted by the fertile soil of the
region and for the millers like Ames and North. attracted by the
river power that could be used to run their mills. For most
people
it was a combination of things. And what exact combination would
depend on the person. For more information refer to Historical Overview
and Land
sections.
What was the
sense of place developed by the settlers who arrived in this area in
the early
1850s?
From the case studies on individuals and individual families in the
study area, a sense of place is something that seemed to often be
defined in a community sort of way but it also had certain unique
elements for each person/family. The communities they belonged to
included the town, church groups, organizations, and family and friend
groups.
For some of the individuals or families it was difficult to determine
what their sense of place was or if they had developed one. Below
is a general description of what their sense of place might have been
reconstructed from their personal histories and the overview done
earlier on settlement and the land in the Historical Overview and Land
sections.
The Norths
For the Norths a sense of place was something they actively developed
in part because they tried to shape the community of Northfield in a
certain way. This involved both developing an intellectual basis
but
also creation on a visual level as can be seen in some the descriptions
of Northfield as a model "New England" village. Many of the
setters who came to the area like the Norths came from New
England. They also
learned
about the land they lived in, what sort of plants grew there, what the
lumber resources were, how to harness the power of the river.
They also expressed pride in their land pointing toward emotional
connections to their home. This was illustrated in pieces of
letters that were found at the historical society written by both John
W. and Anne North. These all
involved a knowing of the land. Also considering their religious
and
moral nature their sense of place probably contained an amount of the
spiritual appreciation for God's creation and their place in it.
In
ways many people would
share in this sense of place because they often attracted like minded
people to their town.
Jesse Ames Family
The Ames family like the Norths were educated and may have come with
some of the same visions and ideals as the Norths. They ran their
mill on the Cannon River as a family operation. They learned from
what the Norths had done with the mill and developed it from there,
learning how to get it to produce as much as it could. Their
sense of place probably included a family closeness/community, the
ability to
adapt to change, and an understanding of the dynamics of the river and
how to harness its power for the mills. Other ways they might
have found a sense of place can only be guessed at.
Jacob Crosby
Based on the story of Jacob's trip to
Minnesota it appears he had pretty extensive knowledge of land and of
different ways people lived on it. There also was a love for the
land, especially in the description of his relationship with
animals. Like many settlers most of the work he did involved
using natural resources in some way. As a farmer he would also
have had knowledge of what would grow where and of the climate he had
chosen to live in. His sense of place might have been
based more in a hands on, one on one experience with the place he
decided to call home. Jacob and his wife Betsy also seemed to
have a firm place in their community. Their sense of place
involved ideas like working hard and helping others according to the
account available on them.
Alexander Stewart
Family
The Stewarts in their early years in the
Northfield area learned through experience what would work well for a
dwelling on their new land. They did not give up when things went
wrong, but instead made changes as they could until they found what
would work best. They brought livestock with them and farmed their
land keeping close to the land. This was also
probably in a subsistence style like many
other settlers. Like other farmers they had to learn the land and
its lores to survive. And judging by their struggle and
persistence in building their house they probably were able to make a
home for themselves in their land.
Drake Family
The Drake family was also a family of farmers. It appears that
they grew a big enough mono crop of grain to bring to the North flour
mill in its early days. They would need knowledge of the land and
experience in working the land to be successful in such a
venture. The Drakes also had a large family group that they fit
into and it appears that most of their land was close to each other or
connected, so they may have worked as a group to produce crops but
there is no documentation on this. Their sense of place might
have included a knowledge of the land that was passed between
generations, and a community of family working together on their land.
Jonathan Alexander
Family
The Alexanders appeared to be rooted both in the land and in town
life. They started out farming then later moving to a combination
of inn keeping and farming maintaining a connection to the land. Their
story illustrates how lines can
be blurred between different landscapes. What this could mean for
their sense of place is that it was more complex. It involved
knowing, adapting to, and living in both the rural farm landscape and
the town landscape in this area. And this may have been the case
for many settlers as the lines between landscapes were probably often
blurred. They were also connected to the community through the business
they ran it town.
Daniel Kirkendahl
Because this settler is the one that the least information was found on
in this project only a very only a very general guess can be made at
the sort of sense of place he might have had. In the few words on
him he appears to be one of those western explores always looking for a
new start. But having farmed his land like many of the other
settlers he probably also developed a pretty good understanding of the
land or at least a good enough one to survive on it. How much
deeper his sense of place went is unclear, mostly because I did not
find anything about
his life after he sold land to John W. North.
Maybe a general look at what the early settlers; sense of place
might have been or entailed through a look at their interactions with
the place will shed some light on those that there is
not so much information on. What is written below is based on
readings on early settler life in the Northfield area and is very
generalized. All the families I looked at in my research were not
included in this
project due to time and space restraints, but their stories still offer
some insights to possible senses of place and are included in what is
written below.
The Sense of place that these early settlers developed included
learning
to know the land they chose to live on. In this process they
also
ended up changing the land but it did not appear to loose its essential
character. In the study area the river helped to give the area a
permanent feature, even if a variable one with its low and high
flows.
it was also a point a reference for many for describing the place they
lived in. But even this fixture would be changed by the dam that
was put in with
the first mill. But as the flood showed in 1859 even then the
river
could overpower manmade contraptions.
Most early settlers came into close contact with the land because
usually
some sort of subsistence farming was required for survival and they
arrived often before towns were fully established. As is the case
in most farming practices knowing your land is important. This
was also the
case
with farmers in this area. It would become important for towns
people
as well because they would often rely on surrounding agricultural areas
for supplies and economic boosts.
For each person their encounter with the place they decided to
call
home affected what their sense of place was. But in general the
people
of this area shared a certain sense of this area as a valley with a
river running through it, an area unlike others out there with fertile
prairie soil and plants and the bigwood filled with woodland
plants. They took
pride in that fact. Their understanding of this place also
involved
there understanding of the community. And what their ties to both
that
land and that community were.
So as
for them and us
today finding a sense of place can be a complex process that
continually evolves as both the place and the people change who
experience it.
Conclusion
"...[W]e
will be required to become native to our little places if we are to
become native to this place, this continent."
- Wes Jackson, Becoming Native To
This Place
In the understanding of a place
it is important to know how it has evolved and been shaped in the past
and how others in this place lived their lives. Because even
though we often do not realize it a lot of our connections,
understanding of and feelings toward the places we live in have
developed from and been shaped off the foundations of those who have
come before us and the ways that this place has changed over
time. This project tried to give a sense of this by looking at
early foundations laid down by the early setters in this region.
More
research needs to be done in this area. Research that is able to
really dig into people's lives and examine how this place has changed
over longer periods of time and how the sense of place that people find
here has also changed and evolved over time. Such investigation
helps us to more fully understand our own world, to critically examine
our own views and feelings toward the places we live in and how we
connect with those places.
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