Edward Hanna

EDWARD HANNA

[Written c.1966 by Fr. Phillip Maxwell, son of Vincent Maxwell, from comments from Mary Maxwell, his aunt. ]

My maternal grandfather, Edward Hanna, was born in County Down, Ireland, Protestant section, as it is today (1966). He came to America in 1842 at the age of nineteen along with his mother Nancy, two brothers - James and John, a sister - Mary, and an uncle Nicky (Nicholas?). It is supposed that other members of Nicky’s family came also, but not certain.

James K Polk was elected president of the U.S.A. in that year

The family settled in north central Vermont at a town called East Highgate, not very far from Burlington and Lake Champlain (where St. Isaac Jogues was martyred). =No one knows why they stopped there. It is a region of stony soil and thick forests general to New England.

Edward worked summers with his brothers on the farm. When the fall work was done he walked to Boston (well over 200 miles) where he found work for the winter months. While there he attended night school as he believed in education. When he came to America he could neither read or write. The reason for this was due to the English - Catholic schools could not exist and his father would not send him to a Protestant school, or English school.

The night school he attended, was very primitive by today's standards. Each student provided a potatoe and a candle. The potatoe became the candle holder by slicing the side so it would stand flat, and then by cutting a hole in the top to hold the candle. In this crude candle stand was the means of light used for study. The teacher brought feathers to cut for quills and made into pens. He learned to read and write.

In the spring he walked back to Vermont and worked again on the farm. In later years he told his children that when he left Boston in the spring the weather would be warm, and as he passed on north-west through New Hampshire by the White Mountain (the tallest peak in the U.S.A. east of the Rockies) and by the green mts. the climate would increase in cold with the altitude. Gradually the air would, become cooler, the vegetation would change, and finally he would enter the snow belt, (White Mt. has snow all year). Then as he descended on the other side the climate would change to spring again.

The house that he and his brothers built in Vermont is still standing today (1962) and over the years more rooms were added to it. One bed-room was recently made into a bath-room. The dining and living rooms are the original 120 year old house.

Edward Hanna married Ann O’Heare about 1850. Two sons were born to them in Vermont - James and John. Edward’s brother John had already moved west to Lake City, Minnesota, on Lake Pepin, along the Mississippi River, about 8O miles south-east of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He sold his share of the farm to his brothers before he left for Minnesota.

Edward, then sold his share to his youngest brother James, and went west to Fox Lake. Wisconsin. He came here in June when the vegetation was lush and green but his hopes were dashed in July and August when the sun dried out the sandy soil and ruined the crops. He found out too late this was not good soil for farming.

My mother Ann Jane Hanna was born here at Fox Lake, Wisconsin, and also her sister Mary was born there. Here also a younger brother John was born and died. James the oldest, was 10 years older than Ann Jane, and. was born in Vermont,

The family was at Fox Lake for three years. Edward went out to look for work to support the family. There Edward had a friend whose name was Christe (surname). Edward Hanna and Mr. Christe went south on the Mississippi to work at New Orleans on the river levees. Working conditions were terrible, the climate was hot and humid, men died like flies from malaria and yellow fever.

Christe became very ill. Edward nursed him until he was able to travel, put him on a river boat and brought him safely home again. The passengers on the boat were wild, and lawless, and night after night Ed sat beside his friend, with his back to the wall, and a knife in his hand expecting a fight.

On occasions when he was away, his wife Ann was alone with the children in the cabin at Fox Lake. Indians camping near-by would come to the house on cold autumn and winter mornings and crowd around the stove to get warm. They wore for clothes only a loin cloth, and sometimes a cloth thrown over their shoulders. Ann was afraid of them but did not dare to show that she was afraid. She gave them bread, and went about her work. She said in later years that she should not be credited with charity as she showed them hospitality because she was afraid to put them out.

On one occasion when Edward was returning home from one of his jobs he crossed a stream of water where some Indians were fishing. One of the Indians left the group and approached Edward, and gave him a large fresh fish. He said. "Take home to Squaw* Squaw good to Indians."

When Ann Jane was three, her father sold the farm at Fox Lake and took his family to Lake City Minnesota where his brother John had already settled. Here the youngest daughter Ellen was born. He bought land there. Four years later, when Ann Jane was seven, in 1872, he moved again west to Renville County, Minnesota. Here he took a homestead of 80 acres.

This became the permanent family home. He acquired another 80 acres beside the first 80 by planting 10 acres of trees called a "tree claim". The government offered this as an inducement to get trees growing on the vast prairie that stretched to the horizons in all directions.

The only trees that the family could see from their home, and only on clear crisp days, were some that grew about 15 miles away on a small island in the midst of a large swamp or slough. In the fall and spring when the birds were migrating, thousands of them would gather in this leafy area. The settlers named the place ".Bird Island". Later when the Milwaukee Rail read was built through the country,, a town started there and became "Bird Island".., a small town like Fairfax, Hector, Olivia and many others, .. is a small town in a prosperous farming community.

When Edward and Ann grew too old to work, and their family was all raised and married, and settled in their own homes, they bought another 30 acres and built a house and small barn, and moved there, while they rented the old farm to a tenant. There Edward died about 1898, and Ann died in 1914.

Both of them are buried at Hector, Minn. Near their graves lie their oldest son James, a daughter Mary/(Iago), and the youngest daughter Ellen (Tomkins) and two grandchildren.

The oldest daughter Ann Jane (who we knew as grandma, or Jane Maxwell) died in 1944 and was buried in Fairfax beside her husband and oldest son Frank.