Margaret,"Maggie" Whalen was born March 26, 1860, in Wisconsin. She was the eldest child of Murtha and Catherine (Nolan) Whelan. As a schoolgirl in Hudson, Wisconsin, she was responsible for changing the spelling of the family name form "Whelan" to "Whalen." She wanted it to be spelled the way it sounded.

Maggie was not quite 10 years old when her father died. She was 11 when her mother remarried In the new family, which consisted of the five Whelan and four Hughes children, Maggie was the eldest girl. It became her responsibility to keep track of the whereabouts and "what - abouts" of the younger brothers and sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters...small wonder that in later years she became somewhat bossy and domineering.
 
 

Maggie was 18 years of age when she came with her family to the northern Minnesota community along the Tamarac River, in May, 1878. When her younger brothers went to work on the railroad; when her parents homesteaded land; when the family, later that fall, moved into the newly built "Section House" near the railroad crossing at the Tamarac River; she was expected to remain at home, doing the tasks of the women of that day. The meals for the railroad workers, the garden to supply food, the cooking and cleaning and washing...these were her daily lot. As the "Section House" became more and more of a community center where the people of the area met to organize a school district, a town, and the various religious congregations, hers were surely the tasks involved in preparing for and cleaning up after the endless meetings which were held there.

After her 21st birthday, in 1881, Maggie was encouraged by her step-father and her mother to apply for homestead rights on a quarter section of land of her own. The propertyselected for her was the S.E. 1/4 of section 8 in Sinnott Township, Marshall County. The next year, when her brother, Johnny, became 21, he also qualified for land ownership, but his claim was called a "preemption." His claim was made on the N.E. 1/4 of the same section. One of the requirements for proving up on their claims was that they had to live on it for five years. Maggie and Johnny built a house on the dividing line between their two quarters of land. The living-room-kitchen was right on the line and each one's bedroom was on his/her own land, attached to the main room. Johnny farmed both quarters and Maggie kept house for him.

Part of Maggie's land was used for a family cemetery, as there were no church cemataries yet. In August, 1884, the first burial was made when her younger sister, Mary Whalen , died of pneumonia. She was not yet 18 years old.

That same year, a neighbor, Mrs. Thomas McCullough died, leaving a family of little children. At her funeral, various neighbors offered to help the bereaved husband by taking some of is younger children to raise along with their own. When Maggie and Johnny heard of the plan, they offered to help, also. Little Rossie McCullough, then 4 years old, was given into their care. Another child, Arthur, age 10 years, also accompanied them home from the funeral, but he only stayed a few days, until Rossiebecame accustomed to his new home. Then Arthur went to live with another neighbor, Pierce Sinnott.

Maggie kept house for Johnny and little Rossie until she proved up on her claim. Then she moved back into town with her mother and step-father. After her mother's death, in May 1895, Maggie took full charge of her step-father's home. She also worked as a dressmaker, probably kept busy by her own step-sisters, Kate and Mary Ann Hughes, both of whom had married -- Kate in 1887, and Mary Ann in 1892 (to, Maggie's brother, Johnny Whalen).

In 1905, Maggie's step-father, John Hughes, passed away. Some time after that Maggie moved to the farm home of her brother and sister-in-law, Johnny and Mary Ann Whalen, who by this time had a family of eight children. Maggie soon found much to do in that busy and noisy household.

After Johnny and Mary Ann's oldest son reached school age, Maggie donated land for a school, on the S.E. 1/4 of her S.E. 1/4 in Sinnott Township. School District, #97 was organized in 1901 and the school was built. It was called the "Whalen School." There in the fall, the first session of school began and little James was among those enrolled.

Maggie Whalen never married. Family sources say that she had an understanding with a man named WillRussell, a longtime friend of the family, but he died about the same time her step-father did.

Maggie lived on with Johnny's family, carrying her share of the hardships as well as the joys and sorrows of pioneer life. Johnny's youngest son, William, became her special pet and favorite little nephew. In the "new house", built for Johnny and Mary Ann's family, about 1913, Aunt Maggie had a room of her own.

In her declining years, Maggie became ill with cancer, from which she never recovered. She passed away April 21, 1935, and was buried in St. Stephen's Catholic cemetery, east of Stephen, Minnesota. She willed her land to her nephew, William Whalen.

FAMILY HISTORY WHALEN INDEX