James (Jim) Whalen, the fourth child and third son of Murtha and Catherine Whalen, was born near Hudson, Wisconsin, on February 26, 1865. He was baptized into the Catholic faith, on April 9, 1865, by a priest named Reverend N. Stehle.

When he was almost five years old, Jim was taken, with his two older brothers, to Hudson, Wisconsin to have their picture taken. On that occasion, he disgraced himself by moving while the picture was being made. In the resulting photograph, there appeared to be a swarm of bees around his head. Driving home on a sleet storm after the picture taking, his father caught pneumonia He died soon afterwards.

Jim was 13 years old when his family moved to Minnesota and settled along the Tamarac River, east of what is now the village of Stephen. After they had built a shelter, cleared some land and planted a crop, word came that men were needed to build a railroad north from Crookston to the Canadian border. Jim's older brothers, Johnny and Will Whalen, were among those who hiked back toward Crookston to meet the advancing track crew and ask for work. When they did not return home within a few days, the family knew that they had been hired.

The thought that his brothers might be earning the going wage of a dollar a day while he was an errand boy at home, was to much for Jim. He begged his mother and step-father to allow him to follow his brothers and try to find employment as they had done. Worn down by his persistent pleas, his family gave their permission, though reluctantly, for they thought he was too young.

In high spirits, Jim set off on foot to seek his fortune. He met not one human being on his journey south to meet the railroad crew The unbridged rivers which lay between him and his destination were no deterrent to his progress. Jim merely removed his clothing, tied it into a bundle high on the back of his neck to keep it dry, and swam across the each swollen stream. Then he dressed again on the opposite side of the bank and continued on his journey. Finally, near the village of Angus, he met the construction crew.

Jim looked for his brothers and found them hard at work. There was John working in his long-sleeved undershirt, just like real men! He was using a pick and shovel to push railroad ties into position. There was Will, red-faced running with to sloshing buckets to answer the call of thirsty workmen.

Jim quickly sized up the situation and decided to apply for a job with the "Iron Gang," for he had noticed several boys his size carrying spikes and dropping them at the ends of each tie. He boldly approached the man who seemed to be in charge and asked for a job. That gentleman, removing cud of tobacco from his cheek, spat a stream of brown juice across the grade before replying,"No, I don't need anymore spike peddlers. There are too many kids on this job already". Replacing his tobacco plug, he turned on his heels and walked away.

Poor Jim! There was nothing for him to do but get a drink of water from Will's bucket and start home again, followed by the sympathetic glances of his brothers. The Tamarac River seemed very far away, indeed. On the way home, he did not make nearly as good time as he had coming, but stopped along the way to play, like the little boy he was. Finding a frog and a snake along the river bank, he amused himself by feeding the frog, which was tied to a piece of string, to the snake, and then, pulling the frog up after the snake had swallowed it, he offered it again for a second meal.

During the winter of 1880 - 1881, while living with his family in the old Section House, south of the Tamarac River, Jim kept an autograph book in which his family and friends penned sentimental verses. The verses were as follows:

" Some Rose's are Red and some are Yellow, but you are the Girl that stole my fellow." (Signed) Jack Murray

Stephen - Jan'y 18th, 1881 - "Memories Golden basket drop one Bright fern for me". (Signed) Peter Smith

Jan. 20, '81 - Dear Brother, Strive to keep the golden rule and learn your lessons well at school" Your affectionate Sis, Mary Hughes (his step-sister)

Stephen Station - Jan 20, 1881 - "Dear Brother Don't forget me when your happy. Keep for me one little spot. In the depths of thine affection, Plant one sweet forget-me-not." Your ever loving sister, Kitty (his step-sister Kate Hughes)

Stephen Station - Jan. 20 first - "Dear Brother, May your path be strewn with roses, Pure and thorneless to the end. When in death reposes, May you find in God a friend." Your loving sister Mary A. Whalen

May 1881 "Days may pass and time may fly and every joy decay and die, and every joyful dream I set, but these I can never forget" "Signed" D.J.S.

Hallock - Dec. 6, 1881 - To James Whalen "Remember me when this you see, And when you get married, Come see me." Your sincere friend, Minnie Daly, "Bangs"

Stephen - Dec. 6, Dear Brother, "I wish for thee a life of peace, and then a home where sorrow cease, And if the cross thou bearest now, a crown may then adorn your brow" Your sister, Maggie (Whalen)

About that time, Jim again sought employment on the rail road. This time he was hired. He left home, a little, skinny boy, and came back, when winter had set in, a man. He had grown six inches and put on weight to fill out his frame.

When he had "come of age." Jim acquired a tree claim on the s.w. quarter of section 10 in Sinnott Township, which he farmed or managed for the rest of his life. Later, he homesteaded near Graceton, Minnesota, at Zipple Bay on Lake of the Woods. His brother, Will Whalen, had homesteaded nearby, at Roosevelt, Minnesota. The nieces and nephews, Molly, Marjorie, Kathleen and Raymond Whalen, loved to visit "Uncle Jim." His homestead cabin was so small, however, that when they came he moved his table and chairs outside into the yard to make room for all to sit down.

Jim did not live on either farm all the time, but often tried his hand at some other means of livelihood, especially during the winters when farm work was done. For a few years of his early manhood, he lived in St. Paul where his step-brother John Hughes Jr., was living. Jim worked there as a street car motorman. After he returned to Stephen, he served for several years as village constable. He was also deputy sheriff of Mar shall County for a time. His other jobs included acting as a contractor for a ditching and draining company as a chauffeur for an auto livery.

The ditching and draining operations were owned by the Newcome Brothers. They advertised having "The largest open ditcher on earth! Can compete with any ditch opener in the State of Minnesota. References furnished. Satisfaction guaranteed." The machine could cut a ditch seven feet wide on top, sixteen inches on the bottom and three feet deep. The price was 60 cents per rod.

As chauffeur, Jim drove rental cars for "Cree" Johnson's "Stephen Auto Livery." On Sunday, Jim's day off, he would avail himself of one of the cars and drive out to Sinnott Township to take one or the other of his brother's families for a thrilling ride around the section.

A bachelor all his life, Jim's most serious romance occurred when he met and fell in love with Julia Hughes, his step-father's niece, who came from Michigan to visit her uncle's family one summer. Jim courted her all summer and the young couple wanted to marry. John Hughes forbade the match because many of Julia's family had died of tuberculosis, for which no cure had yet been found. At the end of the summer, Julia returned to Michigan where she eventually succumbed to the disease.

Uncle Jim was a great favorite with his nieces and nephews, of whom there were about 35, counting blood relatives (children of his brothers Johnny and Will Whalen) step-relatives (children of his step-brother and step-sister, John Hughes and Kate Hughes Sinnott) and shirt-tail relatives (children of the Jim Sinnott family who were not related at all, but called him "Uncle Jim" because their cousins did). To most of these, big, burly Uncle Jim meant fun and excitement and unexpected invitations to accompany him to a picnic, a ball game or even the circus. For some of these Jim would put on his badge (either deputy sheriff or constable) and walk in to check on conditions of the law and order.

Some of the littler children were afraid of Uncle Jim with his big voice and his gruff ways. The more timid ones, on being told, "Uncle Jim is coming," would ask, "which Uncle Jim? Is it Uncle Jim (Sinnott) with Kate and Bessie (twin cousins) or Uncle Jim (Whalen) with Bess and Starr (his team of horses") If the visitor was the former, they would run out to welcome the uncle and cousins in anticipation of a happy afternoon of play. If it were the latter, the timid ones would hide under a bed and stay there until coaxed out by braver brothers and sisters who came to entice them with candies and gum in Uncle Jim's voluminous pockets.

Although Uncle Jim never married, he did have an imaginary wife, whom the children knew as "Aunt Sally". He invented her out of necessity, in response to their unending questions, of "Why don't you have a lady at your house, Uncle Jim ?" and "When are you going to get married?" No one ever saw Aunt Sally, but the sings of her presence were everywhere, from the faded old apron hanging on a nail beside his kitchen cupboard, to the treats of candy and cookies which were always left behind for the little ones who visited him when she just happened to be out. Aunt Sally was always "out."
newly discoveref photo

If the children came to Uncle Jim's house in town on Sunday afternoon, he would apologize for her absence, explaining that she had gone out to his farm on Section 10. If he collected a group of nieces and nephews and drove them out to the farm, Aunt Sally would invariably that day to go to town to do her shopping. But always she left behind, on a table or a window sill, a bag of peppermints or jelly beans.

No one was supposed to go in to his house on the farm at "Section 10." Uncle Jim was a stickler for the social proprieties. He said it wasn't polite to drop in on a lady when she wasn't home. Instead, he would go in, alone, just "to see if Aunt Sally is home," and when she wasn't, as usual, he would come out carrying a bag of candy.

In later years, Jim had grand-nieces and grand-nephews who also learned to know and love Aunt Sally. By this time, the legend had expanded by many additions, resulting from his imaginative answers to the children's curious questions:

On Strawberries

"Why did Aunt Sally go out to Section 10?"

"To work in her strawberry patch."

"Did she really have strawberries?"

"Oh my --- the biggest and the juiciest strawberries in the county!"

"How big?"

"As big as your head!"

"May we have some strawberries, Uncle Jim ?"

"Of course. I'll just step down to her garden and look. You stay in the car." (Children always stayed in the car while Uncle Jim made his investigations.) Soon he would return, shaking his head and saying, "Well, we're too late. The strawberries are all gone. Aunt Sally must have taken them to town to sell them, but she did leave this one basket!" (bringing it from behind his back) Sure enough there would be the biggest basket of strawberries anyone had ever seen, perhaps not as big as your head, but no one would rude enough to mention that fact to Uncle Jim.

On Household Furnishings

"Why can't we go in with you, to see your house, Uncle Jim?"

"You might scratch Aunt Sally's furniture."

"What kind of furniture does she have, Uncle Jim?"

"The very best! Nothing but the best furniture for Aunt Sally!" "Does she have a piano, Uncle Jim?"

"Yes, indeed! Aunt Sally has a beautiful piano. She's very particular about it. Wouldn't want a scratch on it That's why I don't dare let you go in when she's gone."

"What kind of a piano, Uncle Jim? Is it an upright or a grand piano?"

"It's a grand --- a very grand piano!"

"What kind of curtains does Aunt Sally have, Uncle Jim?"

"Velvet! Aunt Sally has red velvet curtains."

"Oh, Uncle Jim, please let us go in and see Aunt Sally's red velvet curtains and her grand piano! We'll be ever so careful. We won't even put one finger on Aunt Sally's piano if you let us look."

"No, no, that wouldn't be right. It's not polite to look at people's pianos when they're not home. You stay in the car and eat the jelly beans that Aunt Sally left for you while I go across the yard and check my wheat. I want to find out if it's ready to thresh yet."

On one historic occasion, when the dialogue went as described above, an impatient little girl (his brother Johnny's youngest, little Irene) grew weary of waiting his return, got out of the car, and peaked in the window to see Aunt Sally's fine furnishings. What a disappointment! There were no velvet curtains, no grand piano nor any other grand furniture. All that could be seen through the dusty window was a rusty stove, a rickety table and a couple of old chairs. When Uncle Jim returned from checking the wheat field, an accusing little girl informed him of her discovery.

"No piano?" exclaimed Uncle Jim."Now you've done it! I told you she wouldn't want anyone snooping around, looking in the window when she wasn't here. Aunt Sally must have moved every- thing to her house in town. Guess I might as well take you home."

So Irene rode on home, disappointed, but not one bit disillusioned. She was already planning on stopping to see Aunt Sally's piano and red velvet curtains the very next time she went to town.

For forty years or more, Uncle Jim kept up his pretense, through two generations of children. In those days of financial hardship, not many of the Sinnott, Whalen, Charlton or Walker children believed in Santa Claus, but they all believed in "Aunt Sally "whose generosity was not limited to December 25th.

During the Great depression of the 1930's, Uncle Jim's visits and those trips to "Section 10" were the highlights for his grand-nieces and grand-nephews. As they grew older, no longer fooled by his Aunt Sally stories, but still keeping up the pretense for the younger brothers and sisters, he would take the teenagers, (usually the girls, because the older boys were hard at work in the fields) on overnight trips up to Williams, on Lake of the Woods, when he went to visit his nieces and nephews, the Charlton families, who lived there. While he got in a little fishing, the second cousins would get acquainted or reacquainted. These trips gave the young people a rather distorted idea of distance, for Uncle Jim never drove over 25 miles per hour in his ancient car. Consequently, the trip of some 200 miles would take 10 hours or so. The group would stay overnight with the relatives and start home on another all day trip. Nobody minded. There was a lot of times for games and silliness.

Another of Uncle Jim's occupations in his later years, was looking after the rental of houses in Stephen for absentee land- lords. Each month he would collect the rents, make out the receipts and store every thing in his mammoth old safe. For safe- keeping, he slept with a loaded revolver under his pillow. No one ever tried to rob him, but the gun did come in handy one time when he had a slight stroke and used it to call for help. He was alone and couldn't get a message to anyone; so he waited, watching the clock, through the morning hours until noon. Then, when he saw his nephew Jim Charlton, go past the house on his way home to dinner, Uncle Jim shot off his gun, into the floor and soon had the help he needed.

Even after Uncle Jim rented his farm to his nephew, William Whalen, he was never at a loss for things to do. Besides the many relatives who came to visit when they were in town, Jim enjoyed the company of such old timers as Alex and Andrew Gillespie, Jim Caroline, Matt Lorang, Henry Zitt, George Hurl and that greatest story teller of them all, Father Emil Leutticke, pastor of St. Stephen's church.

Uncle Jim passed away on September 7, 1944, following a sudden heart attack in the lobby of the First National Bank in Stephen. He is buried in St. Stephen's Cemetery, east of the village of Stephen.

May he rest in peace!