Stan stopped by the Scott County Historical Society building today and came up with a bunch of new info about Mom's great grandfather, Scotsman Peter Jackson. As you know, Peter married Nancy Ives and they raised four daughters at the farm home near Belle Plaine. Two of the daughters were school teachers; the other two were twins that mother knew of in the 1920s.
Peter and his brother James arrived in Scott County by steamboat in 1855. Today Stan went through the census records that record their names as well as Nancy's.
Peter was a farmer and also an original supervisor of the Town of Blakeley, located along the Minnesota River. He served on the school board. He and his brother each farmed 160 acres of land. Stan found the legal location on an 1880 Scott County map and will make an expedition there soon to see what is there now. The railroad eventually cut through James' property.
One of the history books on file notes that James was a "wealthy bachelor" and lived in a big house near the tracks. We'll get transcripts of all this stuff and post it soon.
On a past post, we showed you the five family gravesites in Belle Plaine. (James, Peter, Nancy, Adel and Adelia)
Interestingly, Stan found a note in a card file of someone else researching the Jacksons. Her name is Denise Kurkowski and she lives in New Hope. She left a phone number for anyone else interested in the family. We left a phone number on her recorder today.
