Deneen, Simon Deneen, Edmond Deneen, Daniel
Deneen, Jr., Mary Margaret, Isabelle Catherine, and
Johanna Rose. Two small sons, Simon and Edmund, died
in infancy from an epidemic of whooping cough.
Daniel Deneen died February 28, 1953, and is buried
at Minto. His wife died June 20,1945, and is also buried at
Minto.
of Frank Fee, was baptized. There were no marriages
recorded in 1880. However, in 1881 there is a record of
three; Martin Doyle and Helen Kearns on Jan. 17 in the
Kearns' log cabin, Maurice Foley and Mary Lynch on
February 21, and Hugh Ryan and Margaret McCann on
August 28.
Father Considine was the only priest between
Pembina and Grand Forks at that time. Mass was said
regularly in the Kearns' cabin prior to the construction of
St. Patrick's Church in Minto. Those who attended Mass
were: Michael, John and Tony Schneider, Mr. and Mrs.
Lawrence Koehmstedt, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Kearns,
and 10 children, Mrs. Susan McCracken, Mr. and Mrs.
Pat McCann, Hugh Ryan, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Moran,
Mike Hart, Joe McCarroon, Mike Monley, Jerry Murray,
John Hughes, Wm. O'Keefe and family, "Columbus
Fee," the Murphy family, John Coffey, Sr., and family,
Owen McCann, Dan McCulloch, Michael Cayley,
Alexander Kennedy and family, Valentine Koehmstedt,
and Adam Stoltz.
The priest was transported by parishioners by team,
very often by a team of oxen. Valentine Koehmstedt told
about traveling with Father Considine over the lonely
prairie. Sometimes they had a hard time finding night
shelter for themselves and the horses.
Father Considine had a homestead of his own between Minto and Acton and this he made his home during
his first years in Walsh County. The 1893 plat lists the
SE VA of Section 35 in Acton Township in his name.
Late in 1881, he moved to Manvel and built the first
church there in 1882. In the summer of 1883 he built the
first church in Ardoch and St. Patrick's Church in Minto
was completed July 1, 1884. On that same day Father
Considine was transferred to Mitchell, South Dakota, and
remained there until 1885 when he returned to Manvel. In
October of 1888, a rectory was purchased for St. Patrick's
Church and Father Considine came to reside in it. On
November 19,1911, Father Considine was made a
Domestic Prelate with the title Monsignor, by Pope Pius
X.
MARY FALCONER DOWLING FAMILY
Mary Falconer Dowling was bom in Bruce County,
Ontario, Canada, on November 6, 1877, and moved to
Minto on November 9, 1883, with her parents, Matthew
and Elizabeth Trotter Falconer.
Mary Dowling died on February 6,1971, at the age of
93 years and three months.
ROBERT MERCER EVANS, M.D.
Dr. Robert Mercer Evans engaged in the practice of
medicine in Minto, and experienced all of the hardships
that came to the pioneer physician and he had also won
the esteem and confidence which are accorded the
practitioner of conscientious purpose who does not
hesitate to sacrifice his personal comfort to the demands
of the suffering humanity.
He was born at Brockville, Leeds County, Ontario,
August 26, 1844, a son of William Evans, a native of
Ireland, who in 1828 crossed the Atlantic to Canada and
became one of the pioneer settlers of Leeds County,
where he successfully engaged in farming. He settled in
the midst of a forest and cleared away 100 acres of
timber.
He continued to reside in Leeds county until 1881,
when he crossed the border and became a resident of the
territory of Dakota, settling in Walshville township,
Walsh County. There again he cast in his lot with the
pioneer settlers, being among the first to take up a
government claim in that district and there he lived to
the ripe old age of 99 years and 7 months, passing away
September 19,1899. He married Bessie Bright, a relative
of the distinguished John Bright, the English statesman.
Mrs. Evans was born in England and in 1829
accompanied her parents to Canada where she met and
married Dr. Evans. She, too, reached an advanced age,
being eighty six years old at the time of her death in 1889.
In the family were seven children: Thomas, now
deceased, Robert Mercer, Elizabeth, Frances, John J.,
Catherine and Joseph. The old Evans homestead is still
in possession of a representative of the family.
Dr. Evans pursued his early education in the schools
of Brockville, Ontario, and was graduated from the
grammar school with the class of 1862, while in 1863 he
completed a course in the provincial normal school at
Toronto, Canada. He afterward took up the profession of
teaching which he followed for several years in Toledo,
Leeds county, and at the end of that period he turned his
attention to the study of medicine, being graduated from
the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Toronto in 1869,
winning his professional degree at that time. He was
located for the practice of medicine in Farmsville, Leeds
County, where he remained for 18 months, and then
moved to Bellview, near Manvel, in Grand Forks County,
in 1879.
He was the first physician north of Grand Forks and
there was no other until Pembina was reached. There he
remained until the fall of 1881 and on the building of the
railroad he moved to Minto, where he spent the rest of his
1
Rt. Rev. Monsignor John W. Considine
1
DANIEL DENEEN FAMILY
Daniel Deneen was born in Canada in 1872. His
parents were Dennis Deneen and Nancy Callahan. He
was of Irish descent and the Catholic faith. He completed
8th grade and took up farming. He came to Walsh County
in 1890 and worked as a hired hand on his sister's farm
until he could get started for himself.
He married Margaret Ellen O'Connor at Langdon
May 20, 1894. Their children were Ann Gertrude, Frank
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