The pine trees in the west section of Ogema Point Cemetery, Scandia Valley Township, Morrison County, Minnesota, the final resting place of Rachael Carew. Photo by the Morrison County Historical Society, July 24, 2020.

The Search for Rachael Carew

Over the past three issues of the Morrison County Historical Society’s newsletter, we’ve told the story of Rachael Carew. Rachael moved with her family to Todd County, Minnesota, in May 1918, as revealed in a local newspaper article. She died in March of the following year and was buried in Morrison County in Ogema Point Cemetery on Lake Alexander.

With the assistance of researcher Dan Dobrick, who provided a copy of Rachael’s death certificate, we discovered that she had been born enslaved.  Through research advice from Professor Christopher Lehman of St. Cloud State University, we learned how to trace those who were enslaved in census records and used those techniques to uncover parts of Rachel’s story.

“The Search for Rachael Carew” is now available in booklet form online. Paper copies are available for purchase in the Weyerhaeuser Museum’s gift shop.

The pine trees in the west section of Ogema Point Cemetery, Scandia Valley Township, Morrison County, Minnesota, the final resting place of Rachael Carew. Photo by the Morrison County Historical Society, July 24, 2020.
The pine trees in the west section of Ogema Point Cemetery, Scandia Valley Township, Morrison County, Minnesota, the final resting place of Rachael Carew. Photo by the Morrison County Historical Society, July 24, 2020.

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