By Deb Kroon
Review Staff Writer
While searching for his family history, Walt Kruckeberg and his wife Myrna came back to Minnesota to visit. The couple resides in Colorado Springs, CO but Myrna was born in the Trimont area while Walt was born closer to the Twin Cities. Relatives who resided in SW Minnesota drew them to this area.
Walt had found his grandfather, George Henry Carr and family buried in Jasper, MN. Continuing to search, he located with great-grandfather in the Adrian Cemetery. “My family came over from Europe in 1630,” Walt explained. “I joined Ancestry looking for information. I found out they settled in Quebec, Canada. My great-grandfather Joel George Carr came to Adrian area during the homesteading in the 1800s. I’ve learned a lot about the history of the area, the Indian uprisings and the settling of SW Minnesota and Iowa. I found information that my great-grandfather had settled in Adrian and was buried there. I talked to a lady (Charlene Feekes) from the Adrian Cemetery and received a grave site marker number to look for – #15. We looked for quite a while before we found it. His grave was marked with a small piece of cement with the number 15 on it. That was all. I felt he deserved more. “
A little history on Joel G. Carr. Mr Carr was one of the first residents in Adrian and has been identified with its life and growth according to the Worthington Advance, 1882. Joel was generally well respected. He served as a justice of the peace, was a conveyancer ( a lawyer who specializes in land transactions) and a notary public. He was also listed as a carpenter in the 1880 census. Joel Carr passed away on March 3, 1882 at the age of 57 years and 6 months.
Thanks to his great-grandsons Walt and his brother Gary, Joel G. Carr now has a headstone to mark where this early Adrianite was buried. God bless the memory of Joel G. Carr.
Walt is continuing his research on his family’s genealogy, with the hopes of finding as much information as he can to complete the family history.
