Lecture recalls early settler's tragic fate

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Franz Massopust, "the Pathfinder," was one of the four settlers who selected the site for the town of New Ulm in 1854, but who could have guessed the tragic consequences that awaited Massopust and his family, Robert J. Paulson, St. Paul, founder of German-Bohemian Heritage Society, told the 28th annual Society of German-American Studies Symposium Saturday.

It was Massopust, Athanasius Henle, Louis Meyer and Alois Palmer who in the fall of 1854 selected the bench land overlooking the Minnesota River just north of where the Cottonwood River joined the Minnesota as the site of the soon-to-be city of New Ulm, Paulson related.

Massopust was the only German-Bohemian in this hardy foursome who came up with a selection that was agreeable to all the early settlers.

Franz the Pathfinder was born to a blacksmith in the North-Central Bohemian village of Pollitschney in 1828. The first-born son would later lead his father and other family members to New Ulm, Paulson said.

The younger Massopust left home in the summer of 1853. Traveling by rail and steamship, he arrived at the Port of Bremen where he boarded the three-masted ship, "Loessing," arriving in the port of New York on Aug. 15, 1853. By train and sailing vessel, he made his way to Chicago where he discovered the Chicago Land Association and joined it, Paulson said.

On Sept. 15, 1854, a party of 20 association members, including Massopust, set out for Minnesota to find land to establish a townsite. Three of the party, again including Massopust, checked out a site on the Minnesota River three miles south of Le Sueur, but no one was pleased with it, Paulson said. Then, 11 men, including Massopust, were sent to explore a site near Swan Lake, but that also seemed unsuitable.

Seven members returned to Traverse de Sioux, but Massopust, Henle, Meyer and Palmer continued on because they wanted to explore the district west of Swan Lake toward Fort Ridgely. They wandered around, lost and near starvation, until they came upon a trading post operated by Joseph La Framboise, a French Canadian fur trader.

It was La Framboise that suggested they look at a "most suitable location" for a town site down river from the fort. The four settlers found the site, decided it was a very suitable location and headed back to Traverse to tell the others of their good news, Paulson related.

As the city of New Ulm was being established, in 1855 Massopust got married, and then he began the process of settling in, as well as getting other members of his family, including his father Franz Massopust "the elder" over to New Ulm to settle.

By 1860, all of the Massopust family members who had immigrated were living in the Milford settlement. Only a daughter remained in Bohemia. Franz the Pathfinder had six of his 160 acres under cultivation with a value of $700. He also had $30 worth of farm machinery, two cows, two oxen and five pigs. His livestock was valued at $1,000. His father had seven acres under cultivation with a value of $500 and his machinery was valued at $15. He had three head of livestock valued at $40. The family was getting established.

Then, in 1862 the Massopust family's tragic saga began. A party of 6-8 Indians invaded the elder Massopust's house and killed him. Two daughters also died and their bodies mutilated, but his 15-year-old son, though wounded by a tomahawk, escaped and hid in a slough where he was later discovered by several Indians. However, he took off his wet pants because they were slowing him down and eluded the pursuing warriors. He managed to warn the settlement, Paulson said.

Franz the Pathfinder's house also was attacked, and his six-year-old son was killed. His wife and two other children, though wounded, also escaped and fled to New Ulm, Paulson recounted.

In 1863, a son was born to Massopust and his wife Ernestine, but two years later Massopust died of typhoid fever at the age of 36.