I am an independent historian who is the author/editor/designer of:
South St. Paul Centennial, 1887-1987; South St. Paul Chapter, Dakota County Historical Society, South St. Paul, MN; Josten’s Press, 1987
West St. Paul Centennial, 1889-1989; West St. Paul Centennial Commission; West St. Paul, MN; Josten’s Press, 1989
Inver Grove Heights: Minnesota’s Treasure; Inver Grove Heights Centennial Commission, Inver Grove Heights, MN; Josten’s Press, 1990
The Glewwe Family History, Globe Printing and Publishing, South St. Paul, MN, 1999
Memories, by G.A. Schulte; Donald H. Madvig, Translator; Lois Glewwe, Designer and Editor, North American Baptist Heritage Commission, Sioux Falls, SD, 2006
“The Journey of the Prisoners,” in Trails of Tears: Minnesota’s Dakota Indian Exile Begins, Mary Hawker Bakeman and Antona M. Richardson, Editors, Prairie Echoes Press, Roseville, MN 2008
A Brief History of South St. Paul, Minnesota, Arcadia/The History Press, Charleston, SC., December 2015.
I graduated from South St. Paul High School and completed my B.A. at the University of Minnesota in Art History. I received my M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Southeast Asian Studies with a focus on the art of India. Since 2001, I have devoted my history research to Minnesota History with an emphasis on the period from 1800-1900.
Author and historian Lois Glewwe passed away on February 16, 2023 at the age of 73. She graduated from South St. Paul High School, the University of Minnesota and received her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Her post graduate work was spent in New Delhi, India, and she was a department head at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for several years. Returning to Minnesota in 1985, Lois was the Centennial Coordinator for the 100th anniversary of the City of South St. Paul in 1987. She went on to serve as an executive director or communications head for several Twin Cities nonprofits and churches until taking early retirement in 2014 to focus on her history research and writing. She is the author of seven published histories including the 1987 History of South St. Paul, the 1989 History of West St. Paul and the 1990 History of Inver Grove Heights. She authored additional regional histories and in 2015, wrote South St. Paul: A Brief History, published by Arcadia Publishing in South Carolina. A popular presenter and lecturer, Lois traveled the country doing history research with a focus on the first white women in Minnesota and their relationships with Dakota women from 1834 through the 1880s. Her blog, Dakota Soul Sisters, shares the story of over twenty such women.
An avid animal lover, Lois supported Howling for Wolves and rescued dozens of cats in need, finding homes for all of them.
Preceded in death by her parents, Reuben and Ethel Hymers Glewwe, she is survived by dozens of nieces and nephews, including great-nieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews, as well as many cousins and friends all over the country.
Lois’s Blog will be maintained by Lois’s nephew, Kelton Glewwe.
Thank you Lois for joining us at our PEO meeting tonight and sharing the story of these amazing women.
I found the Memoir of Mrs. Sophia Josephine Huggins enthralling. Thank you for making the amazing lives of the early pioneers come to life.
Hi Lois,
I find these stories fascinating. I am contemplating a meeting in the Twins Cities in a couple years (probably 2015) for Lewis and Clark buffs and some of your work might fit in well. Might we be able to chat or email at some point?
Hello Lois! I am researching my family’s history and am wondering if there is anywhere I can purchase your book, “Inver Grove Heights: Minnesota’s Treasure.” Apparently there is info on my family in your book (Johann & Elizabeth Kirchner), and I’ve heard you have a photo of Johann’s cabin as well…would love to get a copy if possible! 🙂 If you have any info, please email me at gretchen(at)paintertainment(dot)com Thank you!!
I am a DeBow from Chicago with the same ancestors. Please feel to include yourself on our FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DEBOW/
Just wanted to say that your writing is wonderful. Thank you very much!!
Thanks so much for sharing your discoveries in the Gale library! I am a Gale descendant, and have a special interest in family torn apart by the US-Dakota war, and the effects the war has had on the generations that followed. I hope you will have a chance to tell us more about Jane Smith Williamson when you finish your current project.
Is it possible to buy a copy of “The History of Inver Grove Heights: Minnesota’s Treasure?
I would like to purchase a copy of “The History of IGHs” as well for a friend’s 90th birthday. Any copies available?
Sorry Sharon but there are no copies of the IGH history available anywhere to just buy. You can occasionally find one on Amazon but they are quite pricy. I’ve tried to get the city to reprint it but no luck so far. Keep watching for garage and estate sales where sometimes one will show up. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help…also sorry I never got your message. I’m not sure why.
I have enjoyed these posts. My Ellison family from Adams County, OH is mentioned. Thank you for sharing this research.
Thanks Russ – I’ve got lots more of Jane Williamson to come but am also busy with other projects so it takes me awhile to get a new post put together…..
I so much enjoy Dakota Soul Sisters. The stories give life to my family history studies. At times I feel like I’m there with GrGr Grandparents John and Mary Aiton. Thank you.
Good Afternoon!
I am the program manager at the Scott County Historical Society. I wanted to connect with you and see if you would have any interest in coming and sharing your research and stories with us. You can reach me at 952-445-0378, or by emailing rjames@scottcountyhistory.org. Thanks! -Rose
Wow. What a pleasure to read your blog! So unusual to find someone who is both a great researcher AND a great writer, Thanks for making these fascinating people come alive. I happened across your blog while researching abolitionist Thomas Longley, Mary Ann Clark Longley’s father. I found it astonishing that Mary would go west to live among Native Americans considering her family history: Thomas’s great-grandfather, John Longley, had been taken captive by Native Americans in the 1690s, and his parents and several siblings massacred in front of him. Of course, it wasn’t the Sioux who killed her ancestors, but I can’t help thinking that Mary must have felt a shiver of foreboding.
Thanks Dione – I had never heard that story about John Longley. I’ve always struggled to understand both the passion for working with the Dakota while leaving their abolitionist battle behind but I suppose in the end, they saw both the enclaved and the Native as needing salvation and civilization. Sorry I’m not always complimentary about Mary Riggs – she was just always kind of whiny about things but she never mentioned her ancestor’s experience with the Native Americans in th 1690s.
Wyoming territory legislature passed the woman suffrage bill in 1869, and when Wyoming became a state in 1890 woman suffrage was in the state constitution. A summary is in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Wyoming)
Thanks Linda.
Hello! My name is Peter Olson. My mother was Lois A. Glewwe, born Nov. 21, 1923, in St. Paul. Have you heard of her? How can I obtain your Glewwe Family History? Thank you for your time.
Hello Peter! Yes, of course I knew your mother. We connected many years ago when she saw my name in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press before I published the family history. I was the communications director for the Saint Paul Winter Carnival and we touched base. Then when I began work on the history more seriously, she and your dad were living in North Carolina but we mailed stories and photos back and forth and your mom wrote a delightful poem about having a name like Glewwe! Unfortunately, there are no books anymore. They all sold by 2000 and I have no plans to reprint, especially 20 years later when there have literally been thousands of births and deaths. I could email you the pages about your family if you wish or, you might want to talk to your sister – she knew she had your mother’s copy of the history when I spoke with her last year and just assumed it was packed away somewhere. My actual email is lglewwe@hotmail.com which is probably a better way to get in touch with me rather than this blog page. Thanks!
Lois
I am so pleased ‘you’ are there. Fanny Huggins and Jonas Pettijohn are GGGG Grandparents of mine. We live in Central Washington State and love ancestry and history.
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