Dan Guild

Biography

Timeline

1. May 24, 1877

   Birth of Daniel William Guild

   History of the Guild Family

2. An 1898 snowstorm and shortly afterward

   Olive seeks shelter for her children

   Olive first arrived with three younger children; Florence and Edith appeared when she moved in. Dan offered shelter in exchange for cooking and keeping house.

   History of the Guild Family

3. 1899

   Olive and Dan marry

   Married as Seventh Day Adventists after Olive became pregnant.

   History of the Guild Family

4. 1901

   Birth of Pearl

   History of the Guild Family

5. 1901; also described as only a few months before Clarence’s 1902 birth

   Death of Newton and Bernal’s inheritance

   Bernal used his inheritance to buy a fine horse and a new Colt .45 revolver.

   History of the Guild Family

6. when he died

   Newton’s estate passes to his children

   The size and details of the estate are unknown.

   History of the Guild Family

7. 1902

   Birth of Clarence Newton

   His middle name honored Dan’s father Newton.

   History of the Guild Family

8. December 15, 1904

   Birth of Floyd Raymond Guild

   Carol gives St. Mathias as the birthplace but notes that some family documents give Fort Ripley.

   Carol's Chapter

9. December 15, 1904

   Birth of Floyd Raymond Guild

   Described as Dan's fourth child and Olive's ninth.

   History of the Guild Family

10. 1904

    Birth of Floyd Raymond

    The passage says Dan then had ten mouths to feed and ten bodies to clothe.

    History of the Guild Family

11. September 13, 1907

    Birth of Harold Herman

    Olive's last child; the passage says she was 29.

    History of the Guild Family

12. 1909

    Birth of Harold Herman

    History of the Guild Family

13. Possibly around 1910

    Dan’s battery and radiator repair business

    Business was in both names. Dan rebuilt and resold batteries, repaired batteries and radiators, and continued farming. Children reportedly had battery-acid holes in their clothes.

    History of the Guild Family

14. 1917

    Bessie's diphtheria quarantine

    The sheriff quarantined Ira, Olive, and Dan at the farm when Bessie contracted diphtheria. Ira nursed her; Floyd and Clarence ran away to avoid quarantine.

    History of the Guild Family

15. Perhaps about 1918

    Dan Guild family receives a bachelor's estate

    Township elders selected the family as the poorest in the township, qualifying them to inherit 160 wooded acres, an operating sawmill, and outbuildings.

    History of the Guild Family

16. Around 1918, not long after the inheritance

    Dan mortgages the land to start a dairy herd

    Borrowed $800 against the land to purchase eight cows; the herd failed to produce a profit.

    History of the Guild Family

17. 1925

    Dan leaves for the shop and returns to Olive

    Dan moved in with Clarence and published notice that because Olive had left his bed he was no longer responsible for her debts. Olive walked to town, ordered him home, and said he was forgiven. He returned; they never divorced.

    History of the Guild Family

18. 1947

    Trip to Grandpa Dan's funeral

    Bernard says he was eleven and finally realized Dan was his grandfather during the trip to his funeral.

    Bernie's Chapter

19. September 1, 1947

    Dan's death

    Died at 70 of atherosclerosis and general decline, and finally pneumonia brought on by a fractured hip.

    History of the Guild Family

20. Soon after Olive and Dan married in 1899

    Birth of Bessie Amelia

    Their firstborn.

    History of the Guild Family

21. After Clarence Vosberg died

    Olive joins Dan Guild's household

    Olive moved in with Dan and his roommate.

    Barbara's Chapter

22. When Bessie was on the way

    Olive and Dan marry

    According to Merlin's account, they married quickly because a child was on the way.

    Barbara's Chapter

23. what was to become our last trip there

    Last visit to Dan Guild's grave

    While the family visited and pulled weeds, Myrtle suggested digging Dan up to see what he looked like. Bernard believed she meant it.

    Bernie's Chapter

24. date not given

    The decision to sell the black walnut trees

    Grandpa Dan Guild decided to cut down and sell the black walnut trees for lumber. Daddy and Clarence became dissatisfied living at home afterward.

    Iris's Chapter

25. date not given

    Olive marries Dan Guild

    Orville Prescott helped clarify the events leading up to this marriage.

    Iris's Chapter

26. date not given

    Birth of Daniel William

    History of the Guild Family

27. Before Dan married

    Dan and Bernal work a rented farm

    Grew feed corn and ninety-day russet potatoes for sale or barter and kept chickens, pigs, and a milkin’ cow.

    History of the Guild Family

28. When Merlin was seven or eight

    Merlin accidentally spoils his grandparents’ onions

    Urine from the upstairs window soaked onions drying on the porch, spoiling bean soup and liver and onions. Merlin received a willow-switch whipping.

    History of the Guild Family

29. date not given

    Dan loses his inherited property

    Dan lost the property he had inherited to the bank.

    History of the Guild Family

30. After the inheritance, perhaps about 1918

    The family makes a home in the granary

    With no residence on the land, they sealed the windowless granary's open slat-work for winter and camped inside.

    History of the Guild Family

31. Soon after the dairy venture around 1918

    Foreclosure costs Dan the inherited farm

    The bank foreclosed after one missed regular payment. Dan refused to sell birch trees for pulp to repay the loan. The passage says he lost everything for want of $200, but subsequently says he retained the sawmill.

    History of the Guild Family

32. During the foreclosure dispute

    Floyd and Clarence leave home

    The brothers left after Dan rejected their plan to cut trees to save the property and told them to go if they did not like his decision.

    History of the Guild Family

33. After the foreclosure

    Dan builds a house on Harold Falk’s farm

    Falk permitted Dan to build a small squatter's house in exchange for sawing cleared-timber logs into boards. The house had one large room upstairs and one downstairs, with tarpaulin partitions.

    History of the Guild Family

34. After settling on Falk’s farm

    Dan saws lumber and sells preserved lake ice

    The sawmill could handle logs up to 36 inches in diameter. Dan packed winter-cut ice from a lake on the property in sawdust and sold it in summer.

    History of the Guild Family

Stories mentioning Dan

• Merlin Remembers the Older GenerationMerlin recalled disliking his grandmother Olive, who stuck her tongue out at him and prompted his mother to switch him. He related that Olive had five children before meeting Dan Guild and moved in with him after Clarence Vosberg died. Olive and Dan married quickly because Bessie was expected, a revelation that still disturbed Merlin. Dan was remembered as quiet, mechanical, and a poor dirt farmer. The account says Olive had eight children by three husbands and Daddy had five half and three full siblings; it separately calls Gertie Dad's stepsister.
• Daddy Could Make or Mend AnythingFloyd traded with Hugh Chase and proudly repaired and resold a broken chain saw at a profit after using it. Herb Spahn remembered his riding-sprayer, motorized plow, help to neighbors, and protective rule against swearing around his girls. Carol recalls his metalwork, woodworking, car repairs, plumbing, electrical work, and walnut carving, skills that kept the household from needing hired help.
• Casey's Lunch Bucket and a Life of ProvidingCarol recounts Floyd's birth, conflicting family accounts of his birthplace, and his thirty-nine years at John Deere Plow Works. Known at work as Casey, he arrived early for his preferred parking space and carried six sandwiches in a black lunch bucket. Writing about his demanding life helped Carol appreciate his devotion to providing for the family.
• Dad's Beginnings and Family ResemblancesThe family recounts Floyd Raymond Guild's farm birth, parents, inherited appearance, and full and half-siblings. They remember the infant death of Harold Herman and state that eight of Olive's ten children lived well into old age. The passage contains conflicting ages and dates for Olive and calls the Vosburg children both half-siblings and stepsiblings.
• Olive and Clarence's Farm Years and a Sudden LossAfter marrying in St. Mathias, Olive and Clarence Vosburg traveled on horseback to a North Dakota farm, raised five children, and returned to Minnesota in 1898. In summer 1899, Clarence was crushed by a boulder while clearing a field. Myrtle's account, relayed by Orville, attributes the accident to a broken wedge pole and rejects other reported causes. Olive was left with five children.
• Carrie’s Roots and a Treasured Lock of Red HairThe family traces Carrie’s Fairbanks ancestry and Newton’s Guild ancestry, notes the neighboring family grave sections near Dedham’s old St. Paul Church, and recounts Carrie’s birth, marriage, children and death. A lock of her red hair passed from Belle to Barbara Guild Miller. Floyd was born after both grandparents had died.
• Minnesota Visits, Grandma's Sandwiches, and Northern LightsBernard recalls visiting Dan Guild's Minnesota grave, where aunt Myrtle seriously suggested digging him up. He remembers attending Dan's funeral at eleven in 1947, Grandma Olive's kindness over a fried egg sandwich, and visits with his father's relatives around Brainerd. His memories include attic sleeping, fresh warm milk at Uncle Clarence's farm, glowing swamp gas, brilliant Northern Lights in 1947, fishing, and mosquito bites.
• A Snowstorm, an Open Door, and a Growing FamilyDrawing partly on Floyd’s accounts, the family recounts Dan and Bernal’s rented farm and Olive’s desperate appeal after Clarence Vosburg’s accidental death. Dan offered shelter in exchange for cooking and housekeeping, initially unaware of her two oldest daughters. Olive and Dan married in 1899 and had five children, two of whom died young. The account also recalls Carrie’s devout household and Bernal’s departure after Newton’s death to sell sewing machines, including his meeting with Belle Woodley.
• Inventive Hands and the Fortunes of an InheritanceNewton’s mills, repair shop, patents and royalties illustrate what the family calls the Guild tinkering trait. The account also credits Thaddeus Fairbanks and Mr. Morse with scale and engine innovations. After Newton’s death, Dan supported his family with his inheritance, Bernal became a traveling salesman, and Frank Beckman lost most of Adah’s share in a failed furniture store venture.
• Gus Falk's Friendship and a Fresh Start in MolineGus Falk met Daddy, Uncle Clarence, and the other sons through stops at Grandpa Dan Guild's radiator repair shop in Brainerd during his annual Minnesota hunting and fishing trips. He offered to help them find jobs at John Deere in Moline. Upset by Grandpa's decision to cut down and sell the black walnut trees, Daddy left for Moline at sixteen. Gus secured him a job at John Deere Plow Works, where he worked for thirty-nine years. Iris also recalls Daddy driving a truck for a WPA road-building company during some early Great Depression years. He jokingly claimed his inexperienced crew built a particularly bumpy road section on the way to Chicago, but the family never believed him.
• Gathering the Family's Memories, Facts, and First-Class MythsBernie introduces accounts of Floyd, Ethel, and Edward Williams compiled after family members had already written their memories. Earlier impressions were deliberately left unchanged. Bernie credits relatives' recollections, photographs, grave-site work, genealogical tracing, and oral-history interviews, including Diana's margarita-assisted conversations with Mom. Although initially described as true stories based on the most reliable information available, the accounts are also explicitly called anecdotal, possibly allegorical, and unprovable.
• An Unexpected Inheritance and a Granary HomeAn elderly bachelor left his wooded 160-acre property and operating sawmill to the poorest family in St. Mathias Township. The township elders chose the Dan Guild family. Floyd and Clarence saw a hopeful future, while Olive feared Dan would ruin their good fortune. Dan, Olive, Floyd, and Clarence made the windowless granary livable by sealing its open slat-work. Bessie had already left home to marry Ira Ringering, recently returned from World War I, and Pearl had died of diphtheria at 16 a year earlier.
• The Trees Stayed, but the Sons LeftDan mortgaged the inherited land for $800 to buy eight dairy cows, but the herd failed to turn a profit. After a missed payment the bank foreclosed. Floyd and Clarence wanted to sell birch trees for pulp to pay the mortgage, but Dan refused to cut them. His sons left home, and the account says Dan lost the farm, land, trees, and cows for want of $200.
• A Sawmill and a Small Home on Falk’s FarmAfter stating that Dan lost everything, the account says he retained the sawmill. Harold Falk let him build a small house on his farm in exchange for sawing logs into boards. Dan also used sawdust to preserve winter-cut lake ice for summer sales. Iris, Merlin, and Bernie remembered the plain two-story tar-paper house, where tarpaulins divided living and sleeping spaces. A barn for cows and pigs was added later. The 103 acre farm included part of Round Lake and two rivers and was still owned by Marvin Falk in 2001.
• Hard Work, Strong Tempers, and Lasting Family TiesThe family describes poverty, shared winter coats, uncertain meals, Dan’s mechanical ingenuity and repair shop, and the heavy household work borne by Olive and her daughters. Severe arthritis and unproved suspicions of infidelity colored Olive’s marriage and behavior. Recollections differ sharply: some emphasize harsh discipline and complaints, while grandchildren recall kindness and others see a devoted couple with stubborn tempers. Dan’s brief 1925 departure ended in his return, and they never divorced. The narrative also remembers affectionate sibling bonds, Floyd’s signature practice, and Olive’s willingness to shelter daughters between marriages. Sweeping judgments about the Vosburg and Guild children are presented as family opinions rather than independently established facts.
• Merlin and the Unfortunate Sack of OnionsWhile visiting his grandparents, Merlin urinated from an upstairs window at night to avoid waking them. Unknowingly, he soaked onions Dan had left drying on the porch. Olive’s bean soup and liver and onions were spoiled and went into the hog’s slop barrel. Merlin received a willow-switch whipping but remembered the accident as getting even for punishments he considered undeserved.
• From the Old Farm to a New Start in MolineFamily memories follow Dan and Olive on the Falk property, the mysterious driveway inscription, Myrtle's minnow sales, and Bessie's diphtheria quarantine and marriage. After Dan lost the property, Clarence moved to Bessie's home and Floyd stayed with Uncle Bernie, learning horse care and practical jokes. Gus Falk helped Floyd move to Moline and find work in 1921. Relatives admired his success, and visits and reunions continued through his parents' later years. The passage preserves contradictory dates in Olive's calendar account and the boys' refusal to admit writing the inscription.
• Sophrona's Children and the Love That Helped Edith HealAdah Sophrona Guild Beckman died of tuberculosis at 38, leaving eight surviving children after Samuel's fatal poisoning at two. Her widower Frank married Clara, who severely abused little Edith and was imprisoned after Frank discovered the abuse. The family concealed the imprisonment with a brain-tumor story. Frank later married Mary, whose love helped Edith recover. Edith became a tender mother, and her daughter Gerri supplied details. The account also recalls Adah's lost inheritance and Frank's later Wabedo Lake resort.

In the family geneagram

Recorded in the geneagram kept with the book. Where the corrected pages and the master run differ, both readings are shown and the corrected one is the reading the archive follows.

Referenced in

• Barbara's Chapter — CAPTAIN MERLIN RINGERING
• Carol's Chapter — LASTING MEMORIES
• Bernie's Chapter — MOSQUITOES BITES
• Iris's Chapter — GUS FALK
• Iris's Chapter — DEAR JEFF,
• History of the Guild Family
• History of the Guild Family — CARRIE FAIRBANKS
• History of the Guild Family — DAN AND OLIVE
• History of the Guild Family — THE SAW MILL
• History of the Guild Family — THE SAW MILL