John Shumway came from Mansfield, Connecticut in 1855 and settled on a claim near Elk River. He didn’t stay long because of the rattle snakes and mosquitoes. He returned to Connecticut – taught school for a short time — then came back in 1857. He purchased 45 acres on Twin Lake – erected a log house which was his home for 21 years.
He purchased a team of oxen which brought his financial deficit to $1 ,100. Setting out posts and building fences by moonlight, he soon had 25 or 30 acres under cultivation. With oxen and a few farming tools he raised crops – got as much as 60 cents a bushel for wheat and 22 cents for corn. He returned home to marry his childhood sweetheart, Louisa Russ, in October 1858 – returning to Robbinsdale.
He and several of his neighbors enlisted in the Civil War. When he was discharged at Fort Snelling he walked all the way home to Robbinsdale. He began purchasing land adjacent to the property he already owned. It was part of this land he later sold to Mr. A. B. Robbins, who platted it into the Robbinsdale town site. He donated the land for the Congregational Church. He was township treasurer for 25 years. They had two sons, Ernest and Royal.
-This material was gathered from the North Hennepin Post and the diaries of Ellen M. Bisbee, (sister of J. P. Shumway and Nathan F. Russ J. P. Shumway). It was compiled and edited by Evelyn and Esther Shumway for a Robbinsdale Historiocal Society slide show in 1980.