Roots & Riddles

Unraveling the mysteries, legends, and forgotten stories of Fillmore County, Minnesota. Join Preston & Lenora with a new episode every Wednesday🎙️🌿

From pioneer roots to unsolved riddles, we dig deep into the past to bring history to life.

09/09/2026

By sunrise, nearly an entire block of Wykoff’s business district was gone.

In the early morning hours of March 28, 1895, fire swept through the heart of town, destroying the town hall, stores, barns, homes, and thousands of dollars in merchandise. Residents rushed into the streets to save whatever they could while flames moved from building to building.

By the time the fire finally stopped, Main Street was left in smoking ruins—but Wykoff was already looking toward rebuilding.

This week on Roots & Riddles, Preston and Lenora revisit the devastating fire of 1895, the businesses that were lost, the questions surrounding how it started, and the community that refused to stay down.

🎉 September is Wykoff month on Roots & Riddles as we celebrate the town’s 150th birthday!

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

09/02/2026

Before Wykoff was even a town, Robert Crowell was already building a life there.

Crowell came to the area in the 1850s, built a log cabin, and later served with Company K of the 6th Minnesota Infantry. His military service took him from Minnesota to campaigns in the South, and by the time he died at age 95, he was remembered as Wykoff’s last Civil War veteran.

His family’s service stretched across generations—from the Revolutionary War to the Spanish-American War and World War I.

This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re kicking off a full month of Wykoff stories in honor of the town’s 150th birthday with the remarkable life of Robert Crowell.

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

08/26/2026

A young schoolteacher never made it home—and by the next day, a three-county manhunt was underway.

In December 1921, 23-year-old Inga Magnusson was found murdered inside the rural schoolhouse where she taught near the Minnesota-Iowa line. Bloodhounds picked up the trail, evidence pointed investigators toward 26-year-old Earl Throst, and before long he was in custody.

The case would end more than a year later at the gallows of the Iowa State Penitentiary.

This week on Roots & Riddles, Preston and Lenora revisit the murder of Inga Magnusson, the hunt for her killer, and the ex*****on that followed.

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

08/19/2026

What do a phrenologist, a state senator, a marble sculptor, and the inventor of an electric steam bath have in common? They were all Calvin Siscoe Powers.

Known throughout Fillmore County as “the Professor,” Powers lived a life that seems almost too varied to belong to one person. He published newspapers, delivered lectures across the Midwest, operated businesses in Fountain and Preston, entered politics, and patented an elaborate electro-v***r bath designed to treat patients with steam, medicated v***r, and electricity.

But behind the eccentric inventions and colorful newspaper feuds was also a respected public speaker, community figure, and grandfather whose final months were marked by heartbreaking tragedy.

This week on Roots & Riddles, Preston and Lenora uncover the remarkable—and wonderfully unusual—life of the Professor of Fountain.

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

08/12/2026

In 1952, seventeen-year-old Don Haugen was preparing to graduate from Spring Valley High School while carrying burdens few of his classmates could see.

He worked long hours on a farm southwest of town, wore patched clothing to school, and watched as his father became increasingly thin and desperate. Then Elling Haugen fled the farm and told authorities he had been held captive and nearly starved for five years.

The allegations made headlines across Minnesota and prompted an FBI investigation—but behind the sensational story was a teenager caught between his father, the family he still lived with, law enforcement, and a community that suddenly knew his private life.

This week on Roots & Riddles, we look beyond the headlines and explore Don Haugen’s experience living through one of Spring Valley’s most unusual and heartbreaking stories.

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

08/05/2026

How many times can death be cheated before a bridge becomes legendary?

In 1894, The Lanesboro Journal published an extraordinary article titled “A Scene of Famous Accidents,” chronicling the unbelievable history of the railroad bridge on the east edge of town.

A caboose plunged from the trestle. A young couple clung beneath the bridge as a train thundered overhead. A woman leaped twenty feet to save her life. Horses outran locomotives—and one even jumped from the bridge and walked away unharmed.

These weren’t tall tales passed down through generations. They were stories reported by people who witnessed them.

This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re exploring one of Fillmore County’s most remarkable pieces of railroad history and the bridge that became famous for all the wrong—and miraculous—reasons.

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

07/29/2026

How do you disappear… in plain sight?

In March 1928, Mabel farmer Harry Goelberg left home to buy a new automobile.

After a bizarre confrontation over a slot machine, two automobile accidents, and more than 150 unexplained miles on his new car, Harry simply vanished.

For weeks, his father searched the back roads of southeastern Minnesota, hoping each new lead would bring his son home. Instead, the trail grew colder until a heartbreaking discovery in Lake Pepin raised even more questions than it answered.

This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re retracing Harry’s final journey through Mabel, La Crosse, Winona, Lewiston, Stockton, and Lake Pepin to investigate one of Fillmore County’s most puzzling mysteries.

What happened during Harry’s missing days? And what really led to his tragic end?

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts. https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

07/24/2026

A girl disappears. Then… history goes silent.

She appears in the 1857 census.

She’s still there in 1860.

And again in 1865.

But by 1870, Matilda McQuillan is gone.

More than 160 years later, all that’s left are a handful of family stories—stories that claim she was kidnapped by Native Americans. But as we dug deeper, the evidence became far more complicated.

This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re following the paper trail through census records, family letters, local histories, and the fears that swept Minnesota during the frontier years to ask one simple question:

What happened to Matilda McQuillan?

Some mysteries are solved.

Others simply fade into history.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or at: https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

07/15/2026

🥃 What if Fillmore County’s first “medicine” was actually moonshine?

This week, we’re traveling back to 1856 to the forgotten settlement of Choice in Preble Township, where a supposed rattlesnake antidote became one of the county’s most entertaining frontier tales.

Was it fact? Folklore? Or a little of both?

Join Preston and Lenora as they uncover the story of The Moonshiners of Choice.

🎧 New episode out now. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts:
https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

06/30/2026

🇺🇸 How to Celebrate the Fourth of July Like an 1876 Fillmore County Resident

What did Independence Day look like in Fillmore County 150 years ago?

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, we dug into newspapers and firsthand accounts from Fillmore County’s 1876 Centennial celebration to find out.

Swipe through to discover how our communities celebrated—from ringing church bells at midnight and blasting tin horns to balloon launches, horse races, brass bands, baseball games, fireworks, and dancing until sunrise.

🎙️ Want the full story? Be sure to listen to this week’s Roots & Riddles episode, where we dive deep into Fillmore County’s unforgettable 1876 Fourth of July celebrations and the fascinating history behind them. Out now anywhere you listen to podcasts!

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸

Address

Fillmore County, MN
55965

Website

https://legacylanegenealogy.com/roots-riddles-podcast/

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