Francis' father, William J. Carrigan, son of Hugh Carrigan was born in Boon Lake Township, March 17, 1873. He attended the district schools of Renville County and attended Hutchinson High school. He then farmed with his father until 1896, when he bought eighty acres of his own in Boon Lake Township and later added eighty acres. Will Carrigan was active in the community both politically and educationally. He served as assessor for eight years from 1906 to 1914, and was deputy sheriff for at least three terms. He was the director of school district 120 for at least fifteen years. He was married May 5, 1896, to Leah Jane Funk, of Boon Lake Township, born January 31, 1878, daughter of Samuel and Jane (Niver) Funk, early settlers of the township.

Francis was born May 15, 1898. He attended school at Lakeside and graduated from Buffalo Lake High School. During his high school years he stayed at his Uncle Bob Funk's home in town and went home on the weekends to help on the farm. Of course in those days harvest time took precedent over school in the fall, and planting did the same in the spring. Frank spoke often about going swimming in Buffalo Lake during this time as the lake had not been drained yet as part of the county dredging which came about later.

Typical of farming, Frank worked with his father on the farm from an early age. During one of the haying trips to the field one day when he was young, he was bounced off the front of the hayrack and was run over. Fortunately, the load was light and he recovered within a few weeks. When he was a teenager, his mother gave birth to a set of twins that did not live long. One was stillborn and the other, Jennie Elizabeth, lived about eight months. Both babies were buried in the grove on the farm and Frank had the task of digging both of their graves.

Two cousins, Dewey and Hugh, were very close to Francis in age and they had many adventures that they used to laugh about even in their later years. Most of the time, you could never get the details from any one of them. I think they might have been little devils. The one story that I remember being told may times though, involved some horse trading done by Will Carrigan. Will acquired a beautiful team in a trade and the boys talked him into letting them take the team and a new buggy to a dance at Lake Marion, between Brownton and Hutchinson. As they had done many times before, when the dance was over and the participants were tired out, they gave the horses 'free reign' and dropped off to sleep. This had worked so well in the past. They had not taken into account that these horses were not familiar with the route home. It turns out that the horses had been bought from someone that lived in the opposite direction and they woke up in the farmyard of the former owners. The horses had gone to the only 'home' that they knew. Needless to say, their folks were pretty mad when they didn't get home until the next afternoon.

He didn't make it into either World War I or II. He was all set to go in 1918 and even had a brand new suit that his dad had bought for the occasion. When he got to Minneapolis to be sworn in, they had announced the armistice and sent everyone home. When WWII came, he was considered too old.

On September 21, 1921, Francis Carrigan married Helena Ella Ruth Brandt in Brownton, Minnesota. She went by the name Helen. She was born March 13, 1902 to Robert and Augusta (Napp) Brandt at home on the farm near Lake Marion. She was the baby of the family and the only girl. In the early 20's, Frank worked in Minneapolis at a steelyard. He never missed a days work. He even walked about five miles once when the streetcars quit running because of a snowstorm. Later on, they farmed in the Brownton area and then near Sumter. When things got tough, Frank took on whatever job was available. One summer during the Depression, he worked in a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp near Virginia, Minnesota. He had also worked as a carpenter near Glencoe. They eventually sold their farm and bought the General Store / Hotel in Sumter.

It was within this time frame that my sister Patricia and myself came into their lives. Because of what would now be a treatable mental breakdown, our mother, Anne (Roepke) Carrigan, Robert's wife, was committed to the St. Peter Mental Hospital. She was to spend the rest of her years in similar care. Because Robert was unable to care for us, Francis and Helen took us in to keep us from the orphanage. They raised us, and I consider them to be my 'real' parents.

Things did not work out with the store in Sumter. The Glencoe Creamery started a truck route to pick up milk from farms in a very large area. This took business away from the Sumter Creamery, and reduced the number of farmers coming into the smaller town. Next, the Feed Mill in town burned down and this further eroded Frank and Helen's trade. Things would have been better, but they had extended credit to many of their patrons and were unable to collect any of it. Things were tough, but many of these people survived the bad times and still never honored their debts. Frank had bought a brand new 1940 Ford Deluxe Sedan that had cost $975. He was very proud of this car and was very disappointed when he had to sell it in 1942. He traded down to a Model 'A' and then to a 1937 Ford. It wasn't until 1951 that he was finally able to trade back up to another 1940 Ford. He was just as proud of the second one.

With the outbreak of World War II, so many young workers either enlisted or were drafted that jobs opened up in the major cities. Hugh Carrigan, Frank's cousin, had gotten a job as a guard at Minneapolis Moline. He contacted Frank to let him know that they were hiring and Frank went there to check it out and got hired. That was in April of 1942. My sister, Pat was in school so the rest of the family waited until classes ended before joining him in Minneapolis. Frank worked there for the next 22 years.

There were no benefits at that time. Minneapolis Moline was a privately owned company and the owner said he only believed in paying someone for hours worked. Therefore, there was no overtime, vacations or sick leave. Strikes were not allowed during 'The War', so everyone had to put up with long hours and little time off. When the strike ban was lifted, Moline workers voted in the United Electrical Workers Union. The owner wouldn't negotiate and they went on strike. Not for wages, just for benefits. I remember going to the picket line with Helen to bring sandwiches to the strikers. During the strike a train loaded with steel and other supplies, that the company had ordered well before the strike, came to the plant. The railroad would not deliver if the company could not unload the cars. Knowing that there would be no jobs without these critical supplies, the strikers went into the plant and unloaded the train and went back on the picket line. This impressed the owner enough to finally sit down to negotiate. There never was another strike at Moline until after Frank retired. Frank was a union steward then until retirement.

Helen loved to just go for 'Sunday Drives' with no particular destination and I enjoyed taking her on many of these. She was very talented in crafts, especially crocheting. One of her favorite activities was to watch 'Professional Wrestling' on TV. When the action really got going, she would get her rocking chair going as fast as the action and you could hardly see her crochet needle at work. We teased her about this often, but she just laughed. It's a wonder, but she didn't made mistakes in the crocheting while doing this.

Frank loved baseball and played for various town teams well into his 30's. He was a pitcher and always found time to play, even if it did require working twice as hard to get all the farm work done. Later, when living in Minneapolis, he took in as many of the old 'Minneapolis Millers' games as possible. He followed the Twins, but never did get to one of their games. He was also an avid hunter and loved to fish. He and Helen would spend all day on the lake and usually did better than most other fishermen. I can remember many times during World War II when Frank would take his fishing gear on the streetcar to one of the city lakes. He would save up his Gas Ration Coupons for his hunting and fishing trips into northern Minnesota. They had planned to retire near one of their favorite lakes, and got a place in 1958 at Ann Lake, north of Ogilvie, Minnesota. My wife, Virginia and I bought lots adjacent to them at the same time. Frank retired to this place in May of 1964. Unfortunately Helen had lost her battle with bone cancer October 31, 1963. Frank never forgave himself for working those few extra years. He never got to spend those waning years with his lifetime partner. Frank died of a massive heart attack on May 21, 1967.

One added tidbit. In their early married years, they were traveling from Minneapolis to Will Carrigan's farm for a visit. It was quite dark and they had taken the Lake Preston Road north from US Highway 212. Helen was driving their 'Willys Baby Grand' automobile. When they got to a creek bridge, they discovered too late that the bridge had been removed to be rebuilt. The car ended upside down in the creek. Frank knew that Helen could not swim, and frantically kept going back under the car to find her. She finally called out to him and he came to the shore to find that she didn't even have wet shoes. The next morning they came back to find barricades had been put up during the night. The county workers even tried to claim that the barricades had been there the night before. At least that was when they were supposed to have been put up. They never collected the cost of replacing the car and there was no lawsuit to collect. My, how times have changed.

Frank and Helen both were also quite involved with the Boy Scouts and made it a family affair. I also had the privilege of spending a lot of time fishing and hunting with Frank. We spent a lot of time together in these endeavors. We had even been fishing together on the day that he died. It may not seem like much to some, but I was able to be with both of them when they took their last breaths.

Unfortunately, most of my children never got to know either of them.

I've always looked up to both Frank and Helen as my 'Real Parents'. I still get quite mad when I hear the term 'Real Parents' to mean 'Biological Parents'. It takes a lot more than biology to make a 'Real Parent'.

Written with gratitude, their 'Son', Bob (Leo Robert Carrigan).