Born on his parent's 160 acre farm in southwest Wisconsin, the sixth of seven children, he lost his father, an Alsatian immigrant, to an unknown injury or illness two months before his second birthday. After his mother remarried three years later, his family sold out and traveled to central Minnesota where they opened a new farm near the village of St. Martin. Mike lived there for the rest of his life.
His mother and step dad birthed eight more children in Minnesota, half siblings, before she died of tuberculosis in 1877 and he, Johann Jaeger, of a heart attack four years later.
At age 21 in 1881, Mike married neighbor Eva Mehr. After the wedding, he continued working for her widowed dad Jacob Mehr and continued housekeeping in the Mehr home.
After 15 years of marriage, Eva died on March 9, 1896 at age 37 years from pleurisy and their three young daughters died likewise during an 1895-96 diphtheria epidemic. Mike and Eva's two sons, Jake and Math, survived. In the span of a few weeks in March to May 1896, Mike lost two daughters and his young wife. His third daughter, Katherine, had died of diphtheria the previous June.
In 1899, Mike married his housekeeper Dorothy Nickolaus. Their daughter Anna Gully (Fleischhacker) was born in 1900. After two years of marriage in December 1901, Dorothy passed away at age 24 years from tuberculosis. After her sad death, he raised his children as a single parent.
Michael Gully was a capable, successful farmer. In addition to his local acres, he purchased two quarters of tillable land in extreme western North Dakota, north of Sentinel Butte, where his nephew and godson Mike Finneman had homesteaded. Leasing the land during his lifetime, the Dakota property remained in the Gully/Fleischhacker family for the next seventy years.
Oral family memory recorded that Mike's looks resembled his younger brother Richard Gully, and like him, he had blue eyes, brown hair, tanned easily in summer and stood 5'5". Both brothers were 2" taller than their father had been and they were noticeably taller than their two older brothers, Jake and Joe Gully, who likewise resembled each other.
He passed away at age 61 years from heart failure during his sleep. His daughter Anna Gully, just two months before her marriage to Joe Fleischhacker, was living with him. During the day hours preceding his death, Mike had actively worked on his automobile hand cranking the front starter several times. Anna, remarking about her dad to this author said, "... he was a good guy." written by great nephew Gregory Dorr
The naming of St. Michael Catholic Church, Sentinel Butte, ND
A family story has been told about the possible source for the naming of St. Michael Catholic Church in Sentinel Butte, ND, a small hamlet on the range of extreme western North Dakota. From his home near St. Martin, Stearns County, in central Minnesota, Michael Gully visited the area in about the year 1912, in his 52nd year, investigating open Dakota land a few miles northeast of tiny Sentinel Butte, which he did eventually purchase. While in the area, he was made aware of citizenry hopes for a new church building. Local farmers and ranchers were largely Catholic German stock and many were new arrivals from his home Stearns County neighborhood. Michael surprised the "building committee" with an unspecified generous cash donation. One year or so later, on September 8, 1914, the congregation was officially incorporated under the title, "Church of St. Michael" with Rt. Rev. Vincent Wehrle, O.S.B., Bishop of Bismarck, as its president. After construction, the new church opened in October 1915. Perhaps the new church was named St. Michael with benefactor Michael Gully in mind.
Postscript---the last mass celebrated at St. Michael Catholic Church was held Sunday October 2, 1994. The church closed. Interestingly, Michael Gully's Sentinel Butte land, the land he bought in 1912, which had remained with his descendants for the last 70 years was sold at the same time of the church's closing. Unknowingly, in 1994, his descendants sold out during the same year of St. Michael's last mass. G. Dorr
Born on his parent's 160 acre farm in southwest Wisconsin, the sixth of seven children, he lost his father, an Alsatian immigrant, to an unknown injury or illness two months before his second birthday. After his mother remarried three years later, his family sold out and traveled to central Minnesota where they opened a new farm near the village of St. Martin. Mike lived there for the rest of his life.
His mother and step dad birthed eight more children in Minnesota, half siblings, before she died of tuberculosis in 1877 and he, Johann Jaeger, of a heart attack four years later.
At age 21 in 1881, Mike married neighbor Eva Mehr. After the wedding, he continued working for her widowed dad Jacob Mehr and continued housekeeping in the Mehr home.
After 15 years of marriage, Eva died on March 9, 1896 at age 37 years from pleurisy and their three young daughters died likewise during an 1895-96 diphtheria epidemic. Mike and Eva's two sons, Jake and Math, survived. In the span of a few weeks in March to May 1896, Mike lost two daughters and his young wife. His third daughter, Katherine, had died of diphtheria the previous June.
In 1899, Mike married his housekeeper Dorothy Nickolaus. Their daughter Anna Gully (Fleischhacker) was born in 1900. After two years of marriage in December 1901, Dorothy passed away at age 24 years from tuberculosis. After her sad death, he raised his children as a single parent.
Michael Gully was a capable, successful farmer. In addition to his local acres, he purchased two quarters of tillable land in extreme western North Dakota, north of Sentinel Butte, where his nephew and godson Mike Finneman had homesteaded. Leasing the land during his lifetime, the Dakota property remained in the Gully/Fleischhacker family for the next seventy years.
Oral family memory recorded that Mike's looks resembled his younger brother Richard Gully, and like him, he had blue eyes, brown hair, tanned easily in summer and stood 5'5". Both brothers were 2" taller than their father had been and they were noticeably taller than their two older brothers, Jake and Joe Gully, who likewise resembled each other.
He passed away at age 61 years from heart failure during his sleep. His daughter Anna Gully, just two months before her marriage to Joe Fleischhacker, was living with him. During the day hours preceding his death, Mike had actively worked on his automobile hand cranking the front starter several times. Anna, remarking about her dad to this author said, "... he was a good guy." written by great nephew Gregory Dorr
The naming of St. Michael Catholic Church, Sentinel Butte, ND
A family story has been told about the possible source for the naming of St. Michael Catholic Church in Sentinel Butte, ND, a small hamlet on the range of extreme western North Dakota. From his home near St. Martin, Stearns County, in central Minnesota, Michael Gully visited the area in about the year 1912, in his 52nd year, investigating open Dakota land a few miles northeast of tiny Sentinel Butte, which he did eventually purchase. While in the area, he was made aware of citizenry hopes for a new church building. Local farmers and ranchers were largely Catholic German stock and many were new arrivals from his home Stearns County neighborhood. Michael surprised the "building committee" with an unspecified generous cash donation. One year or so later, on September 8, 1914, the congregation was officially incorporated under the title, "Church of St. Michael" with Rt. Rev. Vincent Wehrle, O.S.B., Bishop of Bismarck, as its president. After construction, the new church opened in October 1915. Perhaps the new church was named St. Michael with benefactor Michael Gully in mind.
Postscript---the last mass celebrated at St. Michael Catholic Church was held Sunday October 2, 1994. The church closed. Interestingly, Michael Gully's Sentinel Butte land, the land he bought in 1912, which had remained with his descendants for the last 70 years was sold at the same time of the church's closing. Unknowingly, in 1994, his descendants sold out during the same year of St. Michael's last mass. G. Dorr
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