MANDAN Historical Society

Working to Preserve & Promote Mandan's Heritage since 2004

Welcome

Membership

Activities

Ag Stn Centennial

History Harvest

TR-Coe Exhibit

WWII Exhibit

Museum & Office

Area History

Book: "Mantani"

The 1880s

Mandan Rodeo / Fair

School System History

The 1890s

The 1900s

1901 Pan Am Expo

1903 TR Visit to NDak

The 1910s

1910 Spring Flood

1911 Fair & Airplane Demo

1912 TR Whistle-Stop

The 1920s

Prohibition in Mandan

Mail Order Kit Homes

The 1930s

FDR Visit August 1936

The 1940s

The 1950s

1958 Lincoln Stamp FDC

Custer Drama / Trail West

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

1st of the 21st

2010-Present

Area Landmarks

Cary Bldg - Mandan Drug

CCC Camp Chimney

Christ the King Church

Collins Av Civic Bldg

First Lutheran Church

First National Bank Bldg

First Presbyterian Church

Great Plains Academy

Great Plains Expermt Stn

Lewis & Clark Hotel

Mandan Hill

Mandan Theatre

MV Produce Warehouse

Methodist Church

NP Beanery

NP "Colonial" RR Depot

NPRR Freighthouse

NP Rail High Bridge

Roughrider Statue

St Joseph Church

WWar Memorial Bldg

Youth Correctional Center

Gone Forever

Central School

Collins Ave Courthouse

Cummins Building

Deaconess Hospital

Eielson Field

Emerson Inst/Opera House

First St Federal Building

Havana Club

Hotel Nigey

InterOcean Hotel

Liberty Memorial Bridge

Mandan Creamery & Produce

Mandan Flour Mill

Merchants Hotel

NP "Queen Anne" Depot

Original Passenger Depot

Palace Theatre

Peoples' Hotel

Rock Haven

Topic Theatre

Young's Tavern

Heritage Homes

Altnow-Smith Home

Dunlap-Harris Home

Ellis-Uden Home

Freeburg-Esser Home

Lyon-Weigel Home

McGillic Home

Olson-Brick Home

Parkins-Cooley Home

Stutsman-Wyatt Home

Swanson-Reichman Home

Welch-Ness Home

Endowment Fund

Genealogy Links

Biographies A-C

J D Allen

Franklin Anders

Richard Baron

James Bellows

George Bingenheimer

Margaret Bingenheimer

Philip Blumenthal

Elijah Boley

Frank Briggs

Leo Broderick

William Broderick

Frank Bunting

Lyman Cary

James Clark

Henry Coe

Viola Boley Coe

Daniel Collins

Elizabeth Custer

George Custer

Biographies D-L

Alice Dahners

Henry Dahners

C E V (Charles) Draper

Esther Davis

Tony Dean

Joseph Devine

Ronald Erhardt

John Forbes

Palma Fristad

Gilbert Furness

Aloysius Galowitsch

Frederic Gerard

Zalmon Gilbert

Charles Grantier

James Hanley Jr

James Hanley Sr

Mary Harris

C Edgar Haupt

Michael Lang

William Langer

Albert Lanterman

William Lanterman

Richard Longfellow

Rolland Lutz

Hiram Lyon

Biographies M-R

George Marback

Gary Miller

Lee Mohr

Margaret Naylor

John Newton

Anton Ness

John Osterhouse

George Peoples

Arthur Peterson

Nels Romer

Hoy Russell

Walton Russell

Antonie Rybnicek

Ervin Rybnicek

Hynek Rybnicek

Biographies S-Z

Margaret Schaaf

George Shafer

Benjamin Shaw

William Simpson

Anna Knox Stark

Mary Stark

Benjamin Stephenson

J O Sullivan

John Sullivan

Era Bell Thompson

Andrew E Thorberg

Ida Thorberg

C L Timmerman

George Toman

Earle Tostevin

Edwin A Tostevin Sr

Edwin D Tostevin Jr

Walter Tostevin

Felix Vinatieri

A B Welch

Levon West

Frank Wetzstein

Harry Wheeler

Philomena Yunck

View Collections

Artifacts - Miscellanous

Newspapers

Pottery and Glass

Photos - Buildings

Photos - Downtown

Photos - Floods

Photos - People

Photos - Rail and Trains

What's New

Margaret Jane [Wilder] Welsh Naylor 1882-1923
Margaret Jane Wilder was born April 17, 1882 in Juniata, Michigan the eldest child of Frank Wilder, Sr. and Julia [Barber] Wilder who was an area farmer.  She had a younger sister Bessie born in Mandan after the family moved to Mandan in 1889.
 
Her father moved the family to Mandan and established a newspaper The Mandan Independent later known as the Mandan News. It would later merge with the Mandan Pioneer newspaper. He would eventually leave the newspaper business, work for the state penatentary, and move over to the  ND Secretary of State's office and eventually finish as Deputy Secretary of State.

 
Margaret grew up in Mandan.  On January 6, 1902 she married Charles Olonzo Welch.  He was a photographer and they ran a business together "The Welch Photography Studio."
 
Shortly after their marriage, Mr. Welch accidently shot and killed a young boy. He was not charged with a crime.
 
Charles also reportedly operated the first "moving pictures" business in the western part of North Dakota.
 
In 1907, Charles abandoned his pregnant wife and young daughter Ruth.  Welch resurfaced in Beach, ND and lived there and operated a photography studio until his death on May 29, 1919.

Margaret and Charles Welch c.1902
Margaret's father placed a notice in the Mandan Pioneer newspaper saying Charles had told his wife he was going to Bismarck to take photographs. That was the last communication they had from him. Charles left his family with only $3.10 in the bank and a string of debts around town. He left with their greatest item of value, the camera and lenses.
 
Mr. and Mrs. Wilder opened their home back to their daughter and grand-daughter.  Francis "Frank" Welch was born several months later on November 24, 1907.  For several years, Margaret made a living taking photographs, predominately protraits.
 
In 1905, Margaret won a photography contest sponsored by the national magazine Word and Works published by Ira Hicks for the best collection of clouds.  The first prize she was $25 (approximately equivalent to $1000 in 2010).
 
Margaret was married again to James Naylor of Mandan who was 28 years her senior. The couple had two children, John and Dolly.  Mr. Naylor died on June 28, 1923 of influenza.
 
Margaret fought cancer of the stomach for nearly 10 years.  She died at the age of 41 on November 18, 1923 at her father's apartment at 606 West Main in Mandan.  She is buried in Mandan's Union Cemetery next to her mother.

The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 3827 30th Avenue NW; PO Box 1001; Mandan, ND 58554
Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org


Last Updated 03/28
/23    ©  2007-2023  Mandan Historical Society   All rights reserved