Mr. Sprague was born at Menominee, Wisconsin in 1863. He was married to Carrie Merriam in 1885 and came to Bemidji with his family in 1898. He was the first organizer and director of a brass band in this city, conducted a photograph gallery here for a number of years, afterwards holding a position as assistant postmaster in the local post office. Mr. Sprague was taken with a stroke of paralysis a short time after his wife’s death in 1900, the cause being a tumor on the brain. He sought medical treatment at many of the most noted institutions in the U.S., but received no benefit, death being the final result on Jan 21, 1906.
Funeral services were held from the residence of his mother, Mrs. J. B. Sprague, and a short service was also held at the grave. Rev. Thos. Broomfield of the First Baptist church officiated.
He was survived by his mother, Mrs. J. B. Sprague, one brother, Fred W. Sprague, and one sister, Mrs. Robert Clark, of Bemidji, two sons, Harold and James Sprague and one daughter, Miss Erma Sprague. (Bemidji Pioneer, Jan 25, 1906)
Mrs. M. A. (Caroline) Sprague died Sunday night, June 10, 1900, at 12 o’clock, at her home on Bemidji avenue, near 8th Street, of tuberculosis of the glands, after an illness of several months.
Caroline Merriam Sprague was born at Owen Sound, Ontario in 1862. She was married to M.A. Sprague at Park River, N.D. in 1885 and moved to Bemidji in March 1898. Her husband was the first photographer to open up a gallery in Bemidji.
Mrs. Sprague was well and favorably known to the major portion of our residents. The funeral ceremony took place Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the family residence with Rev. Geo. P. Watson officiating, and the remains were interred in the Greenwood Cemetery. (Bemidji Pioneer, June 14, 1900)