Samuel Cutter was born August 9, 1870 at St. Peter in Le Sueur County, Minnesota. He married Minnie Walker in Hennepin County on Sept 5, 1893. By 1900, he was Assistant Postmaster at Buffalo Township in Wright County.
Samuel Cutter was a pioneer Bemidji postal worker. He was frequently mentioned in the newspaper as the genial and good-natured money order man at the Bemidji post office. He was a postal employee for 35 years, working for 31 of those years at Bemidji. Nancy Naylor wrote of her grandfather, “The very first post office was located on the Midway at the river. Later on the city wanted it relocated to a small building downtown. In 1902, Mr.Cutter was invited to move to Bemidji to work at the post office as a money order clerk. He was there until they built the new brick post office on Beltrami Avenue in 1917.” The post office had a marble floor, and brass spittoons. Not fun to keep clean, but the building had wonderful atmosphere. Nancy wrote, “To this day the floor is very worn in front of the money order window. Sam Cutter was asked to be the postmaster twice, but he turned it down both times.” He retired in 1936 . In 1922, the newspaper joked that he had been connected with the Bemidji post office so long that when the old-timers go there and fail to see him they wonder if they’re still in the right town.
Sam was also a musician. The Bemidji Daily Pioneer reported, “Sam is an exponent of the good old square dance and the cast committees have overlooked a good bet if they have passed him up for this part of the pageant to be staged during the fair here in August 1922. He will be remembered as having performed admirably at a recent carnival with Johnny McDonald as accompanist on the fiddle.” Vera Cutter, their daughter, attended MacPhail School of Music. Vera married Harold Naylor in 1934, and continued a Bemidji music tradition.
Sam and Minnie Cutter lived at 1111 Beltrami Avenue for at least 25 years. They spent the summer months at their summer cottage at Waville across the lake.
After retirement, they lived at 915 Dewey Avenue, and after Mrs. Cutter’s death in 1954, he lived at 1409 Bemidji Avenue with his son-in-law, daughter Vera and son-in-law Harold Naylor. Sam Cutter died on July 13, 1958 at the Lake Julia Rest Home where he spent his final weeks.
(information from the Bemidji Pioneer, and from Bermidji, A Snapshot of Bemidji 1940-1960, pg 9.)