Minnie (Wilhelmina) was born in Germany to parents Gottfried and Wilhelmina Buce (sometimes spelled Buse or Busse). In 1858, Gottfried, Wilhelmina, and their three children, August, Minnie, and Augusta, came to America and settled at Fox Lake, WI where daughter Amelia was born. In the spring of 1860, with five other families, the Buce family moved to Minnesota. After spending a short time in Cannon Falls, where daughter Caroline was born, the family moved farther west to Renville County and settled in the northwest quarter of Section 35, Flora township, an area known as the Middle Creek settlement. Another daughter, Bertha, was born here. Several Middle Creek settlers were killed by Indians in an attack on August 18, 1862, the first day of the Dakota uprising. On that day, Minnie's brother, August, was sent to a neighbor's place (the Roessler family) on an errand and found everyone there murdered. The Buce family then fled to a cornfield. Later, when they attempted to reach a wooded area, the Indians discovered them and killed Minnie's father and mother, her sister Augusta, and sisters Bertha and Caroline, who were in the arms of their parents. Minnie and her surviving siblings, August and Amelia, were taken captive and spent ten weeks among the Dakotas before all captives were freed at Camp Release. Following their release, the siblings were parted and taken in by three separate families. By age 15, Minnie was on her own, working in the summers and going to school in the winter. In 1879 she married Owen Carrigan. They had six children and farmed in the southeast quarter of section 22, Boon Lake township. On April 13, 1898, she was appointed postmaster of Lakeside, a position previously held by her husband. Mr. Carrigan died in 1898 at Hutchinson, Minnesota, and is buried there. Minnie died in 1912 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, two and a half miles west of their farm site.