Michael Strom was an active member of the Journeymen Stone Cutters' Association dating back as far as 1890 when he was elected recording secretary of the local Branch. He was born in Illinois of German parents in 1865 and moved to Minnesota in about 1885. In 1899 he helped build an elaborate float for Labor Day parade which featured marble from the Capitol. Strom and his wife, Sophia, raised a large family in St. Paul. He died here in 1918 and is buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, St. Paul, as noted in a Find a Grave entry.