A bunch of coincidences here.
1. I sent my family the pictures of SteveH's beautiful machine. When my son got it, he was in the airport in Chicago, waiting for his friend so they could run the Chicago Marathon last Sunday, the 12th. He was sitting at the restaurant table, and right in front of him was an old sewing machine. (Used for decoration, I take it.)
2. The name on the machine was Minnesota. (He's from Minnesota.)
3. Then this last week I was looking over a back issue (June 3, 2014) of our local newspaper: Sentinel and Rural News, and found an article about Mr. Richard W. Sears and how he got started in the retail business in 1886. With the article was one page of a replica of his catalog. It was: OUR 7-DRAWER DROP LEAF AND BOX COVER MINNESOTA MODEL"B" treadle sewing machine for $13.85.
4. And now I found your thread about the MINNESOTA MODEL "A".
History is interesting.