graduated at Albany University, New York, in 1854, and was admitted to
the bar in 1858, and came to Hudson in 1859. He has practiced law
continuously since; has also held many town and county offices; has
been attorney of the various railroads centring in Hudson, and is now
attorney of the Minneapolis, Soo St. Marie & Atlantic railroad. He was
married in 1860 to Ellen M. Brewster.
MERT HERRICK was born in Orleans county, New York, in 1834. He
received a common school education. He came to St. Croix in 1857; was
married in 1859 to Lois P. Willard; enlisted at the beginning of the
Civil War in the Thirtieth and later in the Fortieth Wisconsin
Volunteer Infantry, and served during the war. He has held the office
of treasurer of St. Croix county for six years. He is at present a
member of the Hudson Lumber Company.
D. A. BALDWIN, president of the West Wisconsin railroad, built a fine
residence on the shore of the lake, north of Willow river, in the
latter part of the '50s, and did much to promote the interests of
North Hudson, which he surveyed into village lots in 1873. D. A. and
H. A. Baldwin erected a commodious hotel in North Hudson in 1873. The
hotel was subsequently sold to H. A. Taylor and removed to Hudson,
where it was known as the Chapin Hall House. Mr. Baldwin removed from
Hudson when the West Wisconsin railroad passed into other hands.
JOHN COMSTOCK was born in Cayuga county, New York, in 1813. When he
was twelve years old his parents removed to Pontiac, Michigan. He here
served an apprenticeship of three years to a millwright, and afterward
engaged in business at Pontiac until 1851. He came to Hudson in 1856,
and was city contractor six years. In 1863 he founded the First
National Bank of Hudson, in which he has ever since been a director.
Mr. Comstock has been engaged in many public enterprises and has been
uniformly successful. He is one of the most reliable and substantial
of the business men of Hudson. He was married in 1844.
LUCIUS P. WETHERBY was born in Onondago county, New York, October,
1827. At eighteen years of age, he went to Weston, New York, where he
studied law with Martin Grover and W. J. Angell. He was married in
1849 to Sophia Antremont, and in 1856 removed to Hudson. In 1860 he
was elected judge of the Eighth district, Wisconsin, and served six
years.
JOHN C. SPOONER.--Mr. Spooner was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Jan.
6, 1843. He was educated at the district schools until 1859, when his
father, Judge Spooner, removed to Madison, Wisconsin. This removal
afforded the son an opportunity of entering upon a course of classical
instruction in the State University, which he would have completed but
for the Civil War. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in the Fortieth
Wisconsin Infantry. He did honorable duty at the front until compelled
by sickness to retire from the army. After having served a short time
as assistant state librarian, and having been restored to health, he
raised a company which was attached to the Fiftieth Wisconsin
Regiment, and became its captain. His regiment was sent to the
Missouri river to do service among the Indians, and was stationed at
Fort Rice, Dakota. In July, 1866, it was mustered out of the service.
He then returned to Madison and commenced the study of law.
[Illustration: John Comstock]
When Gen. Lucius Fairchild was elected governor, Mr. Spooner was
chosen as his private and military secretary. He held this position
for eighteen months, when he resigned and entered the office of the
attorney general of the State as assistant. In 1870 he removed to
Hudson and began a general law practice. The following year he was
elected a member of the state legislature. While a member of this body
he vigorously championed the State University, which institution was
at that time in sore trouble. His service in this matter was afterward
recognized by the governor, who appointed him a member of the board of
regents of the university, which position he still retains. He was for
twelve years general solicitor of the West Wisconsin Railroad Company
and the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Company. In May, 1884,
he resigned. Mr. Spooner stands deservedly high in his profession, and
has acquired eminence also as a political speaker.
The Wisconsin legislature elected him to the United States Senate,
January, 1885, and he at once took rank among the most eloquent and
able members of that body. He is of small physique, not weighing over
one hundred and twenty-five or one hundred and thirty pounds, has a
dark complexion and a smoothly shaven face, and is possessed of great
bodily as well as mental energy.
THOMAS PORTER.--Mr. Porter was born in Tyrone, Ireland, in 1830;
received a common school education, and learned the trade of
wagonmaker. He came to America in 1855; served three years during the
Civil War as a private in Company A., Thirtieth Regiment, Wisconsin
Volunteers; moved to Hudson in 1871, and represented St. Croix county
in the assembly in 1885.
HERMAN L. HUMPHREY was born at Candor, Tioga county, New York, March
14, 1830; received a public school education, with the addition of one
year in Cortland Academy; became a merchant's clerk at the age of
sixteen, in Ithaca, New York, and remained there for several years;
studied law in the office of Walbridge & Finch, was admitted to the
bar in July, 1854, and removed to Hudson, Wisconsin, where he
commenced practice in January, 1855; was soon after appointed district
attorney of St. Croix county, to fill a vacancy; was appointed by the
governor county judge of St. Croix county, to fill a vacancy, in the
fall of 1860, and in the spring of 1861 was elected for the full term
of four years from the following January; was elected to the state
senate for two years, and in February, 1862, resigned the office of
county judge; was elected mayor of Hudson for one year; was elected in
the spring of 1866 judge of the Eighth Judicial circuit, and was
re-elected in 1872, serving from January, 1867, until March, 1877. He
was elected a representative from Wisconsin in the Forty-fifth
Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Forty-sixth
Congress. During the past three years he has devoted himself to his
profession in Hudson. Mr. Humphrey has been twice married. In June,
1855, he was married to Jennie A. Cross, in Dixon, Illinois. Mrs.
Humphrey died in January, 1880, leaving two sons, Herman L., Jr., and
William H., and three daughters, Fanny S., Mary A., and Grace J. Mr.
Humphrey was married to Mrs. Elvira Dove, at Oswego, New York, October
1881. In 1887 he served again as a member of the assembly.
THEODORE COGSWELL was born in 1819, at Whitehall, New York. He
received a common school education and learned the trade of a painter.
He removed to Stillwater in 1848 and to Hudson in 1861 and to St. Paul
in 1882. He was married to Augusta B. Kelly in 1855. His son was for
many years editor of the Hudson _Republican_.
FRANK P. CATLIN is of Revolutionary and Connecticut stock. His father
entered the war of the Revolution at eleven years of age as a
musician. He served seven years. His discharge is signed by George
Washington. Mr. Frank P. Catlin is the youngest of fourteen children.
He was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1815. He was
married in 1840 to Elizabeth Dubois, who died in 1852, leaving three
sons, Charles L., Frank E. and Fred. Mr. Catlin was married to his
second wife in 1857, who died in 1872, leaving one son, William W. Mr.
Catlin moved to Green Bay in 1840, to Green Lake in 1844, and to
Hudson in 1849, having been commissioned by President Taylor as
register of the Willow River land office. This position he held four
years. Mr. Catlin spent some time traveling in foreign lands. In 1868
he removed to Ripon, Wisconsin, but returned in 1870 to Hudson, where
he still lives.
CHARLES Y. DENNISTON was born in Orange county, New York, in 1832;
graduated at University of Vermont in 1852; studied law in Iowa in
1853-54, and came to Hudson in 1855, where he engaged in real estate
and insurance business, in which he has been quite successful. He was
married in 1856 to Maria A. Coit, of Hudson. Mrs. Denniston died Aug.
31, 1886.
A. E. JEFFERSON.--Mr. Jefferson came from Genesee county, New York, to
Hudson in 1859. For the past fifteen years he has officiated as
cashier of the Hudson First National Bank.
SAMUEL C. SYMONDS was born in 1831, in Hooksett, New Hampshire. He
graduated at the University of Vermont in 1852 and the ensuing year
came to Hudson, where he taught school and studied law for three years
and afterward engaged in the real estate business and subsequently
officiated as county judge four years. He was married in 1860 to Mary
C. Bloomer. In 1886 he was commissioned postmaster of the city of
Hudson by President Cleveland.
JOHN E. GLOVER, an old citizen and successful lawyer of Hudson, has
gained a prominent position amongst the solid business men of the city
by his untiring industry, combined with rare judgment and knowledge of
men. In addition to his law business he is an extensive operator in
real estate, flouring and lumber mills.
LEMUEL NORTH, a reliable merchant of Hudson, a public spirited citizen
and a kind hearted man, merits the respect which his townsmen accord
him. He has been successful in business.
EDGAR NYE, much better known under his _nom de plume_ "Bill Nye," was
born in 1846. When a boy he came West with his parents to the
Kinnikinic valley. Mr. Nye studied law and practiced some years in
Laramie City, Wyoming Territory, where he obtained a national
reputation as a wit from his connection with the Laramie newspaper
known as the _Boomerang._ Mr. Nye's mirth-provoking sketches have been
published in book form. His parents still live at River Falls.
WILLIAM THOMPSON PRICE.--Mr. Price was born in Barre, Huntington
county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1824. After receiving a fair education,
he came West, and in 1845 settled in Black River Falls, Wisconsin,
where he at once entered upon the occupation of a lumberman. In 1851
he was elected to the assembly as a Democrat, but on the organization
of the Republican party in 1854, he united with the organization, with
which he remained during the balance of his life. In 1853 and 1854 he
was judge of Jackson county; in 1855 he was under sheriff. He was a
member of the state senate in 1858, 1870, 1878, 1879, 1880, and 1881;
a member of the assembly in 1882; was collector of internal revenue
from 1863 to 1865, and held many local offices in his county. For many
years he was president of the Jackson County Bank. In 1882 he was
elected to the Forty-eighth Congress; was re-elected in 1884 to the
Forty-ninth, and in 1886 to the Fiftieth. He died at his home at Black
River Falls, Dec. 6, 1886. He was a man of immense energy and
endurance; and was ever ready to do his full share of labor in all
places. As a public man he acquitted himself well. In addition to
business tact and energy, and practical common sense, he was a public
speaker of unusual readiness and ability. In private life he was a
generous hearted man, strongly attached to his friends, and greatly
respected for his sterling qualities of character.
E. B. BUNDY.--Judge Bundy was born in Broome county, New York, in
1833. He received a common school and academic education and attended
one year at Hamilton College. He came to Dunn county, Wisconsin, where
he practiced law until 1877, when he was elected judge of the Eighth
Judicial circuit, to which position he was re-elected and is still
serving. He stands high in the estimation of his associates and the
people as a judge, and not less high in social life.
BALDWIN.
This town is coextensive with township 29, range 16. It was set off
from the township of Springfield and organized Dec. 3, 1872. Wm.
Whewell was chairman of the first board of supervisors.
BALDWIN VILLAGE,
Located on the West Wisconsin railroad, on the west boundary of the
township, has a population of eight hundred, about evenly divided
between the Norwegian and American elements, the latter being
principally from Vermont. The _Bulletin_, a lively weekly paper,
established in 1873, is published by B. Peachman. The graded school
has three departments, with two hundred and twenty-five scholars,
under the control of Prof. J. E. Brainard. The school building cost
$4,000. A state bank, organized in 1883, has a capital stock of
$25,000, and a surplus of $12,500. F. A. Decker is cashier. Baldwin
has one elevator, of 750,000 bushels capacity, two flour mills--one
with a capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels per day, built at a
cost of $55,000; the other of one hundred and twenty-five barrels, at
a cost of $20,000; one creamery, one cheese factory, one tannery, a
good town hall, capable of seating six hundred persons, four good
church buildings--Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal and
Congregational--and over thirty stores or shops. The water supply is
ample, the village being furnished with public cisterns and wells, and
having an excellent fire department, with hook and ladder company. The
village is surrounded by a rich agricultural country.
WOODVILLE VILLAGE
Is situated four miles east of Baldwin, on the West Wisconsin
railroad, at the junction of a branch road extending into Pierce
county. It is the centre of heavy lumbering operations, and is a
flourishing village. It has one church.
CADY.
Cady is the southeastern township in St. Croix county, and occupies
township 29, range 15. It is drained by Eau Galle waters. Amongst the
first settlers were Irving Gray, Charles, John, and Brazer Bailey. A
post office was established near the centre of the town in 1860. D.C.
Davis was first postmaster. A branch railroad traverses the town from
northwest to southeast. There are two lumber mills. The town was
organized in 1870. The supervisors were William Holman, Charles Palmer
and Mead Bailey. The village of Brookville is on the west line of the
town.
CYLON,
Including township 31, range 16, lies on Willow river. It is a rich
and populous township, consisting originally of mixed prairie and
timber lands. The first settlement in this town was made in 1855. The
early settlers were Otto Natges, J. Smith, H. Fouks, E. Johnson,
George Goodrich, S. W. Beel, and J. Tomlinson. The town was organized
in 1859. The supervisors were C. A. Hall, chairman; John Sweet and
John Gibson. A post office was established in 1861, Mrs. John B.
Gibson, postmistress. The Wisconsin Central railroad passes through
the southwest, and the North Wisconsin through the northwest part of
the township. There are four church buildings, one on section 18, one
near Cylon post office, and two in Deer Park village. This village, a
station located on the North Wisconsin railroad, is a wheat buying
centre of considerable importance, and has several business houses.
The school house is one of the best buildings in the county outside of
Hudson. The Catholics and Methodists have churches here.
EAU GALLE,
Township 28, range 16, is drained by the Eau Galle and Rush rivers. We
have not the date of the first settlement, but it was amongst the
earliest in the county. The first settlers were William Holman, Andrew
Dickey, Joseph Barnish, and Uriah Briggs. The town was organized in
1858, with the following as supervisors: Wm. Holman, ---- Babcock, and
---- McCartney. A post office was established in 1853, of which W.
Holman was postmaster. Mr. Holman built a saw mill the same year, the
first in the region. There are now six, mostly lumber mills. The
township is traversed from north to south by a branch of the West
Wisconsin railroad. Wildwood, a thriving station on this road is the
headquarters of the St. Croix Land and Lumber Company, a stock company
with a capital of $300,000. The town of Eau Galle has one church
building belonging to the evangelical society.
EMERALD
Includes township 30, range 16. It is drained by the waters of Willow
and Menomonie rivers, and was originally covered with pine and
hardwood timber. It was organized in 1861. The Wisconsin Central
railroad passes through the northeast part of the township and has one
station, Emerald. A high mound is a conspicuous object near the centre
of the township.
ERIN PRAIRIE.
Erin Prairie, township 30, range 17, lies on Willow river. John Casey
entered the first land in 1854. The first house was built on section
17, in May, 1855, by John Ring. Among the settlers of 1855, of whom
there were about twenty families, we have the names of Michael Hughes,
Peter Queenan and James, Michael and Thomas McNamara. The town was
organized in 1858, with the following board of supervisors: Richard
Joyce, chairman; Alexander Stevens and Peter Queenan, and Wm. McNally,
clerk. Richard Joyce was first school teacher and first postmaster.
There are now two post offices, one at Erin Centre village, and the
other at Jewett's Mills, two and a half miles apart. There are at Erin
Centre one store, one wagon shop, one blacksmith shop, and a Catholic
church; at Jewett's Mills a store, a saw, a planing and a flour mill,
all run by water. There are six good school houses in the township. It
is traversed by the Wisconsin Central railroad.
FOREST,
Embracing township 31, range 15, occupies the northeast corner of the
county. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwoods, is a new town
and is fast being converted into an agricultural district. Willow
river has its sources in this town. It was organized Dec. 10, 1881,
with S. D. Love as chairman of the first board of supervisors.
GLENWOOD,
Set off from the town of Emerald at its organization in 1885, embraces
township 30, range 15. It was originally a pine and hardwood region.
Its waters flow eastward into the Menomonie. The Wisconsin Central
railroad crosses the township from east to west. Its only station is
Glenwood. It is being rapidly settled and has already some good farms
and several saw mills. H. J. Baldwin was the chairman of the first
board of supervisors.
HAMMOND
Includes township 29, range 17. It is drained by tributaries of the
Rush river. Of the first settlers were the Peabodys, James R. Ismon,
Rev. Wm. Egbert, Rev. George Spalding, Mert Herrick, John Thayer, Mrs.
Adams, John Nelson, and Thomas Byrnes. The town was organized Sept.
16, 1856, with A. G. Peabody as chairman of supervisors and John G.
Peabody, clerk. It is now a prosperous farming town. The West
Wisconsin railroad passes through the south part of the township.
HAMMOND VILLAGE,
Located on the line of this road, in sections 27 and 28, has seven
hundred inhabitants. It is situated on a commanding elevation, giving
an extended view of the rich farming country surrounding it. It has a
school house, built at a cost of $2,500, with rooms for three grades,
and one hundred and seventy-five scholars, one elevator of 20,000
bushels capacity, one first class hotel, the Gardiner House, Odd
Fellows', Good Templars' and Grangers' halls, and three church
buildings, with parsonages--the Catholic, Congregational and
Methodist. The village contains about twenty-five stores and shops.
The water supply, on account of the elevation, is from wells and
cisterns. Rev. George Spalding preached the first sermon and was the
first merchant in the village. Hammond was incorporated Sept. 20,
1880, with J. B. Fithian as president of supervisors and John W. Owen,
clerk.
JOHN THAYER was born in 1809, in Worcester county, Massachusetts, from
which place he moved to Ohio, and, after residing there fifteen years,
came to Wisconsin and settled at Hammond village. He has been twice
married, his second wife still living, and has one son, Andrew P. The
father and son are engaged in merchandising in Hammond.
REV. WM. EGBERT was born in 1815, in Oneida county, New York. He
obtained a common school and academic education. He spent his early
life in New York City; came to Indiana in 1837 and to Hammond,
Wisconsin, in 1856. The first trial in Hammond was before Mr. Egbert,
as justice of the peace, in 1856. He has been for forty-one years a
local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been twice
married, his second wife still living. He has four children.
HUDSON.
Hudson includes sections 7 to 36, inclusive, of township 29, range 19.
Willow river flows through the northwest part. The North Wisconsin and
West Wisconsin railroads pass through the township. It is one of the
handsomest and richest farming townships in the State. It was
organized as a town in 1849. Its history is given in that of the
county of St. Croix and in the biographies of its early inhabitants.
JAMES KELLY was born at Osnabruck, Ireland, where he grew to manhood.
In 1850 he came to Hudson and located on a farm, where he prospered,
and became an honored citizen. In 1857 he married Catherine, daughter
of Wm. Dailey. He died at Turtle Lake, Barron county, Wisconsin, of
injuries received from a rolling log, Feb. 19, 1888, leaving a widow,
three sons and one daughter.
DANIEL COIT was born in Vermont in 1801. He learned the trade of a
house carpenter; came West as far as Galena, Illinois, in 1845, to St.
Croix Valley in 1848, and to Hudson in 1850. He died in Baldwin in
1884. He was a man of eccentric manners, but upright life.
JAMES VIRTUE came to Willow River Mill in 1849, settled in the town of
Hudson, and died in 1874.
THEODORE M. BRADLEY was born in 1831, in Jackson county, Illinois. He
lived three years in Lafayette county, Wisconsin; came to Osceola
Mills in 1850, and to Hudson in 1867. He has engaged chiefly in
farming. In 1857 he was married to Margaret Wilson. They have two sons
and three daughters. Mr. Bradley died in 1887.
WILLIAM DAILEY was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1800; came to America in
1819, and settled in Hudson in 1849, where he lived, a successful
farmer, until his death in 1867. He left five sons--William, Guy W.,
Jacob, Edward, and Asa, all farmers, industrious and prosperous, all
good citizens, and church members, all married and settled in St.
Croix county. Guy W. represented St. Croix county in the state
assembly of 1877. In 1866 he was president of the St. Croix
Agricultural Society.
ROBERT AND WILLIAM MCDIARMID, brothers, came from St. Stevens, New
Brunswick, and settled in Hudson in 1851, on a farm in sections 10 and
14. By industry and perseverance they have become independent, and own
fine farms, with blooded stock, improved agricultural implements, and
all the appliances for successful farming. Robert married in 1857, and
has three sons and three daughters. William married Laura Rabold, in
1860, and has three sons and four daughters. William has been chairman
of the county board of supervisors several years.
WILLIAM MARTIN was born in Vermont, in 1800. In 1846 he moved to
Janesville, Wisconsin, and in 1851 to Hudson, where he engaged in
farming. He was an exemplary christian man, and a member of the
Baptist church. His son, Geo. W. Martin, succeeds him on the farm. He
died in 1885.
PASCHAL ALDRICH was born in the state of New York, in 1820; came to
Illinois with his parents in 1826; was married in Illinois, to Martha
Harnsberger, in 1841, and came to Marine in the same year. He
returned, for a short time, to Illinois, and again moved to the valley
of the St. Croix, settling at Hudson in 1846, where he died in 1860,
leaving three sons and five daughters.
KINNIKINIC
Originally included nine towns of townships 27 and 28, from St. Croix
lake east. By the setting off of Pierce county from St. Croix, the
towns in township 27 were stricken off, and the territory has since
been reduced until comprised in township 28, range 18. It is a wealthy
agricultural township. Its surface is agreeably diversified with
undulating prairies and high hills. The Kinnikinic, a beautiful and
clear winding stream, drains it from the northeast. The famous
Monument Rock, an outlying sandstone formation, is in the centre of
this township. From the summit a magnificent view may be obtained of
this fine farming region. The farmers have fine dwellings and barns,
and the town has numerous school houses; one church is located on
section 15. The history of the town, as far as we were able to obtain
it, may be found in the biographies of the Mapes brothers.
DUNCAN MCGREGOR was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1821. His educational
advantages were limited. He emigrated to Canada while yet a youth,
served seven years in the British Army, and was one year in Canada
during the Papineau Rebellion. He was married to Jane Morse, in
Canada, Jan. 31, 1848, and in 1849 removed to the United States and
settled at River Falls, where he still lives on the homestead which he
pre-empted. Mrs. McGregor was the first resident white woman, and Mr.
McGregor the second person who settled at the Falls.
His mother, an aged lady living with him at the Falls, at one time
found the house surrounded by over a hundred Sioux Indians, who
commenced plundering the garden of everything eatable. Mrs. McGregor
bravely confronted and drove them away. The only crops in the valley
at the time were those of Messrs. Foster and McGregor.
Mr. McGregor learned in early life the trade of a mason. While a
resident of River Falls he followed farming except during a few years
in which he kept a hardware store. He was three years county
commissioner of St. Croix county. He has three children living,
Roderick, Malcolm and Neville.
W. B. AND JAS. A. MAPES, brothers, from Elmira, New York, landed at
Willow River Sept. 7, 1849. They proceeded at once with an ox team and
cart, on which last was placed all their worldly goods, to the valley
of the Kinnikinic. Having selected a claim and erected a temporary
shanty, William B. returned by river as far as Galena, for a breaking
team, wagon and plow, and other farm furniture and provisions, while
James remained to make hay. After the brother's return, a substantial
winter cabin was built. The ensuing spring they broke ground and
raised a fair crop, consisting of 80 bushels of oats, 200 of
buckwheat, 100 of corn and 100 of potatoes. The winter of their
arrival, Duncan McGregor came to the settlement and spent the winter
with Judge Foster. In the fall of 1850 came Ira Parks and family, and
settled on lands adjoining the Mapes farm. This family and others were
entertained by the Mapes brothers, with genuine frontier hospitality.
Among the families coming in at this time were those of Dr. Whipple,
Mrs. Sprague, Lorenzo Daggett, and the widow of Josephus Medley, of
Stillwater. This year came also the Pomeroy brothers, Luke and Frank,
from New York State, and J. G. Crowns, James Penn, and William Tozer,
from Illinois. During 1851 several families settled in the valley,
among them James Chinnoch and Elisha Walden, from Ohio; Alanson Day
and John Scott, from Pennsylvania; the brothers W. L. and J. E.
Perrin, single men, from New York State, and Mrs. Lynch, from
Illinois. Previous to the settlement of these families there were no
young ladies in the town. The arrival of fifteen young ladies, mostly
marriageable, produced a flutter of excitement among the lonesome
bachelors of the colony, and the services of Rev. S. T. Catlin were
soon called into requisition. The first couple married was James A.
Mapes and Eunice E. Walden, in 1852. The next year W. B. Mapes and
Catherine Scott were married. In 1852 J. W. Mapes, a younger brother,
joined the colony. In 1857 G. W. Mapes located a Mexican War land
warrant on adjoining laud. W. B., J. A. and C. W. Mapes had also
Mexican War land warrants.
In 1860 J. W. Mapes sold his farm and returned to New York, enlisted
in the One Hundred and First Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served
through the Peninsular Campaign under McClellan, and afterward in
North Carolina, where he was captured at Plymouth, April 23, 1864, and
taken to Andersonville, where he died, June 30, 1864. W. B. Mapes sold
his farm to Chas. Davies and removed to Macon county, Mississippi, in
1866, at which place he died in 1877. His widow and five children
still reside there. C. W. Mapes sold his farm to G. I. Ap Roberts, and
kept store for awhile in the village, and in 1879 removed to Sussex
county, Virginia, where he still resides. He has four children living.
Jas. A. Mapes still resides on the old homestead. Mr. Mapes was
honored with an election to the office of treasurer for St. Croix
county in 1883 and 1884.
PLEASANT VALLEY.
Pleasant Valley includes the west half of township 28, range 17. It is
drained by the headwaters of the Kinnikinic. The first settlement was
made Sept. 19, 1856. Among the first settlers were Sheldon Gray, Asa
Gray, S. W. Mattison, and Allen Webster. The town was organized March
30, 1857, with Peleg Burdick as chairman of supervisors. The first
school was taught in 1857, by Miss Mary Munson. A post office was
established in 1866 with Peter Hawkins as postmaster.
RICHMOND.
Richmond is a rich agricultural township, consisting chiefly of
undulating prairie land. It is included in township 30, range 18.
Willow river flows diagonally through it from northeast to southwest.
The following persons settled within the present limits of the town
prior to 1855: Eben Quinby, Lewis Oaks, James Taylor, Harvey Law,
Norman Hooper, J. J. Smith, A. S. Kinnie, W. R. Anderson, Francis
Kelly, Clinton Boardman, S. L. Beebe, the Beal brothers, E. P. Jacobs
and E. W. Darnley.
The town of Richmond was organized in 1857, with the following
officers: Supervisors, Robert Philbrick, chairman; C. A. Boardman and
Harvey Law; clerk, W. M. Densmore; assessor, W. R. Anderson;
treasurer, G. W. Law. The first post office was established at the
house of Joel Bartlett, who served as postmaster. This post office was
known as the Richmond post office. It was a small affair. The first
mail, brought on a mule's back from Maiden Rock, contained but one
letter. The first quarter's commission amounted to but one dollar and
fifty-nine cents. The post office case contained but four boxes, five
by six inches in size. This case is preserved at the _Republican_
office, as an interesting relic. Small as was the office, and meagre
as were the receipts, the postmaster was able to employ a deputy, F.
W. Bartlett. By way of agreeable contrast we give the commission for
the first quarter of 1886 as $674.89.
BOARDMAN VILLAGE
Is located on the east bank of Willow river and near the western
boundary of Richmond. It is a flourishing village. Its public
buildings are a Methodist church and a large school house. Boardman
has a good flour mill. Everything in the village bespeaks enterprise
and thrift.
GRIDLEY VILLAGE
Was platted by Gridley & Day in 1857, and, together with Fremont
village, platted by Henry Russell, was incorporated in the village of
NEW RICHMOND
in 1878. The first officers of the new village were: President, F. W.
Bartlett; trustees, B. C. B. Foster, Wellington Pierce, Thos. Porter,
Peter Schore, S. M. Bixby, Geo. C. Hough.
NEW RICHMOND CITY
Was incorporated in 1884. It includes the northwest quarter of section
2 and the northeast quarter of section 3 of township 30, range 18, and
the south half of section 36, township 31, range 18. This latter half
section originally belonged to Star Prairie, but is now attached to
New Richmond. The first election was held April 8, 1884, at which the
following officers were elected: President, Ward S. Williams;
aldermen, First ward, F. W. Bartlett, Geo. A. Gault, Th. Gaskell;
Second ward, A. L. Greaton, A. H. Stevens, J. C. Sabine; Third ward,
John Halversen, D. H. Dodge, H. F. Fall; treasurer, L. Taft; clerk, W.
F. McNally; assessor, D. A. Kennedy.
The city is beautifully located on a level prairie. The streets are
from eighty to one hundred feet wide and bordered with maple, elm and
boxwood trees. The city lots and grounds attached to the residences
are beautifully adorned with shrubbery and flowers and are without
fences. The commons and unoccupied spaces in the city are covered
with a luxuriant growth of white and red clover, filling the air with
its pleasant odor, and suggesting the title of "Clover City." It has
many fine business buildings and tasteful residences. It is in the
midst of a fine farming country, on the banks of a beautiful stream,
Willow river, and two railroads, the North Wisconsin and Wisconsin
Central, furnish abundant means of communication with the outer world.
It has one steam saw mill with a capacity of 60,000 feet per day, and
a water power flour mill with a capacity of one hundred barrels per
day.
The Bank of New Richmond was organized in 1878, with a paid up capital
of $35,000. In 1885 the bank did a business of about $8,000,000. The
bank had a surplus in 1886 of $9,000. It has an extensive agency in
flour, wheat and other agricultural products, also in lumber and real
estate. The officers are: President, F. W. Bartlett; vice president,
Mathias Frisk; cashier, John W. McCoy. The annual business of the city
amounts to $12,000,000.
The city has a high school, established in 1884, with six departments.
The building cost $12,000. The Baptists, Catholics,
Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Methodists have church
buildings.
There are several fraternities here, including the Masonic, the Odd
Fellows, Good Templars, Women's Christian Temperance Union and
Catholic Knights of St. John. There are also a hook and ladder company
and a library association. There are two cemeteries, one belonging to
the masonic order.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
BENJAMIN B. C. FOSTER was born in New Portland, Maine, in 1816. When
seventeen years of age he bought his time of his father and commenced
life for himself. He lived eight years in Atkinson, Maine, where he
taught school and engaged in farming. In 1842 he was married to
Charlotte S. Gilman. In 1852 he went to California where he remained
three years. He came to New Richmond in 1855 and built a saw mill and
dam, and a board shanty in which he lived with his wife and two
children. Around the mill has since grown up the beautiful city of New
Richmond. The first school taught in New Richmond was taught at the
house of Mr. Foster by Amanda Dayton. In his house was organized the
first Sunday-school, the first sermon was preached in it and the first
school meeting was held there.
ROBERT PHILBRICK was born in Old Town, Maine, in 1814. He learned the
trade of a millwright, and in 1847 moved to North Hudson. He was
married in 1851 to Frances Cook. They stood on a raft, afloat in the
St. Croix river, just below the Falls, while Ansel Smith, of Taylor's
Falls, performed the ceremony. Mr. Philbrick removed to New Richmond
and built a frame house in 1855. The house is still standing. One
daughter of Mr. Philbrick is the wife of D. L. Nye. Amaziah, a son by
his first wife, is a stonemason. Alice M., daughter by his first wife,
is married to John McGregor. Mr. Philbrick died prior to 1865.
LINDEN COOMBS came to New Richmond in 1855, built the first hotel in
1856, and some years later moved away.
EBEN QUINBY was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, in 1809, and came to
New Richmond in 1849, where he has since continuously been engaged in
farming. In 1865 he was married to Mrs. Philbrick, widow of Robert
Philbrick.
LEWIS OAKS was born in Sangerville, Maine, in 1826; came West in 1846
and to New Richmond in 1854. He is a farmer.
HENRY RUSSELL was born in Vermont in 1801. His ancestors took part in
the Revolution. He was married in Vermont, lived seventeen years in
New York, came to Hudson in 1853, and to New Richmond in 1857, where
he bought the pre-emption made by Robert Philbrick, and had it
surveyed and platted as the village of Fremont. He died in 1878. Mrs.
Russell survives him and is now (1886) eighty-five years of age. Their
sons Alexander and Austin are prominent citizens of New Richmond.
JOSEPH D. JOHNSON was born in Huron county, Ohio, May 12, 1829. From
eight years of age he was thrown upon his own resources. The greater
part of his youth was spent in Michigan. In 1848 he removed to
Winnebago, Illinois, where he married Marcella L. Russell. He settled
at New Richmond in 1853. One son, Ezra O., is editor of the
_Northwestern News_, at Hayward, Wisconsin, and one daughter is
married to Frank F. Bigelow.
JOEL BARTLETT was born in Hebron, Maine, in 1804. He received an
academic education and became a teacher. He was principal of a high
school in Bath, Maine, before he was twenty-one years of age. In 1825
he went to Harmony, Maine, where he was engaged in lumbering until
1848. In 1830 he was a member of the Maine legislature; in 1849 and
1850 he followed lumbering in Fairfield, Maine, and then removed to
New York where he lived six years. In 1858 he came to New Richmond,
where he has since led an active business life. Mr. Bartlett was
married in Maine in 1826. One of his sons, J. A., is a Presbyterian
clergyman in Centreville, Iowa. He graduated at Waterville College,
Maine, and practiced law three years in New York City before entering
the ministry.
FRANCIS W. BARTLETT, the second son of Joel Bartlett, was born in
Maine in 1837. He received an academic education, and has been an
active and successful business man. He came to New Richmond in 1858,
and served as register of the land office at Bayfield from 1861 to
1867. He was married in 1867 to Mary J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania. He
was engaged in the coal trade in Milwaukee three years, and two years
at Detroit and Toledo, but returned to New Richmond and is now
president of the New Richmond Bank, and dealer in furniture, hardware,
etc.
GEORGE C. HOUGH was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, in ----. He has
led a somewhat adventurous life. He served awhile as a soldier in the
Black Hawk War under Gen. Dodge. Afterward he went to Missouri,
graduated at the State University, and engaged in lead mining and
prospecting. He went to California in 1862, where he practiced law. He
returned in 1876, and located in Richmond where he still resides.
SILAS STAPLES was born in Lisbon, Maine, Sept. 18, 1814. He came to
Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1854, took charge of the Willow River mills,
buying a quarter interest at $20,000, including 5,000 acres of land on
Willow river. In 1856 he sold his interest to Jewell and Bodie, of
Maine, for $55,000, and for three years carried on a banking business
in Hudson. In the winter of 1859-60 he removed to New Richmond. In
1861 he returned to Hudson and put up a shingle and lath addition to
his saw mill. He built a flouring mill at New Richmond in 1864. He
built large dams on Willow river for driving logs, and carried on
lumbering operations until 1868, when he removed to Canada and carried
on milling and lumbering enterprises four years, at Collins' Inlet,
Georgian bay. In 1872 he returned to Hudson and to a farm, and was
also engaged with Mr. Gibson in mercantile business. In 1873 he
returned to New Richmond, and, buying a half interest in the mill,
took charge of it for one year, then removed to Stillwater and took
charge of his brother's (Isaac Staples) saw mill.
In 1875 he removed to Elk River, Minnesota, and took charge of a farm.
The next year he returned to New Richmond, where he settled his family
and bought a half interest in a saw and grist mill at Jeweltown. He
also built an elevator there with a capacity of 20,000 bushels.
Mr. Staples was married in 1837 to Hannah Williams, of Bowdoinham,
Maine, who died in 1838. He was married in 1841 to Abigail Ann Rogers
of Oldtown, Maine, who died in the spring of 1845. He was married in
the fall of 1846 to Nancy D. Gilman, who died in 1873. He was married
to Mrs. Nancy B. Jamison in the fall of 1874. He has six children,
Charles A., Silas G., Nellie B., Nettie, Edward P, and Lizzie G.
HENRY M. MURDOCK.--Dr. Murdock was born at Antwerp, New York, in
October, 1823. His father, Dr. Hiram Murdock, moved to Gunning, at
which place the son attended school till he was fifteen years of age.
The father moved to Pulaski, New York. Henry studied medicine with his
father until he was nineteen years of age, then attended medical
lectures at Castleton, Virginia, where he graduated at the age of
twenty-one. After practicing three years at Dexter, and after a
co-partnership of seven years with his father in a drug store at
Pulaski, he came West and settled in Stillwater, where he bought the
drug store and business of Dr. Carli. In 1858 he went to Taylor's
Falls and practiced medicine until the spring of 1860, when he removed
to Hudson and formed a partnership with Dr. Hoyt. In the fall of 1861
he accepted the position of assistant surgeon of the Eighth Wisconsin,
and served during the war, having been promoted meanwhile to the
position of brigade surgeon. In 1866 he removed to New Richmond, where
he has since resided, having now retired from business. He was twice
married, in 1845 to Cornelia A. Sandford, who died childless, and in
1865 to Sarah J. Allan. His children are Cornelia A. and Henry A.
STEVEN N. HAWKINS was born in Galway, Ireland, Dec. 26, 1846, but
while he was a mere child his parents emigrated to America; remained a
few years in Connecticut; came West in 1855, and made their home in
Pleasant Valley, St. Croix county. His early life was marked by the
usual vicissitudes of life in a new country. He tried for a time
various occupations--farm work, rafting, sawing lumber, teaching, and,
during the later months of the war, was a volunteer soldier. He
managed to secure a good education in the common schools and at the
River Falls Academy. He studied medicine and surgery a few months, but
devoted himself chiefly to teaching until 1872, when he engaged in a
mercantile enterprise at which he continued four years, but at the
close of that period found himself obliged to suspend, with an
aggregate of $5,000 against him. This he afterward paid, but he
concluded, perhaps wisely, to change his occupation. He studied law,
and was admitted to the bar, July, 1876. In this profession he has
achieved an enviable success. In 1872 he was married to Margaret
Early, of Alleghany county, New York. They have had four children, the
first of which died in infancy.
RUSH RIVER
Occupies the east half of township 28, range 17. The first settlement
was made in 1850. The following came in 1850-51: Daniel McCartney,
Amos Babcock, Joseph King, Stephen Claggitt and Z. Travis. The town
was set off from Kinnikinic and organized in 1851, with Daniel
McCartney as chairman of the board of supervisors. At his house was
held the first election.
Woodside has one church and several buildings, is near the centre of
the town, and New Centreville in the southern part. The date of
settlement is second to that of Hudson. It was traversed by the old
Hudson and Prairie du Chien stage route. It was originally a mixed
timber and prairie district.
SOMERSET
Occupies sections 1 to 18, inclusive, of township 30, range 19, two
sections of township 30, range 20, and all of township 31, range 19,
lying east of the St. Croix river. The surface is generally
undulating, but along the St. Croix and Apple rivers abrupt and hilly.
The first settlers were French colonists at Apple River Falls in 1851.
They built a school house and Catholic church upon the bluffs below
the falls. The latter is a conspicuous object as seen from the St.
Croix river. The falls of Apple river, about one and a half miles
above its junction with the St. Croix, is one of the finest of the
Wisconsin waterfalls. Apple river traverses the county from northeast
to southwest. The Wisconsin Central railroad crosses the southern
part. The town of Somerset was organized Sept. 19, 1856, with Thomas
J. Chappell as chairman of supervisors. Mr. Chappell was also
appointed postmaster in 1854 at Apple River Falls.
SOMERSET VILLAGE,
Located about three miles above the Falls, has a good improved water
power, a flour mill with a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels
per day, and a saw mill, built and owned by Gen. Sam Harriman, the
founder of the village. In 1856 a church and school house were erected
at a cost of about $12,000.
SAMUEL HARRIMAN.--Gen. Harriman was born in Orland, Maine. He spent
four years in California, engaged in mining and lumbering, and dug the
second canal in the State for sluicing purposes. He came to Somerset
in 1859, and has ever since made it his residence. He is one of the
founders and platters of the village, and built most of the houses,
including the hotel and two stores on the east side of Apple river,
and all the dwelling houses on the west side. He has been remarkably
successful in the various pursuits to which he has turned his
attention, and may well be considered a man of remarkable executive
ability. He has a farm of five hundred and fifty-five acres, and his
agricultural and stock products are second to none. As a lumberman he
has cut 3,000,000 feet per year. He has a rotary saw mill with a
planing, lath and shingle mill attached, and under the same roof he
has a flouring mill and six run of stone; he has a large store in
which he keeps a general stock of merchandise; he has also a cooper
shop, where he makes his own barrels, a warehouse and a blacksmith
shop. He has also an excellent stone quarry on his premises.
We look in vain for his name in the Wisconsin blue book, or among the
list of office holders. He has been too busy to turn aside in quest of
political preferment. We believe, however, that he was commissioned as
notary public by Govs. Taylor and Smith. When men were needed for the
defense of the country he left his interests to enlist as a private.
His military record is brilliant. He enlisted in Company A, Thirtieth
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, June 10, 1862, was made captain on the
organization of the company, which position he held till Feb. 16,
1864, when he was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-seventh
Wisconsin Infantry. This regiment was recruited by Col. Harriman, he
having been commissioned for that purpose. Its services on many a hard
fought field, and especially about Petersburg, is a matter of well
known history. Its most memorable action occurred on the thirtieth of
July, just after the explosion of the mine under the enemy's fort.
Col. Harriman, with the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin, was ordered to
occupy the dismantled fort, which he did under a heavy fire, and the
walls had been so leveled as to afford but slight protection from the
enemy's batteries. While in possession they repelled all attempts to
dislodge them until four o'clock the next morning, when, receiving no
support, the Thirty-seventh Regiment,
"All that was left of them,"
fell back to the line. At roll call that evening, of two hundred and
fifty men that answered to their names before the action, only
ninety-five responded. The remnant of the regiment was attached to a
new brigade, of which Col. Harriman was commissioned commander. On the
tenth of September, the war having ended, the tattered flag of the
Thirty-seventh was returned to the governor of the State and Brig.
Gen. Harriman returned to private life and his business enterprises.
The general is a genial, kind hearted man, fond of a good joke and
story, even though they are at his own expense. He narrates of
himself, that when mustered out of the service at Washington he was
addressed as _General_ Harriman; on his way home he was saluted as
_colonel_; when nearing Wisconsin, he was hailed as _major;_ in the
State, as _captain_; in St. Croix county and at home as Mr. Harriman;
when met by the boys, they greeted him with "_Hello, Sam._"
ST. JOSEPH
Includes the three lower tiers of sections of township 30, range 19,
fractions of range 20, and the six upper sections of township 29,
range 19. Willow river traverses the southeast corner. The surface
varies from undulating to hilly. In the eastern part of the town is
Balsam lake, a picturesque body of water two miles in length. There
are also two high elevations of land, or ridges, that serve as
conspicuous landmarks. The earliest settlers came in 1850, and located
on farms in different parts of the town. St. Joseph was organized in
1858. The North Wisconsin railroad passes through the southeast corner
of the town.
HOULTON.
Opposite Stillwater, on the shore of the lake, is a platted village
known as Houlton, which has improved much during the last few years.
J. S. Anderson & Co. built a large saw mill at this place, which has
changed ownership several times. The residences of the village are on
the high bluffs overlooking the lake, and commanding from a point two
hundred feet above the level of the water a most magnificent view,
including Stillwater, Hudson and Lakeland.
BURKHARDT VILLAGE
Is situated upon Willow river, just above the Falls. Joseph Bowron and
others built a mill here in 1851. The mill property changed hands many
times, and finally passed into the hands of Burkhardt. In March, 1887,
the mill was consumed, with a loss to Mr. Burkhardt of $100,000, an
immense loss, representing the earnings of a lifetime; but with
tireless energy Mr. Burkhardt went to work rebuilding, and, it is to
be hoped, will soon re-establish his thriving business. There is one
church near Burkhardt.
SPRINGFIELD,
At its organization in 1860, embraced its own territory and that of
Baldwin, set off in 1872. It now includes township 29, range 15. It
was originally covered with pine and hardwood timber. Within the last
few years it has been improved and much of the timber land is used for
farming. It is drained by the headwaters and tributaries of Rush and
Menomonie rivers. The West Wisconsin railroad passes through the
southern tier of sections, and a branch road, leading southward into a
pine district, has a junction at Hersey. Most of the early settlers
were Union soldiers. Among them were S. T. Adams, Thomas Ross, Isaac
Burgitt and Capt. Rogers. Springfield was organized Nov. 15, 1860,
with J. R. Ismon as chairman, and Perrin and Hall as supervisors.
HERSEY.
The village of Hersey, located on section 28, is a station on the West
Wisconsin and branch railroad, has a lumber mill, and is a flourishing
village.
WILSON VILLAGE,
Section 35, is also a station on the West Wisconsin road, and an
important manufacturing place. The village is owned and controlled by
the Wilson Manufacturing Company, which has a capital stock of
$150,000. There is one church in the village.
STANTON
Was set off from Star Prairie and organized Dec. 30, 1870, with
Trueworthy Jewell as chairman of supervisors. It is a rich prairie
town, well drained by the waters of Apple and Willow rivers, and well
cultivated. The North Wisconsin railroad passes southwest to northeast
through this town. Star Prairie village lies partly in this town and
partly in the town of Star Prairie. There are two church buildings in
the town of Stanton.
STAR PRAIRIE,
Township 31, range 18, was organized Jan. 28, 1856. At its
organization it included township 31, ranges 17 and 18, and north half
of township 30, ranges 17 and 18. The first election was held at the
house of B. C. B. Foster, in New Richmond. Apple river flows through
the town from northeast to southwest. Cedar lake, in the northeast
part, furnishes at its outlet a good water power. Among the first
settlers were the Jewell brothers, Ridder and sons.
HUNTINGTON VILLAGE
Is located near the outlet of Cedar lake and on the stream by which
the waters of the lake are borne to Apple river. It has a large
flouring mill.
STAR PRAIRIE VILLAGE,
Lying partially in sections 1 and 12 and partially in Stanton, has a
saw and flouring mill, a hotel, a school house and two churches, with
some fine residences.
HON. R. K. FAY, born in 1822, came from New York to Wisconsin in 1849,
locating at Princeton, where he resided for nine years, most of the
time engaged as the principal of the high school at that place. He was
a man of sterling character, who is remembered as an able teacher and
public spirited citizen. He has been assemblyman from Adams and St.
Croix counties, and a county superintendent of schools, and has taught
school forty-nine terms. When a member from St. Croix county, he
introduced the bill requiring the constitutions of the United States
and of Wisconsin to be taught in the common schools. He died at his
home in Star Prairie, Jan 5, 1888. Five sons and five daughters
survive him. His wife died about three years ago.
TROY,
Township 28, range 19, and fractional township 28, range 19,
consisting of about three sections, lying along the shore of Lake St.
Croix, has a fine frontage of bluffs overlooking the lake, with rich,
level prairie lands stretching away eastward. The Kinnikinic river
flows through the southeast corner of the township. It was organized
in 1851 as Malone, the name having been chosen by the Perrin brothers,
who came from Malone, New York, in 1851. The name, some years later,
was changed to Troy. The Hudson & Ellsworth railroad passes diagonally
through the township from northwest to southeast.
The village of Glenmont, section 25, township 28, range 20, lies on
the shore of Lake St. Croix. It contains a large saw mill, built by
the Lord brothers. It has since changed hands.
The village of East Troy, in section 36, has recently been annexed by
legislative enactment to the city of River Falls.
JAMES CHINNOCK, the first settler in Troy, was born in Somersetshire,
England, in 1810. He officiated twelve years at Bristol Harbor,
England, as superintendent of docks and vessels. He was married in
England to Harriet Owens; came to America in 1841, lived in Ohio until
1850, when he came to Hudson and immediately located a claim within
the present limits of Troy. He raised the first crop in the town, and
built the first house, of stone, for greater protection from the
Indians. Mr. Chinnock made his home upon this farm until his death in
1870. He left a widow and four sons, three of them farmers in Troy.
One son, James T., has been register of deeds for St. Croix county
from 1885 to 1888.
WILLIAM LEWIS PERRIN was born in 1825, and with his brother came to
Troy in 1851, where he has since lived. He has been a successful
farmer and public spirited citizen, and has filled offices in the town
organization. He was married in 1855 to Julia F. Loring. They have
three sons and one daughter.
WARREN,
Township 29, range 18, is a rich prairie town, drained by the
tributaries of Kinnikinic and Willow river. George Longworth and
family, of Waukegan, Illinois, settled here in October, 1855. In the
year following, Lyman and David Sanford, brothers, came from Ohio, and
made their home here. Mr. Longworth, in 1856, broke the first ground
on land now within the limits of Hudson. Henry M. Sanford came in the
spring of 1857.
Warren was organized as a town in 1860, with the following
supervisors: Beach Sanford, George Frissell and Seth Colbeth; L. J.
Sanford, clerk. A post office was established in 1860, and Mrs. Beach
Sanford was appointed postmistress, at Warren village, now Roberts.
The village of Roberts is located on the West Wisconsin railroad,
which traverses sections 19 to 24, inclusive, of this town. It
contains one elevator, one storage house, one feed mill, one cheese
factory, one machine shop, one syrup mill, several stores and shops,
one hotel, one school house, one public hall, and one church building
belonging to the Congregationalists.
No intoxicants are sold in the village. The first school was taught in
1859, by Jane Sanford.
JAMES HILL was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, Feb. 15, 1825, and
settled in Warren, St. Croix county, in 1863, where he engaged in
farming and dealing in grain. He represented St. Croix county in the
Wisconsin assembly of 1878-79-80.
TOWN PLATS LOCATED IN ST. CROIX COUNTY.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME OF | TOWN | DATE OF PLAT. | SURVEYOR. | PROPRIETORS.
VILLAGE. | LOCATION. | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buena Vista |Hudson | In 1849 | Harvey Wilson |Louis Massey &
| | | | Co.
New Centreville|Rush River | Mch. 26, 1856 | Geo. Strong |Daniel
| | | | McCartney.
Hammond |Hammond | July 15, 1856 | A. W. Miller |Hammond &
| | | | Spaulding.
De Soto |Hudson | Aug. 15, 1857 | |Aptemards
| | | | Burkhart.
Somerset |Somerset | Aug. 28, 1857 |Geo. Strong |Harriman & Reed.
Glenmont |Troy | Jan. 5, 1858 |C. N. Bates |M. Bank, Lake
| | | | St. Cx.
Huntington |Star Prairie| Sept. 24, 1858|E. W. McClure |John Brown.
Gridley, New} | | | |
Richmond and} |Richmond | 1857 | |Gridley & Day.
Fremont } | | | |
Troy |Troy | Dec. 29, 1859 |J. A. Short |Cox & Powell.
Boardman |Richmond | July 5, 1866 |W. R. Anderson |Beebe &
| | | | Boardman.
Star Prairie |Star Prairie| June 15, 1870 |John McClure |Simonds &
| | | | Millard.
Baldwin |Baldwin | Mch. 14, 1873 |H. J. Baldwin |D. R. Bailey.
Roberts |Warren | Jan. 4, 1875 |Geo. Strong |Comstock, Platt
| | | | & Co.
Deer Park |Cylon | Jan. 25, 1879 |J. W. Remmington|J. A. Humbird.
New Saratoga} | | | |
Springs } |Stanton | Sept. 17, 1878|John McClure |A. P. Muggey.
Hersey |Springfield | Dec. 24, 1880 |Geo. Strong |L. T. Adams.
Cylon |Cylon | Sept. 16, 1884|Alfred Pierce |Beebe &
| | | | McNarama.
Emerald |Emerald | July 13, 1885 |Alfred Pierce |Hurd Brothers.
Glenwood |Glenwood | Jan. 2, 1886 |H. J. Baldwin |Glenwood Manf.
| | | | Co.
Wilson |Springfield | 1886 | |West Wis. Manf.
| | | | Co.
Woodville |Baldwin | 1886 | |Woodville Lumber
| | | | Co.
Wildwood |Eau Galle | 1886 | |St. Cx. L. &
| | | | Manf. Co.
Brookville |Eau Galle | 1886 | |Wood & Decker.
Houlton |St. Joseph | Not recorded | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER VII.
PIERCE COUNTY.
This county, named in honor of President Pierce, was separated from
St. Croix county in 1853, and organized by the same act that created
Polk county, and gave to St. Croix its present limits. It contains
about six hundred square miles of territory, lying east of the
Mississippi river and Lake St. Croix. It is somewhat triangular in
shape, the river and lake forming the hypotenuse, and St. Croix, Dunn
and Pepin bounding it by right lines on the north and east, Pepin also
forming a small part of its southern boundary.
The scenery is picturesque and varied. Along the river and lake is a
series of limestone bluffs, broken at intervals by ravines and
valleys, and leaving the impression upon the mind of the traveler on
the Mississippi of a rough, broken and inhospitable country, than
which nothing could be further from the truth. Beyond these rugged
escarpments of limestone and out of sight of the traveler, the country
stretches away toward the interior as an undulating prairie, with
meadows and rich pasturelands, with occasional forests, the whole
watered and drained by an intricate network of streams tributary to
the lake and river, and the three larger streams, the Kinnikinic,
which empties into the St. Croix and Big rivers, Trimbelle and Rush,
that empty into the Mississippi. Some branches of the Chippewa also
take their rise in this county. These streams uniformly have their
source in springs and their waters are consequently pure, cold and
invigorating, flowing over beds of white sand or pebbles, and in their
downward course forming many ripples, rapids, cascades and some
beautiful waterfalls. Their total descent to the bed of the
Mississippi is about four hundred feet. Pierce county has no inland
lakes within its limits, nor any indications of their previous
existence. The soil is formed chiefly from decomposed rocks or ledges
worn down by the abrading forces of water and wind, of frost and heat.
The rivers in their downward course have excavated broad valleys,
having originally precipitous bluffs on either side, and even bluffs
once islands in the midst of the streams. These, by later agencies,
have been smoothed to gentle slopes and rounded into graceful mounds,
towering sometimes as much as eighty feet above the valley or plains.
In some places mere outlines of sandstone or limestone rock are left,
turret-like, on the summit of a mound, as monuments on which the
geologist may read the record of ages gone. As the character of the
soil of a country depends upon the composition of the rocks underlying
it, and those removed from the surface, reduced to soil and widely
distributed, we give what may be considered as the section of any one
of the mounds near Prescott in the order of the superposition of
strata:
At the base--Lower magnesian limestone 250 feet.
Above the plain--Upper sandstone 50 feet.
On the summit--Trenton, or shell limestone 30 feet.
Over a great part of the county the Trenton and limestone are worn
almost entirely away, and their former existence is attested only by a
few mounds, bluffs and outlines. Drift is not often met with. The soil
may be considered as formed out of drift, now removed from its
original position, and out of the sandstone and limestone. It is,
therefore, soil of the richest quality.
By the same act that created the county of Pierce, passed March 14,
1853, Prescott was declared the county seat. The town board of
Prescott was constituted the county board. The commissioners were
Osborn Strahl, chairman; Silas Wright and Sylvester Moore. At the
first county election, Nov. 15, 1853, one hundred and ten votes were
cast. The following were the officers elected: County judge, W. J.
Copp; sheriff, N. S. Dunbar; treasurer, J. R. Freeman; clerk of court,
S. R. Gunn; clerk of board, Henry Teachout; coroner, J. Olive;
district attorney, P. V. Wise; surveyor, J. True; register of deeds,
J. M. Whipple. Mr. Whipple was authorized to transcribe the records of
St. Croix county up to date of the organization of Pierce.
The first assessment in the county, in 1853, amounted to $24,452. At
the meeting of the supervisors, Jan. 18, 1854, the district attorney
was allowed forty dollars per annum as salary. Courts were held
wherever suitable buildings could be obtained. During this year Judge
Wyram Knowlton, of Prairie du Chien, held the first district court at
Prescott. The first records of the court were kept on sheets of
foolscap paper, and fastened together with wafers. The first case
before the court was that of "The State of Wisconsin, Pierce County,
Wm. Woodruff _vs._ Chas. D. Stevens, August Lochmen, and Chas.
Peschke, in Court of said County. In Equity." On reading and filing
the bill in complaint, in this case, on motion of S. J. R. McMillan
and H. M. Lewis, solicitors for counsel, J. S. Foster, it was ordered
that a writ of injunction be issued in the case, pursuant to the
prayer of said bill, upon said complainant. Some one, in his behalf,
filed with the clerk of said court, a bond for damages and costs in
the sum of $1,700, with surety to be approved by the clerk or judge of
said court. The first document recorded in the county is an agreement
between Philander Prescott and Philip Aldrich, wherein Aldrich agrees
to occupy lands adjoining Prescott's, at the mouth of St. Croix lake
on the west, and David Hone on the east. The second document is a
deed, conveying a tract of three hundred and twenty acres of land from
Francis Chevalier to Joseph R. Brown, the land lying near the mouth of
Lake St. Croix, and marked by stakes planted in the ground, and
adjoining Francis Gamelle's claim, dated July 20, 1840.
In 1857 County Treasurer Ayers became a defaulter to the county in the
sum of $2,287.76, and to the Prescott Bank, $4,000. In 1861, by act of
the legislature, the question of changing the county seat from
Prescott to Ellsworth was submitted to the people. The vote as
declared was six hundred for removal and three hundred and
seventy-three against it. Technical objections having been raised as
to the legality of the vote, the subject was submitted to the people a
second time in 1862. The vote for removal was confirmed. In 1863 the
district system was adopted and three districts were established by
legislative enactment, but in 1870 the county returned to the original
system by which the board of supervisors was made to consist of a
chairman from each one of the town boards. A poor farm was established
near Ellsworth in 1869, at a cost of $3,600. The county board also
appropriated $31,000 for county buildings at Ellsworth.
The finances of the county have been admirably managed. In 1885 there
was no indebtedness, and a surplus in the treasury of $5,000. The
educational interests are well cared for. There are over one hundred
school districts in the county, with well conducted schools, and
generally with good substantial buildings. The school lands of St.
Croix, then including Pierce county, were appraised in 1852 by Dr.
Otis Hoyt, ---- Denniston and James Bailey, and the lands at once
offered for sale. Settlers' rights were respected. The county issued
$5,000 in bonds to aid in establishing the normal school at River
Falls.
RAILROADS.
River Falls has direct communication with Hudson by a branch of the
Chicago & St. Paul railroad. In 1885 the Burlington & Northern
railroad route was surveyed and established, entering the county on
the shore of Lake Pepin, and running nearly parallel with lake and
river to Prescott, where it crosses Lake St. Croix near its mouth, on
a bridge, the total length of which is 520.5 feet, with one draw span
367.5 feet in length, and one piled span of 153 feet. This bridge was
completed, and the first train entered Prescott, May 31, 1886. The
grade of this road does not exceed fifteen feet to the mile.
MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS.
The Grand Army of the Republic have posts at the following places:
No. 72, A. W. Howard Post Rock Elm.
No. 117, I. M. Nichols Post River Falls.
No. 118, Ellsworth Post Ellsworth.
No. 189, R. P. Converse Post Prescott.
No. 204, U. S. Grant Post Maiden Rock.
No. 209, Plum City Post Plum City.
The following are the village plats of Pierce county, with date of
survey and location:
Prescott, town of Prescott 1853
Kinnikinic, town of River Falls 1854
Monte Diamond (Diamond Bluff), town of Diamond Bluff 1854
Saratoga, town of Isabelle 1855
River Falls (Greenwood and Fremont), town of River Falls 1856
Maiden Rock, town of Maiden Rock 1856
Warren, town of Maiden Rock 1856
Trimbelle, town of Trimbelle 1856
Franklin, town of Trimbelle 1856
Martell (Rising Sun), town of Martell 1856
Beldenville, town of Trimbelle 1857
Trenton, town of Trenton 1857
Plum City, town of Union 1858
El Paso, town of El Paso 1858
Esdaile, town of Hartland 1870
Rock Elm, town of Rock Elm Centre 1876
Hogan, town of Trenton 1886
Bay City, town of Isabelle 1887
ORGANIZATION OF TOWNS.
The following is the chronological order in which the towns of Pierce
county were organized:
Prescott[B]. 1853
Greenwood (now River Falls) 1854
Martell 1854
Isabelle 1855
Trimbelle 1855
Diamond Bluff 1855
Clifton 1855
Oak Grove 1856
Perry (Ellsworth) 1856
Spring Valley (Maiden Rock) 1857
Trenton 1857
El Paso 1858
Hartland 1859
Union 1861
Salem 1862
Rock Elm 1862
Deerfield (Gilman) 1868
Spring Lake 1868
CLIFTON,
Situated in the northwestern part of the county, contains a little
over thirty full sections of land, those on the St. Croix having a
somewhat irregular boundary. The surface is somewhat broken where
traversed by the Kinnikinic and its tributaries. It includes
twenty-four sections on the west side of township 27, range 19, and
fractional township 27, range 20. It was established in 1855. Its
first board of officers were: Supervisors--Geo. W. McMurphy, chairman;
Osborne Strahl and G. W. Teachout. C. B. Cox was the first postmaster,
in 1852, at a place called Clifton Mills, from which the town
afterward derived its name. This post town is situated on the
Kinnikinic, in section 18, township 27, range 18 west. It has one
grist mill and two saw mills, belonging to Cox, King & Goodsall. No
intoxicants are sold here. The Glenwood saw mills, having a capacity
of 3,000,000 feet, are located on the lake shore. In 1868 a limestone
quarry was opened on the lake shore, by Oakley & Nichols. In 1881 the
firm became Oakley & Hall. They have a patent kiln and good machinery,
and some seasons have manufactured as much as 5,000 barrels of lime.
GEORGE W. MCMURPHY was born at Newcastle, Delaware, in 1821. In 1845
he came to St. Croix Falls, and in 1848 to Clifton, where he
pre-empted the beautiful homestead which he still holds, and where he
has successfully followed the business of farming. He has been
repeatedly elected to town and county offices. In 1848 he was married
to Maria A. Rice. Their children are Augustus (resident of St. Paul),
George (a physician living in Ortonville, Minnesota), James A.,
Robert, Albert and Edward, and two married daughters. Mr. McMurphy is
a member of the Congregational church.
OSBORNE STRAHL was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1818; came to
Galena, Illinois, in 1838, in 1845 to Mauston and Stevens Point,
Wisconsin, and to Chippewa Falls in 1847. During these years he
followed lumbering. In 1850 he came to the town of Elisabeth, St.
Croix county, which on subsequent division of towns and counties left
Mr. Strahl in Clifton, where he has been engaged in farming. He was
married in 1860 to Rebecca McDonald. They have two sons, Wm. Day,
living in Dakota, Howard P., in River Falls; three daughters, Mabel,
wife of Joseph M. Smith, banker at River Falls, and two daughters
unmarried. Mr. Strahl filled various town and county offices.
CHARLES B. COX was born June 25, 1810, in Chenango county, New York.
He learned the trade of a miller, lived in Ohio seventeen years and
came to Clifton in 1849. He built at Clifton the first saw and grist
mill in the Kinnikinic valley, in 1850. He changed his residence to
River Falls in 1854, where he lived till 1874, when he removed to
California. During the year 1851 he ground three hundred bushels of
wheat, the sole product of the valley.
EPHRAIM HARNSBERGER was born in Kentucky, Nov. 21, 1824, moved with
his parents to Illinois in 1832, and to Prescott in 1847, where he
pre-empted a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. He was married
at Alton, Illinois, in 1858, to Lizzie Johnson. Their children are
Charles, Sarah Etta, and Jennie.
DIAMOND BLUFF
Is a triangular shaped town, the hypotenuse being formed by the
Mississippi river. It contains ten sections and three fractional
sections in town 25, range 18, and five sections and five fractional
sections in town 25, range 19. It is traversed in the eastern part by
Trimbelle river. The town was established in 1857, and the first town
meeting was held that year at the home of David Comstock. The town
board consisted of: Supervisors--James Akers, chairman; Wilson Thing
and C. F. Hoyt; justice, S. Hunter. Susan Rogers taught the first
school. This town has the honor of claiming the first white settler,
aside from traders, in the Upper Mississippi valley. He came to the
site of the present village of Diamond Bluff in 1800, and named it
Monte Diamond. We give elsewhere a somewhat extended account of this
ancient pioneer, with some speculations concerning him and his
descendants that are plausible enough to warrant their insertion. In
historic times a post office was established here in 1854, called at
the time, Hoytstown, from C.F. Hoyt, the first postmaster.
On the organization of the town the name was changed to Diamond Bluff.
Quite a village has since grown up around it. The first frame house
was built in 1855, by Enoch Quinby. The first sermon was preached by
Rev. J. W. Hancock, a Presbyterian minister, for some years a
missionary among the Indians. The first birth was that of Mary Day, in
1851, and the first death that of Daniel Crappers, in 1854.
CAPT. JOHN PAINE.--Jack Paine, as he is familiarly called, was born in
England, and for the greater part of his life has been a seafaring
man. For the past thirty years he has been a steamboat man on the
Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers. He has been married three
times: first in Rhode Island, second to Mrs. La Blond, of St. Louis,
and last to Miss Ressue, of Diamond Bluff. He came to Diamond Bluff in
1848, with four children of his first wife, his second wife having
died childless. He is now living with his third wife in La Crosse.
They have three children.
JOHN DAY was born in Martinsburg, Virginia. In 1850 he and his wife
and three children, with Allen B. Wilson and his wife, came to Diamond
Bluff. Mr. Day is well known as a fearless and enthusiastic hunter. In
1852 he had a close encounter with a large black bear, which, after a
desperate struggle, he killed with an axe. The Indians considered Mr.
Day as "waukon," supernatural, averring that their bravest warriors
would not have attacked singly so large an animal.
SARAH A. VANCE, the wife of Mr. Day, was born in Kentucky. The Vance
family were famous pioneers, and some of them were noted Methodist
preachers. Miss Vance's first marriage was to John R. Shores, by whom
she had two children, one of whom, Isabella, became the wife of A. R.
Wilson.
ALLEN R. WILSON.--Mr. Wilson was born in Kentucky; spent his early
boyhood in Shawneetown, Illinois; was married to Miss Shores at
Potosi, Wisconsin, April 16, 1848, and in 1850 came to Diamond Bluff.
Mr. Wilson took great interest in politics, was an ardent Republican,
and was among the first to volunteer his services for the suppression
of the Rebellion in 1861. He enlisted in Company B, Sixth Regiment,
Wisconsin Volunteers, and fell in battle, Sept. 14, 1862, at South
Mountain. Mr. Wilson was well informed, a close observer of political
events at home and abroad, and was a brave and efficient soldier. He
left five children.
E. S. COULTER.--Mr. Coulter is a Virginian by birth. In early manhood
he traveled extensively as a book agent, and finally settled at
Diamond Bluff, where he successfully engaged in farming and dealing in
wheat and merchandise.
JAMES BAMBER, ex-musician in the British and United States armies.
JACOB MEAD, ex-shoemaker, ex-soldier and miner, a man of superior
natural and acquired talent.
CHARLES WALBRIDGE came to Diamond Bluff in 1852.
JACOB MEAD died in 1884, leaving a large property.
CHARLES F. HOYT, with his wife and one child, came to Diamond Bluff
from Illinois, in 1853.
ENOCH QUINBY was born at Sandwich, New Hampshire; was married to
Matilda Leighton, originally from Athens, Maine. Mr. Quinby and his
wife came from Pittsfield, Illinois, to Diamond Bluff in 1854.
THE FIRST SETTLER.
There is a pretty well grounded tradition that the first white man who
found his way to Diamond Bluff was a French Vendean loyalist of the
army of Jacques Cathelineau; that he fled from France in 1793 or 1794,
landed at Quebec, and was traced by his enemies to Mackinaw and
Chicago, where they lost his trail. He came to Diamond Bluff in 1800,
and named it "Monte Diamond." He had for his housekeeper the daughter
of an Indian chief. He died here about 1824. After his death the
Indians always called the place the "Old White Man's Prairie." E.
Quinby, of Diamond Bluff, to whom we are indebted for this account,
adds: "All the additional evidence I can give in regard to this
pioneer is that prior to 1793 his wife died, leaving him one daughter,
who was deformed. A former friend of his had a beautiful daughter of
about the same age of his own. After the uprising and defeat of the
Vendeans, they became enemies, and he, to save his life, took his
former friend's daughter, instead of his own, and fled to this
country. The father pursued them as far as Chicago, where he saw his
daughter in company with some Indian girls, and having on her person
some ornaments once worn by her mother. He at once seized her and
carried her back with him to France, and the old Frenchman found his
way to Diamond Bluff." Faribault's son,[C] now living somewhere in
Minnesota, wrote me a few years since, inquiring about the old
Frenchman, saying that his grandmother claimed that her husband was a
French nobleman, and that he lived near Lake Pepin. He believed the
old Frenchman was his grandfather. The above statements were
communicated to the late Capt. Orin Smith, of Galena, Illinois, Allen
B. Wilson and myself, in 1854, or in 1855, by an old Frenchman then
residing at Potosi, Wisconsin, who claimed to have seen and gathered
these facts from the old man himself. Capt. Smith was well acquainted
with the Frenchman at Potosi, and gave the fullest credence to his
account.
EL PASO
Occupies township 26, range 16. It is drained chiefly by Rush river
and its tributary, Lost creek, on the west. The two post villages in
this town are, El Paso, located in section 5, and Lost Creek, in
section 3. George P. Walker was the first settler. He built the first
house and raised the first crop; Thomas T. Magee came in 1855. In 1860
the town was organized, Thomas Hurley and Geo. P. Walker being
supervisors. In 1862 Mr. Magee built a saw and flour mill in section
5, and platted the village of El Paso. In 1875 he removed to Clear
Lake, Polk county, of which town he was the first settler. Clara
Green taught the first school in El Paso, in 1861. There is one
Catholic and one Lutheran church in the village. The name El Paso
signifying a crossing, is of somewhat obscure derivation.
ELLSWORTH
Was organized under the name of Perry, March 3, 1857, but in 1862 it
received its present name. It occupies a central position in the
county and includes township 26, range 17. This is a rich farming
town, originally timbered with hardwood. The surface is elevated and
gently undulating. It is drained on the east by the tributaries of
Rush river, but has no large or important streams. The first
supervisors were: P. M. Simons, chairman; Caleb Bruce and Wilson
Kinnie. The first settler was Anthony Huddleston, who came April 23,
1856, and pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 20. On November
26th, of the same year, came Caleb, Elihu W. and Eli T. Bruce, who
pre-empted farms on sections 18 and 19. During the same year Wilson
and Norris Kinnie and David Klingensmith pre-empted farms in sections
18 and 19. Lilly, Miscen, Russ, and Campbell came also in 1855. The
first log house in the town was built by Anthony Huddleston in 1855.
Norris Kinnie built the first in what was afterward the village of
Ellsworth. The first school house, a log building, built was in 1857,
and Mary Filkins, now Mrs. G. H. Sargeant, of Minnesota, taught the
first school. The first marriage was that of Charles Stannard and Mary
Leonard, in 1855. The first birth, that of the twin children of
Wilson. Both died. The first death of an adult was that of Mrs. Jacob
Youngman in the winter of 1855. The post office was opened in 1860,
with Seely Strickland as postmaster.
ELLSWORTH VILLAGE.
The original owners of the southern half of section 18, and the
northern half of 19, Norris Kinnie, Eli T. Bruce, Henry P. Ames, and
Wm. Crippin laid out and platted the village of Ellsworth in 1862. Wm.
Crippin, built a frame hotel there in 1860. C. S. Dunbar opened a
store in 1861. The prospect of Ellsworth becoming the county seat gave
a great impetus to business enterprises. This was decided by a popular
vote in 1861, but owing to some technical defects was resubmitted to
the people of the county in 1862, and then definitely decided. In the
year 1862 the citizens of Ellsworth built a log house in which the
first terms of court were held; meanwhile the county officers had
their offices in the basement of Crippin's hotel. The permanent county
buildings were not erected until 1869. They are built of stone and
cost $60,000. In 1863 a frame schoolhouse took the place of the old
log structure, and in 1874 a commodious brick building was erected, at
a cost of $5,000.
The Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics have church buildings. There
is one newspaper, the _Pierce County Herald_, edited by E. F. Case and
E. S. Doolittle. The Barnes saw mill built in 1867, burned down and
rebuilt, has a capacity of about 5,000 feet per day. A branch
railroad, built from Hudson to River Falls, was extended to Ellsworth
in 1885. The depot is one mile from the village. The Pierce County
Central fair grounds, containing seventeen acres, are located near the
village. The grounds are inclosed and are covered with a fine maple
grove, in the midst of which is a large flowing spring. D. W.
Woodworth was first president of the fair association. Ellsworth has
two handsome cemeteries, Maplewood and the Catholic.
The village itself is beautifully situated on an elevated plateau
originally covered with hardwood timber. The streets are tastefully
adorned with maple trees.
ANTHONY HUDDLESTON.--Mr. Huddleston is of Irish descent. He was born
in West Virginia in 1804; had but limited educational privileges;
lived for a part of his life in Ohio and Indiana, and settled in
Ellsworth in 1855, being the first settler in the town. He was a house
carpenter for over sixty years. He was a member of the Dunkard church
sixty-two years. He was married in 1826, in Ripley, Indiana, to
Susannah Whetstone. They have three sons and six daughters living.
PERRY D. PIERCE was born in Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York.
He traces his lineage to ancestors who came across in the Mayflower
and landed at Plymouth Rock. He received an academic education,
studied law with A. Reckor, Oswego, New York, and was admitted to
practice at Cooperstown in 1843, practiced in Albany three years, and
in 1854 came to the St. Croix valley, locating first at Prescott,
where he served as district attorney for four years, and county judge
eight years. He was married in 1860, to Lua E. Searsdall. He is now a
resident of Ellsworth.
[Illustration: _Very Respectfully Hans B. Warner_]
HANS B. WARNER, of Ellsworth, Pierce county, was born at
Gulbrandsdalen, Norway, July 12, 1844; received a common school
education; is by occupation a farmer; emigrated and settled in Dodge
county, Wisconsin, in 1853, and thence removed to Pierce county in
1855, where he has since resided. He enlisted in March, 1864, as a
private, in Company G, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer
Infantry; was wounded and captured in front of Petersburg, Virginia,
July 30, 1864, and was held a prisoner of war in Danville and Libby
prisons until paroled, September, 1864; was discharged from service on
account of wounds received in battle July 18, 1865. He has held
various local offices, and the position of county clerk of Pierce
county from January, 1869, to Dec. 21, 1877, when he resigned, to
assume the duties of secretary of state, to which office he was
elected in 1877, and was re-elected in 1879, serving in all four
years. He was elected to the state senate in 1882 and served until
1886. His home business is farming and real estate. He was married in
1866, to Julia E. Hudson.
GILMAN.
The town of Gilman includes township 27, range 16. The postal villages
are Gilman, section 10, and Olivet, section 36. Gilman was organized
as the town of Deerfield, in 1868, but in 1869 the name was changed to
Gilman. The first supervisors were Oliver Purdy, Caleb Coon, Bardon
Jensen. The first school was taught in 1870, by M. L. Maxgood. A
Norwegian Lutheran church was built in 1883, at a cost of $1,500.
There are six school houses with an aggregate cost of $2,000. The
first marriage was that of Caleb Coon and Cenith Preston, in 1867. The
first birth was a child of this married couple. The first death was
that of Mrs. Rufus Preston. The first post office was at Gilman, U. F.
Hals, postmaster. The first settlers were B. F. Gilman, in 1859, still
a resident; N. B. Lawrence, soon after, now removed; Rufus Preston and
family; Joseph and Caleb Coon and families, in 1865, still resident.
J. R. Maxgood, B. Jensen and son, E. B. Jensen, the Matthieson
brothers, Z. Sigursen, H. Bredahl, S. J. Goodell, Nels Gulikson, M. O.
Grinde, Albert Martin, P. Vanosse, and T. B. Forgenbakke are among the
oldest citizens.
HARTLAND.
Hartland occupies township 25, range 17. It has one post village,
Esdaile. It has one saw mill and a factory for the manufacture of hubs
and bent wood work, operated by Charles Betcher, of Red Wing,
Minnesota, which gives employment to seventy-five men and ten teams
the year round. The village of Esdaile has also two general
merchandise stores and a hotel. Hartland was organized in 1859. The
first supervisors were A. Harris, chairman; Joseph Sleeper and R. M.
Sproul. Amongst the first settlers were Augustus E. Hodgman, section
24, 1854; James Buckingham, section 28, 1854; Lewis Buckmaster,
section 1, 1853. The first school was taught in 1858, by Mary Ann
Stonio. The first post office was at Esdaile, Hiram Patch, postmaster.
There are three church organizations, Presbyterian, Methodist and
Lutheran (Norwegian), with buildings valued at from $700 to $1,000.
There are nine school houses, ranging in cost from $500 to $1,400. The
Good Templars have an organization.
ISABELLE.
Isabelle consists of the two upper tiers of section 7, township 24,
range 17, the lower tier being much broken in outline by Lake Pepin on
the south. It contains also fractions of sections in the third tier.
Bay City, on the shore of the lake, is the postal town. It was
organized in 1855. In 1869 it was annexed to Hartland, but in 1871 it
was re-established. The first chairman of supervisors was John
Buckingham. The election was held at the house of Abner Brown. Charles
R. Tyler and Lorenzo D. Philips settled here in 1854, and built a saw
mill where now stands the thriving village of Bay City. Saratoga plat
was laid out upon this ground in 1856, by A. C. Morton. A. J. Dexter
was the original claimant of the land. Mr. Morton purchased the land
which covered a part of Bay City from the government. A surveyor named
Markle was employed by Morton to run the lines, which Mr. Dexter
considered an intrusion upon his rights, and he shot Markle. Dexter
was tried before Judge S. S. N. Fuller, in 1855, was convicted, and
sentenced to prison for life. After a few years he was pardoned by
Gov. Barstow.
MAIDEN ROCK.
Maiden Rock occupies the four upper tiers of sections of township 24,
ranges 15 and 16, except such portions on the southwestern corner as
are cut off by Lake Pepin. It contains about forty sections. The town
was organized under the name of Spring Valley, in 1857. Its postal
villages are Maiden Rock, on the lake shore, section 15, range 15, and
Warren, also on the lake shore, section 7, range 15. The site of
Maiden Rock village was purchased from the government in 1853, by
Albert Harris and J. D. Trumbull. In 1855 they erected the first
house, and in 1856 built a saw and shingle mill. J. D. Trumbull
platted the village in 1857, and christened it Maiden Rock, from the
celebrated rock of that name a few miles further down the lake. Among
the first settlers in the village were J. H. Steel, J. D. Brown, John
Foster, and Joseph B. Hull.
The first hotel was run by G. R. Barton, in a house built by J. D.
Trumbull. This hotel has since been enlarged and is now the Lake View
House. The first marriage was that of A. J. Smith and Corinda
Eatinger, in 1857; the first birth was that of Ida Trumbull, in 1858,
and the first death that of William Trumbull, in 1858. The first
school was taught by Lottie Isabel, of Batavia, Illinois. The first
sermon was preached by Rev. James Gurley, a Methodist preacher from
North Pepin.
A post office was established in 1856, of which J. D. Trumbull was
postmaster. The receipts the first year were eleven dollars, the
expenses, fifty dollars, paid by the postmaster. The town of Maiden
Rock has six school houses, one saw and one grist mill.
CHRISTOPHER L. TAYLOR was born in Oneida county, New York, in 1829;
came to Chicago at an early day, and to Maiden Rock in 1868, where he
engaged in manufacturing. He served as county supervisor for eight
years, and as member of the Wisconsin legislature in 1876. He removed
to St. Paul in 1880, where he still resides. He is a dealer in real
estate.
MARTELL.
Martell occupies township 27, range 17. Joseph Martell, John Dee,
Louis Lepau and Xerxes Jock, Frenchmen, were the first settlers. They
located here in 1847, and remained till 1860, when they moved further
west, allured by the attractions of frontier life. Martell was
organized in 1854, with the following supervisors: Amos Bonesteel,
chairman; M. Statten and R.J. Thompson. The first school was taught in
1857, by W. Bewel. Martell is the postal village. The first postmaster
was O. Rasmunson. There are two evangelical Lutheran churches in the
town, built at a cost of $3,500 and $5,000. There is also a good town
hall, valued at $600. The Martell Mutual Insurance Company is in
successful operation.
OAK GROVE.
Oak Grove includes township 26, range 19 (with the exception of
section 31 and parts of 30 and 32), and six sections of range 20, in
all about forty sections. It is drained by Big river. It was set off
from Clifton in 1856. Hart Broughton was the first chairman of
supervisors. It contains a flouring mill on Big river; Catholic,
Lutheran, and Methodist church buildings; that of the Catholic cost
$4,000, and has a school attached. There are seven school houses. Big
River is the postal village. John Berry was first postmaster. The
first settlers were (1848) the Thing brothers, the Harnsberger
brothers, the Cornelius brothers, Rice, Schaser, McMurphy, Rissue, and
the Miner brothers.
LEWIS M. HARNSBERGER was born in Kentucky, April 18, 1822, and moved
with his parents to Illinois, where he lived nine years. He came to
Prescott in 1846, and pre-empted a farm in Oak Grove, where he has
since continuously resided. He has filled many public positions
creditably. He was married to Annie Jeffreys, of Illinois, in 1860.
Their sons are Ephraim, Lewis and John.
PRESCOTT CITY
Is beautifully located at the junction of the St. Croix and
Mississippi rivers. The business portion of the city is on a terrace
at the base of the bluff, and between it and the river and lake. The
public buildings, churches, school house and residences are chiefly on
the upper terrace, or bluff, and command an extensive view of the
valley of the two rivers, the whole forming a landscape of unrivaled
beauty. The advantages of the position are by no means limited to its
picturesque surroundings. Prescott, from its position at the junction
of the two rivers, was early recognized as an important point for the
reshipping of freight and re-embarkation of passengers. The St.
Croix, which comes in from the north, rises within a few miles of Lake
Superior, and after running a course of two hundred miles, empties its
waters into Lake St. Croix, twenty-four miles above its outlet. The
lake is navigable at all times to Stillwater and to Taylor's Falls at
the Dalles. The Mississippi comes in from the northwest, and is
navigable to St. Paul, a distance of thirty miles. The two channels at
the junction are each about 1,000 feet wide, with an average depth of
fifteen feet, and the banks slope to the water's edge, or stand in
some places in vertical ledges, thus forming a natural quay along the
entire front of the city. The quay, or landing, is semicircular in
shape, the upper terrace, or bench, about one hundred feet in height,
is likewise semicircular, the convexity being toward the river and
lake. The crest of the terrace is worn down by the rains into ravines,
leaving rounded points, or promontories, on the summit of which the
ancient mound builders have left traces of their peculiar art. The
first settlement of Prescott was made by Philander Prescott, Col.
Thompson, Dr. Emerson, and Capt. Scott, the three last named being
army officers at Fort Snelling. Mr. Prescott, acting as agent for the
others, made the claim in 1836, remaining three years to hold it, when
it was left in the care of Joseph Mosier until 1851.
In 1837 seven acres were broken and fenced, constituting the entire
landed improvements within the present bounds of Pierce county. In
1849 one hundred and fifty acres were improved. Geo. Schaser and H.
Doe were the first resident farmers. From 1838 to 1849 a trading post
for Indian supplies was kept by persons holding the claim. W. S.
Lockwood opened a store in 1842, and other improvements were made. As
the army officers were called to other fields of labor, Mr. Prescott
soon found himself in sole possession of the original claim, he
purchasing their interests, and in 1849, when the lands had been
surveyed by the government, he entered sixty-one acres. In 1853 Dr. O.
T. Maxon and W. J. Copp purchased a greater part of the town site and
surveyed and platted it as the city of Prescott. A charter was
obtained in 1857. A post office had been established here in 1840,
called the "Mouth of St. Croix," but it was removed across the lake
and named Point Douglas. The post office was re-established at
Prescott in 1852. Dr. O. T. Maxon was first postmaster. The number of
persons who came that year to Prescott is estimated at about one
hundred and fifty.[D] Mr. Schaser platted an addition to the city of
sixty-one acres in 1855. When the city received its charter the
following officers were elected: Mayor, J. R. Freeman; aldermen, First
ward, N. S. Dunbar, Thomas Dickerson and Seth Ticknor; Second ward,
Hilton Doe, George W. Oakley, N. A. Miller; president of the council,
Seth Ticknor; justices of the peace, I. T. Foster, O. Edwards; city
attorney, P. V. Wise; city surveyor, Wm. Howes; superintendent of
schools, Thomas Dickerson.
Wm. Schaser built the first frame house, and Mrs. Wm. Schaser was the
first white woman. Their daughter Eliza was the first white child born
in the new settlement. The first marriage was that of G. W. McMurphy
to a daughter of Mr. Rice, April 24, 1848. The first death was that of
W. S. Lockwood, in 1847.
When the county of Pierce was organized Prescott was designated as the
county seat, and so remained until 1862, when, by popular election,
Ellsworth was chosen.
In 1856 Messrs. Silverthorn & Dudley started a saw mill, which they
operated until 1861, when Mr. Dudley purchased his partner's interest,
and erected a flouring and saw mill.
A wagon and carriage manufactory was established by F. Menicke, in
1862, the Prescott brewery in 1866, by N. P. Husting, and the Prescott
machine shops in 1876, by H. B. Failing. The City Bank of Prescott was
organized in 1858, Charles Miller, president; W. P. Westfall, cashier;
capital stock, $50,000. It closed in 1862. The National Bank was
established in 1877, by W. S. Miller. The first school in Pierce
county was taught by a missionary named Denton, at Prescott, in 1843.
In 1851 Miss Oliver taught a private school. In 1853 the first
district school was established. The school board were: Directors, M.
Craig, George W. McMurphy; treasurer, N. S. Dunbar; clerk, Dr. O. T.
Maxon; teacher, Miss Matthews. The first school house was built in
1854. A building for a graded school was erected in 1859. A high
school building was erected in 1847, at a cost of $20,000.
The first religious society was that of the Methodists, organized in
1853, under the labors of Rev. Norris Hobart. Their first building
was erected in 1856. Its dimensions were 20 × 32 feet, ground plan. In
1868 they erected a building 40 × 70 feet, ground plan, at a cost of
$4,000.
In 1854 the Baptist church was organized by Rev. E. W. Cressy.
In 1854 the Congregationalists organized, with Rev. P. Hall as pastor,
and in 1855 built a brick church, 40 × 50 feet, ground plan.
In 1855 the Presbyterians organized, and in 1866 built a church.
The Lutheran church was organized in 1865, by Rev. C. Thayer.
Under the preaching of Rev. M. Guild the Episcopal church was
organized in 1872. Previous to this date Revs. Breck, Wilcoxson and
Peabody had labored from time to time. The Catholic church was
organized by Rev. Father Vervais in 1860. In 1868 a church edifice was
built.
The following social and benevolent orders have organizations in
Prescott:
Northwestern Lodge, A. F. and A. M organized 1856
Prescott Lodge, I. O. O. F " 1868
Lodge No. 319, I. O. G. T " 1876
Prescott Juvenile Temple, No. 108 " 1877
Prescott Temple of Honor " 1878
Converse Post, G. A. R. " 1884
Pierce County Agricultural Society, O. T. Maxon, president " 1859
The Agricultural Society has fair grounds just east of the city, well
arranged, with a half mile race track, and buildings in good
condition. Fairs are held annually. Pine Glen cemetery is situated on
the bluff half a mile below the city. It was established in 1856.
Nature has done much for the site. The view of the Mississippi valley
is unobstructed for a distance of from twelve to twenty miles on the
south, and to the bend of the river bluffs above Hastings. The grounds
are handsomely laid out and adorned with shrubbery.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.
Prescott has suffered severely from fires. The following is a partial
list of losses:
Lowry & Co., saw mill loss $3,500
Todd & Horton's mill " 2,000
Stevens, Lechner & Co. (1854) " 3,000
Fire on Main street (1871) loss $22,000
Fire on Main street (1872) " 12,000
Fire on Main street (1874) " 12,000
Redman, Cross & Co., flour mills (1877) " 40,000
The latter was insured for $20,000. Total loss, nearly $75,000.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PHILANDER PRESCOTT was born in 1801, at Phelpstown, Ontario county,
New York. Late in the year 1819 he came to Fort Snelling and remained
there, or in the vicinity, the greater part of his life. From his
constant association with the Indians, especially with the Sioux, he
learned to speak their language. He was also related to them by his
marriage with a Sioux woman. This fact, added to his influence among
them, and being a man not only of a high character for integrity, but
well educated and intelligent, he was able to render the officers of
the Fort much service. He made a translation into the Sioux dialect of
a number of English and French hymns for the use of the mission
schools near Prescott. He gave his children an English education. In
1835, while acting as Indian interpreter, he came to the present site
of Prescott, and in conjunction with several officers of the Fort, he
acting as their agent, laid claim to considerable territory, and made
some improvements in the shape of log buildings. When the army
officers were sent to other posts, Mr. Prescott purchased their
interests and held the claim. In 1849, after the government survey, he
pre-empted sixty-one acres and laid out what he called the city of
Prescott. He resided here and at the Fort alternately until his death,
which occurred in 1862. He had been sent by the government on a peace
mission to the Indians in rebellion, met them at a point near Mankato,
and was cruelly assassinated by those to whom he had ever proven a
true friend, and whom he had every reason to suppose friendly to him.
GEORGE SCHASER is a native of Austria, and came to the mouth of the
St. Croix in 1841. In 1842 he returned to St. Louis and married
Christine Bucher. Mrs. Schaser was the first white woman resident in
Prescott. Mr. Schaser built the first frame house in the settlement,
in 1844. This house was regarded for many years as the finest house
between Prairie du Chien and St. Paul. In 1855 Mr. Schaser surveyed an
addition to Prescott on land he had pre-empted in 1849. In 1858 he
built the brick hotel known as the St. Nicholas. Mr. Schaser died May
3, 1884, leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter. His sons are
Henry, Edward and George A. His daughter Emma was married to Capt.
John E. Ball (deceased 1881). An older daughter, Eliza, the first
child born in Pierce county, was married to E. W. Haviland, and died
in 1880, near New Orleans.
WILLIAM S. LOCKWOOD, a native of New York State, came to Prairie du
Chien in 1833, and to Prescott in 1842. The year following his family
followed. Mr. Lockwood died in 1847. His widow, Georgiana Barton, was
married to Orange B. Walker, of Marine Mills, and died at Marine, Oct.
9, 1885.
JAMES MONROE BAILEY was born in 1824, in Sullivan county, New York,
where his youthful days were passed. He came to Prescott in 1849,
where he has since been engaged in farming, mercantile and real estate
business. He was married in 1856, in Prescott, to Nettie Crippin. They
have one son, Victor, and two daughters, Myrtle, wife of E. L.
Meacham, of Prescott, and Jessamine. Mr. Bailey has a very pleasant
home in Prescott. He has filled various offices, among them that of
treasurer and clerk of St. Croix county, prior to the organization of
Pierce.
ADOLPH WERKMAN was born in Germany in 1826; came to America in 1847,
and to Prescott in 1848. He was married at Prescott in 1856.
JOSEPH MANESE (alias Joseph Abear) was of French extraction and a
native of Lower Canada. While yet a youth he came into the Lake
Superior region, where he was employed most of his time in hunting and
trapping by the fur companies. His history, if written in full, would
abound in stirring incidents and adventures. He was a man of unusual
strength and activity, and in disposition light hearted, vivacious and
gay even to hilarity. He died in Prescott in 1884.
HILTON DOE was a native of New York State, and came to Red Wing, as
Indian farmer, about 1840. He settled in Prescott in 1844, in sections
9 and 10, pre-emptions subsequently surveyed into town lots. Mr. Doe
married Miss Daily, in Illinois, in 1844. Mrs. Doe died in 1860, Mr.
Doe in 1884.
LUTE A. TAYLOR, a young man of decided talent, a good classical
scholar, a brilliant writer and humorist, came to River Falls in 1856,
and in 1857, with his brother Horace, established the River Falls
_Journal_, which they continued to publish jointly for three years,
when Horace removed to Hudson and established the _Times_. Lute A.
removed to Prescott, taking with him the material of the _Journal_
office, and established the Prescott _Journal_, which he edited and
published until 1869, when he removed to La Crosse and published the
La Crosse _Leader_ until his death, which occurred in 1872.
Mr. Taylor was a correspondent of various papers and an entertaining
lecturer. As a conversationalist and wit, he was without a rival. A
slight impediment in his speech, if anything, added to the humorous
effect of his pithy sayings. He is well remembered in the valley of
the St. Croix. A volume containing his biography and some
characteristic sketches has been published since his death.
JOHN HUITT, a Canadian, came to Prescott in 1847, and erected the
first blacksmith shop in the village. He was married in Prescott to a
daughter of Joseph Mosier, and subsequently pre-empted a quarter
section of land on Prescott prairie. He built a saw and planing mill
on Trimbelle river. He died at Trimbelle in 1873.
JOHN M. RICE was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1805; was married
in 1828, in Massachusetts, to Mary A. Goodenough; came in 1837 to
Marine, Illinois, and in 1847 to Prescott. Mr. Rice was a house
carpenter, but followed also the business of farming. He was an
upright man and a member of the Congregational church. He died in
1878, leaving one son, David O., living in Prescott; a daughter, Maria
A., wife of G. W. McMurphy, of Prescott, and a daughter in Illinois.
AN INDIAN BATTLE.
The feud between the Sioux and Chippewas originated in prehistoric
times and from causes not now known. It has been a tribal vendetta,
continuous and relentless, with the advantages in favor of the
Chippewas, who, in the course of time, have steadily forced the Sioux
westward from the Sault Ste. Marie to the Mississippi at Prescott. We
give the following account of one of their battles, being an Indian
version, translated and written out by Philander Prescott. This fight
occurred in 1711, on the site of the city of Prescott. As the Indians
had been supplied by the French with firearms as early as 1700, there
is nothing improbable in their alleged use on this occasion. But for
the story:
"The Chippewas, a thousand strong, attacked a camp of
eighteen Sioux lodges by night and killed most of the
warriors. The women and children fled to the canoes, and,
jumping in, pushed from the shore, but, in their hurry,
without paddles. A large eddy in the river carried the
canoes round and round, and, as they swept near the shore,
the Chippewas seized them, pulled them to the shore and
butchered the women and children. A few Sioux warriors had
fled up the bank of the lake, where they hid in crevices and
caves of the rocks. The Chippewas discovered their hiding
places and killed all but one, who rushed from his retreat,
and, diving again and again in the lake, swam for the
opposite shore. As often as his head appeared above the
water the Chippewas fired a volley of bullets, which fell
around like hail, but harmlessly. The bold swimmer finally
reached the opposite shore unharmed, when he gave a whoop of
joy and disappeared in the thicket. The Chippewas, filled
with admiration at his daring exploit, returned his farewell
whoop with interest."
RIVER FALLS
Occupies township 27, range 18, and a tier of two sections from range
19. Trimbelle river drains the eastern portion and the Kinnikinic the
northwest. Its early history is identified with the history of River
Falls city, its first settlement. It was organized in 1854, as
Greenwood, but in 1858 the name was changed to River Falls. As River
Falls city was not incorporated until 1885, we shall give its early
history in connection with that of the town.
The first settler was Joel Foster, in the fall of 1848. In 1849, came
D. McGregor, James and Walter Mapes; in 1850, Messrs. Hayes, Tozer,
Penn and Parks, and not long after the Powells and Clark Green. These
early settlers chose locations at, or near, the present site of River
Falls city, and along the banks of the Kinnikinic, which here, owing
to its numerous waterfalls, offered unusual facilities for milling and
manufacturing. The first crop was raised by Joel Foster, in 1849. The
first saw mill was built in 1851 by the brothers N. N. and O. S.
Powell, just below the site of the present Greenwood mill. This was
burned in 1876. In 1854 the Powell brothers platted the village of
River Falls, called at first, Kinnikinic, setting apart for that
purpose two hundred acres of land. This plat included the upper
waterfalls within the present city limits. The largest water power
they donated to C. B. Cox as a mill site, to encourage settlement in
the village. The brothers co-operated in building up the village,
amongst other things building a frame store and stocking it with
goods. This was the first store in the Kinnikinic valley. They dealt
also in real estate and lumber. The name of River Falls, as applied to
the village, dates from the establishment of the first post office, in
1854. Charles Hutchinson was the first postmaster, and the office was
held in this pioneer store. J. S. Rounce, in 1870, built the first
foundry in Pierce county.
The water powers of River Falls have been extensively utilized, many
saw and flouring mills having been erected at various times on the
Kinnikinic. Of these, in 1886, the more notable are, the Junction
mills, owned by Freeman, Rhyder & Co., with a capacity of 400 barrels
daily, and a barrel manufactory attached, which gives employment to 40
men and turns off from 300 to 400 barrels daily. The Greenwood mills,
owned by Geo. Fortune & Co., capacity 50 barrels; the Cascade mills,
owned by the Baker estate, capacity 50 barrels; the Prairie mill,
built by C. B. Cox in 1858, and now owned by J. D. Putnam, capacity
150 barrels.
In educational matters River Falls has taken and maintained an
advanced position. The first school house was built in 1854, by seven
men, at a cost of five hundred dollars. Helen Flint taught the first
school. In 1856 a joint stock association was incorporated as "The
River Falls Academy." A building was erected, 36 × 66 feet, ground
plan, and two stories in height. Prof. Wilcox was the first principal.
This school was maintained as an academy until 1860, at which time it
was superseded by the free schools. In the fall of 1879 the building
was destroyed by fire. Subsequently a commodious brick structure was
erected in its place at a cost of $15,000. Excellent private schools
were maintained by Hinckley, Cody and Baker, for five years during the
'60s. The State Normal School, of which a more extended account is
given elsewhere, was established here, and a building erected in 1874,
at a cost of about $65,000, the people of River Falls and other towns
contributing to this fund $25,000, with private subscriptions to the
amount of $12,000, and a donation of ten acres of land. Of the $25,000
River Falls gave $10,000, Troy $4,000, Clifton $3,000, while Pierce
county contributed $5,000, and Kinnikinic, St. Croix county, gave
$3,000. The building, a handsome brick, four stories high, including
the basement, stands on an elevated plat of ground in the southeastern
part of the city. The first board of instruction consisted of W. D.
Parker, president, with the following assistants: J. B. Thayer,
conductor of teachers' institute; A. Earthman, history, geography,
music; Lucy E. Foot, English literature, reading, spelling; Julia A.
McFarlan, mathematics; Margaret Hosford, Latin and English literature.
Model department, Ellen C. Jones, teacher, grammar grade; Mary A.
Kelley, teacher, intermediate grade; Lizzie J. Curtis, teacher,
primary grade.
The following are the churches of River Falls, with date of
establishment and name of first pastor when known: Congregational,
1855, Rev. James Stirratt; Baptist, 1857, Rev. A. Gibson; Methodist,
1858; Episcopal, 1871, Rev. Chas. Thorpe; Catholic, 1875, Rev. Father
Connelly; Seventh Day Adventist, 1881.
With the exception of the last named, these church organizations have
good buildings. The Congregational church building erected in 1857 was
superseded by a building in 1867 that cost $10,000. This was destroyed
by a tornado in 1868, but has since been rebuilt at the cost of the
building destroyed, and a parsonage has been added at a cost of
$2,000.
A Sunday-school was established in River Falls in 1853, and the first
sermon was preached, in 1850 or 1851, by Rev. Julius S. Webber, a
Baptist missionary. Rev. John Wilcoxson, an Episcopalian, held
occasional services as early as 1859.
ASSOCIATIONS.
The following are the social and benevolent associations of River
Falls, with dates of organization: Masonic Lodge, June, 1859; I. O. O.
F., 1872; I. O. G. T., March 15, 1877; Juvenile Temple of Honor, March
15, 1877; Temple of Honor, March 31, 1878; A. O. U. W., 1878. The
hall, fixtures and charter of the Odd Fellows Lodge was destroyed in
the fire of 1876, but the lodge was rechartered the same year.
THE BANK OF RIVER FALLS
Was organized Jan. 1, 1874. ---- Bartlett, president; Joseph M. Smith,
cashier. Capital, $15,000. It was reorganized in 1883, under state
law, R. S. Burhyte, president; W. D. Parker, vice president; J. M.
Smith, cashier. Capital stock, $35,000. Total business in 1885,
$5,770,733.98.
HUDSON & RIVER FALLS RAILROAD.
This road was built in 1878, the people of River Falls contributing
$60,000 to its construction. The road is ten miles in length. In 1885
it was extended to Ellsworth, a distance of twelve miles.
RIVER FALLS BOARD OF TRADE
Was established in 1884. A. D. Andrews, president; C. H. Keys,
secretary.
FIRES.
In 1875 the Metropolitan Hotel, costing $15,000, and other buildings
were burned; loss $30,000. The insurance was light. In 1876 a large
portion of the town was destroyed by fire.
RIVER FALLS CITY.
River Falls was incorporated as a city in 1885. At the first election
for city officers, held April 7th, three hundred and nineteen votes
were cast, and the following persons were declared duly elected to the
positions named: Mayor, A. A. Andrews; treasurer, G. E. Pratt;
assessor, E. H. Daniel; aldermen, First ward, W. W. Wadsworth; Second
ward, L. M. Rosenquist; Third ward, R. N. Jenson; Fourth ward, L.
Styles; marshal, R. N. Bevens; city clerk, Allen H. Weld. The license
for the sale of intoxicants was fixed at $200. The population of River
Falls in 1886 was 1,700. It is a lively, prosperous city, planned on a
liberal scale, with wide streets, well shaded with ornamental trees.
The mills have reservations by which they are separated from the
business part of the city. The beauty of the original waterfalls is
somewhat marred by the mills and their debris. Originally they were
very beautiful and picturesque, and were widely celebrated, and much
visited by the lovers of Nature. Of these falls there are four, two on
the south branch, one on the north branch, and one some rods below
the junction of the two streams. The falls were not noted for their
grandeur, but rather for their quiet beauty, the water falling over
ledges but a few feet in height, and so broken in two of them as to
present the general appearance of a succession of stairs, or steps, of
unequal elevation, over which the water falls. An interesting feature
at the junction of the two rivers is the cave in which the pioneer
settler, Judge Joel Foster, with his negro boy, spent the winter of
1848-49. From his cave cabin he had full view of the falls on the two
streams, no less beautiful in their winter dress of gleaming icicles,
with the frost-whitened boughs of the willow and alder drooping over
them, than in their summer brightness. The judge has told me that he
loved, almost worshiped, this spot. The cave cabin stood about one
hundred feet from the sparkling stream. There, in the early morning,
he could cast his line, and have for his regal breakfast the speckled
trout. Above him towered a precipice crowned with evergreen trees, and
around him, on the borders of the streams, were the elm and maple, and
an undergrowth of alder and birch. There certainly could have been no
fairer scene in the West. To-day no traces remain of the old cave
cabin. The Junction mills have effaced the more beautiful and poetic
features of the scene. The judge has passed away, and found a grave on
an elevation overlooking his old home and the scenes he loved so well.
The judge, although a friend to progress, and active in advancing the
material interests of the locality in which he lived, was unalterably
opposed to the movement to incorporate River Falls, and did all he
could to defeat the measure. When the incorporative act had been
passed, he moved outside of the city limits, declaring that he would
neither live nor die within them; but having been fatally injured by
an accident, he was brought back to his old home, and died within the
city.
THE FOURTH STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT RIVER FALLS--HISTORY.
The constitution of the State, adopted in 1848, provides "that the
revenue of the school fund shall be exclusively applied to the
following objects:
"_First_--To the support and maintenance of common schools
in each school district, and the purchase of suitable
libraries and appurtenances therefor.
"_Second_--That the residue of the income of the school fund
shall be appropriated to the support of academies and normal
schools, and suitable libraries and appurtenances therefor."
No effort was made to take advantage of this provision of the
constitution for the endowment of normal schools until 1857, when an
act was passed providing "that the income of twenty-five per cent of
the proceeds arising from the sale of swamp and overflowed lands
should be appropriated to normal institutes and academies, under the
supervision and direction of a 'board of regents of normal schools,'"
who were to be appointed in pursuance of the provisions of that act.
Under this law, the income placed at the disposal of the regents was
distributed for several years to such colleges, academies and high
schools as maintained a normal class, and in proportion to the number
of pupils in the class who passed satisfactory examinations, conducted
by an agent of the board.
The law under which these schools are organized provides that "the
exclusive purpose of each normal school shall be the instruction and
training of persons, both male and female, in the theory and art of
teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good
common school education, and in all subjects needful to qualify for
teaching in the public schools; also to give instruction in the
fundamental laws of the United States and of this State, and in what
regards the rights and duties of citizens."
REGULATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Tuition is free to all students who are admitted to these normal
schools under the following regulations of the board of regents:
_First_--Each assembly district in the State shall be
entitled to eight representatives in the normal schools, and
in case vacancies exist in the representation to which any
assembly district is entitled, such vacancies may be filled
by the president and secretary of the board of regents.