USA > Minnesota > Waseca County > Child's history of Waseca County, Minnesota : from its first settlement in 1854 to the close of the year 1904, a record of fifty years : the story of the pioneers > Part 26
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Hail! All hail !! the great Centennial year Of the great Republic-A year of jubilee.
The weather in Minnesota was magnificent. At twelve o'clock midnight, all over the land, the Centennial year was welcomed by the ringing of bells. the firing of guns, music of all kinds, especially of the brass band sort. In every village and hamlet there was great public rejoicing.
To signalize the great event, preparations had been made on an extensive scale during several preceding years for a World's Exposition, at the historie city of Pennsylvania. The great fair opened on the 10th of May, and closed on the 10th of November. On the Fourth of July there was held, in that city, the most magnificent and extensive celebration ever held in the Union. The story of the Exposition is as entrancing as a splendid ro- mance, and it was in all respects a fitting and worthy commem- oration of the one hundredth anniversary of the adoption of the great Declaration of Independence.
Should one ask, what meant the midnight ringing of bells.
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the shrill notes of the fife, the thunder of the big bass drums, the. shrill notes of Young America, the sunrise salute of thundering cannon and the grand display of flags and bunting, the answer is, it is the great anniversary of the birth of the American na- tion-the most memorable event, save that of the birth of Christianity, in all the history of mankind.
In their influences upon the future destinies of mankind, the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence, enunciated by the Fathers, in 1776, stand forth in true statesmanship mountain- high beside the selfish doctrines of plutocracy and kingcraft.
The Fourth of July, 1776, was the birthday of a great nation and of grand doctrines. The old doctrines of the divine right of kingeraft, bolstered up and defended by a hireling priestcraft, received a rude shock that day.
The great truth that all men are created with equal rights- that by the great God of the universe, they are endowed with cer- tain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pur- suit of happiness-that to secure these rights, governments are established among men-that government derives all of its just powers from the consent of the governed-that whenever any government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the governed, all the people, to alter or abolish it and institute such government as will secure these rights and the safety and happiness of all the people-this great truth should be imperish- able.
No such doctrine, in its entirety, was ever before enunciated. Never before 1776 did men dare to make it and stand for it. Men before had preached the doctrine of civil and religious lib- erty in isolated instances, and had suffered martyrdom; but this tras the first great uprising for equal rights and privileges. And our young men and women should study these doctrines and get clear ideas of the nature and the character of this sublime event in the history of our country and in the history of the world- for America is a great world power.
The doctrine upon which this government is founded should cover the whole earth. Everywhere it should be established that all government should of right be by the people and for the people, and not the people for the government. This is the grand idea of our nation-liberty regulated by laws enacted by
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citizen sovereignty-equal rights and privileges for each guar- anteed by all.
Let us hope that this nation of American freemen shall exist while time shall last, and that the hallowed principles of the Dec- laration of Independence may spread abroad throughout all the world and prove a blessing to all mankind. Let every American remember that it is "righteousness that exalteth a nation" and that "injustice will destroy any people."
"Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
The queen of the world, the child of the skies."
THE WINTER OF 1875-6.
As a rule, the winter of 1875-6 was pleasant in Minnesota. There was quite a severe snow storm Jan. 28, 1876, followed by pleasant weather until February 29, when there came a heavy fall of snow followed by cold weather until the last of March. The snow did not melt away until the last days of March, when it went suddenly, cansing floods and washouts in many parts of the country. April was a favorable month and seeding was done at the usual time.
DEATH OF JOHN HOFFER.
Saturday, Jan. 6, 1876, Mr. John Hoffer, residing near Alnia City, met with a fatal accident near Capt. Dickerson's mill on the Agency road, not far from Mankato. He was returning home from Mankato with a load of lumber and was driving a pair of spirited young horses. They became frightened by an attempt of other men and teams to pass them on the road and ran a short distance, Mr. Hoffer falling off, and the horses continuing on with the forward part of the wagon. They were finally caught without being much injured. Mr. Hoffer was found unconscious and was carried into Mr. Marble's house. He was apparently in a dying condition, with blood running from his mouth, nose and ears. Doctors were called, but the unfortunate man remained unconscious until his death about thirty-six hours after the accident. The physicians said that he had sustained a fracture of the skull at the base. It was claimed that the racing was the result of too much whisky.
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DEATH OF MRS. WM. RODDLE.
Mrs. Wm. Roddle, one of the pioneer women of our county and mother of Hon. W. H. Roddle, late secretary of state of South Dakota, died Jan. 21, 1876, of congestion of the lungs. She was sick only a short time. She was the mother of Mrs. G. W. Wat- kins, Mrs. Buel Welch, Mrs. Stephen R. Child, Hon. W. H. and Benjamin Roddle, and Mrs. C. E. Root, who died some years ago. She was a good neighbor and an exemplary woman.
MISCELLANEOUS HAPPENINGS OF THE YEAR.
Mr. Alvah Kinney, of Woodville, Feb. 20, 1876, met with a sad accident near Elysian. He was thrown from his wagon by a sud- den jolt, and in his fall broke both bones of his right leg between the knee and the ankle. One of the bones protruded through the flesh when he was brought home.
The residence of B. S. Lewis, Esq., now occupied by Cashier J. B. Sullivan, was built during the Centennial year by Mr. Silas Barnard, since deceased.
The Sons of Temperance, one of the oldest total abstinence societies in the United States, organized a division in Waseca, March 3, 1876. It is claimed that this is the oldest temperance society of this country, the first Division having been organized as early as Sept. 29, 1842, in the city of New York. That it has accomplished a grand work in the uplifting of humanity, is ad- mitted by all. Several Divisions were organized in this county by Dr. M. T. Anderson, a very earnest advocate of total absti- nence.
DEATH OF MRS. SETH W. LONG.
The following is from the Wascca Radical of March 15, 1876: "The citizens of this place were surprised and shocked last Wednesday to hear of the death of Mrs. Sarah Long, wife of Sheriff Long, of this city, who died in Janesville, on Wednesday morning, March 8, 1876, of conges- tion of the lungs, after a few days of illness. The funeral services were held at the Episcopal chapel, in Waseca, last Friday; Rev. Mr. Young, of Mankato, officiating, and the remains were buried in the family lot at Wilton. She was fifty-four years of age last June. She came to Okaman with her husband in 1856, and had an extensive acquaintance in this county. Deceased was a member of the Episcopal church, and was held in high esteem by all her acquaintances. She leaves a large family
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to mourn her death. At the time of her sickness and death, she was visiting her daughter, Mrs. D. J. Dodge, of Janesville."
SHOOTING OF YOUNG FULLER.
The following account is from a Waseca paper of March 29, 1876 :
"A sad and lamentable affair occurred in the town of Janesville, last Friday evening, March 24. Mr. James Ash, an old resident of that town, highly respected, was married last Thursday. The married cou- ple went to St. Peter that evening where they sent the night. The next day they returned to his farm in Janesville. Just after the couple retired for the night, some of the boys and young men of the neighbor- hood opened the charivari by firing guns, drumming on tin pans, jingling bells, &c. He took down his shot gun and fired into the crowd. The shot struck a boy about fourteen or fifteen years of age, a son of Or- iando Fuller, some of the shot striking him in the breast and penetrating into the lungs, and others striking him in the abdomen."
Fortunately the wounds did not prove to be mortal and the lad soon after recovered. The evils of the barbarous charivari were made prominent in this case, as several protracted law suits grew out of the affair.
DEATH OF REV. ELIJAH STORRS SMITH.
Elder Smith, as he was familiarly called, was a pioneer clergy- man of Wilton. He was a native of Rutland county, Vermont. and was born June 18, 1805. IIe was licensed to preach the gospel at the age of twenty-eight . Ile married Roxana Laws in 1829. For twenty years he was pastor of the Baptist church at Elba, Genesee county, N. Y. He then removed to Indiana where he spent nearly three years, thence to Illinois, where he preaebed until 1859, when he came west to Wilton as a home missionary. He was a very faithful and patient clergyman. ITe and his good wife participated in all the hardships and deprivations of frontier life with Christian cheerfulness. They had no children born to them, but had two adopted daughters. One of them, Mary, be- came the wife of Dr. York, of Kansas, who was murdered by the notorious Bender family of that state. Mr. Smith died of par- alysis, April 7, 1876, in his seventy-first year, and his remains lie buried in the Wilton cemetery of which he took especial care for several years prior to his death.
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DROWNING OF BURT H. TAYLOR.
One of the truly sad events in the history of Waseca was the drowning of Burt H. Taylor, April 15, 1876. On that date, at the northwest shore of Loon Lake, within the city limits of Waseca, a son of Mr. Glidden, a lad ten or twelve years of age, took a small skiff and ventured out into an open space of water between two fields of ice. While he was paddling around, all unconscious of the dangers awaiting him, the wind from the west drove down some floating ice, which closed in between the boat and the shore. The ice rapidly accumulated and the boy found it impossible to make his way out. He became frightened and hollooed for assist- ance. To add to his alarm the boat leaked some, and he had nothing but his cap with which to throw out the water. Mrs. Glidden soon discovered the perilous condition that her boy was in, and sup- posing the boat would be crushed by the ice and her son would be drowned, became very much alarmed and excited and cried piteously for help to rescue her boy.
Young Taylor, with the generosity and courage for which he was noted, stripped off all but his underclothing, plunged into the ice-cold water of the lake and swam to the rescue of the boy. A number of persons intently watched him as, with strong arms and noble spirit, he reached the floating ice and commenced the perilous effort of breaking through it and gaining the boat. He successfully broke through the first barrier of ice, and it seemed for a time that he would really accomplish his object. He then struggled heroically through the ice and slush which was tossed madly about him by the fierce wind until within thirty feet of the boat.
What a grand effort! Could he succeed ? It seemed so, but no! He was chilled to the vitals, or injured by the floating ice cakes, or taken with cramp! He sank to a watery grave.
The citizens were soon aroused, and the utmost excitement pre- vailed. Morris Landers, with his team and wagon, took Daniel Murphy, Will Blowers, and others and went around on the south side of the lake, taking with them a boat. As soon as they reach- ed the west side of the lake, where it was clear of ice, they launch- 'ed the boat and went to the rescue of the boy who was still fast in the ice. In the mean time, Emil Sandretzky and Dr. McIntosh
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came around on the north side of the lake with another boat, and and made their way through the ice, both boats reaching the boy about the same time. The ice, driven by the strong wind, imme- diately closed in about the boats, and it required the united strength of all on board to break their way out of the ice-gorge against the wind.
Having set the scared and chilled boy on shore, the boats then returned, with poles and grappling irons, to search for the body of young Taylor. The search was kept up until a late hour Sat- urday night, but owing to the high wind and the weeds and grass which cover the bottom of the lake in that vicinity, the body was not found. The search was continued all day Sunday, but with- out avail. There was more or less search for several days, but the body was not discovered until May 7, following, when Mr. A. G. Bush, brother-in-law, of young Taylor, found the remains near the west shore of the lake, southwesterly from the place of the accident. Mr. Taylor was a Master Mason and his remains were interred with Masonic honors.
A LIST OF DEATHS.
Mrs. Charles Eckenbeck, one of the earliest settlers of Waseca, died on the 19th of April, 1876, at the age of forty-five years, of cancer of the bowels. She was a native of Germany, but had re- sided in America for many years. She was mother of Mr. S. C. Eckenbeck, well known to all the early settlers and now in the milling business at Appleton, Minn.
Mr. Christian Krassin, of St. Mary, aged sixty years, died on the 23d day of April, 1876. He was born in Prussia and came to America about the year 1852. He settled first in Wisconsin, but came to this county in 1856 and opened a farm in St. Mary township. Some four years prior to his death, he was injured severely by a ferocious bull. After this accident he never saw a well day. He was a whole-souled, industrious and prosperous farmer, a quiet citizen, a kind husband and father, and a true friend.
Mr. Robert Murphy, of Alton, was accidentally killed at Janes- ville, by a runaway team of horses, May 26. 1876.
Mrs. Christensen, wife of Nels Christensen, residing in the eastern part of New Richland township, met with a fatal acei-
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dent on Saturday, May 13, 1876. She had been down to Le Sueur river washing some clothing, and while passing a colt, on her way to the house, was kieked by the brute in the stomach and abdomen so severely that, after lingering for several days in in- tense pain, she died on the 25th of the same month. She left a large family of children.
July 11, 1876, Mrs. Jane Soule died at the residence of her son, William, in Morristown. Mrs. Soule, a widow with eight ehil- dren, came to Minnesota in 1855 and settled in Morristown near our county line. She was the mother of Mr. George Soule, for a long time a resident of this county. She was one of God's noble mothers in Israel.
A sad and heart-rending death occurred at the home of George Murray, of Iosco, July 20, 1876. A daughter of Mr. Mur- ray, five or six years old, was bitten by a rattlesnake on one of her feet, Sunday evening, July 16, near the house of Richard Dreever. The snake was killed and had six or seven rattles. The child lingered until the 20th, suffering great pain, when death came to her relief.
John Dunn, of Woodville, brother of J. M. Dunn and one of the early settlers, died July 21, 1876 of inflammation of the mem- branous lining of the skull near its base. His suffering was in- tense. He was about twenty-four years of age, and highly re- speeted.
Hon. Henry Goodspeed died of consumption October 19, 1876, aged forty-five years. (See biographieal department.)
SOME MARRIAGES.
There was a double wedding July 3. 1876, at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Noah Lincoln, of Wilton, the ceremony being per- formed by Judge Canfield. The high contracting parties were Mr. A. D. Seullin and Miss Elva Lincoln and Mr. I. F. Scullin and Miss Louise Lincoln. Both gentlemen were then residents of Oakland, Freeborn county.
Mr. S. C. Eckenbeck and Miss H. E. Parmelee were married July 8, 1876, by Rev. Alfred Cressy.
The last marriage of note of the year was that of Mr. Clarence T. Ward, since deceased, to Miss Annie E. Baldwin, then of Red- wood Falls, Minn. The bride was the well-known daughter of
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Judge H. D. Baldwin, one of the prominent and early settlers of the county ; the groom was the eldest son of Hon. W. G. Ward, late of this city. Clarence died some years ago, but his widow still resides at Redwood Falls.
A HOT ELECTION.
The Waseca village election of 1876 oceurred May 2, and was one of the most exciting ever held in the place. A strife had arisen between Hon. W. G. Ward on one side and B. S. Lewis, Esq .. on the other. Each had his friends and each had pluck. Mr. Lewis had control of a paper then published in Waseea, call- ed the "Leader." To offset the Leader's influence or supposed influence, Senator Ward empolyed the "Minnesota Radical" to publish a large edition of extras which he sent to every voter in the village. The language used on both sides was more em- phatie than elegant, and out of that contest grew a strenuously conducted libel suit by Mr. Lewis against Mr. Ward. It result- ed in a judgment of one dollar damages and costs of suit. It was some years before harmonious relations were re-established between the contending faetions.
GOPHER DAY IN BLOOMING GROVE.
For a number of years, the voters of Blooming Grove, at their annual town meeting voted to appropriate $25 a year for the killing of gophers. June 26, 1876, was gopher day, and $23.34 was distributed among the "gopher boys" that day. Samuel Remund received the highest award, $4.75, and Charles Wolf the lowest, 30 eents. The boys produced satisfactory evidence of having killed 1,548 striped gophers and 171 pocket gophers.
THE CENTENNIAL FOURTH OF JULY.
The fourth of July, 1876, was celebrated in almost every vil- lage and hamlet in the United States, and many of the citizens of this county met at Waseca to observe the day. Rev. Loring offered prayer, Mrs. Willsey read the Declaration of Indepen- dener, IIon. Peter MeGovern delivered the oration, and IIon. Win. Brisbane was county historian of the day. After referring to the general history of the country, Mr. Brisbane spoke as fol- lows of the
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COUNTY OF WASECA.
"On the second day of February, 1855, about 3 o'clock p. m., a weary, halfstarved party reached the recently erected shanty of Mr. Sutlief, about ten miles south of the now thriving young city of Waseca. Need I tell you how grateful they felt for the cheering warmth of that humble shanty? Hitherto, for several nights, they had spread their straw beds up- on the snow, and you could have followed their trail by the blood in the cattle tracks, for there was a hard crust on the snow at that time which cut the cattle's legs.
How strangely inconsistent is the human mind! That night in the hum- hle shanty the hearts of the little party swelled with gratitude, and they thought they were happy. But, on the morrow, the country presented such a forlorn and desolute appearance that a sort of despondency began to creep over them. The country was covered with snow, and even the trees looked short and stunted. The weather was intensely cold. Nei- ther houses nor barns nor sheds nor fences could be seen anywhere. Like Robinson Crusoe, they were monarchs of all they surveyed. They re- ceived no letters to tell them of absent friends at home, nor newspapers to instruct or while away an hour, for the nearest postoffice was at Mankato. There was no neighbor to drop in and tender a word of com- fort, for their nearest neighbors were at Owatonna, twenty miles away. Such were the surroundings of the oldest settlers in Waseca county, twenty-one years ago last February.
The scripture says that we ought not to take our flight in the winter or on the Sabbath day; yet the oldest settler of the county took his flight in the winter. Perhaps he was not well versed in scripture or else he disregarded its teachings. Be that as it may, he has learned wisdom from experience, and has now become a teacher of. men by publishing a paper of commanding influence in this village. And as everything con- nected with the history of that individual must be interesting, it may not be out of place to mention the difficulties he had to overcome even in getting married. In those early days when the oldest settler made up his mind to take unto himself a wife, he went to consult with the man who could make two into one, viz., Esquire Jenkins, a man of rather ec- centric character. In talking the matter over grave doubts arose whether John Jenkins was really a bona fide justice or not. Here was a rather unlooked-for dilemma. To solve the problem, John started and actually did walk on foot all the way to St. Paul to get Governor Gorman to con- firm him as a legal justice of the peace, and thus empower him to bind in the holy bonds of matrimony the oldest settler of Waseca county."
[The statement that there was doubt about Mr. Jenkins being a qual- ified justice and that he walked to St. Paul is romance .- The Author.]
"But now all is changed. Instead of traveling thirty-five miles on foot to reach a postoffice, we have plenty of them near at hand. Instead of being compelled to send East for a paper and wait four or five weeks af- ter its publication before receiving it, we have three published in the
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county, and the telegraph to inform us instantly of all matters of im- portance. Society here, too, will bear favorable comparison with that of any other part of the country.
It is seventeen years last month since I came to Waseca county, and I have sometimes thought I was as great a fool to start in summer as the oldest settler was to start in winter. There was a track, to be sure, but nothing that could be called a road. Bridges, like angels' visits, were few and far between. I thought the clouds that floated over Min- nesota were rotten and couldn't hold water, for the rain fell in torrents. I was just a month to a day coming three hundred miles.
In those days we had to go seventy miles to market-often wallowing through the mud, often through the snow-compelled at times to camp out when the thermometer ranged ten degrees below zero. I have often thought that it is a blessing that there is to be no resurrection of the brute creation, for if there were, all eternity would be spent in law- suits for assaults and batteries upon the poor, dumb animals that hauled our wheat to Hastings. Then we had little or no time for fall plowing. The year before the railroad was built to Waseca I was nine weeks on the road to market with two teams. And what did we get a bushel for our wheat at Hastings? From forty to fifty cents. If we hired the wheat hauled, we had to pay from twenty-five to thirty cents a bushel, which left us the magnificent sum of twenty to twenty-five cents at home. This is no wild and imaginary statement. I recollect selling to Mr. Hunter four hundred bushels of wheat at thirty cents a bushel. taking it all in "store pay." I have seen the time when a pound of pork would buy only a pound of salt, in Wilton, and when butter brought only six cents a pound, and-will you believe it-the wagons still screamed for grease. We couldn't afford to grease our wagons for it took much grease to bring a little money, and yet it is just as far to New York now as then. Still we grumble, although we get from three to four times as much now for wheat as we got then. It may be asked, "How do we get so much more for our wheat now than then?" The question is easily answered. The power of capital and the skill of the engineer and of the mechanic have annihilated distance and brought New York to our doors. In plain lan- guage, cheap transportation has doubled and trebled the value of our wheat. * *
I think I have alluded to the struggles and contests of rival villages and localities for the location of county seats. Waseca county has had her share of these contests. When the county was set off from Steele. some four or five places contended for the honor of having the county seat, but Wilton finally won the prize-at least every one thought so. But establishing county seats is something like nominating candidates for the presidency. One or two prominent candidates feel quite sure that they will be nominated, but the various factions can not harmonize, and the consequence is some obscure individual steps to the front and wins the prize. It was just so with Wilton. She thought it was all "hunka- adora" with her, so far as the county seat was concerned: but one day
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