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 40
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
electors of such county at a special election to be held at a time to be designated as provided by law; and,
"Whereas, upon the presentation of said petition, it becomes the duty, imposed by law on said board of county commissioners, to cause the prop- osition therein expressed to be submitted to the legal voters of said coun- ty as therein prayed for,
"Now, therefore, it is resolved by the board of county commissioners of said Waseca county, that a special election be held in said county on the 10th day of March, A. D. 1896, between the hours of 9 o'clock a. m. and 5 o'clock p. m., on said day, for the purpose of submitting to the legal voters of said county the proposition expressed in said petition."
The proposition was submitted on town-meeting day so that no extra expense was incurred in voting upon the proposition.
CROPS AND WEATHER.
The year was blessed with as fine weather as was ever known in the county, and the crops were magnificent. The wheat vield was more than the average, and the quality was number one, but the price was the lowest ever known in the history of Minne- sota. On Dec. 27, 1895, No. 1 wheat sold at 44 cents. The highest price paid during the month was 47 cents for No. 1. The fall weather was very fine, Indian summer continuing until Nov. 18, when there was quite a snow storm, followed by colder weather. The year, as a whole, was free from excitement in this county.
SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION.
After considerable discussion through the local papers, a sav- ings and loan, or building, association was organized April 26. 1895. Its first directors were Dr. D. S. Cummings, D. McLough- lin, E. A. White, E. C. Trowbridge, Dr. F. A. Swartwood, W. E. Scott. S. Swenson. A. D. Goodman and James E. Child. The offi- cers were Dr. F. A. Swartwood, president ; E. C. Trowbridge, vice- president ; A. D. Goodman, treasurer; and Wm. 1. Swift, secre- tary. The association proved to be of great benefit to the people of the city, and is still doing a good business.
CALLED HOME IN 1895.
Mrs. John Brown, of Waseca, who died Feb. 21, was born at Point's Pass, county of Down, Ireland, in 1812. She was married to John Brown in 1830, and soon afterwards they came to mer- iva and settled in the state of New York, where they remained
467
CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
until about 1836, when they came as far west as Walworth county in the then territory of Wisconsin. They remained there until 1870, when they came to Waseca county. Mrs. Brown was the mother of eleven children, four of whom survive her. Her husband died some five years before.
Mr. Peter McElroy, roadmaster of the entire M. & St. L. rail- way system, died at his home in Waseca, May 17, 1895, of stomach trouble, aged about sixty-eight years. He came to this country from Ireland when a boy, and, for many years, lived in Montreal. He had been a resident of Minnesota for about fourteen years.
Mr. Wm. Taylor, one of the early settlers of Blooming Grove, died in Waseca, May 17, 1895. On Saturday morning he was in his usual health. In the afternoon he was taken with pneumonia from which he never got better. He was born in Rothwell, Eng- land, Nov. 17, 1819. He was married and came to America in 1841: returned to England in 1843, and again came to America in 1846, settling in New Orleans. In 1850 he moved to Missouri, going thence to Illinois in a short time, where he lived nntil 1857, when he came with his family to Waseca county and bought a farm in Blooming Grove. Some years prior to his death he sold his farm and became a resident of Waseca. Seven sons survive him.
A very sad death occurred April 23 in Waseca. The Herald gave the following account of it :
"Last week was one of sadness for many of our people. First came the death of Mr. Peter McElroy, well known and highly respected, and next Mr. Wm. Taylor, a long time settler whose friends were numerous, and, finally, Mr. J. R. Davison, one of the early and prominent settlers of the state and county. Mr. Davison had started on foot to attend Mr. Taylor's funeral, Friday afternoon, when, in crossing the railroad track, near Mr. Wyman's place, he was struck by an engine. This was about 2 o'clock p. m., and, although the injuries appeared to be slight, he never recovered, dying about 6 o'clock the same evening, at the residence of Mr. S. F. Wyman, his son-in-law, of this city. Mr. Davison was an intelligent, useful citizen, and highly esteemed for his many good quali- ties. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1810, and was married to Miss Eunice Jenks in 1833. In 1848 he left the land of his nativity and moved to Maine, but having started westward he went to the new state of Indiana in 1850. That locality not proving a healthful one, he emigrated to Minnesota, leaving a newly-made grave in each of these temporary homes. He settled near Morristown in 1856; but eight years later crossed the county line and built the "Traveler's Home" in Blooming
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
Grove. He was well known to the traveling public till the infirmities of age came on. He moved with his wife in 1884 to Waseca to spend the remaining days in the home of their daughter, Mrs. Wyman. His wife died in 1885. One son and four daughters are still living to treasure his memory."
About the first of November, 1895, Louis W. Krassin died at Minneapolis of strangulated hernia. He was one of the early settlers of Waseca county. At the breaking out of the Sioux Indian massaere, he enlisted as a member of Capt. Austin's eom- pany of mounted rangers and participated in the whole of the Indian campaign. He was injured while in the service and never fully recovered-finally dying of it. He left a large family of young men and women surviving him. At the time of his death he resided at Montevideo.
Mr. Asa Franeis, better known as "Doc" Francis, one of the early settlers of Minnesota and of this county, was born May 6, 1800, at Goshen, Conn. At nine years of age he left his home and moved to central New York, and cared for himself ever after. At the age of seventeen, he drove a wagon and peddled tinware in New York State, continning this until 1835, when he settled on a stoek farm in the Black River country, where he remained until the spring of 1856, when he moved to the territory of Min- nesota. He was married in 1828 to Miss Eliza Jones in New York. Three children were born, two of whom died in infaney -the youngest, a son, Marshall, lost his life in the War of the Rebellion in 1863. Mr. Francis' wife died in 1846. He married Electra Post in 1847, and she died in 1851 in New York, Hon. Orin W. Francis being the only child of this marriage. In 1852 he married Hannah Bailey in New York State, two children being born, one dying in infaney, the other, Lyman E .. now de- ceased, being remembered as a prominent lawyer at Hillsboro. N. D. Dr. Francis first settled in Rice county, in this state. in 1856, and two or three years after came to Waseca connty. taking a farm in Byron, where he resided until 1879. when he removed to North Dakota and took a homestead in Cass county, where he resided until 1886. That year he and his wife removed to Fargo, where they made their home until the time of his death. It appears that abont a year prior to his death he had the grippe from which he never fully recovered. IIe was up and about, however, until the Tuesday before his death, which
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
occurred December 2, 1895, at the age of ninety-five years and six months, less four days. His wife survived him, at the age of eighty years, having been his companion for some forty-three years.
Mr. Charles Domy, of Woodville, another old settler, about ninety years of age, passed over the river Jordan, Dec. 17, 1895, honored and respected by all his acquaintances. He was of French parentage and was a native of Canada.
Mr. Jerome Madden, of Waseca, whose early life is noted else- where, died this year, Nov. 18.
CHAPTER LXV, 1896.
PROCEEDINGS OF COUNTY BOARD-THE VOTE ON COURTHOUSE -- CONTRACT FOR BUILDING COURTHOUSE LET-WASECA CREAMERY-TERRIBLE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF SOL. MID- DAUGH-MASONIC HALL AT ALMA CITY BURNED-"EACO" MILL BURNED-CREAMERIES ESTABLISHED-DIED: JENNIE GASINK, JULIENNE MINSKE, HANNAH BUCKMAN, JOHN PETER- SON, JUSTINA KRASSIN, JOHN JORDAN, P. H. SPILLANE, MARY DONOVAN-THE ELECTION.
The legislative branch of the county government met in annual session Jan. 7 and organized by electing Hon. P. C. Bailey to preside. The county printing was let as follows: The tax list to the Herald, the financial statement and the report of board of equalization to the Radical, and the proceedings of the county commissioners to the Argus-all at legal rates.
At this session fifty dollars was appropriated to the town of Alton for repairing the Lamb bridge.
PROPOSITION TO BUILD COURTHOUSE.
The following figures show the vote of March 12, 1896, upon the proposition to build a new courthouse at Waseca.
Yes.
No.
New Richland, town.
22
64
New Richland, village.
42
65
Byron
28
51
Vivian
54
24
Otisco
33
115
Wilton
48
48
Freedom
28
107
Woodville
77 20
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
Waseca, First ward.
229
8
Waseca, Second ward.
178
9
Waseca, Third ward.
160
8
St. Mary
46
65
Alton
11
114
Blooming Grove.
34
45
Iosco
33
92
Janesville, First precinct
101
31
Janesville, Second precinct
22
62
Totals
1,146
937
Majority
209
At the meeting of the county board April 23, after a very lengthy and laborious examination of the eleven plans sub- mitted, the commissioners accepted the plan submitted by archi- teets Orff & Joralemon, of Minneapolis, the cost of the building not to exceed $35,000. It is 68x911/2 feet in size, two stories high with a stone basement. It fronts on Second street, is built of St. Louis mottled brick, and is heated by steam. The first floor is fire-proof. The tower and dome are one hundred feet high and furnish a fine look-out over the city and surrounding coun- try.
After ordering the publication of advertisements for bids for constructing the proposed building, the board adjourned.
At the May meeting, the board proceeded to open the pro- posals for erecting the new courthouse. The bids, twenty-one in number, ranged from $48,000, made by Keefe Bros., of Waseca, to $34,765.96, made by J. D. Carroll, of St. Paul Park; the lat- ter bid was accepted.
The following appropriations were made to towns: To Free- dom, $75 for stone culvert on county line road on section 7, and $25 for grading road on slough between sections 27 and 34; to Vivian, $40 to be used for building bridge between sections 21 and 28, $20 for a bridge on road between sections 22 and 27. and $40 for bridge on road between sections 1 and 2; to Iosco, $50 to be appropriated for grading road on section 10; to Alton, $100 for a stone culvert between sections 9 and 10.
At the board meeting of May 18, 1896, the contract for furnish- ing the heating apparatus for the new courthouse was awarded to Pond, Hasey & Co., of Minneapolis, for $2,150. W. F. Porter & Co., of St. Paul, also had in a bid at $2,325.
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
In the afternoon the board ordered the purchase of sixty feet front of the Priest land, adjoining the courthouse grounds, and appropriated $2,500 to be paid upon receipt of proper convey- ance of land.
The following appropriations were made from the road and bridge fund : Town of New Richland, $30 for two bridges and ap- proaches on road between sections 17 and 18; $30 for grading road between section 2 in New Richland and section 35 in Otisco; and $40 for two bridges between sections 15 and 22 in New Rich- land; to town of Otisco, $35 for a bridge and grading on sec- tion 10; $45 for repairing the Walstrom bridge, and $20 for re- pairing bridge on section 9.
At the September meeting, the following appropriations were made from the road and bridge fund: Town of Byron $25; town of Janesville $100; town of St. Mary $50.
The erection of the courthouse progressed slowly during the year 1896. The contractor finally failed entirely, and the Amer- ican Surcty Company, his bondsmen, were compelled to take charge of the building and complete it. Great credit is due to the board of county commissioners and to Hon. A. J. Lohren, then county auditor, for this very complete edifice. It is of much eredit to the county. The American Surety Company and Hon. S. P. Child, its state agent, are also entitled to credit for honestly carrying out the contract.
THE WASECA CREAMERY
got its start the first of this year. A joint meeting of farmers and business men was held the Saturday before New Year's day and a subscription for stock started. John Diedrich headed the list with fifty shares, or $500. Committees were appointed to solicit stock and also to ascertain the number of eows that would be pledged to the enterprise. At the adjourned meeting held Jan. 3, there was a large attendance and the following offi- eers were then chosen for the first year: Thomas Bowe, presi- dent; W. II. Wheeler, vice-president ; James Conway, secretary : Win. Mittelsteadt, treasurer; Cornelius MeGonagle, Fred. Mah- ler, and D. A. Erwin, directors. The officers were also elected directors.
On motion of John Diedrich, the chair was authorized to ap-
473
CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
point a committee on articles of incorporation and by-laws, and the chairman appointed Messrs. John Diedrich, W. H. Wheeler, James Conway, Wm. Mittelsteadt, C. McGonagle, Fred Mahler, and D. A. Erwin as such committee.
The meeting then adjourned to meet at the same place Thurs- day, Jan. 9, 1896, at 1 o'clock p. m.
The committee on articles of incorporation and by-laws met on Monday and drafted articles and by-laws for the association.
Forty-six farmers subscribed for stock, the total amounting to $3,080. Members of the association met again Jan. 9, selected a site for the building, adopted articles of incorporation, and made arrangements to perfect the organization and to erect a creamery building. The enterprise proved to be an entire success, and the association is doing good work to-day. The lib- eral business men of Waseca subscribed to the enterprise $365.
TERRIBLE SUFFERING AND DEATH.
Solomon Middaugh, one of the early settlers of Meriden and Waseca, about 1875, moved with his family to Jackson county, Minn. On Jan. 15, 1896, in returning from Estherville to his home, his team ran away, throwing him out and breaking both his legs. His brother, R. M. Middaugh, of Wascca, went to his brother's assistance and wrote the following letter describing the closing scenes of the sufferer's life :
Petersburg, Jackson Co., Minn., Jan. 27, 1896. To the Editors of the Waseca County Herald:
It is evening and the doctor has just left us giving no hope that dear brother Sol. will live through the night. While I am writing this he is resting quietly, but has passed a very hard afternoon. Ah! but how he has suffered ever since the awful Monday night, just two weeks ago, when, lying upon the prairie, he vainly called for help that did not come.
Poor fellow! He lies helpless upon a high bed, with both legs strapped to the ceiling and walls to keep them in place.
How he has lived through it all is a mystery. The particulars of the sad accident, so far as I can learn, are these: He was coming home from Estherville with a horse team attached to a lumber wagon loaded with some lumber and tin roofing. When about one mile from home the ring on one of the singletrees broke, letting the tongue down. The horses ran, striking the wagon tongue against a stone which threw the wagon high in air, and this was the last poor Sol. knew until he found himself on the prairie, some distance from the road, with both legs
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
broken close below the knees. He must have fallen with both legs into a wagon wheel. The track showed that one of the wheels must have been clogged for some distance, as it dragged on the ground.
When he recovered his senses he crawled some twenty rods, leaving a trail of blood all the way. Pools of blood in places show that he must have stopped to rest several times. At last, when near the road, his strength gave out, and he had to give up. He gathered his broken legs under him as best he could, and there remained all the long night calling for help. About 8 o'clock the next morning he was found, more dead than alive, by some school children on their way to school.
The team did not go home, but ran across the fields through a wire fence, and, when found the next morning, one horse was still attached to the front axle, with only one wheel on, and some of the fence wire hanging to it. Both horses were cut some, but not seriously. The wagon was a total wreck, scattered in every direction.
Many wonder why Sol. did not bleed to death during the night, and the only answer is that his leg froze and this stopped the flow of blood. Although he had on warm felt boots, they were frozen solid and had to he cut open to get them off.
These are the disconnected facts concerning my brother Sol., and, if you can fix them up, they may be of interest to his many friends in Waseca county.
Later .- Poor Sol. passed away this (Tuesday) morning at 2 o'clock.
Yours in sorrow,
R. M. MIDDAUGH.
LODGE ROOM AND RECORDS BURNED.
On the night of May 23, 1896, the Masonic lodge room, at Alma City, was burned. The lodge occupied rooms over Daniel J. Bickford's blacksmith and wagon shop. The cause of the fire is unknown to the public. It seems that there was lodge meeting that night until after 10 o'clock : within two hours after- ward the whole building was in ashes. Mr. Bickford lost nearly all his tools and stock on hand, and the hall and all its contents, including the records, were consumed. The records of the lodge were the oldest in the county, being "Wilton Lodge No. 24," organized in 1859. Most of the older Masons in the county took their first Masonic lessons in that lodge while it was located at Wilton. Many of the "boys in blue" were initiated into the mysteries of the order preparatory to taking their chances on the Southern battle fields. After the old village of Wilton had shrunk out of sight, as it were, the archives of the lodge, retaining the old name and number, were removed to Alma City.
"EACO" MILLS, WASECA, MINNESOTA.
475
CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
BURNING OF THE "EACO" MILL.
At about twenty minutes after 3 o'clock Tuesday morning, Aug. 25, 1896, the fire alarm and mill whistle aroused our eiti- zens and it was soon discovered that the old and long-vacant coffin factory, on the west side of the M. & St. L. railroad track, nearly opposite the flour mill of Everett, Aughenbaugh & Co., was on fire. It made a terribly hot fire, but soon burned to the ground, and the people were just congratulating one another that the fire was no worse, when the cry went forth that the flour and bran house on the south of the mill was on fire.
Undoubtedly the heat upon the sheet iron covering had set the woodwork inside on fire. Every effort was made by the fire department to keep down the flames, but the high wind and the bursting of a watermain in the south part of the city at that time, reducing the pressure, combined to aid the flames which were carried directly into the windows of the mill. It was short work for the consuming element to destroy one of the best mills in the state, the accumulation of years of industry, economy, and safe business management. Two cars loaded with flour were also consumed. The total loss of the Eaco Milling Company was estimated at $70,000, and the property of the mill was insured for $45,000. The old eoffin factory was of little value and had been, for a long time, the tramps' paradise. There is no doubt that the fire was either the work of incendiarism or the careless- ness of tramps. The mills were at once rebuilt on a more elaborate plan than before, and are, at this day, doing the best of work.
SEVERAL CREAMERIES. . .
Several farmers' co-operative ereameries were established in the county this year. In addition to the Waseca creamery, the following are noted :
In the month of January, the farmers of St. Mary and adjoin- ing towns organized a co-operative creamery association by adopting articles of incorporation and subseribing stock to the amount of $3,500. The following officers were chosen: Patrick Campion, president; James Byron, secretary; M. W. Keeley, treasurer; M. Gallagher, manager; George Kahnke, Steven Priebe, Michael Sheeran, and Michael McGonagle, Jr., directors.
The last of January, the farmers of Otiseo and vicinity, organ-
476
CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
ized a creamery association and elected as its first officers, Hon. H. M. Buek, president; Joseph Fromlath, treasurer; R. Jacoby, secretary ; W. R. Brisbane, Louis Anderson, Amil Weekwerth, Chas. J. Johnson, John A. Johnson, board of directors. The amount of capital stoek was fixed at $3,000.
The Janesville creamery had been running a year, and the Argus reported it as follows: "Total number of pounds of milk. received, 1,077,905; pounds of butter fat, 41,839; pounds of but- ter made and sold, 48,923; average price per pound, twenty eents plus a fraction. The officers for the ensuing year are P. (. Ayers, president ; J. H. Murphy, vice-president; James Sullivan, seere- tary ; . J. W. Jennison, treasurer; Ed. Hayden, A. Gunn, HI. Hu- gunin, H. O. Thrall, and the officers named, constitute the board of directors.
DEATHS OF 1896 AS NOTED.
Mrs. Jennie Gasink, about eighty-three years of age, mother of Albert, John, and Gradus Gasink, died Jan. 28, of old age and the grippe. She came to this country from Holland in 1847, and settled first in Milwaukee, Wis. She and her husband moved to Sheboygan, the same state, in 1853, and came to Wa- seea in 1869, where she has since resided. IIer husband died some nine years before. She left surviving her seven ehildren and a large number of grandchildren.
Mrs. Hannah Buckman, wife of Augustus Buckman, died Feb. 26, at Waseca. She was born in Crown Point, state of New York, March 20, 1840. She was married in December, 1863, and eame to Minnesota in 1869. She became the mother of seven children, five of whom survive her. She was first taken with pleurisy, and typhoid pneumonia followed. She had passed the eritieal point in her illness, it was thought, and she appeared much bet- ter. But later she was taken with congestion of the stomach and rapidly sank into the sleep of death. Mrs. Buckman was a kind-hearted, good neighbor, ever ready to share her seanty fare with those in need. She was one of God's noble workers who somehow so often fail to receive a fair share of the comforts of the life which they work so hard to produce. Hers had been a life of toil and care on behalf of her children, and may her
477
CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
memory and industrious example be to them a monitor and guide through life.
Nr. John Peterson, of Otisco, one of the very early settlers of the county, died Aug. 27, 1896, of cancer of the liver. He was born in Sweden, Feb. 6, 1828. He came to America, stopping at Chicago, in 1853. He worked in Chicago six months, going thence to La Fayette, Indiana, where he worked until he came to Minne- sota via Red Wing, in 1857. He at first secured 120 acres of land on section 28, Otisco, and afterwards bought 40 acres more. Soon after his settlement here he married Miss Carolina Hokan- son, of the same town. They had nine children. Mrs. Peterson came from Sweden with her parents in 1858. Mr. Peterson had the misfortune to lose one arm in a threshing machine, in Octo- ber, 1875.
Mrs. Justina Krassin, widow of Martin Krassin, after long years of poor health, passed peacefully away, Aug. 31, 1896, aged sixty-one years. She was born in Germany, in 1835, mar- ried Martin Krassin in 1851, and came with him to America in the year 1854. She reared a family of six children, all of whom are living except Angust C., who died Aug. 9, 1891.
Another old settler departed this life, Sept. 1, 1896. The Herald noted his departure as follows:
Mr. John Jordan, a single man, of St. Mary, was found dead in his bed on Wednesday morning. He arose about 4 o'clock and was about the house for a short time, and then retired to his room where he was soon after found dead. Mr. Jordan was born in Ireland, June 4, 1835, and came to America with his family in 1849. He first landed in New Brunswick, afterwards lived in Massachusetts, and came to Minnesota in 1856, settling on section 16, in St. Mary, where he had since resided. He remained single, having upon his farm a renter family at the time of his death. Mr. Jordan was a jolly, easy-going, pleasant man, with numerous friends. It is supposed that he died of heart disease.
Patrick H. Spillane, Esq., of Woodville, after a severe illness, died December 19, 1896, at the age of fifty-five years. He was a native of Framore, Ireland; came to America at the age of ten years, lived near Waupun, Wis., enlisted in Company D, Third Wisconsin infantry, in February, 1864, marched with Sherman to the sea, was engaged in the battle of Averysboro, N. C., where he was shot through the body, just above the hips, and from which he never fully recovered. He married Miss Charlotte
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