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 41
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Lang, in 1867, and the same year eame to this county. The next year he took a homestead in Faribault county, where he re- mained some eight years, and then returned to Waseea county. He was, for several years, prior to his death, justiee of the peace of Woodville, and a prominent member of the G. A. R. post of Waseea. He was honorable and upright in his dealings, and possessed high qualities of good citizenship. His funeral took place with military honors at the Catholic church, Father Trean- or officiating. He left surviving him a widow and five children -three boys and two girls.
Mrs. Mary Donovan, of Woodville, passed to her long rest, Dec. 22, 1896. She was the widow of the late C. Donovan, and had been sick for many months of cancer. She was a native of County Cork, Ireland. She and her husband came to this county from Wisconsin over twenty-five years ago. She left five sons and two daughters to mourn her departure.
THE GENERAL ELECTION.
This year saw the great struggle between plutocracy, or the gold standard advocates, and democraey, or the bimetallists of the county, and plutocracy won by an overwhelming majority. In Waseca county the gold standard won by a majority of six hundred and forty votes. The local candidates received the fol- lowing votes :
Representative, John Wilkinson, rep., 1,940, Keyes Swift, pop- ulist, 1,315; anditor, A. J. Lohren, rep., 1801, John S. Abell, dem., 1,448; treasurer, W. H. Roesler, rep., 1,913, E. R. Krassin, bimet- allist, 1,366; sheriff, Geo. H. Goodspeed, rep., 2,101, P. H. Kene- han, populist, 1,198; register, Chas. San Galli, rep., 1,202, John M. Wollschlaeger, dem., 2,131; judge of probate, Geo. A. Wilson, rep., 2,145, John Madigan, dem., 1,117; attorney, L. D. Rogers. rep., 1,559, P. McGovern, dem., 1,739: elerk of court, Henry Rey- nolds, rep., 2,009, John M. Byron, dem., 1,290; school superin- tendent, C. W. Wagner, rep., 2,227. Dr. J. P. Corry, populist. 1,171. Orson L. Smith, for county surveyor, E. P. Latham, for court commissioner, and Dr. M. J. Taylor, for coroner, were elected without opposition. Joseph Fromlath, of the first com- missioner district, Ilenry F. Lewer, of the third, and Raymond
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Doyle, of the fifth, all democrats, were elected county commis- sioners.
THE WEATHER.
As a rule, the weather was favorable throughout the year. The heaviest rain storm of the season commeneed Nov. 25, and continued three days. The long drouth which had prevailed in the Northwest for two years was broken. The sloughs and low places were filled with water and the high lands were thor- oughly soaked. While November was eold and stormy, the first half of December was mild; but the latter part of the month was stormy, and in the last week of the month a very severe sleet storm visited Southwestern Minnesota, extending into this coun- tv.
CHAPTER LXVI, 1897.
COUNTY PRINTING COUNTY BOARD-CONTRACTOR CARROLL DISCHARGED - COUNTY APPROPRIATIONS - NEW COURT- HOUSE COMPLETED-TORNADOES-WILLIAM HARDING'S 100 YEARS-DIED: J. W. HOSMER, WILLIAM VON SIEN, ESTHER M. YOUNG, J. C. HUNTER, R. F. STEVENS, CORNELIUS McGON- AGLE, THOMAS CAWLEY, C. M. READ, MATTHEW COLEMAN, CHARLES M. SMITH, W. H. IVERS-DECORATION DAY-SHORT CROPS-HOG CHOLERA.
The year was ushered in with a January thaw which lasted about a week and closed with a sleet and snow storm and then colder weather.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK.
The board of county commissioners met in regular session Jan. 5, 1897. Members present, Joseph Fromlath, P. C. Bailey, H. F. Lewer, H. Ewert, Raymond Doyle. The board organized by the election of Mr. Lewer as chairman. The board of audit made a report designating the Citizens State Bank of Waseca and the Peoples Bank as depositories of county funds for the ensuing two years.
The publishers of the newspapers of the county having failed to come to any agreement regarding the county printing, the whole of it was awarded to the Waseca County Herald at five cents a description for publishing the tax list, and one cent for all the other publishing.
John D. Carroll, the courthouse contractor, having failed to carry out his contract on time, the county commissioners met in
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special session Feb. 2, 1897, and resolved "that the said contraet and said modifications therein with the said John D. Carroll is hereby declared forfeited by him, and that the same be and is hereby terminated and ended as to performance thereof by him and that he is hereby required to cease any further work on said courthouse and all charge or control of the construction of the same." On Feb. 6, the board again met and by arrangement with S. P. Child, agent of the American Surety Company, the contract for finishing the courthouse structure was let to C. F. Haglin, of Minneapolis, for $10,000.
The board of commissioners, at their session, May 21, 1897, received proposals for building a steel bridge instead of the old Markham bridge in the town of Alton from the Gillette, Herzog Manufacturing Company, of Minneapolis, the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company, of Milwaukee, the Massillion Bridge Company, of Ohio, the A. D. Wheaton Bridge Company, of Chicago, and the N. M. Stark Bridge Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, ranging from $1,100 to $975. These proposals were all rejected. The members of the board, in company with the bridge builders present, proceeded to the Wilton bridge for the purpose of examining as to the condition of said bridge, and upon the return the board concluded to auction off, to the low- est bidder, the building of two steel bridges in place of the old Wilton and Markham bridges. Thirty-five bids were re- eeived, ranging from $2,000 to $1,299, for building the Wilton bridge. Then eight bids ranging from $2,200 to $2,195 for build- ing the two bridges named were received. The lowest bid was made by the Gillette, Herzog Manufacturing Company, of Minne- apolis. This bid was aeeepted, and it was ordered that the con- tract for the building of said bridges be awarded the said Gillette, Herzog Manufacturing Company, of Minneapolis, the Wilton bridge for $1,260, and the Markham bridge for $935.
ยท
On May 22 it was ordered that the following appropriations be made from the county road and bridge fund: To town of Vivian, $50, for grading road on marsh between sections 6 and 7 in said town; to town of Iosco, $50, for the new road between sections 27 and 28 of said town; to town of Blooming Grove, $50, for grading road between sections 14 and 15 in said town; to town of New Richland, $100, for a bridge on section 31 of said
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town; to town of Alton, $60, for a stone culvert on road between sections 13 and 14 of said town.
On June 16, 1897, bids having been received by the board-
It was ordered that the contract for the building of a combination bridge, on section 1, of Janesville, be awarded to the Gillette, Herzog Manufacturing Company, of Minneapolis, for the sum of $445. It was also ordered that the contract for the building of a combination bridge on section 33, of Otisco, be awarded to the said Gillettte, Herzog Manu- facturing Company for the sum of $450. Commissioner Ewert was ap- pointed to oversee the building of the bridge on section 1, of Janesville, and Commissioner Fromlath was appointed to oversee the building of the bridge on section 33, of Otisco.
At the same meeting, appropriations were made as follows :
To Lars Syverson, $25, for damages on land caused by the change of location of the Wilton bridge; to town of Freedom, $50 for grading ap- proaches to the bridge on road between section 1, of Vivian, and section 36, of Freedom. The town of Freedom was also allowed to expend an appropriation made May 7, 1896, on the Bull Run bridge on section 13, of said town; to town of St. Mary, $50, of which $25 is to be expended on road between sections 13 and 14, and $25 for grading road on section 1 of said town.
At the meeting of Sept. 6, the following appropriations were made from the county road and bridge fund :
To town of Janesville, $30, for grading approaches to the new bridge on section 1, of said town; to town of Freedom, $50, as aid in the build- ing of a new bridge across Bull Run, on section 13, of said town; to town of Woodville, $65, for grading road between sections 13 and 14, and 21 and 22, of said town.
At an adjourned meeting held Oct. 22, 1897, it was ordered that the new Wilton bridge be accepted, and that the contract price, $1,260, less $35, be paid to the Gillette, Herzog Manufac- turing Company. It was also ordered that the Markham bridge be accepted and the contract price, $935, be paid to the Gillette, Herzog Manufacturing Company, conditionally, that the little sag in said bridge, now appearing, be straightened by said firm free of charge within one year from date, which order was accept- ed by the representative present from said firm.
THE NEW COURTHOUSE.
The new courthouse was completed about the 1st of August, 1897, and was formally dedicated, Sept. 23. The following ac- count is from the columns of the Waseca County Herald :
"The recent completion of our grand, new courthouse, with its nicely
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graded grounds and pleasant surroundings, calls to mind the courthouse history of this county, which may be of some interest to the present generation.
"The county of Waseca was organized by act of the territorial legis- lature, dated Feb. 27, 1857. By that act the voters of the county were authorized to hold an election on the first Monday of June, 1857, to choose the county seat and elect county officers. Three villages, Wilton, St. Mary and Empire, were candidates for the county seat, and Wilton won. Strange as it may seem, nothing is left of these "ancient towns" except the lands upon which they were built.
"The first courthouse was a store building, about 24 feet wide, 60 feet long, and two stories high. The record of its purchase reads as follows:
"'At the session of the board of county supervisors, Oct. 12, 1859, M. S. Gove, H. G. Mosher, and J. W. La Paul were appointed a committee to purchase the store building owned by Thos. L. Paige, in the village of Wilton, for a courthouse, with the county certificates of tax sales of land's sold in 1858, and bid in by the county-the amount of said pur- chase not to exceed $700. E. A. Rice, register of deeds, was ordered to assign the certificates upon receiving deed.'
"The building was purchased and used as a courthouse until it was destroyed by fire, April 3, 1869.
"The same year of the purchase of the courthouse, a jail, costing about $500, was built adjoining it on the north end. This was also burned by the same fire that consumed the courthouse.
"The records were nearly or quite all saved, and the county officers took temporary quarters in the wagon shop of Bernard Bundschu. The county board at that time consisted of R. F. Stevens, John S. McKune, Robert Earl, Wm. Byron, and John Buckhout. They met in special ses- sion April 15, 1869, and finally purchased the John C. Hunter building for $500, to be paid from the insurance money on the old building. This was the second courthouse, worth much less than the first, but serving the purpose after a fashion, until the pending county seat conflict should be permanently settled.
"Waseca had been platted in 1867, and was already a large and thriving town. That it would eventually secure the county seat was inevitable.
"At the next session of the legislature, February, 1870, an act was passed authorizing the village of Waseca to issue bonds in the sum of $5,000, the proceeds to be used in the building of a new courthouse for the county of Waseca, upon the removal of the county seat to Waseca. The people of Waseca voted in March to issue the bonds and before fall the then new courthouse was completed.
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"This courthouse, removed last spring, was a fine brick structure, 40x50 feet on the ground, and two stories high. The lower floor was divided into four offices, and the second floor was used as a court room. At that time, 1870, it was one of the best and most commo- dious courthouses in Southern Min- nesota. The building was for years poorly cared for by the county board and left to decay.
"The history of the present new and elegant courthouse, just com- pleted, is /current history, fresh COURTHOUSE OF 1870. in the minds of our people. It is 74 feet north and south by 92 feet east and west. The tower is 100 feet high, with a flag staff 30 feet in length. Its total cost, including land, furniture, burglar-proof safes, etc., as reported by Auditor Lohren, is $55,833.07. In all its appoint- ments it is most ample and com- plete. The vaults are large and roomy, and most of them well light- ed. The county offices are all on the first floor, the second floor be- ing devoted to the court room, jury rooms and judge's private room. "Though there are more costly courthouses In the state, it is be- lieved that there is not one of its size so complete and ample In its COURTHOUSE AT WASECA 1896-7. arrangements.
TORNADOES.
There were two severe storms in the summer-one on the 10th of June, the other July 6. The Cream correspondent of the Herald wrote as follows :
June 10, Cream and vicinity were visited by high winds, electrical dis- turbances, rain, and hail, about half past four o'clock p. m. There were several hurricanes formed. They were perpendicular cloud columns reaching from the upper clouds to the earth.
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The one south destroyed Postmaster Oleson's home and its con- tents, his barn and grove. Some of the contents of the office were picked up two miles away. The column passed just south of Mr. Hydorn, picked up the Wm. Davidson school house, and whirled it all into pieces. The register and some of the library books were picked up east of Plum Val- ley, near Sam. Hodgkin's place, in Vivian. It just brushed Mr. Krause's new house, which is heing constructed, but left it unharmed. People that were near say the roar was deafening. The hurricane that passed north tore down a barn northwest of Alma City. There were four horses in the barn which escaped unharmed. A cow near by had a leg broken. Coming in just east of the village of Alma City, it caught the creamery building and twisted it into pieces. Mr. Bickford's nearly new, large house was moved from its foundation, the roof injured, and porch and kitchen torn away. Mrs. Bickford had over a hundred chickens before the storm; the next day she had but one and that had been blown into the house. The storm passed thence east, doing much damage near Ped- dler's Grove.
The Alma City correspondent described the storm as follows : It started northwest of Alma City, visiting Mrs. Gleason's place and tearing down the ice house. A new barn, built last summer, was car- ried out into the road and left in splinters. From there the tornado went to John Markham's and moved his new barn the carpenters had just commenced, off its foundation. From there it went to the creamery and left the building nothing but a wreck, carrying some parts of it a long distance. From there it went to Brother Bickford's and just riddled things. Some hogs and chickens were killed and one horse considerably injured, but he will live. Fences were torn down, trees broken off and torn out by the roots. Mr. Bickford was knocked down and hurt, but is now at work. The family saved their lives by being in the cellar. It unroofed Mr. Le Selle's granary and tore his fences down. It was a terrific storm and the wonder is that no one was killed or seriously in- jured in the vicinity.
The Otisco correspondent related that the storm twister of the 10th struck Otisco, Thursday afternoon, at the Le Sueur river bridge, near Ed. Weed's place, moving directly east. No build- ings happened to be in its path until Mr. John Carlson's place was reached. There the machine shed, and new barn were blown down and dashed into splinters, not enough whole lumber being left to make a chicken coop. Mr. Carlson and two sons were in the barn at the time, and were blown away with the building. All were more or less hurt, but strange to say, none seriously. Most of his machinery and his wagon and buggy were also de- stroyed.
Other reports showed that while the rain was general through-
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out the county, the high winds prevailed only in the central por- tions. The large barn of Mr. Wm. Meyers, on section 31, St. Mary, was lifted from its foundation and broken all in pieces. For a wonder the ten horses in the basement of the barn were unin- jured. His wind mill was shattered, and the porch to his house was torn off. The roof of one of the barns on the Lamb farm, in Alton, was torn off. Gus. E. Vogel, on section 3, Freedom, had his buildings torn down, and his face considerably cut. His family went into the cellar and escaped injury. It is reported that the wind mills of Nic Fox, James Kaiser, and Julius Meyers, in Meyers' neighborhood, were badly shattered. The cyclonie por- tion of the storm, in this county, was confined to narrow limits; but near Lyle, Mower county, many buildings were torn down, several persons killed, and a number wounded.
THE JULY STORM.
On July 6, 1897, many counties were visited by destructive hail and wind storms. A large territory at Sleepy Eye was devastat- ed by hail. Delhi, Redwood county; Fulda, Murray county ; Glenwood, Pope county ; Marshall and Minneota, Lyon county : St. Cloud, Stearns county ; Northfield, Rice county; Adrian, Nobles county ; Anoka, Anoka county; and Claremont and West Con- cord, Dodge county, were all more or less injured by terrible hail storms. The most disastrous of the many storms was a tor- nado at Glenwood, Pope county, in which several people were killed and injured, a score or more seriously. The storm tore down buildings of all kinds and killed stock in great numbers.
A local paper contained the following regarding this county :
"The storm of last Tuesday did much damage to the M. & St. L. rail- road tracks north of here. A freight train containing goods for this city was ditched. The passenger trains yesterday were compelled to go around by way of Mankato. Regular trains resumed to-day."
The Palmer correspondent of the Herald wrote of the storm as follows :
"Tuesday night, this section was visited by the heaviest and most fearful rainstorm the oldest Inhabitants ever saw or ever wish to see again. People were awakened from their slumbers by the force of the storm to behold the heavens ablaze with lightning and one vast, white sheet of rain all around. The water fell in torrents. It was as though the skles had opened and a sea of water was pouring down. It was a cloudburst of the fiercest kind. There is no way of estimating the amount
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of rain that fell. A kerosene barrel that stood away from any building, where no water could run into it from the roof, and about one-fourth full of water the day before, was full to overflowing after the storm. Every slough, meadow, and little hollow was full of water the next morn- ing. For over a week the farmers had been laboring under difficulties in making clover and timothy hay. Tons of the finest hay were caught out in cocks or windrows. The hay is practically a total loss. A few had succeeded in getting a good lot of hay in stack only to find, after the storm, that the tops had been washed or blown off and the stacks water- soaked to the bottom. The loss in hay will be heavy. Aside from the loss of cut hay, the soil has been washed off corn fields and higher lands onto the grass lands, completely burying the grass, or making it so dirty it is unfit for hay. Many of the sloughs and meadows are still under water from one to three feet, and the grass seems to be rotting. There are, as yet, only small areas free of water.
WILLIAM HARDING'S ONE HUNDRED YEARS.
Mr. Wm. Harding, of the town of St. Mary, in this county, with the aid of hosts of friends, celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of his birthday, April 1.
Mr. Harding first saw light in East Orsley, England, one hun- dred years ago-the year that John Adams was inaugurated president of the United States, and more than two years before George Washington died at Mt. Vernon. At the age of about fifteen years Mr. Harding became, for a short time, a British soldier in the war of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States. He remained in Canada, at different places for fifteen years, and then settled in Milwaukee, where he remained some five years. He next went to Burlington, Vermont, where he re- mained until the breaking out of the Mexican war with the United States, which lasted from the latter part of 1845 to the beginning of 1848. He served the United States during the Mex- ican struggle, and afterwards resided in Chicago, where he re- mained until about 1858, when he came to Minnesota and set- tled in Iosco. Prior to the War of the Rebellion he lost his wife. January 24, 1862, he enlisted in the Fifth Minnesota regiment and served until September 13, 1862, when he was discharged for disability. He married Mrs. Reibling, Nov. 20, 1867, and by this marriage he had three children-Prof. Everhard Harding, of the State University, William, Jr., and Miss Caroline, now Mrs. George Phelps. It is said that he was the oldest G. A. R. man in America. He enjoyed his usual health until about the
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first of September, 1897, when he seemed to be overcome bv the extreme warm weather, and sank peacefully to his final rest and to an honored grave, Sept. 7, 1897.
DEATHS NOTED DURING THE YEAR 1897.
The first to cross the river of Death this year was Mr. J. W. Hosmer, one of the first permanent settlers in the town of Janes- ville. He died Feb. 24, 1897. He was born in Genesee county, N. Y., May 19, 1824. He came as far west as Wisconsin when eighteen years of age and remained there until 1856, when he came to Minnesota and lived for a short time in Empire (Iosco), where he opened a store. He remained there but a short time, when he disposed of his store and, at what was known as Old Janesville, built a sawmill which was very beneficial to early settlers in the county. He also engaged in mercantile enter- prises and did a thriving business as Indian trader-there being many of the natives on the Winnebago reservation near by. He also engaged extensively at one time in the production of honey, owning the largest apiary in the West. He became known nationally as an expert in the management of bees and the pro- duction of honey. It is said that in one year his bees produced nine tons of honey. He died of paralysis, and at the time of his death was one of the oldest settlers remaining in the township.
Mr. William Von Sien was born in Mecklenberg, Schwerin, Germany, Aug. 28, 1832. He came to America about 1861, and worked for some time near Waukesha, Wis. Coming to Waseca county in 1867, he settled south of Waseca. By his first wife, who died in 1870, he had one daughter, since married. He mar- ried Catharine Theis, in 1872, by whom he had ten children, all living. He died on Tuesday night, April 6, 1897. of heart dis- ease.
Mrs. Esther W. Mosher Young died of Bright's disease, April 25, 1897, at Minneapolis, Minn., aged sixty-nine years. She was born in the state of Ohio, October 13, 1827. Her parents remov- ed from Ohio, to Wisconsin, about the year 1845, and lived in the town of Chester, Dodge county, some six miles south of Wau- pun. She remained with her parents in Wisconsin until about 1854, when she married Mr. Parthian Young. She came with her husband to Minnesota in 1855 or 1856, and with him made
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a claim on what was long known as the Peter Lindsay farm, on the south line of Woodville township. They sold to Mr. Lindsay and returned to Wisconsin. Some time afterwards, most of her people living here, she returned to Minnesota with her two (laughters. where she remained until her death. Minnie, the older daughter, died when about fifteen years of age, and Nellie, the younger, is now a prominent teacher in the city schools of Minneapolis.
Mr. John C. Hunter, an carly and prominent settler of this county. died at his Duluth home on Thursday evening, May 15, 1897. Mr. Hunter was for years a prominent merchant of Wil- ton, and well and favorably known by all the early settlers of the county. He had an attack of grippe in early winter from which he never recovered. He was a brother of Mrs. W. A. Henderson, of this county. His wife, two sons, and three daugh- ters survive him. It is said that he left large property interests in the northern portion of the state.
Mr. Royse F. Stevens was born in New Portland, Somerset county, Maine, August 29, 1817. His wife's maiden name was Lucinda M. Spaulding. They came to Minnesota in 1863, and first lived in Vivian on a farm. Afterwards the family moved to Wilton, and Mr. Stevens engaged in the work of blacksmith. Later he bought a farm in Wilton, where he lived with his fam- ily until about 1881. He was county commissioner during the years 1868, 1869, and 1870 and again in 1873. He sold his farm in Wilton and removed with his family to the vicinity of Lake Benton, Minn. There his wife died Oct. 16, 1881. There- after he lived with his children in Dakota and western Minneso- ta. About 1896 he returned to this county and lived with his son Edwin. He was taken ill the 18th of January, 1897, and soon became unconscious. He remained in this condition with only lucid intervals until his death which occurred May 27, 1897, in his eightieth year. He was a good citizen and a kind neigh- bor. His remains were taken to Lake Benton and buried beside those of his wife.
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