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 5
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Immediately after the justice trials, Cornell, through his satel- lites, commenced suit before the land officers at Winona, and the contesting parties and their witnesses were compelled to make several trips to Winona. After about a year of expensive litiga- tion, the matter was compromised and settled, the MeDougall brothers giving up one forty and taking another.
During the troubles that grew out of that affair there was actual danger of bloodshed. Some of the men went armed. Cornell became so alarmed that he did not show himself in the settlement for a long time. In early spring (1856) several house bodies were erected on the Wilton town-site, but on the night of the 19th of April, 1856, they were all torn down, literally razed to the ground. I remember the date, for that was the night of my wedding day, and some of the boys remarked that "They couldn't lay that deviltry onto Pat." As to who did the evil deed, probably no one knows, or ever knew, except those en- gaged in it. This occurrence and the general hostility of all the surrounding settlers to the Wilton speenlators, prevented any further growth during the summer following.
CHAPTER XV, 1856.
ATTEMPTED DIVISION OF COUNTY-CIRCULATION OF REMON- STRANCE-TRAMP ON FOOT THROUGH MEDFORD, CLINTON FALLS, BLOOMING GROVE AND WOODVILLE.
The last chapter necessarily carried this history into the year 1856. There are other matters that took place that winter that belong to both years. It is intended to keep the history of each year by itself, as far as possible, but there are some matters that cannot be separated by months without destroying the thread of the narrative. Of such matters will this chapter relate.
FIRST ELECTION.
The first election in Steele county, of which the present Waseca county was then the larger part, territorially, was held October 9th, 1855. The LeSueur precinct, as it was ealled, included the south half of this county and the township of St. Mary; the poll- ing place was at the residence of Chris Scott, the farm now belonging to Mr. Carmody in Wilton. Twenty votes were cast. The north half of the county, then called Swavesey, also held an election at the same time, but I have been unable to learn how many votes were polled there at that time. Only one hundred seventeen votes were cast at that election in the territory com- prising the counties of Steele and Waseca. The following officers were elected: County commissioners, S. B. Smith, Win. Allen and M. P. Ide (Mr. Ide lived then in what is now Blooming Grove) ; register of deeds, Chas. Ellison; sheriff, Wm. F. Pettit; treasurer, David Sanborn; surveyor, John W. Park; clerk of the court, F. W. Fisk; county attorney, John M. Bliven (then a resi-
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dent of what is now Blooming Grove) ; judge of probate, F. B. Davis; assessors, David Lindesmith, Chas. Thompson, and Luke B. Osgood (Mr. Osgood lived on the line between Janesville and Iosco) ; justices of the peace, Simeon Smith and Curtis Hatch, of the north part of the county, and John Jenkins, of the south part.
Originally the territory of Minnesota was divided into nine counties. By act of the territorial legislature, Wabasha county originally occupied all that portion of Southeastern Minnesota east of a line running due south from a point on the Mississippi river, known as Medicine Bottle village at Pine Bend. Dakota county embraced all the territory west of Wabasha county and south of a line beginning at the mouth of Crow river and running up said river and the north branch thereof to its source, and thence west to the Missouri river. In 1852, Hennepin county was carved out of Dakota county, and, in 1853, Goodhue, Fillmore, Scott, LeSueur, Rice, Sibley, Blue Earth and Nicollet counties were carved out of Dakota and Wabasha counties. Rice county, by that act, included all of what is now Steele county and town- ships 105, 106, 107 and 108, range 22, of what is now Waseca coun- ty. Blue Earth county, by the same act, included the townships in ranges 23 and 24, of what is now the larger portion of Waseca county.
By legislative act of February 23, 1854, the counties of Houston, Fillmore, Wabasha and Goodhue were changed, and the county of Winona was organized. By act of Feb. 20, 1855, the counties of Olmsted, Dodge, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, and Steele were created and the boundary lines of the old counties changed. By that act, Steele county then contained ranges 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24, and townships 105, 106, 107, 108-a territory twenty-four miles north and south and thirty miles east and west. The geo- graphical center of the county, as then bounded, was near the western line of the township of Meriden.
The county seat of Steele county was not designated, nor the county fully organized by statute until Feb. 29, 1856, although county officers had been elected in the fall of 1855.
In the month of December, 1855, I made a trip to Auburn, Iowa, for supplies. In January, 1856, shortly after my return, the set- tlers in the western part of what was then Steele county learned
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that. Messrs. Cornell, Pettit, Abbott & Co., of Owatonna, were en- deavoring to get the territorial legislature, then in session, to divide Steele and Dodge counties so as to make three counties of the two-the same as we now have them.
The county was then very sparsely settled. Probably there were not 1,000 families or voters in all the territory of the three counties. The people of Waseca county were nearly all young farmers, just commencing life, and poor in goods, wares, etc. They did not feel able to support a county government while there were so few to pay taxes. A meeting of the settlers was held and I was selected to visit the people in all parts of the then county to secure signatures to a remonstrance and forward the same to Hon. George A. McLeod, then of Sibley county, our rep- resentative in the house, the Hon. Chas. E. Flandreau, then of St. Peter, our member in the couneil.
We made duplicate remonstrances for the settlers along the LeSueur and had them signed at our meeting. The next day I started for Owatonna and the Straight river settlement. It was a pretty cold day as I learned when I reached Owatonna, the thermometer registering 22 degrees below zero, at 4 o'clock p. m. The next day was intensely cold-so cold that the ordinary ther- mometer failed in its efforts to keep a correct record and I re- mained in Owatonna all day.
I soon learned that the people in Owatonna, with only two exceptions, were in favor of the division of the county. This I learned without divulging my mission, and the next day I started down Straight river, calling upon each settler as I proceeded and explaining our opposition to the division. Almost without ex- ception, each farmer signed the remonstrance. At Clinton Falls and Medford, I found active co-operation, and obtained the sig- natures of all I could see. In one day's canvass I had good strong lists which I forwarded to Messrs. MeLeod and Flandreau, ac- companied by a private letter from myself and one from Dr. Finch, of Clinton Falls, explaining to them the situation of affairs and the general condition of the people.
I left with the postmaster at Medford a copy of the remon- stranee to be signed by those whom I had not seen and to be afterwards forwarded to Mr. Flandreau. 1 then struck across the country on foot, without road or track of any kind, in search
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of the Remund and Ide settlement, in what is now Blooming Grove. I had no guide except the government section posts, many of which were covered with snow drifts. It was 12 miles from Clinton Falls to Blooming Grove, then called the Bliven settlement.
The trip was a good deal more of a job than I had anticipated. Much of the way I encountered small groves and brush land where the snow was very deep and the crust not strong enough to bear my weight. After a hard day's work, I reached the house of a pioneer German, named Reineke, about 4 o'clock p. m. Like most of his nationality he did not fall in love with me at first sight, and to my salutation: "It is a wintry day," he re- plied : "Ich verstehen sie nicht." This was one of the occasions in my experience where the few words of German I could speak served me well, for neither he nor any of his family could, at that time, converse in English. As soon as he found that I could speak some German he shook hands with me and became very friendly. He invited me to remain over night, a proposition that I was only too glad to accept. He entertained me a portion of the evening with stories of the Fatherland, and then drifted into the difficulties he experienced in not understanding English. He seemed much pleased when I offered to write out the names of familiar objects about the house and farm in English, opposite the German names.
After a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast, having ob- tained his name to the remonstrance, I bade him "lebewohl" and proceeded to visit the settlers in Blooming Grove, Mr. Reineke's farm being in what is now Deerfield, in Steele county.
I proceeded eastward until I struck the settlement known as Swavesey. The first residence I found was that of M. P. Ide, on what afterwards became known as the Patrick Healy farm. Mel, as he was called, turned out to be a Cornell man and could not be persuaded to sign the remonstrance. I put in the whole day going from house to house, and secured the signatures of all the other men in the settlement that I could find. It was a labo- rious job to travel about in the deep snow, and night found me at the hospitable cabin of Wm. M. Gray, on section 33, in what is now Blooming Grove.
There was a greeting, a charm, a hospitality, a feeling of frater-
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
nity among the pioneer settlers of Wisconsin and Minnesota- especially in the latter territory-entirely unknown at the present day. The stranger was always welcome to such accommodations and fare as the settlers possessed. All gathered around the same table and each served the other. Each told to the other his history, almost without reserve, and in one evening they generally know more of each other and of each other's affairs than men born and reared in the same town know of each other these days. Not only did they become acquaintances but they took a friendly interest in each other's welfare. There was a sympathy among them which later additions to the population seem not to possess.
I spent the night very comfortably and agreeably with Mr. Gray and his family, and the next morning called upon his neighbors, Messrs. Simeon Smith, Alfred C. Smith and E. K. Carl- ton, obtained their signatures to the remonstrance, and proceeded homewards, arriving at the McDougall cabin just as darkness covered the prairie and grove.
My only compensation for the laborious tramp was the general satisfaction we all felt in the defeat, for the time being, of the proposition to divide the county. Alas! how little man knows of the future.
CHAPTER XVI, 1855.
THE FIRST WEDDING-MCDOUGALL AND 'SQUIRE JENKINS LOST . ON PRAIRIE ALL NIGHT-CEREMONY POSTPONED-MARRIED THE NEXT EVENING.
Perhaps it is just as well to start the record of the new year, 1856, with the story of the first wedding among white people in the county. It was appointed for New Year Eve.
Mr. Ballard, of Mankato, and Miss Louise Gregory, whose fath- er resided near what has since been known as St. Mary, had made a contract, through love and affection, to be married on New Year's Eve. The friends had been invited from far and near. John Jenkins, Esq., the only justice of the peace in the precinct, was invited to perform the marriage ceremony.
The 'squire, in order to go ship-shape, secured the services of Mr. Hugh MeDougall, with his horse and new pung to take him to the place appointed for performing the important ceremony. About sundown, the 'squire and his companion left the Jenkins cabin and started for the residence of Mr. Gregory, some six or seven miles distant. The weather was intensely cold, the snow deep, and, in many places, badly drifted.
The bride and bridegroom were not only ready, but anxious; the bridesmaid and groomsman patiently awaited the arrival of the 'squire; the parents conned over the responsibilities of mar- ried life; the evening wore away, and the 'squire came not. The younger members of the company peeped out through the frost-covered windows, the young men went out at the door and gazed in vain for the coming of the desired functionary of the law; the night wore wearily on, and yet he came not. All night
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
the company kept watch plaeing a lighted candle in the window- but where was the 'squire all this dark, cold night? Lost !
Messrs. Jenkins and MeDougall, after leaving the Jenkins cabin, got along very well until darkness set in. Then they lost their course and wandered about on the cold, bleak prairie during the whole night, vainly endeavoring to find Mlr. Gregory's place. About four o'clock the next morning they returned to the cabin, whence they had started the evening before. The writer, who had fortunately stayed at home, served up a meal of hot buck- wheat cakes, fried pork, gravy and coffee to the chilled and unfor- tunate night wanderers. After breakfast they again started for the place appointed for the celebration of the marriage. When they reached Mr. Gregory's place, about 11 o'clock a. m., it was found that the young men of the company had sallied forth to search for the missing 'squire, and the ceremony must be de- ferred until their return.
About dark, those who had been out to look for the 'squire re- turned on his trail, having followed it from his cabin. It was necessary to have supper before proceeding to tie the knot, and many were the jokes and laughs about the first marriage ceremony to be performed by our worthy bachelor justice of the peace. A considerable part of the pioneer settlers gathered in during the evening to witness the ceremony which had well nigh caused the freezing of Uncle John, as the 'squire was familiarly ealled.
After all had partaken of a substantial supper, the tables had been eleared off, and the "slab ehairs" had been properly ar- ranged, the 'squire stated that he was ready to proceed. The cer- emony was decidedly short and to the purpose. It was even briefer than the shorter form in Booth's Manual. As near as memory serves me, it was as follows: "The parties will join hands. Mr. Ballard, do you take Miss Gregory to be your wife ?" (Answer) "Yes, sir." "Miss Gregory, do you take Mr. Ballard as your husband ?" (Answer-in a whisper) "Yes, sir." "All right," said Uncle Jolin, "then you're man and wife."
After this short, but characteristic ceremony, the company seemed to be relieved of much former constraint, and the night passed in song, "going to Rome," through the "cedar swamp." playing the "honest miller," ete .; for none of those living at a
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
distance could go home that night, and there were too many pres- ent to think of finding beds in a farm house.
When morning came, the guests cheered the newly-married couple, bade them a fond adieu, and wended their several ways to bachelor homes.
5
CHAPTER XVII, 1856.
MANY NEW SETTLERS IN 1856-THOSE WHO SETTLED IN VARI- OUS TOWNS THAT YEAR-ST. MARY NAMED.
There was a perfeet flood of immigrants into Minnesota in 1856. and Waseea county received a fair share of new settlers.
On the 1st day of Jannary, 1856, Jaek Turnaeliff, Dr. Ambrose Kellogg, and William Young, from Iowa, arrived at the Sutlief plantation on Norwegian snow shoes.
Mr. Young was a native of Scotland, and claimed one quarter of seetion 26 in Wilton. He was an original thinker, a man of more than ordinary intelligence, a persistent hater, a steadfast friend. He was a single man at that time, and divided his time for four or five years between Fillmore county and his farm in Wilton. He then married a lady in Fillmore county and after- wards removed to Iowa where, when last heard from, he dwelt with his family.
Dr. Kellogg made a claim on seetion 35, in Wilton, which he sold in the spring. He prospected around for coal the next spring, but finally went back to Iowa where his brother Silas resided. At the last aeeount of him, he was in Kansas.
Jackson Turnaeliff made his elaim on section 7, town of Otisco, where he made his home until the time of his death. Jack was one of the young men who was known as being well-fixed-that is to say, his father could and did furnish him with a farm and an outfit. And Jack proved himself worthy of it.
A man named Win. Wells, familiarly called Nucky Wells, came with his family in the spring and settled on section 25, in Wilton. His wife, after remaining a year or so, ran off with a "handsomer
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
man" than he. Wells kept bateh for five or six years afterwards, when he sold his elaim and returned to Wisconsin.
B. F. Weed came up from Iowa, accompanied by Silas Kellogg, and settled on section 23, in Wilton, with his young wife, daughter of Hon. Wm. Brisbane. At this writing, he is a resident of Mon- tana.
Hon. Jesse I. Stewart, from Indiana, took up his residenee on section 7, in Otisco, in the summer of 1856, and became some- what prominent as a politician. He served one term as county treasurer, being elected to that office in 1857, and to the legisla- ture in 1859. When last heard of by the writer he was in Oregon.
Mr. Jacob Brubaker and family, from Pennsylvania, came to the Le Sueur settlement in the fall of 1856, and settled on seetion 28, Wilton. The family then consisted of himself and wife, the sons Abram and Geo. E., and two daughters, the elder now Mrs. Whit- man, of Iowa, the other Mrs. Tom Eldridge, now of Nebraska. The old gentleman died at Waseca. The older son, Abram, went. into the army from Pennsylvania and was never after heard from. Geo. E. Brubaker is still a resident of the county,
Michael O'Brien, in 1856, made a elaim on section 12, Wilton, where he and his sister now reside.
Among others who settled in the county in 1856, were Patrick Kenehan, Noah Lincoln, H. P. Norton and C. F. Lineoln, of Wil- ton; Joseph Manthe, Gottlieb Krassin, John Jordan, Anthony Gorman, Michael McGonagle, Sr., Geo. H. Reibling, and a lawyer, by name MeCarthy, of St. Mary; J. W. Hosmer, H. P. Chamber- lain, John F. Allen, Win. Lee, John Minske, Fred Minske, August Minske, Gottlieb Kanne, Fred Kanne, August Kanne, Gottlieb Kanne, Wm. Marzahn, John Reed, David Hutchinson, Thos. Bishop, Thos. Gibson, Wm. Allen, John G. Ward, Silas Ward, John J. Fell, Richard Toner, H. W. Peek, Geo. Leonard, Daniel Tripp, Benj. W. Gifford. A. A. Cotton, M. S. Green, William Long, Seth W. Long, Geo. Long, A. Wilsey, Jim Chadwick, S. J. Willis, Henry Thwing, Nelson Thwing, Jacob Hagadorn and Peter Far- rell of Ioseo; Hon. Lewis MeKune, Hon. J. L. Saufferer, E. R. Conner, Geo. Dean, John Walker, James Walker, Wm. Donaldson, Hon. Philo Woodruff, Patrick Healy, Cornelius Hand and his sons, Hon. J. N. Powers and his father, John Gibson, Daniel Riegle, Andrew Nelson, Patrick Murphy and sons, Jacob Oory, Henry,
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
Josiah, Joshua Smith, Samuel Smith, Wm. H. Young, Joseph Churchill, B. Sharp, Cyrus Ross, Andrew Oleson, Wm. J. Wheeler, Gottlieb Petrich, John Remund, Samuel Remund, Rudolph Re- mund, Albert Remund, Keyes Swift, John Haekett and Guliek Knutsen, of Blooming Grove; H. A. Mosher, Asa Mosher, E. B. Stearns, Z. Holbrook, Hon. J. A. Canfield, Silas Grover and sons, Wm. Smith, W. S. Baker, M. D. L. Flowers, Parselus Young, H. G. Mosher, Adam Bishman, Jacob Bishman, Ben G. Northrup, Ole Pe- terson, Charley Johnson, Omer H. Sutlief, F. L. Goetzenberger, Wm. Schmidt and B. Bundshu, of Otisco; W. G. Allyn, Paul Wandrie, Charles Wandrie, J. W. IIosmner, Wm. Stanke, Martin Stanke, Michael Silkey, W. G. Mathews, Thomas MeHugo, C. De Regan, W. H. Crawford, Alex Johnston, John Buckhout, "Unele" Frank Johnson, Patrick Hackett, G. Grams, James Henning, Jas. Cooledge, David Cooledge, N. E. Strong, John Bradish, Esq., George Dreever and Richard Dreever, of Janesville; Obadiah Powell, Eri G. Wood, Loren C. Wood, Henry Watkins, E. K. Carl- ton, Jacob Myers, Wm. Dunn and Austin Vinton, of Woodville; Anthony Sampson, H. H. Sunde, K. O. Rotegard, H. T. Handgrud, Ole K. Hagen, W. Anderson, Chris Knudson, E. O. Strenge, N. C. Koffstad, Martin Anderson, August Miller, K. Christenson and Nels Christenson, of New Richland; E. S. Woodruff, B. F. Haines, E. A. Clark and Mr. Edgerton, of Vivian ; Christie MeGrath, Wmn. Bevans, David Bevans, Isaac Lyng and C. S. Weed, of Byron.
CHAPTER XVIII, 1856.
ASSAULT AND BATTERY-A LAWSUIT-ATTEMPTED CLAIM JUMP- ING-JOHN GREENING AS CONSTABLE-FIRST STORE AT WAT- ERLYNN.
It is perhaps well enough to say here that the plan of this work is to give the names of all the very early settlers, for a few years, and then, each year, give the events that are deemed of publie interest as they transpired.
One of those outrages that sometimes stir the indignation of a whole community, whether large or small, occurred early in the summer of 1856. About the first of that loveliest of months in Minnesota, June, two brothers, calling themselves John and Will- iam Jaques, came wandering through the county, evidently bent on mischief. They said they came from Iowa, and pretended to be in search of government land-something at that time every- where present in northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota. Upon their first entrance into the county, they camped near A. G. Sutlief's farm, in Wilton. They were very inquisitive as to claims. They enquired who had pre-empted? Who claimed more land than the law allowed ? Who had claims to sell? Who had lived up to the requirements of the law, and who had not ?
They seemed anxious, too, to find out who had horses to sell, what kind of horses they were, what kind of men owned horses, etc. They lost no opportunity to ply their inquisitiveness as they passed along through the settlement. Going thus from house to house, they became acquainted more or less, with the affairs and condition of each settler, from Otiseo and Byron to St. Mary. In St. Mary they found, what they supposed to be a fine opening
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
for a display of their innate meanness. As before stated in this history, several of the Krassins and two of the Prechels had set- tled in St. Mary, the previous year. Gottlieb Prechel had taken a claim on section thirty-two, adjoining the reservation then occu- pied by the Winnebago Indians. In the latter part of the winter of 1855-6, Prechel and the Krassins had proved up and entered their lands, but this was not generally known in the settlement. This Prechel land was about three-fourths of a mile down the river from the old townsite of St. Mary. During the summer of 1855, Prechel had built a comfortable log house, with a thatched roof, and broken about ten acres of prairie. At the time he had crops growing upon the plowed land and was engaged in fencing it. Owing to the proximity of Indians, and the timidity of his family and himself, he moved into the house with Martin Krassin, after having entered his land. Martin's house was on section thirty-four, nearly three miles further up the river. Mad- am Rumor had informed these roving Jaques that Prechel was not living on his land and that his claim could be jumped. "Only a Dutchman" claimed it; he could be easily driven off; there was a comfortable house ready made; there were breaking and fenc- ing already done; there were fine timber, pure water, rich prai- rie; there was a glorious chance to take the product of other people's labor without paying for it, and why not improve their opportunity ? These men Jaques thought this a fine opening and so moved on to the premises and took possession. Prechel soon became aware of the fact, and proceeded at once to see about the matter. Accompanied by his brother-in-law, Martin Kras- sin, he took his team, proceeded to the farm, and commeneed cutting and hauling fencing. The two Jaques heard the chopping, soon came out where they were at work, and, with much as- sumed authority, ordered them off the premises. Krassin and Prechel could neither speak nor understand much of the English language, but tried to make the Jaques understand that the land belonged to Prechel and that he had paid the government for it. But the Messrs. Jaques would not listen, and were peremptory in demanding that the Germans should leave the claim. Prechel was somewhat timid, said but little, and desired to retreat; bnt Martin Krassin, being of a different make and mind. maintained that he had a better right there than the Jaques and ordered them
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to leave. John Jaques at once commenced an assault upon Martin, and pounded him about the face and head in a most brutal man- ner. Martin was badly bruised and, for the time, driven from the land. All the German settlers were aroused and justly indig- nant at this brutal outrage; they concluded to try what virtue there was in law. There was no lawyer at hand, but, after some study, an affidavit of the facts was made before John Jenkins, Esq., who issued a warrant that was placed in the hands of John G. Greening, then acting constable, for the apprehension of John Taques. Constable Greening summoned a posse and proceeded to perform his official duty.
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