USA > Minnesota > Freeborn County > History of Freeborn County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota, and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 52
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Bath was first organized under the name of Porter, in honor of E. D. Porter. who settled near Clark's Grove. The east half of the town was attached to Geneva, and the the west half to Hartland for township purposes, but in September, 1858, assumed an independent organization, and the name changed to Bath, at the instance of F. W. Calkins, who was desirons of perpetuating the memory of the town in which he was born. Mr. Calkins was the first settler of Bath, and made his entry in the spring or early summer of 1857.
While the town of Hartland is one of the best agricultural districts in the county, it yields but few facts concerning early history. It is under- stood to have been named after a town in Wind- sor county, Vermont, and was first settled by two brothers by the name of Boardman, in the fall of 1856. One of these, B. J. Boardman, erected the first house, and at one time represented the town on the County Board.
Freeborn was among the early towns organized, and the first election held in May, 1858. The township and village, as well as the lake upon the bank of which the village is located, all seem to have followed, in name, that of the county. T. K. Page and Wm. Montgomery were the first set- tlers, and entered upon their claims in July, 1856. The village of Freeborn is handsomely located and is a town of considerable importance. It is in this town that the first entry of land appears on record, by Nelson Everet, as previously mention- ed, though the correctness of this is doubted.
ORIGIN OF NAMES OF LAKES, RIVERS, AND TIMBER.
A word will also be in place regarding the origin of names as applied to lakes, rivers, etc. Bear Lake should be properly known as Pickerel Lake. The story is this: Buffalo being found in this section as late as 1853, a party consisting of Joseph Hewitt, Joshua Jackson, and Joseph Kel-
ley, visited the region of Nunda, in quest of that game, in the summer of that year. Their hunt was rewarded by one or two buffalo calves, and some fine pickerel taken from that lake, which suggested the name, as mentioned.
On the other hand Pickerel Lake should be known as Bear Lake. Some years previous to set- tlement, the Indians killed a large bear near that body of water, and ever afterwards called it Bear Lake. In 1854, one Austin Nichols, who had previously obtained from the three buffalo hunt- ers glowing accounts of their beautiful Pickerel Lake, made a tour through from the Cedar to the Blue Earth River, and struck Bear Lake in his route, of which he knew nothing. Supposing it to be the Pickerel Lake of which he had been told of, he so called it, and his acquaintances set- tling in soon after, accepted his impression with- out further inquiry. A year later, the pioneers who settled Nunda, knowing that their northern neighbors had got the Pickerel, supposed of course that the Bear belonged to them, and so the acci- dental change became a fixed fact.
Lake Albert Lea was originally known as Fox Lake. In 1835, when the exploring command of Lieut. Lea approached this body of water a white fox ran past the head of the column, and thus un- consciously had his memory perpetuated.
White Lake was first known as Lake Chapeau. From the bank of this, where Lieut. Lea rested his command a few hours, the lake presents the shape of a French military hat, and this suggest- ed the name. When this section of country was afterwards mapped out, Chapeau was dropped and Albert Lea applied. The early settlers knew but little about these lakes, and took it for granted that the large one bore the name of the distinguished explorer, and thus the For was finally allowed to escape. In the meantime, Capt. A. W. White settled upon the bank of the origi- nal Chapeau, and by common consent his name has become associated with that lake.
Turtle Creek is said to have been so named in 1854. A party crossing the same was stepping from one stone to another, when one of the num- ber suddenly lost his footing-the stone as he supposed gracefully sliding from under him. It proved to be a huge turtle, with which the river then abounded, and the stream was ever after- wards called Turtle River, It is noted in Lieut. Lea's minutes as Iowa River.
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HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY.
Mule Lake was discovered by the Boardman brothers, who, as we have already said, first set- tled in Hartland. Their entry into that town was with a mule team, driven across the country from Geneva. On their return they related their obser- vations, and the mules were at once dignified in the naming of the lake.
Some years previous to settlement, the heavy body of timber which covered section sev- enteen, in Moscow, was set on fire in a dry season, creating such a conflagration as to suggest scenes in Russia under the great Napoleon. From that time it was known as the Moscow timber, and thus the name of the town had its origin.
I have now passed in review the salient points in the history of our county, and although that re- view has been necessarily brief, it shows a record and a growth of which any people may feel justly proud, and calculated to inspire high hopes for future prosperity. Few agricultural regions have ever witnessed a more rapid advancement in pop- ulation, growth of products, educational endow- ments, and general material wealth ; and I may add, that seldom has it fallen to the lot of inan to have his destiny fixed in such an Eden of natural beauty.
Looking baek over the period of the last twenty years, we have little to regret. From a trackless and uninhabited region, we have sprung into a community of 15,000 souls, teaming with a busy life. Vineyards and groves rise up everywhere to please the eye and gratify the taste, while thons- ands of laughing grain fields wave their golden treasures to triumph to make glad the hearts of the husbandmen. Log cabins yield to the ad- vaneing progress of wealth and civilization, and in their places rise up the homes of greater ma- terial comfort, and domestic enjoyment; the rail pens have given away to substantial granaries, and straw stables are fast making room for spac- ious and costly barns.
Schoolhouses afford educational facilities at convenient intervals, while the green foliage, be- neath which they are embowered, offer their in- viting shade to thousands of promising children.
Sloughs, inlets, and streams have been substan- tially bridged, while long rows of shade trees mark the line of the well-beaten turnpikes.
Railroads and grain stations remind us that we have already passed the period of pioneer life, and that we are entering upon an area full of inspiring hope for the future.
Looking upon our material prosperity for the twenty years past, we may well enquire what will be the condition of Freeborn county one hundred years hence. I will not undertake the specula- tion. None of us will be living, but remember that the present is always the parent of the future. As the twig is bent, so it will grow. Our intłu- ence does not end with our lives. The uncounted generations to come, hold us largely responsible for their mtellectnal, moral, and religious charac- ter : for, be it known, that whether we will it or not. the broad or restricted philanthrophy of our own lives will impress itself upon all the distant future.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
As a continuation of the early history of the county, quite a full account of the meetings of the Old Settlers' Association is given here, with very full reports of some of the speeches or ad- dresses, which are rich in reminiscences and so well presented that a rewriting could not im- prove them. Coming in this form, it slightly in- terferes with the continuity of the plan of the work, but this is fully compensated for by a dis- ruption of the monotony which might otherwise become tedious in the perusal.
The old settlers of Freeborn county who were desirous of perpetuating the memory of the hardships, the trials, tronbles, and privations on the one hand, and the pleasures and triumphs ou the other, of pioneer times and frontier life, joined in a call to all those who came previous to 1860, to meet on the 12th of July, 1875, for the purpose of organizing an Old Settlers' Association.
In response to this call a meeting was held at the Court House on the day mentioned, at two o'clock. The assembly was called to order by D). (}. Parker, who read the call that had been issued. On motion of John L. Melder, Mr. Parker was made temporary chairman. On motion of F. McCall, Il. D. Brown was appointed secretary. On motion of Isaac Botsford. the following com- mittee on resolutions was appointed : Henry Thurston. F. MeCall, and H. G. Emmons; on nominations, Isaac Botsford, John L. Melder, and Jason Goward. While waiting for the reports of
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committees Mr. Melder, who was the original mover in the matter, was called upon for a speech, and responded in a facetious vein, relating ammusing anecdotes. Remarks were made by Father Lowry and others.
The committee appointed for the purpose re- ported a constitution which, after discussion and amendment, was adopted. Its provisions were that any old settler conld join by paying a nom- inal snm, who was here previous to January 1st. 1859, and the limitation is advanced each year so that any one who has been a resident sixteen years can then join the association.
The officers elected under this constitution were: President, D. G. Parker; vice-Presidents, J. L. Melder, H. Bickford, and O. C. Goodnature; Secretary, Henry Thurston; Treasurer, H. D. Brown; Chaplain, Rev. S. H. Lowry; Financial Committee, Ole Peterson, J. W. Ayers, and the President, Secretary, and Treasurer, ex-officios. The constitution was then signed by thirty-nine persons; the President delivered an address which was requested for publication. Previous to ad- journment, a cordial invitation was extended to all the ladies and gentlemen of the county who were old settlers to become members.
The second meeting was held on Tuesday, the 2d of June, 1876, at the Court House in Albert Lea. The opportunity was given for joining the society, and sixty-five persons signed the consti- tution, who had come here previous to January, 1860. Several amendments were presented and adopted, the most important of which was the appointment of a committee on obituary notices.
The officers elected for the year were: Presi- dent, D. G. Parker; vice-Presidents, William N. Goslee, of Loudon; D. R. Young, Shell Rock; N. I. Lowthian, Freeman; H. G. Emmons, Nunda; Henry Tunell, Mansfield; C. E. Butler, Oakland; Ender Gulbrandson, Hayward; I. Botsford, Al- bert Lea; J. H. Pace, Moscow; Lewis Bill, Rice- land; William H. Long, Bancroft; E. D. Hop- kins, Manchester; Asa Walker, Carlston; C. E. Johnson, Newry; J. T. Jones, Geneva; Richard Fitzpatrick, Bath; A. S. Purdie, Hartland; and Jason Goward, Freeborn; Secretary, H. Tlinrs- ton; Treasurer, H. D. Brown; Chaplain, S. G. Lowry; Finance Committee, Ole Peterson, J. W. Ayers, the President, Secretary, and Treasurer. E. C. Stacy was appointed on the obituaries for the ensuing year.
Judge Cooley, of Minneapolis, delivered the annnal address, which was entertaining, instruc- tive, and satisfactory. Judge Stacy read the obituary notices of those who had moved on to an unknown frontier during the year, and also men- tioned some of the old settlers who had gone he- fore the association was organized, and depicted the valuable services they had rendered while here. H. D. Brown read a poem prepared in another part of the State, but revised to suit the the conditions here presented.
The question as to the earliest resident arose, and George Gardner and H. Bickford claimed the honor of being the oldest continuous settlers. Various reminiscences were brought out as to early political affairs; how majorities were rolled up; how men got elected delegates to conven- tions, and became candidates after they got there, with other points of interest. The supper was at the Hall House, and the fare was in strik- ing contrast with the fare in the fifties.
The third meeting was on the 13th of June, 1877. A procession was formed and marched to the picnic ground in Albert Lea. Prayer was offered by Rev. Walter Scott, one of the pioneers of the county. A letter was read from A. P. Swineford regretting his inability to meet his old friends this year. Twenty-seven joined the asso- ciation.
The officers chosen this year were; President, E. C. Stacy; Treasurer, H. D. Brown; Secretary, Henry Thurston; and a Vice President from each town in the county. The finance committee with the cx-officios were J. L. Melder and J. W. Ayers.
A paper was read from Col. Albert M. Lea, giving an account of his early explorations and relating the incidents which gave his name to one ot the lakes in the county and subsequently to the county seat. A large portrait of the Colonel was also shown and he was unanimously elected an honorary member. Walter Scott gave an account of some transactions in his neighborhood in 1856 and '57. Other stories were told, and the basket dinner was eaten with enjoyment by all. Isaac Botsford was appointed to look after the honored dead of next year. D. G. Parker then read the history of the county prepared for this centennial year.
The fourth annual meeting was on the second Friday in June, 1878. A procession headed by the Albert Lea Brass Band marched to the pic-nic
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ground. President Stacy presided, and the ex- ercises commenced by singing the long Doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," and a song by the Purdie family. Alfred P. Swine- ford was then introduced, the oldest printer in the county, who was successful in his attempt to sat- isfy the high expectations of those who remember the meteor-like seintillations of the "Southern Minnesota Star" during the first county clection. It is presented in full:
"If I have any apology to offer for having once failed to keep my engagement with you, and finally having come so far only, I fear, to dissapoint those who may have been led to expect an address worthy of the name and of the occasion, it is that in the first instance unexpected business compli- cations imperatively demanded my personal atten- tion at the time I had fondly hoped to be with you; and I hope and trust that the lingering de- sire that I have long felt to revisit the "scenes of my youth," will be accepted as a sufficient apol- ogy for my presence now. For, though grown to man's estate when, a little more than twenty-one years ago, I came to the then almost absolutely vacant site of your beautiful, thriving young city of Albert Lea, I was, in fact, a mere boy in years as well as in experience of the world and its busi- Dess affairs. Coming here, as I now have, in a palatial railway coach, borne along in ease and comfort, at the rate of twenty-five or thirty miles an hour, annihilating the distance between here and the Mississippi in less time than used to be re- quired to work up sufficient courage to attempt the trip, I could not avoid, as I came along, a mental contrast between the present eoming, and that of twenty-one years agone. Never, while life lasts, shall I forget that first trip!
I had been a journeyman printer out of an un- completed apprenticeship with the last governor of the Territory of Minnesota, and for a brief period before coming here, was foreman on a St. Paul weekly paper. The Railroad, Real Estate, and Financial Advertiser, was at least a part of its title, of which Charles H. Parker, a banker, was publisher, and Joe Wheelock the editor. What- ever time may have accomplished for him, Joe was then a dyspeptie, peevish, irascible individual, though a most vigorous, canstic writer. The pa- per invariably came out late on the day of pub- lieation or the day after, for the reason that Whee- lock always had something of the utmost import-
ance, at the very last moment, which must go in or there would be a row, and there generally was one. Joe laid the blame for the late appearance of the paper on the foreman, and the foreman re- ciprocated his gentle insinuations in that regard by imputing the whole of it to the editor. Par- ker thought somebody lied; Wheelock felt sure of it, and the foreman, though an orphan of tender years, was certain of it, and that it wasn't him, and that anybody who said it was, was a horse- thief and a liar, and hadn't truth enough in him to make an ordinary gas meter. Wheelock, in his virtuous wrath, produced an old pepper-box re- volver, and with the most horrid oaths, threatened to fill your humble orator on this occasion, as full of holes as the useful article of table ware from which his implement of war took its name; but he didn't, for which forbearence on his part I have mentally thanked him innumerable times, and here and now. in this public manner I most cheer- fully and magnanimously forgive him, for if he bad shot and hadn't told a whopper about it, lie would have saved me all these after vears of editor- ial drudgery, and you this intliction. If I were to meet him now, 1 really believe I should shake hands with him, and thank him most cordially for the wrong he did me in not shooting, though I doubt much if the pistol was loaded, or if he could have hit the gable end of the capitol at arm's length, if it had been double-shotted. How- ever, we continued together a few weeks longer, eyeing each other askance, instituting and pre- serving an armed truce, as it were, your humble servant all the time anxious to get away from the near vieinity of that pepper-box revolver, which he knew would shoot in all directions if it went off at all, and I have no doubt Joe was equally anxious to have him do so, when one morning an advertisement appeared in one of the daily papers calling for a printer to go into the south part of the Territory to establish a newspaper in a new town of great promise, and directed applicants to call at a certain room in the then leading hotel of St. Paul. Here was the coveted opportunity. I thirsted more for literary and editorial fame than for a personal encounter with Wheelock and his treacherous pepper-box, which I was assured by those who ought to know, scattered fearfully. I had, by dint of great perseverance and the prac- tice of the most rigid economy, managed to save a whole week's salary, and was ready to venture in search of other fields, "and pastures new." I did not
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stand on the order of my calling at the avertis- er's room, but called at once, and there I met for the first time, the founder of Albert Lea, rotund, jovial, large-hearted George S. Ruble, who had lately succeeded in having the place where he knew there ought to be a town, designated as the county seat of the newly organized county of Freeborn. I had heard the name of the place before. The weekly paper to which I have refer- red kept standing on its fourth page a large map of the territory, an electrotype plate, into which I would drill a hole large enough to permit the in- sertion of a small letter o to designate the sight, and close to it chisel through a space large enough to hold the name of any new town the proprietor of which was willing to pay for its insertion. I had only the week before put Albert Lea on the map, and I remember that the lake was not large enough to hold the bold faced letters, for the in - sertion of which I presume Ruble paid liberally. I think I can claim the honor of having placed Albert Lea on the first map upon which it ever appeared.
I found some difficulty in convincing Ruble that the mole under my right optic was legitimate and not the result of any discretion on my part; but that matter finally settled to his satisfaction, the negotiations were easily concluded. George agreed to endorse notes with which to purchase an outfit, and also advanced funds with which to pay necessary expenses to Chicago. He also agreed to and did, deed to myself and N. T. Gray, who was desirous of embarking with me in the enterprise, a sufficient number of lots in the new town to have made me a richer man than I am to-day, had I remained here anl waited patiently for the coming of that era of prosperity which has since dawned upon you. And here let me re- mark (in a parenthesis, as it were, ) that though I came here and went away again as poor as Job's turkey gobbler, I have, through strict integrity, untiring toil and perseverance, and the practice of close economy, managed to hold my own ever since. However, to return to my ower-true narra- tive, Ruble stipulated as a sort of side agreement, having an eye, I presume, to the more rapid growth of his new town, that I should get mar- ried, which stipulation I readily accepted, al- though I was not certain that " the girl I left be- hind me" would ratify the arrangement, but she did, came here with me to live, and regrets that
she cannot be here with you to-day; the best she could do. under the circumstances, was to send her card in the shape of her daugh- ter, who was born in Minnesota, shortly after we left Freeborn county. But I'm afraid I'm getting the story mixed up. I went to Chi- cago, traversing the Mississippi most of the way on the ice, from St. Paul to Prairie du Chein, thence by stage to Boscobel, then the western terminus of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Rail- road; thence by rail to Janesville, then again by stage to a connection with what is now the Madi- son division of the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- way, and of which a former Albert Lea boy is Super- intendent. That was in February, 1857. Hav- ing purchased a hand press, type enough for a six column paper, and some 'job type, I then went up to Oshkosh to carry out the stipulation referred to, and early in March, accompanied by my wife, started on the return trip to Minnesota. Portage City was then the terminas of the old La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, and from that point we had to travel the entire distance by stage, over the devious ronte, through Sparta, Black River Falls, Eau Claire, River Falls, to Pres- cott and Hastings, in doing which a whole week's time was consumed. At Hastings I was joined by my partner, Gray, and leaving Mrs. Swineford with some relatives, we set out by stage for Albert Lea. The route was through Northfield, Fari- bault, Owatonna, to Austin, where the stage ronte, so far as it benefitted us was at an end. Stopping here over night, we were fortunate enough to fall in with Dorr Stacy, then a half grown lad, who was there after the Geneva mail, which was car- ried semi-occasionally by Foot & Walker's line, Dorr being horses, driver, and all hands. Tak- ing the mail upon his back, he piloted us through to his father's, that being recommended to us as the best route, the road to Albert Lea not being open. An all day's walk brought us to the resi- dence of your honorable President, Judge Stacy, and I am postively certain that never before or since have I watched with such an absorbing in- terest a woman engaged in the arduous task of baking griddle cakes, as I did the Judge's estim- able wife that evening.
The next morning, bright and early, we set out for Albert Lea, whose "tall spires and turrets crowned " were vividly pictured in our imagina- tions. Picture to yourself two lone sailors adrift
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in an open boat ou the trackless sea, with com- pass or rudder, and you have a true representa- tion of Gray and your humble servant, as they plodded their weary way over the traekless prai- ries and through the leafless tress of the oak openings in search of their final harbor of refuge. It was about the middle of March. The snow still lay on the ground to the depth of a foot or more, though the weather was mild and the snow was melting, and under it there appeared to be an equal depth of water, which the frost pre- vented the ground from absorbing. We had started on the road pointed out to us, but it had grown fainter and fainter, and we had not tray- eled an hour before it entirely disappeared. Gray was a dogged determinnd sort of a fellow, and didn't have any new wife to grieve over his loss in the wilderness, while she set her cap for an- other fellow, and I was determined, too, that mine should not have a chance to laugh at me, as I knew she would do if we turned back, so we strnek out in the direction we thought Albert Lea ought to lie. You who live here now in the enjoyment of all the ease and comfort of eivilized life in your cozy and elegant homes, embellished with all the treasures of art, if you came at a later period, can have little appreciation of the feelings, of the hopes and fears, I might almost say, of the sighs and tears, of those two forlorn weary pilgrims, as they plodded their slow way along in search of the spot where now stands the beautiful, prosperous capital of your equally beautiful and prosperous country. Over the hil- locks, through the sloughs. which toward night- fall became, to us, veritable "sloughs of despond," the feet sinking at every step through the snow into the water underneath, leg-weary and sore, it was little wonder that when we reached Ruble's the following day, we were not only lame and halt, bnt blind as well. All day we traveled with- out meeting a single person or seeing a human habitation of any kind. All was a dreary, bar- ren waste: we were literally afloat on the wide and seemingly boundless prairie, without compass and "nary" a guide-board to dircet us to a haven of rest. Just at dusk we came upon the bank, or low marshy shore, rather, of a lake: and were hes- itating whether to go around or attempt to eross it, when we heard the welcome report of a gun, apparently not over a dozen rods off and on the other side of a low ridge or hillock. Talk about
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