USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota > Part 37
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
of the ever-living Jehovah. Here a band of the Dakotas had had their homes for full fifty years before the avarice of white men sought and claimed the land as the possession of civilization. Nestled down in a beautiful little valley, or rather in a series of connecting valleys, and encircled by a mighty river and mountainous bluffs, that rise hundreds of feet towards the clouds, the location is one to enlist the admiration of the most indifferent to beauty of scenery.
The grandest of these bluffs is La Grange, or Barn Bluff. It was named La Grange (The Barn) by the early French voyageurs, because of its fancied resemblance to a large barn.
From the summit of this bluff a grand prospect opens out before the . visitor. Across the majestic river is the State of Wisconsin, with farms, herds, golden fields of grain, neat tasty residences, abodes of wealth, comfort, contentment and happiness. Between the Mississippi and the Wisconsin bluffs a handsome lake spreads its waters over an expanse of several acres. Turning to the right and looking eastward and south- ward, the Father of Waters is lost in the silvery-shining Lake Pepin, whose beauty and grandeur can never be truthfully touched by poet pen or artist pencil. In the distance, where the pure waters of the lake dance " forward and back " to Wisconsin's shore, Maiden Rock, rendered immortal in song and story, lifts its summit as if to meet the clouds and catch the first drippings of heaven's dew or kiss Aurora's cheek as she unbars the gate of light. Turning still farther to the right, the eye reaches far out and takes in a range of hills, and valleys, and timber, and streams, that, reflected in summer's sun or winter's snow, presents a scene that would have coquetted with the fancies of the old masters whose paintings have enlisted the enthusiastic admiration of art con- noisseurs everywhere. Beneath, the valleys teem with life, with homes of happiness, culture and refinement; handsome houses and well-kept grounds, blooming with flowers that fill the air with perfume and richest incense; golden fields of ripening grain, the wealth and support of nations ; busy husbandmen, smiling, contented matrons, gleeful, hope- ful maidens, and laughing, joyous children as they trip along to or from the white school houses ( America's sentinel posts) that dot the valleys or hillsides. Rivulets, creeks and rivers shimmer in the sunlight like ribbons of silver, and chassey along between the bluffs, one ripple chasing another over smoothly-worn gravel beds, or leaping over time- worn rocks, hurry on to kiss the hem of their great father and on to the gulf in the land of orange groves. Anon a church steeple points to the skies the home of God and the city of golden-paved streets. Here and there nestles a village with its stores, and shops, and mills
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
and manufactories, and their busy sons and daughters of toil, whose strong arms and deft fingers fashion the useful and the beautiful, and add to the wealth of the country in which they dwell.
Tracing the distant horizon, the eye catches the rising, curling smoke as it is discharged from the throat of the ponderous steam-driven loco- motive, that laughs at space and shortens time. By-and-by the ear receives the distant rumble of long trains of cars laden with merchan- dise, the product of the farm, the "fruit of the loom," the mill, the mine, the spices of Arabia, the tea-plant of China, the offerings of Brazil, or the cotton of the sunny South, or, may be, freighted with human souls, intent upon business or pleasure, but all infused with new life as they inhale the exhilarating atmosphere that rises only along the sources of the upper Mississippi. Nearer and nearer, louder and louder, come the rushing, roaring, rumbling trains, away down, down, down, so far below us that they seem as but a long strip of dark cloud driven before a huricane of wind, from the apex upon which the visitor stands. On, on they go, and are soon lost behind the curves of the great river whose course they follow towards Itasca-far up in the direction of the dominions of England's queen-or down towards the gulf where the Father of Waters is lost in the mighty ocean. Scarcely beyond the river curves, and the eye is relieved by the appearance of a steam floating-palace, gliding smoothly along on the peaceful bosom of the majestic river that unites the States of the American Union from the lakes to the sea, and divides them almost equally between the Atlantic on the east, where " the waves of ages" roll, and the golden- sloped Pacific on the west.
What a grand picture, and yet the subject is scarcely touched. The pen is powerless and words are vain. It was the hand of a divine archi- tect that unfolded this garden of beauty, that spread out these pictu- resque valleys, that fashioned the courses of the brooklets and stream- lets and rivers ; that hollowed out the basin of Lake Pepin, and supplied the never-failing fountains from which its depth of water is economized, and the unique range of mountain-like bluffs that hem them in like a cordon of forts are monuments to His superlative greatness and incom- prehensible wisdom.
In the center of this prospect is the city of Red Wing with a popula- tion of seven thousand busy people, whose intelligence and wealth will bear favorable comparison with any city of equal population on the continent, and far surpass many others of greater pretensions. The several school buildings, with their accomplished and experienced teachers, and the numerous elegant church edifices, large congregations
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
and learned and devout ministers, bespeak a refined and desirable con- dition of society.
GOODHUE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
This organization took place December 4, 1863, with a membership of fifty-seven. The first officers were W. S. Grow, president ; E. A. Sargeant, vice president ; J. A. Marvin, secretary, and William Feath- erstone, treasurer, and one directo» from each township. The first fair was held at Red Wing, in the fall of 1864. Fairs were held at that place each fall until 1870, when it was moved to Hader, where the receipts were $445.20. The following year they were $351.95.
In 1874, it was removed to Zumbrota, when the receipts amounted to $694.45. In 1875-6-7, the receipts were $724.12, $731.20, $825.54. The fair is now being held in Zumbrota, with A. J. Grover, president ; H. E. Perkins, vice president ; D. B. Schofield, secretary, and B. C. Grover, treasurer. The present executive committee are S. C. Hall, H. B. Car. penter, G. G. McCoy, Ole A. Strand and Henry Ahneman. The society it will be observed, is in a prosperous condition, and a valuable enter- prise to the county.
RED WING CITY GOVERNMENT.
Red Wing became an incorporated city under a special act of the legislature, approved March 4, 1857. Since then there have been numerous amendatory enactments, the last one being passed by the legislature of 1878, under which the city was divided into four wards. From the time of the first act of incorporation to the passage of the last amendatory act, there was but one ward.
The first election for city officers was held in April, 1857.
The first meeting of the city board was held on the evening of the 25th of May, following. Present: Mayor Weatherby, and Councilmen Hoyt and Beers. S. A. Bevans was elected city clerk, and William Colvill was elected city attorney.
At the next meeting, June 8th, Councilman Lauver, who did not appear at the first meeting, was present and tendered his resignation, which was accepted. James Lawther was appointed to the vacancy.
The following names embrace a full list of the first board of city officers as constituted June 8, 1857: Mayor, J. C. Weatherby ; council-
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
men, F. F. Hoyt, Charles W. Beers, James Lawther; city clerk, S. A. Bevans ; city attorney, William Colvill; surveyor, William Rock ; assessors, I. W. Brant and Volney Brundage; printer, Dan. S. Merritt ; treasurer, James T. Chamberlain ; marshal, F. F. Philleo.
MAYORS IN ORDER OF SUCCESSION.
1857, J. C. Weatherby ; 1858, William Freeborn, (resigned September 30, and F. F. Philleo appointed to the vacancy ;) 1859, C. H. Conley ; 1860, P. Vandenberg ; 1861, E. L. Baker, (resigned November 5, to enter the army as a soldier in defense of the Union, and James Lawther was appointed to serve out the unexpired term ;) 1862, C. C. Graham ; 1863, W. T. Hastings; 1864 and 1865, W. W. Phelps; 1866, William Howe; 1867, E. L. Baker; 1868, J. M. Hodgman ; 1869 and 1870, William P. Brown ; 1871, E. H. Alley ; 1872, Charles McClure; 1873, 1874 and 1875, William P. Brown ; 1876 and 1877, F. R. Sterrett; 1878, J. M. Hodgman.
RELIGIOUS INTERESTS.
THE PIONEER MISSIONARIES.
In no county of any of the States of the great Northwest, have relig- ious interests been more carefully nurtured than in the county whose history we are writing. And it is very questionable whether there is any county in the entire country, away from the large cities, of equal, or even greater population, that can boast the same number of neat, tasty, church edifices, or more attentive, devoted, prosperous and well- organized and well-to-do religious congregations.
The foundations of this desirable condition of affairs were laid under the direction of the Christian people of Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1837, that community sent Revs. Denton and Gavin, to found a mission among the Indians at Trempeleau, Wisconsin. In 1838, the mission was removed to Red Wing's village, where the founders continued to labor until Mr. Denton's health failed in 1846, when it was given up to the American Board of Missions. After Denton and Gavin igave up the work, the mission remained unoccupied until the fall of 1848, when the American Board commissioned Rev. Joseph W. Hancock and Rev. John Aiton, to take up the work where Denton and Gavin had left it. Hence, it may be said that the soil of Goodhue was consecrated to the teachings of the meek and lowly Jesus, long before white people ever thought of claiming the country as an abiding place, and converting the Indian wild into a very paradise of beauty and remunerative productiveness.
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
The seeds scattered by Revs. Denton and Gavan, and industriously cul- tivated by Rev. Joseph W. Hancock, were not without reward. A bountiful harvest has ripened into fullness, and blessed their labors as missionaries of the Cross.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
ZEAL AND EARNESTNESS OF METHODIST WORKERS-ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY AT RED WING.
Where has Methodism not been carried ? From a little class organized by John Wesley, in London, England, in 1739, persecuted and hunted from place to place, their numbers increasing from month to month, from year to year, they now rank first in point of numbers among the civilized people of the world. There is no limit to the industry and earnestness of this people. Wherever it has been possible to reach mankind, at home and abroad, there the truths taught by the followers of John Wesley have been carried. It has made the dark places light, and opened the pathway of peace to millions of benighted souls. No sluggard can be a Methodist. That organization tolerates no drones, and its system is so perfect that each part of its working machinery is in full harmony with the other. These people follow their plan of evan- gelization as regularly as the sun follows its orbit. No plummet was ever truer to the line than are the Methodists to their work. Not only is industry a prerequisite to a good Methodist, but courage as well, particularly to the ministry. When once one's mind is made up to enter that sacred calling, friends, kindred, home, and if needs be, conntry, must be sacrified to the duty embraced, and wherever work is to be done, there must he go. It may be to missionary service in the remotest islands of the sea-a backwoods or prairie mission or circuit, with perhaps the appointments a day's journey or a week's journey apart- the settlements sparse, the labor great, and the prospect of earthly reward exceedingly small. Hunger, exposure, persecution, are in the way, but Methodism smiles at these and sings its hosannas of praise and shouts its pæans of defiance at the bulwarks of the tempter. In the character of the pioneer Methodist minister-circuit riders, like Peter Cartwright or Kentucky's Findley-there is something grand and touchingly sublime. But these are only two of tens of thousands, the memories of whose character, courage, self denial, and devotion to the cause of the Master and the salvation of souls, lives as a monument in the minds of true followers of the author and finisher of men's faith.
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
Early in the field everywhere, they followed close on the heels of the early immigrants to the land of the Dakotas, chanting their songs of praise, and shouting defiance at all obstacles between them and the accomplishment of the work they were commissioned to do.
As a general rule, their missionaries go ahead to spy out the land and look after the spiritual needs of the early pioneers. Later comes the circuit rider, with his saddle-bags, Bible, and hymn-book ; and thus, step by step, their good work is prosecuted.
The history of Methodism in Minnesota shows that missions were established by that branch of the Christian church as early as 1837, by the Rev. Alfred Brunson and Rev. David King, at Kaposia and St. Peter's, among the Sioux. On the 31st day of December, 1848, a Meth- odist church was organized at St. Paul, and in October of the following year, a similar organization was accomplished at St. Anthony's Falls. Services were also held at Stillwater and Point Douglas in 1850.
White settlements commenced at Red Wing's village in June, 1852. At that time this district of country was included in what was then known as the St. Peter's Mission, and the year just mentioned Rev. S. L. Leonard was appointed to be pastor at Red Wing.
In 1853 a class was organized, out of which has grown the present prosperous congregation. In 1854 the society formally organized by the election of a board of trustees.
The first pastor sent to Red Wing as a separate and independent appointment, was Rev. Jabez Brooks, in 1854. He was also principal of the preparatory department of Hamline University. At that time the congregation only numbered twenty-two members. During that conference year the membership increased to ninety.five.
Regular services were first held, and for a little more than a year, in the schoolroom of the University, in C. I. F. Smith's store-building, near the river. When the University building was completed, services commenced and were continued in the college chapel until the present church edifice, costing $11,000 was completed and dedicated in the summer of 1858. On the 2d of June, 1859, the tower, nearly one hundred feet in hight, blew down, falling lengthwise, and carrying to the ground nearly the whole building with it. It was immediately rebuilt, at a cost of $1,400, making the entire cost of the building $12,400.
The two-story brick parsonage belonging to the church, was erected under the superintendency of Rev. J. H. Macomber, pastor, in 1877, at a cost of $2,200. It is partially furnished by the congregation, which obviates the necessity of the preachers sent to the work from time to time, removing heavy articles of furniture with them.
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
In 1875, the citizens had the honor of entertaining the annual Con- ference. Every house was thrown open to the members and visitors of the Conference, and for once sectarian differences were ignored. On the Sunday that intervened during the session of the Conference, most of the other church pulpits were occupied by members of the Conference.
The pastors in succession since the first appointment in 1852, have been as follows :
1852, S. L. Leonard ; 1853, M. Sorin ; 1854, Jabez Brooks ; 1855 and 1856, C. Hobert; 1857, Peter Akers; 1858, J. W. Stogdell ; 1859, Jabez Brooks ; 1860, Silas Bolles; 1861 and 1862, E. Tucker; 1863, G. W. Richardson ; 1864, P. Akers, from May to September, (in September Mr. Akers was succeeded by Thomas M. Gossard ;) 1865, A. J. Nelson, from June to September, (September 25, Mr. Nelson was succeeded by C. Brooks ;) 1866 and 1867, C. Brooks; 1868, John Kerns; 1869 and 1870, Thomas McClary ; 1871, E. Lathrop; 1872 and 1873, C. Griswold ; 1874 and 1875, S. A. Windsor; 1876 and 1877, J. H. Macomber ; 1878, W. C. Rice.
In 1868, the Conference commenced in September ; in 1869, '70,'71, '72, '73, '74, '75, it commenced in October ; in 1876, '77, '78, it commenced in September.
SABBATH SCHOOL.
The Sabbath School was organized in the fall of 1854, and has been · steadily maintained ever since. The principal school now numbers two hundred scholars. Besides this school there is a mission school in the upper part of the city, with a recorded scholarship of one hundred. The church here also has supervision of a school at Lewis' school house, in Wacoota township, and one on Wells Creek, representing an aggre- gate enrolled membership of 420, the average attendance of which is 350. Forty-eight officers and teachers were employed at the date of Mr. Macomber's last report to Conference.
A. J. Meacham is superintendent of the parent school; William Robinson of the mission school, and James Sutherland of the Wells Creek school.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The next church in the order of organization is the First Presbyterian. For a period of time involving nearly three years from the date of the first settlement by white people at Red Wing, the only regularly organized religious services were conducted under the auspices of the
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
Methodist Episcopal people, but the services, as is always the rule with that branch of the Christian church, were open to all, and no member of any other church organization declined to attend because the services were of the Methodist order.
As immigration increased, so increased the adherents to the different forms of worship. Presbyterianism, as industrious, earnest and zealous as the Baptist or the Methodist-always jealous of the tenets of its faith, and true to the spirit of its founder-had representatives among the immigrants, and as time grew apace, and their numbers increased, they, too, determined upon establishing a church. Their first services were held at the old mission house. At first, like their Methodist co-laborers, their congregations were small, but their earnestness and religious ardor were none the less sincere. The same zeal and devotion that had been the governing principles of the fathers of that branch of the church-that had carried its tenets and truths wherever man had an abiding place ; that, through evil report as well as good, had enabled it to build churches, found schools and seminaries and colleges-was present in these pioneer meetings, and sustained and encouraged its believers. Years of trial and persecution, as all Christian people were persecuted in the earlier days of the Christian era, had only tended to purify and strengthen their faith. While acknowledging all religious organizations as co-laborers in one common field, and ready to bow with them in the presence of the Most High, there is yet an independ- ence in a true Presbyterian that will accept no compromise of his church articles of faith, or to depart therefrom and give up its individ- uality by becoming a part of any other church organization, unless for reasons beyond possible control, such as inaccessibility to their own churches and houses of worship. Love of order and home enter largely into the hearts of Presbyterians everywhere, as much in the Minnesota wilds as in the densely populated cities. No matter where Presbyteri- ans may go, they carry these attributes with them, and never feel that they are at home until worshiping beneath their own vine and fig-tree- their own roof, and that free from debt.
First assembled as a little band of true and steadfast worshipers, at a rude log cabin, erected in 1838 as a Swiss mission house, without organization, we trace the history of this society, its success and pros- perity, down to the present. In the compilation of this summary, we are much indebted to the Rev. Joseph W. Hancock, the first pastor of this congregation.
This church society was organized at the old log mission, heretofore frequently quoted, in January, 1855, with seven members, and was
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
subject to the Presbytery of Minnesota, on the records of which it was designated as the First Presbyterian Church of Red Wing. Since that time the territory then included in the Minnesota Presbytery has been several times divided, and Red Wing is now included in what is known as the St. Paul Presbytery.
The first seven members of the church were Rev. Joseph W. Hancock, Mrs. Sarah R. Hancock, C. J. F. Smith, Otis F. Smith, W. H. Wellington, Rachel Van Denbergh, and Margaret Culbertson.
At the organization, Rev. Joseph W. Hancock officiated, and C. J. F. Smith was elected elder and clerk.
On the 11th of February, 1855, the sacrament of the Lord's supper, was administered to this church for the first time.
Rev. Joseph W. Hancock, who had been laboring for several years as a missionary in connection with the Am. B. C. Foreign Missions, among the Dakota Indians of Minnesota, was engaged as minister of the church from its organization until about Sept. 1st, 1861. For sometime the congregation worshipped in a log cabin about 16 feet square, with a sort of rude table made of rough boards, and supported by legs cut with the axe from the neighboring forest, for a pulpit. The village of Red Wing was just being commenced. Only two or three houses had been erected. The Indians were still here, and the unearthly noise of their war dance was mingled with the songs of praise that went up from the little cabin.
Their next place of worship was a carpenter shop. The shavings were carried out every Saturday evening, the tools packed away in the chests, a few benches carried in, and there they assembled to hold their Sabbath meetings; but as they could not use it for week day meetings, they proceeded to rear a tabernacle for the express purpose. This was accomplished at an expense of about one hundred dollars. It consisted of a shanty of rough boards and joists, 18x35 feet, and was the first house built for public worship in Red Wing. They occupied this for one summer only ; it being too open for the winter, they removed to the village school house, which had been erected during that summer, and there continued to worship until the following spring, when they rented and occupied Philleo Hall. This was the last place occupied by them until the completion of their present place of worship, which was dedicated August 19, 1857, the Rev. Mr. Mattox, of St. Paul, offici- ating, selecting his text from Eccl., 19th chapter and 13th verse.
The contrast between the organization of the church, and the dedi- cation of their spacious and elegant building, was most striking, and was alluded to in the most touching tones by Mr. Hancock. He truly
24
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
had reason to rejoice, for, from such small beginnings, in one year this society had become one of the most flourishing in the territory, and with the edifice was the fruit of his own pious zeal and toil. He then in a solemn and eloquent prayer, dedicated the church. The services were deeply interesting, and were attended by a large and intellectual audience.
The church is a very handsome edifice, 38x66 feet, with tower and bell attached. It contains sixty slips, and will seat three hundred persons. It occupies a very eligible situation at the corner of East avenue and Sixth street. The lot of ground on which the church edifice is situated was given to the congregation by the town proprietors; the adjoining quarter of the block of lots on which the church is situated was purchased for a parsonage, on which a very neat and commodious building has been erected.
During Mr. Hancock's ministry, one hundred persons were added to the church by profession of faith, and by letter from other churches.
Rev. P. H. Snow, of Wisconsin, succeeded him, and supplied the pulpit for one year. Rev. S. H. Smith, of Morristown, New Jersey, was the next minister, and the first installed pastor of the church. He com- menced his labors August 1st, 1863, and resigned the pastorate in February, 1866. Rev. James Thomson, of Mankato, and President Jabez Brooks, D. D., of Hamline University, have supplied the pulpit at different times when the church has been without a pastor. July 1st, 1866, Rev. J. A. Annin, of Cedarville, New Jersey, became the regular minister of the church, and continued the labors until November 24th, 1867. On the 1st of January, 1868, Rev. D. E. Wells, of Monroe- ville, Ohio, took charge of the congregation, and was unanimously elected pastor of the church on the 27th of February, 1868.
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