USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota > Part 46
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From the beginning of the congregation to November, 1858, the following persons had been officers :
Deacons .- Swen Jacobson, S. J. Willard, Ola Olson, sen., Johan Sundell, Jacob Robertson, S. P. Peterson, Carl Johnson, Per Jonson, Jon Bergdahl, T. G. Pearson, and Nils Swenson.
Trustees .- Peter Nilson, Carl Carlson, Olof Peterson, T. G. Pearson, Swen Jacobson.
Pro-Singer .- Nils Person.
Sexton .- Jon Bergdahl, Olof Paulson.
A change in the pastoral relation now took place. What caused it, and the history of the congregation during my disconnection with it from the 1st of November, 1858, to the 1st of September, 1861, I will now briefly relate.
In the fall of 1857, I started a paper at Red Wing, by the name of " Minnesota posten." It was designed as a family paper, treating of political as well as religious matters, besides containing general news, etc. I still think that some good in various ways was accomplished by that paper, although I had to regret that I ever tried my hands at poli- tics. For sometime I was suspected of having considerable political influence among the Swedes in Goodhue county ; but to tell the truth,
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
I never was a politician, although at various times I have discussed general moral principles of right and wrong, touching politics, but I have never taken any part in political managements, caucuses, meet- ings, nor have I ever preached politics. I have never sought after any political office in my life. It is true, I was elected county auditor in 1858, but this was done while I was away on a journey to Illinois, and I knew nothing about it before I came home. I did not accept the office, and Mr. Going was appointed in my stead. But to return to my paper. It was published only twice a month, but the burden of editing a paper of that kind, together with the already crushing load of pastoral and missionary work which I had resting upon me, was rather too much for me. My health broke down, and in the spring of 1857, I had a severe hemorrhage of my lungs. After having carried on the paper for one year-and the year of 1857 was the hardest one in the history of Minnesota-it was proposed to unite it with " Hemlandet," the Swedish paper published at Galesburgh, Ills., and that the united paper be removed to Chicago. This proposition was accepted by both parties.
In the meantime, I had been appointed as an agent to solicit funds in the East for a Scandinavian professorship in the Illinois State Uni- versity. I accepted the appointment, and removed with my family to Chicago. As the times however were too unpropitious, my agency was dropped, and I was instead elected editor of " Hemlandet " and another religious monthly. After one year, I relinquished the editorship, and served a Swedish congregation at Attica, Indiana, for one year. I was then appointed travelling missionary for the State of Minnesota, and removed to St. Paul. In this capacity I continued up to Sept., 1861.
When I left in November, 1358, the congregations at Red Wing and Vasa called the Rev. J. P. C. Boreen, who had recently come from Sweden, to supply my place for one year. At the end of that time he was elected in 1859 as permanent pastor at Red Wing; but at Vasa he was called only as a vice-pastor, or supply, because the congregation had hopes that I would return.
During his time some few families separated from the church at Vasa and organized the Methodist Episcopal and the Baptist congregations there, which, though small and weak, have continued to the present day.
Considerable trouble and some bad feelings also arose in the congre- gation with reference to the question of a new location for a church, which was in contemplation. Many meetings for this purpose were held, and the question was earnestly discussed, but resulted in no definite termination. The old log house continued to be used for the meetings, but was, of course, altogether insufficient to hold so large a
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congregation. In June, 1861, the number of communicants were 143. The inconveniences were, therefore, very great, and the necessity for a' church was very pressing.
Mr. Boreen was no doubt a good, earnest, well-meaning man. He afterwards removed to Stockholm, Pepin county, where he served a con- gregation, and died there the 22d of March, 1865, and was buried at Vasa.
In September, 1861, I was re-called to the pastorate at Red Wing and Vasa. I immediately removed to Red Wing, where I resided up to January, 1870, and entered upon the discharge of my duties.
In order to bring the question of a location for the church to a close, a meeting was called to the 7th of September, 1861, at Vasa, when a committee of eleven was appointed, consisting of such persons as lived round the whole settlement and farthest away from its center, and this committee was authorized to decide upon a place for the church, and by its decision the congregation was to abide. The committee soon after met and decided upon the location where the present brick church stands, viz., the northwest quarter of southeast qr. of section 15, town 112.
In order to secure the location the committee had first to buy 80 acres of Dr. Whitmore, of Wabasha, for the sum of $320. The congregation bought forty acres and the other forty was sold to a private person. Now, the place was decided upon, and at a meeting called on the 12th of October, it was resolved to go to work and build a church. It was to be built of frame. 60x38 feet. Soon, however, a number of families in the southern part of the settlement were dissatisfied with the location, and some other things relating to the building of a church, and withdrew themselves from the congregation. They even organized themselves into a new congregation, and talked of building a church by themselves. The congregation paid no attention to this new movement but went to work and built a small church, on the beautiful hill where it had decided upon. But in view of so many families having withdrawn themselves, the dimensions were cut down to 40x26, with a small sacristy. In June, 1862, it was so far finished that the Scandinavian Evang. Lutheran Synod of North America could hold its annual meeting there-an occasion of historical note. The movement of the seceders fell to the ground, and by and by most of them returned to the old congregation.
We were now in the times of the great civil war, and the minds of all people were occupied with that all absorbing theme. It was not a time favorable to the growth of spirituality and the peaceful develop- ment of the kingdom of God; the times were too exciting for that. Nevertheless, the grace of mercy in caring for the sick and wounded,
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and the people, was during that time awakened in the congregation as never before. Not a few of its members went into the war, and many never returned. In numbers and material wealth, the congregation continned to grow during the war. At its close it had 314 communicants.
On this account, the church soon became too small for the congre- gation. At the annual meeting of 1865, it was proposed to move the church building from the top of the hill to the east side of the lot, put a stone basement under it, and to make preparations for erecting a larger church. This proposition was adopted, and the church was moved during the summer. In the following fall and winter the basement was occupied by the Congregational school and by the orphan home, then in its incipiency.
In regard to the erection of a new church, there were many delibera- tions from December, 1865, to the 2d of January, 1867. It was then resolved by the congregation that I should take the whole matter in my own hands-solicit subscriptions and direct the work from beginning to end. During the winter and spring I had some $8000 subscribed towards the new building, and during the summer Messrs. J. Paulson and J. Wilsey made 350,000 bricks. My health failing again, I had to ask permission for one year-from November, 1867-to recruit; and leav- ing the pastoral work to my assistant, and the erection of the church to the trustees and a building committee, I went to Sweden in the begin- ning of 1868. The foundation to the new church was laid in the sum- mer of 1868, and the church was put up in 1869. Mr. D. C. Hill, of Red Wing, being the architect and contractor for the work. In the early summer of the next year the church was finished and consecrated. Its dimensions are : length, 118 feet ; width, 50 feet; side walls, 22 feet high.
A parsonage was also erected late in the season of 1869. The whole cost of the new church and parsonage as completed amounted to $31,065.22. The gentleman to whom belongs the credit of having col- lected and disbursed the greatest part of this sum is Hon. J. W. Peter- son, who, since 1870, has been the worthy treasurer of the congregation.
With the beginning of the year 1868 the pastorate of Red Wing and Vasa was divided. I then resigned the former and retained the latter; but I did not remove to Vasa before January, 1870.
The following gentlemen have been assistant pastors: Rev. P. A. Caderstorm, from 1867 to 1870; Rev. J. Magny, from 1870 to 1871 ; Rev. A. Anderson, from 1872 to 1873. From 1873, on account of my many duties as president of the synod, I withdrew from the active duties of my pastoral office in the congregation, and the Rev. P. J. Sward, for-
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merly missionary among seamen at Constantinople, Turkey, and lately at Baltimore, was elected vice-pastor.
Mr. L. Engberg has been the pro-singer since 1862.
Statistics for the last synodical year, from 1877, to June, 1878 : mem- bers, 1,288; communicants, 758; baptisms, 70; confirmations, 34; received by letters, 35; deaths, 21; excluded, 17; marriages, 13; Sun- day school, 1 ; congregational school, 1; contributions for church pur- poses, missions and mercies, $4,064.27.
Synodical Connections .- This congregation first belonged to the Evan- gelical Lutheran Synod of Northern Illinois up to 1860. From that time it has belonged to the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America. This synod has now a membership of 68,702, with 39,559 communicant members, in 302 congregations, with 123 min - isters.
THE ORPHAN HOME AT VASA.
This institution of mercy is under the control of the Minnesota Con- ference of the Augustana Synod. It owns ten acres of ground back of the Lutheran church, and a two-story frame building, and contains at present twenty-two orphan children of various ages. The Home was established by myself in the fall of 1865, and I carried it on alone for. eleven years, when it was placed in the hands of the Conference. The free-will offerings for its support have, for the most part, come from Vasa and the Swedish Lutheran churches of Goodhue county. The institution is carried on upon the principles of a Christian home, and has been a blessing to many an orphan child.
FEATHERSTONE.
This township derives its name from William Featherstone, who with a large family settled there in 1855. That year John Spencer, Phillip Starkel, Mr. Goldsmith, and Mr. Coleman, settled in the township, and in the two or three years following came William Freyburger, George Featherstone, J. Meacham, and Rev. John J. Watson. It is claimed by some that Robert Locke settled on section one as early as June, 1853.
The first death was that of Mr. McMahon, who perished from exposure as he was returning from Red Wing one cold night in January, 1857.
James A. Jones and Miss Mary Libby were the first to embark on the sea of matrimony in the summer of 1857. Ceremony by the Rev. J. W. Hancock.
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
Miss Mary Cox taught the first school in the summer of 1856 in a claim shanty on the land since the property of Mr. Freyberger.
October 21, 1857, Wm. Libby called a school meeting. F. N. Leavitt was chosen chairman, and Geo. Featherstone clerk. The first board of trustees consisted of Wm. Freyberger, Wm. Libby and Wm. Watson. Wm. Featherstone was clerk; a singular coincidence in the fact of their all bearing the name of William. The children of legal school age at that date were seventeen, although the district embraced nearly the entire township. In the winter of 1857-8 the first school house was built at a cost of $250. There are now eight or ten, some of which cost nearly $2,500 each.
In 1856 the first church service was held at the house of Wm. Feather- stone. In 1862 the Methodists built a church, 26x40 feet, that cost about $1,000.
In 1866 Ezekiel Burleigh built and opened a hotel but did not long continue it for the accommodation of the public. The township was organized in 1858, and the first election July 5, 1858.
HAY CREEK.
This township was organized in 1858. The first settler was Mr. Eger, who located a claim on section two, near the line of Wacoota township, in the spring of 1854. Erenest Schubert, Mr. Wakefield, George Steele, and Henry Einnzih settled in the township in 1854. In the fall of that year George Frederick, father of Mr. Frederick, of the firm of Frederick & Hack, Red Wing, came to the township, but removed to Belle Creek immediately after.
The first school house was built of logs in 1857, on section 24, where the Wells Creek mills now stand. This school was taught by a young man named Graves.
The first marriage was solemnized between E. Schubert and Miss Rheinhart, in 1859, by William Hayman, the first justice of the peace in the township.
FLORENCE.
This township was organized in 1858. It was named in honor of Florence Graham, daughter of Judge Chris. Graham, now of Red Wing. The township is full of historic interest. It stretches along the upper
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end of Lake Pepin, with its jutting headlands and ragged northeastern border looking out across the water. Here the early explorers disem- barked and planted their banners, more than two hundred years ago, and some of these romantic landmarks still wear the impress of those primitive footsteps in their march of advancing civilization. It is said Count Frontenac, a French voyageur, landed where the little village that bears the musical name of Florence, now stands, as early as the middle of the seventeenth century; and on the 17th of September, 1696, La Perrie du Bouche, with his party, ascended the Mississippi, and landed on the shore of the lake, at a point below Frontenac, where a peninsula stretches an arm out into the water. This was named by the French Point du Sable, and there they built a post or stockade, almost two centuries ago. Says a recent writer: "The stockade was one hundred feet square, within which were three buildings, subserv- ing, most likely, for store, chapel and quarters."
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WEST FLORENCE.
In the month of September, 1859, a meeting was held at the house of James B. Smith, Esq., in the southwestern part of Florence town- ship, for the purpose of organizing a church. There were present Rev. J. W. Hancock, Rev. J. N. Williams, J. B. Smith and wife, Lorenzo Utley and wife, Miss E. Manny, Mrs. Susan H. Williams, Miss Harriet E. and Miss Sarah H. Williams, and several children.
After singing, reading the scriptures and prayer, letters of standing and church membership were presented by the following named : J. B. Smith, Lucretia Smith, Susan H. Williams, Harriet E. Williams, Sarah L. Williams, and Elizabeth M. Utley.
And according to the usual order they were constituted a Christian church, under the name of "The Presbyterian Church of West Florence." James B. Smith was chosen elder.
Rev. J. N. Williams was chosen to preach as stated supply. He preached in that vicinity every alternate Sunday for a little over two years, receiving $80 from the people, and the balance of his salary from the home missionary society.
For more than two years after Mr. Williams left they were without any stated preaching.
A log house having been turned into a public school house, in that neighborhood, was used as a house of worship for several years.
In the spring of 1864 measures were taken to have regular preaching again, as will be seen by the following paragraph taken from the church records :
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
" West Florence, April 3, 1864. A meeting was held according to previous notice. On motion, the Rev. J. W. Hancock was chosen pastor ; J. B. Smith and John Holliday elected elders."
A new school house was built in 1866, and religious services, which had till that time been held in the log house, were now held in the new school house.
The present church edifice was commenced in 1871, and was so far finished as to be occupied that year. This building cost about $2,000.
This church was prospered with frequent additions, having a roll of fifty-three members in all, until about the year 1872 it began to decline on account of the removal from the place of many of its members.
The Germans have taken the places of many of the former inhab- itants, and religious services in the German language are now conducted in the church a part of the time.
The following is a list of the township officers, beginning with Dr. John Kelly, chairman of the board of supervisors, and J. C. Carey, clerk, as early as 1858; the first named being chairman, and the last clerk :
1859, L. H. Garrard, E. Z. K. Munger, L. Utley, Peter Grant. 1860, H. F. Simmons, Wm. Arnold, E. Z. K. Munger, Calvin Potter. 1861, H. F. Simmons, E. Z. K. Munger, Wm. Arnold, J. A. Owens. 1862, E. Z. K. Munger, J. C. Bennewitz, John Wear, W. E. Lowell. 1863, J. C. Bennewitz, S. R. Merrill, J. D. Spinney, W. E. Lowell. 1864, J. C. Bennewitz, J. D. Spinney, Rufus Dennin, W. E. Lowell. 1865, G. Terwilliger, O. P. Francisco, L. H. Garrard, H. Lorentzen. 1866, G. Terwilliger, O. P. Francisco, Jeptha Garrard, H. Lorentzen. 1867, Calvin Potter, N. C. McLean, David Walker, H. Lorentzen. 1868, G. Terwilliger, D. Walker, R. Menzel, H. Lorentzen. 1869, G. Terwilliger, D. Walker, R. Menzel, H. Lorentzen. 1870, G. Terwilliger, R. Menzel, J. Holliday, H. Lorentzen. 1871, Eliab Munger, E. C. Eaton, D. Walker. J. C. Bennewitz. 1872, Eliab Munger, E. C. Eaton, John Nute, H. Lorentzen. 1873, John Nute, Wm. Stroup, John Colby, H. Lorentzen. 1874, John Nute, John Colby, D. G. Heggie, H. Lorentzen. 1875, John Nute, John Colby, D. G. Heggie, H. Lorentzen. 1876, D. G. Heggie, John Sauter, H. J. Morch, H. Lorentzen. 1877, G. Terwilliger, John Sauter, John Colby, H. Lorentzen. 1878, G. Terwilliger, John Sauter, John Nute, H. Lorentzen.
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
FRONTENAC STATION.
William V. Herlinger was the first settler to locate in this place. Soon after his arrival, the village was platted. The population now numbers about 100. It is a cosy, romantic spot, on the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul railroad, with wooded bluffs, grass lands, gardens, and cultivated fields around it, and but a short distance away Lake Pepin glistens in its primeval bed.
The town numbers three stores, one grain elevator, three blacksmith shops, and other concomitants, besides the
ST. JOHN'S EVANGELICAL GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH,
The outgrowth of the labors of the Rev. C. F. Heyer, 1860, who founded the church with the following membership: J. C. Bennewitz. John Thompson, William Miller, Jacob Schneider, John Raeper, John Luth, John Hennings, and Fred. Kochn. J. C. Bennewitz was the first presi- dent of the church, and superintendent of Sabbath School, which positions he held until 1875.
In 1872 they built their present church edifice at a cost of $2,000. It is of wood, 36x50, and a very pretty house of worship. J. C. Benne- witz, Jacob Schneider and Wm. Miller were the building committee. They have an average attendance of forty Sabbath School scholars, eight teachers, with the pastor, Christian Bender, acting superintendent.
Christian Bender, pastor of the above described church, is a native of Germany, born September 11, 1838, where he graduated at a theological seminary. In 1868 he immigrated to Red Wing and immediately took charge of the Lutheran Church at Florence Station, Red Wing and Goodhue township.
FRONTENAC, ON LAKE PEPIN.
Nature has fitted this charming spot and surrounded it with such beauty and picturesque loveliness as adorns no equal area elsewhere, on this or any other continent.
For its scenic beauty, the perfection of its climate, its drives and facil- ities for boating, bathing, trout fishing and grouse-shooting, it already enjoys a national reputation.
Wise forethought, guided by cultivated taste, and inspired by a libe- ral confidence in the growing greatness of the Mississippi Valley, has planned Frontenac to be the Newport of the Northwest, the site of the hotels and summer residences of the future. Even now, the expendi- ture of money has been made so in harmony with the wealth of nature's
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THE HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY.
gifts that it is already one of the most attractive summer resorts in the land. Two parks, extending through the village plat, one on the lake front, and one in front of the second terrace, secure to the choice resi- dence blocks the most lovely views of wide expanse of waters, of cliffs, of wooded gorges and of prairie slopes.
The Lake Side Hotel occupies a point projecting out into the lake, of about ten acres. Here, in picturesque arrangement, are the main buildings, the cottages, the billiard hall, the boat house, the light house, the croquet ground, the dancing floor, the little park, and sea wall on the extreme point, the bathing houses and the stabling.
Frontenac is the center of the finest region in the Northwest for both trout fishing and grouse shooting. It is one of the very few places where these two sports can be had together, and there is no place where they can be had in such excellence and with such ease of access to the sportsman. A drive of six miles up the valley of Wells Creek, through highly cultivated farms, will reach the fishing grounds on this stream, and from there, for eight miles more, the road winds along the bank of the stream, so that there need be no fatigue in securing a good basket of trout. A row or sail of half an hour from the hotel across the lake and a pleasant walk of half a mile, introduces the angler to an inex- haustible and never disappointing supply of trout in Pine Creek, and a drive of ten miles will make him acquainted with the three and four pound trout of Rush River, and with the dark forests, the over-hanging rocks, and the sparkling waters of that finest of all the trout streams.
The grouse shooting begins at the nearest wheat fields, but for a day's shooting, the upland prairie, some miles away, offers the most attraction, where with abundance of game, the sportsman enjoys an atmosphere and scenery equal to a mountain top.
There are charming drives to the fine points of view on the surround- ing bluffs, or over the good roads that in every direction offer some new combination of landscape beauty to the lover of nature. The drive of six miles to Lake City, along the shore of the lake, affords many interesting views, especially of that bold bluff, always in sight, noted in song and story as " MAIDEN'S ROCK." Every lover, and every one who delights in Indian legend, knows the tale which has lent an interest, beyond the charm of scenery, to this crag on the shore of Lake Pepin.
" The beautiful Winona, refused by her father to her lover, a young Dakota warrior, but promised by her father to an old chief, dressed her- self with bridal garments, placed a wreath of wild flowers on her brow, and from the dizzy edge of this cliff called on her lover to meet her in the happy hunting grounds, chanted her death song, and leaped to
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destruction rather than be false to her heart's choice, and wed where she could not love."
Another drive that no visitor should fail to take, is that on the roman- tic road along the ridge that terminates at Waconia Cliff, from which the delighted spectator gazes upon a panorama of wonderful beauty, in which the lake, the bluffs, the prairie, the fields of grain, the railway trains, the steamboats, the sails, the rafts, the farm houses, Dakota Park with its mile track, the villages, and towns, unite in composing a picture that will be remembered with lasting enjoyment.
CENTRAL POINT.
This township lies in a bend in the Mississippi River directly above Lake City, and contains only three or four sections of land, and but a small population, and consequently a limited history.
Its first settlement dates back to the spring of 1853, when a Mr. Grid- ley selected a claim. R. L. Phillips, H. L. Barrett, and Hannibal Bonnell, followed, and in the following year still others located in that vicinity, and quite a neighborhood sprang up: the settlers became ambitious, and golden dreams of future greatness floated before their excited visions, so that in 1855 a town plat was surveyed, and speculation in town lots became quite lively for a time. Mr. Silas Crop built a store and stocked it with general merchandise. Mr. Tracy built a hotel, which was opened by E. S. Harrison. A post office was established, and Perry D. Martin was appointed postmaster.
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