History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 82

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 547

USA > Minnesota > Houston County > History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota > Part 82

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HISTORY OF HOUSTON COUNTY.

Since then he has made his home in this town, supported by the pension allowed him by the government.

ANDREW JAKOBSON was born in Norway, on the 1st of June, 1849. Since the age of seventeen he has supported himself,coming to America in 1871, and to Sheldon three years later. In September, 1873, he was married to Miss Isabel Evanson, who has borne him four children; John, Theodore, An- nie, and Tennie.

HIRAM KNOX, a resident of Sheldon since the fall of 1863, is a native of Lebanon, Maine, his hirth dating the 27th of April, 1825. His parents removed to the town of Jay when the subject of this sketch was six years of age; two years later he went to live with a neighboring farmer, remain- ing until 1839. Then, in company with one of his companions, he came west and settled in Illinois. He subsequently made a trip to the mining re- gions of California, but returned in a few years. He was united in marriage with Miss Lovantia E. Smith in 1850. In the spring of 1863, they re- moved to Houston county, remaining in Yucatan until fall, when they came here and have since made it their home. Mr. Knox has devoted the greater portion of his time to buying and selling live stock, also deals in real estate and loans money. Of eight children born to him, six are living; Fallis E., Ida M., Frank F., Belle, Norris, and Hiram.

JASPER M. KNOX, a native of Mercer county, Il- linois, was born on the 8th of September, 1858. In the spring of 1877, he came to Fountain, Fillmore county, and the following September to Sheldon, where he was engaged in a store for some time, but now devotes his attention to agricultural pur- suits. Miss Orpha F. Williams became his wife on the 20th of December, 1880.

GEORGE W. MILLS was born in Hancock county, Indiana, on the 25th of December, 1835. He learned the carpenter trade when nineteen years old. In December, 1855, he was joined in mar- riage with Miss Nancy E. Cracraft, of Rayville, Indiana. Of eight children born to them, those living are Mary E., Emily J., William A., Carrie E., Perry J., and Sarah E. In 1861, Mr. Mills enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, but was soon after taken sick, and dis- charged before the expiration of his term. He re- enlisted in 1863, in the Ninth Indiana Cavalry; was promoted to Sergeant, and participated in the

battles of Nashville, Franklin, Spring Hill, Hol- low Tree Gap, Pulaski, and others. He was sent from Muscle Shoals, Tennessee, in charge of a brigade ambulance train to New Orleans. On his way back he was discharged at Vicksburg under general order No. 51. Then returned to his home and remained until March, 1876, when he came to this town and has remained ever since.

LEVI OLSON is a son of Ole Targeson, one of the pioneers of Sheldon. He was among the young- est of a large family, and made his home with his parents until their death. The family came from Norway to Dane county, Wisconsin, in 1853, and the following spring to Badger Creek valley, all taking land in different portions of the place, on which they settled. The mother died several years ago, and the father in March, 1881, at the age of eighty-seven years. Levi, the subject of this sketch, was joined in matrimony on the 26th of June, 1863, with Miss Sarah Knudson. Of ten children, the result of this union, nine are liv- ing, Anna, Sarah, Ole, Christine, Carrie, Knudt, Targe, Andrew, and Tone. Mr. Olson has a fine farm of over three hundred sores, a large portion of which is under cultivation. It is beautifully situated, and watered by Beaver Creek, which flows through a portion of it, the bluffs on either Ride affording shelter from the winds. Our sub- ject is a man well known and very highly es- teemed by his acquaintances.

JOSEPH SCHNEIDER, a native of Austria, was born in 1831, and came to America in 1854. He resided one year in New York, and then came to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he was engaged in the mill business. While there he married Miss Frances Ringel, the ceremony occurring in the year 1856. Mr. Schneider held several promi- nent public positions while in the latter place, and in 1875, came to this town and purchased the old mill property, on which he erected his present mill. This establishment contains all machinery necessary for a first class mill. Of twelve children born to him, eight are living; Louis, Joseph, Anna, Francis, Emma, Henry, Bertha, and Lucy.

MOSES WOODS is a native of Massachusetts, and was born at Southborough, Middlesex county, in 1814. When he was sixteen years old his parents moved to Chautauqua county, New York, and two years later his mother died. At the age of twenty-one years he returned to Massa-

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chusetts and purchased a farm in Worcester county. He built a saw mill, and was engaged in milling and farming there for twelve years. In 1848, he was married to Miss Catharine Mit- chell, a native of Ireland, and in 1856, removed with his family to Sheldon, Minnesota. Mr. Mitchell opened the first grocery store in this town, but discontinued it after a year and engaged in farming and carpenter work. In September, 1864, he enlisted in the Eleventh Minnesota Vol- unteer Infantry, Company . K, then stationed at Fort Snelling. He was soon sent south and sta- tioned at Gallatin, guarding railroads till the close of the war. Mr. and Mrs. Woods have had seven children, three boys and four girls, six of whom are living. Their names were, Sophia, Eva, John, Jenny Lind, Charles, Emery, and Lizzie Etta. John is said to have been the first white child born in the town of Sheldon. When Mr. Wood came to Sheldon, and indeed for many years af- terwards, hunting was good; he has killed a large number of deer and wolves and still delights in the sport when opportunity offers. He is sixty- sevon years old, but has a steady arm, and can still use the rifle with precision.

EDGAR E. WEBSTER is a native of Wisconsin, born in the town of De Pere, on the 28th of March, 1845. On the 22d of February, 1864, he enlisted in Company F, of the Fourteenth Wisconsin Vol- unteer Infanty, serving under Sherman at Vicks- burg, Black River, and Clifton; was in the cam- paign against Hood, and afterward spent a month on patrol duty at Mobile. On the 26th of Octo- ber, 1865, he was discharged, and returning to his native State entered the Ripon College, remaining five terms. He then, in January, 1869, came to Rushford, Minnesota, where he was married to Miss Lucy M. Lake, on the 4th of November, 1873. She has borne him three children. In 1876, they removed to Sheldon, and purchased the farm on which they now reside. He is at present filling the office of Justice of the Peace.

J. B. WILLIAMS was born in Jefferson county, . Pennsylvania; on the 22d of April, 1833. His mother died when he was quite small, and in 1844, his father removed to Rock Island, Illinois, and thence to Henry county, in the same State. When seventeen years old, on account of the frigidity of the breath of his step-mother, he set out to seek his fortune. He arrived at Grand Rapids, Wiscon- sin, without a cant of money, but soon found em- ployment in rafting lumber down the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, continuing in that occu- pation during summer and attending school in winter for three years. He came to Houston county in 1852, and lived with his brother about three years. Having saved upwards cf $300,he con- cluded to open a store in the little hamlet of Shel- don. With a line of endorsement from Sam. McPhail he went to Galena, purchased a stock of goods, and in May, 1857,opened the first dry goods store in the place. In 1858, he was married to Miss L. E. Gardner. When the war of the rebellion be- gan to assume serious proportions, he sold his stock of goods intending to enlist in the defense of his country, but was not accepted, on account of disability. In 1868, he purchased another building and again engaged in trade here. Mr .. Williams' store now consists of three buildings ar- ranged side by side, in which he does a heavy country trade. He has four children; Orpha, now Mrs. J. M. Knox, Mary, Rose, and Jane. During the last eighteen years Mr. Williams has filled the offices of Town Clerk and Treasurer most of the time

FREDERICK PIEPER was born in Prussia, on the 8th of July, 1837. He entered the army at the age of twenty and served three years; then came to Canada West, in 1863, and in 1866, to Houston county. He was employed by farmers for a time, then rented some land in Union, and in 1881, re- moved to Sheldon. He was united in marriage with Miss Frederike Weideman, on the 2d of No- vember, 1862. They have seven children.

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HISTORY OF HOUSTON COUNTY.

SPRING GROVE.

CHAPTER LXIII.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION-FIRST SETTLEMENT-FIRST MILL-FIRST BIRTH AND DEATH-FIRST MARRIAGE -THE STAPLE PRODUCTS-POLITICAL ORGANIZA- TION-FIRST ELECTIONS-SCHOOLS.

This town is identical with a government town- ship, and lies in the extreme southwestern corner of the county.

Black Hammer is on the north, Wilmington on the east, the state of Iowa on the south, and Fill- more county on the western border. It has two villages, Riceford, on Riceford Creek, in section six, and Spring Grove, on the Narrow Gauge railroad, in section eleven. The town is well settled with a thriving population. It was known at first as Norwegian Ridge, that is the whole elevated region which extends over into what is now Wilmington. The town when first organized was much larger than it is now, taking in a part of what has since been organized into Black Hammer. It has an area of about 23,000 acres. The only stream of any importance in the township is Riceford Creek, which courses along the western border of the town near the county line, running north, to finally unite with Root River. This town, taken in con- nection with its neighbor, Wilmington, has some special geological features worthy of notice. Most of the other townships in the county are gorged with deep valleys and ravines, cut in alternating strata of sandstone and limestone, below the gen- eral level of the country; but here, the prevailing features in the county are reversed, as a connect- fng series of elevated ridges forming broad up- lands rear their water sheds nearly 200 feet above the surrounding prairie country. One common ridge a mile or more in width extends in a diago- nal direction from the southwestern part of Spring Grove to the the northern part of Wilmington.

From this main upland extending in various direc- tions, numerous spurs project, some of them for two miles, with sequestered valleys between; the widest of these are two miles across. As men- tioned in the geological account of the county, these peculiarities are not due to upheavals but to erosion.

The views obtained from different points are re- markably fine. Looking northward nearly the whole of Black Hammer township is spread out like a panorama, to the west of which Fillmore county territory can be seen. Directly west is a depression, with an elevation far beyond. The prospect looking south is only interrupted by the highlands beyond the Iowa River, and which ever way you turn, there is hill and vale, prairie and woodland, with dwellings dotting the landscape, and an occasional spire above the intervening groves pointing to the blue vault above.

This region is called the hill country, and em- braces ten miles or so from east to west, and six or seven from north to south. The surface drainage is in all directions, and the top of the water shed is remarkably level and carries the railroad bed with little grading. The slope either way is quite gradual, and what may be deemed remarkable the whole region is overspread with a rich clay loam, and being mostly open country is occupied by numerous farms, some of them on an extended scale. The dwellings are usually in sheltered nooks among the groves or below the brow of a protecting declivity.

The village of Spring Grove is quite pleasantly situated on a high part of the main ridge, on nearly level ground, on the southern part of the water shed. The buildings are set well apart and are neat and substantial, but a more complete des- cription will be given of its characteristics in suc- ceeding pages.

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SPRING GROVE TOWNSHIP.

Along the table lands the early settlers found beautiful groves of oak, without underbrush, in- terspersed with maple and black walnut, and in the shady aisles of these overhanging boughs, clear and sparkling springs bubbled up in the most in- viting places, urging the seeker after a home to make this spot his abiding place. Most of the timber is now gone, but enough remains to give a good idea of the delightful prospect that greeted the early explorers.

The soil is of a clayey nature, merging into dark rich loam in the lowlands, but somewhat lighter along the bluffs, which are well adapted to grazing. In the southern part of the town, toward the west, the numerous springs form rivulets go- ing south, to finally reach the Upper Iowa River, in the state of Iowa.

An abundance of lime stone is found along the ridges cropping out at convenient points, and an occasional kiln is burned with satisfactory results, although on account of the want of a steady mar- ket this is in no respect an organized industry. This lime rock also furnishes most excellent build- ing material and is extensively used for this pur- pose, and the demand in this direction must be ever increasing.

The town is well adapted to agricultural pur- suits, and has a large cultivated area, yielding good crops of the cereals and other products of the latitude; und in the low lands, hay is a most val- uable crop. Fruit culture is more or less success- ful. This soil and climate is remarkably well adapted to the cultivation of the amber cane, and considerable attention has been paid to this crop, some of the farmers making syrup to the amount -of eight or nine hundred gallons in one season. This industry being new to most of the settlers, attention to it is of slow growth, but this very slowness ensures its permanency, and with the large and ever increasing demand for "sweetening," this must in due time be one of the largest crops raised here.

THE PRIMARY SETTLEMENT.

The first actual settler, who located a claim and erected a dwelling, was James Smith, now an esteemed resident of Caledonia. He came from Pennsylvania, being unmarried at the time, and for several years did his own housework. He ar- rived in the spring of 1852, but went to Lansing, Iowa, in the fall to work at his trade, that of print- ing; he returned in the spring to break up his

land, and to do other work on his claim, which consisted of 320 acres on section eleven. After his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Landrum, of Illi- nois, a Sunday school was started at his house, and maintained for some time. Mr. Smith also secured the establishment of the Post-office, giving the place the appropriate name of Spring Grove, which it still retains. His house was the first stopping place in town. At an early date he re- ceived the appointment of Justice of the Peace, and was a member of the County Commissioner's Court while Minnesota was still a Territory.

Arthur B. Bow, a native of Vermont, appeared upon the scene perhaps even before Smith, and had a little shanty and staked out large tracts of land of the most desirable quality, and on the finest locations, with a view of selling to some un- sophisticated seeker after a home, who might have some money. After Smith had put up his cabin, Bow put up one just west of it, and lived. on it some time, making a certain amount of improve- ments, which were finally purchased by Embrick Knudson, and Bow went further west.

Mr. Knudson lived on the land until 1863, when he also moved on with the western tide of emigration. He was a native of Norway, and came to America in 1846; first located in South- ern Wisconsin, and afterwards in Pine Creek, Iowa, from whence he came to Spring Grove in about 1854. He was a prominent man, and assisted in the organization of the town; was for several years Postmaster and Town Treasurer, and is well remembered by the old settlers. He at first went to Fillmore county, and afterwards to North Fork, Stearns county, where he died in the spring of 1880. His widow and children still live in the latter county, except a daughter, who, as Mrs. Nels Barsen, resides in Fillmore county.

In the winter of 1851-52, John Vale, who lived in Iowa, came over, and like Queen Dido at Car- thage, run a line around immense tracts of choice land, cut and split some rails, and the following spring or summer, 1852, he sold his rails and pre- emption rights, whatever they were, to H. Narve- son, Knud Knudson Kieland, and Fingal Asleson, whose families now reside on the places thus se- cured.

Anthony Huyck, who had a place in Caledonia, came here soon after Mr. Smith, and put his signet on some eligible acres, and as he had ox teams, he was capable of making improvements of value, and

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availing himself of his facilities, of course realized on his investment.

During the summer of 1852, the settlement of the town was rapid. The long lines of emigrants moving by the front towards the frontier with its uncertain boundary, and as a section reached this spot, it would instinctively halt, and if the re- sult of the reconnaissance revealed an unoccupied spot, or a purchasable one with the means at com- mand, the resolution would be made to go no further, but to locate right here. And so at this early day, Spring Grove sprung into existence as an important settlement.

FIRST SCANDINAVIAN SETTLERS .- During the first summer, when this region was attracting so much attention, there was quite an immigration of enterprising young men and women from Norway. Prominent among these were the following men, many of whom with their children are among the leading business men, and the active citizens and politicians of the county :

Peter Johnson Lommen, who located on section three, and has since made it his home. Knud Ol- son Bergo, on section ten, but who has since died, and his family removed. Even Evenson Haime, who located on section nine, where he remained until October 14, 1873, when he died. His widow and children still live on the same place. These three men came the same week in June, 1852. H. Narveson located on the eastern part of section ten , where he lived until his death, and the family still occupies the farm. Fingal Asleson and Knud Knudson bought land together with Mr. Narveson, making his shanty their home for a while, but soon divided their land, and the two former have since separately carried on their farms, still living on them. Ole and Tolef Amundson Berg located on ection sixteen, where they have since lived and now have large and well improved farms. In July, 1852, Torger Johnson Tenneland located on section fifteen, where he lived until his death, on the 23d of December, 1873. His son now carries on the farm. These were the pi- oneer Scandinavians of the town, and came direct from Wisconsin to the newly organized territory of Minnesota.

During the remainder of that year, and for a year or so afterwards, many others of the same nationality came and took an active part in the development of the town; among these may be mentioned Gudbrand M. Rund, Levor and George

Timanson, Gilbert Nielson, Myrha and Hans Nielson, Ole C. Steneroder and several others. The presence of these men in such a force gave the locality the name of "Norwegian Ridge," and on the organization of the county it became the- name of the voting precinct, and by that name people at a distance still designate this region.

In this connection Ole Oleson should not be for- gotten, who, from his extraordinry size, was known far and near as "Big Ole." He remained here about one year when he removed to Iowa. In the southern part of the town a settlement was effected, also in 1852, by Ole O. Ulen on section twenty-six, where he made a home and remained ten or twelve years, and then, after spending some time in Iowa, finally moved to Clay county, this State. After coming from Norway, he had spent a single year in Wisconsin. John Anderson Kroshus also took a claim on section twenty-six the same season, the place now occupied by Em- brick Hanson, to whose father it was sold in 1853. Ole Christopherson located on sections thirty-four and thirty-five, where he still remains.

These adventurers were followed by others who soon filled up this part of the township, which is denominated "the valley," in which may be found some of the finest cultivated farms in the town or county.

In the southwestern part of the town, which is mostly prairie, and lies south and east of Rice- ford Creek, a large portion was originally bought at the early land sale by speculators, and it was later in being colonized than the eastern or north- ern portion, and was mostly settled by Ameri- cans.

The first man to put in an appearance in this place was Mr. W. Banning, who built a grist-mill on the creek in section nineteen, in the fall of 1852. This mill was the first in this whole region, and it filled the untutored mind of the red man, whose squaws brought their corn to be ground, with wonder and admiration. The mill was a primi- tive affair, although it revealed the struggling ef- forts of genius in its construction.

The old settlers who saw this mill, and used to wait so many long and tedious hours for the half bushel of corn they had toted on their shoulders such a weary way, to finally be handed back in the form of meal, never tire of relating incidents as to this wonderful affair.

At first it was a mere corn cracker, but after a

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while the stones got a little nearer together and the product was dignified by the name of meal. A complete description of the mill would baffle a pa- tent right lawyer. But a general idea will be at- tempted.

A dam was thrown across the river, and a head thus obtained. Below the dam was a box to re- ceive a wheel with a vertical shaft; the wheel hav- ing buckets radiating like the spokes of a wagon wheel, placed at the bottom. 'The water was ad- mitted on one side, and following the wheel three- quarters round would make its escape. It was a wooden affair and the crudest kind of a turbine wheel, with no attempt at confining the water and securing the reaction as is now done. The run- ning stone was connected directly with the wheel shaft, the stones rested on a strong hardwood frame, and literally stood out of doors, with no covering except in case of a rain, when a few boards would be called into requisition to cover the hop- per. The great trouble in the whole business was to feed it slow enough for its capacity. It is said a whole handful of corn inadvertently dropped in at once would bring everything up standing.

Among the numerous other yarns told at the expense of this of this mill, is of a man who, hav- ing seen his grist deposited in the hopper, went round below to see the meal come through and after waiting a reasonable time and there was no "giving down," an investigation was made, when a mouse was discovered catching up each kernel as it appeared, and biting out the eye would then throw the rest away. This intruder being driven off, the man in due time got his grist through.

This was indeed the day of small things, and a comparison between this mill and one of Wash- burn's, or Pillsbury's, at Minneapolis, would dis- count the fable of the molehill and the mountain.

But after all, the efforts of Mr. Banning are not to be despised. Consider the obstacles he had to overcome, think of the long distance over a bridge- less and a roadless country he had to convey these stones and the tools and material required for his undertaking, which, under the circumstan- ces, was a most formidable one.

How many to-day would thus start out, and go west beyond the confines of the present civilization, and thus build a mill without means as he prac- tically was, not having enough funds to keep a man a week at a fashionable hotel. Some of our modern millers should procure a model of this

mill with the identical stones, and have it on ex- hibition to illustrate the contrast between "now" and "then." The stones of this old mill are now in possession of Mr. V. T. Beeby, at Riceford; they measure twenty-six inches in diameter. The site of the mill is now occupied by Mr. E. Nelson. In 1853, Mr. W. H. Rowe was prospecting in this section and bought this property from Mr. Ban- ning. This was on the 27th of June. There was considerable land with it that Mr. Banning had staked off. Mr. Rowe improved the mill and fixed a bolting box, to be revolved by hand, so that he had a flouring-mill. He also rigged up a saw for his own use.

The early settlers, although at that day surround- ed with a halo of romance into which freedom and an absence of conventional restraint, which left them children of nature, largely entered, never- theless had a hard time generally. The luxuries of life were wholly denied them, the comforts everywhere considered indispensible were rare, and actual necessities were only attainable under the greatest difficulties, particularly in the winter, when most of the settlers in this region had to go to Turkey River, in Iowa, to mill; later, a mill was built near Dorchester, but that was still quite a journey.

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History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 82

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 547

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 547