USA > Minnesota > Martin County > History of Martin County, Minnesota > Part 3
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The county supervisors met at the office of the register of deeds in Fair- mont, on the 13th day of September,
1859, and organized by, electing W. H. Budd chairman. Åt this meeting they equalized the assessments of the differ- ent districts and found the amount of property returned subject to taxation to be of the amount of $31,356; the amount of taxes levied to be raised for the ensuing year, 1860, $313.56. which was the first tax levied in the county, and was for the purpose of paying all previous indebtedness contracted and to defray all expenses for the ensuing year. As this county had been organ- ized nearly two years, the reader can readily see that as we were providing for three years' expenses, salaries of officers, fuel, rent, books of record and stationery, that the county was not run on a very expensive basis. B. C. Hinkle acted as clerk of commis- sioners by right of his office of register of deeds.
The following bills were allowed:
W. H. Budd, services as commissioner and books and stationery ...... $25.35 B. C. Hinkle as clerk, books and stationery .. 28 20 There were also some other minor bills.
This vear B. C. Hinkle filed a peti- tion on what is now the town plat of Fairmont. The old town plat com- pany having failed to perfect their title he proved up and acquired a title to the land. The following were the treasurers in the different election districts, who acted as collectors of taxes: A. W. Young, Nevada; Asa Dewey, Fairmont; Geo. S. Fowler, Waverly. This year Asa Dewey was elected county treasurer and was the first in the county.
The harvest of our crops this year was done in a most primitive way. There were no threshing machines in this county then, and great pains had to be taken to protect crops from the ravages of the blackbirds-the Helds -
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
had to be watched. There were prob- ably more birds in the county then than now, and with a small acreage they would literally cover a field.
The winter of 1859-60 was cold, with quite a little snow in November and January, but not much sleighing. December was a pleasant month.
About the first of January, 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt, who built a part of the log house on the hill where the writer lived, and near where the residence of Mrs. Gleason now is, gave what would be considered a high-toned party for the county in those times. They con- sinded that this was the best way to get acquainted with the settlers in the county, as they intended to run their house for a hotel afterwards, and they invited their neighbors from Center Creek, Elm Creek, Tuttle's Grove, Pilot Grove, East Chain, Winnebago City and Blue Earth City. In arrang- ing for the dance it appears that two sets of musicians, who were then called "fiddlers", had been engaged, and both came. We danced all night, and had a good, lively and enjoyable time and went home some time the next day. It may be of interest to some yet liv- ing in this county and elsewhere to know that we have not forgotten them
son, B. C. Hinkle, Mr. Pratt and others from Blue Earth City; John W. Sleep- ier from Elm Creek, and some other parties from across the line in Iowa, and others whose names we do not remember. This was a great society event for this country then. The size of this house was 11x19, story and a half heigh. The musicians, dancers and dining room were all in these two rooms, and there was a good chance to get acquainted with each other.
For the purpose of getting supplies we were obliged to go to Mankato, or other older settlements, but we had raised a good crop that year and ducks aud geese were plenty and we lived fairly well. After the middle of Jan- Uary there was no cold weather, very. much such a season as the spring of '95. Wheat could have been sown in February, and was sown in March. This was a very dry spring, and no water running in the outlets of the lakes. There was considerable garden stuff put in this year, which was of great help and assisted much in the appearance of the table.
March 7, 1860, the commissioners met and transacted such business as came before them necessary to be done. Geo. Fowler had been elected J. H. Johnson, Darius Rowley and O. were some new settlers in Tonhassen and different parts of the county.
or that dance. We write this from [ the year previous as county auditor, memory, as to some of the people land acted as clerk of the board. He who were present: Mr. and Mrs. H. was the first auditor of this county. H. Fowler and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. W. Harrison and daughter, Mr. G. S. Schultz and families all settled mear Fowler, Mr. Sherlock and others from East Chain Lakes in this year. There
Winnebago City; Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Everett, Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Young, the Misses Hudson, Mr. and Mrs. B. In March Mr. John B. Swearingen and Jane Swearingen, his wife, set- tled ou Buffalo Lake in what is now James Swearingen and his three chil- dreu, also Win. H. and David Swearin- Lilly, Kr. and Mrs. B. Thompson, from Fort Britt; Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Camp- · bell, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Caiu, Miss! Rutiand township. With them came Tuttle and others from Tenbassen; Ass Dewey, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac John-
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geu, Rebecca Swearingen, all children of J. B. Swearingen and wife, who still live in Fairmont. Mr. Swearingen bailt quite a large log house-one and one-half story.
The weather was very fine in March an! April, not very much water run- ning, the streams nearly dry.
A few families who were living near had a meeting and had obtained the house of B. C. Hinkle on the town site and fitted it up for a school. The money to run the school was raised by subscription. This school was taught by Mrs. Loraine Swearingen, wife of Geo. Swearingen, who now lives in this city. This was the first school taught in Fairmont. There was not a very large attendance. Mrs. Swearin- gen gave excellent satisfaction as a teacher and was re-engaged later on. Three months was the length of this first term of school in Fairmont.
In 1860 some wheat was sown by Messrs. Pratt, Fowler, Harrison, Allen Bros., Parks, Fancher and Meeder. There was not much object in growing small grain as the threshing had to be done by hand or trodden out by horses. The principal crops were corn, pota- toes, beans and sorghum, and turnips as substitutes for apples for winter.
In the spring of 1860 there were quite a number of new settlers in the county-perhaps twenty. Mr. B. C. Hinkle had some of his land, section 8,
months of March and April there were quite a number of Indians trapping and hunting and fishing around the lakes. Some of the settlers carried on quite a trade with them, giving flour and provisions in exchange for fur. At times there must have been 500 or more of them in camp around the lakes. Whenever they could get any whisky they became very trouble- some.
There was no rain or storms in the month of March, though there was qnite a good deal of rain in the month of April, the ground was quite wet for wagons and teams, it was also a cold month. Grass was no higher the first of May than the first of April. There was considerable breaking done.
The first camp meeting held in the county was held at Tuttle's Grove and lasted a week. It was a sort of a union meeting of the several religious denominations and resulted in great good. There had previously been a lack of church organization, and new countries need churches as well as the older ones. The people took an active part in the conducting of the meetings, but they were much annoyed by the mosquitoes who could attend and pre- sist in singing when others were talk- ing, and making themselves disagree- able.
On September 4, 1860 the commis- sioners met at their annual session and four mills on the dollar. A. W. Young was this year elected auditor. The commissioners were B. C. Hinkle, chairman, J. C. Hudson, and J. W. Sleepier.
where Fairmont now is, surveyed and | made a tax levy for all purposes, of
platted for a village plat. The sur- veying and platting was done by W. S. Campbell, the surveyor of the county, and this was the only work he did as county surveyor. The plat was filed and recorded in the register The winter of 1860-61 was very cold at times, with considerable depth 01 snow. The settlers suffered much of deeds' office that spring. There were some "land lookers" or hunters who came through this year. In the from the cold weather. On January 1,
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the county commissioners met at an- nual session, B. C. Hinkle, chairman, J. C. Hudson and J. W. Sleepier and A. W. Young county auditor. They voted to raise $200 to complete a county house for the use of officers and court purposes.
The spring of 1861 was very wet, the streams were all out of their banks and the sloughs were full, and there being no bridges the water had to be waded to get round.
There were some more settlers add- ed to the different settlements, and the house lately torn down, known as the "Lake House" was built by J. M. Good- rich. Mr. Goodrich was a lawyer, the first to try his luck in the County of Martin. He did not stay quite a year, luck was against him, the settlers took more kindly to ministers than lawyers. There were some few settlers on Elm Creek and Nashville, a few at East Chain and Tuttle's Grove. Mr. James Babcock and family, Samuel Carver and family, C. Personins and family, Mr. MeCusick and family, W. Rice and some others settled at Ten- hassen, built houses and did some breaking. These houses were shan- ties built of logs, with shake roofs. If the reader does not know what a shake roof is we will state that they are sub- stitutes for shingles, and in the winter they were covered with sod to keep out the cold and snow, and generally the outside of the house was banked with sod. The houses of these first settlers were most always built in the timber or near it, and each settler had some timber. Later when the country came to be settled more thick- ly and claims were taken on the prairie, another kind of a house was used, popularly called "dug-outs", and of which we will speak later.
In 1861 occured the first lawsuit to disturb the county, in which H. H. Fowler was plaintiff and Philo Morse defendant. The case was heard before F. Pratt, Justice of the Peace. This Philo Morse made himself conspicuous in several lawsuits later, being the cause of more litigation in the early days of the county than all the other settlers together.
In the year of 1861 Mr. J. B. Swear- ingen built a small mill for grinding corn and wheat, and was run by horses. This mill was on the farm on the east side of Buffalo Lake, now owned by William Wege. In the summer he built a small water mill for grinding wheat, corn and buckwheat, at : he out- let of Lake Wilmot in Silver Lake Township. This mill was not com- pleted in this year but was got in shape so some coru could be ground on it. The next year the frame was put up, and at different times additions were made. This mill was very noted, be- ing the first one in the country, and people came long distances to bave their grain ground. It seemed more like a civilized country, as it did away with coffee mills, stovepipe graters and sieves for preparing corn and wheat for use. The land on which this mill was built is now owned by Mr. Westerman. It was not built on the outlet but a channel was cut through the banks and the outlet damned a little, which gave good water poser.
July 3d, 1861, the commissioners met in session, with C. !!. Hinkle, chairman; J W. Sleepier, J. C. Hnd.ou, commissioners: J. D. Swearingen audi- tor. The object of the meeting was to select grund and petit jurors for the court to be held in October. This was the first term of district court beld and was called for the purpose of iry- ing a criminal action against Phi.o
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Morse, charged with burning & barn, cow and some other personal property belonging to John W. Sleepier. At this meeting A. W. Young was ap- pointed : clerk of court of. Martin County, Willard Harrison, sheriff. Be- low are the names of the jurors as selected by the commissioners.
GRAND JURORS.
L. F. True,
J. H. Babcock,
E. Pratt,
Charles Schultz,
J. Allen,
H. Personius,
8. B. Hazen,
5. Delaney,
George Fowler,
Isaac Johnson,
J. R. Friend,
L. B. Rowley, Wm. S. Campbell,
M. De Witt Older.
T. A. Cain,
J. B. Swearingen, Charles Parks, John Cusick.
L. Goldsmith,
G. McKellup, D. Rowley, J. Norton.
PETIT JURORS.
- Wm. Johnson, Irroet Johnson,
- A. Andevson,
O. Robertson, Paten Parks, Andrew Tweed, P. W. Conly, . Louis Tweed, L. G. Meader, William Rice, James Swearingen, Thomas Allen,
Avery Parks, William Casiok,
Calvin Tuttle,
A. H. Wester,
C. Personius, A. N. Fancher, David F. Rice, H. H. Fowler, L. M. Hazen, Gilbert Shares.
WITNESSES IN CASE.
Perlina Pratt,
James H. Dunham, John Bark.
The commissioners, the reader may see by the list, had seventeen grand jurors and eighteen names for petit jurors. This was all they drew and was evidently for the reason that they knew of no more settlers in the coun- ty at the time, and were not able to do as the State Canvassing board did, to increase a vote of 17 to 1,700. The commissioners in September met and appointed J. W. Goodrich county audi tor in place of J. B. Swearingen, re- signed. Notice for a special term of court had to be published in a news- paper if there was one in the district where the judge resided. This judi- cial district then consisted of all the territory south of Nicollet and Le Sueur counties, and west of Waseca and Freeborn counties to the state line. The clerk of court, not finding the number of names selected by the commissioners for petit and grand jurors to be sufficient to fill the re- quirements of law as to the number, added some so as to make the grand jury consist of twenty-two persons and the petit jury also of twenty-two persons. The first district court held | in Martin County was called October 21st, 1861, at Fairmont.
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The above is a cut of the old Lake House, for years Fairmont's swell hotel. This building waa originally one half the size, and made of logs. Later a frame addition was built on and the log part was sided. It was the Arst regular hotel, and in it was kept at same time the Arst store, the United States Post Office, Register of Deed's omce, County Auditor's office, Clerk of Court's omce and County Treasurer's office. It was situated on ground where the Fairmont Improvement Association's park now is, and in its time it was the most historical building in the county.
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There were some new settlers in Fairmont township in October of this year,-Mr. V. H. Burdick and family, and James Canfield. Mr. Bur- dick moved into the writer's house and was appointed deputy postmaster, etc., and took his place as landlord of the hotel. Mr. Pratt, who had pre- viously kept the hotel, and who gave the high-toned society dance of which we have spoken, having moved away, Mr. Burdick took charge.
B. C. Hinkle and W. H. Budd built a room for the grand jury on the west end of the log building on the towu site of the village of Fairmont. This was the only house then on the town site. The lumber of which this room was built was hauled from Shelbyville, Blue Earth county. There was a little log building that was occupied by the Court and petit jury. The size of the court room was about 14x16. The night before the court was held there was a large prairie fire which came from the south, and the settlers were obliged to work hard all night to save their homes. In the morning the wind changed to the northwest and brought another fire from that direction. The judge with some of the witnesses, jurors and at- torneys, were caught in this fire, and their teams becoming stampeded and fearing to go through the blaze, they were badly scorched, their faces and whiskers burned somewhat, and when the judge reached Fairmont and called court was a little vexed and inclined to fine some of the jurors and witnesses who had not arrived in time. The judge presiding was Judge Branson from Man- kato. A. C. Dunn of Winnebago City represented the State. The only cas, new buildings. The land office had for trial was the State vs. Morse
J. W. Goodrich attorney for Morse. The grand jury was sworn, and the law as to the case given to them. As usual the Court made a special charge as to liquor being sold to Indians. The jury commenced their investigations and had called several witnesses be- fore them in relation to the sale of whiskey to Indians, when they were called into conrt and discharged for the following reasons: J. W. Good rich, attorney for Philo Morse, defend- ant, objected to the panel on the grounds that it was not drawn accord- ing to law, for the reasons, as we have before stated, that the list returned by the clerk of court was not .selected from the list as made by the Board of County commissioners, the clerk. of court having added other names., The Court sustained the objection and din charged both grand and petit jury and adjourned the term: This ended our first term of district court, lasting not longer than a half day. Defendant Morse, who had been in custody: at. Mankato, Minnesota, was discharged by order of the Court. and the benetti received from the term was the pay- ment of the expenses by the county, and Mr. Morse was set ut liberty to be tried for other offense later. This term of court was a matter of con- siderable excitement and interest to the people of the county and coca- sioned a great deal of talk.
After the excitement of the court was over, the settlers began to prepare for winter in earnest. As the crops had been quite good this year the settlers did not suffer for provisions. The writer and some others went to work at Winnebago City to put up some been moved from Chatfield to Winne-
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY,
bago City in this year. . George Moul- ton built a store, and Winnebago City became quite a trading center, as old settlers will remember. Law and Den- don built a hotel. Provisions were not very highi, flour cheap; groceries, such as coffee and sugar, quite a good price. Some of our readers may want to know what we used for lights. Tal- low dips were the style then, it was before the days of kerosene oil in this. country. Some burned a light made of a stick, on which they wound a rag. and placed in a saucer of grease. .
There was no deep snow up to the first of January of this year. No par- ticular item of news, nothing outside of the routine of the daily life of toil. The usual elections were held, some new officers were elected. On the 31st of December we had a watch meeting at Fort Britt.
January 7th the county commission- ers met. Present Wm. H. Budd, W. S. Campbell and L.F. True. Wm. H. Budd was elected chairman. A building committee was appointed and ordered to report plans and specifications for a county building at some other meet- ing. They also drew 24 names for a grand jury and 33 names for the petit jury. J. H. Goodrich was appointed county auditor. After the first of January until the 28th of February the weather was not very bad. There was quite a depth of snow but it was not drifted much, though it was quite cold.
On the 6th of February, 1862, Rebecca Swearingen and John Burdick were married at the home of J. B. Swearin- gen, by the Rev. J. C. Hudson. This was an old-fashioned wedding with a large attendance and a general good time. This wedding lasted two days, the first day was the bride's day and
the second the groom's. The house of Mr. Swearingen being too small the dance was held at the home of the groom's father, which was then the hotel of Fairmont, and we had the pleasure of dancing with the bride and her sisters.
Soon after this the writer went to the Bine Earth river to aid in build- ing a bridge across that stream near Mr. Dunham's place, what was called "Dunham's ford." The weather was very cold, one day the wind blowing from the northwest with the temper- ature at 30 degrees below zero. The next morning was clear and pleasant about sunrise. After working a short time my face and ears and feet began to get very cold, and on looking found that the thermonetor was as low as it could go, 42 was the limit these ther- moneters would register. It was the coldest weather we have ever seen, ex- cept a few years before on the Mis- sissippi while going from Winona to LaCrosse. At that time there was floating ice in the river, floating in large cakes. The next morning by 9 o'clock we crossed the river on solid ice, and for a few days it was very cold, so cold that the stage drivers would not take their horses out for fear of freezing.
From Mr. Dunham's we came back to Fairmont to attend a meeting of the county commissioners. In those days the commissioners cut quite a figure in the progress of the county, just the same as the common council has been do- ing for a few years back in the Village of Fairmont, working for the good of the town and county, spending a good deal of time without any compensa- tion, working hard to get things started.
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
On the 28th of Febuary, 1862, the down a steep drift without losing bal- commissioners met and made their ance or falling. This was one of the favorite pastimes of the winter ; the evenings were spent in social visits. annual report, present W. H. Budd, Wm. Campbell and L. F. True. Asa Dewey having moved away, B. H. Burdick was appointed County Treasurer in his stead. The following accounts were allowed;
D. H, Tanner, for board of Philo Morse while in his charge at Mankato. .$32 00 Willard Harrison as sheriff, October '61 term
of court, in subpoenaing grand and petit jurors and attending court. 30 75
At this meeting J. W. Goodrich, who was about to move away, resigned the office of auditor and B. C. Hinkle was appointed in his place. The time and expense of subpoenaing jurors was as it would be at our present term of court. By bills as allowed, and here- tufore mentioned, the reader can get some idea of the economy practiced in the management of the finances of the county.
A heavy snow storm ser in about the first of March and lasted a number of days, drifted badly in places and made large banks so that for a few days it was almost impossible to travel, until the snow had settled. To drive dull care away and pass the time a good deal of outdoor amusement was indulged in. Miss Fannie Burdick had a friend, a Kiss Harrison, visiting her. They lived next door to the bachelors and to be courteous we had to visit our neighbors, and many pleasant hours were passed in practicing on Indian snow-shoes and Norwegian "skis". The snow drifts were in places as high as the house, and one of the favorite tricks was to try and go down the drifts on the "skis" without losing foot-hold. These "skis" were a sort of a snow-shoe from five to seven feet long and about five inches wide, and it required considerable practice to go
At the time of this last fall of snow David F. Swearingen, one of the pro- prietors of our mill, was at the water mill at Lake Wilmot. The snow drifted so badly that he had to climb out of the chimney of the shanty in which he was at the time. He had a dog in the house which he also got out of the chimney with him. There were two young men on a claim about two and a half miles from the mill Jas, and Dan'l Canfield. (This claim is now owned by Capt. Wm. Bird.) Thinking he could reach the house of these two men he started out, but the drifts were so bad, the snow so deep, that he be- came exhausted and when within half a mile of the shanty could get no fur- ther. But by chance the dog found his way to the shanty, having been there before. When the Canfield boys saw the dog alone they thought some- thing had happened, and followed the dog's tracks until they found David, and they took him to the house with them. This was a grunine Minnesota blizzard the snow drifting so that one could not see any distance. This snow went off with a heavy rain, filled the sloughs, raised the lakes to their banks, and made the creeks like rivers. The Blue Earth river wus very high, so high that all the bridges were swept away, except the one across that river at Mankato. The bridge which we had worked so hard in the winter to help build at Dunham's Ford was also swept away. Some children, by the name of Stillman, were drowned near Shelbyville. The family had been liv- ing in the timber in the winter, on an island, and they waited so long about
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
moving out, and the river rose so high that they were surrounded by water and drowned. The bridge at the inlet to Lake Okomanpedan was also carried away, and there was not a bridge left west of Mankato.
W. W. Carrington, being tired of bachelorhood returned to Wisconsin, was married, came back with his wife and moved into the house of B. C. Hinkle in Fairmont.
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