USA > Minnesota > Martin County > History of Martin County, Minnesota > Part 7
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
Waverly not having any qualified officers, the commissioners appointed an election to be held at the house of H. S. True on the first Tuesday in May, 1864. W. W. Carrington who owned the property now comprising the fair grounds and Ward's central addition and lived in the building that was a part of the old Lake House before it was added to put in some goods and merchandise to sell and also kept a hotel. This was a log house about 16 by 20 with a sort of an L on the back side about 12 by 14 and here was keps the past omce, hotel, store, county auditor's office, register of deed's office, clerk of court's office and office of the justice of the peace. In the case of the hotel it inculcated habits of ."early to bed" .. it was the ti. at ours to bed that had suy. the late ones set up all night or laid, on the floor. In the summer E. . P. Carleton formed a partnership with. Mr. Car. · rington iu the store and James Swear- ingen also kept a hotel in the house owned by Wm. Budd, being the log bouse torn down by I. F. Gleason Mr. Budd's family living in one part. This was also a small house but people were not so exclusive then as now and didn't require as much room. In May or Juve a great number of settler, came into different parts of the county A. J. Brown, Gaylord Brown, W. W. Wilsey and James Decker and some others in Lake Belt and Tenbassen, in Silver Lake; Alison Faucher, J. A Mauley, A. M. Patchin, Mr. Stevens. H. S. Woods and a number of others. This year a, school was kept in Fair- mont in a little board shanty without a floor with Laura H. Smith as teacher. Three months school. The children used to tell how the gophers would run around on the ground used for a detachment of cavalry.
floor and that they had too keep good watch of their dinner pails.
In April of this year A. L. Ward came here and took his homestead across the road from where he now lives, being a single man he boarded. with James Swearingen. His health was very poor at first, he weighed less than a hundred pounds. The air of Minnesota appeared to agree with him and he began to work and in a short time had some improvements on his claim and when not at work there was not above working for the other settlers. When our regiment was ordered south we left our busi- ness in his charge.
In May Capt. Bailey got .orders to have his men ready to leave on short notice for Fort Snelling. Is . caused considerable excitement. among the soldiers, those who had families living bere not liking to leave them, those who were single or did nor reside here wanting to go south. Before the soldiers left Stephan Allen and Mi.s Rosana Swearingen were married by Rev. J. C. Strong.
The 6th Minnesota Regiment, Com- pany C, was relieved from daty. here by Capt. Barton. Our Company start- ed on the 9th of June of this year to march on foot to Fort Snelling bv way of Winnebago, Waseca and Faribank- as. we were to go south and if com- pelled to make the entire dista .ce. on foot, would be behind time. teauis met us at Faribault and took us to the . fort. We remained there a few days completing the organizations and ar- rangements and then we went to Helena, Arkansas, and took active part in the War of the Rebellion nutil its close. Capt. Barton's Company re- mained at Fairmont only a part of the summer when they were relieved by &
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
In the summer of 1864 the homestead law brought'a great many settlers to this county. The townships of what are now Center Creek, Pleasant Prairie, Rolling Green, Fraser, Rut- land, Westford, Tenhassen, Lake Belt sad part of Manyaska got most of them. Among some of those which our people at the present time may know were Mr. Older, Mr. Dibble and Abner Handy after whom the vil- lage of Granada, formerly called. Han- dy was named, settled in Center Creek. In Pleasant Prairie the only one now remaining of the settlers of that year is G. W. Garrison. I. F. Bickford of Westford, later county commissioner, Charles Dana, Fairmont, also. later county commissioner, and Amasa Bowen of Rutland, who for a number of years was register of deeds. Mr. George Tanner and family came to the county in this year and in the winter of 1865 bought the homestead of Aaron Smith which is now a part of Lake George addition to this place. Mr. Tanner now lives in Fairmont has two sons J. K. and S. D. Tanner among our prominent business men and his daughter Emeline
one of our prominent physicians. His son George Tanner was interested in one of our first newspapers.
Mr. Chatfield built a saw mill this year in East Chain, also a small store was established there by Mr. Chatfield and Wm. Mixter had a sod blacksmith shop near there, then the only one in the county. There was a blacksmith shop also started in Fairmont in the early winter of 1864 and '65 by Abner Handy.
The County Commissioners held a meeting on September 20,1864, at which time in a petition of the inhabitants of the town No. 102 now Pleasant
Prairie and the south half of town No. 103, now part of Center Creek, a voting precinct was established and called "York." The first election was held at the house of Samuel Gordon on the second Tuesday in October. Super- visors elected, A. N. Fancher, L. B Huntington and Moses Ayeres, Clerk C. A. Hant. At this election the Com- missioners appropriated two hundred dollars for repairing county buildings. The chairman of the board let the con- tract.
The summer of 1864 was an extreme- ly dry one, the channels between the lakes were dry and Lake Sieseton was lower than at the present time. The crops were quite poor,the drought affected them. Root crops, potatoes eto., not yielding very well. The new settlers not being acquainted with prairie fires sustained considerable loss to hay and in some instances to their buildings by fires. One of the most terrific firesand one that would be impossible at this time or since then to have occurred started one Sunday with the wind in the north and run along the east line of the county. At night the wind changed to the south and east and the fire was driven in an immense body of flame through the county. As there were no- roads or fire breaks to stop it those who had not protected their stacks, lost their hay and the sloughs being so dry in some instances were burned to quite a depth the fire; burn- ing in the turf for quite a while mak- it dangerous to go into the sloughs as in one case a party living in the north part of the county drove his team where they broke through the crust and before he could get them eut one horse was burned so it died.
An election was held in 1864 for
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
county officers and it was the first time in which party lines were drawn. At & convention called the Democrats and Republicans participated. Some of those who failed to get nominations called a straight Republican conven- tion. There were only three voting precincts and less than two hundred votes poled. The result was there were members from both parties elect- ed as the people thought there were not enough to draw party lines. The next year they drew the party lines and the Republicans were suc- cessful.
In the summer of 1864 the first Sun- day School was established in the the county. It was held in the old court house. The children came from long distances and all the members of different churches then acted as one, there were no divisions. Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Pres- byterians all worshiping at the same altar. A. L. Ward was elected Super- intendent of the school, it was very successful and had a good attendance. At intervals meetings would be held at different places in the county. At Chain Lake Center there was quite a settlement of ministers, Rev. J. C. Strong, college graduate, now at Seat- tle, Rev. A. C. Hand, a prominent Wesleyan minister, Rev. J. C. Hudson, Rev. Robinson and some other minis- ter, whose name we have forgotten, who had all settled close together. The settlements of the county during this year were made close to the tim- ber as could be ou account of fuel and building purposes. The east part of the county, on account of its prox- imity to the Blue Earth River, was a favorite place. Tenhassen. Silver Lake and East Chain at one time held half of the settlements of the county.
During the summer there were some Indian depredations committed on Willow Creek. Those here who could leave their families went to work in the harvest fields in the east part of the state. While there s report of an uprising of the Indians reached them and many hurried home, to their families to find the reports false as to a general uprising, only now and then & skulker had worked in and done some damage, stolen some horses ete.
The great supply route from Sioux City and Yankton was through here to Mankato. Hidges & Co. of Sioux City had a large number of ox teams en- gaged in hauling supplies, as many as five yoke of oxen to a wagon and a train of ten to twelve wagons in a procession. Word was brought to Fairmont that some trappers had found a man who had evidently been murdered near Twin Lakes and there was some suspicion of some of the settlers. The County Commissioners being in session, appointed A. L. Ward coroner. instructed him to im- panel a jury and hold an inquest, the following jury were impaneled: James Swearingen, W. W. Carrington, Giles Bartholomew, E. B. Hall, Henry John- son, Peter Dugaw who left Fairmont and went to Fox Lake where they staid all night in a trapper's shanty about eight by ten in size filled with furs and lived on bread, molasses and coffee. They went to where the body was found in a slough, which has since been called "dead man's slough." The body had evidently been thrown in when there was water, as it was part- ially covered. The dry weather had evaporated the water and the prairie fires burning the grass had left the body exposed so that it was discover- ed. An account book and book of re-
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
cords were found near the body. There was no money. The record dis closed the fact that his name was Charles White, that he lived at Yank- ron, Dakota, that he run a store and
and Miss Eliza Comstock October 31st. and on November 10th Jerome B. Shep- pard and Miss Distin Rowley. The county commissioners held their an- nnál meeting in the fall; present, E. P. was engaged in the transportation Carleton, Chester Bardwell and J. C. Hudson. " L. F True, one of the previ- ous commissioners had enlisted in the army. "A tax levy was made to meet current expenses, and the court house was arranged to be completed, it never "having been plastered inside. Money was not very plenty in the treasury, and a loan was made of Aaron Smith for the purpose of getting a stove for the court house, for which he was al- lowed 12 ,per cent interest. The county auditor was instructed to no- tify the county officers that on and after the first day of January 1865 they must hold their offices at the county seat and in the court house, which they did. One man would rep- resent a number of offices, that is, be deputy for a number. On December 6th Thomas G. Eggleston sold bis'in- terest in the Fairmont Village plat to . Aaron Smith. Mr. Smith was the party who owned what is now the Lake George addition and sold the same to George Tanner. Mr. Smith had a resurvey made of a part of the then platted portion and made some changes from the original plat which has caused considerable misunder- standing by other surveyors. . The original survey and plat was some farther south and on the east side of the county grounds, there was an alley. Mr. Smith took up this alley and added 66 feet, and made what is now Main street. This survey also made a change in the south side of the plat of about 12 feet. In Novem- ber of this year, A. L. Ward bought
business and that he with a train of teams was on his way to Mankato. When near TwinLake nie left the teams with his horse, he being on horse bach, for the purpose of looking out a shorter route and that was the last seen or heard of him by the ceamsters. They [went on to Mankato waited a long time for him and on his not ar- riving they were frighted back by Mankato parties. It was nearly two months after his disappearance before the fluding of his body. He had a large amount of money with him, suf- ficieut to pay for the supplies that he was to buy. His horse which was a Valnable, one was never found or heard from .. There was the mark of a bullet or some other instrument turonghi the side of his head bus as the body was badly decayed it was hard to fully determine the cause of his death. The correspondence with his wife disclosed the fact that he was a man of education and means and en- gaged iu a prosperous business but there appeared to be a lack of interest evidenced by her as neither she nor anyone representing her ever came to make inquiries or requests that the body be sent to Yankton. He was buried near where he was found, mur- dered by some one, but who, it was not kuown. The first murder com- mitted in the county. His grave it would be impossible to find, the last being now cultivated and all were obliterated.
There were two marriages in the county this year, James S. Hudson out the store of Carrington & Carleton
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HISTORY OF MARTIN GOUINEY.
which was in the old Lake House. The size of the space occupied was five feet wide, twelve feet long and run up to the celling about eight feet, being on the south side of the then Lake House. ] he same room was also occupied as county offices, hotel and other general purposes. Abner Handy built a blacksmith shop near the corner of Blue Earth and North Avenues. Aaron Smith had previous- ly built a building down near the dam where the mill was which was not completed. There was a school kept three months of this year by Laura H. Smith in the north part of the house owned by Wm. Budd near the present residence of Mrs. Gleason; wages paid $16.00 per month. Miss Smith boarded herself and traveled nearly one miles There were a number of new settlers came into what is now Bolling Green township in the fall of 1864. Henry Van Vleet, Peter Dugaw, Thomas Cur- tiss and Richard Jones. Richard Jones is the only one living there now. Capt. Bird came this fall, and bought a claim where his farm now is on the west side of Hall lake, and let a contract to Richard James to build a house to be ready when he came with his family the next spring. Mr. Giles Bartholo- mew purchased the claim where the depot aud Ward's central addition now are. In the early part of January, 1865, B. M. Ward came to Fairmont and formed a partnership in the mer- cantile business with A. L. Ward under the firm name of A. L. & B. M. Ward. They bought the frame build- ing of Mr. Smith and moved it to where it now stands, it being the building on the west side of Main street, and the farthest south, next to the Bullard House. They bought the lot of Aaron Smith for $25.00. This
building had been enlarged somewhat by building jonto the rear. While this building was being completed, the business was carried on at the before mentioned Lake House; this was the beginning of the present large business of the Ward & Cadwell Company. R. M. Ward bought the claim across the lake from Fairmont of Aaron Andrews; Andrews then buying jater in the spring the claim of W. W. Carrington which is now Ward's cen- tral addition and included the old Lake House property. In the winter there was a severe storm came up late in the afternoon, and some settlers coming from the Blue Earth river loaded with wood got lost a short dis -- tance from home and one, Dibble, per- ished and was found on the creek bottom west of A. N. Fancher's. Commissioners met in January of this year. Present: J. C. Hudson, E. P. Carlton and I. F. Bickford. Application was made for aid by some familles that came here during the late fall, and were without money. Doctor Denton was appointed county physici- an for the poor people of the county at this meeting. Hosea S. True was appointed sheriff, the bonds of the officers were approved. The weather was generally favorable this year, not much snow, and what did fall was blown into drifts, and none lay on the ground to any depth until March. This year was the first real litigation. It was through Samuel Gorden, who formerly lived in what was the pre- cinct of York and who afterward mov- ed to Kansas. He was very litigations and kept his neighbors in a quarrel. It is supposed he was killed by a party with whom he was fighting a law suit in Kuusas.
There lived here in a shan y ueer
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
the court honce a family of what was to another all over the county. Twelve supposed to be a widow woman and of them having been cleared by other justices, the remaining two took a change of venue and were sent to justice Doolittle in the town of Nash - ville. When they got there, they found that Doolittle had enlisted in the army three months previous and was at that time in the South. That ended the litigation in that respect, and Mrs. Whitcombe went back to her home in Waseca. four children. They had been . work- iug for the soldiers, and appeared to be very industridus. In February of this year a soldier on leave of absence came and claimed to be the husband of this woman, which she did not deny. He brought in order from the commis- sioners of Waseca county, stating that he was trusty and capable of taking. care of his family, and requested that the children be delivered to him. This In the early part of 1865 a number of enlistments were made from this county; among them were Jehu Hey- worth, Samuel Carver, A. W. Young, J. S. Hudson, George Murray, Silas Conley, Frank Park, George Scott and some others whose names we do not now call to mind. The older settle- ments were paying large bonn ies for what was known at that time as sub- stitutes, and to the credit of Martin county under these circumstances we make mention of the fact that no drafted men were enrolled from this county; every able-bodied man being in the service, and that at a time when the government was keeping soldiers here for the protection of the families of those who were in the South fight- ing for the maintenance of the Union from a more merciless foe than South- ern rebels. order bore the seal of the officials of that county. On his arrival war was de- clared between himself and wife. Mr. Whitcombe had brought a team with him ready to move his family, and quite a little crowd of our people gathered to see the progress of the battle-not desiring to take any part in the same, but as witnesses. Mrs. Whitcombe had barricaded the build- ing, but Whitcombe broke down the door, and attempted to scale the walls. but was met with hot water, and re- treated until the hot water was ex- hansted, and then rushed in, and came near being brained by the woman with an axe. At this point of the game some of our citizens interfered to prevent bloodshed, but to no avail, as Whitcomb succeeded in getting the children and loading them into the wagon, and then driving off with the We have forgotten to mention that in the fail of 1864, a public speaker of great force made three speeches in the county. Like all great statesmen, the speeches were the same in each place, not forgetting to wipe his face or take a drink of water at the specified time. He at- tracted a certain class of settlers very largely, and his reception was so fla tering that he went back and children yelling and pulling his hair and throwing his hat into the snow, and as the party could be seen. yon could hear the yells of the children. Mrs. Whitcombe then caused the ar- rest of the witnesses on the ground of having assisted in kidnapping her children. There were 14 arrests made as nearly the entire settlement were witnesses. They demanded separate trials and were taken from one justice, brought a wife here. They rented the
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Lake House of Mr. Carrington, and kept boarders for awhile. This party was Galliton Brown, of whom mention will be made later on as auditor of this county. He also elaimed to be an attorney. His first consultation here was of a laughable nature. It appear- ed that a settler living close by dis- agreed with his wife about the time to wean the baby. He insisted that it was time, and she claimed that it was rot, and the mau being the stronger, took the baby and controlled it. The wife listening to its cries grew dis- tracted in the night and went in search of Brown. She found him in Lake House sleeping in the same room where there were three other married couples sleeping. She wakes him and tells him her pitiful story and invoked the aid of the law to compel her hus- band to allow ber to further nourish the baby, and she was so persistent that she would not leave until Mr. Brown had promised to come up iu the morning and render her assistance.
There was a jolly class of boarders at the Lake House that winter. The fare consisted of potatoes, coffee, bread, molasses and beef for break- fast; beef, bread, molasses, coffee and potatoes for dinner; and molasses, coffre and bread for supper until the beef was all gone. There was no sick- ness; all claimed to be healthy and enjoyed the fare. Aaron Andrews having purchased the claim of Mr. Carringtou, moved here in the spring and took possession of the Luke House, Mr. Carrington going back to Wiscon- sin. W. W. Carrington was a man of more than ordinary ability, of good habits and character. Many new set- tiers were under obligations to him for favors received. His house was a rallying point for all the needy. His
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unpaid accounts for goods trusted was the reason of his having to abandon the store and sell out his claim. John Boyce, now of Rutland Township. came here in that year and assisted the Ward boys in the store. There was some little strife on election and one of the residents called another a name not relished and the other, not being able to reach him in any other way, grabbed an old fashioned conical ink- stand with the stopper in and threw it and hit the man who called the other one a name and quieted him. There being no stopper in the stand, as it was grabbed and he threw his arm back, the ink squirted out and flew all over the face and shirt bosom of Galli- ton Brown who was the only well dressed man with a white shirt in the crowd. Brown took ont his handker- . chief to wipe it off, and only spread. it all over his face. As the crowd out- side came rushing around to find what was the matter, the man who threw the iuk stand said "You onght to be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Brown, to handle ink in that way, or try to get.' up a quarrel" and as the appearances were against Brown he hard work to convince those who did not see the transaction that he was not the man who had the misunderstanding, and those who did see it thought it was joke sufficient to claim that it .was .. Browu. As the party who was bit made threats of prosecution, the other party caused complaint to be made and a fine was inflicted which was paid into the county treasury to be used in support of the public schools-the first fue on record in this county. We don't want to meution any names, but as A. L. Ward was there in the room at the time, if ony of our readers wish to know and will ask him, he might tell
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HISTORY OF MARTIN COUNTY.
them if he would. This occurred at the township election. Michigan's most prominent politicians; Col. Lonnsbery, Dr. O. P. Chubb, In 1865 a party who was called Chap- lain Conwell made a business of taking what was known as soldiers homestead filings on land. He is supposed to have made a good thing out of it, as it is said that in addition to the regular land office fees which they had to pay, he charged the soldiers $7.00 for each tract, as he claimed to visit the land and make personal selection. He did go to Winnebago City to the land office there and look over the govern- ment maps and get a list of lands on which be could make filings. Under the law the soldiers had six months time from the date of the expiration of their service as nearly all the gov- ernment land was filed on. Previous to the grant and selection of the Rail- road Company of the donation to them by the government of all land in odd numbered section> then unoccupied in the county, the Chaplain made selection of any government lands. After the withwrawel of land by the filing of the Railroad Company, he was confined to selections of land in even numbered sections. It is esti- mated that he located in this county alone 2000 soldier's homesteads, very few of which were ever occupied or the parties ever came near. Some way the Chaplain knew how to get their money, and talked well, and it Chaplain S. S. Hunting and the other officers. Those whom we have mention- ed are the only ones who ever came here. In April of this year Dr. Chubb came to look the land over, being dele- gated and sent by the other officers. His claim was near Timber Lake. The doctor was so favorably impressed with the country that while here he purchased of Aaron Smith that por- tion of Fairmont then platted or held for plat. As the war was not then ended and as these parties did not in- tend to make any settlement until after that time, there was nothing done by them towards any improve- ments. Dr. Chubb returned and com- pleted his service in the army. The filings on these lands were an injury to the settlement of the county in this; it withdrew and took from the reach of actual settlers at that time land that they might have taken. It was a benefit in this; the odd number- ed sections filed on would have gone to the Railroad Company under their grant if they had not previously been filed on. As the law was then under- stood and decisions made by the government, they were allowed to take the same and on the expiration of the time in which these soldiers were al- lowed by law to make settlement, and their not doing so, the Company being a good opportunity for them to caused notices of trial to be made get a home, it took well. But when and on proof of no settlement the entries were cancelled and the land reverted to the R. R. Co. Later these decisions were modified, the land de- partment holding that the terms of the grant gave the Company only the land in the odd numbered sections which at that time was government land, that land filed on and ancancell- they were out of the service and thought of tearing up and leaving their friends to go to a new country it was another thing. Some came; W. P. and S. Hill were among those who came. The cacers of the Fifth Michi- gan regiment all filed, among them being Gen. Cutcheon, now one of
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