USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
Mrs. Van Cleve visited Long Prairie some twenty-five years ago and
221
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
in a public address told of one winter spent here when their stock of pro- visions was exhausted except for a supply of wheat. By accident, some broken glass got mixed with the grain and the family had to pick over the wheat a kernel at a time. to separate from it the particles of glass. This - wheat they boiled and ate as their sole article of diet, the roads being blocked with snow preventing communication with the outside world. During the time the Van Cleve family resided in Long Prairie, their youngest son was born.
During the early days, James Martin carried the mail to the agency from Little Falls. He afterward settled on a farm three miles east of Pillsbury in what is now Morrison county. About the year 1872 a murder occurred near his house, the result of a quarrel over a game of cards, and as a result of the tragedy he became insane and committed suicide.
The last company agent in Long Prairie was a Mr. Weakly, who was city bred and in no way fitted for the place. Probably as a result of his incompetence as well as the breaking out of the Civil War, the Long Prairie Land Company abandoned the place and let the town go to destruction. David Olmstead was an early resident of the town, being an Indian trader. and was elected to the state Senate in 1848. He got lost in the woods between the town and the Mississippi at one time and wandered about a whole week, finding his way out of the wilderness by following down the stream of Two Rivers. David Day was a resident of Long Prairie in the early fifties and was elected to the Legislature in 1852. and was made speaker when the house organized.
ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES.
In the foregoing sketch wherever Todd county is mentioned, it has reference to the present boundaries. Originally the county extended east to the Mississippi river and the division occurred in 1864 when a vote was taken on the proposition to take two tiers of townships from Todd and add them to Morrison county. Since the larger number of voters lived along the Mississippi river the vote was in favor of division. A. D. Brower was appointed by Governor Miller to hold the election and he went with Henry Ellingson, William Overman and James Brower to West Union, where the ballots were deposited in a cigar box. There were eighteen votes there against division, but the settlers in the eastern district cast twenty ballots in favor of division.
222
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
After the Indians had been conquered, and all danger from that source was ended, the permanent settlement of the county began. A few families who had fled from their homes at the uprising of the savages returned and became permanent residents of the county. Among these were A. H. Gib- son, of Bear Head; Peter Losey and H. C. Hewes, of Round Prairie, and C. E. Buss and perhaps others in the southwestern part of the county. At the outbreak some families sought safety in the stockade at Sauk Centre, which was guarded by three or four companies of soldiers under command of Capt. Oscar Tayler, afterward a prominent lawyer of St. Cloud, while others, mainly from Round Prairie, took flight to the settlements along the Mississippi river, which were protected by a military force at Ft. Ripley.
Of all the men and women who lived here before the outbreak and passed through the terrors of that brief period, none are now living, except it may be H. C. Hewes and wife. A few of the younger generation who were then children are still residents of Todd county. Among such may be named Mrs. William E. Lee, formerly Miss Eva Gibson; Mrs. L. B. Branch of Round Prairie, formerly Miss Carrie Losey, and Charles Losey, a brother, and possibly a few others. The writer cannot say what became of W. W. Tuttle and family, but it is known that he lived several years in Little Sauk, and that his daughter, Bertha, was one of the first white children born in the county, Mary Hewes being the other. They were born on the same day in Long Prairie, June 14, 1858.
Philo Farnum and family had settled on what many years ago was known as the Lawson farm, on the road from Long Prairie to Round Prairie, and this family was among those who had to flee for their lives. It cannot here be stated how long Mr. Farnum was a resident of the county, but at one time a band of predatory Chippewa Indians broke into his house and robbed it of such articles as they could make use of, presumably during the time the family were absent on account of the Sioux hostilities.
New settlers were few and far between until the close of the Civil War, when the energies of the nation were turned from destructive warfare of brother against brother and the armies of peace began conquest of the great West. The formation of school districts may throw some light on where the settlements were first effected. District No. I is located in the southern part of Round Prairie township in the vicinity of the Sergeants and it is here that probably the first neighborhood was formed. Possibly the next settlements were made in the southern and southwestern parts of the county around Fairy Lake, in the townships of West Union and Gordon.
223
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
OLD LONG PRAIRIE AND MISSISSIPPI ROAD.
Like the flow of water, the currents of new settlements are influenced by the lay of the land and the natural obstructions that may stand in the way. At this time there was a wagon road from Long Prairie to the Missis- sippi, which had been opened by the government, after the agency had been established, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars; and there was also a wagon road from Round Prairie to Sauk Center, following in a general way. the old Indian trail. It was easy also for teams to travel down the prairie on the east side of Long Prairie river, as far as the mouth of Turtle creek and also up the south side. The old stage road from St. Cloud to Ft. Aber- crombie, passed through the southwestern portion of the county, near the line between the forest lands and the big prairies, and open lands along the streams determined the first settlements. The data concerning the new set- tlements are somewhat conflicting. W. W. Tuttle, who figures in the early history of Long Prairie village, removed to West Union in 1859 or 1860 and found living there George Gurney, C. E. Buss, George Smith, Joseph Jordan, John Kerr, Jesse Dapper, Jerry Stone, and a Mrs. Gordon, with their families. This being before the outbreak, it is not known how many of these first settlers returned after hostilities ceased, but it is certain that Buss, Smith, Kerr and Stone lived in the vicinity many years later. C. F. Bohall, H. F. Lashier and S. M. Herbert, old timers in public affairs of the county, are named as pioneers of West Union, and Byron King and George Herberger were prominent names in that town in an early day.
Settlements also sprung up in the region of Fairy Lake in the town of Kandota between 1860 and 1865, and among the first inhabitants are the names of Rev. John Jones-father of J. D. Jones-A. D. Hale, A. B. Stinch- field and Theodore Belden. J. O. Milne was an early resident of Kandota . and represented the old Forty-first district in the Senate of Minnesota from 1870 to 1872. East of Sauk Lake a few settlers came in 1865 and five years later the town of Birchdale was comparatively well settled. Among the first in this section were John Dimon, Charles Finkley. Joseph Rowell, Royal Smith, L. S. Bishop, William Hartung, Martin Peters, L. L. Matterson, A. P. Fuller and Edmund Finney. Further east in what is now Grey Eagle. settlement was somewhat later, but sometime between 1865 and 1870 there came in John A. Robins, Alexander Young, Ferdinand Trace, J. M. and J. A. Huffman, Rev. Thompson and son, S. S. Thompson, Alonzo Clark, and Edmond Callahan.
224
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ROUND AND LONG PRAIRIE SETTLEMENTS.
The early settlements in the vicinity of Round Prairie and Long Prairie' are better known, however, than those along the southern border of this county. In 1863 Peter Losey returned to his farm on Round Prairie and by 1865 several families had located in that section. Henry Elingson and William Overman took claims in sections 7 and 8 and these two were the first homestead entries made at the St. Cloud land office. They were both sol- diers in the Civil War. Samuel Sergeant and family came in 1865 to be followed soon by William Russell, David Matthews, William McCarrahan, E. B. Rice, William DeLuryea, William May, Daniel Harsh, A. T. Tracy, H. H. Scott, and Charles Hamlin, all familiar names in the early days of that section.
Later on the timber lands of east Round Prairie were taken up largely by French and German emigrants among which were Oliver Peltier, J. B. Monnier and Mr. Brooks of the former nationality, and Paul Hansmann, Ferdinand Kaercher and the Fausts of the latter.
About 1864 Dan Bosworth, a typical frontiersman, settled about a mile west of Long Prairie village and soon after came H. Venewitz, who built a house on the block which now is occupied by L. M. Davis. This house is still standing, but not on its original site. Venewitz put up a saw-mill and a flouring-mill on the stream west of the sidetracks and near where the elevators now stand. His son Philip is still a resident of this county, oper- ating a meat shop at Browersville. Bosworth later took a homestead in Hartford where he remained until his death some thirty years ago.
In 1865 came to this vicinity Michael and George Dinkel, H. Strum, Samuel and Benjamin Meyer, C. Haaser and Henry Stevens, all Germans, who took farms near the village, most all becoming permanent residents. After Venewitz, in 1867. S. P. Chandler and Jacob Fisher opened a general store on the present site of Kulstad's laundry and this firm-John Wait after- ward becoming a partner -- was for many years the leading business firmi of the town and county. Ignatius Reichart opened a hotel, in 1869, in a small log building on the site of the present Hotel Reichert and about the same time Charles Harkens started another general store where hundreds of old timers in the county bought their supplies. For some three or four years these three business concerns were the only ones in the village. Settlers then commenced to come in too fast to be of interest to enumerate here.
1 WAS4 للتفيري
חיחזו:"ותיי"
METHODIST CHURCH. LONG PRAIRIE
E
HOTEL REICHERT, LONG PRAIRIE
225
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
SETTLERS IN THE WHITEVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD.
In 1865 began the settlements up the river west of Long Bridge and also down towards the north, L. S. Hoadley, Albert Madison and Garret Butler took up land five miles west of the village, Mr. Madison having become acquainted with the country during his service as a soldier. Horace Pierce and Gardner McClafling came in with Hoadley and Madison to look at the country and they also settled the next year. This was the original "Whiteville" settlement so named for Mrs. Hoadley, Mrs. Madison and Mrs. Pierce, who were sisters and whose maiden name was White.
In July. 1866, Benjamin Maynard came on foot from Elk river, the end of the railroad at that time, and filed on land up the river beyond White- ville and built a cabin to be occupied by his family later in the season. May- nard was a soldier in the Union army and being a native of Kentucky, he concluded that he could not live among his old neighbors, most of whom were in sympathy with the Southern cause. He was mustered out of service at Louisville and came up here without going home. About the same time, Elijah, Joseph and Samuel Porter, also Kentuckians, settled in that locality. For about three years newcomers poured into that section and took up land mostly along the river, as far up as the western border of the county. Among these were William McGuire, I. N. Ely, James Davis and others from Ken- tucky. Albert and Dan Allee, Linus and A. M. Doty, Thomas Simmonds, J. Newville, C. H. Taylor, Jonas and Z. V. Booth, J. S. McCay, William Freeman, William Beach, John B. Leslie and far up the river John Bail. Of all these first settlers in that section not one is now living on his home- stead, except A. M. Doty, but several of the families are represented by the younger generation.
OTHER PIONEERS OF 1865 AND LATER.
In June, 1865, John Bassett came with his family and with a well- equipped outfit of horses and other stock and took land in Hartford, he being the first settler there, and four days later came James Landphere and W. H. Redfield. In August John Wait and George Case located on land near what is now called old Hartford. They built a bridge across the river, which was known as the Wait bridge for many years. Mr. Case soon abandoned his claim. William Powell came in a little later and settled on (15)
226
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOT.A.
the now well-known Charles Drill farm. The following season came George Pearmine, who was for years on the outskirts of civilization on his farm near present Clarissa. None came in there till in the seventies. Running down the east side of Long Prairie river from Long Prairie village. we find along in 1870-71, besides those named. Nicholas Rectenwald, Peter Pontius, D. Sdomy, Joseph Moore, R. H. Losey, L. W. Nickerson, Francis Pickins. William Neil, Thomas Laidlow, Henry Weitmeyer, Schuyler Closon, Mrs. Hermes, widow, William Shubert, Daniel Sanborn, Truman Tyrrell.
To the east of these along Turtle creek were N. Irsfeld, Thomas Mun- dry, S. J. Davis, William George, F. Cleveland, J. H. Scott, E. N. Perry. On the west bank of the river were Nicholas Pontius ( still occupying his old homestead) Fred, Jacob and John Holler, Phillip Petrie. Otis Lanphere. Thomas Rambo, J. P. Weeks and two grown sons, Warren and Clark ( whose original claims are a part of the farm afterward owned by Levi Whitesell ), Richard Phillips, Fred Knarr, Louis Piepenburg, Charles O. and Carl Martin. In 1870 and 1871, came the seven Sarff brothers. Solomon Shull. John Gray, Joseph and E. J. Sutton and Lewis Sheets, all locating in a bunch to the north of the present site of Browerville and long known as the Hoosier set- tlement. Others came from Indiana later on, among them Barnhill Polly. A. Murphy, A. Cherry, John D. Nickey. Of these Indiana people. Joseph Sutton alone occupies the original homestead on which he first settled.
After that date, this section of the county was rapidly settled, largely by Germans and Americans of German parentage, Louis and Joseph Woell. Joseph Gruber. Ben and J. C. Borgert, John and Henry Becker, John and Ed. Host, Henry Speaker, William Disselbritt, William Smith, August and Carl Drawz and Frederick Zachow being familiar names.
FIRST POLISII COLONY.
A few settled along the river as far north as northern Moran, among them J. H. Cates, who kept a wayside inn in Moran, John Senti, Wallace and Lucian Wolff and Theodore and Philo Powell. All that portion of the county, comprising fourteen congressional townships, were included in the township organization of Hartford, and with the exception of the present two towns of Hartford and Ward, and the few settlers along the river road to Motley, that whole region was practically unsettled. George Pearmine was the only resident of the present town of Eagle Valley and R. V. Harris, of the present town of Iona, which was then a part of Reynolds. It was
227
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
about the year 1871 or 1872 when the first Polish settlers began to take up land in Hartford and within a few years along the Turtle Creek was a flourishing colony of these people. John Morzenzek, Joseph Zigan, Thomas Feist and Joseph Buhl were among the first of the Polish settlers.
On the eastern edge of the county no settlements were made except along the government road from Swan River to Long Prairie. Besides A. H. Gibson, mentioned previously as the first to settle in that vicinity, Albert Rhoda settled on the farm which he still owns in the year 1866, and George Balmer settled on his farm near the present site of Pillsbury soon after. David Burnham built a mill at the outlet of Swan Lake on the site of the present village of Pillsbury, which was then named Burnhamville and later this became a flourishing little hamlet, and the center of a thriving farming community.
A general store was established in 1875 by William E. Lee and R. H. Harkens and later when this store was moved to Long Prairie, Dr. J. Frank Locke carried on a general store business there, and also operated a flouring- mill. A woolen-mill also was in operation in the village for several years in the eighties and the early nineties. The Lee & Harkens store after being moved to Long Prairie, was run under the firm name of William E. Lee Company, and Doctor Locke also some years later came to Long Prairie where he has since resided. Both these individuals have been prominent in the public affairs of the county. For many years Charles Smith also oper- ated a general store in the village. Among the early settlers in that section were Charles D. Krousey, Jabez Merrill, Duncan McCrae, John Stoll, Maxim Pepin, H. W. Twitchell and Charles Perley.
Further to the west in that section Jeremiah Adams, C. D. and E. Batchelor were early settlers on Bear Head creek, the Batchelors operating a saw- and shingle-mill for several years.
Another little community must have sprung up at an early date along the northwestern shore of Lake Osakis, as a school district was organized there, being a joint district with the territory partly in Douglas county. Seth Curtis was an old-time resident in that locality and his son, Oliver Curtis still resides on the old farm which is devoted largely to fruit culture.
COMING OF THE RAILROAD.
The settlement of the northwestern towns is of comparatively recent date. About the years 1875 James, Isaac and Amos Stowe left the Ken-
228
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
tucky settlement west of Long Prairie and took up land along Wing river in what is now Stowe Prairie. In 1877 there was quite a settlement in that section, among the pioneers being C. H. Ward, Chancy Wilcox, David Ben- nett, George Penny, M. L. Hinman, John Kelly, C. C. Lane, "Pap" Powell and Hy. Hewitt. Further up the Wing river, Henry Bottemiller opened a large farm and also John Riggs and family settled near the present site of the village of Bertha. S. H. Hamilton and Paul Steinbach were the pioneers of the present town of Germania and for several years there were no settlers living between Steinbach's farm in northern Germania and the Pearmine place on Eagle Creek. The present town of Wykeham and Burleene were unsettled except by J. H. Thompson and J. B. Leslie in the south of the latter and a Mr. R. Barnum, a single man, who lived in solitude on a claim in western Wykeham. Eagle Bend was only a bend in the stream. About 1880 or 1881, Manassas Sarff with his family, moved from Ward township to the Eagle Bend vicinity and about the same time, B. F. Abbott and family settled on the land now the town site of the village. When the railroad was built to that point there soon sprang up a flourishing village and the land was rapidly taken in that section and settled by permanent residents.
The building of the railroad resulted also in the location of Browersville and Clarissa and the rapid settlement of the lands all along the line. B. F. Abbott, J. H. Thompson and C. G. Odell opened stores in Eagle Bend, which were among the first business institutions. A. H. Odell, F. Nutting & Son and J. V. Glann were among the pioneer business men of Clarissa, the former doing a large business in shipping cordwood for several years. In Browerville, Perry & Scott opened the first store, moving it from old Hart- ford when Browerville was platted in 1882 and this firm is still in business there. D. C. Davis also established a general store, but soon went out of business, R. H. Harkens and afterward C. E. Harkens succeeding him. William Kahlert opened a general store in 1883 or 1884, which is still run- ning under the management of the Kahlert Brothers. When C. E. Harkens closed his business in Browerville, Sutton & Hart established a general store on the same site in 1887 and this business grew to the present establishment of the Hart Brothers.
TOWN OF STAPLES.
The largest town in the county is Staples, although one of the youngest, on the Northern Pacific railroad. This town grew up as a result of the Northern Pacific cut-off being built in 1885 from Little Falls in order to
229
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
shorten the run from St. Paul to the coast. It is almost wholly dependent on the business incident to the railroad traffic, the population being largely made up of railroad employees. Staples furnishes a good market for vege- tables and small fruits as well as eggs, poultry and dairy products, and many farms in the north end of the county are devoted largely to this line of pro- duction. This cut-off also brought into existence the village of Philbrook, which was laid out by B. F. Hartshorn, an early settler of Motley. Joseph Smith and Mr. Phelps were among the first business men of this town. It is the trading place of a rather sparsely settled farming country, but being well within the Cuyuna iron district it has a fine prospect of being a prominent business center of the future.
The people who now make up the population of the county are typical of the American people, generally. They represent many of the older states, as well as European countries. There are the New Englanders or descendants from the old Pilgrim stock and people from New York and other eastern states, as well as large numbers from the great middle west. A large per- centage of the people are Germans or Americans of German parentage and this nationality is more numerously represented in the towns of Long Prairie, Hartford, Ward, Moran, Germania and Bertha. The Scandinavians (often called the Yankees of Europe), began to settle in Little Sauk, Gordon and Kandota about 1870, although a few came at an earlier date. Peter Peter- son, John Peterson, Mons Anderson, Jens Johnson, Andrew Johnson and John Olson are names of old settlers in Little Sauk and Gordon. Later a large number of this nationality settled in Iona, Eagle Valley, Wykeham, Ward and other towns of the central portion of the county. The Polish settlers have already been mentioned. In northern Ward and southern Moran there is a large settlement of Bohemians and these people have built a hall in which to meet and observe the customs of their native land and to celebrate the holidays of their adopted country. There are also quite a sprinkling of French settlers near Clarissa and in Round Prairie. The Irish are also in evidence in Todd county, as in every new country. It is notice- able that the children of all these various races show a marked tendency to amalgamate-to be, in fact, one race.
REWARD OF INDUSTRY.
In all sections of the county the energies of the first settlers were directed to the opening of farms and the cultivation of the soil, and those who were
230
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
reasonably industrious and prudent were eminently successful. In every neighborhood among those who commenced to build homes in an early day, can be found many well-to-do farmers and it is also equally true that many who have bought lands more recently, have been quite successful. But other industries were not neglected. There were numerous saw-mills. A mill was built near the mouth of Turtle creek about the year 1875, by John Barnes, which was afterward purchased by James Hart. After operating the mill for several years, Mr. Hart sold out to C. A. and Eben Jones, who run the mill until the pine timber within reach of it was used up. A large section of central Todd county was supplied with lumber from this mill and back in the later seventies it was the chief source of lumber supply for Long Prairie.
About the year 1880 F. LaHatte built a mill on Lake Beauty in the town of Bruce and J. M. Harrington at Coal Lake, six miles east of Browerville, and these two mills cut from a half million to a million feet of lumber a year for about ten years. In 1874, Getchell, Hayford & Teller built a saw-mill two miles west of the village, which was afterward purchased by Chandler, Fisher & Wait, who also erected a flouring-mill which was known for many years as Wait's mill. The mill was destroyed by fire along in the nineties and was never rebuilt. Alexander Moore, of Sauk Centre, built a grist-mill at Little Sauk about 1868 or 1869, which afterward came into possession of W. and John McNeice and most of the farmers of Todd county for ten or fifteen years, got their milling done at this mill.
In 1882 or 1883 F. Nutting & Son built a saw-mill and grist-mill at Clarissa where an immense amount of timber was manufactured into ties and bridge timber for railroad building. There are at present several modern flouring-mills in the county located at Long Prairie, Browerville. Clarissa, Eagle Bend, Bertha and Hewitt.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.