History of Olmsted County, Minnesota, Part 4

Author: Joseph A. Leonard
Publication date: 1910
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 736

USA > Minnesota > Olmsted County > History of Olmsted County, Minnesota > Part 4

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).

In the convention held at St. Paul in 1857, to form a state con- stitution, Olmsted county had four delegates: Simeon Harding, of Dover ; David L. King, of Kalmar; N. B. Robbins, Jr., of Roches- ter, and William H. Mills, of Pleasant Grove. In the separation of

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

the convention into a Republican and a Democratic branch, they all acted with the Republican body.

Thomas H. Armstrong, of High Forest, was a member of the Democratic wing, representing Mower county, as High Forest was not yet included in Olmsted county.

Simeon Harding was a native of the State of New York. He settled in Dover township in 1854. He was elected Justice of the Peace and filled several township offices. He removed to St. Charles in 1862, where he was a Justice of the Peace and Postmaster. He died in New York state while on a visit in 1872. He was honored by his neighbors and respected for his upright character.

Mr. Harding was quite dignified and neat in his dress, and it was noticeable when seen in Rochester, that he wore gloves, some- thing quite unusual in the bare-handed community. A sturdy old Republican farmer of Viola told me that he would not vote for him because he put on airs; that he had not worn gloves before he went to St. Paul.

Rev. David L. King was a native of Pennsylvania. He was a farmer boy and acquired an academic education by teaching school. He moved to Illinois and was ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1850, being at that time a school teacher. He spent several years farming in Illinois and Iowa and located in Kalmar township in 1855. He followed farming and never took an appointment as minister, but has officiated a great deal as a local preacher and at many weddings and funerals. The first funeral sermon in the township was preached by him. He made the first appointment for preaching at Mantorville, and while going for a pail of water that morning was bitten by a rattlesnake and compelled to disappoint the congregation. He was a delegate to the conven- tion which framed the State Constitution and was elected a Repre- sentative to the Legislature of 1859, but no session being held that year he did not serve. He filled the township offices of Supervisor, Treasurer and Justice of the Peace. He was a man of excellent character and strict morals. He died in 1898.

One day during a session of the Supervisors there was a circus in town, which was a great event for those days. Mr. King, who was in attendance at the meeting of the Supervisors, took dinner that day at that old caravansary, the American House. Lloyd Barber, afterwards Judge of the District Court, then a newly ar- rived lawyer, sat beside King and I beside Barber. I heard Barber ask King whether he was going to the circus, to which that correct gentleman, then a man of forty-two years, answered that he had never in his life spent a dollar for liquor or amusement. What a recora for a man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake!

N. B. Robbins came to Rochester from the East in 1857, and established the Olmsted County Journal in partnership with D. M. Evans. He was drowned in the reservoir of the lower mill in a

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

great freshet in the summer of 1859, in trying to save the dam. He was an educated young gentleman, with a brilliant future, and very popular; his tragic death was mourned by all the little community.

William H. Mills was born in Pennsylvania. He went to Ohio and became a printer. From there he went to Indiana, where he enlisted in the Third Infantry, served through the Mexican War, and at its close settled in Illinois, and came from there to Minnesota, locating in Pleasant Grove village in 1855, where he was a merchant and surveyor. He was First Lieutenant and afterwards Captain of Company C of the Third Minnesota Regiment. After leaving the service he returned to merchandising in Pleasant Grove. In 1869 he moved to Carver, Minn., and served two terms as Repre- sentative and one term as Senator in the Legislature. Later he removed to Minneapolis, where he was a Justice of the Peace and is now a merchant. He is a good business man of excellent reputation.

Mr. Armstrong became very prominent in the politics of the state. He was a native of Ohio, graduated in law in that state and came to the village of High Forest in 1855. He became the leading lawyer of that region and was very successful in acquiring real estate. He was a Representative in the Legislature of 1864. In the session of 1865 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives and was Lieutenant Governor for four sessions, from 1866 to 1869, and served with distinguished ability. His brother, Hon. Augustus Armstrong, of Albert Lea, dying in 1873 and leaving a large estate, he removed there to take charge of it, and died there in 1892, aged about sixty-four years. He was a thorough lawyer, of great practical ability, and very popular.

At the first session of the Legislature, under the state organiza- tion, held in 1857, before the state was fairly organized. Charles H. Lindsley, of Rochester, and Emerson Hodges, of Eyota town- ship, were Senators, and Sylvanus Burgess, of Quincy township; E. Allen Power, of Oronoco; Samuel Lord, of Marion, and Wil- liam K. Tattersall, of High Forest, were Representatives.

Charles H. Lindsley became one of the most prominent of Roch- ester citizens. In 1855 he settled in Rochester, coming from Wis- consin, and became one of the proprietors of North Rochester and agent of the Boston company of speculators to whom he sold three- fourths of the site. He was conspicuous in the Senate in the advocacy of the $5,000,000 railroad loan. He became Mayor of Rochester, Master of the Masonic lodge and a contestant for the Republican nomination for Congressman when Windom was nomi- nated and elected. He was a Republican presidential elector in the second election of Lincoln, and was chosen to carry the electoral vote to Washington. After the failure to make Lower Town the business end of Rochester he removed to Washington. D. C., and

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

afterwards to Philadelphia and to New York, where he became wealthy from real estate enterprises. He died in the vicinity of New York a number of years ago. He was a very intelligent man, of much force of character, and an eloquent speaker.

Emerson Hodges was a farmer in Eyota township, being an early settler there. He was a well educated man, being a graduate of Dartmouth College. He was in the Legislature one of the few determined opponents of the $5,000,000 loan. He served two terms. In 1864 he was appointed to a clerkship in the Second Auditor's office at Washington and held the office more than twenty years. He died there in 1888, aged sixty-three years.

Sylvanus Burgess was a farmer in Quincy, being one of the earliest settlers. He removed to Mankato about 1864 and was killed by the falling of boards in a lumber yard in 1876.

E. Allen Power, known as Ned Power, an early settler of Oronoco, was distinguished for his good fellowship and popularity. He was a Canadian, and served as a legislator without going through the formality of becoming a citizen of the United States; but, in that early day, who cared? He was satisfactory to his constituents. He was the first local editor of the county, filling that position on the Oronoco Courier.

Samuel Lord was born in Pennsylvania. He received a collegiate education and taught school and read law. He came to Marion village in 1856 and practiced law and surveying. He was the only lawyer that village ever had. He lived there three years and moved to Mantorville, became a successful lawyer and represented Dodge county twice in the State Senate. In 1871 he was elected judge of that district and at the expiration of the first term was re-elected. He died in 1880. He was respected for his deliberate judgment and conscientiousness.

His son, Daniel Lord, of Kasson, has been a leader in the Legis- lature for several years.

Captain William K. Tattersall was a native of England, born in 1814, and was brought to New York City by his parents when a year and a half old. In 1856 he came to High Forest village and built what was then a large hotel, perhaps the best outside Rochester, and became its landlord. He was again elected Representative in 1860. He was captain of Company H of the Sixth Regiment and served till the end of the war. He was Assistant Sergeant at Arms of the State Senate in 1869 and 1870. He was postmaster at High Forest for a number of years and several times president of the village council, and died there in 1893. He was an intelli- gent, forceful and genial man and held a high place in the com- munity.

In the spring of 1857 the important question of the location of the county seat was decided by popular vote. At that time Oronoco

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY,

and Marion were towns of about equal promise with Rochester. Its location in the center of the county gave Rochester a decided advantage over Oronoco, but Marion was a more formidable rival, and the contest between it and Rochester was a bitter one; so much so that both polled every vote they had, and a great many that they had not. The word "graft," in its most modern sense, had not then been invented, but the thing itself was an existing reality. Marion was far more enterprising in stuffing the ballot box than Rochester and was returned as the elected county seat, but Rochester, contested. The superior ability in sculduggery of Marion over equally willing but less accomplished Rochester was established and Rochester was officially proclaimed the capital of the county. The geographical advantages of its location have pro- hibited any subsequent contest.

James Addison Bucklen was elected County Treasurer in 1856. He was a son of James Bucklen, a pioneer settler of Cascade township, coming with his father in 1854. He was born in the State of New York in 1831. He moved to a farm in New Haven in 1879, and was for years a Justice of the Peace. He died in January, 1903.

The County Commissioners for 1857 were John Lowery, of Kalmar; Hiram Thompson, of Dover, and D. B. Coe, of High Forest.

Hiram Thompson was born in the State of New York. He was Deputy Sheriff and Jailor at Batavia, at the time of the anti- Masonic excitement and the disappearance of William Morgan who was claimed to have been drowned in the Niagara river because of of his alleged revelations of Masonry. He knew Morgan, who was imprisoned about that time in the Batavia jail for debt, and he was present at the coroner's inquest and was satisfied that the body washed up from the river and claimed to be that of Morgan, was not his, but that of Timothy Monroe, a resident of Canada. In 1830 Mr. Thompson moved to Michigan, where he was a member of the Territorial Convention and for several terms one of the judges of the Circuit Court. In 1854 he made the first location in Dover township. He was one of the commissioners who located the first state road from Winona to St. Peter. In 1860 he became Judge of Probate, serving five years, after which he was a Justice of the Peace in Rochester for several years and then removed to St. Charles and, later, to Osakis, Minnesota, where he died in 1879, at the age of seventy-nine years. He spent an exemplary life and was held in the highest respect in every community in which he lived.

D. B. Coe was a pioneer merchant of High Forest. He and T. B. Huddleston opened a store there in 1855. He lived there only a short time.

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

The following prices were quoted in the Rochester market report in the Olmsted Journal of April 2, 1857: Wheat, $1.25; corn, 90 cents; oats, 80 cents; potatoes, 75 cents; beans, $3 : flour, $4 per hundred; beef, $14; pork, $15; common pine lumber, $45 per thou- sand feet : extra clear, $50.

As the farms were developed a surplus of products was raised for shipment to the eastern markets, and its transportation was one of the characteristic industries of the new country. The nearest mar- kets were at Winona and La Crosse, fifty to a hundred miles away. and the hauling of the farmer's grain or other produce to those far away places was one of the hardships of pioneering. From 1857 till the arrival of the railroad in 1864 the roads were, in the fall and winter, alive with the teams of the farmers, some of them plodding on teams, trudging through snow and all kinds of wintry weather with their loads, generally of wheat but sometimes of hogs dressed and frozen. Stories were told of teamsters who slept in their sleighs on the bitter winter nights, and often the price for the load at the end of the haul was not equivalent for the worry of getting it there. Lucky was he who got a load of lumber or merchandise to pay for the return trip.

A., who was a sincere but eccentric member of the Rochester Baptist church, put in a winter in teaming on the road. his motive power being a yoke of oxen. On a blustery day when his hat blew off while trying to manage his unruly cattle, he committed the indiscretion of swearing soundly and profanely at them. St. Peter probably made a lenient entry of the profanity in his big book in consideration of the fact that the swearer in his early days had been a sailor, but it becoming known to the church, a trial of the offender was held and he was expelled. He accepted the verdict philo- sophically, merely saying he did swear and supposed it was right to expel him, but he would like to ask Deacon C., the accuser, "whether he ever drove stags." He afterwards said that he swore and prayed to God and He forgave him, but Deacon C. never would. As he was a man of exemplary habits and lived a correct life several years after, it is to be presumed that he was reinstated.

Digitized by Google

THE GOLDEN ERA.

I N the fall of 1858 an incipient gold mining boom developed along the Zumbro river at Rochester and near Oronoco. It was discovered, we have not learned how, that there was gold in some of the sands along that stream and the mining fever attacked a few persons. At Rochester, several rockers, perhaps half a dozen, such as were used in California, were set up on the bank of Cascade creek, near where the brewery was afterwards built, and the black dirt from the banks was shoveled into them, and on being washed out, revealed just enough specks of gold to lure the prospectors on to further washings and for two or three days there was almost a boom, but nothing came of it. One zealous miner, Aleck Fleck, a young man, son of Uncle Jacob, the landlord of the Fleck House, was a self constituted millionaire for a few hours. He had washed out a fine paying prospect from his rocker, but he fell back to his normal condition of impecuniosity when "the boys" revealed to him that they had salted his rocker with a handful of brass filings.

There was not so much prospecting in Rochester on the river itself, but a little gold was also found there. I saw John Stevens, the well known painter, extract from some black sand he scraped from between a couple of slabs of rock beside the rapids below the College street bridge, a little nugget of gold of the size and shape of a couple of grains of wheat joined together.

In the summer of 1875 Lucius Renslow, a barber, and E. A. McDowell put in several weeks washing out the gravel on an island south of the College street bridge. Mr. Renslow showed me a homeopathic medicine vial half filled with small scales and sparks of gold; but he did not get enough to pay for his labor.

The mining on the Zumbro, about five miles below Oronoco, was on a more enterprising and business-like scale. The Oronoco Min- ing Company was organized with Stewart B. Clark and Archibald Ellithorpe, later well known citizens of Rochester, Ebenezer Collins, William H. Pierce and others as members. Sluices were built in the fall of 1858, but were washed away in the spring of 1859. The damages were repaired and a flume and water wheel built and some gold got out. One nugget was sold for $20, and Elizer Dawson, the Rochester pioneer jeweler, made half a dozen or more rings from the Oronoco gold; one of them was the wedding ring used at the marriage of Miss Carrie Mapes to Norton C. Youngston in 1859,

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

and Dr. E. C. Cross, of Rochester, had a set of waistcoat buttons made of the Oronoco gold. The Oronoco Company was just about ready for extensive operations when the great freshet of June, 1859, carried away all their works and the enterprise was aban- doned, a sacrifice to the weather and the hard times. So ended Olmsted county's golden era.

Mr. Clark told me he was satisfied that more than enough gold could be got from the Oronoco mine to pay better than farm wages, and several experienced miners have expressed the opinion that gold is there in paying quantities, but such does not seem to be the opinion of geologists. In his report on the geology of Olmsted county, published in State Geologist N. H. Winchell's final report. M. W. Harrington says :

"Gold has been found in the drift along the Zumbro from Roch- ester and Oronoco down to the Wabasha border and beyond. It is found only on the Cambrian limestones. Murchison calls attention to this fact as generally true. It is found in the drift about the stream, but mostly in the bed of the stream, or in the material worked over by it at a comparatively recent date. In the alluvial material is found a small amount of black magnetic sand of a spe- cific gravity approaching that of gold. When the gold is obtained by washing, after all the other materials are washed away, this heavy black sand remains, and the minute fragments of gold are picked out from it. It is therefore called the 'mother of gold,' and the two are thought to be always together, a conclusion which need not necessarily follow.

"The gold is in minute angular fragments. The quantity is so small that it does not pay to work it by the ordinary method of hand washing. Washing on a more extensive scale might be made to pay. It has been tried two or three times, but never under favorable circumstances, or for periods of much length.

"It may be worth while just here to call attention to the fact that gold is frequently found under these circumstances. It has been found over extensive regions in Canada, where attempts at obtaining it on a large scale have always failed to pay. It occurs thus in Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and has been reported in other counties in Minnesota, viz. : Fillmore, Wabasha and Scott."

Digitized by Google

EVENTS OF 1858 TO 1860.

T HE County Commissioners for 1858 were John Lowry, Lowell B. Bliss, of Orion, and D. B. Coe, of High Forest. Mr. Bliss, who was a farmer in Orion township, became one of the leading citizens of the county and the city of Rochester. After serving another term as County Commissioner he was elected Register of Deeds in 1859, and held the office for ten years, making Rochester his home. His competency and courtesy made him one of the most popular officials in the county. He acquired a thorough knowledge of the land titles and was most accommodating in looking up the records for all who had business in the office. He was esteemed by the whole community for his good judgment and his high character. He served two terms as Mayor of Rochester. At the close of his service as Register he formed a partnership in the real estate business with Hon. J. Swaine Sawyer, of Chatfield, and removed to that city, where he died in 1872. He was a native of Vermont, and was a pioneer settler in Licking county, Ohio. He emigrated to Iowa, where he lived till 1856, when he settled in Orion township.

His son, Timothy H. Bliss, after three years' service in the Sixth Minnesota Regiment, engaged in the real estate business in Roches- ter in 1877, and is still so engaged, having the only abstract of titles in the county. He seems to have inherited his father's taste for real estate.

In the fall of 1858 the county government was changed from a board of commissioners to a board of supervisors, comprising the chairman of supervisors of each township. The board under this new arrangement consisted of John W. Everstine, Sylvanus Risker and Charles H. Lindsley, of Rochester : C. H. Short, of Marion; Ethan Kimball, of Farmington; Lowell B. Bliss, of Orion; J. S. Cornish, of Rock Dell; Michael Pearce, of Oronoco; Abram Har- kins, of Viola; John Kilroy, of New Haven; Elkanah Day, of Pleasant Grove; David L. King, of Kalmar; James Bucklen, of Cascade; G. C. Sheeks, of Dover; Truman T. Olds, of Quincy ; F. A. Coffin, of Elmira ; Cyrus Cornell, of Salem ; William Russell, of High Forest; David Whitney, of Rochester township; A. J. Doty, of Eyota township; O. A. Hadley, of Haverhill.

This large board was frequently called by those without rever- ence for "powers that be," "the County Legislature." It was in existence only one term, during the year 1859.

John W. Everstine was born in Maryland in 1825 and came to

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

Rochester in 1857. He worked at his trade of tailoring till he was appointed Postmaster by President Buchanan in 1860, succeeding J. B. Daniels, and holding the office till 1861, serving with great satisfaction to the public. After his official service he engaged in store keeping and for years had a large second-hand furniture store. He had the highest reputation for integrity and fair dealing. He was an alderman for two terms, being the first citizen of the First Ward elected to the Council, and was prominent as an Odd Fellow, being the last of the surviving charter members of the Rochester lodge, and having been Deputy Grand Master of the State. He retired from business and died a few months later, in August, 1907.

Sylvanus Risker came to Rochester from the State of New York about 1857, as the agent of Eastern money loaners, and was after- wards for several years a deputy in the Treasurer's and other county offices.

C. H. Short came from Illinois in 1855 and preempted a farm near the village of Marion. He afterwards went on a trip to Pike's Peak and returning, left the farm and built and ran a hotel in the village. He was an energetic business man. He moved to Iowa about 1861, and from there to Missouri, where he is believed to have died.

Ethan Kimball, one of the first settlers of Farmington township, had been a merchant in the East. He lived on his farm several years and moved to Rochester, where he lived till his death a few years later. He was a well-educated gentleman and highly appreci- ated by his neighbors.

Jonas S. Cornish settled in Rock Dell township as a farmer about 1856, and died there about 1861. He was a highly respected citizen.

Abram Harkins became conspicuous as a soldier. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1821. When a boy of fifteen he went to Detroit, and from there, on foot, to Rockford, Illinois. He got an academic education at Mount Morris Seminary and taught school till the breaking out of the Mexican War, when he enlisted and was in several engagements, among them the battle of Buena Vista. After this service he lived at Roscoe, Illinois, till 1855. when he settled in Viola township. He served the township as Chairman of Supervisors and Justice of the Peace, and as Representative in the Legislature. In June, 1861, he helped to raise Company B of the Second Regiment, and was elected second lieutenant and was promoted to first lieutenant and captain. At the battle of Chickamauga he was left on the field wounded, was taken prisoner and suffered amputation of his arm. He was paroled and resigned in 1864; that year he was elected County Auditor and served two terms, after which he and John S. Humason ran the Cascade mill. In 1871 he became an assistant doorkeeper in the House of Repre- sentatives at Washington, and the same year was appointed Post- master at Rochester, which office he held till he removed to Gary,

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF OLMSTED COUNTY

Dakota, where he died. He was an unassuming man of the highest character. He was elected to the Dakota Legislature and was a county commissioner at the time of his death in 1896.

John Kilroy, a young man, settled in New Haven in 1855. In 1860 he, in partnership with Leonard Kilbourn, built a saw mill at what is now Genoa, which was burned down. In 1872 he moved to Winnebago City, where he lived five or six years, and returned to Rochester and staid a couple of years, and then went to Manitoba, where he was for about three years a subcontractor in the con- struction of the Canadian Pacific railroad. He finally had con- sumption and returned to Rochester, where he died in 1885. He was a very enterprising man with a large circle of friends.

Elkanah Day was a native of the State of New York. He lived fifteen years at Olean, as a merchant, lumberman and farmer. He located in the village of Pleasant Grove in 1858, and died there in 1880. He was an unusually well informed and highly respected gentleman.

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.

History of Olmsted County, Minnesota, Part 4

Author: Joseph A. Leonard Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Number of Pages: 736

Author: Joseph A. Leonard
Publication date: 1910
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 736