USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 95
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After all this had been settled as far as ever could be, Mr. Thompson, the unfortunate partner of Anderson, secured a partner in the person of Mr. A. Renslow, who furnished the necessary means for purchasing the balance of the machin- ery, and by the fall of 1858, a first-class saw-mill was in operation, under the management of the new firm. This was continued for about two years, when it was sold to a Mr. Abbott, who removed it to Medford.
EAST PRAIRIEVILLE HOTEL. - In 1857, two young men, Benjamin Friedenburg and John Ross, who had been at work on the mill, purchased six acres and commenced the erection of this hotel. After they had got up the walls the mill burning catastrophe occurred which spoiled the hopes of making a hotel profitable, and they thereupon sold out to William N. Owens, who finished it and opened up in October, 1858. Mr. Owens contin- ned as the proprietor until 1866, when, his health failing, ho sold to Isaac Hamlin, who operated it until the present proprietor, O. R. Ingram, pur- chased it in 1877, and now occupies the building as a residence.
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CANNON CITY TOWNSHIP.
RELIGIOUS.
The first services of this nature in this neighborhood were held in the house of Wil- liam N. Owens, in March, 1855, by Rev. T. R. Cressey, of the Baptist faith. After this, services were held once every four weeks by Rev. Mr. Cressey, but no organization took place in this faith. Since that two societies have been organ- ized, a short sketch of which are below given, the Congregational and Methodist.
CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY .- The first services for this denomination were held in the spring of 1858, at the schoolhouse, by Rev. Mr. Heverland, a photographer. An organization was effected soon after, and in 1865, a church edifice was erected by them in the village, the size of which is about 30x50 feet, W. B. Spencer donating a church site. Rev. Mr. Gilbert was the first minister sta- tioned here, and remained for about fifteen years. Their church was finally sold to the Methodist society, and no meetings are held at present.
METHODIST DENOMINATION .- The first services for this society were held by Rev. Mr. Kirkpatrick, in the residence of Elijah Austin in the village, in the fall of 1855, and a class of about fourteen members was formed soon after. Services were held in his house and the schoolhouse until the Congregational church was completed, when ser- vices were held in that, and in 1876, the building was purchased of the Congregationalists. There are now about twenty members, and services are held every two weeks in the church, with Rev. Mr. Acres as pastor.
PRAIRIEVILLE CEMETERY .- This burial ground is located on the farm of William N. Owens, hav- ing been laid out in April, 1860. The first inter- ment here was the remains of Mrs. Warren who died in April, 1855, and who was removed from her former resting place to these grounds as soon as laid out. The grounds are now pretty thickly dotted with head stones and thoughts are enter- tained of enlarging them.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
JOSEPH COVERT was born in Sullivan county, New York, on the 29th of April, 1828, brought up on a farm and when twenty-two years old be- gan the manufacture of lumber. Two and a half years later he removed to Dodge county, Wiscon- sin, and engaged in farming two years. In 1850, he married Miss Sarah F. Ogden and three years
later came to this township, pre-empting wild land in 1855. He now owns two hundred and forty acres most of which is improved, and has erected a fine brick residence. Mr. Covert has held local offices and in 1876, was elected to the Legislature, and again in 1879. He has a family of seven children.
JOHN T. COWLES is a native of Jefferson county, New York, born in 1832, and was schooled to ag- ricultural pursuits. In 1844, he removed to Dodge county, Wisconsin, and continued tilling the soil. On the 21st of November, 1858, he mar- ried Miss Mary Jane Walrod. In 1863, they re- moved to Plainview, Wabasha county, Minnesota, and in 1865, came to his present farm of two hundred and forty-seven acres in section sixteen, Cannon City township. He has been a member of the board of Supervisors three years. Mr. and Mrs. Cowles have been blessed with five childreu.
J. CLOSSAN was born in Jefferson county, New York, and remained at home on a farm until six- teen years old, then came to Wisconsin, where in 1853, he married Miss Susan Koon. They came to Rice county in 1855, and Mr. Clossan pre- empted his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section one. He served nine months in Company C, of the Sixth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and was discharged at Fort Snelling for disability. He has one child, a son.
GEORGE DOUGLASS was born in Beekmantown, Clinton county, New York, in 1825, and grew to manhood as a farmer and currier. In 1852, he married Miss Minerva Howe, who was born in 1831, in Vermont, and in 1855, they removed to Minnesota, coming by the way of Iowa. Mr. Douglass located a farm in sections twelve and thirteen and now has two hundred acres improved, building his present house in 1879. He has three children.
P. B. EDWARDS was born in Warrensville, Ohio, in 1848, and remained at home until twenty-one years old. In 1869, he came to Bridgewater, this county, and in 1874, to this township, buying a farm of eighty acres in section thirty-five where he still resides. Mrs. C. J. Edwards became his wife in 1882.
B. C. GODFREY was born in New Brunswick, Canada, on the 4th of November, 1852. His father, Elisha Godfrey, was a farmer and was also engaged in the fisheries to some extent, and after- ward, in 1855, became a pioneer in this county
532
HISTORY OF RICE COUNTY.
Our subject came to this place and resided on his, father's farm, in section three, until he purchased the same in 1880. He was united in marriage in the latter year wtth Miss Eva Foster.
JOHN JEPSON was born in New York in 1835, and learned the cooper trade of his brother. In August, 1856, he came to Rice county, and staked out a claim in Richland township, and in the fall of 1857, Miss Lyda L. Sherpy became his wife. In 1860, he made a trip to California, re- maining two and a half years, then returned and located in Cannon City, where he conducted a store nine years. He served seven months in the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. In 1876, he removed to section fourteen and has a farm of two hundred and eighty acres with good substantial buildings. Mr. and Mrs. Jepson have four chil- dren. He was Cohstable two years; Chairman of the board of Supervisors one year; Postmaster three years; Justice of the Peace three years, and Town Clerk seven years.
C. H. MULLINER was born in Penfield, Monroe county, New York, on the 12th of November, 1826, and when young worked on a farm. In 1850, he came to Michigan and was engaged in farming in different localities, and in 1852, he was married to Miss Sabrina Sanford. In 1856, he removed to this township, settled on section three, and in 1858, removed to the village, where he has since resided. He enlisted in 1862, in the First Minnesota Cav- alry, served one year, and re-enlisted iu the Sixth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, serving two years. He now draws a pension for injuries received while in service. Mr. Mulliner has three chil- dren.
D. A. McLEAN was born in Canada on the 19th of August, 1855, and learned the blacksmith trade of his uncle, Alexander McLean. In 1878, our subject came to Rice county directly to Faribault, and bought the shop owned by C. P. Edwards, which he has since conducted, doing a good busi- ness.
WILLIAM NEEL is a native of Ohio, born in 1829, and when seventeen years old learned the carpenter trade. On the 18th of August, 1853, he was joined in marriage with Miss Pauline Hoover, and the next year removed to Rice coun- ty. He pre-empted land in this township in sec- tion thirty-two, which he sold the following win- ter to G. M. Gilmore, and moved to Faribault, where he engaged in cabinet making. The next
spring he sold out his business and removed to Cannon City, locating in section ten, but after- ward removed to his present farm in sections ten and eleven, where he has a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. and Mrs. Neel have four children.
E. B. ORCUTT was born in Oneida county, New York, on the 22d of February, 1822, and ten years later he removed with his parents to Ohio, but re- turned to New York in 1838, and located in Mon- roe county. On the 13th of June, 1851, he was married to Miss Sylvia Dunning. Mr. Orcutt had charge of a boat on the Erie Canal until 1852, then removed to Dodge county, Wisconsin, and in 1855, came with two yoke of oxen to his pres- ent farm on section twenty-five, where he has two hundred and sixty acres, all improved, and with a maple grove, which he set out thirteen years ago. He has a family of five children.
WILLIAM N. OWEN, one of the pioneers of this place, was born in Delaware county, New York, in 1813, and grew to manhood on a farm. He was joined in marriage on the 5th of July, 1837, and in 1844, removed to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1854, then came to Rice county and located a farm in this township on section thirty-five. He built his house on the Indian trial, the Sioux In- diaus coming from Wabasha to the trading post, Faribault, also put up the first fence and raised the first wheat and oats in Rice county. He states that he was the first Justice of the Peace of this place. Mr. and Mrs. Owen have had eleven chil- dren, six of whom are living, and all have received a good education in the Faribault schools. His son George conducts the farm.
WILLIAM PENNOCK is a native of Madison coun- ty, New York, born in 1822, and came with his parents to Steele county, Minnesota, in 1842. Miss Julia Hamlin became his wife in 1843, and in 1869, they removed to this township and locat- ed on their present farm near the city of Fari- bault.
G. W. POPE was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 17th of September, 1828, and removed with his parents to Kenosha county, Wisconsin, in 1846, remaining at home until twenty-three years old. He then located on a farm near Portage City, and in 1852, married Miss Adaline Barlow. In 1857, he removed to this township, where he has one hundred and fifty-two
533
CANNON CITY TOWNSHIP.
acres of land in section thirty-five, with beautiful buildings and many fine shade trees. He has a family of six children.
F. STRUNK was born in New York in 1836, and after working at agricultural pursuits, came to Michigan in 1862. Two years later he removed to this county, and in company with his brother purchased a farm in Richland township, which he sold in 1876, and came to this place, forming a stock company for a flour mill, known as the Can- non City Mill Co. This he conducted two years, then sold out and purchased his present farm on sections ten and eleven, having now two hundred and forty acres. He was married in 1867 to Miss Ada C. Rathbun, who has borne him three chil- dren.
M. C. SWEATT, one of the old settlers of this place, was born on a farm in Vermont in 1829. In 1831, he removed to New Hampshire, where he was married to Miss Cynthia Amy. They removed to Wisconsin in 1849, and Mr. Sweatt worked on a farm and in the pineries until 1851, when he moved to Green Bay. In 1854, he came to this county, and located on his present farm, the north- east quarter of section twenty-three. Soon after coming here he visited the Rocky Mountains, but returned and enlisted in the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, served one year, and previous to that was First Lieutenant of the State Militia in 1861. He has a family of four children.
G. A. TURNER was born in Onondaga county, New York, on the 1st of May, 1821, and removed with his parents to Indiana when fifteen years of age. In 1842, he went to Illinois, spent a few months there, and made a trip south, spending the winter of 1842 and '43, in New Orleans. In the spring he went to Hillsdale county, Michigan, and engaged in farming. In 1851, he married Miss Romina S. Blanchard, of Ovid, Michigan. They came to this State in 1854, and after remain- ing in Hastings a short time pre-empted one hun- dred and sixty acres in section four, Cannon City, which he made his home until 1862, when he re- moved to his present farm in section two. Mr. and Mrs. Turner have two daughters and five sons.
JOHN THOMPSON was born in Scotland on the 28th of January, 1832, and removed to Canada with his parents at the age of three years. He assisted his father on the farm, and at the age of seventeen years began the manufacture of lumber,
removing to West Canada in four years. In 1852, he made a trip to California, remained three years and came to Cannon City township, erecting a steam saw-mill between Faribault and Prairieville; conducted it one year, then traded it for three factories, which he still owns. He was next en- gaged in a grist-mill, first alone, but after its de- struction by fire, erected another and took a part- ner. On the 12th of July, 1857, he married Miss Nancy E. Henderson, and the issue of the union is three children, two of whom are living. In 1859, Mr. Thompson bought a part of his present farm, moved on it, and now has a farm of four hundred acres, well improved and good buildings. In 1878, he was elected to the State Legislature, and again in 1881.
H. C. TRIPP was born in Erie county, New York, on the 10th of May, 1817, and his father, Noah Tripp,-being a farmer, H. C. was reared to the same occupation. In 1838, he went to Jack- son county, Michigan, worked in a saw-mill a short time, then returned to New York. In 1840, he married Miss Emma E. White, of Cayuga county, who bore him three children. After her death he married his present wife, Miss Minerva Ray, who was born in Vermont in 1825, the mar- riage taking place in 1849. They removed to Collins, Erie county, New York, where Mr. Tripp engaged in carriage making until 1854, and in that year started for Minnesota with a team, land- ing in this place in 1855, and immediately located a farm in section twenty-three, where he now owns two hundred and forty acres of land. He has a large brick house, beautifully located, and one of the finest farms in the county. He was Justice of the Peace four years, and Assessor one year. His eldest son, Merritt N., enlisted in 1861, in Com- pany A, of the Sixty-fourth New York Battalion, and died at Alexandria Hospital on the 29th of April, 1862. Mr. Tripp has two living children, Lettie and Delose, both at home.
F. VAN EATON, a native of Indiana, was born in 1835, and assisted in the farm labor until the age of fourteen years, when he learned the blacksmith trade, worked four years in his native State, then removed to Illinois. In 1851, he removed to Win- nebago county, Wisconsin, engaged in farming until 1856, and came to Caunon City, locating on his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section three. His land is all improved but thirty acres, which is covered with heavy timber, and
534
HISTORY OF RICE COUNTY.
has two mineral springs. He has been twice mar- ried, first to Miss S. J. Patterson in 1853, and after her death to Mrs. Phoebe M. Davis in 1864, and has been blessed with four children. Mr. Van Eaton has been a member of the board of Super- visors three years, and District Clerk fifteen years.
J. M. WooD was born in Nova Scotia on the 24th of October, 1815, and learned the carpenter trade when fourteen years old. He removed to Massachusetts in 1839, where he married Miss Mary Ann Finch in 1842, and the issue of the union is three children. In 1860, they came to this State, settled in Union Lakes until 1872, then removed to his present farm in section seventeen, Cannon City township.
A. L. WRIGHT was born in Franklin county,
Massachusetts, on the 1st of March, 1828, and when sixteen years old went to Worcester county, and for seven years worked at the boot and shoe business. At the expiration of that time he re- moved to Northampton, where he engaged with his uncle working in marble. In 1853, he re- moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, arriving there the 3d of May, and in five months went to Medford, Steele county, locating land in section five, which was the first land claimed in that county, and he and Mr. C. Lull are said to be the first white men there. In 1855, he married Miss Phoebe Hays, the ceremony taking place the 22d of March. They have five children. In 1863, he removed to this place, and has two hundred and forty acres of improved land in section three, being supplied with good buildings.
WEBSTER.
CHAPTER LXII.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION-EARLY SETTLEMENT-EARLY EVENTS OF INTEREST-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION -- MANUFACTURING - POSTOFFICES-RELIGIOUS --- EDUCATIONAL-BIOGRAPHICAL.
Webster Township is the companion town of Wheatland in extending the boundary line of the county northward. It is in the northwestern part of Rice county; its contiguous surroundings are the counties of Scott and Dakota on the north and east, with Bridgewater township forming an east- ern boundary to section thirty-six; on the south Forest and on the west Wheatland.
Webster is comprised of thirty-six square miles, containing 23,040 acres, of which about 330 are covered with water.
The soil is variable, the hilly portions being somewhat clayey, while the rolling and bottom lands are made up of a rich dark loam, with a clay or sand subsoil. The southwestern part of the township is very rolling in some places, enough so to be termed hilly, which gradually becomes more level as you advance to the north. This was originally covered with very fine timber such as oak, walnut, maple, basswood, etc., but this has nearly all been cut down long since and used for build-
ing and other purposes. One of the walnut for- ests, such as abounded here in an early day, would now prove an immense fortune to those who, in pioneer times, cut them down as ruthlessly as poplar. In the northern part of the town it is also quite hilly, and this was covered with timber of the smaller varieties; but as you go eastward the surface becomes more even, although the tendency to rolling is still apparent and some- times quite abrupt. This portion was originally covered with small timber, interspersed with nat- ural meadows, and small prairie spots covered with hazel brush, scrub oak, elm, etc., but this has long since almost entirely disappeared, and now many fine and fertile farms have transformed the spot where once the Indian hunter and wild beast held undisputed sway, into a land of beauty, thrift, civilization, and productiveness.
Webster is not so well watered as most of its contiguous neighbors, in fact it has no lakes of any importance whoily within its borders, nor is its surface traversed by streams of any note. Union Lake is the largest body of water in the town, entering from Forest and covering about 200 acres in section thirty-five. Knowles Lake is the next in size, located in the western part of the town, almost wholly in section nineteen. These
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WEBSTER TOWNSHIP.
two lakes are connected by a stream flowing from the latter, called Chub Creek. Another little stream rises in the northwestern part of the town- ship and crosses sections five and six as it leaves and enters Scott county. Still another small brook rises in the eastern part of section eleveu, and crossing section thirteen in a southeasterly direction, enters Dakota county.
A small majority of the citizens at the present writing are of German, Irish, and other foreign origin, although the American population is grow- ing more rapidly than the foreign-born. A re- port of the township published a few years ago states that the township contained "640 acres of unsold school lands, 520 acres still belonging to the government, and nearly 5,000 acres to the railroad. Wild lands may be purchased from $2.00 to $5.00 per acre, etc." This, however, is now changed and almost all lands above men- tioned have been sold to, and are now occupied by actual settlers, while the wild lands have doubled the price mentioned.
In the year 1860, the township had a popula- tion of 210; in 1865, 319; in 1880 the latest cen- sus, 872. At the census taken in 1860, the values in this town, as given to the census takers, were as follows: Real property, $137,700; personal, $49,150; total, $186,850. The total assessed val- uation for the same year, real and personal, amounted to $53,259. In 1882, the board of County Commissioners in equalizing assessments in the various townships made the following re- port of valuation in Webster: Personal property, $26,915; real property, $105,169; total, $132,084; showing an increase in assessed valuation over the year mentioned above of $78,825.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Webster commenced evolutious toward settle- ment and civilization in 1855, probably a little later than any township in Rice county, but the changes wrought are second to none. About the first to take a claim and actually settle, who is yet in the town, was Martin Taylor, a native of Ireland, who secured a claim in section twenty- one in November, 1855. He had left his family in Hastings, but in the following spring removed them to his new made home, where he had erected a small log shanty. He then went to work and cleared and spaded up three acres of land, which he planted to corn and potatoes. The next spring, wishing to seed the ground to wheat, he started to
Northfield, the nearest point where the seed could be obtained, with a yoke of oxen but no wagon. He placed one sack of wheat across the back of one ox, and another across the yoke, arriving home in safety with his wheat. With this he seeded his ground, and from the three acres he raised one hundred and ten bushels. This yield has never since been equalled, but Mr. Taylor says that since that crop he has never once been out of the article.
In the spring of the year that Mr. Taylor ar- rived-1855-a settlement was commenced in the southeastern part of the town. Harry Humphrey, a native of New York, having stopped for a time in Ohio, arrived and secured a place in section thirty-six, on the shore of Union Lake. He put up a log house and commenced running it as a hotel. He remained here until some time in the seventies, when he disposed of his farm and re- moved to Minneapolis, where he paid the debt of mortality iu 1881, his devoted wife soon following him. They left several sons in various parts of the Northwest.
Neither of the settlements, which were about five miles apart, received mauy settlers during the year 1855. The Union Lake settlement, in the southern part of the town, that was begun in the spring by Mr. Humphrey, was increased in De- cember by the arrival of two more parties, S. J. and Chalmer M. Webster, natives of Ohio. S. J. took a valuable claim in section thirty-five, and Chalmer M. took a farm about two miles to the west, in section twenty-eight. Both of these early comers remained on their places until 1866, when they removed to Marshall, Lyon county, where they now reside.
Ferris Webster, now deceased, was a prominent and active figure in the early settlement of this locality, and it was in honor of him that the town received its name. He was father of the parties above mentioned, and came to the township at the same time, taking a farm in section twenty-six, where he remained until the time of his death, which occurred in 1880. His respected widow still lives on the old homestead, and he left one son, M. C. Webster, who is still a resident of the township, the rest of his descendants being located in various parts of the Northwest. He was a man honorable in his dealings and highly respected by all who knew him.
In the spring following Mr. Webster's arrival,
536
HISTORY OF RICE COUNTY.
all parts of the township began to be settled, and the two settlements already settled branched into surrounding sections with surprising rapidity. Jacob Camp with his wife came this year, and he, after securing a farm in sections twenty-seven and thirty-four, commenced the erection of a log hut. The grit and perseverance of early settlers is pret- ty well indicated by the fact that he carried the logs to build his house on his shoulders, and drew his stove through the woods from Northfield with a sled by hand. He commenced life here with scarcely anything, but has now become well-to-do and independent.
Early in the spring and about the time of the last mentioned arrival, Ransom F. and Oscar Web- ster, natives of the Buckeye State, came and set- tled in section twenty-six, immediately commenc- ing to build log houses. The first remained in the township until 1874, when he sold his farm and removed to Lyon county, where a couple of his brothers had preceded him. Oscar Webster remained on his farm until 1870, when he re- moved to Wisconsin, but has since gone to Water- town, D. T., where he now lives.
In May, 1856, Thomas Keegan, a native of the Emerald Isle, made his appearance and took a claim northwest of Taylor's place, in section sev- enteen. He put up a log shanty and a hay and brush stable, and commenced getting land ready for seed. He remained on his place until 1864, when he sold out and removed to Nebraska. With the settler mentioned above came another native of Ireland, in the person of William Sabry. He took a place a short distance south of his compan- ion, locating in section twenty-one, where he made improvements and remained until 1868, when he removed to Bismarck, D. T.
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