USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources > Part 27
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Mr. Laird informed them that he had taken possession of "that eighty " because there was no one occupying it - nothing to indicate that any one had possession of it, and informed them that his shanty was the only improvement on the claim. This self-consti- tuted claim committee decided to let Mr. Gere take care of his own affairs if he had got into trouble from his own mismanagement. He was then holding other claims.
Mr. Laird completed his shanty on Saturday evening, and, sup- posing that he had possession safe enough, stayed contentedly at Mrs. Goddard's, because it was Sunday and a day of rest generally observed by the settlers. It chanced to be the day on which Elder Hamilton had made an appointment to preach at Mrs. Goddard's shanty, and there the settlers assembled to listen to one of his best sermons.
Taking a great interest in the subject of the discourse, Mr. Laird for the time forgot about his recently acquired earthly posses- sion, and gave his undivided attention to the sermon of the elder. After the service was over and the audience began to disperse, he cast his eyes toward his new shanty, not fifty rods away, and dis- covered Henry C. Gere on its roof. Accompanied by Wm. H. Stevens, and followed more deliberately by Elder Hamilton and his whole congregation, he rushed toward his unprotected claim im- provement and found that Gere had jumped the shanty, if not the claim.
Taking advantage of the security from observation afforded while the attention of the settlers were engaged by Elder Hamilton,
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Mr. Gere had taken a load of his household goods to the shanty and taken possession of it.
On reaching the locality Mr. Laird found the shanty occupied ; a table with a few dishes and a chair or two were on one side of the room, and on the other a cook-stove, on which was a tea-kettle, a pot of potatoes, and a frying-pan with a slice of ham ready for cook- ing. Mrs. Gere was comfortably seated in a rocking-chair in front of the stove, waiting to touch a match to the kindling-wood as soon as the stove-pipe was put in place, and Mr. Gere was on the roof cutting a hole for it to pass through.
Mr. Laird called to Gere to come down, but he refused, reply- ing, "You are too late, for I now hold possession." Laird and Stevens then tore off the boards from the roof, and notwithstanding Gere's resistance, caught him by the legs and dragged him to the ground. They then proceeded to carry the stove and other furni- ture outside, except the rocking-chair, which Mrs. Gere occupied, and very composedly maintained possession of the roofless shanty.
Elder Hamilton sedately seated himself on one of the chairs ejected from the cabin and calmly watched the proceedings. Occa- sionally a quiet smile would illumine his dignified expression as he observed the demonstrative movements of the noisy and excited settlers, who but a very few minutes before had been model repre- sentativės of a moral, intellectual and order-loving community. Feelings of partisanship were exhibited by lond expressions of opin- ion in emphatic language rather than by active participation. Men and women ,espoused the cause of one side of the other. Some threats were passed, but no serious collisions occurred.
Mrs. Goddard took a firm and determined stand in support of the rights of her brother to the claim. While Laird and Stevens were tearing or knocking the boards from the roof on which Gere stood, she observed a second load of Gere's furniture approaching from the east; they had gone down the prairie and come up along the river. Rushing toward the team and brandishing a cudgel, which she caught up on the first alarm, Mrs. Goddard ordered the driver to stop, and, taking the horses by the bridles, led them back across the line of the claim and told the driver to leave as soon as possible. Without a show of resistance the teamster drove off. The team belonged to John Evans. In speaking of the occurrence afterward, Frank Curtiss, the driver, said it was not the first time he had been
.
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captured by a woman, and he did not propose to get into a quarrel with Mrs. Goddard.
It was charged that Elder Hamilton had a foreknowledge of Gere's design, and had selected one of his most interesting and lengthy sermons to give him ample opportunity to accomplish his purpose unmolested. "Aunt Catharine " says "that was not so. Elder Hamilton and John C. were always warm friends, but Elder Ely knew all about it, for he kept going out every few minutes as if to see if a steamboat was coming. I know Elder Hamilton was on John's side that day, because he beckoned to me, and when I went over to where he was sitting on one of the chairs he said, 'The boys had better tear the shanty down now they are at it.' I told the boys and they tore the whole thing down without disturbing Mrs. Gere, and left her sitting in her rocking-chair on the bare prairie."
As soon as the shanty was demolished the excitement subsided and all started for their homes, leaving Laird and Gere to watch each other and hold the claim. Mrs. Gere went to her own shanty and sent her husband his supper, while Mrs. Goddard bountifully furnished rations for John C., who stood guard over his promiscuous pile of lumber.
The night was a cold, disagreeable one ; a chilly west wind swept over the bleak prairie and compelled the lonely, unsocial watchmen to keep in motion to preserve proper circulation. Although each had a blanket in which they wrapped themselves, Mr. Laird formed a windbreak of boards. Mr. Gere solicited the loan of a few boards for a like protection, but Laird objected to his lumber being used for such purposes.
Finding it impossible to get any rest while so uncomfortable, Gere called to Laird about midnight and said - " I have a proposition to make to you which I think will be of advantage to both of us. I have no more confidence in your honesty than I have in men gen- erally, but I believe you will keep your word when you make a promise. Now, suppose we agree to let this claim matter remain just where it is, without either of us doing anything until to- morrow ; we can then go home and get some sleep." Mr. Laird was amused at the proposition, but did not object to it. The two men solemnly pledged themselves to leave the claim undisturbed until the next morning, and bidding each other "good night " in more social tones than they had previously observed, they left the locality.
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Both parties made their appearance at sunrise, and hostilities were resumed. Mr. Laird rebuilt his shanty, but moved to another location nearer the river and a little below, on what is now block 5 in Laird's addition. Gere tried for two or three months to obtain possession, but without effect, the cold weather interfering with any active measures. On the night of January 24, 1853, while Mr. Laird was temporarily absent from the prairie, his shanty was torn down and the lumber destroyed-chopped in pieces. Mr. Laird built another cabin on the same ground. It is said that this destruc- tion of the claim-shanty was effected by a young man employed by Gere for that purpose, who received a hundred pounds of flour for his services.
Satisfied that it would not be possible for him to get possession and hold it against the opposition he had to contend with, Mr. Gere appealed to Justice Burns for aid to remove the trespasser, feeling confident that a select jury would award him his rights.
There were at this time two justices in this vicinity, George M. Gere, on Wabasha prairie, and John Burns, at the mouth of Burns valley. Jabez McDermott, of Wabasha prairie, was constable. In February, H. C. Gere sued John C. Laird before John Burns, Esq., for trespass, etc., to get possession of the claim. The trial by jury came off in March. This was the first jury trial ever held in this part of the territory - the first jury ever called in what is now Winona county. The court was held in the upper part of the " Viets House" (the old Winona House), which was then unfin- ished, Squire Burns having adjourned the court from his office at his house to this place to accommodate all parties interested. The trial was considered an important event by the settlers.
Mr. Gere engaged the professional services of Mr. Flint, a law- yer living in La Crosse, and of Andrew Cole, of Wabasha prairie. Mr. Cole was then the only practicing attorney living on the west side of the river. Mr. Laird had for counsel and management of his defense, a lawyer from La Crosse by the name of French. The jury impaneled to try the case was George W. Clark, Scott Clark, O. S. Holbrook, William Hewitt, W. H. Coryell and Hiram Campbell.
This being the first important case brought before Squire Burns, his inexperience in his official position made it necessary for him to seek advice as to his own duties. He selected as his confidential adviser the "home attorney." He was personally acquainted with
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Mr. Cole, and had great confidence in his opinions of law. This peculiarity in the case excited some comment from outsiders, - Mr. Cole being attorney for the plaintiff, but no charges were ever made that any improper or unjust proceedings were entertained by the court. Notwithstanding the very marked eccentricities exhibited by the squire, his court and official position was duly respected. His comical expressions and blundering style of doing business afforded considerable amusement during the trial, and were subjects for many a hearty laugh for a long time afterward.
About two days were spent in the examinations of witnesses and speech-making by the attorneys before the case was submitted to the jury. After due deliberation it was ascertained that there was no probability of the jury agreeing, and they were discharged. The court adjourned until the next Monday, March 14, at which time another jury was impaneled and the trial of the case again re- peated.
In the first trial the jury stood five for the defendant and one for the plaintiff. The one who stood out against his fellow jurors was Hiram Campbell. The jury on the second trial was John Iams, S. A. Houck, H. B. Waterman, Wm. L. Luark, S. D. Putnam, and Elijah Silsbee, all residents of Minnesota City except the last. After about the same amount of time consumed as with the first trial the case was given to the jury, and at about 11 o'clock at night, March 16, the jury decided unanimously in favor of the plaintiff, Henry C. Gere.
The next morning Mr. Laird and Wm. H. Stevens started for La Crosse, and took the lawyers home. The condition of the ice in the river would not permit of delay-even then traveling on the river was unsafe. The ice in the river appeared as if it might break up in a few days. It did leave the river in front of the prairie on the 20th of March.
Mr. Laird left the claim in charge of Mrs. Goddard to hold until his return, not supposing that any movement would be made be- fore that time. Mrs. Goddard, with a young lady, Miss Salina Kellogg, of La Crosse, who was up on a visit, accordingly took pos- session of the shanty, with a firm determination to hold the fort.
The suit had been decided in Gere's favor, and he became anx- ious to get the claim into his possession before Mr. Laird should have an opportunity to appeal to a higher court, as he had given notice that he should do on his return. Under the management of
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Mr. Cole, his attorney, judgment was entered up against Mr. Laird on the justice's docket, and an attachment issued to take possession of his property for the payment of the costs in the suit. A writ of restitution was also issued, under which it was supposed possession would be acquired and the claim held.
The constable, McDermott, was friendly and in full sympathy with Mr. Laird, and was also a boarder with Mrs. Goddard. Before the papers were placed in his hands, he notified Mrs. Goddard of the proceedings, and arranged with her a plan of defense. He aided them to procure material and barricade the building, so as to resist an assault if Gere and his friends attempted to take forcible posses- sion of the shanty. It was supposed that they were provided with firearms. Being forewarned, they had the courage to believe that they would be able to resist the officer of the law, with his consent, and hold Gere and his friends at bay until the return of Mr. Laird from La Crosse.
Learning from McDermott that the yoke of oxen would be attached when they came across the river from their work, Mrs. Goddard sent for the cattle and had them brought over and chained to a post by the side of the shanty, while the constable had business elsewhere.
When the writ was placed in McDermott's hands he went down to the claim. As he advanced, Mrs. Goddard warned him that if anyone attempted to come near the shanty it would be at their own peril. The constable withdrew to a safe distance and apparently waited for a more favorable opportunity to perform his official duties. Neither Mr. Gere or any of his friends ventured within short range of the cabin where Mrs. Goddard and Miss Kellogg stood guard, and, to the surprise of the settlers, successfully resisted the execution of the law and boldly defied any one who should dare molest them.
These two women held the claim and retained possession of the oxen until Mr. Laird returned from La Crosse with the money to defray the expenses of the suit, which had been the principal object of his trip. He at once paid the cost and appealed the case to the United States district court. The writ of restitution was never enforced.
Of the proceedings in the district court, nothing official can be learned. It is said that, from some cause, judgment in the justice's court was suspended and the case dismissed. Mr. Laird was never
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afterward disturbed in his possession of the claim. It is now known as Laird's Addition.
Although Mr. Gere never made any actual attempts to obtain possession of the claim, he several times threatened suits for its recovery. Mr. Laird soon found that a little money would stop all proceedings - less than the fee of a lawyer to defend the case. Gere consulted about every lawyer that located here for the next two or three years. He was among the first clients of Hon. Judge Wilson, when he came here in 1855. Mr. Wilson, then a young lawyer, became interested in the story of Gere, and, considering it an im- portant case, at once commenced suit against Mr. Laird. He was greatly surprised a day or two after to learn from his client that, on account of a satisfactory arrangement with Mr. Laird, he wished to stop all proceedings against him. The lawyers never shared in these periodical settlements. When Gere again ran short of funds, he again called on his attorney to bring suit against Laird, but Mr. Wilson indignantly refused to have anything further to do with the case.
Mr. Laird became a permanent settler on Wabasha prairie, where he was prominently identified with public and private enter- prises which tended to the development of the resources of the county. Although for many years Mr. Laird gave his attention to the cultivation of a large farm in the eastern part of Olmsted county, and lived there with his family a portion of each year, he has maintained an interest in Winona county and occupied his resi- dence in the city of Winona.
John C. Laird now lives on the same claim he "jumped " from Henry C. Gere, on Wabasha prairie, in the fall of 1852. His pres- ent residence is within two blocks of where his claim-shanties stood while contesting possession with Mr. Gere. This is the only instance where any one of the original claimholders of land on Wabasha prairie, now the city of Winona, is living on the claim he held in 1852, and with one exception Mr. Laird is the only one in the city living on land which they held prior to the sale of public lands in 1855. A part of the original claim of Captain Smith, claim No. 1, was pre-empted by John Keyes. His widow and family are yet resi- dents of that locality.
In the spring of 1853 Mr. Laird built quite a stylish and com- fortable one-story house, with two wings, on his claim, and made it his headquarters. He brought up a breaking-team of three yoke
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of large oxen and two large breaking-plows. His reason for having two plows to one team was, that he found it economical to send his plows to Galena by steamboat for repairs - to keep his team at work an extra plow was necessary. This team he kept busy breaking for the settlers by the acre during the season, under the management of A. B. Smith.
Mr. Laird started the first livery stable in the county of Winona. The heavy horses and wagons he furnished for hire in 1853 would hardly represent the business if compared with the dashing turn- outs now furnished from the " liveries " in the city of Winona.
Although not strictly the first man to deal in lumber, Mr. Laird was the first to commence the business and estabish a lumber-yard for the retail of lumber as a regular business occupation. He com- menced the lumber business a little above where the sawmill of Laird, Norton & Co. now stands. His little retail yard was the nucleus from which the vast lumber establishments and immense business of Laird, Norton & Co. has been developed. John C. Laird was once a member of this firm, but withdrew from it many years ago. It was through him and his influence that many of our best citizens came into this county.
In the summer of 1852 Enos P. Williams, who made the claim next east of that held by Beecher Gere, traded it to B. B. Healy for three or four village lots in La Crosse. Mr. Williams had made no improvement except a pretense of a garden. He was then living in La Crosse, where he remained for three or four years, after which he came up the river and settled in this county, in what is now the town of Utica, where he yet resides.
Mr. Healy built quite a comfortable house on the Williams claim and placed a man on it to hold possession. The claimkeeper neg- lected his charge and it was jumped by Rufus Emerson, who was employed by Andrew Cole. Mr. Healy contested the matter, and after a suit or two at law recovered possession of the claim and then disposed of it to Rev. H. S. Hamilton, who bought it for some of his relatives, John I. and Harvey Hubbard. It was then called the John I. Hubbard claim, and is now known as Hubbard's Addition to the plat of Winona.
But few claims were made in the southern part of what is now Winona county during the season of 1852. Two or three were selected on Pine creek, one or two along the river and in the valleys.
Hamilton McCollum settled on the river in the lower part of the
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county. His house was for a year or two a favorite stopping- place for travelers by land on the trail between Winona and La- Crosse.
James Campbell, a Scotchman, settled in Cedar creek valley three or four miles from its mouth. William and Robert Campbell came not long after. Mr. Campbell now holds a large amount of land in that vicinity, where he yet resides.
Leonard Johnson lived with W. B. Bunnell for a year or two, and then with Frank Wilson started a wood-yard at Johnson's Point, below the present village of Homer. Mr. Johnson is yet a resident of the county, living in the town of Pleasant Hill, on a farm selected by him in an early day.
Harry Herrick, for many years a man of all work for Bunnell, made a claim in Burns valley, about two miles above its mouth, where the road crosses the stream. He built a small log cabin, which is yet standing and is a part of the old building on the upper side of the road, east of the bridge.
Mr. Herrick held this claim for a year or two, when he sold it and went back to live with Bunnell, where he died two or three years after .. The claim was purchased by Rev. Edward Ely, and was long known as the "Ely claim." It is now a part of the farm of Mr. Henry Bitner.
William Hewett came into the county in the latter part of this season and made a claim in Burns valley, next above Herrick. He built a frame house near the big spring next to the road and settled there with his family. This house was burned down several years after. A log house now occupies the same site. Mr. Hewett occupied the locality for two or three years and then sold out and left this part of the country.
Joseph S. Wilson selected his claim in Burns valley, next above Hewett's, where Charles Miller now has a stock-farm. He built his claim shanty about where the present farm buildings stand, near the spring. His first shanty was only designed to show that the claim was "occupied by a settler." He left his claim in the care of Roderick Kellogg until the next spring, when he returned with his family, built a comfortable house and opened up a farm, which he cultivated for three or four years. He then sold his farm and moved into Winona, where he carried on the business of harness- making until about 1880, when he went west and located in the territory of Dakota. Mr. Wilson was a well-known citizen of the
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county. The town of Wilson was given its name from him, he being one of its oldest settlers and the best known in that locality.
The same season that Mr. Wilson brought his family to live in Burns valley, a German by the name of Schabe, or Schape, made a claim above Wilson's. He built a log honse near the spring by the side of the road and lived there until his death, ten or twelve years ago. This house was the last one in that direction until the spring of 1854.
The log house built by Mr. Schape was standing until within the past year. On Christmas day, 1882, the writer passed the locality and found the present owner of the property tearing down the old house. The timber of which it was composed was apparently sound; the oak logs were hard and dry ; the oak shingles, or more properly shakes, were sound on the under side, but much worn on the outer side.
A man by the name of Blodgett made a claim in West Burns valley, where P. B. Palmer now lives. He brought with him a small herd of cows and lived on this claim during the summer. While here he lost two children from sickness. He sold out his stock and abandoned the claim in the fall and went back down the river.
In the fall of this year A. B. Smith came to Wabasha prairie, and for awhile had the west half of the McDermott claim - the eighty next west of the claim owned by Dr. Childs. It was said that he was holding this for Mr. Healey, by whom he was employed. It was difficult to tell who was the real owner of the claim ; it was jumped several times by different individuals. It was sold by Mc- Dermott to David Olmsted. Mr. Smith did not reside on any claim, although he held several. Prior to his coming here he had been engaged in lumbering business, cutting and rafting, and as a pilot in running lumber down the Ohio and on the Mississippi rivers. He spent the winter as a regular boarder with Mrs. God- dard, and married the widow the following season.
A. B. Smith was well known to all of the early settlers as a hotel keeper,-as the landlord of the old "Minnesota House," built by him in 1853, on the corner of Center and Second streets, where S. C. White's store now stands. He was also the proprietor of the " Wabasha Prairie House," which stood on the corner of Front and Franklin streets, built by him in the summer of 1855. While living here he suddenly left home in the night, without the family or any
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one connected with the house being aware of his intentions to do so. Nothing of a certainty was ever learned relative to any circum- stances connected with his mysterious disappearance. It was known that at about that time he was accustomed to carry a considerable sum of money about his person. He sometimes indulged freely in intoxicating drinks. It was generally supposed that he had been foully dealt with - probably murdered for his money and his body thrown into the river. Suspicion rested on some witli whom he familiarly associated at about that time, but no evidence was ever secured that appeared to justify making any arrests. There was no proof of his death.
During the latter part of this season Roderick Kellogg came up from La Crosse to do some mason-work for the settlers on Wabasha prairie. He was a competent mechanic in his line of busi- ness, and a man of more than usual abilities and general informa- tion, but his intemperate habits had isolated him from his family. He was readily induced to come here and work at his trade, although there was but little to do, because, as he expressed himself, he "would by so doing, get away from the temptation of the hell-holes where intoxicating drinks could at all times be procured." Mr. Kellogg was, for a year or so, benefited by the change, but when the hell-holes opened in Winona he found them, although they were small ones.
The first regular mason-work done in this county was by Rod- erick Kellogg. His first job of work was on Wabasha prairie, where he plastered two rooms for Rev. Edward Ely, on the corner of Center and Second streets. This was the first plastered house in the county. His next job of plastering was the lower rooms in the " Viets House," afterward known as the Winona House-it stood on Front street, on-the levee. The first brick chimney built in the county was by Mr. Kellogg, in the Viets House. His third job of plastering and chimney-building was in a small one-story house of two rooms built by Johnson for Andrew Cole, on lot 4, block 10. Johnson's original claim shanty, on claim No. 4, was torn down and used in the construction of this building. These three build- ings were the only houses in the county with plastered rooms until the season of 1853.
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