The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 47

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 986

USA > Minnesota > Renville County > The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II > Part 47

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Edward M. Kelly, a prosperous and energetic farmer of Camp township, was born on section 30, Bandon township, April 20, 1882, son of Mathias E. and Ranghild ( lordet) Kelly, and grandson of Erland Kille, whose name was later changed to Erland Kelly. Erland Kelly was born in Norway, May 10, 1810. and brought his family to America in 1868, loeating in section 30, Bandon township, in 1869. Mathias E. Kelly was born Oet. 1, 1853, came to America with his parents, became a prominent farmer in Bandon township, and died Feb. 26, 1915. In 1881 he married Ranghild Jordet, who was born April 25, 1881, and still lives on the farm in Bandon. Edward M. Kelly was reared on the farm, passed through the distriet schools, entered the Red Wing Seminary and graduated in 1899. A year later he gradu- ated from the Mankato Commereial College. Then he clerked two years for Kelly & Johnson, in Franklin, and was manager of his father's store in Franklin until 1910. During the two next years he was engaged in the real estate business at Man- kato and then engaged in farming, purchasing 280 acres of land in section 5, Camp township, in partnership with his brother, Sivert M., in 1912. He raises Holstein eattle and Poland-China swine, feeding one earload per year for the market, and has one aere of fruit, two of alfalfa, and 200 aeres of land under cul- tivation. He is a stoekholder in the creamery and telephone companies at Franklin and is a member of the Hange's Norwe- gian Lutheran church. Mr. Kelly was united in marriage Jan. 2, 1904, to Clara Gunderson, who was born Aug. 20, 1879, daugh-

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ter of Ole Gunderson, born April 1, 1839, in Norway, now a tailor in Mankato, and his wife, Ingeborg Gunderson. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelly : Inez Ruth, born April 21, 1905; Marlow Osmond, born Dec. 9, 1908; Kenneth Edgar, born May 18, 1911 ; and Vincent Herbert, born April 26, 1914.

John W. Donahue, a well-known farmer in the county, was born in Le Sueur county, Nov. 17, 1860. Ilis father, also a farmer, came to Minnesota in 1858, and died in 1890, at the age of sev- enty-five. His mother, Honora Sullivan, died in 1898, at the age of sixty-three. Mr. Donahue remained on his father's farm un- til he was twenty-five years of age, then he rented the home farm for about two years. In 1887 he came to Renville county, where he rented a farm for one year. He drove into the county with a team, also driving a few head of cattle. He underwent the hardships of pioneer life and had his share in the upbuilding of the county. In July of the next year he bought 80 acres in section 5, Cairo township, where he is still living, now owning 160 acres. Ile has improved his farm, in 1913 he built a barn, 32 by 40 feet, with 12-foot posts, hip roof, which holds 30 tons of hay. In 1915 he built a cement stone silo for his dairy herd. Ile has considerable stock, 10 horses of Belgian breed, 20 cattle of the Shorthorn and Red Pole breed, and also a large flock of Plymouth Roek chickens. In 1910 Mr. Donahue took a trip to Texas, where he bought a farm near St. Paul, San Patricia county, in that state, which he still owns.

Dr. Donahue has served on the school board for two years, and is a stockholder in the Farmers' Elevator Company and also secretary of the Fairfax Co-operative Creamery. He was mar- ried March 8, 1886, to Antonia Hirsch, who was born June 8, 1860. Her parents, Francis and Frances Hirsch, live on a farm in Le Sueur county. Six children were born to this marriage, only one of whom is still living. Two died in 1891 of diphtheria, John Henry, aged 4, and Rogers Joseph, aged 2. James Patrick, who is still living, was born Dec. 31, 1891. Sept. 30, 1900, two died, Honora Antonia, aged 5, and George William, aged 2. An- drew Edward was killed in 1910 by a team running away with him.

William A. Schummers, of Olivia, was born in Caledonia, Honston eounty, Minnesota, Nov. 21, 1884. Ilis father was a cabinet maker of Luxemberg, Germany, and came to this state about forty years ago. William A. received his early schooling in the schools of his locality and attended the University of Min- nesota, receiving the degree of B. A. in 1907. During the years 1907-1910, he served as principal of the graded school at Buffalo Lake. From 1910 to 1913 he was superintendent of the high school at Heron Lake. Then he beeame the district agent of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and has held this

JOHN W. DONAHUE PRAIRIE HOME

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position ever since. He was married to Katherine Mathews, of Lake City, in 1910, and one child has blessed this union, Wil- liam M.

Stephen Abbot Greenslit was born on a farm near Warren, Washington county, state of Vermont, Jan. 28, 1833. He is the son of Stephen and Zuriah Shaw Greenslit, who, at the time of the birth of the subject of this sketch, were putting forth strenu- ous efforts to wrest a living and some profit from their stubborn broad aeres among the Green Mountains of that New England state. Stephen A. Greenslit was one of the eldest of six children, as they grew up around the family fireside there was help enough on the farm to allow some of the older ones, at times, to work ont at various undertakings, thus earn something for themselves, and help out the family in many ways, and so we find him as he grew up to young manhood, working away from home mueh of the time, but attending school at every opportunity presented to him, which consisted mostly of only three months' country school in the winter-time; being a true type of old New England Yankee, he followed the traditions of that day and stood by, helping his parents, until he was "one-and-twenty" years of age.

Being a young man of energy and some prudence, at this age he was a little to the good, financially ; and, seeing no very bril- liant prospects in the immediate vicinity of his birthplace, he did what many another New Englander has done, before and since his time, went West, with a fine physicial make-up, high hopes and a determination to win for himself an honorable name and a place worthy of note in the activities where he should dwell.

In the year 1854 he left Vermont with two other young men from his home town, and came to Reedsburg, Wisconsin. The trip from Vermont to Wisconsin, at that early day, was some undertaking, and these three young men could tell quite a story all about that same undertaking if drawn out in the right kind of way, for they are not as young as they used to be.

For two years, after coming to Wisconsin, he followed lum- bering as a vocation, in the woods, in the saw mills and driving rafts down the Wisconsin river. The work was some strenuous, but full of action, healthy, and giving muscles of steel.

Oct. 5, 1856, he was married to Manora E. Loomis, of Brook- field, Vermont, who had come to Reedsburg the year previous, to keep house for her brothers.

Immediately after their marriage they went to Dodge county, Minnesota, where he took up a claim of eighty acres of land, near the village of Kasso; a few years later he bought an adjoining eighty acres, giving him a 160-acre farm.

In the meantime, his parents, through business reverses, had lost their home and came to live there, and Stephen, like a duti-

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ful son, provided them a home, giving to them the small house in which he lived and 40 aeres of land, building himself another house on the remaining land.

He later sold this farm and bought a farm of 120 acres near Mantorville, in the same state. This farm was in the timber, and after two years of elearing land, burning brush and logs, with plowing among the roots, he decided that a timber farm was not to his liking, so, having an opportunity, he sold the place, and, hearing of Renville county through Rufus F. Richardson, a neigh- bor who had, the fall before, bought land in Birch Cooley town- ship, he accompanied Mr. Richardson when he moved to his land, in 1868, to spy out the country and see how he would like it. He was so well pleased with the looks of the country that, before he returned to his home in Dodge county, he had bought 320 acres of land from D. S. Hall, on sections 26 and 27, in Birch Cooley township. returning to his family mighty well pleased with his bargain, and with the country generally.

In the spring of 1869 he, with his wife and two children, with several ox teams, loaded all their worldly goods into wagons. driv- ing quite a herd of stock, took up their trek from Dodge county to their new home to be, on the then wild prairie of Renville county. The trip was full of incidents worth relating, but ex- posure to the elements and hardships to the pioneer trail blazers was the expected portion, as they turned their faces to the west with determination and hope.

The family, with their stock and all their belongings, arrived at their destination on this new purchased Birch Cooley half- seetion of land early in March, 1869; the day was cold, and they came to the place at night, after a hard day's drive with their ox teams and drove of stock. The good wife found a small board shanty which she would have to call home, for the time: this was half-full of snow, which had to be shoveled out before formal possession could be taken, but that difficulty was soon overcome, as others had been, and they soon found themselves settled upon their new possessions, which took them no great length of time to put in shape for business farming, and some degree of comfort.

Stephen Abbot Greenslit was bound to make good in his farm- ing operations ; he was determined to get to the front ; his keen foresight saw a future for land in Renville county, so he kept buying more land, and, year by year, adding to his increasing acres, until now, with his son, John Fremont, owns over 1,400 acres in Birch Cooley township, valued at the least at $100 an acre. In 1868 he paid D. S. Hall $2,000 for 320 acres. This shows that Stephen was looking ahead all the time.

His good wife died Jan. 8, 1900. This was a great blow to Mr. Greenslit. She was an energetie business woman; they eoun-

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selled together on all matters, and he took her advice and leaned on her greatly for suggestions in important business matters. So great was her loss to him, and so much was he broken up by her death, that he soon retired, and turned the entire management of his farming business over to his son, John Fremont, who is something of a "chip off the old block," and then some.

Stephen Abbot Greenslit, while making no great noise about it, is one of those old-time Vermont Republicans, politieally, as noted by naming his son John Fremont, after the first Repub- liean candidate for President of the United States. He is strong on the temperanee question and believes in a "dry town." He is a supporter of the elmreh, a clean, upright man, an honor to his children, and they can be proud of him. At 83 years of age, he is still enjoying life in his large modern house, with his son's family at Morton, with the good will of all the people among whom he lives.

John Fremont Greenslit, an eminently prosperous and pro- gressive farmer of Morton, was born at Kasson, Minnesota. Aug. 24, 1863, son of Stephen A. and Manora E. (Loomis) Greenslit. At the age of twenty, John Fremont Greenslit became the man- ager of his father's farm in Birch Cooley township, and sinee then he has handled all the business pertaining to it. He has been a heavy feeder of cattle and hogs for twenty years. Ile feeds about 100 cattle per year and 200 hogs and prepares them for the market. He also keeps abont 300 cattle on hand all the time. He now owns 1,400 acres of land, all in Birch Cooley town- ship and nearly all in one body. About 1,100 acres are under the plow, 400 aeres are in eorn, 500 acres are in wheat, and 200 aeres are in oats. There are four complete sets of buildings, besides the home in the edge of Morton. He employs four married men all the time, who live on these farms, and several men besides. He sells about $10,000 worth of cattle and $10.000 worth of grain each year. In 1900 he built a new home on the outskirts of Mor- ton. It is a large, modern, fifteen-room house, 32 by 52 feet, with 20-foot posts, and has a full basement. It is equipped with hot water heat, electrie lights, electric power also being used for washing, sweeping, and so forth. There is water throughont the house, with pressure tanks in the basement. The house is fin- ished in oak downstairs and has hard maple floors. There is a two-story sleeping porch at the rear. The house cost $10,000. Mr. Greenslit was married to Ethel Morse, Jan. 31, 1891. She was born Oct. 21, 1871, daughter of Lewis E. and Elizabeth (Adams) Morse. Eleven children were born to this union ; Gladys, Irvin, Elva, Lloyd, Harold, Bernice, Elsie, Berton, Vernon. Glen and Kenneth.

Lewis E. Morse was born in Massachusetts in 1835 and came to Minnesota in 1855, where he engaged in farming, in Houston

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county, for about three years. In 1880 he secured a homestead in seetion 47, in Beaver Falls township, Renville county, but re- turned to Massachusetts and engaged in carpenter work for about five years, coming back to Beaver Falls township in 1865 and locating on seetion 2, where he secured timber land by "laying" some half-breed script. Here he farmed until his death, July 12, 1896. He was married May 21, 1863, to Elizabeth Adams, of Massachusetts, who died JJune 1, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years. Three children were born : Sarah A., of Redwood Falls, Minnesota, widow of Edwin A. Morse, who died June 29, 1904: Ethel and Berton, who died Ang. 3, 1906.

Henry H. Neuenburg was born in Le Sueur county, Minne- sota, Sept. 1, 1867, son of Herman and Cecelia (Shoemaker) Neuenburg. (The father was born in Germany, came to America in 1848, homesteaded land in Le Sueur county, this state, re- mained there until 1876, then bonght land in Beaver Falls town- ship this county, from which he retired in 1889, when he moved to North Redwood, Minnesota, where he died in 1909. The mother died Dec. 19, 1913.) H. H. Neuenburg was edneated in the pub- lie schools of this county and the high school at Redwood Falls, Minnesota, after which he took a business course, from which he graduated.

lle stayed at home on the farm until 18 years of age, when he entered the hardware store of Ileins & MeChire, of Beaver Falls, in 1885, where he remained until the death of Mr. Me- Clure, when the business was closed. In 1890 he entered the employ of P. W. Ileins, of Olivia, as cashier of the People's Bank, which position he held until 1897: after this he devoted his time to the lumber business under the firm name of II. II. Neuenburg & Co., which had been established in 1892. He contimed this work until 1906, when he was appointed postmaster of Olivia, which position he held until 1914. The lumber business of II. Il. Neuenburg & Co. was sold in 1908, but he still owns stock in the Immber business under the same name and style at Danube, this comty. He has been identified with the National Guard of Min- nesota since 1898, when he enlisted in Co. H. 3rd regiment, M. N. G., and which was mustered into the 14th Minnesota Vol. Inf. l'or the Spanish-American war. Ile served with this organiza- tion until the end of the war. In 1889 he was elected second lieutenant of this company and, in 1900, was elected captain, which position he held until 1914, when he was elected as major in the 3rd regiment, M. N. G., which position he still hoks. In polities, he is a Republican, and has always affiliated with that party. Has served for three years on the board of education of which he is still a member. H. H. Neuenburg was married Jan. 14, 1891, to Ida A. MeChre, daughter of Gustavus MeClure, who was a pioneer of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Neuenburg have

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three sons, James Vern, born July 13, 1893; Donald, born Sept. 30, 1904, and Wilbur, born May 21, 1910.

William D. Griffith, for many years a prominent citizen of Renville county, now living at Hutchinson, was born in New York City, Sept. 9, 1848, son of Lemuel and Eleanor Griffith. In 1853 he was brought by his parents to Chanhassen. Carver county, this state. where they lived until 1859, when they returned to New York City. There, as a youth, William D. worked in the humber business. In 1866 he returned to Minnesota and located at Hutchinson, in MeLeod county, where he worked as a car- penter. It was in 1878 that he came to Hector, opened a general store and became postmaster. In 1880 he went out of the gen- eral mercantile business and engaged in the stationery line. In 1882 he again went in the general merchandise business in com- pany with C. II. Nixon, forming the firm of Nixon & Griffith, continued as such firm until the fall of 1895. Then, on account of his wife's ill health, he sold his interest to C. H. Nixon, and took his wife to Florida and stayed until August, 1896, then re- turning to Ilector. When the Farmers' & Merchants' State Bank was started he took a position as assistant cashier and resigned in the fall of 1890, having been elected again to the office of county treasurer. He served until 1913, winning the approbation of an entire county by his splendid work and efficient service. Upon his retirement he moved to Hutchinson, where he now lives. Mr. Griffith is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted at New York City when but thirteen years of age in Co. F. 12th New York Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until honorably discharged in the same eity, March 10, 1863. Ile is a member of the G. A. R. at Olivia, in which he has several times served as adjutant. Among his business holdings may be mentioned stock in the Citizens' State Bank at Hutchinson: the Renville County State Bank, of Bird Island ; the Farmers' State Bank, of Hector ; the Chamberlain Road Grader Co., of Hutchinson ; and the Twin City Fire Insurance Co., of Minneapolis. In the Bird Island and Hector institutions mentioned he is a director. Mr. Griffith was married Oet. 8, 1873, to Ruth A. Ells, and they have seven chil- dren: Harold. Ada and Ida (twins), Charles A., Stella, Edna and Eva, the six oldest of whom graduated from the Ileetor high school. Haroll served as deputy treasurer under his father from 1901 to 1913, and is now assistant cashier of the Olivia State Bank. Ada is Mrs. J. B. Phillips, of Hutchinson, and Ida is Mrs. William A. Phillips, of the same city. Charles A. is teaching in the College of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, of which he is a graduate. Stella is at home. Edna is now Mrs. Chester A. Grow, of Burns, Montana. Eva is Mrs. II. L. Torbenson, of Hector.

C. Edward Schumacher, one of the leading farmers of Flora township, was born in Henryville township, Renville county, Sept.

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2, 1878, son of Peter and Mary (Antonsen) Schumacher. He at- tended the district school of Flora township, making his home with his uncle, Henry Timms. One winter he attended the Henry- ville district school. At the age of fourteen years, he went to Redwood Falls, where he completed his studies, living with his widowed mother. At the age of twenty-one years he began farm- ing for himself, operating his mother's farm in Redwood county, in partnership with his brother Frank. Later he returned to Flora township and located on the traet his uncle, Henry Tinns, had homesteaded in 1866, in sections 33 and 34. llere he has sinee resided. To the original tract, Mr. Schumacher has added forty aeres. He has also developed the place in various other ways, including the erection of a fine basement barn, 40 by 64 feet. Here he successfully carries on general farming. He is a prominent man in the community, has increased his knowledge by wide reading, and his opinions on all subjects are highly valued. A thorough believer in co-operative effort, he is a share- holder in the Redwood Rural Telephone Co. and in the Delhi Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Co. His interest in the higher life of the community is shown by the faet that he was treas- urer and a member of the building committee when the Evangeli- cal church was erected. Mr. Schumacher was united in marriage Sept. 10, 1903. to Anna A. Deglow, born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, Sept. 23, 1883, a daughter of William and Ida (Leis- man) Deglow, both natives of Germany, who were married in Wisconsin and located in Columbia county, where they made their home until 1900, when they moved to Redwood county and engaged in farming. In 1908 they located on a farm near Ma- grath. Alberta, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Schumacher have three children : Dewayne, Rebecca, and Ehner. Dewayne was born May 2, 1906; Rebecca was born Feb. 26, 1909; and Ehner was born July 18, 1911.

Henry Timms was born in Germany. March 17, 1832. and now lives at North Redwood, Minnesota. He left Germany in 1858 and came to Le Sueur county, this state. There he enlisted in Co. ], Third Minn. Vol. Inf. and served four years. After the war he went to Le Sueur, where he remained for six months, and then to St. Peter, where he lived six months. At a land office there he took a homestead in Flora township. Renville county, onto which he moved in September, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. John Kochendorfer, with their infant daughter, had been killed there, and their cabin burned by the Indians. A son, John, and two sisters escaped and made their way to Fort Ridgely. Mr. Timms lived in a log house a few years and then built a frame house. one of the first in the community. and added forty aeres more land to the farm. Mr. Timms was the township treasurer and also the school treasurer. He was also the treasurer of the Evan-

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gelical church. Gesche Schumacher, who later became Mrs. Henry Timms, came to this country June 4, 1866. She spent nearly two months in coming across the ocean and went to Le Sueur to her sister, Margaret Bornholt. She married Henry Timms Sept. 13, 1866, and then came to Renville county, where they lived for twenty-seven years. May 25, 1893, they retired from active work and moved to North Redwood, where they still reside.

Peter Schumacher, an early settler, was born in Holstein, Ger- many, June 19. 1846, son of Joehim and Abelona (Mohr) Sehu- macher, whose seven children were: Rebecca, Jolm, Margareta, Abelona, Anna, Gesche and Peter, all except Anna and Rebecca coming to the United States. Peter and his sister, Gesehe, came to the United States in 1866. being seven weeks and two days on the water. They came to Minnesota and joined other mem- bers of the family who had come to Le Sueur county. Peter worked at his trade of wagon maker, later entering into partner- ship with a Mr. Zimmer, at Waseca, Minnesota. In the spring of 1878 he came to Henryville township, Renville county, and located a tract of eighty aeres of land to which he later added eighty acres more. Here he built a frame house, 10 by 16 feet. and improved the farm, later building good modern buildings and house. Ile spent a great part of his time doing carpenter work in the vicinity.

Peter Selmimacher served as a member of the township and school boards. He was a trustee of the German Evangelieal Association church, and was superintendent of its Sunday school. In 1888 he located at North Redwood, where he operated a fur- niture store and wagon shop. He was married in April, 1872, to Mary Antonsen, who was born in Missouri, Feb. 2, 1848, dangh- ter of John and Louisa (Kahle) Antonsen. John Antonsen was a native of Denmark and brought the family to the United States. His children were : Mary, Minnie. John, Louisa, Rachel. Peter, Fred and Christine. He located in Le Sueur county, and was a mail carrier on the old Star route. Peter Schumacher died June 23, 1890.

Jerome P. Patten, Indian fighter, Civil war veteran, pioneer and early sheriff, now living in Morton, was born in the town of Richland, Oswego county, New York, Oet. 17, 1842. His par- ents were both natives of New York, the father, Silas W. Patten, having been born in 1SOS, and the mother, Elizabeth Vansehaick, in 1812. At the age of twelve years, Jerome P. Patten was taken by his parents to Wiseonsin, where he grew to manhood, work- ing on the farm and assisting his father, who was a carpenter. In October, 1861, he was brought . by his parents to Olmsted county, this state. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the Union army as a private in Co. H, Sixth Minn. Vol. Inf. He partici-

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pated in the Indian campaign and went South with his regiment, being assigned with that regiment to the Sixteenth Army Corps. He participated in the battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. After his discharge at Ft. Snelling, Aug. 19, 1865, he returned to his home in Olmsted eounty. In 1869 he located in Renville county, where he has since made his home. He has occupied many local positions of trust and honor and, in 1872, was sheriff of Renville county.

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The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 47

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago : H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. Number of Pages: 986

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 986