USA > Mississippi > History of the upper Mississippi Valley, pt 2 > Part 27
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
ing February. Mr. Ackley still resides on the old homestead, n part of which is covered by the vil- lage of Buffalo, and Mr. Overton died in Stevens county, in March, 1881. James Griffin eume with his team to move Ackley and Overton, and, being pleased with the locality, selected a claim on sce- tion thirty-two, and occupied it with his family on the 15th of the same month. Mr. Grillin is a eol- ored man and is still an ocenpant of the old claim.
'The spring of 1856, witnessed the arrival of Moses S. Calkins, David Calkins, Daniel Gray, Thomas Smithson, and S. B. Culver, all settling in the vieinity of Buffalo and Pulaski Lakes. J. M. Keeler, Mr. Odell, and Jackson Taylor eame the same summer.
The first child born in the town was William M. Smithson, son of Thomas Smithson, born on the 20th of May, 1856, and died on the 31st of the same month. The first marriage took place on the 16th of April, 1857; the contracting parties being James Gilbert and Miss Jennie Prime.
In January, 1857, an election precinct was organized, called Buffalo, which extended to the west line of the county.
The precinct was established by the board of County Commissioners, and the following precinct officers appointed: Judges of election, Amasa Ackley, Moses Calkins, and Levi B. Culver; Jus- tice of the Peace, G. A. J. Overton; Constable, A. Ackley; and Overseer of Roads, Moses S. Calkins. The place of holding elections was the dwelling house of A. Ackley.
The town was organized and the first eleetion held on the 11th of May, 1858, at which the tol- lowing officers were chosen: Supervisors, Jackson Taylor, Amasa Aekley, and Moses S. Calkins; Town Clerk, J. M. Keeler; Justices of the Peace, David S. Calkins and J. M. Keeler; and Assessor, B. Ambler.
There was a Baptist Church organized in 1858, by Rev. M. Weeks, but it has not been very pros- perous.
"The first district school was organized on the 1st of May, 1858, and Mrs. D. Blakely installed as teacher.
During the Indian outbreak of 1862, most of the settlers fled to Monticello, but nearly all re- turned to their homes within six weeks. Some, however, refusing to further risk their lives in such a barbarous country, never returned.
A band of strolling Sionx passed through the county in June, 1863, and murdered the Dustin
family, of which mention has already been made. This ereated another panie at Bufialo, but this time, better counsel prevailed, and a substantial stockade was erected. It was about 60x60 feet, and eight feet high, built of logs with a bastion at each corner. No Indians appeared, however, and the fort was soon abandoned.
The town of Buffalo originally embraced six sections of the present town of Rockford and all of the territory now embraced in Chatham, but was reduced to its present limits on the organiza- tion of the latter town in 1866.
BUFFALO VILLAGE.
The village proper was surveyed and platted in 1856, but has never been incorporated. It was entered as a town-site by Amasa Aekley, G. A. J. Overton and Jackson Taylor. The first dwelling house was built and oeeupied by Mr. Ackley.
The first store was built in 1856, by Moses Calkins, opposite Jackson Taylor's Hotel, the site then being what is now Mrs. Dudley's garden.
Jackson Taylor opened the first hotel, and has kept a publie house here for nearly twenty years. The Windsor Honse was opened in 1874, and ren- dered quite popular under the able management of R. Knights, assisted by the kind hostess and their estimable family. The Sturges House was built in 1867, and kept by Lewis Sturges un- til May, 1879, when it passed into the hands of Charles L. Harvey, who repaired it and changed the name to the American House.
In 1859, Mr. Taylor purchased the saw mill at Roekford, and moved it to Buffalo, but it did not work well and very little sawing was done. The engine and boiler were afterwards taken to Mon- ticello and put into a steamboat on the Mississippi river.
. In the fall of 1866, Jackson Taylor, Wesley Bailey, and C. Harvey built the steam saw mill on the lake shore, which, for a number of years, did a large business, but the property has been in liti- gation for the last few years, and the mill stands idle.
CHURCHES.
The first church organized was of the Baptist denomination, in 1858, but owing to deaths and removals, there are but a few members left. There is a Catholic Church in the eastern part of the town, with a large membership.
The Presbyterian Church is the only one in the village. It was organized on the 10th of Decem- ber, 1875, with eight members; C. E. Oakley and
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BIOGRAPHIICAL.
E. J. Cutts were elected elders. The church was erceted in 1876, and is a well finished building. The pulpit has been filled by Revs. J. W. Dickey, HI. P. Falleneider, J. P. MeLane, and H. C. Cheadle.
SOCIETIES.
NELSON LODGE, No. 135, A. F. AND A. M. way organized on the 15th of December, 1879, with seventeen charter members.
BUFFALO GROVE, No. 13, U. A. O. D. was in- stituted on the 10th of June, 1876, with a member- ship of eighteen.
BUFFALO LODGE, No. 140, I. O. or G. T. had a large membership, and did good work for a time, but is not now in a very flourishing condition.
BUFFALO GRANGE, No. 16, P. of H. was in a vig- orous condition for a time, but the interest died out and the grange no longer exists.
NEWSPAPER .- The only paper over published in Butl'alo township was the " Truth Teller," a small sheet edited and printed by Frank H. Widstrand, at his home on the bank of Lake Constance. It first appeared in 1879, and was issued semi- monthly, but eeased to exist atter a brief life of about one year and a half.
Buffalo village is the county seat of Wright eonnty, which is certainly situated in a very de- sirable location. The eonrt-house and grounds, on the bank of the lake, are among the finest in the State.
The population of the township, according to the last eensus, was 718 persons, inchiding the village.
The agricultural report for the same year showed the following aggregate prodnets: wheat, 35,169 bushels; oats, 13,836 bushels; corn, 10,786 bushels; rye, 200 bushels; potatoes, 3,885 bush- els; beans, 45 bushels; sugar cane, 2,327 gallons; cultivated hay, 397 tons; wild hay, 1,247 tons; wool, 4,598 pounds; butter, 16,532 pounds; and cheese, 60 pounds.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
W. WORTH BRASIE was born at Key West, Florida, on the 1st of November, 1844. His par- ents, soon after his birth, moved to Illinois, stib- sequently to Wisconsin, and in 1854, to Monti- cello, Wright county, Minnesota, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. At the age of seventeen, he entered Lombard University, ut Galesburg, Illinois, remaining three years, and afterwards graduated at Eastman's Commercial College, Poughkeepsie, New York. Then engaged in mer-
chandising and book-keeping in different places till 1877, when he became clerk in the Auditor's office of Wright county. The department im- proved in its system of book-keeping, so that in 1879, the Public Examiner pronounced the books "the best in the State." In 1879, he became Clerk of the Court, and soon made some impor- tant changes in the books pertaining to his office. He also aided in revising the system of the County Treasurer's books. He married Miss Susie Weeks, of Minneapolis, on the 2d of July, 1867. They have one child living; N. Eugene.
ARCHIBALD BEATTIE was born near Montreal, Canada, on the 20th of January, 1847. At the age of twenty-two, he left home and engaged in farming at Lenoxville, near the United States line, for three years. In the spring of 1870, came to Minneapolis and was engineer in the paper mill till 1874, when he moved to Buffalo, Wright county, and bought an interest in the lumber and stave mill, which he now controls alone. He and Mr. Knights built a hotel the same year, but in the summer of 1881, he bought Knights's inter- est, and now rents the building.
ORLANDO H. BUSHNELL, a native of Illinois, was born on the 27th of November, 1844. He eame to Roekford, Minnesota, in the spring of 1859, where he was employed at farming and lumber- ing. In 1862, he enlisted in the Sixth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, serving three years; fourteen months in the Indian war, and the remaining part of the time in the South. He was mustered out on the 19th of August, 1865. He returned to Rockford, remaining till 1872, when he married Miss Ella Ackley, a daughter of one of the first settlers in Buffalo, located in this town, and has resided here ever since. He has filled the office of Town Treasurer, Assessor, and County Commissioner. They have one child, named Mary.
FRED BRANDES, a native of Hanover, Germany, was born on the 10th of July, 1837. He came to America in the fall of 1854, and after a short so- journ in Utica, New York, went to Cook comty, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming for a few years. In 1858, he came to Minnesota and located on a farm in Pine county, which was his home for four years. While a resident of that county, he was twice elected Judge of Probate, but resigned during his second term, to engage in bus- iness in St. Panl. Going to that city in 1862, he beenme a partner in one of the leading wholesale houses, but severed his connection with the firm iu
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
1869, and removed to Delano, Wright county. During the first years of his residence there, he was engaged in railroading, and afterwards at farming nutil 1879, when he was elected Register of Deeds, which position he now occupies. He was married on the 26th of March, 1859, while a resident of Pine county, to Miss Regina Eppel; that being the second marriage ceremony in that county. Their children are, Fred J., George C., Charles G., Katie A., Theodore, Joseph, and John W.
WILLIAM H. COCHRANE was born in Quebec, Canada, on the 18th of August, 1838. In 1857, he came to Minnesota, and settled in Marysville, Wright county. Two years later, he went to New Orleans, and was employed in a wholesale house until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he went to Pittsburg Pennsylvania. He enlisted on the 11th of April, 1861, in the Eighth Pennsyl- vania Reserves, was promoted to First Lieutenant and served upwards of three years. When this regiment disbanded, he enlisted in the First Army Corps of Veterans, organized by Gen. Hancock, and was soon after promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant. He was mustered out at New York, in March, 1866, when he returned to this county and took a homestead in Chatham township, where he lived until 1873, and removed to the village of Buffalo. He has long held the office of Notary Public and Justice of the Peace, and is also Deputy Register of Deeds. Miss Hattie M. Aldrich be- caine his wife in December, 1878. They have two children; Grace E., and John W.
WILLIS H. CADY dates his birth in Lake county, Illinois, on the 23d of November, 1846. The family removed to Missouri in 1856, and to Min- nesota in the spring of 1862. Willis remained at home on the farm until 1871, when he went to . Minneapolis, and while employed on a new build- ing, fell to the ground and received injuries which permanently impaired his health. He returned to Buffalo in the spring of 1873, and remained an invalid for some time. His next employment was in the store of Gullet & Davis at Clearwater, after which he was clerk in the Anditor's office at Bnf-' talo for three years. In February, 1877, he com- menced clerking in the store of C. E. Onkley, and still remains in that position. Mr. Cady was united in marriage with Miss Alice Dudley on the 23d of November, 1868. She is a native of Ver- mont, and came to this county with her parents in 1859.
DAVID COCHRAN was born in Taylor county, West Virginia, on the 3d of September, 1846. He resided in his native State until 1864, when he re- moved to Illinois, and the following spring, to Minnesota. He took a claim in Middleville town- ship, Wright county, but sold it in 1868, and went to Minneapolis, where he was engaged as eivil en- gincer for a time. In 1870, he began the study of law, and tanght school several terms to obtain money for the proseention of his studies. He was on the Northern Boundary survey in 1874, going as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Soon after his return, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff at Howard Lake, entered the law office of Josephus Alley, and was admitted to the Bar a few months later. He then opened a law office at Waverly, where he remained until the fall of 1879, when he was elected Judge of Probate and removed to Buffalo, where he now lives.
ROSOLVO O. CADY, M. D., President of the Wright and Carver Counties Medical Society, and a practicing physician since 1844, needs little by way of introduction to the citizens of Wright and adjoining counties. His father was among the leading attorneys of Dublin, Ireland, where the subject of this sketch was born on the 8th of Oc- tober, 1819. The family came to America about 1827, locating in Nassau, Rensselaer county, New York, where the father died in 1849, and the mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Campbell, in 1856. In March, 1844, Dr. R. O. Cady, was graduated at the Medical College at Geneva, New York, and at once entered upon the professional career which has since engrossed his time and energies. After twelve years practice in Illinois, and six in Missouri, the growing fame of the North Star State drew him hither, and in June, 1862, Dr. Cady became a resident of Buffalo, which has since been his home. Physicians were not mimerons at that date, and his rides were often extended into ndjoining counties. In these journeyings his constant companion was his rifle, in the use of which he was no novice, and venison and other wild game often graced the family board. These extended professional rides are no longer a necessity, but the doctor hms not lost his love of sport, and each recurring antman finds him in northern forests, from which he never returns successless. His professional labors are now shared by a recently accepted partner, Dr. S. E. Dean. In June, 1881, he was appointed Medical Exami- ner for the Pension district in which he resides.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
He was one of the charter members of the Ma- sonie lodge at Buffalo, and is a Scarlet-degree Odd Fellow. Dr. Cady has been twiee married, first in 1840, to Miss Eliza J. Smith, of Chemung county, New York, who died in 1859, having borne five children, four of whom are living. In 1860, he married Miss Sarah A. Davis, of Knox county, Missouri, by which union three children have been born. The family residence is on a well devel- oped farm near the village of Buffalo, and the Doctor's office in his drug store near the court- honse.
GEORGE DAVIES is a native of Wales, born on the 29th of November, 1829. After arriving at maturity, he was employed as an apprentice in a galvanizing establishment in Birmingham, Eng- land. He came to America in 1855, and after a stay of one year in New York City, went to Lick- ing county, Ohio, and a few months later, came to St. Paul, Minnesota. In June, 1857, he came to Wright county and selected a claim on section eighteen, to which he removed the same fall. In 1861, he removed to section seventeen, on the west bank of Lake Pulaski, where he has a pleasant home, overlooking the waters of this beantiful lake, which is acknowledged to be the finest in the county. The view from his residence is charm- ing, rivaling many of the popular resorts of the State. Mr. Davies enlisted on the 1st of October, 1861, in Company A, of the Third Mimesota Vol- unteer Infantry. He was captured with the regi- ment at Muafreesboro', and on being paroled, re- turned to this State and took part in the Indian war. Was afterwards with the army in Arkansas, and also at the siege of Vicksburg. He returned from the service in 1865, and has since been en- gaged in farming. He has held the office of Chair- man of the board of Supervisors, and has also been Assessor and Deputy Sheriff, holding the latter office ten years. He was married in Eng- land in February, 1855, to Miss Marin Wilkins, of Gloucestershire. They have had no children, but raised two sons of a deceased sister of Mrs. Davies.
ANGUS MCEACHERN, one of the early pioneers of this town, was born on the 25th of December, 1828, in Nova Scotia. His grandfather, for whom he was named, was among the earliest colonists sent by the English Government to America, after the French war. He spent five years as a sailor, visiting the coasts of Scotland and other eastern points, and also the coast of Greenland and vicin-
ity. He spent some time on the river Clyde of Scotland, visiting Corra Linn Caseades, which are among the most picturesque scenery of Scotland. Mr. MeEachern came to Minnesota in 1856, land- ing at Stillwater on the 18th of January, and was engaged at lumbering till 1858, when he came to Maple Lake, Wright county. He enlisted in the Eleventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, in 1864, serving one year. After returning from the army, bought his present farm in section five. Has Inm- bered several winters, but devotes most of his time to farming. He married Miss Eliza Hop- kins, of Canadian parentage, at St. Anthony, on the 15th of July, 1858. Their children are, Mary, Randall C., Angus, Jolin, Hugh, Archie I., Alex- ander M., and George H.
FRANK W. GORMAN was born in Canada, on the 2d of January, 1847. His parents came to Min- nesota in 1869, and settled in Maple Lake town- ship, Wright county. Frank was engaged in teaching sehool until 1876, when he was elected Register of Deeds, and re-elected in 1878, dis- charging the duties of the office in a creditable manner. Since the expiration of his last term of office, he has been engaged in the real estate bnsi- ness, besides conducting a collecting, loan, and in- suranee agency, and abstract office. Mr. Gorman was married on the 11th of June, 1879, to Miss Jennie Stuart, of Monticello. They have one child, named Willie F.
CHARLES L. HARVEY, deceased, a native of Scot- land, was born on the 2d of January, 1829. When he was a young man, the family, consisting of his parents and three brothers, emigrated to Canada, where the father and sons all engaged in mercan- tile business in Hamilton. In June, 1854, Charles L. eame to Minnesota, and located on the east side of Pulaski Lake, where he remained till 1863, when he returned to Canada. After three years, ill health caused him to return to Minnesota, and he located on a farm near Paradise Lake, in the town of Monticello. In 1879, he sold part of the farm and bought the Sturges Honse in Buffalo, changing the name to the American Honse. His health continned to decline for some years, and after making a trip to Canada, hoping to receive benefit, but being disappointed, and fully per- snaded that the disease was affecting his mental freulties, voluntarily went to the hospital at St. Peter for treatment, where his death occurred on the 14th of April, 1880. His remains were brought to his home in Buffalo, where, after appropriate
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IIISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
obsequies, the body was buried in the village cem- etery. Mr. Harvey won and maintained the confi-, dence and respect of his fellow-citizens during his life. Mrs. Harvey has displayed commendable energy in her successful management of the busi- ness since the death of her husband. Mr. Harvey married Miss Anna MePherson, of Canada, in No- vember, 1866. They have had seven children, of whom five are living; Nettie, Carrie, Emma J., Anne L., and Frederick. Those deceased were named William and William A .; the former died at the age of eleven months, and the latter when five and a half years old.
GEORGE W. MOINTURF was born in Licking .county, Ohio, on the 5th of April, 1820. At the age of sixteen years he commeneed to learn the carpenter trade, at which he was employed until 1846. He then came westward, and after remain- ing some time in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, came to Minnesota in 1865, and soon after, settled on seetion twenty-eight, Buffalo township, where he still resides. Mr. MeInturf is one of the repre- sentative men of the town, and has held a number of local offices. He is one of the charter members of Nelson Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Buffalo, and was elected Worshipful Master in 1880. He was married in April, 1842, to Miss Elizabeth De Moss, of Bennington, Ohio. Their living chiklren are; Lafayette, Amarilla, and Cynthia J. They have lost several by death; Andrew, aged twenty years, in 1867, and the others in infancy.
CLARENCE E. OAKLEY was born in Kings county, New York, on the 17th of May, 1846. When he wns seven years old, the family moved to New York City, where Clarence attended school, and subsequently, was employed as book-keeper in a mercantile house. In the fall of 1873, he came to Minnesota, and in company with E. J. Cutis, opened n general store at Buffalo. Hle purelised his partner's interest in 1877, and has since con- ducted the business alone. He also deals in real estate, and is serving his third term as Town 'Treas- urer. Mr. Oakley was united in marriage with Miss Anna L. Dudley, of New York City, on the 6th of April, 1869. Their children are, Egbert S., ' Frances B., and. Walter D.
ALLEN G. SEXTON, a native of Chemung county, New York, was born on the 20th of July, 1835. He was employed on a farm till 1853, when he came to Minnesota, and spent the summer at St. Anthony, then returned to New York. The year following, he made a second trip to Minnesota,
visiting different portions of the State. He took a claim about 1856, in section nineteen, Rockford, Wright county, where be spent his summers, und luis winters, hunting and trapping. He enlisted in June, 1861, in the second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry; serving about eighteen months, when he was discharged for disability. He returned to Rockford, and soon after joined a company of scouts, remaining on duty till the close of the In- dian war. He was on the Northern Pacifie survey to Yellow Stone, and on the Northern Boundary survey through Montana, remaining two years, then returned to Buffalo, and began the study of law. He was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1880, was in the office of J. H. Wendell one year, and then opened an office in this village, where hc is now in practice.
OLIVER J. STEWARD was born in Saybrook, Ohio, on the 7th of July, 1848. When he was seventeen years old, the family removed to Val- paraiso, Indiana, where Oliver remained four years. He then attended school for two years, after which he was emyloyed for some time as a marble worker. We next find him a student at the Grand River Institute, Ohio, where he was gradnated in 1872, at the end of a three years course. In the fall of the same year he entered the senior class nt Hillsdale College, Michigan, but only remained one term, going to Pennsylva- nia, where he was Principal of a graded school for four months. He then returned to Indiana, and thence to Ohio, where he soon after married Miss Emna E. Lathrop, of Austinburg. The next two years were spent as Principal of a graded school at Lowell, Todiana, after which he occupied the responsible position of Principal of the Western Reserve Seminary at Farmington, Ohio, for one year. He came to Minnesota in 1876, and affer spending one summer at Rockford, Wright county, went to Delano ns Principal of the school at that place. In 1877, he was elected County Superin- tendent of Schools, and re-elected in 1879, with upwards of one thousand majority. He now re- sides at Buffalo, whither he removed in the spring of 1879. His children, are Anna L., Carrie E., and Oliver J.
JOHN C. NUGENT, a native of Medford, Massa- clinsetts, was born on the 18th of March, 1816. When Jolin C. was nine years of nge, the family re- moved to Michigan, and two years later, to Miu- nesota, stopping at St. Paul for two years. In 1859, the family removed to Wright county, where
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
his father died January 24th, 1878. His mother, brother James, and a sister still reside on the farm. John C. bought n farm in sections twenty-four nud twenty-five, Chatham township, and has lived there since May, 1873. He was elected Sheriff of Wright county in 1870, and has held the office ever since, being elected in the fall of 1869, by nearly one thousand majority. He married Miss Emma J. Washburn, a native of Oswego, New York, in the city of St. Paul, on the 9th of September, 1872. Their children are, Nettie M., John C., and Mabel C.
NATHAN WARNER was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 4th of March, 1830. When he was but five years old, the family removed to Steuben county, Indiana, and some time after, to La Grange, where the subject of this sketeh remained until 1856. He then spent ten years in different portions of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, chiefly engaged in milling. Came to Minnesota in 1866, and settled in Rockford, Wright county, where he resided until his removal to Buffalo, in the fall of 1879. Mr. Warner is one of Wright eounty's most enterprising and public spirited eitizens, and has always taken a deep interest in its welfare. He represented his district in the State Legisla- ture in 1875-76, and again in 1878, and was Chairman of the board of Supervisors in his town for a number of years. He was elected County Treasurer in the fall of 1879, and has since dis- charged the duties of that office in an efficient and praiseworthy manner. Mr. Warner has been twice married; first to Emily J. Randall, of La Grange, Indiana, on the 19th of March, 1858. She died on the 8th of October, 1860, leaving three chil- dren; Frank E., Eva May, and Eugene G. His present wife was Miss Naney I. Ingraham, of New York State, to whom he was married, nt Mongo, Indiana, in November, 1863. Six children are the result of this union; Charles, Edith E., Minnie, Rose A., Eunice, and Rima.
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