USA > North Dakota > Dickey County > History Of Dickey County, ND, 1930 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
He was not a really practical man as he bought and brought out here two car-loads of horses that had been used on the street-cars of Chicago, and among the whole lot there was only one team that was able to haul a water- tank for his threshing crew. He had his shanty on the northwest of 11 with the shanties of the men, his barns and corrals, and a long house for serving
110
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
meals, in which he had a long table for his helpers. When he built a better house he decided the easiest way to clean up his old shanty was by fire, so after removing the desirable belongings he set the shanty on fire and made his cleaning in that way. He traded this ranch to a Mr. Jones of the Plano Company and for several years it was managed by Mr. Owen, an in- telligent farmer who introduced newer methods and later machinery. At a later time the big farm came into the possession of Mr. Tuttle and in that way got its name as known in more recent years.
Martin & Strane, who were carrying on a large line of business in Ellendale had a ranch in the northwest part of Kentner Township, north of the homestead of Hans Johanson and reaching up into Maple Township.
Among the later residents of the township are the two Jury families, Robert Kraus, E. J. Williams, Mike Schmierer, Conrad Mattheis, H. D. Collett, Albin Dahl, John Miller, H. H. Ackerman and others.
Kentner Township has the questionable honor of having the first mur- der in Dickey County, in 1885. Hacket was a storekeeper and blindpigger down in the neighborhood of Watertown, but had been up in northern LaMoure County looking for a new location. Dille, an old veteran of the Civil War, and his wife, a half-breed Chippewa about half his age, had been employed by Hackett. The party of three were in Ellendale with a load of goods on a wagon en route to the new location. Hackett had been drinking and had been ordered out of town. They left town and camped about a mile east of the southwest corner of Kentner Township, and that night Hackett was killed in camp. Nobody knew anything about this hap- pening until the body was found in a slough on Jo Blumer's land in the north- ern part of the township on Sunday some days after the murder. Jo Blumer and Henry Barnaby were going over to Blumer's land and noticed some- thing in a slough on the northeast quarter of Section 2. They immediately notified Dr. Thomas the coroner who went out and held an investigation, and the body was turned over to Mr. Emery near whose ranch the finding was made. His two hired men, Ole Bye and Ole Enger, served as under- takers and buried the body in a coffin made from a box in which header machinery had been shipped.
Dille and his wife had gone on to LaMoure and from there to Browns Valley, Minnesota, where they sold the horses and wagon and boxed up the goods and shipped them to Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, where the Dilles had lived before coming to Dakota. The only clue was a part of an express tag found in the pocket of the murdered man. From this the identity of the man was learned and a brother found. Dille and his wife were found at Soldiers Grove and brought back to Ellendale. They were indicted by the grand jury, put on trial and by confession of the man found guilty. Further investigation ordered by the court confirmed Dille's confession. No marks of violence had been found on Hackett's body at first, but a second examina- tion showed that Hackett had been shot in the ear. Both Dille and his wife
141
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
were sentenced to the penitentiary for seven years. Afterwards both were pardoned, Mrs. Dille because she was dying of tuberculosis and Mr. Dille be- cause he was old and had an army record.
When first organized the township was included with the township to the south and called Carlton. Later it was given separate organization and named from one of its pioneers. In 1927 a good highway was con- structed through it north and south two miles west of the east range line. For some time Edwin Canfield kept an airplane on the home farm on the northeast of Section 3, and used it for taking people up for the experience and made many longer flights, attending meetings of his and other com- munities to give the braver neighbors an airplane ride, but in 1927 the Can- fields removed to Fargo where the plane was used for long distance com- mercial purposes.
142
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
143
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
CHAPTER XVI
ELDEN TOWNSHIP, 130-63
[The story of Elden is based upon interviews with John Byers, George Rose, Josie Letson Crabtree, and others of the pioneer days.]
W HEN the Milwaukee Railroad first built into Dickey County, the end of the track was about two and a half miles north of the present city of Ellendale, in Section 26,-130-63, in the present township of Elden, and at that place hundreds of cars of emigrant freight were unloaded, though the town was platted in township 129. The farmers got busy and broke up the prairie, and for several years Elden produced more bushels of grain than any other town in the county.
Its land is very level and fertile, and there is no waste land in its limits. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad now crosses the township, running north to Monango and Edgeley, with a flag stop at Duane on the southeast quarter of Section 15, where are located two elevators and a store. State Highway No. 4, known as the "Sunshine Highway" crosses from north to south, while the township itself has constructed several excellent graded roads, which make it easy for the residents to market their produce and send the children to school.
In 1882, a colony came to the county from Thompson, Illinois, in a special train which arrived on April 17th. It was the largest solid emigrant train that ever came into Dickey County, and the incoming settlers spread out over several townships, though many took land in 130-63. In the Dakota Atlas of 1886 the name of this new township is indicated as Farm- ington but when it came to organizing the township the matter of the name was submitted to a vote of the people, and the present name of Elden was chosen by a majority of one vote, as that was the home town in Ontario, from which many had moved.
Among the very first to arrive were Jake Byers and Jim Hodge from Canada, followed in a day or so by George Rose who was in the Illinois group. Mr. Rose secured the north half of Section 8 for his home, which he still owns and farms. He returned to the old home town and married in the fall of 1882, and has raised and educated a family of seven children. One son was killed in the World War, fighting on the Western Front.
On April 1st, 1889, a prairie fire swept the town and destroyed all his buildings, tools, stock and household effects, without insurance. Mr. Rose sold a quarter of land for $150 to get a little money to build a small home and buy provisions for the family.
It is a matter of interest that the first farmers' elevator in the county
144
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
was built at Duane, in Elden Township. It was organized by Frank Letson, Ed. Byers and George Rose, and for over twenty-two years has paid good dividends.
Mr. Rose was one of the surveyors who in 1882 divided the land in the county into regular quarter sections as we know them to-day. In 1901 he was elected to represent the county in the legislature, was re-elected and held that important office for four successive terms. He was also appointed on the Commission of Appraisers by President Roosevelt, when the Stand- ing Rock Indian Reservation was thrown open to settlement. He is now serving as County Commissioner, (1928) and has his home in Ellendale.
Among those worthy of note are William Wheelihan and Maurice Letson who are living on their fathers' old homesteads, and Lee Byers, Fred Byers and Paul Wedell, all of whom were raised here and are making good in this their home township. Will Townsend now owns the Jake Byers government claim; E. A. Durey is on the John Brown homestead and Jess Grey on the Ben Brown place.
Herman Wedell has built one of the most modern homes on Section 20, and amassed a competence. He is now (1928) the representative of his county in the State Legislature. Among the younger set of farmers is Oscar Anderson, who has a fine stock farm on the southeast quarter of Section 11, and specializes in tame grasses and sheep.
No account of this township would be complete that did not include John Byer and his brother Ed, who came to Dakota Territory with the first wave of settlement. It is generally admitted that the Byer family, or the Byer brothers, have raised and threshed more grain in this county than any other family since white people came in 1882.
The Byers family home was in southern Ontario, and the young people were schoolmates of the four Waite brothers of the Guelph neighborhood, and the three Hodge brothers; also the Wilsons, father and three sons of Silverleaf.
Jake Byers came to Ellendale on April 19th, 1882, but John did not come until May 22, 1882. The Canadian bunch organized a well-digging outfit, and put down wells for the settlers in Dickey and LaMoure Counties. They did the best of work and guaranteed it.
These boys relate how they made their beds with grass, which they cut along sloughs with their jacknives, and on May 21st, 1882, it was so cold that meadow-larks froze to death. Breaking was $4.00 per acre, and teams were scarce, so the settlers could only get enough of the prairie broke to start a garden and plant a few potatoes. There was only one stove in the whole bunch,-a small sheet-iron affair, and it was hard-worked to cook the flapjacks and spiced roll for them all. This little stove was carried out from Ellendale by John on his back. That and a frying pan, a few tin dishes and knives, some blankets, a pick, shovels, a rope and a bucket to haul up dirt in the digging of the wells, was all the personal property owned by the
145
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
boys at that time. Later in the summer they bought two scythes and put up a lot of hay; also they bought enough matched lumber to make a table, and in the fall they built a 12 by 18 sod house with lumber roof.
There is a small old house standing on the Abraham farm, between the cement house and the red barn, that was the original house in which the Widow Bishop lived, at the "end of the track." Some say that this Bishop house was the first frame building in Dickey County; at any rate the little house is a landmark.
The first crop of grain was threshed by a little Case outfit with only a twelve horse power engine, a partnership affair that the Buckley brothers, Frank and Archie had taken in because they had $75.00 in money that was needed to pay freight. The grain was good and the threshing was a successful venture. The farmers boarded the crew, who slept in the straw piles, and the price for threshing was five cents a bushel. Straw was used for fuel for the engine. It was a free burning fuel, but fires started from its use and the Byers lost three threshing rigs through such accidents.
The first school in Elden Township was held in the fall of 1883, with Josie M. Letson (Mrs. J. W. Crabtree) as teacher at a salary of $20.00 per month. There being no school house the daily sessions were held in the house of A. H. Letson, which stood near the site of the school now known as the Letson School. There were six pupils-Martin, Stella, and Celia Vennum, and Anna, Nellie and Celia Robertson. The only equipment furnished was a box of crayons. For a blackboard they used a piece of tar-paper tacked across the end of the room, and for seats, bunches of shingles covered with pieces of carpet. The County Superintendent at that time was Guy Linder- smith.
Among the present day farmers of the township are Chris Hanson, Adam Schook and W. E. Hanna on the Sunshine Highway, Len Shannon and Charles Abraham and Maurice Letson, who is living on the old Letson home- stead. Herman Gentz is a prosperous farmer in the south part of the town- ship, and R. H. Pomplum has a fine new home in the southwest part of Elden.
Owing to the fertility of the soil and good marketing facilities, Elden will always remain one of the very best towns in the county.
147
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
CHAPTER XVII
ELMI TOWNSHIP, 129-64
[The story of Elm Township is compiled from the early recollections of the Anderson brothers, Mat and Luke Whelan and their sisters, Andy Monteith and others of the early days, and from records of settlement.]
E LMI Township lies in the southern tier of townships in Dickey County, being Township 129, Range 64. The Elm River flows through it from north to south, making it a fine location for stock-raising as water is abund- ant and the grazing luxuriant. In its early organization it was the east half of Lorraine Township, but it soon was made a separate civil township.
Patrick Whelan and his wife came into the country in 1883, from the City of Quebec and went to his brother-in-law's place in Dickey County that spring. Mr. Whelan had been in Dickey County in 1882 to look over the country. He went back and brought out the family, in which there were six children. Mat Whelan was born in Dickey County. Mr. Whelan located in Elm Township, on the place where his son Mat has since resided, taking it as a homestead, southwest Section 8.
When the family came out they first went to the John Keogh home and stayed in a sod house there the first summer. Mr. Keogh was a brother of Mrs. Whelan and his homestead was on the northwest of Section 3, 129-64. He had come out in 1882 and taken his homestead on the Elm where he could get water for the stock. The Whelans stayed with the Keogh family till they could build a small frame house on their own homestead. This frame house had one big room and a hall, and was used as a school for many years after 1889.
Mr. Whelan had been working in the lumber woods before moving out to Dakota. After getting his family established he went back to the lumber woods for the winter. He did not bring his stock with him on his first trip but went back to Minnesota where he had been working and brought out the team he had been driving in the woods the winter before and also brought a cow. Mrs. Whelan stayed in the little claim shanty that first winter while he was away. She had the cow to look after and one of the Koegh boys would come over three miles or more to visit them. There were seven children, the oldest being the twins, eleven years old. Mr. Whelan had cut and carried in wood before he left and piled it up inside, so that they did aot have to go out for it . They had a well on the prairie where they drew water with a bucket and pulley, about thirty feet. Their nearest neighbor was John Hickey who lived a mile east. Mrs. Whelan spent the winter taking care of the children. During some of those early
-
148
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
years she borrowed a spinning wheel and made yarn and knitted the socks and mitts for the family. She had brought wool along for the first lot and later they kept sheep and raised the wool.
Mr. Whelan only went back to work in the woods the one winter of 1883-84, and after that wintered with the family. They stayed on that homestead until the children grew up or till about 1902. He had a tree claim also. The boys went out to the hills and dug up some trees and planted them, but the ground was dry and none of them grew. They also planted lots of tree seed that they picked in the gulches. One man who wanted some trees planted hired some boys to plant his seed for him and he did not watch them very closely so they poured most of it down a badger hole. He had as many trees from the badger hole as from other parts of the field.
They made their hay in the hills like many others, as there was not much upland hay on the flats on account of the prairie being burned off so much and the seasons so dry. They thought the slough hay from the hills best anyhow. They also cut wood in the gulches of the hills for fuel.
Mickey Baldwin had a boat on the upper Elm, and when Whelan came along the first time to look for his claim Baldwin charged him a dollar to cross. But Mr. Whelan was an old lumberman and when he came back he found a timber on the creek bank and rode it across the stream and beat the ferry man out of his dollar.
Mr. Whelan had a big gray team and went out breaking for the home- steaders for $4.00 an acre. He would harvest his own little crop and then go out to earn what he could. One year he would have a good crop and then there would be a poor year and the necessaries of life were scarce, but there were many in the same condition. The county had to bond to help the settlers get feed and seed, and sometimes charitable people in the east would send out goods and supplies for the people on the plains who were in need. Along in the eighties a threshing machine set a fire and burned the Whelan barn. The father was in Ellendale and the mother could not save it so the barn, hay rack, wagon and load of hay went up in smoke, but she saved the house. As a means of earning money the family used to herd cattle after they got established, getting a dollar a head to keep the farmers' cattle all summer.
In the big blizzard of 1888 the Whelan dog drifted away and went with the storm, finally reaching Frederick, about seventeen miles away. A farmer there gave him shelter and a month later the dog followed a man to Ellendale. Mr. Whelan happened to be in town and recovered his dog. In 1896-97 there was a hard winter and the Whelans had to haul hay out of the hills where they had put it up during the summer. Snow was so deep they could hardly get through. They had to use a rope at times in the blizzards to make it safe to get to the barn and back in the drifting snow. The father and one of the boys went to the barn on one of these trips and nearly missed the house when they were coming back. The boy was hanging
149
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
to his father's coat-tails. John Callan was out there on a cattle buying trip with a buggy and team of ponies and was held at the Whelan place by a blizzard for three days.
There were a few deer in the country in those early years, and as late as 1896 Sid Collins on the Ashley mail stage used to haul out an armful of hay when taking the mail to feed three deer that were wintering along the road near Coldwater.
The Whelan children went to school at the Flint School in summers. School advantages were not plentiful in the winter time. The Whelans had a cannon ball which was picked up on the old place in the early days. It was a solid iron ball, but was lost years ago. About 1905 the Whelan boys were on the Whitestone battlefield and picked up some arrow heads and an army hat ornament. The family got the mail at the Lorraine postoffice kept by Theodore Gray for a time. Mr. Gallagher carried mail from Lorraine to Pierson's place, the mail being brought out on Everett Gray's line from Ellendale to Ashley.
In the fall of 1881 David Monteith came out from Lancaster, Wisconsin, prospecting for land, in company with Tom Shimmin and Miles Helm, but he returned without taking up land. Preparation was made in the following winter, and about April 1st, 1882, their party landed at the end of the track north of Ellendale with two car loads of stock and household goods. Andy Monteith, a boy of ten years, came with them. Miles and David Monteith were cousins, and another man, Jim Helm, was with them on this trip.
They finally located on Section 8, 129-64. Miles Helm had dug a well in the fall of 1881, but the water was not good. Tom Shimmin had a set of carpenter tools and a gun, and he provided meat for all and helped get up the shanties, after which they all went with him over into the hills and built the first improvements on the land that he still occupies.
The group seeded about sixty acres in sod crops, but owing to drought they did not get any harvest. Andy, the young boy, got a job herding cattle. The cows were picketed out with ropes, near the shanty. The Monteiths were ten miles from Ellendale, where the nearest school was located so until 1884 they could not go to school; then one was started northwest of where Ralph Griffin lives. Andy herded cattle for Callan & McClure on the old Whitestone Battlefield, but did not know the historical signifiance of the place. There were no bones or relics left at that time. Of the Monteith children who came in that early day, two have passed away. Andy and Jennie (Mrs. Walter Haas) are still living in the county.
The John Keogh who built the shanties in Brown County for the Grays was located on the banks of the Elm River west of Ellendale. On one occasion when he was out with a borrowed wagon he had been drinking and he let his horses go to a slough along the road to get water, and they got mired and drowned. Had he let them alone they would have got through the slough, but he tried to make them do as he wished. At last getting
150
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
discouraged he called, "Help! Help' H-E-L-P, won't anybody help John Keogh?" Tom Shimmin heard the S O S and went to his rescue but the horses were dead. It is also told that when he began to sober up he studied the situation and asked, "Who am I .. If I am somebody else I have found a wagon. If I am John Keogh I have lost a team of horses. Who am I, anyway?"
Among the early settlers about whom we have been able to collect little information are James McGlynn, who located on north half of Section 32; Mr. McShane on Section 32; Mr. James Scott on Section 28, and Dr. L. D. Bartlett who had a fine place on Section 33 and who was a member from Dickey County of the Consitutional Convention which framed the state constitution in 1889.
A. J. Anderson who first lived on a rented place in Riverdale township, took a homestead entry on the southwest quarter of Section 3 that is still owned by his sons, Louis, Sam and Harry. They are among the solid citizens of the county, Louis being one of the leading Masons. The brothers raise corn and feed-grain, and fatten stock on the farm.
Everett Gray lives on the northwest quarter of Section 5, a piece of land for which he traded a horse. His life story is a history of Elm and Albion Townships, and his name occurs frequently in other parts of this and Albion Townships, and his name occurs frequently in other parts of this . history. F. W. Fuller came out from Minnesota in 1906 and bought the east half of Section 5. He has a family of four sons and five daughters, two of the sons, Will and Elmer being business men in Ellendale. Ed England who came from South Dakota in 1906, married one of the Fleming sisters and now lives on a new place he is improving on the southeast quarter of Section 10. He is active and public spirited, especially in school affairs, and has an ambition to give his large family a first class education.
On the northwest quarter of Section 23, Will Philips has built a first class farm home, and is making a success of stock-raising and mixed farming. He owns and rents several quarters of land that are well watered by the Elm River. He has a family of nine children, who as fast as they are ready for it are receiving an advanced education at the Ellendale Normal. His wife was one of the pioneers, being the only girl, Mary, of the Lynde family which came to the Forbes neighborhood in the early days, and their children give promise of following the Phillips and Lynde example, as they are already becoming teachers and entering business in the county.
Frank Anderson is a substantial farmer on the Southwest quarter of Section 23. He married Miss Bertha Strand in 1909, and they have ten children. Mr. Anderson is a very energetic man, giving much attention to improved cattle and hogs.
A distinguishing feature of Elm Township in recent years is the very active Elm Community Club, membership in which includes the entire family and is not limited to residents of this one township as it includes
151
A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
several families from Lorraine. This club has been organized for several years and held its meetings in the homes of its members, but as its member- ship was large and its meetings of great interest the club out grew the capacity of the homes and some means had to be found to afford a meet- ing place. In the same generous spirit that has characterized its work the club set out to build a home of its own. Mr. Luke Whelan donated a building site on the southwest of Section 7. Then contributions were sought from friends, several Ellendale people contributed, and in this way some funds for a beginning were raised, and a basement was dug and walled up in 1923. The labor for construction was donated and the hall completed enough for dedication and use in 1924. To meet the further expense com- munity sales were held, plays and a dance were given and the money used as far as it would go. A furnace was installed in the basement and electricity for lighting was obtained by a transformer from the high line that furnishes electricity for the town of Forbes. It is not yet (1928) completed but a new floor was put in and the building painted in the summer of 1928. The next items are to be new seats and completion of the basement and interior of the main auditorium. The building has been found very helpful in the work of the Club and for school rallies and exercises and is now the home of one of the most active and progressive community clubs in the region.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.