USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County Wisconsin 10847607 > Part 42
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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
In 1858 the society built the saw mill which is mentioned in the chapter on Manufactures. In the same year Mr. Schaettle built a store and came with stock for the same, the brewery was also started. A number of houses were also built, and quite a number of settlers, partly from Cincinnati, partly from other parts, had arrived, as I found when in March 1859 1 came to the place. Fred. Laue had been there during the winter and had fixed on the site for the saw mill of Buecker & Co. for which April 10th, 1859, he brought up the machinery. Edward Gunkel kept saloon and boarding house. Joachim Guettinger, Caspar Huber, Her- man Protz, Ferdinand Horst, Adolf Rauch, Adam Hellmann, Henry Busdicker etc. had come from Cincinnati, Henry Erding from Baltimore, others from other places. The island at the cor- ner between the Buffalo City. Channel and the Mississippi was in- habited by Andrew Vogt, and Peterson Bro. It would be too te- dious to mention all the citizens. High hopes were entertained by most of them for the future growth and prosperity of the city
626
TOWNS.
and the society expended, among other things, a considerable sum of money to build a road across the Belvidere Bluff to the Wau- mandee. The surrounding country began to fill up. In 1859 Mr. Schaettle built a large house, designed for a store, dwelling house, saloon and dancing hall, and the lower sawmill went into opera- tion. The representation of the place by two members in the county board of supervisors brought out a decided opposition against the place, as may be learned from the chapter on organiza- tion. The city, however was always in funds, as the taxes were at that time regularly paid by almost every one of the owners of lots, most of whom resided at Cincinuati. In the mean time it was demonstrated by experience that navigation could reach the place only at high water. This was very inconvenient, but a ferry was established between the city and the settlement at Mount Vernon, Minn., about two miles below Minneiska, which in some measure remedied the deficiency. But although the number of settlers increased from time to time, there was also by and by a sensible decrease. In 1861 the city made some exertions to get the county seat, but with what result may be seen in the chapter on organization. In the course of time the owners of lots began to refuse or neglect the payment of taxes and houses began to be moved out of the town to neighboring farms. The want of com- munication by water crippled every enterprise, and of the orig- inal settlers but very few remain, while, however the population is now more numerous than twenty years ago. The charter is still in force, though the representation has been reduced to one member in the county board. The city has a good and large schoolhouse, a Catholic and a Lutheran church, one store, blacksmith shop etc. It is situated about one mile from the railroad station at Cochrane, but has a postoffice of its own, receiving its mail from Cochrane by special messenger, just as previous to 1860 from Fountain City.
Long as this sketch has grown, it might have easily been made much longer, but many items of interest may be gathered from other chapters, and from personal remarks in the appendices to the tables of Early Settlers and the lists of soldiers. The popu- lation of the city is now, as it has always been, entirely German, the few stragglers of other nationalities never staid long enough to deserve particular attention.
THIS PAGE IS LOCKED TO FREE MEMBERS Purchase full membership to immediately unlock this page
DELVE INTO FANTASY, MAGIC, MYTHOLOGY & FOLKLORE
Forgotten Books Full Membership gives access to 797,885 ancient and modern, fiction and non-fiction books.
Continue
*Fair usage policy applies
628
TOWNS.
much of the trade of the town is done in that place, a well built road leading across the bottoms. There is within the limits of this town a village plat near the railroad station of Bluff Siding, called Town of Colbert, which is recorded in Vol. 17, page 216, with which I am not further acquainted.
TOWN OF CANTON.
The territory contained in this town is Township 24 of Range 12. Before its organization the east half of it belonged to Naples the west half to Maxville. The surface of the town is full of hills' between which there are several valleys, from which the -treams run to the Big Bear Creek excepting North branch of Little Bear Creek. The soil in these valleys and on the slopes is well suited to agriculture. There are but few farms on the bluffs, where the soil is the same as usual in similar situations.
It appears that the northern part, adjoining Big Bear Creek was first settled, it being level and the soil rich. The so-called Tuttle farm is said to have been occupied by a man named Quackenbos in 1855. When Geo. Tuttle came is not known, but in 1862 he was a Justice of the Peace. I never knew him and the farm is now owned by David Gifford. In 1860 Lewis Kniffin and Julius Parr settled in North Branch, T. W. Glasspool, sen., in the Glasspool Valley, Earl Ward and Thomas Inschcoe in the Big Bear Creek Valley. In 1861 Louis Owen, L. W. Keezar and J. V. Jones opened farms in North Branch Valley, in 1862 Geo. Kees in the same neighborhood. The first death is said to have been that of a daughter of Lewis Kniffin in 1862.
After several fruitless attempts the town was set off by the County Board in 1867 and organized in 1868, electing Jas. E. Walker chairman and T. W. Glasspool Townclerk The name of Page, or rather Paige, suggested by the leading advocate for the organization, was soon changed to Canton at the request of citi- zens and the suggestion of Mr. Glasspoole.
The population is about equally divided, consisting of Ger- man, Irish, Norwegians and Americans. Since the completion of the Chippewa Valley Railroad the trading of this town is mostly done at Durand, Pepin Co., where the settlers also have their post- office. Formerly most of the wheat went to Alma, sometimes by way of Modena, sometimes by way of North Branch and across the bluffs,
629
TOWNS.
TOWN OF CROSS.
The following land is at present contained in the Town of Cross:
Range 10: Sections 17, 20, 29, 32 and 33 on Trempealeau River fractional, 18, 19, 30 and 31 entire in Township 20.
Sections 3 and 4 on Trempealeau River fractional, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 entire in Township 19.
Range 11: Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11 and 12 of Township 19.
Sections 1, 2, 3, E ≥ 4, E } 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, NE } 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35 and 36 of Township 20.
There may be some errors in regard to one or two forties, ad- joining the town of Milton or that of Buffalo, such small alteration having escaped my attention.
This town was set off, July 20th 1857, at the same time as the Town of Milton, of parts until then belonging to the Town of Buf- falo. Hon. Edward Lees, now of Gilmanton, was the first Chair- man, John Burt the first Townclerk.
The surface of the town is very much broken up. The bluffs are steep and most of the valleys narrow. Eagle Valley in the western part begins in the town of Glencoe, crosses a corner of Waumandee and finally ends in the town of Milton. There are in fact two valleys, one east of the last named, also beginning in the town of Glencoe. The two streams and the valleys join in Sec. 15, T. 20, R. 11, where the joint valley is widest. The valley next in size is Bohri's Valley, also consisting of two different valleys with a stream in each, the streams uniting a short distance before flow- ing out into Treampealeau bottom. Other, but smaller valleys are, Buehler's, Barths's Grover's etc. The soil in these valleys is rich black loam, on the bluffs it is more clayey. Peter Schank is considered the first settler within the limits of the present town of Cross and also the first farmer in the county, having settled on his farm in 1850, remaining for three years without a neighbor. In spring 1853 Andrew Baertsch settled in the town where he yet lives, the oldest in regard to settlement, of any man now living in the county, having come in 1847. In 1853, Philipp Menzemer and Geo. Zimmermann also settled. Rev. John Aldermatt also came in 1853. In 1854, Christ. Bohri sr. and his family, John Sutter, J. Camastral, Christian Buehler, Henry Keller and Fred_ erick Binder came, in 1855 Ed. Lees, John Burt, Wm. Burt and
630
TOWNS.
John More arrived, and in 1856 another numerous influx of set- tlers took place.
The first marriage was that of Caspar Wald to Anna Ambuehl, the ceremony being performed by Andrew Baertsch in German.
The first two deaths were those of Ambuehl and Camastral, who died in summer 1854 of cholera which they had contracted in their journey from the East, where this disease was then raging. The first child born in Cross was Christian Baertsch, son of An- drew and Mary Baertsch. He was born Sept. 1st, 1853. There is a postoffice in, and of the same name as, the town, situated in Sec. 5, T. 19, R 10, kept by Gottlieb Bohri, who also keeps a tavern. There are some six or seven Scotch families in the town, the re- mainder are Germans, except a few Polish families.
TOWN OF DOVER.
The territory of the town of Dover is Township 23 of Range 10. The town is bounded on the north by Naples on the east by Burnside, Trempealeau Co., on the south by Montana, on the west by Gilmanton. It was set off from the town of Gilmanton, of which it had been a part, at the annual meeting of the county- board of 1870, and organized at the next spring election, with A. J. Nims as chairman and W. H. Edes as townclerk. The surface of the town is very much varied, steep bluffs on the southern and northern boundaries with some hills through the center running east and west along Elk Creek and Bennett Valley Creek, north and south on Three Mile Creek. These creeks and valleys are de- scribed in Topography. The soil on both sides of Elk Creek in its middle course is sandy, but some of the side valleys even of the distance are productive. Bennett Valley is considered the best part of the town for agricultural purposes. . This Valley received its name from the fact that Dr. Jesse Bennett, formerly of Foun- tain City had selected considerable land in it, for which he em- ployed Hon. Noah D. Comstock. The first settler in this town was certainly Samuel S. Cooke, a native of Franklin Co., Ohio, who came up in 1855 and purchased the Southeast quarter of Sec- tion 27, moving upon it with his family in June the year after. He lived in a perfect solitude, considering Patrick Mulcare of Glencoe as his nearest neighbor, until after a while he found the "Loomis Settlement," as Gilmanton was then called, about seven miles west of his own location. Mr. Cooke was a great hunter
THIS PAGE IS LOCKED TO FREE MEMBERS Purchase full membership to immediately unlock this page
----
Rijs YoGs
RiJA YOGA
Rig: Boc
RAJA YOGA
Answers
€
RAJA YOGA
RAJA YOGA
Za&cce PC
Never be without a book!
Forgotten Books Full Membership gives universal access to 797,885 books from our apps and website, across all your devices: tablet, phone, e-reader, laptop and desktop computer A library in your pocket for $8.99/month
Continue
'Fair usage policy applies
632
TOWNS.
settlement and political organization of this county began, and up- on which it was for some time concentrated. I think, however, that in previous chapters on Organization, Settlement, Pioneers, Manufactures, Education, Press, etc., I have related all that is interesting.
Among those who arrived soon after the pioneers, whose biographies will be found in the proper chapter, John Adam Raetz was one of the first. He is still a resident of the corporation. He was born in Gondelsheim, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and came to America in 1847, first settling in Stevenson Co., Ill. He and his family landed on the 18th of May, 1851, at Wild's Landing, where now the stonehouse stands. For some time three families were crowded together until after some time they made a path to Holmes' Landing. He burnt the first lime at that place, which sold at $1.00 a barrel. At Holmes' Landing he lived together, or in the same house, with old man Peter Schank, and then made a settlement on what is now called Schumacher's Farm, where he built a small house in Oct. 1851, and passed a very severe winter. In the coming spring he lost all his cattle except two yoke of oxen, his money was gone, and with the exception of some thousands of fence rails and a few cords of wood, he had to relinquish his claim. Indians seem to have bothered them considerably, so that they were often scared, and many a night they could not go to bed. So far his own narrative. It strikes me as somewhat singular that not one of the early settlers still remaining in the place relates any thing of the Indian fight of which Hon. Augustus Finkelnburg gives such a vivid description in his centennial oration. I would not, of course, deny the truth of the story, and the informant of Mr. Finkelnburg may have drawn on his imagination, but it is also singular that even Thomas Randall in his History of the Chippewa Valley has little to say about the Indian fights and hostilities in the extensive region of which he treats. It must, however, be remembered that Sioux and Winnebagoes were quite near together in this neighborhood, and were as much at war as Sioux and Chippewas who lived further north. Adam Raetz was elected District Attorney at the election in November 1853, but it is reasonably certain that he never acted as such.
It is impossible now to ascertain the precise time when every individual settler arrived, but of the eighteen men who voted at
633
TOWNS.
the first election, the following fourteen were residents of Holmes' Landing at the time: John Buehler, Christ. Wenger, Caspar Wild, Andrew Barth, John Haeussinger, Jas. M. Pierce, Marvin Pierce, Adam Raetz, Henry Goerke, Adam Weber, Lawrence Dres- sendoerfer, Ulrich Kritzenthaler and Henry Funke. They must have arrived during 1851, '52 and '53, except those who were there before that time, for whom see Pioneers.
The year 1854 witnessed the arrival of Ferdinand Fetter, who afterwards became a leading citizen of the county, Justice of the Peace, Clerk of Circuit Court, and County Judge. Tony Burk, who came up from Le Claire, Iowa, told me about Mr. Fetter, when he returned for his family. Henry Teckenburg, who established the first regular and properly equipped store, after having bought out the stock of Henry Goerke, came in the fall of 1853. Gottfried Huber kept saloon and tavern in 1855 and later, and was in 1856 a Justice of the Peace. It takes everybody and everything to make the world, and it takes a great many to make even a village, and only very few of them will be afterwards remembered, and will remember much of their own life and circumstances during their young years, when they have grown old. The inquiries of the historian are sometimes baffled by this forgetfulness; some- times, too, he grows cautious, and even suspicious, in listening to stories, which in fact, or at least in appearance, seem to contradict each other.
The village proper was laid out as follows:
Plat of Fountain City recorded Vol. 1, p. 121, May 5, 1855.
1, p. 62, May 7, 1855. Plat of Waumandee
Goerke's Addition 6: 1, p. 187, May 11, 1855.
Pierce's 6 = 1, p. 176, April 2, 1855.
Truman's
1, p. 155, April 18, 1855. Buehler's
1, p. 177, Dec. 29, 1855. Patterson's " 4, p. 159, Jan. 27, 1858. 6
Fountain City Lower Addition, recorded Vol. 4, page 138, Feb. 11, 1856.
Bishop's Addition, recorded Vol. 4, p. 139, Jan. 1, 1858.
" " 15, p. 391, June 22, 1869. Behlmer's
Barbara Fuch's Addition, rec. Vol. 27, p. 137, April 23, 1880.
Some of these additions have been vacated, leaving however the more important ones still in force. The situation of Fountain
634
TOWNS.
City is very similar to that of Alma, but more favorable in having at least in the upper part a better chance for building and concentra- tion, and in having numerous springs which issue out of the bluffs on the slope instead in the bed of the river. The valleys as well as the bluff lands adjoining the village are settled by farmers. I have in the chapter on Transportation called attention to the graded roads leading to different parts of the village. The village was, as long as it belonged to the town of Buffalo the natural cen- ter of it. In the division of the town of Eagle Mills, Buffalo re- ceived the greater part, because it was in the interest of Fountain City to control the roads over which the trade of the Waumandee Valley had to come to the place. The incorporation of the village disconnected the lower and the upper part, and the legislature of 1870 in granting the incorporation also reorganized the town of Milton and defined the limits of the town of Buffalo.
A postoffice was established in the place in 1854 with Marvin Pierce as the first postmaster, who kept the office in Block 18, on lot 121. In the course of time the following gentlemen have held the office: M. Pierce, Henry Teckenburg, M. W. Hammann, F. Moeckel, R. W. Feigl, A. Finkelnburg, S. Karth, John Maurer, Tobias Voegele and the present postmaster J. B. Oenning. The postoffice is now, and has been for a long time, on lot 78, Block 11 in the center of the upper village.
Before the construction of the Green Bay railroad Fountain City commanded the trade of the Waumandee, Montana, Glen- coe, Cross, Milton, the southern part of Belvidere, and of Buffalo. Even from the town of Arcadia I remember to have seen farmers, who brought wheat and other products to Fountain City to market. The construction of that road and the inevitable boom of the new stations of Arcadia and Independence diverted much of the Mon- tana, some of the Waumandee and all of the Glencoe trade in that direction at least for some time. The Burlington and Northern railroad put the place like Alma, on a new footing. The results of it can not yet be positively stated. But so far the people have taken advantage of this new means of transportation and commu- nication by establishing new enterprises, which may make good use of it, and which are more extensively mentioned in the chap- ter on Manufactures.
There is one institution located at Fountain City which is
THIS PAGE IS LOCKED TO FREE MEMBERS Purchase full membership to immediately unlock this page
DELVE INTO FANTASY, MAGIC, MYTHOLOGY & FOLKLORE
Forgotten Books Full Membership gives access to 797,885 ancient and modern, fiction and non-fiction books.
Continue
*Fair usage policy applies
636
TOWNS.
There is one trait in the character of the people of Fountain City, which I can not leave unnoticed. Of course, the population, though mostly German by nationality, is composed of many ele- ments, which do no more harmonize naturally than in other places, nor, for aught I know, any less. But whenever any im- provements or new new enterprises are suggested it is remarkable how soon the means are found. One cause of this, I think, lies in the fact that every one is requested to contribute and to be- come a shareholder, even those who could contribute only their labor, so that all become interested.
Socially the people of Fountain City also seem to agree very well, notwithstanding the presence of differences in politics, reli- gion, and other accidental trifles, which are so often the cause of dissensions everywhere.
TOWN OF GILMANTON.
The territory of the Town of Gilmanton is described as Town- ship 23, Range 11. It consists of the western parts of Elk Creek Valley, part of the Beef River Valley and the Gilman Valley. Tributary to the Elk Creek is Hadley Creek, which comes from the north-east part of the town and flows through a valley whose slope on the east side is gradual but rather abrupt on the west- side. Erskine Creek comes from the southern part and flows nearly north, Bailey Creek and O'Hara Creek flow in about the same direction, all these fall into Elk Creek below the mill-pond. The surface of the town is very variable. Some steep bluffs are in the southern part, hills in the central part, and bluffs again in the northern part of which a spur comes down towards Elk Creek, terminating in Mount Tom. The most prominent peak of the southern range, nearly detached from it, is Eagle Peak. Some of the soil is light and even sandy especially south of Elk Creek. On the westside of Beef River the country is rolling, rising, how- ever, towards the north into steep bluffs. Almost all of the land is heavy clay loam and well suited for agricultural purposes. Gil- manton is bounded by Mondovi on the North, Dover on the East, Alma and Lincoln on the South and Modena on the West. The valleys must have been very inviting to settlers, yet at a time, when Alma and Fountain City were already laid out, there was yet not a single settler in this town. The late Lyman J. Claflin more than once related in my presence, how he and one or two
637
TOWNS.
companions, one of them Ezra Hutchinson, came from Beef River Station, now probably Osseo, went down Beef River Valley pros- pecting for settlement, how they came down to the very spot where Mr. Claflin afterwards settled, without having had any- thing to eat for two days and finally managed to get to Alma, and how glad they were to get under the hospitable roof and to the well supplied table of John R. Hurlburt, who had just begun to keep tavern in the old Alma, afterwards American, House. Mr. Claflin went to La Crosse and borrowed a compass, for which he paid one dollar per day, returning it after a use of five days. This was in June 1855 at which time he and Ezra Hutchinson entered the first land on the eastside of Beef River.
It appears that soon after Samuel Gilman and his four sons, Franklin, Edson, Andrew J. and Daniel, took up land in Sections . 8 and 17 in the so-called Gilman valley, building cabins and cut- ting hay for their stock. Philo Englesby settled in the fall of 1855 in what is called now Allen's Valley. In spring 1856 came with Mr. Claflin, who had returned East, the Vermonters, Wn. Loomis, Dan Loomis, Abijah P. Loomis, Ezra Hutchinson, W. H. H. Ami- don, M. E. Ferry and T. C. Bailey, forming the so-called "Loomis Settlement," on the east side of Beef River. Chauncey W. Rath- bun came about the same time, also Frank Hatschboth, settling in Gilman Valley. In June of that year the first child was born, Wealthy J. Rathbun, who grew up a lovely girl, and was married and died in the valley.
The first religious meeting was held by Rev. B. F. Morse at the house of Mr. Rathbun. For schools see chapter on Educa- tion. The first marriage was J. A. Bush and Almira Hatch in Spring 1857. Mrs. Bush died about two years after her marriage, and this was the first death. The town of Elk Creek was set off July 20, 1857, and then embraced Dover, Gilmanton, and the east half of Modena. The name was changed to Gilmanton May 25, 1858, and the part in Range 12 taken off Nov. 12, 1861. The mill was built 1861, for which see Manufactures, where some other re- marks will be found. In 1862 the first volunteers went from Gil- manton, and the big scare on account of the Sioux outbreak in Minnesota led to the formation of a company of homeguards, Capt. Lyman Stiles, Ltnt. Judson Hutchinson. The scare soon subsided.
638
TOWNS.
The post-office was established in 1858, with Wm. Loomis as the first postmaster. He kept the office at his house in Sect. 22, until 1865. It was then removed to the house of R. E. Fuller, who was postmaster until May 15th, 1866. Since then J. W. Howard is postmaster, and keeps the office as an annex to his store.
There is a plat of what is usually called the "village" of Gil- manton, formerly called "Mann's Mill." This plat was recorded in Vol. 33, page 247, June 9th, 1876. In this village we find the mill, three common country stores, one drugstore, two blacksmith shops, one tavern, the school house and a church.
The population of Gilmanton is American, some Scotch, and quite a few Germans.
TOWN OF GLENCOE.
The territory of Glencoe consists of Township 21, Range 10, and of Town 20, Range 10, the following sections 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 on Trempealeau River fractional, 4, 5, 6 and 7 entire. The surface is very broken in all parts of the town, and contains a number of valleys of which the Muir Valley in the Eastern part has a length of over six miles with a number of side valleys in all of which we find streams. Muir Creek flows South into Trempealeau River. Cowvie's Creek takes the same course, west of the former. Eagle Creek has its source in Sec. 31 and flows through Cross and Mil- ton into the Waumandee Creek. Irish Creek has its sources in Sec. 17 and flows West into Waumandee Creek. The slopes are everywhere steep, but on the top of the bluffs there is a rolling woodland, which has in many places been cleared and is very well adapted for agriculture. The land in the valleys is rich and there is but very little poor farming land in the town. The town is bounded on the east by the town of Arcadia in Trempealeau Co., on the west by Waumandee and Cross, on the North by Montana, and on the south by Cross. The town was at first known as Cold Springs and was organized as such June 8th, 1857, but the name was changed to Glencoe in 1859, at the suggestion of Hon. Geo. Cowie who set- tied in 1855 and still resides there. Until the organization of the town of Montana Township 22, Range 10, also belonged to Glencoe. The first settler was Patrick Muleare who came in 1854; he is now dead. In 1855 George Cowie and Jas. Faulds, sen., arrived. Henry Wirtemberger also arrived in 1855. James Faulds jr., William Muir, David J. Davis and J. P. Fernholz came and com-
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.