USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County, Wisconsin > Part 50
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 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
W. H. Gates, 1856-57.
Peter Polin, 1857-63.
C. A. Boehme, 1863-69.
Mathias Fetzer, 1869-72.
Julius Ginzkey, 1872-76.
L. P. Hunner, 1876-1885.
M. W. MacDonnell, 1885 to present time.
About the time of the establishment of the postoffice there was some population present. Of the arrivals of 1854 we may name Abraham Schmoker, Nic. Gilomen, Anton Ulrich, Gottlieb Iberg, Gottlieb Kurz and others. Hon. Jonn A. Tester arrived Aug. 9th, 1856, and commenced mercantile business in company with Peter Polin, who did not, however, arrive until 1857. This firm did in spite of the small beginnings, soon command the con- fidence of the settlers far andnear, and did very great service in the development of the country. The late Lyman J. Claflin, one of the very first settlers of Gilmanton in a conversation which I had with him nearly twenty years ago, called them the fathers of the upper part of the county, without whom the settlement would have languished and have been crippled for many years. The sudden death of Mr. Polin in Nov. 1870 led to a dissolution of the firm in 1873, Mr. Tester establishing a new business in his present place in Nov. 1874. Speaking of the development of the place, we find, that after the first period of pioneer times, and a gradual increase of the population in the village as well as in the surround- ing country, the place grew rapidly, and soon did much more business, especially in the grain line, than would be supposed from its apparent size. It was especially the integrity, diligence and perseverance of the above named firm in the disposition of farm products, to which Mr. Claflin alluded in his remarks above
615
TOWNS.
cited. This rapid development attracted competition and a few years later Iberg and Bro. established their business and in 1861 erected the brickbuilding, which was afterwards their store and dwelling house, until they sold out their interest and Tester and Polin took possession of it and the warehouse opposite on the bank of the river. The situation of Alma for shipment of wheat and other staple products and the distribution of all the commo- dities of trade was not surpassed by any place between La Crosse and St. Paul on the eastern bank of the river, as long as there were no railroads in the neighborhood. At the time when wheat- fields were rapidly extended, the yield was heavy, and occasion- ally prices extremely high, the whole of this staple produced in the Beef River Valley up to Mondovi and vicinity, from Canton, Nelson and Maxville, poured into our warehouses, as also a con- siderable share from Big Waumandee, all of Little Waumandee and the greater part of Belvidere.
It will not be necessary to go into detail in regard to our man- ufacturing enterprises as they are sufficiently described in the proper chapter. The same may be said in regard to roads lead- ing to the city and from it. I refer the reader to the chapter of transportation.
With regard to schools, public and secret societies and churches and the press, the reader is also referred to the proper chapters. The incidents of the struggle for the county-seat, or as the fastidious would say, metropolitan honors, will be found in their proper place in the chapter on Organization. There is, in- deed, hardly any topic not entirely local, that has not already been discussed in previous chapters, and these need not be repeated. What is said here in regard to the City of Alma applies with more or less force to almost every town and especially to Fountain City. Hence there is nothing left to relate than the few local events. - Turning back to pioneer times, I have to state on the authority of Mr. Gates, that the first birth of a child of white parents was that of Mr. and Mrs. Wengert, which was probably in 1852. The first marriage was that of Mr. Gates himself and the next that of Abra- ham Schmoker. Until 1855 the population was all in and about Alma, especially in summer time, but in the winter it was scattered about the different islands, engaged in chopping wood and haul- ing it, mostly on hand sleds, to the bank of the Mississippi. Christ.
616
TOWNS.
Wenger and Joseph Richard were the first to attempt farming. Wenger moved to his farm in a canoe up Beef River. Richard took his stove to pieces, and carried it with all his household goods on his back to his location. There were at that time no practicable roads. New arrivals, who settled outside of our limits will be mentioned in the Town of Alma. It was about this time that the name of Twelve Mile Bluff was exchanged for that of Alma. The story of Mr. Gates finding this name in an Atlas is absurd. He told me many years ago, that about the time when the plan for laying out a village plat was maturing, the news of the battle on the Alma in the Krimean war arrived in this part of the country, and the name took his fancy and was proposed and adopted, for its shortness and easy spelling, I suppose. I defy any one to find that name in any common school atlas even at the present time, except in Wisconsin, to say nothing about times more than thirty years ago. Even in Mitchell's School Atlas of 1858, which gives a very accurate map of Wisconsin the name is not mentioned .- As in many other places the wheat business be- gan to assume its gigantic proportion early in the sixties, and the credit of its thorough organization in this place belongs to Fred Rabbas and his brother Henry, who had made their preparatory experiences at Milwaukee and Two Rivers in the eastern part of this state. Of course, they were not alone, but for a time they prevailed. Neither of them acquired a fortune out of it, but that does not concern any one else. The year 1861 brought the war. Among those who enlisted in Company H, of the sixth Wisconsin. were many Alma boys, or rather men, among them both members of the firm of Tester and Polin, but seeing that one at least must stay at home, the lot fell on Mr. Polin to do so. Mr. Tester went to the field, A fair start had been made, and the village as well as the town advanced rapidly. The separation and consequent incorporation has already been mentioned. The further progress of the place does not offer any salient points. We must, however, except the organization and subsequent operations of the Beef Slough Co. and its eventual successors. But this is sufficiently re- lated in the chapter on Transportation of which the history of Beef Slough Co. etc. is a subdivision. That the event contributed very much to the development of the village, then just incorpor- ated, no one will deny, but that at present the management of
617
TOWNS.
affairs tends to a diminution rather than an increase of the benefits the city might receive from the presence of so many persons at work etc., is also manifest. In 1858 or perhaps '57 the first schoolhouse was built, which very soon proved to be too small. In 1868 a new one of brick was erected, a model of inconvenience in its arrangements, which were, as necessity soon demanded, gradually improved. For nineteen years this schoolhouse had been used when in 1887 a new one was erected, of which I spoke in the chapter on Education.
Our streets, that is those two, which especially deserve the name, were, of course, laid out for the convenience of those who lived here at the time, and as they did not need much, and never expected the expansion of business of future times, the situation of these streets was not remarkable for a very judicious selection. In many places Main Street was overflowed at every annual freshet and it took in the course of time many thousands of dol- lars to raise it above highwater mark. Even the infringement of the railroad upon a considerable part of Main Street in the Lower Addition would have been entirely avoided, if that street had been laid on the hillside instead of close to, or rather into the river. Such things are more easily avoided, than they are remedied.
The population of Alma is German as to nationality or descent, there being less than one-fourth of American or other ele- ments intermixed, though more, perhaps, at the present than at any previous time.
In going, however, along the streets and hearing the young folks talk, you would doubt that assertion. And what an English one hears, especially what grammar !- In relating incidents of early settlement everybody seems to think of commercial estab- lishments first and last. But mechanics are a class as useful and respectable as any other. I can not give a very extensive list of such among the early settlers. John A. Tritsch and his brother were probably the first blacksmiths, William Mueller was the first tinsmith and hardware dealer. John Marty was a tailor, but I doubt whether his services were much required at first. Beiner was a cooper, but little of that trade was in demand. The first shoemaker was John Hornung, probably the best eniployed mechanic in the place. Other mechanics were probably present, but they did not find very constant work. Fritz Rall now of the
618
TOWNS.
town of Nelson was the first carpenter of any renown. John Spany built the old brewery for John Hemrich, a log concern, and when done he remembered, so the story goes, that he had forgotten to put in windows. Andrew Hemrich was the first and for a long time the only butcher, who had at first about as much trouble to find cattle for butchering as he had to find people to sell meat to.
The article on the City of Alma has grown long, but, as I have pointed out before, much more than related here may be found in other chapters concerning this place. I may close with the re- mark that we now have all arrangements of civilized life usually found in places of the size and situation of our own. There are dissatisfied people everywhere, hence here also, and improvements might be suggested, and may in course of time be effected. The historian is not a prophet, and the light he attempts to throw on the future is only the reflection of the past, and he is not expected to apply too much of that upon things in existence. So much of this article as relates to the combined history of City and Town of Alma will not be repeated in the history of the town.
TOWN OF ALMA.
The town of Alma comprises at the present time the following territory :
Township 21. Sections 6, 5, and west half of 4 in Range 12, and Section 1 in Range 13.
Township 22. All of Range 12, with the exception of Sect. 25 and 36, and a small part of Section 24.
Sections 5 and 6, the N. } of 7, and the N. W. } of 8, in Range 11.
Also Sec. 36 and all of Sect. 25 situated south of Beef River in Range 13.
The parts in Range 11 formerly belonged to the Town of Wau- mandee, and were added to Alma on account of their position, which demanded an outlet through adjoining parts of Alma. But with the exception of these, the Town of Alma ran from the East line of T. 22, R. 12 to the Mississippi and included all of T. 21, R. 13, at first and much more than now even at the time of the in- corporation of the village in 1868. The surface of the town is very much interrupted and consists of the Beef River Bottoms and the side valleys of Hutchinson Creek down to Mill Creek on the left bank, and the lower part of Trout Creek and all of Pine Creek
619
TOWNS.
Valley on the right bank of Beef River. The slopes are generally quite steep toward the creeks but there are terraces between these steep slopes and the higher bluffs. On these terraces the best farms are situated. Some farms are also situated on the top of the bluffs. The town is in general well watered. The Beef River Bottom is, especially close to the river, wooded. The other parts of it consist of swamp meadows interpersed with dry stretches, on which very good grass is grown. Part of the land in. Hutchi- son Valley is sandy, but where the declivities permit cultivation, the soil is excellent and produces abundant crops in all the other valleys.
The history of the town and that of the village were one and the same, until the valleys branching off from Beef River began to be settled. The first two settlers Wenger and Richard have already been mentioned. It must be remembered that land could not be bought or pre-empted before the middle of Sept. 1853 in any township north of 20.
Naturally this prevented attempts of settlement, and may be considered as one cause, why there was no exodus into the coun- try from the village before 1855. In that year there were a num- ber of new arrivals, among them Jacob Meter, Ulrich Wald, Peter Margreth and Jacob Wald, all of whom settled in the Mill Creek Valley. They were followed in 1856 to 1858 by John Mahlmann, John Weinandy, Jacob and Peter Wald, Conrad Moser, sr., and David Jost, all of whom located upon the branches of Mill Creek Valley. Theodore Meuli came from Waumandee and located in Section 16, Math. Hammer on Pine Creek, and Victor Hery across Beef River. In the course of time the town filled up and schools and other necessary institutions were organized. As to the first school see table in the chapter on Education and as to the mill see Manufactures. Of the singing society " Arion " I have said enough in the chapter on Public Societies. The first marriage in the town is claimed the one of Joseph Richard to Anna Maria Marky July 1st, 1857; see No. 21 of Earlier Marriages. This, how- ever, is doubtful, since that of Math. Hammer to Elizabeth Regli precedes it by almost a year, and Hammer was at that time a resident of the town. (See 13, E. M.) Whether or not the daughter of Theodore Meuli said to have been born in 1857 and having died about a year afterwards may be considered as the
620
TOWNS.
first birth and the first death we can not now determine to a cer- tainty. I am inclined to think that a man by the name of Marolf, who died by his own hand, was the first person, who died in the Town of Alma. He lived on John Alleman's place and died in 1857. In regard to Agricultural statistics the reader is referred to the chapter in which I treated of the Agriculture of the whole county. The population of Alma belongs almost exclusively to the German nationality either by immigration or descent. The main artery of travel and transportation is the Beef River Valley Road, and on this there are at present two taverns situated, one at the entrance to Trout Creek Valley, kept by Andrew Joos, and the other about two miles Northeast of it, the Halfway House kept by Michael Meuli. I take the opportunity here to say that it is en- tirely superfluous to discuss in these short histories the points that must occur in every town alike, such as roads, schools, agri- culture, manufactures, churches, population and such things, since the same have been sufficiently treated of in their appropriate chapters. This rule will be applied to the history of any town.
TOWN OF BELVIDERE.
The Town of Belvidere was set off by resolutions of the County Board of Supervisors first on the 5th day of February, 1855 and organized at the next townmeeting. It consisted then of Townships 20 and 21, Range 12. The following year it was re- modeled. Some sections were taken to Waumandee and some to Alma, the southern part to Milton and in later times other parts were taken to form the town of Lincoln. It now consists of the following territory :
Township 21: Sections E } 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 of Range 12, some few of them fractional. Sections 23, 24 and 25, all of them fractional, of Range 13.
Township 20: Sections W} 2, 3, 4 and 5 except 40 acres, also the E } of SE & and SE } of NE } and the two surplus frac- tions on the correction line in Sec. 6, E } and E } of W } of Sec. 8, 9, 10, 11, N} 14, 15, 16, and N ¿ of NE } and SE & of NE } of Sec. 17, of Range 12.
Section 1, entirely fractional and but little of it in Range 13.
The second correction line of the Wisconsin survey runs be- tween townships 20 and 21, in which there are two different sets
621
TOWNS.
of section and quarter section corners, which are however depend- ent one on the other. The surface of the town is level in the west- ern part, especially in township 20, and the parts adjoining of township 21, but the whole northern, central and eastern part is hilly, although on the top of the bluffs the land is gently rolling. With the exception of some sandy patches on the level land, most of the town contains good farming land, but is not so well pro- vided with water as the town of Alma. The first settlements in the town were made in the level part, and two of the first settlers were of the pioneers of Alma, John C. Waecker and Joseph Berni, whose biographies are to be found in the chapter on Pioneers. The next settler of some importance was John Peter Stein, who came from Wabasha April 17th, 1851. At that time there was no dwelling house between Fountain City and Alma to speak of, although Stein took up the claim of one Guetle, who had built the little log hut which went by the name of the old blacksmith shop in after times and served Stein and his family as a dwelling house for some years. Stein claims to have raised the first crop of wheat, also the first barley and the first potatoes in the town. The seed for wheat he procured from Galena, Ill., the barley, about a gallon, of Mr. Buisson of Wabasha, and his potatoes were dug by the Indian squaws, who carried to their tepees every evening the wages of the day in potatoes, the bucks standing by and grunting their approval. A resident of Buffalo City assured me that Indians as late as 1857-58 used to land their canoes at that place and strike a bee-line for Stein's house. Stein being a black- smith made himself useful to the aborigines, who were of the Sioux nationality, by tinkering their guns, and other hunting tackle and lived in good harmony with them. He acquired somne considerable property, which in course of time was lost, much of it by a law suit, into which he found himself involved on account of having been security for Valentine Brehl, when that gentleman kept store in the village or city of Belvidere, which was within the town, and not very far from his residence. An attempt to build a mill on his premises also proved ruinous. But whatever his fort- unes, he and his family were always kind and hospitable to every one, and sometimes to whole crowds especially at election times. He had built a new house and for some time kept also a tavern and saloon, which was the place of meeting for the whole neigh-
622
TOWNS.
borhood on Sundays. He and his wife are still alive and as cheerful as ever, though now considerably advanced in years. Stein was for many years a Justice of the Peace in the town.
About the same time with Stein there came a number of set- tlers, among them Daniel Schilling, Sebastian Neukomm, Henry Neukomm and Melchior Schwy, all of them from the Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and their number was increased in 1852 and '53 by J. J. Mueller, Caspar Regli, Bollinger, John Muel- ler, and probably John Rahm, also another family by the name of Rahm. It is remarked that at the building of the house of John Rahm there were eleven men assembled, who came all of them from Unter-Hallau in the above named canton. Mr. Bol- linger was the first death in the town. The first couple married who resided in the town were John C. Waecker to Sabina Keller, the knot was tied by Marvin Pierce, who had been elected county judge in September 1853. He also married Mrs. Bollinger to Henry Keller, but I find no record of the e marriages. Possibly there were no arrangements for it at the time. About that time there was a man by the name of Marolf living on the Southeast quarter of Section 25 T. 21 R. 12 which was included at the first organization in the town of Belvidere. He lost his claim, it is said by an intrigue of Marvin Pierce. This, Mr. Stein thinks, was the first settlement beyond the bluffs. It was bought by Robert Keith and of him by Edward Jaeger, who now lives upon it. This Marolf is the same mentioned in the town of Alma. In his career of Justice of the Peace, Stein solemnized the first four marriages on record. About the year 1855 John Linse arrived, and we find him a Justice of the Peace in 1856. John Linse was a native of the Province of Saxony of Prussia. He was quite a politician and a man of general enterprise, and made his settle- ment on the northern tier of forties of Sect. 16 T. 20 R. 12 near the junction of the lower Buffalo City Road with the Fountain City and Alma Road. After having sold out in Spring 1865 he built a house about 12 miles farther south on the same road and died in the winter of 1866-67. He kept tavern and saloon as long as he lived in his old place, and will be remembered by a great many of the remaining old settlers. The first chairman of the town was J. P. Schnug, jr., who owned the farm on which the railroad station Cochrane is now located. In 1859 the City of
7
623
TOWNS.
Buffalo which had hitherto formed a part of the town was incor- porated. The City of Belvidere which at first was called the vil- lage of Buffalo was laid out about three miles above Buffalo City on Pomme de Terre Slough. , The plat of the village of Buffalo was recorded May 5th, 1856, in Vol. I of Deeds, that of the City of Belvidere, April 23d, 1858, in Vol. 4. The first settler upon the land on which these two plats were laid out was Claus Liesch, whose biography is to be found in the chapter on Pioneers. The city was long ago vacated, and some years later also the so-called village, but old settlers will still remember Squire Frederick Schmid, nicknamed Speculation-Schmid, Valentine Brehl, who kept a general country store, and Michael Kuehn, who now lives in Wabasha and kept in 1859 a saloon in Belvidere. In 1856 Henry Klein settled on his place, Joseph M. Rohrer, John Kaiser, Jacob Stirn, Ernst Hermann and others are all of the earliest settlers, as also Jacob Stuber, and Caspar Huber, who was in 1859 yet a resident of Buffalo City. Urs Scheidegger, Rudolf Kochwelb, Henry Winter and Carl Duenger also were of the earliest settlers, and there were some more, as for instance Peter Schwartz, Joseph Hofer, etc., but it would take too much time and room to name all. For other things I have to refer to the chapters to which they belong, as indicated in the history of the city and the town of Alma. This sketch would not be complete without giving some account of the nationality or descent of the people. They are all Germans, nor have there ever been more than two families not of German descent in the town. The first was Collins Bishop's, now of Arcadia, an American, I believe, the other that of John Ander- son. a Scotchman. Both lived on the place now owned and occu- pied by Jos. M. Rohrer. Perhaps the reader is surprised at the inexpected length of this sketch, but to me it seems quite natural to know and say so much of a town in which I have lived and held office for five years, and with whose citizens I have ever since 1859 been so well acquainted.
CITY OF BUFFALO.
The territory lying within the corporate limits of the city is not very easily described, nor is the description of some of it very asily understood, since some perfect forties are described as lots vith numbers. The reason for this is that the surplus on the correction line was made into two lots, which necessitated the
624
TOWNS.
numbering of the northern half of the section as lots, there being 10 of them in perfect sections, as for instance in Section 5, adjoin- ing the city.
Town 20, Range 12: Sec. 5, Lot 3, a full forty, laid out in five acre lots.
Sec. 6, Lot 6, also laid out in five acre lots and forming with the above Subdivision B. Lots 4 and 5 are laid out in 80 acre lots. W + of SE { and lots 8 and 9 and some of the smaller lots along the slough are laid out in lots and blocks as far as they consist of dry land.
Sec. 7. E } of NE { and fractional lots 1 and 2 are laid out in lots and blocks.
The remainder of Sec. 6 and 7 consists of islands.
Sec. 8, the W } of the W 2.
Sec. 17, fractional along the slough, entire on the east side. Three forties belong to the town of Belvidere.
Town 20, Range 13. Some islands between Pomme de Terre Slough and the Mississippi River.
The large island between the Buffalo City Channel and Pomme de Terre Slough on the one, and the Mississippi River on the other side, has never been officially surveyed and the greater part of it would fall into Range 13. It is not in the corporation. A survey by Robert Strohmann has never been accepted by the government.
The land is entirely level, some of it cultivated as farmland, and some of it overflowed at high water, partly woods, partly meadows.
The plats of the city are recorded as follows:
Plat of Buffalo City Vol. 1, p. 276, May 12, 1856.
1st Addition, Vol 1, p. 521, April 27, 1857.
2nd Addition, Vol. 4, p. 355, June 1858.
Outlots Subd. A, 66 B. do.
do.
The city was incorporated by Chapter 197, Private and Local Laws of 1859. The charter was amended by Chapter 178 General Laws of 1861. The official name is City of Buffalo.
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.