History of Buffalo and Pepin Counties Wisconsin (Volume 2), Part 45

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1919
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 885

USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo and Pepin Counties Wisconsin (Volume 2) > Part 45
USA > Wisconsin > Pepin County > History of Buffalo and Pepin Counties Wisconsin (Volume 2) > Part 45

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).

Anton B. Bauer, a well known and respected resident of Lima town- ship, where he has resided for the last forty years, was born in Austria in 1838, and was there married to Hannah Berger, who was born there in the same year, there being but two weeks difference in their ages. Coming to the United States in 1871, they settled first near Black Earth, Dane county, Wis., where Anton engaged in farming, and where they resided until 1877. They then came to Pepin county, locating on the farm now owned by their son Vinz, in section 31, Lima township. Their first home was a log house and they lived for years amid pioneer conditions, Mr. Bauer improving his land with the aid of an ox team. In time he became the owner of 120 acres of valuable land, on which he carried on general farm- ing. Though he never aspired to public office, he was a prominent citizen of his township, and served as a member of the building committee of the Catholic church in Lima, to which he belongs. He now resides with his son Vinz, being retired from active work. For the last 15 years he has been a widower, his wife having died in 1902. They had five children: Antoine J., who is now a business man in Durand; Frank, deceased; Anna, wife of Henry Weisinger, a farmer in Lima township; Vinz, of whom sepa- rate mention is made in this volume; and Hannah, who is the wife of Dr. A. J. Will, of Durand, Wis.

Vinz Bauer, who is engaged in farming the old Bauer homestead in section 31, Lima township, was born in Dane county, Wis., April 4, 1874, son of Anton B. and Hannah (Berger) Bauer. He attended district school in Lima township and continued with his father on the homestead, the present improvements on which were made by him. He has developed the farm into one of the best in the vicinity, it being fully provided with good buildings and all necessary machinery, and contains 180 acres of good land. He carries on general farming, breeding good cattle and is a stock- holder in the Inter-County Telephone Company, and also in the First Na- tional Bank of Durand. A member of the Catholic church at Lima, he is serving as a member of the building committee on the construction of the new boarding school. He has been a trustee of the church for five years and has served Lima township five years as a member of the side board. Mr. Bauer was married June 7, 1898, to Racey Zeilinger, who was born in

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Lima township, Pepin county, daughter of Leopold and Racey (Fidie) Zeilinger. Her parents, natives of Austria, came to this country and to Lima township in 1871, Mr. Zeilinger farming here for some years. Later he removed into Dunn county, where he is still living. He and his wife had ten children, of whom Racey was the eldest. She was educated in this township in the same school as Mr. Bauer. Mr. and Mrs. Bauer have six children, all at home, whose names respectively are: Mary Margaret, Mabel Rosabel, Hannah Julia, Willie Vinz, Lucy Theresa and Margaret Irene.

Charles Richardson, who is now residing in the village of Pepin after a long and successful career as an agriculturalist, was born in Bedfordshire, England, Jan. 15, 1843, son of Samuel and Ann (Rands) Richardson, who were natives of the same place. The father died when the subject of this sketch was eight years old, and about seven years later, in the fall of 1857, the mother and children emigrated to the United States, settling on what is now Dead Lake Prairie, in Waterville township, Pepin county, Wis., where she had relations with whom she resided. Her children found em- ployment in the vicinity. Subsequently Mrs. Richardson contracted a second marriage to Levi McCourtie, and resided in this county until her death in 1897. By her marriage with Mr. Richardson she had four children : Thomas, Charles, Susan and Elizabeth. Of her marriage to Mr. McCourtie one child, Ada, was born. Charles Richardson first attended school in Bedfordshire, England, and later in Pepin county, Wis., his attendance in this county being limited to two winters. At an early age he had to work out to aid in supporting the family, one of his earliest employers being a farmer on Plum Creek, with whom he remained for two years. In the spring of 1861 he entered the employ of Knapp, Stout & Co., who hired him to run lumber down the Chippewa river to their mill at Menominie. For this work, at which he was engaged until the end of the summer, he received $16 a month, which he carefully saved. He then returned home and resumed school attendance, but after three weeks enlisted for military service in the Civil War, becoming a private in Company G, 16th Wisconsin Infantry. In this organization he was later promoted to the rank of ser- geant and later to color sergeant. His enlistment had been for three years, but at the end of that time he re-enlisted and served in all three years and ten months. At the battle of Corinth, early in October, 1862, he re- ceived a gunshot wound in his right arm, and was taken to the field hos- pital. This hospital was located in the railway depot, and was then full of wounded soldiers. The doctors considered his wound so serious that they wished to amputate the arm, but being young and full of hope, he refused to have the operation performed and the doctors, therefore, treated it as well as they could and left him to attend to other cases. He remained there but a short time, however, as towards daylight a shell tore through the roof and was later followed by another. Regarding the location as too perilous, Mr. Richardson seized a blanket and made a hurried exit; return- ing to his command, with which he remained, resuming service as soon as he was fit for duty, his wound having gradually healed. Shortly before his time expired he suffered a sunstroke at Louisville, Ky., which incapacitated

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MR. AND MRS. CHARLES RICHARDSON MRS. ANN CHAPPIN MR. AND MRS. JARVIS CARRINGTON

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him for a while. At the same place he was mustered out July 12, 1865, and returned to Madison, Wis., and from there to Pepin county. Here he re- sumed work on the river and was thus occupied for three months in the spring of 1866. At the end of that time his mother's step-son, E. Y. Mc- Courtie, who was operating the farm, died, and Mr. Richardson then re- turned home and took charge of it. In the following summer he bought the farm, together with 40 acres more adjoining it, which gave him a farm of 80 acres, and on that place he resided for 47 years, carrying on general agriculture, stock raising and dairying. He was also for a num- ber of years a stockholder in the co-operative creamery at Arkansaw and a member and director of the co-operative store there. While living on his farm Mr. Richardson served for twenty years as chairman of the town board, by virtue of that office being also a member of the county board, of which he was chairman for one term. He also served on the board of edu- cation for over forty years, and was a member of the Soldiers' Relief Commission for twenty-three years, also belonging to the G. A. R. post at Arkansaw, of which he was commander for a number of years. For one term he served as under sheriff of Pepin county. In 1913 he retired and took up his residence in Pepin village, where he and his family have a comfort- able home. Mr. Richardson was married Nov. 2, 1866, to Mary Carring- ton, who was born in Atwater, Portage county, Ohio, March 8, 1846, daugh- ter of Jarvis and Margaret (Robinson) Carrington. He and his wife have had a family of twelve children, Thomas Ira, Frank H., Margaret, Albert Clark, Courtland (deceased), Jesse (deceased), William, Charles Walter, Etta, Lillie, Flora and Roy. Their record in brief is as follows: Thomas I., who keeps a hotel at Arkansaw, Pepin county, married Luella Tulip, who was born in Waterville township, this county. He and his wife have eight children: Ethel, Florence, Clara, Blanche, Arthur, Helen, Lucile and Elva. Frank H. resides at Dead Lake Prairie, near Arkansaw. He married Jo- sephine Martin and has eleven children : Mamie, Charles, Jr., Bessie, Archie, Frank, Mabel, Jay, Ralph, Martha, Warren and Lee. Margaret is the wife of William Serene, a drayman of Pepin, and has two children: Merrill and Vera. Albert Clark, who lives at Dead Lake Prairie, married Rose Tulip. William, residing at Arkansaw, this county, is now county clerk. He mar- ried Clara Taylor of Arkansaw, and has three children: Pearl, Clinton and Leona. Charles Walter, residing on the home farm, married Beryl Close and has seven children: Blair, Gerald, Elwood, Frederick, Marion, Neil and Opal. Etta is the wife of Albert Schruth, who is engaged in the auto and hardware business at Pepin. She has had four children, of whom but one, Vivian, is now living. Lillie, the wife of Edward Schruth, has two chil- dren, Glenn and Elwin. Flora, who married Roy Dickson, express messenger on the Great Northern Railroad, residing at Havre, Mont., has two chil- dren, Starr and Kenneth. Roy, who resides in Waubeek township, Pepin county, who was engaged in state street and and road work, is now in the United States service. He married Ina Stewart of that township, and has one child, Rosemond. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have thirty-eight grand- children and fourteen great-grandchildren. In November, 1916, they cele- brated their golden wedding, the occasion being a very enjoyable one. Mr.

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Richardson is a member of Ben Allen Post No. 127, G. A. R., of Arkansaw. As an early settler in Pepin county he has witnessed the development of the county from a wilderness into a highly civilized and prosperous section of the state, a change which he, himself, has helped to bring about. He and his wife are spending their declining years in comfortable circumstances and have many friends and acquaintances in Pepin and neighboring counties.

Jarvis Carrington, a pioneer settler of Waterville township, Pepin county, now deceased, was born in Massachusetts, in 1813. He became a farmer and in 1838 was married to Margaret Robinson, who was born in Maryland, Aug. 2, 1814. In 1864 they came west to Wisconsin, locating on Dead Lake Prairie, Waterville township, Pepin county, where Mr. Car- rington bought land and engaged in farming. There he resided for the rest of his life for many years working hard and gradually increasing in prosperity. He served for a long period as a member of the township board, also as road superintendent, and took an active part in the development of the township and county. His death occurred in 1890, his wife dying Dec. 23, 1908. They had a family of eight children, namely: Mary, who died in infancy ; Emily, Kirtland, Mary, now Mrs. Charles Richardson ; Malvina, James, Charles and Ira, the last mentioned being now deceased.

Richard Edwin Walters, a prosperous farmer and prominent citizen of Durand township, proprietor of Oak Grove Farm (registered), in section 12, was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, Dec. 3, 1868, son of Edwin R. and Mary Jane (Cammish) Walters. The parents were natives of Eng- land, the mother born June 13, 1847, and the father in Herefordshire, March 11, 1836. They were married in Wabasha, Minnesota, to which place Mr. Walters drove from Lake City on the ice-covered lake in March, and homesteaded the farm on which his son Richard Edwin was subse- quently born. Edwin R. Walters served one year as a soldier in the Civil War, being a member of Company G, 8th Minnesota Volunteers. Though his regiment was actively engaged in military operations, coming into con- tact with the enemy on a number of occasions, he was never wounded, cap- tured, or even confined to the hospital, and after being mustered out at Fort Snelling, returned to his farm in Wabasha county, where he passed the rest of his life. He was widely known and respected and at various times served efficiently in town office. His wife died Aug. 25, 1905, and he sur- vived her nine years and several months, passing away Dec. 19, 1914. They were the parents of six children. Richard Edwin, who was the second born, acquired his literary education in the district schools of Wabasha county, and afterward entered the agricultural school at St. Anthony's Park, Min- nesota, where he was graduated with the class of 1893. He resided on the parental homestead until his marriage at the age of 31 years, and then engaged in farming in Wabasha county, Minnesota, not far from his home location, for one year operating a rented farm. He then rented a larger farm in the same neighborhood, which also he operated one year. On Nov. 15, 1902, he purchased his present farm of 160 acres in section 12, Durand township, which he is operating along general lines with profitable results, raising both crops and stock. Energetic and enterprising, Mr. Walters has

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RICHARD E. WALTERS AND FAMILY

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made many valuable improvements on his place. One of the most notable of these is his barn, measuring 42 by 90 feet, the lumber for which-60,000 feet of oak-was cut from his own farm, and which is equipped with mod- ern appliances, including Louden's spring-balance mangers and a Louden steel equipment throughout; two swinging cranes for litter carriers with complete tracks; two box stalls, 14 by 14 feet, and three box stalls 10 feet square for fresh cows. He has also three water tanks, one of 70 barrels capacity for cows, another of 24 barrels for horses, and a third of 15 bar- rels. There is also on his place an automatic separator and separator room. His house is a good modern residence of 15 rooms, heated by furnace, and with a pressure tank in the basement. The house, barn, outbuildings and yards are lighted by 57 electric lights, generated by his own electric plant- the Delco lighting system. He has a Fordson tractor for use in plowing and other field work, and is also the owner of a Buick six-cylinder, seven- passenger automobile. At various times Mr. Walters has served in public office. While a resident of Gillford township, Wabasha county, Minnesota, he served one year on the town side board and one year as farm assessor. In Durand township, Pepin county, he has served two years on the town board, of which he is now chairman, and for a number of years was con- nected with the school board of his district as clerk and director. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Walters was mar- ried Nov. 21, 1900, to Mrs. Ruth Wise, who was born in Eau Claire, Wis., daughter of Henry Miller and Caroline (Coffin) Culbertson. The children of this union now living are: Elliot Lee, Kenneth Miller, Russell Edwin, Doris Elizabeth, Warren Phillip and Harriet Lucile, all of whom are resid- ing at home. Another child, Merle Richard, died at the age of 14 months. By her first husband Mrs. Walters has a son, John Edwin Wise, who, after attending district school and the Durand High School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1912, entered the State University at Madison and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1916. He then became con- nected with the Westinghouse Electric Company at Pittsburgh, Pa., but is at present a radio electrician in the United States service in France, with the rank of second lieutenant. Mrs. Walters is a member of the Eastern Star Lodge at Durand.

Henry Miller Culbertson, formerly a prominent citizen of Eau Claire, Wis., where he was engaged in business as a carriagemaker and whose interest in Pepin county was established through family affiliations, was born in Pennsylvania, moving when young to Durand, Wis., where he learned and followed his trade. After the war, in 1868, he was married in Durand, his bride's home, to Caroline Coffin, a native of Ohio, whose parents were Quakers and who came previously from New England, tradi- tionally from Nantucket, where, and about Cape Cod, Coffin is today one of the most common family names. Later settling in Eau Claire, he estab- lished himself in business as a carriage and wagon maker, being thus occu- pied for some 15 years. While the Civil War was in progress he enlisted in Company G, 16th Wisconsin Volunteers, becoming captain of his com- pany. At the close of the war, after honorable service, he was mustered out and returned to Eau Claire, where he resumed his business and con-

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tinued in it until his health failed. Then, accompanied by his wife and family, he went to California, where he engaged in the mild and healthful occupation of fruit farming and where he finally died in May, 1888. His wife and children subsequently returned to Wisconsin, Mrs. Culbertson making her home in Durand, where her death took place Aug. 1, 1907, a little over nineteen years after that of her husband. Mr. Culbertson was a man of inventive ability and patented the first dump-car used in this section of the state. He and his wife were the parents of four children : The oldest, a son, died in infancy; the second born, Sarah E., married George Tarrant, now one of the leading business men of Durand; another daughter, Mildred, is the wife of Frank J. Vautrot, who is engaged in the automobile business in Durand; Ruth, the other child, is the wife of Richard E. Walters, a prosperous farmer of Durand township.

Hjalmer R. Anderson, cashier of the Stockholm State Bank at Stock- holm, Pepin county, Wis., was born in this village, Aug. 24, 1878, son of A. E. and Ena (Peterson) Anderson. He comes of pioneer stock, his father and paternal grandparents having at an early date located on land in this vicinity. A. E. Anderson was born in Sweden in 1836 and was only three years old when he came to America with his parents. Locating in the woods not far from the present village of Stockholm, the grandfather there cleared a farm. The Indians, who were then numerous and were dressed usually in nothing but a few skins, would often visit the cabin and cluster around the grandmother of our subject as she spun wool into yarn on her old-fashioned spinning-wheel. As A. E. Anderson grew up he helped in the work of the farm and later became prominent in the industrial and business life of the township, being president of an insurance company and also serving as a member of the town board for a number of years. After- wards he went to a more western state, where he farmed for a few years, but finally returned to Stockholm, where he lived retired until his death, Dec. 19, 1910. His wife Ena, who was a native of Norway, is now living in the village of Stockholm. Hjalmer R. Anderson in his youth attended school at Stockholm, this county, later at River Falls, and subsequently the Lake City High School, where he was graduated in 1900, being then 22 years old. Elected register of deeds of Pepin county, he served in that office for six years, for the first time residing away from home. During the last two years of this period he also worked in the State Bank of Durand. The next two years of his life were spent as an employe of the Citizens Bank at Lake City. Then going to North Dakota he worked there one year for a loan and abstract company, all the while acquiring valuable business experience. He was also cashier of a bank which the firm by which he was employed established at Scranton, N. D. Later on, this bank being sold, Mr. Anderson commenced buying grain and also did a little farming. On July 28, 1916, he assumed the duties of his present position as cashier of the Stockholm State Bank, an institution which, largely through his efforts, has made rapid progress and has apparently got a prosperous future before it. On June 30, 1910, Mr. Anderson was united in marriage with Edith Larson, a native of Stockholm village and daughter of Martin and Josephine (Olund) Larson. Her father, born in Norway

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in 1847, was an early settler in this vicinity and for a number of years was engaged in the grain and mercantile business. He died in 1915, but is sur- vived by his wife. Their daughter Edith (Mrs. Anderson) was educated in the Stockholm village school and at the Ladies' Lutheran Seminary at Red Wing, Minn. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are prominent members of local society and are popular among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

Charles G. Branch, who for the last 15 years or more has been con- nected with the rural mail service, driving Route No. 2 from Durand, Pepin county, was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, May 2, 1867, the youngest of the three children of Dr. Lyman Thomas and Agnes (Walker) Branch. The father, a physician, practiced his profession in Iowa for a number of years, and the subject of this sketch attended school in Frankville, that state, and later the village school at Sechlerville, Wis. Afterwards he taught school in Jackson county and, becoming interested in journalism, contributed a number of articles to the Wisconsin Leader, published at Merrillan, Jackson county, Wis., and also the Jackson County Journal. This led to his becoming junior editor of the Temperance Power, published at Mitchell, Iowa, his connection with that paper being continued until 1893, when he returned to Wisconsin and bought a farm in the Fox Valley. The subsequent years until November, 1902, were spent in agriculture, and Mr. Branch then moved to Durand, where he has since resided, attending to his duties as mail carrier of Route No. 2, which was established Nov. 2, 1903. To some men such a position would mean simply the performance of a monotonous round of duties day by day and year by year, with no oppor- tunity for intellectual improvement, but Mr. Branch is one who knows how to make the most of his environment. Much of his leisure time has been spent in the compilation of a complete history of the Bear Creek Valley, in doing which he has exercised his literary ability and preserved to pos- terity some interesting historical facts and reminiscences. He has served as treasurer of the town of Durand, taking an interested part in all matters concerning the progress and prosperity of the community. In politics he is independent. A member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he has been appointed local preacher of the church in Durand. Mr. Branch was first married to Eliza M. Austin, daughter of Joseph J. and Clarissa H. Austin, of Durand, Wis. Two children were born of this union: Lyman Thomas and Clarissa Emma, the former of whom (born Jan. 2, 1897) is now a com- missioned officer in the United States navy, having served first on board the battleship Oklahoma and then on the U. S. S. Mississippi. Mrs. Eliza M. Branch died July 31, 1907, and after remaining a widower for over five years Mr. Branch was married, Nov. 30, 1911, at Crawford, Colo., to Eliza May Ayer, daughter of A. J. and Adeline (Hixon) Ayer. Her father, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., Feb. 14, 1841, was a farmer by occupation and is now living retired in Paona, Colo. He is an extensive land owner in Delta, Montrose and Gunnison counties, that state. He served during the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, in Company H, 44th New York Volunteers. Of Mr. Branch's second marriage one child has been born, Adeline Ethel, on Aug. 19, 1913. Mr. Branch is connected by membership with Lodge No. 157, I. O. O. F., at Durand; the local Camp of Woodmen, and the Fraternal

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Reserve Association. Dr. Lyman Thomas Branch, father of Charles G. Branch, was a descendant of John and Almeda Branch, who came from England to this country in the early part of the 19th century. He was born in Genessee county, New York, and after studying medicine under Dr. Lunn in Illinois, began the practice of his profession at Dunleith. He also practiced a short time at Prairie du Chien, Wis., and then moved to Auburn, Fayette county, Iowa, where he lived for a number of years. His first wife was Agnes Walker. His second, to whom he was united Dec. 1, 1872, was Mrs. Emma L. Dykins. In 1879 Dr. Branch said good-bye to Auburn and set out for Wisconsin. The journey was made almost in gipsy fashion, the Doctor hauling out his old buggy, which had seen much professional service, and loading it with his wife and child and one trunk, containing the most prized articles in the family's possession. Under the rear axle- tree was swung a box which held three full-blooded Brahma fowls-a rooster and two hens-and with this domestic equipment the journey was begun. The motive power was a fine span of horses and a borrowed razor- back horse which answered to the name of Jip, upon whom the additional honor was conferred of carrying the youthful heir to the family fortunes when the latter was not riding on the trunk, and in this manner the youth- ful Branch gained an early knowledge of equestrianism. Many scenes of interest were passed on the way, and at each new town or village they came to Chanticleer in the box behind, doubtless with pleasing anticipation of approaching freedom, announced their arrival by a lusty crowing. In- deed, the horse and the rooster attracted the major part of the attention which the party received from the populace in the towns through which they passed. In this easy and care-free manner they accomplished their peregrinations until they arrived in Sechlerville, Wis., where a new home was established. There Dr. Branch followed his profession until his death, March 1, 1899, making a good record as a skillful and painstaking physi- cian and a useful and honorable citizen. He was the father of four sons, one of whom is now deceased. The eldest, Allen M., is now in the real estate business in Atchison, Kan. The second born, Homer P., is connected with a large publishing house in Virginia, while the history of the youngest, Charles G. Branch, has been already given. Mrs. Emma L. Branch, the Doctor's second wife, is still living at Aitkin, Minn., being now the wife of Harvey Newell, a veteran of the Civil War.

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History of Buffalo and Pepin Counties Wisconsin (Volume 2), Part 45

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Number of Pages: 885

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1919
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 885