Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 18

CADY.

Cady is the southeastern towns.h.i.+p in St. Croix county, and occupies towns.h.i.+p 29, range 15. It is drained by Eau Galle waters. Amongst the first settlers were Irving Gray, Charles, John, and Brazer Bailey. A post office was established near the centre of the town in 1860. D.C.

Davis was first postmaster. A branch railroad traverses the town from northwest to southeast. There are two lumber mills. The town was organized in 1870. The supervisors were William Holman, Charles Palmer and Mead Bailey. The village of Brookville is on the west line of the town.

CYLON,

Including towns.h.i.+p 31, range 16, lies on Willow river. It is a rich and populous towns.h.i.+p, consisting originally of mixed prairie and timber lands. The first settlement in this town was made in 1855. The early settlers were Otto Natges, J. Smith, H. Fouks, E. Johnson, George Goodrich, S. W. Beel, and J. Tomlinson. The town was organized in 1859. The supervisors were C. A. Hall, chairman; John Sweet and John Gibson. A post office was established in 1861, Mrs. John B.

Gibson, postmistress. The Wisconsin Central railroad pa.s.ses through the southwest, and the North Wisconsin through the northwest part of the towns.h.i.+p. There are four church buildings, one on section 18, one near Cylon post office, and two in Deer Park village. This village, a station located on the North Wisconsin railroad, is a wheat buying centre of considerable importance, and has several business houses.

The school house is one of the best buildings in the county outside of Hudson. The Catholics and Methodists have churches here.

EAU GALLE,

Towns.h.i.+p 28, range 16, is drained by the Eau Galle and Rush rivers. We have not the date of the first settlement, but it was amongst the earliest in the county. The first settlers were William Holman, Andrew d.i.c.key, Joseph Barnish, and Uriah Briggs. The town was organized in 1858, with the following as supervisors: Wm. Holman, ---- Babc.o.c.k, and ---- McCartney. A post office was established in 1853, of which W.

Holman was postmaster. Mr. Holman built a saw mill the same year, the first in the region. There are now six, mostly lumber mills. The towns.h.i.+p is traversed from north to south by a branch of the West Wisconsin railroad. Wildwood, a thriving station on this road is the headquarters of the St. Croix Land and Lumber Company, a stock company with a capital of $300,000. The town of Eau Galle has one church building belonging to the evangelical society.

EMERALD

Includes towns.h.i.+p 30, range 16. It is drained by the waters of Willow and Menomonie rivers, and was originally covered with pine and hardwood timber. It was organized in 1861. The Wisconsin Central railroad pa.s.ses through the northeast part of the towns.h.i.+p and has one station, Emerald. A high mound is a conspicuous object near the centre of the towns.h.i.+p.

ERIN PRAIRIE.

Erin Prairie, towns.h.i.+p 30, range 17, lies on Willow river. John Casey entered the first land in 1854. The first house was built on section 17, in May, 1855, by John Ring. Among the settlers of 1855, of whom there were about twenty families, we have the names of Michael Hughes, Peter Queenan and James, Michael and Thomas McNamara. The town was organized in 1858, with the following board of supervisors: Richard Joyce, chairman; Alexander Stevens and Peter Queenan, and Wm. McNally, clerk. Richard Joyce was first school teacher and first postmaster.

There are now two post offices, one at Erin Centre village, and the other at Jewett's Mills, two and a half miles apart. There are at Erin Centre one store, one wagon shop, one blacksmith shop, and a Catholic church; at Jewett's Mills a store, a saw, a planing and a flour mill, all run by water. There are six good school houses in the towns.h.i.+p. It is traversed by the Wisconsin Central railroad.

FOREST,

Embracing towns.h.i.+p 31, range 15, occupies the northeast corner of the county. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwoods, is a new town and is fast being converted into an agricultural district. Willow river has its sources in this town. It was organized Dec. 10, 1881, with S. D. Love as chairman of the first board of supervisors.

GLENWOOD,

Set off from the town of Emerald at its organization in 1885, embraces towns.h.i.+p 30, range 15. It was originally a pine and hardwood region.

Its waters flow eastward into the Menomonie. The Wisconsin Central railroad crosses the towns.h.i.+p from east to west. Its only station is Glenwood. It is being rapidly settled and has already some good farms and several saw mills. H. J. Baldwin was the chairman of the first board of supervisors.

HAMMOND

Includes towns.h.i.+p 29, range 17. It is drained by tributaries of the Rush river. Of the first settlers were the Peabodys, James R. Ismon, Rev. Wm. Egbert, Rev. George Spalding, Mert Herrick, John Thayer, Mrs.

Adams, John Nelson, and Thomas Byrnes. The town was organized Sept.

16, 1856, with A. G. Peabody as chairman of supervisors and John G.

Peabody, clerk. It is now a prosperous farming town. The West Wisconsin railroad pa.s.ses through the south part of the towns.h.i.+p.

HAMMOND VILLAGE,

Located on the line of this road, in sections 27 and 28, has seven hundred inhabitants. It is situated on a commanding elevation, giving an extended view of the rich farming country surrounding it. It has a school house, built at a cost of $2,500, with rooms for three grades, and one hundred and seventy-five scholars, one elevator of 20,000 bushels capacity, one first cla.s.s hotel, the Gardiner House, Odd Fellows', Good Templars' and Grangers' halls, and three church buildings, with parsonages--the Catholic, Congregational and Methodist. The village contains about twenty-five stores and shops.

The water supply, on account of the elevation, is from wells and cisterns. Rev. George Spalding preached the first sermon and was the first merchant in the village. Hammond was incorporated Sept. 20, 1880, with J. B. Fithian as president of supervisors and John W. Owen, clerk.

JOHN THAYER was born in 1809, in Worcester county, Ma.s.sachusetts, from which place he moved to Ohio, and, after residing there fifteen years, came to Wisconsin and settled at Hammond village. He has been twice married, his second wife still living, and has one son, Andrew P. The father and son are engaged in merchandising in Hammond.

REV. WM. EGBERT was born in 1815, in Oneida county, New York. He obtained a common school and academic education. He spent his early life in New York City; came to Indiana in 1837 and to Hammond, Wisconsin, in 1856. The first trial in Hammond was before Mr. Egbert, as justice of the peace, in 1856. He has been for forty-one years a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been twice married, his second wife still living. He has four children.

HUDSON.

Hudson includes sections 7 to 36, inclusive, of towns.h.i.+p 29, range 19.

Willow river flows through the northwest part. The North Wisconsin and West Wisconsin railroads pa.s.s through the towns.h.i.+p. It is one of the handsomest and richest farming towns.h.i.+ps in the State. It was organized as a town in 1849. Its history is given in that of the county of St. Croix and in the biographies of its early inhabitants.

JAMES KELLY was born at Osnabruck, Ireland, where he grew to manhood.

In 1850 he came to Hudson and located on a farm, where he prospered, and became an honored citizen. In 1857 he married Catherine, daughter of Wm. Dailey. He died at Turtle Lake, Barron county, Wisconsin, of injuries received from a rolling log, Feb. 19, 1888, leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter.

DANIEL COIT was born in Vermont in 1801. He learned the trade of a house carpenter; came West as far as Galena, Illinois, in 1845, to St.

Croix Valley in 1848, and to Hudson in 1850. He died in Baldwin in 1884. He was a man of eccentric manners, but upright life.

JAMES VIRTUE came to Willow River Mill in 1849, settled in the town of Hudson, and died in 1874.

THEODORE M. BRADLEY was born in 1831, in Jackson county, Illinois. He lived three years in Lafayette county, Wisconsin; came to Osceola Mills in 1850, and to Hudson in 1867. He has engaged chiefly in farming. In 1857 he was married to Margaret Wilson. They have two sons and three daughters. Mr. Bradley died in 1887.

WILLIAM DAILEY was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1800; came to America in 1819, and settled in Hudson in 1849, where he lived, a successful farmer, until his death in 1867. He left five sons--William, Guy W., Jacob, Edward, and Asa, all farmers, industrious and prosperous, all good citizens, and church members, all married and settled in St.

Croix county. Guy W. represented St. Croix county in the state a.s.sembly of 1877. In 1866 he was president of the St. Croix Agricultural Society.

ROBERT AND WILLIAM MCDIARMID, brothers, came from St. Stevens, New Brunswick, and settled in Hudson in 1851, on a farm in sections 10 and 14. By industry and perseverance they have become independent, and own fine farms, with blooded stock, improved agricultural implements, and all the appliances for successful farming. Robert married in 1857, and has three sons and three daughters. William married Laura Rabold, in 1860, and has three sons and four daughters. William has been chairman of the county board of supervisors several years.

WILLIAM MARTIN was born in Vermont, in 1800. In 1846 he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, and in 1851 to Hudson, where he engaged in farming. He was an exemplary christian man, and a member of the Baptist church. His son, Geo. W. Martin, succeeds him on the farm. He died in 1885.

PASCHAL ALDRICH was born in the state of New York, in 1820; came to Illinois with his parents in 1826; was married in Illinois, to Martha Harnsberger, in 1841, and came to Marine in the same year. He returned, for a short time, to Illinois, and again moved to the valley of the St. Croix, settling at Hudson in 1846, where he died in 1860, leaving three sons and five daughters.

KINNIKINIC

Originally included nine towns of towns.h.i.+ps 27 and 28, from St. Croix lake east. By the setting off of Pierce county from St. Croix, the towns in towns.h.i.+p 27 were stricken off, and the territory has since been reduced until comprised in towns.h.i.+p 28, range 18. It is a wealthy agricultural towns.h.i.+p. Its surface is agreeably diversified with undulating prairies and high hills. The Kinnikinic, a beautiful and clear winding stream, drains it from the northeast. The famous Monument Rock, an outlying sandstone formation, is in the centre of this towns.h.i.+p. From the summit a magnificent view may be obtained of this fine farming region. The farmers have fine dwellings and barns, and the town has numerous school houses; one church is located on section 15. The history of the town, as far as we were able to obtain it, may be found in the biographies of the Mapes brothers.

DUNCAN MCGREGOR was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1821. His educational advantages were limited. He emigrated to Canada while yet a youth, served seven years in the British Army, and was one year in Canada during the Papineau Rebellion. He was married to Jane Morse, in Canada, Jan. 31, 1848, and in 1849 removed to the United States and settled at River Falls, where he still lives on the homestead which he pre-empted. Mrs. McGregor was the first resident white woman, and Mr.

McGregor the second person who settled at the Falls.

His mother, an aged lady living with him at the Falls, at one time found the house surrounded by over a hundred Sioux Indians, who commenced plundering the garden of everything eatable. Mrs. McGregor bravely confronted and drove them away. The only crops in the valley at the time were those of Messrs. Foster and McGregor.

Mr. McGregor learned in early life the trade of a mason. While a resident of River Falls he followed farming except during a few years in which he kept a hardware store. He was three years county commissioner of St. Croix county. He has three children living, Roderick, Malcolm and Neville.

W. B. AND JAS. A. MAPES, brothers, from Elmira, New York, landed at Willow River Sept. 7, 1849. They proceeded at once with an ox team and cart, on which last was placed all their worldly goods, to the valley of the Kinnikinic. Having selected a claim and erected a temporary shanty, William B. returned by river as far as Galena, for a breaking team, wagon and plow, and other farm furniture and provisions, while James remained to make hay. After the brother's return, a substantial winter cabin was built. The ensuing spring they broke ground and raised a fair crop, consisting of 80 bushels of oats, 200 of buckwheat, 100 of corn and 100 of potatoes. The winter of their arrival, Duncan McGregor came to the settlement and spent the winter with Judge Foster. In the fall of 1850 came Ira Parks and family, and settled on lands adjoining the Mapes farm. This family and others were entertained by the Mapes brothers, with genuine frontier hospitality.

Among the families coming in at this time were those of Dr. Whipple, Mrs. Sprague, Lorenzo Daggett, and the widow of Josephus Medley, of Stillwater. This year came also the Pomeroy brothers, Luke and Frank, from New York State, and J. G. Crowns, James Penn, and William Tozer, from Illinois. During 1851 several families settled in the valley, among them James Chinnoch and Elisha Walden, from Ohio; Alanson Day and John Scott, from Pennsylvania; the brothers W. L. and J. E.