Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 19

Perrin, single men, from New York State, and Mrs. Lynch, from Illinois. Previous to the settlement of these families there were no young ladies in the town. The arrival of fifteen young ladies, mostly marriageable, produced a flutter of excitement among the lonesome bachelors of the colony, and the services of Rev. S. T. Catlin were soon called into requisition. The first couple married was James A.

Mapes and Eunice E. Walden, in 1852. The next year W. B. Mapes and Catherine Scott were married. In 1852 J. W. Mapes, a younger brother, joined the colony. In 1857 G. W. Mapes located a Mexican War land warrant on adjoining laud. W. B., J. A. and C. W. Mapes had also Mexican War land warrants.

In 1860 J. W. Mapes sold his farm and returned to New York, enlisted in the One Hundred and First Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served through the Peninsular Campaign under McClellan, and afterward in North Carolina, where he was captured at Plymouth, April 23, 1864, and taken to Andersonville, where he died, June 30, 1864. W. B. Mapes sold his farm to Chas. Davies and removed to Macon county, Mississippi, in 1866, at which place he died in 1877. His widow and five children still reside there. C. W. Mapes sold his farm to G. I. Ap Roberts, and kept store for awhile in the village, and in 1879 removed to Suss.e.x county, Virginia, where he still resides. He has four children living.

Jas. A. Mapes still resides on the old homestead. Mr. Mapes was honored with an election to the office of treasurer for St. Croix county in 1883 and 1884.

PLEASANT VALLEY.

Pleasant Valley includes the west half of towns.h.i.+p 28, range 17. It is drained by the headwaters of the Kinnikinic. The first settlement was made Sept. 19, 1856. Among the first settlers were Sheldon Gray, Asa Gray, S. W. Mattison, and Allen Webster. The town was organized March 30, 1857, with Peleg Burd.i.c.k as chairman of supervisors. The first school was taught in 1857, by Miss Mary Munson. A post office was established in 1866 with Peter Hawkins as postmaster.

RICHMOND.

Richmond is a rich agricultural towns.h.i.+p, consisting chiefly of undulating prairie land. It is included in towns.h.i.+p 30, range 18.

Willow river flows diagonally through it from northeast to southwest.

The following persons settled within the present limits of the town prior to 1855: Eben Quinby, Lewis Oaks, James Taylor, Harvey Law, Norman Hooper, J. J. Smith, A. S. Kinnie, W. R. Anderson, Francis Kelly, Clinton Boardman, S. L. Beebe, the Beal brothers, E. P. Jacobs and E. W. Darnley.

The town of Richmond was organized in 1857, with the following officers: Supervisors, Robert Philbrick, chairman; C. A. Boardman and Harvey Law; clerk, W. M. Densmore; a.s.sessor, W. R. Anderson; treasurer, G. W. Law. The first post office was established at the house of Joel Bartlett, who served as postmaster. This post office was known as the Richmond post office. It was a small affair. The first mail, brought on a mule's back from Maiden Rock, contained but one letter. The first quarter's commission amounted to but one dollar and fifty-nine cents. The post office case contained but four boxes, five by six inches in size. This case is preserved at the _Republican_ office, as an interesting relic. Small as was the office, and meagre as were the receipts, the postmaster was able to employ a deputy, F.

W. Bartlett. By way of agreeable contrast we give the commission for the first quarter of 1886 as $674.89.

BOARDMAN VILLAGE

Is located on the east bank of Willow river and near the western boundary of Richmond. It is a flouris.h.i.+ng village. Its public buildings are a Methodist church and a large school house. Boardman has a good flour mill. Everything in the village bespeaks enterprise and thrift.

GRIDLEY VILLAGE

Was platted by Gridley & Day in 1857, and, together with Fremont village, platted by Henry Russell, was incorporated in the village of

NEW RICHMOND

in 1878. The first officers of the new village were: President, F. W.

Bartlett; trustees, B. C. B. Foster, Wellington Pierce, Thos. Porter, Peter Sch.o.r.e, S. M. Bixby, Geo. C. Hough.

NEW RICHMOND CITY

Was incorporated in 1884. It includes the northwest quarter of section 2 and the northeast quarter of section 3 of towns.h.i.+p 30, range 18, and the south half of section 36, towns.h.i.+p 31, range 18. This latter half section originally belonged to Star Prairie, but is now attached to New Richmond. The first election was held April 8, 1884, at which the following officers were elected: President, Ward S. Williams; aldermen, First ward, F. W. Bartlett, Geo. A. Gault, Th. Gaskell; Second ward, A. L. Greaton, A. H. Stevens, J. C. Sabine; Third ward, John Halversen, D. H. Dodge, H. F. Fall; treasurer, L. Taft; clerk, W.

F. McNally; a.s.sessor, D. A. Kennedy.

The city is beautifully located on a level prairie. The streets are from eighty to one hundred feet wide and bordered with maple, elm and boxwood trees. The city lots and grounds attached to the residences are beautifully adorned with shrubbery and flowers and are without fences. The commons and unoccupied s.p.a.ces in the city are covered with a luxuriant growth of white and red clover, filling the air with its pleasant odor, and suggesting the t.i.tle of "Clover City." It has many fine business buildings and tasteful residences. It is in the midst of a fine farming country, on the banks of a beautiful stream, Willow river, and two railroads, the North Wisconsin and Wisconsin Central, furnish abundant means of communication with the outer world.

It has one steam saw mill with a capacity of 60,000 feet per day, and a water power flour mill with a capacity of one hundred barrels per day.

The Bank of New Richmond was organized in 1878, with a paid up capital of $35,000. In 1885 the bank did a business of about $8,000,000. The bank had a surplus in 1886 of $9,000. It has an extensive agency in flour, wheat and other agricultural products, also in lumber and real estate. The officers are: President, F. W. Bartlett; vice president, Mathias Frisk; cas.h.i.+er, John W. McCoy. The annual business of the city amounts to $12,000,000.

The city has a high school, established in 1884, with six departments.

The building cost $12,000. The Baptists, Catholics, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Methodists have church buildings.

There are several fraternities here, including the Masonic, the Odd Fellows, Good Templars, Women's Christian Temperance Union and Catholic Knights of St. John. There are also a hook and ladder company and a library a.s.sociation. There are two cemeteries, one belonging to the masonic order.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

BENJAMIN B. C. FOSTER was born in New Portland, Maine, in 1816. When seventeen years of age he bought his time of his father and commenced life for himself. He lived eight years in Atkinson, Maine, where he taught school and engaged in farming. In 1842 he was married to Charlotte S. Gilman. In 1852 he went to California where he remained three years. He came to New Richmond in 1855 and built a saw mill and dam, and a board shanty in which he lived with his wife and two children. Around the mill has since grown up the beautiful city of New Richmond. The first school taught in New Richmond was taught at the house of Mr. Foster by Amanda Dayton. In his house was organized the first Sunday-school, the first sermon was preached in it and the first school meeting was held there.

ROBERT PHILBRICK was born in Old Town, Maine, in 1814. He learned the trade of a millwright, and in 1847 moved to North Hudson. He was married in 1851 to Frances Cook. They stood on a raft, afloat in the St. Croix river, just below the Falls, while Ansel Smith, of Taylor's Falls, performed the ceremony. Mr. Philbrick removed to New Richmond and built a frame house in 1855. The house is still standing. One daughter of Mr. Philbrick is the wife of D. L. Nye. Amaziah, a son by his first wife, is a stonemason. Alice M., daughter by his first wife, is married to John McGregor. Mr. Philbrick died prior to 1865.

LINDEN COOMBS came to New Richmond in 1855, built the first hotel in 1856, and some years later moved away.

EBEN QUINBY was born in Lisbon, New Hamps.h.i.+re, in 1809, and came to New Richmond in 1849, where he has since continuously been engaged in farming. In 1865 he was married to Mrs. Philbrick, widow of Robert Philbrick.

LEWIS OAKS was born in Sangerville, Maine, in 1826; came West in 1846 and to New Richmond in 1854. He is a farmer.

HENRY RUSSELL was born in Vermont in 1801. His ancestors took part in the Revolution. He was married in Vermont, lived seventeen years in New York, came to Hudson in 1853, and to New Richmond in 1857, where he bought the pre-emption made by Robert Philbrick, and had it surveyed and platted as the village of Fremont. He died in 1878. Mrs.

Russell survives him and is now (1886) eighty-five years of age. Their sons Alexander and Austin are prominent citizens of New Richmond.

JOSEPH D. JOHNSON was born in Huron county, Ohio, May 12, 1829. From eight years of age he was thrown upon his own resources. The greater part of his youth was spent in Michigan. In 1848 he removed to Winnebago, Illinois, where he married Marcella L. Russell. He settled at New Richmond in 1853. One son, Ezra O., is editor of the _Northwestern News_, at Hayward, Wisconsin, and one daughter is married to Frank F. Bigelow.

JOEL BARTLETT was born in Hebron, Maine, in 1804. He received an academic education and became a teacher. He was princ.i.p.al of a high school in Bath, Maine, before he was twenty-one years of age. In 1825 he went to Harmony, Maine, where he was engaged in lumbering until 1848. In 1830 he was a member of the Maine legislature; in 1849 and 1850 he followed lumbering in Fairfield, Maine, and then removed to New York where he lived six years. In 1858 he came to New Richmond, where he has since led an active business life. Mr. Bartlett was married in Maine in 1826. One of his sons, J. A., is a Presbyterian clergyman in Centreville, Iowa. He graduated at Waterville College, Maine, and practiced law three years in New York City before entering the ministry.

FRANCIS W. BARTLETT, the second son of Joel Bartlett, was born in Maine in 1837. He received an academic education, and has been an active and successful business man. He came to New Richmond in 1858, and served as register of the land office at Bayfield from 1861 to 1867. He was married in 1867 to Mary J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania. He was engaged in the coal trade in Milwaukee three years, and two years at Detroit and Toledo, but returned to New Richmond and is now president of the New Richmond Bank, and dealer in furniture, hardware, etc.

GEORGE C. HOUGH was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, in ----. He has led a somewhat adventurous life. He served awhile as a soldier in the Black Hawk War under Gen. Dodge. Afterward he went to Missouri, graduated at the State University, and engaged in lead mining and prospecting. He went to California in 1862, where he practiced law. He returned in 1876, and located in Richmond where he still resides.

SILAS STAPLES was born in Lisbon, Maine, Sept. 18, 1814. He came to Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1854, took charge of the Willow River mills, buying a quarter interest at $20,000, including 5,000 acres of land on Willow river. In 1856 he sold his interest to Jewell and Bodie, of Maine, for $55,000, and for three years carried on a banking business in Hudson. In the winter of 1859-60 he removed to New Richmond. In 1861 he returned to Hudson and put up a s.h.i.+ngle and lath addition to his saw mill. He built a flouring mill at New Richmond in 1864. He built large dams on Willow river for driving logs, and carried on lumbering operations until 1868, when he removed to Canada and carried on milling and lumbering enterprises four years, at Collins' Inlet, Georgian bay. In 1872 he returned to Hudson and to a farm, and was also engaged with Mr. Gibson in mercantile business. In 1873 he returned to New Richmond, and, buying a half interest in the mill, took charge of it for one year, then removed to Stillwater and took charge of his brother's (Isaac Staples) saw mill.

In 1875 he removed to Elk River, Minnesota, and took charge of a farm.

The next year he returned to New Richmond, where he settled his family and bought a half interest in a saw and grist mill at Jeweltown. He also built an elevator there with a capacity of 20,000 bushels.

Mr. Staples was married in 1837 to Hannah Williams, of Bowdoinham, Maine, who died in 1838. He was married in 1841 to Abigail Ann Rogers of Oldtown, Maine, who died in the spring of 1845. He was married in the fall of 1846 to Nancy D. Gilman, who died in 1873. He was married to Mrs. Nancy B. Jamison in the fall of 1874. He has six children, Charles A., Silas G., Nellie B., Nettie, Edward P, and Lizzie G.

HENRY M. MURDOCK.--Dr. Murdock was born at Antwerp, New York, in October, 1823. His father, Dr. Hiram Murdock, moved to Gunning, at which place the son attended school till he was fifteen years of age.

The father moved to Pulaski, New York. Henry studied medicine with his father until he was nineteen years of age, then attended medical lectures at Castleton, Virginia, where he graduated at the age of twenty-one. After practicing three years at Dexter, and after a co-partners.h.i.+p of seven years with his father in a drug store at Pulaski, he came West and settled in Stillwater, where he bought the drug store and business of Dr. Carli. In 1858 he went to Taylor's Falls and practiced medicine until the spring of 1860, when he removed to Hudson and formed a partners.h.i.+p with Dr. Hoyt. In the fall of 1861 he accepted the position of a.s.sistant surgeon of the Eighth Wisconsin, and served during the war, having been promoted meanwhile to the position of brigade surgeon. In 1866 he removed to New Richmond, where he has since resided, having now retired from business. He was twice married, in 1845 to Cornelia A. Sandford, who died childless, and in 1865 to Sarah J. Allan. His children are Cornelia A. and Henry A.

STEVEN N. HAWKINS was born in Galway, Ireland, Dec. 26, 1846, but while he was a mere child his parents emigrated to America; remained a few years in Connecticut; came West in 1855, and made their home in Pleasant Valley, St. Croix county. His early life was marked by the usual vicissitudes of life in a new country. He tried for a time various occupations--farm work, rafting, sawing lumber, teaching, and, during the later months of the war, was a volunteer soldier. He managed to secure a good education in the common schools and at the River Falls Academy. He studied medicine and surgery a few months, but devoted himself chiefly to teaching until 1872, when he engaged in a mercantile enterprise at which he continued four years, but at the close of that period found himself obliged to suspend, with an aggregate of $5,000 against him. This he afterward paid, but he concluded, perhaps wisely, to change his occupation. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar, July, 1876. In this profession he has achieved an enviable success. In 1872 he was married to Margaret Early, of Alleghany county, New York. They have had four children, the first of which died in infancy.

RUSH RIVER

Occupies the east half of towns.h.i.+p 28, range 17. The first settlement was made in 1850. The following came in 1850-51: Daniel McCartney, Amos Babc.o.c.k, Joseph King, Stephen Claggitt and Z. Travis. The town was set off from Kinnikinic and organized in 1851, with Daniel McCartney as chairman of the board of supervisors. At his house was held the first election.

Woodside has one church and several buildings, is near the centre of the town, and New Centreville in the southern part. The date of settlement is second to that of Hudson. It was traversed by the old Hudson and Prairie du Chien stage route. It was originally a mixed timber and prairie district.

SOMERSET

Occupies sections 1 to 18, inclusive, of towns.h.i.+p 30, range 19, two sections of towns.h.i.+p 30, range 20, and all of towns.h.i.+p 31, range 19, lying east of the St. Croix river. The surface is generally undulating, but along the St. Croix and Apple rivers abrupt and hilly.