Fillmore County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 23 of those read), 1912

Norway And Preble

Norway Township - Names of the Sturdy Norsemen Who Settled Here - Events of the Early Days - Preble Township - Early Settlement Written by William Willford - The Indians - Political History - Postoffices.

Norway Township is the second township south of the northern county boundary, with Rushiord between, and next to the eastern boundary, with Preble on the south and Holt, with which it was formerly associated, on the west. The town is quite well elevated and the small streams that arise within its borders run off in various directions. There is very litle land in its territory that is incapable of cultivation and it is very well settled, mostly with immigrants from Norway, who are thrifty and industrious.

Early Settlement. In March, 1854, John Olson Overland and his three sons, Ole, Steiner and Knud, and a brother-in-law, Halver Erickson, with Harold Olson and Hans Franson, came to this township from Winneshiek county, Iowa, selected claims and provided for their families by putting up a residence 14x18 feet, then went for their families, and returned May 18.

Hens Franson procured a place in section 15, where he lived up to the year 1881, when he moved to the Red River couniry. Ole Johnson Overland was born in Norway September 20, 1828. and served three years in the army during the war against Prussia. In 1851 came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, with his father, mother, two brothers and four sisters. Two years later the party moved to Winneshick county and, as above stated, came to Fillmore county.

The year before this Ole Johnson and Halver Erickson were through this region looking for lands upon which to locate. They were through the town of Rushford and found two colonisis in the valley, Halver Goodrich and Ole O. Tuff. They passed by the place where they finally settled and, finding no water, concluded that it was not a desirable place to attempt to live, but on their second visit, as above mentioned, in 1854, a little digging developed a spring in section 1, and from this supply for the whole party was obtained during the first summer. There was qnite a camp the very first season, as many '1s sixty persons in the colony, the most desirable and fashionable residence being

Ole Johnson himself took a elaim in sections 15, 16, 21 and 22. He had been married in 1850 to Gunill Franson. He was one of the first supervisors of the town when it also embraced Holt under the name of Douglass, and was also one of the officers of his town after it was divided. He was one of the first trustees of the Highland Prairie Church, and one of the building committee. Halver Eriekson was born in Norway in November, 1829. In 1850 he eame to Wisconsin, and to Iowa in 1853, and here the following spring, driving his stakes in section 15, where he stil] remains. In the autumn of 1854 he was united in marriage with Caroline Johnson. He was one of the early town officers. Knud Jolinson was born in Norway in 1834 and came with others and took a claim in section 16.

Ole Kettleson eame from Norway by the way of Walworth county, Wisconsin, and secured a local habitation in section 7. Ole Carlson Ruc began his carcer in Norway on February 16, 1838. In 1851, with his father, he eame to Walworth county, Wisconsin. In 1854 they came here and the father secured a home in section 20. The young man, in 1860, married Kari Kettleson and took a homestead on the same section. Peder Erickson Helgeland located in section 32. In 1854 Knud N. Melve and his father came and took land in section 31. Ole C. Berg came at the same time and died in 1869. Ifans Guuderson was born August 9, 1820. came to Wisconsin in 1852, and in 1854 came to Norway, the namesake of his native conntry, and seeured of his adopted government 160 acres in section 18. On January 23 he married Este Johnson. Ole Arneson Grinland was born in November, 1817. In 1851 he transferred himself and family to 'Wisconsin, and in 1854 to the Minnesota Norway, and secured 160 acres in section 11. Ole Jorgenson, a Norwegian sailor, came to this place in 1854 and settled in section 14, but afterwards removed to sections 23 and 24. John Sanderson came from Wisconsin in 1854. He died in April, 1873. Hagan Olson was from Norway and came to Wisconsin in 1848 and here in 1854. Kittel Olson was an early arrival in 1854 and took a place in section 21, but removed to Becker county early in the seventies.

Thomas Thompson cayne with his father in 1855, having stopped a while in Illinois. He secured 120 acres in sections 20 and 19. The old gentleman bought land in the town of Holt, but lived with his son, aud must have been one of tle oldest men in the county at the time of his death at the age of ninetyfour years. Simon Thompson came to Dane county in 1852 from his native Norway, and in 1854 to Iowa, and here in 1855, taking a place in section 7 and remained until August 23, 1881, when he died. Aslack Gunderson arrived in this township in 1855 and secured a stopping place in section 12, where he remained wantil 1881, when he went to Dakota.

Ole Olson Thorud was among the comers of 1856. He married Mary Thompson and secured a farm in section 7. Lars L. tTumble was among the settlers of 1857 and his local habitation was In section 18. In 1846 he was married to Catharine Jenson, who died early in the deeade of 1870, leaving eleven children. John L. Jalir was one of the arrivals in 1857 and the next spring hought a farm in sections 14 and 23. He was a leading man and was in the state legislature, but died on May 28, 1880. In 1857 Even Ellertson, with his sons, Isaac, Elling und Nels, came and took farms in section 11. Mikkel Kittelson came by the way of Wisconsin and placed himself upon section 23. Even Gisleson located in sections 11 and 14. John Larson Stensgaard secured a elaim and lived in seetion 24. He died in 1878. C. Olson and Ole Jacobson settled in seetion 28.

Land Office Records. The first titles to land in Norway township were issued by the government in 1855. The one who obtaimed land that year was as follows - the date of the issuance of the warrant being given first, then the name of the owner and then the section in which the land was largely located: August 30, John Sanderson, 2.

Early Events. The oldest house is said to be that of John Olson, which was built in April, 1854, in section 16. The first resident minister was the Rev. N. E. Jensen. The first religious service was held by Rey. Mr. Koren in 1855. The first schoolhouse wis in District No. 13. The first school teacher was Hannah Onstine. The first child was Ole Gunderson, on August 26, 1854.

1858, until April 8, 1860, when a separate organization was effected. An early history of Douglas will be found in the sketch of the township of Holt, to which the reader is referred. The first town meeting wus at the house of Even Ellerston on April 3, 1860. The following officers were elected: Supervisors, Ole Johnson (chairman), John Larson and Ole Jorgenson; elerk, A. 8. Byholt; assessor, Simon Thompson; justices of the peace, A. §. Byholt and EB. Evenson; constables, Ole H. Wentoel and K. Kittelson-Stockland; treasurer, N. K. Ellertson; superintendent of schools, Andreas Byholi. The name of the town is said to have been suggested by John Semmen in honor of the native country of almost every inhabitant of the township. The town hall is located in seetion 15.

Postoffice. Ole Johnson persuaded the postmaster general in 1860 that the great necd of this section was a postoffiee. and so a commission was duly forwarded to him. Becoming weary of the onerous duties of the position, he transferred it to Halver Jensen, who kept it at his brother's, Rev. N. E. Jensen, for a time, in a shanty about one-half mile north. Afterwards it was taken to the store at Bratsberg and Ole Tendrickson was postmaster. When the store changed hands O. E. Evenson heeame postmaster. E. J. Overland was the last postmaster, the patrons now receiving their mail by rural route from Rushford. Rud postoifiee flourished for a while. The last postmaster was S. Sjervem. The people now reeecive their mail by rural route from Whalan.

Preble Township is the second on the eastern boundary of the county from the Iowa line on the south. It has Norway as a neighbor on the north, Black Hammer, in Houston county, on the east, Newburg on the south and Canton on the west, and is identieal with a town of government survey. Nearly the whole area of the south half of the town is gentle, rolling prairie, with occasional small clumps of timber. Some of the most beautiful farms imaginable are situated in this seciion of the town. The south fork of the Root river comes in by two branches into the southwest part of the township, and following its winding way, alter uniting in an average northeast course, makes its exit from that corner. In its course several small branches are received. Alone this little river is the valley, which varies in width from one-fourth to one-half a mile. The timber along the bluffs is quite plenty and consisis of ork, elm, poplar and some pine, with a luxuriant growth of grass in the valley which furnishes an excellent quality of hay. The soil is not unlike other parts of the eounty contiguous, and is equally productive of like crops.

Early Settlement. The two first settlers in this township were Nels Johnson (Nessa) and Thore Olsen (Faae), who located in section 33 in the year 1858. The property brought with them from La Salle county, Illinois, consisted of three yoke of oxen and a few head of other horned stock, two old rickety lumber wagons (known in those days as prairie schooners), and a small amount of household goods. They at once built a double tenement cabin, each with a single apartment, ten by twelve, and covered if with basswood bark. The floor was what God made, and not graced with carpets. These two men and _ their families, seven in all, dwelt in this eabin for a few months, when they sueceeded in securing better quarters. In 1853 ten acres were broken up on the Newburg side of the line, and in 1554 Nels Johnson (Nessa) commenced to enllivate his present farm in section 22 in Preble township, he being entitled to the credit of being the first man to sow and reap a crop in this township. The first year Nels Johnson (Nessa) and Thore Olsen (Faae) had no near uelghbors except a band of Winnebago Indians that had located their ''tepees'' on the northwest quarter of section 82-102-8, within eighty rods of where the two men with their families had settled, and no doubt these ''red skins'' excelled at pilfering and begging, and therefore were not a very desirous class of neighbors.

In 1854 several other settlers came-in and secured claims near where Nels Johnson (Nessa) and Thore Olson (Faac), had established themselves, and among them were daeob Jacobson (Hage), Rasmus C. Spande and Christian Christopherson, and among the first settlers in the north part of the township were Ole Gjermundson, Bjorn Larson (Hevene) and Lars C. Tarvestad.

This township ranked among the first in the county in the manufacturing industry. The first mill built in the town was a small sawmill, built in 1855 by an early comer from Cattarangus county, New York, whose name was David Weisel. This mill was situated near the confiuence of the south branch of Root river and Weisel creek and near the northeast corner of section 19. The machinery of this diminutive sawmill was, with the exception of the saw and a few castings that were necessary in its erection, made by lis own hands. Later a corn eracker was added and operated by the same power. The miJl stones were eut fron a rock taken from a bluff near by. Immediately after this ''corn eracker'' (as it was called) was completed and put in operation the settlers began to flock there with grists of com and wheai to be ground, and it was taxed to its wimost capacity. There were no bolting altachments te separate the bran from the flour of the grain ground so ii had io be done by a hand sieve.

This mill was emphatically a home institution, and like Roe's mill, on Riceford ereek in Houston county, it too ''was a very indusirious mill, for just as soon as if finished grinding one kernel it commenced on another.'? It was operated by thie builder with considerable suecess until that terrible flood of August 6, 1866, when he and his mother were drowned and his residenve, mill and all his accumulations washed away, leaving nothing as a relic to remind the coming generatious where was once situated the happy home of the David Weisel family in the latter part of the fifties.

The first regular grist mill in southeastern Fillmore county was built by Collins lJall in 1857. This was a small frame structure located on Weisel creek near the northeast corner of scetion 32 in Preble township. Mr. Hall built it aeeording to his own plans, doing most of the work himself. His natural genius was shown by his work and ingenuity, and a successful mill was the result. The huilder operated it himself and it was patronized to its utmost capacity until that eventful night of August 6, 1866. A few vears later ihe mill was rebuilt by the proprietor, Collins Hall. This was a more substantial strueture, as it was built of stone and was operated by him until his death. Today, what was formerly known as Lall's mill is sumply a relic of bygone days,

In the year 1858 the second sawmill was built on Weisel ereck in Preble township by E. P. Eddy near the northwest corner of section 29. It was quite substantially built and was operated by Mr. Eddy until it was wrecked by the terrible flood of August 6, 1866. Later the property was sold to James Kelly, who rebuilt the mill and operated it only for a short time, when it again was torn out by a freshet, and has not since been rebuilt.

The next mill built in Preble township was a sawmill by Nels Johnson (Nessa). This was loeated on the south branch of Root river in the northern part of seetion 17. It shared the same fate as those lugher up the stream on August 6, 1866. It was subsequently rebuilt and Mr. Johuson also added a grist mill in 1872.

Among the early settlers of Preble township whose names have been preserved are the following - the section wherein they settled being given in most cases: ,

The Indians. A band of Winnebago Indians encamped on section 32 as late as 1853. On one of ther begging tours nize or ten Indians stopped at the cabin of Hans Arneson and asked for something to eat. Mrs. Arneson, in order to get rid of them, went to the bread box and gave them all the brerd she had. It was customary for the Indians to examine everything ijn the house, and on looking in the bread box, saw that it was empty. After a short consultation among ihemselves in their own language they then gave Mrs. Arneson one of the loaves of bread back. Thus they showed their generosity and belief in the golden rule, ''to do as you would wish to be done by.'' In the fall of 1854 after Austin Eastman. had driven the Indians off his claim in section 11-101-9 they eamped for the winter on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of seetion 5-102-8, where the spring brook empties into the larger creek. In the spring of 1855 they left their cauping ground and have not camped on Weisel creek since that date.

Political. The first town meeting to organize the town and elect officers was held on May 11, 1858. Thomas G. Hall, David Weisel and Iver Thompson had been appointed by the county commissioners as the judges of election. Mr. Hall being absent A. ©. Seelye was appointed to fill his place. J. C. Braden and I. H. Titus were appointed as clerks. The total number of votes east was twenty-seven, and the following officers were uananimously eleeted: Supervisors, Thomas G. Hall (chairman), Iver Thompson and Walter Braden; town clerk, J. C. Braden; assessor, David Weisel; collector, Nels Nelson; overseer of the poor, Christian Christopherson; justices of the peace, David Weisel and A. C. Seelye; constables, Wm. G. Sutherland and Iver Thompson, The house of Nels Nelson was designated by ballot as the place for holding elections. On May 22, 1858, the supervisors held a meeting, divided the town into four road disiriets and selected the following overseers: Lars C. Tarvestad, Ole Anderson, Justus Sutherland and David Weisel. A tax of 21% mills was levied and two days' work for every man on ihe roads.

War Record. On Septeinber 10, 1864, a bounty fund was voted, of $3,200, one-hal! to he assessed in the year 1864 and one-half in 1865. On Marel 27, 1865, a special town meeting was held and the sum of $2,500 voted to be expended in the support of families of drafted men, but the close of the war suspended the tax. In 1864 a home guard was organized under the state law, with Norman Sutherland as eaptaiu. They drilled a few times near the schoolhouse in Distriet No. 9.

Postoffice. At first {he nearest postoffice was at Decorah, Ia., twenty miles away. After a while a postoffice was established at Lenora and later at Newhurg. The office in Preble was established in 1876, the first mail arriving April 13. Samuel Gray was the postmaster. It is on a eross route, between ITouston and Decorah. The last postmaster of Preble postotfice was J. W. Horilem. The patrons of this office now receive their mail from Spring Grove. Choice postoffice gave the people good service for many years. The most recent postiasters were J. J. Elepson, Richard O. Riehardson and Carl J. Wellerud, the latter being in charge when the office was discontinued. The people now receive their mail by rural route from Mabel. Tawney postoifice opened in the late nineties. The postmaster was T. E. Ialvorson. The patrons now receive their mail from Mabel.