Freeborn County, Minnesota - Chapter 7: Pioneer Times, 1911

Chapter 7: Pioneer Times

The monotony of life is often pleasantly broken by visions of early days. We see before us our lakes, far, far more beautiful than today. Their waters are clear and deep, free of weeds or rushes, with well defined shores. They are covered with thous¬ ands of wild geese and ducks and occasionally a flock of grace¬ ful white swans have alighted for food and rest on their long flight to their nesting place in the distant north. We see the Indian hunter as he glides stealthily along their borders in quest of food for the family in his nearby wigwam.

We climb the highest hill that we may obtain a better view of the surrounding country, only to see nature untouched - not a house, barn or field do we see - only the scattering burr-oak trees as far as the eye can reach. We look long for beautiful groves of young timber but we see them not - they are something of more recent years. We see the covered wagon drawn by the sleepy old oxen. They are meandering around the impassable sloughs and over the higher lands, followed by the loose cattle driven by the noble wife and children. They are the ones that shall make Freeborn county a garden of beauty - and the home of refinement and luxury.

We awake from our revery to behold our cities and villages, our beautiful homes, schools, churches, railroads, and all the appliances of modern civilization, and we ask, "Is such a change possible in one short lifetime? Surely we have lived in two worlds ! ' '

The spring of 1853 dawns on Freeborn county in all her solitude, but it is the beginning of a new era. Never before has civilized man disturbed her quietude, but a change must now come. Her sparkling lakes shall be turned into power for the factory, and her beautiful hills into fields of ripening grain, while the Indian must give way to enlightenment and civilization.

with his family took up his home one-half mile southeast of Gorclonsville, in Shell Rock township, he being the first white settler in Freeborn county. He remained until the spring of 1856, when he sold out to William Beighley and left the country. There was born in this house in the early spring of 1854 a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Gulbrandson, this being the first white child born in the county. As a souvenir of the early days, this old log house has been removed to the county fair grounds in order that future generations may see a typical pioneer home.

June first of this year finds Lorenzo Merry building his cabin at the southeast corner of Washington and Water streets, Albert Lea; and one month later Geo. S. Ruble of Beloit, Wis., is looking over the country for water power for a saw mill, finally decides to locate also at Albert Lea, and during the autumn arrives with his family, building his cabin at 522 Bridge street. Chas. C. Colby, a young man, appeared during the year and laid claim to lands in section 6, Albert Lea township. He was accompanied by Bethuel Lilly and wife and one sister. Two other sisters came in the fall. The dreariness of life to these young people during the hard winter of 1855-56 can scarcely be appreciated today, as there were only four other houses within a radius of nine miles.

We find in June oF this year several families settled in the vicinity of Glenville, among them George Gardner, Charles T. Knapp, William Andrews, Gardner Cottrell and Oliver Andrews.

During the season of 1856, a goodly number of settlers ar¬ rived, so it was possible to organize the county of Freeborn, which was accomplished on March 3, 1857.

St. Nicholas. In the early spring of 1855, Jacob LyBrand and Samuel M. Thompson, from near Green Bay, Wis., located on the northeast quarter section 26, Albert Lea township, and proceeded to lay out on the banks of Lake Albert Lea the prospective county seat, the village of St. Nicholas. Its location was most beautiful, as the lake at that point was the broadest sheet of water in the county with a fine, gravelly beach, and the distant shore lined with large timber. They at once erected a large log building and opened up a splendid stock of goods of all descriptions. There seemed to be nothing wanted by the settler but what they had on hand, and their prices very reasonable, taking into considera¬ tion our distance from market. They at once began their cam¬ paign for the county seat and put forth every honorable means to secure it, but their failure is fully recorded on another page.

Blue Earth Road

On the first settlement of the county there was but one general highway, known as the Blue Earth road, that entered the county on section 34, London township, running northwest past Myrtle, Glenville and St. Nicholas, leaving Albert Lea one mile to the east, past Armstrong, but was lost as a thoroughfare by its numerous branches near Alden. Much of its way was over an old Indian trail, and it was much used with but little change until after the Rebellion.

A great majority of our settlers passed over this route, tired out by their long, tedious journey, longing to reach their prospective homes. It was also our main highway to our market at McGregor, la., for years, and our only route to mill at Decorah and Mitchell, la. Prior to 1857 but few emigrants had arrived, but the spring of that year a rush began and seldom would one be out of sight on this road of the " prairie schooner," drawn by ox-teams, loaded with every conceivable article of plunder, even to a coop of poultry, or pigs, fastened on the rear endgate of every wagon.

The year 1858, however, found a halt, as the hard times of that period were now felt all over the West in its severity, es¬ pecially so in Freeborn county, as not a dollar's worth of produce had ever been shipped out of the county to market. The year before had been one of excessive rains, and only a little corn and potatoes had been raised; farming had only begun that year and the hardships of our pioneers can be but little appreciated today. A description of this period is found in the following ex¬ tract from the pen of M. V. Kellar, which appeared in the "Albert Lea Standard" in 1908: "The year 'Eighteen Hundred and Johnnie Cake' (1858-9) will ever be remembered by the old settlers - they all agree it was not a pleasant period. Our only bread was made from corn, cracked on a poor feed mill run in connection with Ruble's sawmill and patronized by the whole county. We had no money, no Hour, tea, coffee, sugar and even salt became so scarce that our neighbors had to stop salting down the fish which at the time filled our lakes. Many even had to stop using them as food for want of lard to cook them. We shall never forget our first salaratus biscuit (1859) - it was the most delicious morsel we have ever tasted. The tender leaves of the redroot were used for tea, while corn, wheat, rye. acorns and even beets were roasted and ground for coffee. Most of our farmers looked like they were from Stillwater, clad in their frocks and overalls made of striped bed ticking and some made their shoes out of old boot-tops. But people who pass through such a school are better prepared for life's battles."

The Pioneer Home

The first proposition that met the pioneer on his arrival was a dwelling, which was hastily erected out of rough logs with but one room not over sixteen feet square. This one room an¬ swered in most cases for years as kitchen, pantry, parlor, bed and sitting room, until prosperity smiled on him sufficiently to build a new and commodious home. The reader should not infer that there was no happiness in such a home. Far from such an idea.

In recent years there was enacted a beautiful tableau that fully illustrates such a home. In 1857 there located in our midst a family from Wisconsin. Time only allowed the hasty con¬ struction of the rudest cabin which for years was the ideal home. By years of toil and saving, in later years a beautiful and com¬ modious dwelling was built but a few rods from the old cabin.

The first Sabbath after moving into the new home, the husband returns to find the good wife gone. Hunting, he soon finds her seated in her old rocking chair in the old Territorial Cabin. Doubtless she was living over again the happy days spent in that old home. Above the roaring blizzards and the howling wolf, she hears the happy voices of her young children at play, all now married and gone. She hears the crow of the prairiechicken and the call of the wild goose, while the crack of the Indian's rifle she hears from the nearby lake.

She sees the beautiful Indian summer as of old, and hears the sweet tinkle of the old cow bell that is sweet music to her ear today. She visits with kind neighbors, many of whom have passed to that Undiscovered Country, and awakening from her revery, finds only her husband is with her in the dear old cabin. Think you she would give that old cabin, with all its dear memo¬ ries, for an English castle? Never!!

While the pioneers met with many hardships and discourage¬ ments, they could see the silvery lining on every cloud. They were not looking for the Almighty Dollar, as today, but content to make a living as best they could. They were a kindhearted, social, generous, accommodating folk, every man your neighbor, and the latchstring hung out at every door as a glad welcome to every stranger. From your modern farm mansion or the palace of your city you must come today to this old pioneer cabin to learn true happiness and contentment, and the enjoyment of those social and neighborly qualities so prominent in Freeborn county fifty years ago, but today found only in history.

Pioneer Women

She comes not in a palatial railway coach or the family auto¬ mobile, but was seen at the rear of every emigrant train on the old Blue Earth road, cheerfully driving the loose stock, clad in coarse and ofttimes shabby attire. No woman walked from the plains of Sinai with more courage, or stronger faith of a Promised Land, than this noble woman who comes to help lay the corner-stone of civilization and refinement in Freeborn county. She little knew the trials and hardships before her, or the dangers of a frontier life. She had given up home, relatives, friends, church and society, all so dear to woman, to begin a life of toil and anxiety, buoyed on with the hope of a home of re¬ finement, beauty and plenty, but, alas ! to close her earthly labors when just in view of her long-sought prize. No painted word or gilded sentence will ever do adecpiate justice to this noble heroine, but her memory should be indelibly stamped on the brightest page of our local history.

First Religious Meetings

There is one, though never a resident of the county, that should be especially mentioned, Rev. Sylvester N. Phelps, of the Methodist Episcopal church, for it was he who first carried the lamp of Christianity within her borders. This good man first saw the light of day in Potter county, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1833. At the age of twenty-two he was sent by his church to open up the work of this denomination on the headwaters of the Cedar river and was temporarily located at Austin, then a village just rising from the prairie. He first entered the county and preached the first Gospel sermon ever heard within our borders at the home of Rufus K. Crum, on Section twenty-eight, Moscow township, August 31, 1856. He continued to hold serv¬ ices in that vicinity until July, 1857, and organized the first Christian church within the county, with George Bolton as class leader and Alvia B. Sizer, steward.

On May 3, 1857, he appeared at the home of William Kellar, one mile southeast of the Court House, and preached the first Gospel sermon ever heard in the vicinity of Albert Lea. On the following Sabbath, at 10 a. m., lie preached at the home of Walter Stott, two miles northeast of Glenville, and at the home of George S. Ruble, 522 Bridge street, Albert Lea, at 2 p. m. the same day. This event was duly celebrated by the First Methodist Episcopal church of Albert Lea on May 10, 1907, it being the fiftieth anniversary of this occasion. Services were held at 2 p. m. on the old Kellar place, and at the church in the city in the evening, when Mr. Phelps was present, preaching a beautiful sermon from the same text he had used just fifty years before.

In 1862 he entlisted in Company H, Sixth Minnesota Yol. Inf., but was discharged the following May for disabilities. He was chaplain of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1871. He was superannuated by his church some years ago, and closed his earthly labors at Windom, Minn., December 9, 1909. A beautiful picture of this faithful disciple of Wesley may be seen at the city library, Albert Lea.

First Events

The first settlement was made by Ole C. Livdahlen, known to the first settlers as Ole Gulbrandson, one-half mile southeast of Gordonsville, in June, 1853.

The first village platted was Saint Nicholas, on the northeast quarter of Section twenty-six, Albert Lea township, by Jacob Ly Brand and Samuel M. Thompson, in May, 1855.

The first mill was a sawmill operated by water power, built by George St. Ruble at 502 Bridge street, Albert Lea, and began sawing lumber October, 1856. In 1859 a small flouring mill was added to the plant. In the spring of 1861 high water under¬ mined the plant, which was damaged beyond repairs.

The first postoffice in the county was at St. Nicholas, with Jacob Ly Brand as postmaster. It was established in 1855 and discontinued in 1858.

The first blacksmith shop in the county was opened at St. Nicholas by William Eddy in 1856. The first blacksmith shop in the city of Albert Lea was opened at 425 Bridge street by David Crowfoot in the spring of 1857. He began work under a large oak tree but in a few weeks built a small shop. In the fall of the year he moved his shop three miles east of the city onto his claim.

The first physician in the county was Dr. Albert C. Wedge, who arrived May 10, 1857. He soon erected the first drug store in the county at 140 South Broadway, Albert Lea. He was the leading physician in the county for fifty years.

The first hotel in Albert Lea was built by George Hoops at 201 West Clark street. This was opened to the public by James Kinyon, proprietor, in October, 1857.

The first shoe shop in the county was opened by Christian Fleck in his pre-emption shanty at 720 South Washington street, Albert Lea, in 1856. His health failing, he closed out his busi¬ ness late in the fall of this year and died in a Chicago hospital the following winter.

The first store in Albert Lea was opened by Julius Clark at 119 East Clark street in June, 1856. He closed out his business early in 1858 and returned to his Ohio home.

The first newspaper. - "The Southern Minnesota Star,'* of which the "Freeborn County Standard" is the legitimate off¬ spring, was the first newspaper published in the county, and made its appearance July 11, 1857, edited by Alf. P. Swineford, who in 1885 was appointed Governor of Alaska by President Cleveland. The birthplace of this journal was at 124 Elizabeth street, Albert Lea.

The first saloon in the county was opened at 137 South Broadway, Albert Lea, by William L. Gray in 1857. He closed out his business in 1861 and retired to Canada to avoid the war. He was a brother of N. T. Gray, who was associated with Alf. P. Swineford in the publication of the "Southern Minnesota Star," who left at the same time to join the Confederate army and wore the gray until the close of the war.

The first school house in the county was built at Glenville in 1857. It was finished in August of that year and school at once commenced with Emily Streeter as teacher.

The first school in Albert Lea began the first Monday of December, 1857, in a small log building at the northeast corner of William and Elizabeth streets, with Austin D. Clark as teacher. The first school house in Albert Lea was erected during the summer of 1861, and school at once began with John L. Gibbs as teacher.

The first wagon shop, the first manufacturing establishment in Albert Lea, was built on the site of the government post office in the spring of 1858, by John Brownsill, who continued the business until 1869.

The first meat shop in the county was opened by Dennis Mur¬ ray on the east side of Broadway, opposite the Masonic temple, Albert Lea, in 1866.

The first marriage in the county was on October 5, 1856, when Hanibal Bickford and Maria Colby were united in holy wedlock by William Andrews, Esq. This wedding seemed to prove an epidemic in the Colby family, for on January 13, 1857, a double wedding - the second in the county - took place in this most estimable family, when the only son, Charles C. Colby, and Miss Ellen Frost, and Daniel Hurd and Mary A. Colby were united in the holy bonds before Julius Clark, Esq.

The first jewelry store in the county was opened at 211 South Broadway in 1867, by a young man by the name of Ward, who sold out to Henry Schleuder the next year. He continued the business at the old stand for nineteen years, when he closed out in favor of his brother, Theodore, who with his nephew, Henry J. Harm, has continued the business at the same place ever since.

The first photographer in the county was C. G. Edwards, who opened parlors in the ballroom of the old Webber House in the fall of 1864. He remained in business but a short time when he removed to eastern Minnesota, but after many years came back, and for several years was publisher of the " Daily Tribune."