Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter 45, 1882

Early Times

When the name of the county was suggested, it met with such general acceptance that to-day there are a score of men who insist upon it that they individually were the first to present the name. It is admitted that Mr. MoSpadden had, before the county was named, resolved to call the city he was founding up the Boot River, Houston. And at some informal meeting where the name was under consideration, Job Brown suggested the name of Rice, in honor of his friend H. M. Rice, of St. Paul. But Mr. Brown, in St Paul, afterwards presented the name of Houston to the authorities. To this, objection was made, and Mr. David House, of Union, suggested Houston, and this at once met the concurrence of Sam. McPhail and others who were present, and it was decided to call it Houston, in honor of Gen. Sam Houston, the hero of San Jacinto, and the first President of the Republic of Texas, and after its annexation, a United States Senator from that State. Mr. McPhail, who had been in Texas himself, used his influence to have the county named as it finally was. In relation to the pronunciation of the General's name, he pronounced it with the full sound of w, leaving out the sound of o altogether, as though it was Hemton. It may not be improper here to state that General Sam Houston was not one of those fire-eaters so common in the south during his time, but a noble minded, patriotic gentleman. And when the southern people were ripe for secession, and were getting their States out of the Union by legislative enactment, General Houston, who was Governor of Texas at the time, positively refused to call an extra session for the purpose of voting on the question; and so Texas did not go out when the others did, on account of the noble stand taken by the General.

Brownsville. This is 150 miles north of Dubuque, 200 miles southeast of St. Paul, and really, on coming up the river, the first good landing in Minnesota. It was first occupied as above recorded, in 1849, and in December, 1854, the town site was surveyed, platted, and recorded. The first frame building was put up in 1850.

La Cbescent. It lies on the Mississippi, opposite La Crosse, and was laid out in June, 1856, and about this time there was serious talk about its being a rival of its young Wisconsin neighbor.

This being the first county in Minnesota reached by way of the Mississippi, the great highway for early travel, it would be naturally settled, after the territory was opened up, without much delay, as the time and expense to reach it would be less than to go up to St. Paul, and besides it was quite convenient to simply cross the river from Wisconsin. Separate streams of emigrants came into the county when it was opened up. Those that landed at Brownsville on steamers from below, those who landed at Lansing, and those who crossed the river.

The date of the first settlements in the county was before the territorial organization, but in this general account it is not proposed to fix the exact date of the first comers in all the various parts of the county, as these facte will appear in detail in the separate local township histories. The object here is to give a casual glance at the salient points, reserving a view of the particulars to assist in making the township or village sketches more complete.

The growth of the county has been normal, healthy and permanent, with no periods of spasmodic accumulation to be followed by seasons of inactivity.

Early Settlement

Job Brown was the very van- guard of the army of pioneers bo soon to come into the goodly land of Southern Minnesota to possess it. Originally from Michigan, he early made his way west to Galena, Illinois, the largest town in the West at that time. He was a natural adventurer; what he was finally to become, was, in his mind, vague and indistinct. His love for the bold, the daring, and hazardous, was a passion with him, and when the Mexican war broke out, his passion for adventure carried him to the scene of the conflict. After his return from that campaign, where he obtained the sobriquet of "Wild Bill," he still retained the spirit of unrest, and soon' got on board a steamboat and went up the Mississippi river as far as the mouth of the Chippewa, at the foot of Lake Pepin, where he secured a canoe and quietly floated down the river with a view of scouring an eligible town site, on which to build the metropolis of the Northwest. What visions of wealth, grandeur, and magnificence must have filled his solitary soul as he silently sailed down the sombre stream ? Beaching La Crosse, he remained a week or two, and then resumed the journey. On reaching what was then called the "Thousand Islands," opposite the mouth of Boot River, he found a shanty in which were two trappers, one was called Vuuk and the other Phillips, a Gorman and an American, the latter having a copper colored native for a wife. In connection with these newfound adventurers, Brown decided to locate his city at the foot of "Wild Cat Bluff." There were, at that time, sound reasons in favor of the location, among them the fact that this was neutral ground, so far as the Northwestern Fur Company was concerned, and no tribute would have to be paid to that monopoly, and besides there was no landing place on the west side of the river within thirty or forty miles. And, with Brown, to get an idea in his head was to begin at once to put it in execution, so the roof was taken from the shanty, a raft improvised, and the whole party, with their household goods, floated down to Wild Cat Bluff. A shanty was at once put up, utilizing the raft for this purpose, and thus was the first settlement made in Southern Minnesota, and the M Star of Empire " guided so much farther west. It was in June, 1848, and Brown having planted his colony, returned to Michigan for reinforcements, and to visit his father's family whom he had not seen for twelve years, and who supposed him dead from the war reports. His glowing accounts of Minnesota and the Father of Waters flowing by his prospective city, secured the co-operation of friends, and his brother Charles and his sister's husband, James Hiner, concluded to accompany him on his return.

From White Pigeon, Michigan, they started in the fall of the same year, and landing in Milwaukee, purchased an outfit and supplies for the then untried experiment of making a journey with horses and a wagon across the state of Wisconsin. They had four hired men, "Jack Miller," from Michigan, "Jerry," a Frenchman, and a man who had chorea or St. Vitus's dance, who was called "Jangulation Bill." The other man's appellation is forgotten. They proceeded on the long and tedious journey, passing through where Madison now is, and when near Baraboo mountain, a furious snow storm was encountered, and the wagon had to be abandoned. A sled was built, and they pushed on up the Lemon weir Biver, striking across to Blaok Biver Falls, with the snow three feet deep. They had an enormous amount of labour to make even the progress of five miles a day, and they had to build as they went. To add to their misfortunes and burdens, Jack Miller cut his foot in a frightful manner, and he became a dead weight on their hands, as they not unfrequently had to carry him on their backs up the steep hills. Their provisions also ran short, and they had to subsist on parched corn ; and as they reflected on the slow progress they were making, it was feared that this would also fail. After leaving Black Biver Falls, John concluded to strike out alone on foot for LaCrosse, to make arrangements for the rest of the party. He had no overcoat, depending upon his rapid walking to keep warm. Toward night he became exhausted, and would set down and rest awhile, then resume his lonesome journey. He finally struck the LaCrosse Biver and the Mississippi bottoms, but night coming on he was afraid to proceed for fear of an involuntary ice-cold bath in an air-hole. He was in a desperate condition ; there was plenty of grass and material for a fire, but no matches, and so the best he could do was to pull the marsh grass and make a bed between two logs, and there he would lay, until on the point of being benumbed with the cold, he would get up and spin around until warmed up, when he would gracefully retire, to repeat the exercise as the unwelcome frigidity would again creep over him. In the morning he succeeded in finding the house of "Scoots Miller," whoever he was, and to his dismay found his feet badly frozen, and this disabled him for the winter. The rest of the party finally reached LaCrosse, a woe- begone, cadaverous looking set. But having partaken of the hospitality of John M. Levy, one of the early settlers there, they were so far recuperated that between Christmas and New Year's day they went down to Wild Cat Bluff, but found that the parties that were left to hold the fort had disappeared. Mr. Vunk, who was afflicted with a spirit of chronic restlessness, had moved to pastures new, while poor Phillips had met a watery grave beneath the tarbid billows of the Mississippi, and surmises were made that the swarthy companion of his cabin assisted in his taking off.

The unhewn log residence, improvised for their accommodation, was 12x14 feet, and stood about 300 yards above the stone warehouse just below the upper spring. It was built into the side-hill. Brown and Miller, being cripples, remained in the shanty, while the others went to work for J. M. Levy, chopping wood to keep the "pot boiling" in the cabin. Near spring they all came back and commenced cutting steamboat wood.

The four men were soon discharged, and the Browns and Hiner continued chopping and logging, using the timber on the island across the river. During the summer of 1849, Charles Brown took the team back to Baraboo, and brought over the wagon and supplies left there. In 1850, David Brown, who was not related to the Browns already here, came into the settlement, and bought a few acres from the Browns. This Brown was an eastern man, and had made Job's acquaintance in the Mexican war. He put up a building and did some chopping, but in two years sold out. Mr. Hiner also sold out in 1851, and went to Dubuque and worked at his trade awhile, but finally came back to the county and opened a hotel in Caledonia. The original claim staked out was from the mouth of Wild Cat Creek to the upper spring, and was supposed to go back to "Sundown." Hiner sold his one-third interest in the whole busness to Henry Deshner, who yet lives in Wild Cat valley.

The next person to shed the light of his presence as a denizen of Wild Cat was William Morrison, who became, on the river, a noted character as "Wild Cat Jack." With him came Willard Blair, and they located a claim on the river north of Brown's place, and purchased a shanty of the Browns. Blair became disabled by sickness, and soon returned to Galena.

If Wild Cat Jack had lived in Baltimore he would have been called a "plug ugly," if in another locality he would have been called a "thug," or a "shoulder hitter." He was a desperado, who was only happy in the midst of a terrific row, where there was real danger. The sentiment of fear was wanting in his bosom. Logging and rafting was his principal business. Among the river men, the trappers, the Indians, and settlers, it may well be imagined there were some hard cases, but Wild Cat Jack was afraid of none of them.

About two acres of his purchase was broken and enclosed by a picket fence, as he was a worker as well as a fighter. Job Brown and Wild Cat Jack were soon fast friends, and they were a couple of hard citizens, who, for prudential reasons, were carefully let alone when muscular exercise was on the alert. As a specimen of their recklessness a story of their foolhardiness will be related. One day, after they had just come down the river, both were standing on top of the bluff, when one challenged the other for a race down the precipitous declivity, for one dollar, and down they went at the imminent peril of their lives. Both were powerful men, and it was with the greatest difficulty that they could keep their feet, but on they rushed, clearing brush eight feet high, and making strides forty feet long, as Brown now solemnly claims; down they flew, and alighting, one on each side of the shanty, met breast to breast in front of their door, making a dead heat. Near this very place, a few years later, a huge boulder became detached, shot down with terrific speed and actually went through a shanty, demolishing a table just set for dinner, crossed the street and rolled into the river. At a later time another rock went through a house into the cellar. Looking up that dizzy height it is a matter of profound astonishment that any one should attempt such a feat, and it is equally marvelous that they got down alive. As it was, the new boots that each had on were entirely demolished.

Jack's marriage was in keeping with the man, it was a runaway affair, exemplifying the adage that their is no accounting for tastes, as she was a beautiful, unobtrusive, and modest young woman.

General Remarks

Finally, Jack, with a Mr. Hastings, went down the river to the mouth of the Bad Ax, and founded that village, vibrating between the two places for a time, but finally selling out his Brownsville property to G. R West, of Dubuque, and it was afterwards made into West's addition.

As might have been expected, this noted character came to his death during one of his desperate moods. He had stolen a raft of logs of Peter Cameron, of LaCrosse, .and taken it down the river. He was suspected, and Job Brown informed Cameron that there were others interested in the piracy. This was told to Jack as if Job had "squealed" on him, and, Jack came up with a "pepper-box" revolver, with five barrels loaded and one empty, evidently intending, after he had dispatched Brown, to pretend that it was an accident, and with this view he blustered around town, snapping the weapon on the empty barrel. Brown attempted to placate the man, but to no purpose, and while seated on his steps, Jack flourished his pistol, and setting it so as to miss fire, as he supposed, placed the muzzle to his own head, and pulling the trigger fell dead on the spot, with a bullet through his brain. It was afterward learned that diaries Brown was inside with a thirteen-inch pistol, with the "drop" on Jack if he had made his threatened murderous assault upon his brother. Of course this affair created a great excitement at the time, but it was a matter of congratulation that no one but himself was responsible for his taking off.

This, perhaps, somewhat prolix account of those personal matters, has been given to show the disadvantages under which the hardy pioneers procured the homes which now seem so comfortable. Whatever of romance adhered to the hardy colonists was abundantly compensated for by hard work. Contrast the journey of that devoted party through the roadless and bridgeless state of Wisconsin to LaCrosse, with a party on a like journey to-day. Instead of weeks of labor and toil, privation and suffering, with cold and hunger, a seat is taken in a palace car at noon in Milwaukee, an unexceptional supper is partaken at Fox's in Portage, the passenger retires upon a downy couch, and in the morning awakes to find himself in La- Crosse, having lost only half a day on the journey. We who enjoy these blessings would be less than human if we were not filled with gratitude to these early settlers, who paved the way, and actually made the condition of things we find possible. At this time the confines of civilization was on the lakes, Chicago had not many thousand people, Milwaukee was just beginning to be a village, LaCrosse was a mere vedette, as an outpost of civilization. There was nothing in Minnesota, except the intrinsic merit of the location, to attract people from their more or less comfortable homes in the East, or on the other side of the water. The hope as to the future which "springs eternal in the human heart" was what lured them on, and although those who came were usually regarded by the friends they left behind as being adventurers, soldiers of fortune, who, if they ever returned at all, would indeed be fortunate. They were a sturdy race, who realized the inequality of the struggle in the old States or countries, and resolved to plant themselves where merit would not be suppressed by traditions.

The men who came were, as a rule, enterprising, openhearted and sympathizing, they were good neighbors, and so good neighborhoods were created, and they illustrated the idea of the brotherhood of man more by example^ than by quoting creeds. With a bravery that never blanched in the presence of the most appalling danger, they nevertheless were tender, kind, and considerate in the presence of misfortune, and their deficiencies in outward manifestations of piety was more than compensated by their love and regard for humanity.

And if this meed of praise is justly due to the men, and it certainly is, what shall be said in commendation of the heroic women, who braved the vicissitudes of frontier life, endured the absence of home, friends and old associations, whose tender ties must have wrung all hearts as they were severed. The devotion which would lead to such a breaking away, to follow a father, a husband or a son into the trackless waste beyond the Mississippi, where gloomy apprehensions must have arisen in the mind, is above all praise. The value of the part taken by the noble women who first came to this uninhabited region cannot be over estimated. Although by nature liberal, they practiced the most rigid economy, and oftrn at critical times preserved order, reclaiming the men from despair during gloomy periods, and their example of industry constantly admonished him to renewed exertion, and the instincts of womanhood constantly encouraged integrity and manhood.

Years ago the Rev. Dr. Bushnell, a noted divine in the East during the last generation, preached a sermon on the barbarous tendencies of civilization in the West, and on this the Reverend gentleman predicated an urgent appeal to Christianity to put forth renewed and strenuous efforts to save the West from a relapse into barbarism. This tendency was supposed to result from the disruption of social and religious ties, the mingling of heterogeneous elements, and the removal of the external restraints, so common, and supposed to be so patent in older communities. Dr. Bushnel did not have a sufficiently extended view of the subject, for in looking over the history of the past we find that in a nomadic condition there is never any real progress in refinement. Institutions for the elevation of the race must be planted deep in the soil before they can raise their hands in beauty and majesty toward heaven, and bear fruit for the enlightenment of the nations. The evils of which Dr. Bushnel was so afraid are merely temporary in their character, and will have no lasting impression. What actually happens is this, at first there is an obvious increase of human freedom, but the elements of self government everywhere largely predominates, and the fusion of the races which is inevitable, will in due time create a composite nationality, in which the degrading characteristics of each race shall be eliminated, and the admirable qualities of each be developed, producing a nationality, or a race, as unlike as it must be superior to those that have preceded it. Even now, before the first generation has passed away, society in the West has outgrown the irritation of the transplanting, and there are no more vicious elements in society here than in the East, as the criminal statistics will abundantly show.

Other Settlements

A settlement was made in Hokah in April, 1851, by Edward Thompson Esq. His claim was where the village now is. He began the erection of a saw-mill the first year, and it is claimed, sawed the first log in this region, west of the Mississippi, and the next year ground the first sack of flour.

Schools And Churches

large preponderance of Norwegians, who usually are Lutherans, and are a good class of citizens, uniting with the native element in all reasonable efforts to sustain churches and schools. In 1864, the Catholic Church was built in Caledonia, and the same year Mr. Charles Brown, of Brownsville, built a church at his own expense, and freely gave its use to all the Protestant denominations who might desire to occupy it. About the first service in the county must have been in 1852, when a Baptist minister preached in a private house, and although there were no professors of religion present, when the hat was passed around each man present, the number being 18, deposited a silver dollar, which probably, as an average, exceeded any collection since taken up in the county. Rev. Mr. Crist, a well-known pioneer Methodist divine, preached in Hokah in 1853.

Early attention was paid to education, the first schools being sustained by subscription, and kept in log houses used as residences, or in sheds attached thereto. But as soon as the growing children necessitated school houses, they were laid up by a "Bee" of the whole neighborhood, who bringing a few logs apiece, the building would soon be covered in, and a place for schools, debating clubs, religious and other meetings, would be provided. Many of these have, been replaced with more commodious structures.

Names Of Early Settlers

Among the early settlers, those who were in the county previous to 1856, may be mentioned the following, who were more or less prominent, and many of whose names» are mentioned in the town histories, or in connection with county affairs. It is not pretended that this is a complete list of the residents or heads of families of the county at that time, as from the very nature of the case, in the absence of a census list taken at the time, such an enrollment would now be utterly impossible. Many of these will, however, be recognized by the residents of the county, who will recall their several characteristics. Job Brown, Charles Brown, L. D. Smith, W. W. Bennett, David Brown, Mark Shelly, James Hiner, S. D. Self ridge, Daniel McLaren, D. B. Saddock, L. W. Paddock, Joseph Schenken, A. D. Sprague, Thos. Lee, Eugene Marshall, John Montgomery, James Smith, Hiram James Abbey, Stephen D. Butts, Samuel Dean, William Oxford, J. Armstrong, Enoch C. Young, Benjamin W. Lawrence, James H. Wing, G. N.

Marriages Among The Early Settlers

The first marriage recorded was that of Mr. Norman J. Drew to Miss Sophia Buchanan, which was solemized by David Brown, Justice of the Peace, and recorded by James A. McCan, Clerk. This was on the 24th of July, 1854.

A list of the Justices, of the Peace who performed the marriage ceremony in the county from its organization up to ihe time the Territory became a State, is here presented : David Brown, M. M. Taylor, Samuel McPhail, Fred. R. Gluck, James Smith, George Cannon, Ole Knudson, L. D. Selfridge, James Smith, George Powlesland, Wm. D. Van Dorn, James Stewart, Ralph L. Young, John H. Smith, H. Gillett, F. N. Goodrich, Eben D. Eaton, y L. L. West, W. T. Hinkley, A. McLaren, Frederick Olslager, John G. Cook, John A. Anderson, Elihu Hunt, Patrick Fitzpatriok, John Paddock, Edward Thompson, Jacob Webster, Edmund Mackintire, Edward Bogan, I. E. Crosby, Samuel Aikins, Lyman B. Jefferson, Benton S. Andrews, and J. P. Schaller.

Here follows a list of the clergymen who solemnized marriages in the county while under a Territorial government: Revs. T. O. Nelson, E. T. Grant, E. A. Goodell, Edmund Clow, Robert Williams, John Hooper, Daniel Wipinger, Patrick O'Farrel, Father Roster, Fritz Christian Clauson, Spencer Carr, and John L« Dyer.

Still A Territory

Christian Lamen and Elizabeth Knadaon. John Bops and Hily Hearts. John N. Kline and Catherine Wood. A. J. Armstrong and Louisa Hale. Lars Johnson and Anna Bingtson. Andrew J. Shaw and Martha Ann Leek. Wyman Warren and Martha Tibbets. Peter Lee and Lavinia Lee. Frederick Olstager and Louisa Eckart. Francis Kitzinger and Wilhelmina Eitzinger. Th. Murray and Mary Clasiok. Evan Johnson and Julia George. A. A. Groner and Elizabeth Anderson. Gustavus N. Thompson and Abigail Young. Cornelius Brushnarhun and Catherine Byan. Jorgen Johnson and Jane Olson. James A. Bice and Lucy Landrum. Hendrick Henderson and Martha Peterson. Benj. Swan and Dorcas Wilson. Wm. C. Marlow and Zerilda Jane Davis. Louis Herring and Ad aline P. Paddock. S. Henry Knox and Eveline Armstrong. Joseph Pendleton and Barthena Andrews. Frederick Kemer and Elmira House. Ensign McDonald and Emily Manen. Philo Haigh and Caroline Doney. John Sheely and Rebecca Srouf. Peter Michael and Anna Louisa Walla. Ole Oleson and Matilda Christianson. Nicholas Fisch and Margaret Layman. Frank Johnson and Anna Leman. Amasa Gleason and Harriet Spaulding. Joseph Bein and S. Basnin Deshner. Samuel G. Jones and Harriet Beals. Joshua H. Bye and Sophia I. Sunday. Herman Peterson and Jadno Johnson. Wm. A. Todd and Julia F. Leigh. James Noyes and Cynthia M. Gile. Edward Halliday and Helen M. Haokett. Ole Thompson and Helen Olsen. Enge Olsen and Caroline Peterson. Albert Leach and Martha McDonald. Daniel N. Gates and Sarah A. Dunbar. Henry Chapslod and Sarah Ann Stewart. Hans O. Berdahl and Martha Olson. Martin Mason and Caroline Thompson. Andrew Todd and Mary Calhoun. Valentine Weimer and Caroline Splitter. William Leman and Mary E. Sinclair. Wilson Daniels and Susan Cook. Ole Embriokson and Johana Jameson.

John Yahn and Mary Eliza Offley. F. A. T. Goeshel and Margaret Lerpp. Nels Olson and Serry Everson. Knud Johnson and Mary Johnsdatter. Teman Gilbertson and Anna Nelson. Peter Schlabaoh and Wilhelmina Maier. Adolphus Knoblach and Sophia Maier. Ole Andrew Bye and Catherine Nelson. Phillip Jacobus and Louisa Boss. Louis Schelley and Louisa Jane Addleman. James H. Williams and Martha S. Hiner. Hinncry Wieltzen and Catherine Schminden. Henry L. Hackett and Mary Ann Halliday. John Schminden and Catherine Becket. David Lynn and Sarah Haze. Knud Emerson and Bertha S. Peterson. L. A. Groner and Gelene A. Gilbertson. A. D. Sprague and Lucy Elmira Williams. Ole Bottleson and Isabel Paulson. George Halliday and Sophronia Gray. James Jameson and Martha Iverson. Philip Dumer and Elizabeth Bernard. Aranda Kellogg and Desdemonia Pierre. John J. Moreland and Hannah Smith. Thomas Fellows and Angenia PendeL Frederick Burow and Emilie Freischmidt. Daniel Beup and Christina Ehling. Andrew Gilbertson and Matilda Oleson. George Oleson and Cornelia Knudson. Ausmund Ausmundson and Ann Benson. Charles Rater and Ann Albertson Riebe. Geo. Appleby and Louisa J. Srouf. Thomas C. Wilber and Nancy Ann Cramer. William King and Maria Colby. Thomas Erickson and July Oleson. Tarcol Tostenson and Caroline Oleson. James Wing and Buth Ann Gilbert. Benjamin Marlow and Elizabeth Case. Martin Byan and Sarah Moffatt Frederick Hammer and Wilhelmina Biebe. Davis S. Sherman and Mary A. Guild. Michael Lally and Anne Burns. Joseph Smith and Catherine Sherman. Ole Herbrun8on and Caroline Oleson. Wm. Graham Campbell and Sarah M. Cameron. Christopher Gehery and Margaret Shebler. Henry B. Allen and Mary Oleson. Ole Oleson and Sigory Olestet. Daniel Kline and Catherine Moote. Tolleff Oleson and Christy Evensdatter. Dan. S. Edson and Martha Halverson.

Anecdotes Of Early Times

Spafford 'Williams and Martha Downing. Peter Hanson and Kari Jaoobsdatter. Albert Oleson and] Matilda Olverson. George Fisk and Hellen Augusta Bruce. William Herring and Rebecca Bailey. Anthony Devine and Elizabeth Ann Snure. Andrew M. Rood and Guri Johnson. Wm. N. Wilson .and Sarah E. Tuper. Ole Olson and Margaret Thorgrimsdatter. Bendt Johnson and Jane Johnson. Joseph M. Riley and Mary Alexander. Abraham Wilson and Sarah Thompson. John Muns and Phebe Cochran. Enud Enudson and Anne Olesdatter. Johannes Peterson and Inge Maria Jorgensoatter.

The last here recorded was solemnized on the 26th of July, 1850. It is not unlikely that many of the names after having been handled by some of the Justices in those primitive times, and transcribed from their manuscript to the record, to be reproduced here, have been so transformed in their orthography that their parents would not recognize them now.

Early Certificates. - While most of the recorded certificates of marriages, although not in any uniform style, are well written documents. Some of them, as specimens of of literary struggles, should not be forgotten. Here is one:

"Memorandom maid this 11th day of may, 1857, by and between John Schminden and Catharine Berket has agreed to get married by the undersigned Justice of the Peace, and that said John Schminden is 21 years of age, and also Catharine Berket is over eighteen years old, and said parties has agreed to get married in Presence of the undersigned Witness, and boath parties has declared that neither of them never was married before.

Patrick Fitzpatrick

The above mentioned parties" were certainly much married, although not to their discredit. This same Justice has several other certificates in the early records which stamp him as an original character.

A Few Anecdotes Of Early Times

Anthony Huyck, a native of Allegany county New York, came to Houston county when twenty - six years of age, in 1852, and located a claim in a rough way, a mile and a half from where Caledonia now is, where John Burns lives. Peter L. Swarthout came with him, and they were a jolly pair of bachelors. They had their choice of lands between the Mississippi and any uncertain point west, and selected both timber and prairie to the amount of 320 acres between them. After breaking forty acres Huyck left Swarthout with the claim and went on to Spring Grove. Mr. Huyck lived quite a while alone, doing his own housework, cooking, washing, but prpbablo no ironing, mending and such domestic work. His early education in the culinary art had been neglected, and it was done under trying circumstances, which, although sometimes exasperating to a waiting stomach, were at other times ludicrous in the extreme. One or two instances alone, will be related.

His first experience in cooking pork and beans was in this wise. He put the beans to soak, and remembering that his mother used always to pour off the "bean water," he carefully drained off the last drop and jammed a piece of pork down into them, put them in the oven, and again mindful that they used to be kept in the, oven all night, kept them there a long time under a hot fire, and when he came to take them out he found a mass of charcoal where the pork was, and the beans were as hard as buck shot.

On another occasion he was annoyed by immense flocks of pigeons that picked up his grain as fast as he could sow it, so he improvised a trap and soon caught quite a number, and after picking and dressing them, a remembrance of pigeon pie came over him, so he rolled out some pie crust, and placing an under crust in a pan, cut up and stowed away his pigeons, covering them with an upper crust, and placing the dish in the oven, watched it carefully until it was nicely browned, when he took it out, having invited a friend to dinner with him. On attempting to cut his pie he found the fowls were not even warmed through. The next time he attempted to make a pigeon pie, he cooked the meat before putting between the crusts.

One day, after some white women had arrived in Caledonia, three of them rode out to his place in a buggy, and as Anthony had not been expecting company, his mending had been postponed so long that his pantaloons were bursted out at all eligible points, and indeed he was almost in a trowserless condition; as they drove up he stepped behind some hazel brush and tried to look unconcerned, but they requested him to come and hitch the horse; and he, seeing no method of disappearing, made a clean breast of the whole situation, declaring the utter impossibility of his coming out in his present wardrobe; but on their assurance that his appearance in that condition would not be so remarkably novel to them after all, he came from under cover and attended to them, selling some vegetables and promising to call upon them in town when he should succeed in making himself a little more presentable.

Before he was married he became quite a cook and housekeeper, and took a pardonable pride in some of his dinners, and one day Edmund Stevens and George Littleford happened along while Huyok was at dinner. He invited them to stay and eat some of his griddle cakes, but they declined with thanks, saying they would go on to George's mother's where they could get a dinner. They were told they could get none there, but they moved along, and Huyok went with them. He told Mrs. Littleford such a circumstantial story as to how much they had eaten at his place, that she believed the story and refused to get up a second meal for them, and thus they were cheated out of a dinner.

Mr. Huyck selected several claims in eligible places, one after another, getting some ready money and a start in the world by selling his claims with the improvements. One time it was known that he had quite a sum of money in his cabin, and one day some of his friends were rallying him as to being robbed, enquiring if he was not afraid to stay there alone, "Oh, no," he said, "it is easy enough to standoff those fellows; the other night two masked men came there and demanded my money or my life, and I told them that T had no money, but if they would come in I would

The winter of 1857 was a severe one, the snow at one time being nearly three feet deep on a level, with a hard and glassy crust on the top, which would bear up a dog or a wolf, and in most places, an ordinary sized man, but the deer, with their sharp and small hoofs, would break through, and thus they fell easy victims to their enemies. They were hunted so remorselessly and successfully that they were well nigh exterminated in the settled region where this condition of the snow existed.

As an example of the sad havoc played with the deer in Houston county, the experience of John Murphy, an early settler of Sheldon, in the Badger valley, will be related.

During that glacial period, he, with his son, killed eleven deer with no other weapon than a hickory club, one of the few instances where the shillelah has brought down other than human game. He would start out with his dog, and when a fresh track was discovered he would follow it up to find the deer worried by the dog and floundering in the crust broken snow, when it would be dispatched by blows on the head. One day he drove a large stag into Silver Creek, and in his anxiety to interview him with his stick, fell into the water, when there was a marine contest, each fighting for deer life. The man was reinforced by the dog, and to a disinterested spectator the acquatio sport must have been exhilarating. The odds at first were in favor of the deer, but the young man appearing upon the scene, and reaching with his hickory club for the vulnerable spot between the homes of the infuriated animal he was soon transformed into venison.

Some families represent that they killed as many as forty deer that winter. A woman in May ville went some distance to a neighbor's to get some meat. She had a dog along, which, on her return, brought a deer to bay, and the woman succeeded in breaking its neck with blows from her frozen leg of venison. She triumphantly snaked it home over the glassy snow.

The snow remained on the ground from about the middle of October to the following May, and was, during the /teepest period, from four to five feet on the level. It was very difficult getting around with draft animals; the men used snow shoes, and hauled their wood and provisions on handsleds, and thus carried their grists to mill.

First Steamboat Above Rock Island

Embriok Hanson, of Spring Grove, invented some snow-shoes for his horse. The animal got nssd to them, and he became the favorite horse of all that region. He was in great demand, as the team, with a light load, would keep on top of the snow. A light hearse was arranged, and the whole procession on snow-shoes would sadly carry the departed ones to be laid beneath the snow.

Patrick Fitzpatriok. - Among the characters who were distinctive in their peculiarities was Patrick Fitzpatriok, who, in some unheard of way, procured a commission as Justice of the Peace, and, to his credit be it said, he had a good idea of equity, of justice between man and man, and his findings in any case, though in supreme contempt, not unfrequently, of legal traditions, of common and statute law, were acquiesced in without a murmur on either side, for the reasons given were often bewildering by their novelty, and were never without plausibility. The originality of his method of administering the oath to a witness was particularly striking, and deserves to be recorded, not only for its mtrinsic value, but because at some future time, when a legal commission shall be simplifying the code, or the methods of pleading, a hint may be taken from the innovations of Patrick Fitzpatrick. But here.is the form:

"Mr. Witness, shtand up, hold up yer fisht; duz yez solemnly shwear in the prissence of Samuel McPhail, Esquire, and meself, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Esquire, living three miles south of Caledonia and ownen 200 acres of land, that yez 'ill till the truth, the whole truth, and nothing like the truth. So there yez hev it!"

In 1856, a trial was in progress one evening before the only Patrick Fitzpatriok, at the house of Dennis Eahal, and a party of young men who had Negro minstrelsy on the brain, went round with a banjo, and struck up the refrain, " The old gray horse he kicked so high, etc.," with the chorus " De hoop de doodle do." Dennis was the constable, so he came out and exclaimed: "Gintlemen; I bid ye' s disperse, and not be afther disturbin the honorable court, for the Hon. Mr. Bugbee, Esquire, is afther spaking; now if ye's don't disperse and quit, 111 be afther making ye, for I am a limb of the law and so I am."

Probably one of the first political meetings in the county, certainy here, was held in the log house owned by Henry Willard, about two miles west of the village of Caledonia. Candidates were there nominated for county offices. This was just before the first county election. Previous to the county organizations in the Territory, this whole region was called the M District of Southern Minnesota." When the county divisions were made this section fell into Fillmore county, with Chatfield as the county seat, and when Houston was set off, the officers elect had to go to Chatfield to be qualified, as far as the law was concerned. The county seat at first was designated at Brownsville, and that was the first polling place. When the people came to decide as to the permanent location of the county seat, there were three points ambitious for the honor; Brownsville, Caledonia, and Houston; but the Caledonian colony rallied their reserves and carried off the coveted prize. The contest was quite an earnest one, and the element of ridicule was brought into requisition. The opponents of Brownsville had a cartoon representing a huge boulder from the bluff crashing through a cabin and driving the occupants out. Houston was represented by some Caledonian in like manner, as being overflowed with water, drowning everything out, and the Houston people retaliated on Caledonia by displaying a caricature, representing McPhail coming out of a well, apparently very deep, exclaiming, " there is no use, water cannot be found here."

But there was a general and quiet acquiescence in the result of the struggle, although several attempts have since been made to remove the county seat, but without avail.