Mower County, Minnesota - First Settlers, 1911

Colony of the Borderline Between Racine Township and Fillmore Colony - Arrivals in Le Roy Township - Early Settlement in Lyle and Lansing - Settlers of 1854 - Influx of Population Begins.

The first settlement within the present limits of ]\Iower county, of which tiiere is any record, was probably made July 4, 1852, in what is now Racine township, section 1, township 103, range 14. by Jacob McQuillan, Sr., and his party, which consisted of nine eldldren - of whom Jacob, Jr., brought his wife and family - and a son-in-law, Adam Zadyger. At that time no survey had been made, and as a matter of fact the land was not open to settlement, for although the Indian treaty of Mendota, which ceded the land to the whites, had at that time been signed by the Indians, and approved with amendments by the senate, the amendments had not been accepted by the Indians, nor the official proclamation issued by the president. Upon their arrival, the party camped by what is now known as the Hamilton spring. Before unhitching his team, ]\Ir. McQuillan nailed a coffee mill to a tree, as a visible sign of his claim to a homestead. For a time the family lived in the wagons, later they took up their abode in a rude cabin of rough poplar logs. Near the place of the settlement were two springs, some ten rods apart. Jacob McQuillan, Sr., took the Avest spring, and the land west of it, while his son, Jacob, Jr., took tlie land east of this line, thus including in his property the most eastern of the two springs. The county line now runs a few rods to the eastward of the line between the claims of the McQiiillans, Senior and Junior.

In 1854 a man named Booth pre-empted the quarter sectioii that young IMcQuillan had claimed, the claim being located in what is now Fillmore county. This created trouble, and a force of the McQuillans" friends congregated, well armed, to put the intruder out of the way. Booth's friends gathered to meet the opposition, and a party of them spent the night in readiness for the fray. Tlie ^IcQuillfui party sent out an advance guard, which was met by a few of Booth's friends, near tlie present site o\' Hamilton. When the McQuillan party discovered tliat Booth ;iiu' his friends were prepared to meet them and defend his claim, they soon dispersed. The place was in litigation for some time, nnd resulted not only in a victory for Booth, but also in the financial ruin of the McQuillans. This land, as has already been stated, was just over the line in Fillmore county, and included the site of the village of Hamilton.

Jacob McQuillan, Sr., occupied his claim in ]\Iower county several months and then moved to Fillmore county, renting his claim to Thomas W. Corey. About a year later he sold his Mower county property. He improved a claim in Fillmore county, and there lived until after the war. At the age of seventy-three he returned to Ohio, and there died shortly afterward. He was a powerful man with an iron constitution; very kind and hospitable, and well liked generally, though he was uneducated, and possessed of the roughness and gruffness of the typical forerunners of pioneer settlement.

Thomas W. Corey, already mentioned, made the second settlement in Racine township in the spring of 1853. He was a native of Massachusetts, and came from Illinois, overland, by way of Davenport and Decorah. He settled on the McQuillan claim and erected a log cabin, 18 by 22, in which he often entertained travelers, the cabin being on the then traveled route between Decorah and Mantorville. The charge was usually forty cents for two meals and lodging. Their postofflce and trading point was Decorah, Iowa.

After a time Mr. Corey moved across the line into Fillmore covinty and erected the first hotel in Hamilton. In 1880 he removed to Tennessee and died there two years later.

The second point of settlement in Mower county was also near the border line. In 1852 Isaac Van Houghton, who assisted in surveying the boundary line between the state of Iowa and the then territory of Minnesota, was much pleased with the vicinity of what is now Le Roy township. A year later he induced several of his fellow citizens of Lansing, Iowa, to join him in a colonizing venture. Consequently, some time during the summer of 1853, Isaac Van Houghton, George Squires, J. S. Priest, ]\Ioses Niles and Isaac Armstrong came to the extreme soutlieastern part of Le Roy township. Van Houghton claimed the southeast quarter of section 36 and Squires the northeast quarter of flu-! same section. Tliis, however, was before the survey, and wlicii the lines were laid it was found that their claims were on scliool lands and not subject to homestead entry. Armstrong clainuHl the west half of section 33, while Priest and Niles claimed the southeast half of section 35. These ehiims ;ire located ni)pr()xiinately, for, as

The western part of the county received four settlers in 1853. "Hunter" (H. O. or 0. P.) Clark, who settled in Lansing township ; one Woodbury and his son-in-law, Pinkerton, who settled in Lyle township, and Austin Nichols, who settled on the present site of Austin.

Clark took a claim and settled in the northwest quarter of section 3-1, in Lansing township. He built a log cabin a short distance northeast of where Oakwood cemetery is now located. May 8, 1855, he sold his claim to "William Baudler and moved west. The last seen of him was in Idaho.

One Woodbury, accompanied by a son-in-law, Pinkerton, came to Lyle township in the fall of 1853 and claimed a large tract of land bordering on the Red Cedar and on the creek that bears his name. He erected a log cabin on the northwest quarter of section 33. AVoodbury sold his claim in June, 1855, and moved to Olmsted county.

Austin Nichols hunted along the Cedar in 1852, and in 1853 reached the present site of Austin. In his reminiscences he does not state whether he spent the winter of 1853-54 here. At any rate, he drove his first claim stake June 8, 1854.

In 1855 the real influx of settlers began, and from then until 1860 the pioneers came in rapidly. A full account of the settlement of the various localities in the county is found in the separate township histories in this volume.