Bath, Minnesota

Bath is the center of the northern tier of towns in Freeborn county. Its contiguous surroundings are as follows: Waseca county on the north ; Geneva township on the east ; Bancroft town¬ ship on the south ; and Hartland township on the west. It con¬ tains thirty-six sections or square miles, comprising the territory of town 104, range 21. In early days the most of the township was covered with a growth of burr oak. This was interspersed with meadow or small patches of prairie land. There is a prairie of about 2,560 acres, located in the southwestern part of the township. The timber has been removed to a great extent, and the rich land been converted into valuable farms. The surface is rolling, and in places the undulation is so abrupt as to be called ridges, which are not subject to cultivation. The soil is a dark sandy loam, underlain with a subsoil of clay. The town is not so well watered as its neighbors, has no stream, and only one lake wholly within its borders. An arm of Geneva lake extends from the town bearing its name into section 25 of Bath, and covers a few acres of land. Lake George is the only body of water wholly within the boundaries, lying in the southern part of section 22. It was named in honor of George Skinner, Jr.

Passage source: History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, published 1911.

Bath township has two villages, Clark's Grove and Bath. A Catholic church and cemetery are located in the western part of section 8. The Advent church is in the eastern part of section 17. The Norwegian Lutheran church and cemetery are in the south¬ western part of section 21. The Danish Baptist church and cemetery are east of Clark's Grove.

Passage source: History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, published 1911.

In the summer of 1857, a party of Norwegians, consisting of Hans Peterson, Ingebret Erickson, and Nels Nelson, came with teams, bringing their families, and settled upon claims. Erickson left in 1880 for the Red River country; Nelson died during the war, in defense of his country. About the same time Richard Fitzgerald, a native of Ireland, came and first located at St. Nicholas, where he put in a crop; but soon after made his way to Bath. Fred W. Calkins came in June, 1857 and died in 1863.

Passage source: History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, published 1911.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Bath Township - it names this place 5 more 5 times.