Jefferson, Minnesota

The men who started the ball of civilization rolling in Jefferson Township, and, incidentally, in the county, were John and Samuel Ross, two brothers, who arrived here on a steamboat from Galena in 1847, and disembarked at a point on the west bank of the river, whence they proceeded to select places of settlement. With the help of the Indians they erected cabins and began pioneer work, being engaged for the most part in lumbering. On the survey of the state line in 1849, Samuel, whose location was some distance to the south of John's, found that his cabin was in the state of Iowa. Several years later he sold out to John, and resided at Ross's Landing, the site of Jefferson Village, and continued logging, running his timber down to Galena. Soon after the Rosses came a man named Smith, located a claim in the vicinity, but a little later sold it to a Norwegian who arrived, accompanied by his wife. These latter settlers had not been there long, when some one calling at their cabin, found that the man had been dead for four days, and that his wife was too sick to get up from his side. The two Rosses gave the body decent burial under an oak tree near the spring, and one of them took the woman to Lansing, where she was lost sight of. Patrick Collins, who arrived in the township in May, 1854, became a permanent settler, establishing in section 30. John Cauley and family came the same year and it was about the same time that Thomas Brady, Patrick Donahue, Patrick McCue, D. Friney, and Daniel Kennedy arrived. Michael Crowley, who came from Louisville, Ky., died after living here a few years ; his wife survived him until 1880. The first death in the town was probably that of their son Patrick, who was drowned in September, 1854. While taking some oxen to water he was crowded by them over a high bluflf, and although soon taken from the water, all efforts to resuscitate him proved unavailing.

Passage source: History of Houston County, Minnesota, published 1919.

Robert Kenny, who was prominent among the early settlers of Jefferson Township, was born in Kilkenny County, Ireland, in 1835, and came to America with his parents when ten years old. He came to this township with his brother Thomas in the spring of 1854. In May, 1861, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Kirby, a widow, who had long been a resident of Dubuque County, Iowa. He resided in various places until 1872, when he moved to New Albin, where he built a house. For some years, while living in Houston County, he was quite prominent in local politics, but later gave his attention solely to business matters, and had a successful career. His wife died in April, 1879, and was buried in the Jefferson Catholic cemetery.

Passage source: History of Houston County, Minnesota, published 1919.

Another pioneer settler of Jefferson township was Peter McDonald, a native of Canada, who came to the township with his brother. Ensign, in October, 1865. For a number of years they had resided in New York, and in July, 1852, Peter had been married in Waterbury, this state, to Catherine McMullen. The day after arriving here he took a claim in section 7, his brother, who had been here the season before, taking one in section 28. After the arrival of Mr. McDonald's family in the following spring, he moved to section 34, where he established a permanent home. In May, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war.

Passage source: History of Houston County, Minnesota, published 1919.

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 Jefferson Township - it names this place 4 more 4 times.