Witoka, Minnesota

A. F. Hill arrived the same year and took up a farm on the same section. II. A. Corey and Lemuel Abell came to Wiscoy the same year (1855). H. A. Corey settled on Sec. 24, in Money Creek valley. He is still living and in possession of his farm. Lemuel Abell settled on N.W. J of Sec.' 3. O. G. Morrison arrived in 1857 and entered a part of Sec. 27. Both Lemuel Abell and O. G. Morrison have kept their farms without changing hands. The township was organized and the first meeting held May 10, 1858. Rufus Thomas was a])pointed town clerk. The members of the first board were : Lemuel Abell, Joseph Brooks, supervisors ; H. A. Corey, assessor; Franklin Vidits, collector ; James Greenfield, overseer of the poor ; Calmer Harris, Edward Taylor, justices of the peace ; Esben Skinkle, A. B. Watsen, constables. The town clei-ks in order : Rufus Thomas, 1858-9 ; S. G. Jones, 1859-60 ; C. A. Fuller, 1860-62 ; C. A. Wheeler, 1862-65 ; M. S. Wood, 1865-67 ; C. A. Wheeler, 1867-8; D. W. Pickart, 1868-9; S. G. Jones, 1869-72; James (lark, 1872-82-3. Present board: E. Skinkle, Charles Waldo, wnY>KA villa(;e. Witoka was laid out in 1855 by Geo. W. Morse, L. Thomas and David Parker. It lies on Sec. 35 and comprises an area of fifty- eii^ht acres. It was known at first by the name of Centerville, but was afterward changed to Witoka. L. Thomas came May 16, 1855, and built the first house in the village. He also jDut up a store for the sale of general merchandise. The same year Calvin Ford came and started a store also. A blacksmith shop was built at this time by Wm. Jones, who was followed by Harvey Bourne. The first postoffice was established in 1856; L. Thomas was the postmaster. - During the fii-st year he carried the mail at his own expense, but at the end of that time a mail route was established. The first marriage was that of Becky Smitli to Wm. More in 1857. In 1856 a small dwelling-house was built which was turned into a schoolhouse. This school was taught by Rufus Thomas. A district school was erected in 1857 ; the first teacher was Charlotte French. There was a doctor in the village at this time. Dr. Samuel Miller. Divine service was held as early as 1855, in the house of L. Thomas, presided over by Rev. Cogswill. The next year, 1856, a series of sermons were delivered every tour weeks by Elder L. Babcock, in the same place. After this meetings were held in the schoolhouse,- by both Methodist and Baptist ministers. The first hotel in Witoka, a large frame building, was owned by L. Thomas, and was burned in 1877. At present there are two towns, known respectively as West or Old Witoka and East or New Witoka. All the residence part of the village is in West Witoka, while the business part, stores, hotel, etc., lies in East Witoka. East Witoka lies directly on the line between Wilson and Wiscoy townships. When the Pleasant Valley road was laid out in 1878, all the stores, etc., left the old town and came over to East Witoka. At present writing there are two stores in East Witoka, kept respectively by O. Abell and George Yongs ; two blacksmith shops, owned by Phillip Bourne and B. Bragg ; two wagon shops, worked by B. Bragg and Walter Crandell ; a large brick hotel two stories high, run by L. Thomas. The dimensions of the hotel are 84x21: feet, with a wing 26x18. The postmaster is O. Abell. A fine graded school was built in West Witoka in 1868. It is a frame building with a dimension of 80X30 feet. The school has two departments; the "principal'' is W. Wilbur, with Emma Stray er as "assistant." J. Crandall is the village physician. There is one church in West W^itoka, the Congregational. The building was intended for the use of a grangers' hall, but was sold in 1879 to the church. Rev. Elmer was the first pastor ; he was replaced in 1880 by the pi-esent pastor, H. A, Bushnell. A Sabbath school exists in connection with the church, with an average attendance of sixty-live pupils. Henry Kader is the superintendent. There is one society in Witoka, the "Witoka Grange.'"' This association was organized in 1870, with a membership of 1-14. The otHcers for 1882 were : G. M. Hiley, worthy master ; J. E. Balch, secretary; H. Neman, treasurer. Its object is mutual protection from monopolies and exorbitant charges for transportation.

Passage source: History of Winona County, published 1883.

There are two postoffices in Wilson township, one at Witoka, O. Abell, postmaster ; another on Sec. 29 is kept by Henry Biaiser - this is known as Wilson postoffice. The first house in the township was built by J. Giles in 1854 on Sec. 29. Frank Brown was the first child born, in 1854, The postoffice now known as Wilson postoffice was first called Wayland postoffice, and was kept by John F. Giles. John Giles was no doubt the first man to settle in Wilson ; he came as early as 1853 and entered a part of what is now Sec. 29. He was, however, dissatisfied with his claim, and removed, but returned again in 1854. The year 1855 was marked by the entrance of a large number of land-seekers. J. C. Walker, Antone Schoebe, Joseph A. Hilbe, Joseph Heller, Wm. Bergman, Sr., Wm. Bergman, Jr., Louis Keller, Levi Winget, Jerry Moran, R. D. Fellows, Michael Koenig, Henry Benig, Lauren Thomas and Henry Heublin all were among the number.

Passage source: History of Winona County, published 1883.

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 Wiscoy Township - it names this place 1 more 1 time.