Black Hammer Township

Black Hammer Township

of the dry weather and scarceness of water, remained there only a few days, removing to a place in section 4, where there was a spring, and there he and his wife built a log house. In 1854 he sold his claim to Peter Carrier, Sr., and moved to a mill site he had found in Yucatan.

In March, 1853, the second pioneer of Black Hammer arrived, in the person of Torkel Aageson, a Norwegian, bom in 1818, who had been two years in America, having lived awhile in Rock County, Wisconsin, and Winnishiek County, Iowa. He brought tools with him, with which he built a habitation of poplar poles, with a birch bark roof, where he lived alone, the only white man in town, except Stevens, who was several miles away to the north. During the first season he broke ten acres, which marked the beginning of agriculture in the town. He afterwards planted an orchard and gathered the first crop of apples ever raised in this section.

In June, 1853, other settlers arrived, including Knud Olsen Ike, with his three sons, Knud, John and Ole ; Mr. Guttorm, and Jens Olsen Otterness, the two last mentioned of whom were still living on their original claims thirty years later.

Lars C. Findreng settled in section 21 in 1854. He died in 1873, when his son, Ole T., came into possession of the farm. Halver Olson came in 1853 and was a squatter on section 17. He moved west in the seventies. Another early settler was Christopher Ericson, who located in section 17.

The first death which occurred in the township was that of a daughter of Lars Skime, who died in 1864, and as a burial place a spot was designated on the farm of Torkel Aageson, on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 22, where about twenty interments were made prior to the establishment of the cemetery near the church. All indications of the spot having once been used as a burial ground, however, have long since disapi>eared.

The first birth in Black Hammer Township was that of Anna Maria Otterness, daughter of Guttorm Otterness, and occurred in the fall of 1853. She died in early womanhood.

The first town meeting was held in the schoolhouse in district 37, on April 5, 1859. The officers of the meeting were : Julius Billings, moderator; George Mitchell and O. W. Olson, judges, and Alexander Simpson, clerk. The meeting was called to order at ten o'clock. H. E. Solberg moved that the name of the town be "Clinton," and the motion prevailed. This name, however, was subsequently rejected by the state authorities, as there was already a town in the state by the same name. At this meeting resolutions were adopted permitting both hogs and dogs to run at large. Twenty-five votes were cast. The assessment for road tax was two days' work for each poll, and five mills per cent on real estate. The town was divided into six road districts, and the boundaries of each specifically defined. Three road overseers were appointed, William Carrier for the northem part, John McCabe for the southwest, and Christian Lamen for the southeast. At a town meeting on Dec. 31, 1863, it was voted that each volunteer soldier receive $300 as a town bounty, and that the drafted men receive a like amount, payable in town orders.

the country, unless some former residents may have bestowed it upon some newer settlement farther west. The name was derived in the following manner. Knud Olson Bergo, who was living just across the town line in Spring Grove, on getting up one morning saw that a fire had swept over the prairie in the south part of the township to the north, including a bluff which formed part of sections 27, 28 and 34. Its charred appearance at once suggested to his mind a certain bluff located in Slidre Valders, Norway, which was Mr. Bergo's birthplace, and so he exclaimed in Norwegian, "Sort Hammer," which signifies "Black Bluff and the peole have had the good sense to retain the name to this day, which, it will be perceived, is composed of an English and a Norwegian name. Mr. Bergo died many years ago and was buried in Spring Grove cemetery. In the early eighties his widow was living with her only daughter Mrs. Knud S. Nohre, near Riceford. The only son, Ole, removed to one of the western counties in the state.

The men from Black Hammer who early enlisted for service in the Civil War were assigned to Company F, Tenth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Their names, so far as can be learned, were: Hans O. Oleson and Chandler Flemming, who were killed at Nashville, Tenn.; Alvin Smith, who died at Memphis, Tenn. ; Silas Carrier, who died at Ft. Snelling, Minn. ; and Frank Brown, William Cooper, Silas J. Cooper, Henry Cooper and John Birdsell.

About Oct. 1, 1864, a number went into Company D, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. These were Tosten Johnson, Ole O. Ike, Andrew Christiansen, Ingvald Hansen, Ole O. Ose, John Anderson and John McCabe. Mr. McCabe was the only one who did not return. He left a widow and two children, who lost their lives in August, 1866 when their house, in section 29, was swept away by a flood.

A military company was organized in the town under the state laws during the war, and was duly officered and drilled. It numbered about 75 men, and had a band of three pieces, purchased by the town, and consisted of a fife, a snare drum, and a base drum. The headquarters of the company were at the schoolhouse in district No. 37. The officers were: Tosten Johnson, captain ; George Mitchell, first lieutenant, and Lars Larsen, second lieutenant, with the usual non-commissioned officers.

Crooked Creek is one of the eastern townships of Houston County and the second north of the Iowa line. It is somewhat smaller than a regular government township. Its eastern boundary line is formed by the western bank of the Mississippi River, while to the north lies the township of Brownsville, and a small part of Majrville; to the west Mayville and a part of Winnebago, and to the south Jefferson and Winnebago. Along the river, as in the other eastern townships, may be seen a chain