Cherry Grove Township

Cherry Grove Township

This is one of the southern tier of townships in Goodhue county. A branch of the Zumbro river meanders through the south part of the town ; and along the valley of this stream there are large areas covered with timber. The greater portion, however, is gently rolling prairie. The soil is excellent for agricultural purposes, being well watered ; is well calculated for stock raising and dairy farming.

The first settlers were Madison Brown, Heading and Benjamin Woodward, in 1854. The next year, Silas Merriam, Samuel and William Shields, Joseph Seymore, Wilson Kelsey, Thomas Haggard, John and Charles Lent, came and made their claims. In the

The first church organization, in 1856, was that of the Christian Disciples, who held their services in the house of James Haggard, David Haggard preaching the first sermon. A village was platted in the south part of the town in 1857 and named Fairpoint, where a post-office was established the next year. Silas Merriam was the first post-master.

The first marriage in the township was between Elizabeth, daughter of T. B. Haggard, and John Hart. The first town meeting was held May 11, 1858. The following officers were elected : Benjamin Woodward, Cyrus H. Bart and David Simpson, supervisors ; E. G. Comstock, town clerk ; Francis A. Crebb, assessor ; James Haggard and Peter Stagle, constables ; John Haggard and F. A. Crebb, justices ; Israel T. Comstock and R. Woodward, road overseers. A fine grove o^ timber near the center of the township gave it the name it bears. On the south side of this grove the first school house was built, and the first school taught. A neat stone school building now occupies the same spot. There are three small villages in Cherry Grove ; one at the grove just mentioned, containing one store, a blacksmith shop, hotel and a few private dwellings.

Fairpoint is on the southern border, has a fine church, a hotel, two blacksmith shops, several stores and private houses. Fairpoint has a post-office. There are four large and commodious churches in this town, one Cath-

This township, 112 north, of range 17 west, was named for Mr. Wm. Featherstone, who came with his family and settled here in 1856. Philip Storkel, Messrs. Coleman, Spencer, Goldsmith and Locke had made claims and settled the year previous.

The surface along the eastern border of this town is broken by the valley of Hay creek ; also the northwestern along the margin of Spring creek is intersected by ravines to some extent. The south and central portions are rolling prairie. The soil is of excellent quality and well repays the husbandman for his labor. Mr. William Featherstone, now a resident of Red Wing, says that he bought a claim in 1856, a number of acres of which had been broken the year before, and sowed ten bushels of fife wheat, which he brought from Canada ; the first seed wheat of the kind in the State of Minnesota. His first crop yielded only about eighteen bushels per acre. He sold what wheat he could spare for seed ; broke up 170 acres more of land and sowed the next year, receiving a yield of about twenty-four bushels per acre. The larger portion of this crop was also sold for seed. And this was the origin of the kind now commonly called hard wlieat.

Libbey, a daughter of Wm. Libbey, Esq. A school meeting was called in October, 1857, to organize the first school district. F. N. Leavitt was elected chairman ; George Featherstone, clerk ; William Freyberger, William Libbey and William Watson, were chosen trustees. There were then but seventeen children of school age, though the district comprised nearly the whole town. A school house was built the following winter. There are now six good school houses in Featherstone. The people have ever been forward to give their children a good education, consequently a large number of school teachers and professional men now engaged in other parts of the country were once scholars in tlie common schools of Featherstone. There is but one church edifice, the M. E. church erected in 1862. There is a neat and commodious town hall, centrally located, to accommodate political gatherings and for the transaction of town business. On Trout brook, in the northeastern part of the town, is an extensive tannery, and a sugar mill, both owned and managed by J. F. Porter, Esq., which have been already referred to under the head of manufactories. The number of employes is such that a pretty village has sprung up. A neat chapel has been built there for Sunday schools and public worship, known as Trout Brook chapel.

The earliest claim hunters generally passed by this broad prairie because it produced nothing but grass, and made choice of lands at much greater distance from the river in order to find trees and running water. At the present day we behold the finest residences

No stranger can cross Featherstone prairie in the summer season without being impressed, botli with the beauty of the landscape, and the indications of thrift and prosperity seen on every hand.

There is not a tavaru, store, post-office, nor dram shop, in the town. As it joins the city of Red Wing for a mile on its northern border there is no necessity for such things.

Ezekial Burleigh built a large house here in 185(), and opened a hotel for the accommodation of travelers, but discontinued the business in a few years and devoted himself wholly to farming. A store was kept open several years at Trout Brook but was abandoned.

Source changes here: from History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, by Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn, published 1909; 1,467 words in this source stream.

Cherry Grove Township

Cherry Grove is one of the southern tier of townships in the county. It is bounded on the north by Wanamingo, on the west by Kenyon, on the south by Dodge county, and on the east by Roscoe. One complete government township, No. 109, range 17, constitutes its area, which has remained unchanged since the township act of 1858. Its surface is that of a high prairie, with low, broad, undulations of surface. The drainage is toward the north and south, from the elevated central portion. A branch of the Zumbro winds through the southern portion of the township, and along its valley are some wooded portions, although for the most part the township is under cultivation. The soil is excellent for agricultural purposes, and a specialty is made of dairy farming in that vicinity, the residents being a progressive set of people, who have adopted all the latest methods in agricultural operations.

The territory comprised in the township remained practically an unbroken wilderness until 1854, when, in the spring of that year. Madison Brown located a claim on section 31. In the fall of the following year, however, he sold his claim to Silas Merrinian. and went to Iowa. Of his subsequent career nothing is to be learned, although it is supposed that he was hilled in the Civil War. In the fall of 1851. Reading and Benjamin AYoodward selected claims adjoining that of Brown. Benjamin soon after went to Iowa, where he died, while Reading remained as a permanent settler. In the following year came Silas Merriman, already mentioned, Samuel and William Shields, Joseph Seymour, Wilson Kelsey, Thomas Haggard, and John and Charles Lent. In the spring following came E. 0. Comstock, Israel T. and Taft Cornstock. Samuel Winston, John Nichols, J. A. Ray and others. It will be noted that the majority of the settlers were eastern people, and a number of their descendants still maintain the New England and New York traditions of their ancestors. These settlers, in the earliest days, were made the subject of considerable annoyance. Marauding bands of ruffians created acute apprehension, and the choicest claims were constantly being jumped. In the winter of 1855-56 a claim meeting was called and an organization effected for the protection of the settlers.

T. B. Haggard was appointed captain. This force was soon after called together to protect the settlers, which they did so effectively that thereafter the residents were allowed to pursue their various callings in peace. The setlement in the northern part of the township was started in 1856, when Darius Johnson made a claim on section 6. He was followed hy Payington Root, and soon after by many others, mostly pioneers from Norway.

In 1857 a village was platted in the southern part of the town and called Fairpoint. The proprietors were Thomas Haggard and a man named Beekwith. In 1863 several buildings were erected in this village. A postoffice was established there in 1S58. Silas Merriam was the postmaster. Owing to the small amount of mail received, this office was discontinued in 1861. Some years later it was re-established and Herman Eastman named as postmaster. In 1867 Herman Eastman and E. B. Jewitt opened a store in the village, and a year later David Haggard was appointed postmaster.

A log cabin schoolhouse was built in 1857, at the edge of a cherry grove in the central part of the township, and the first school session was taught by E. G. Comstock that winter. In 1861 a stone schoolhouse was erected on the site of this old log structure. The first church organization was effected in 1856, when the Christian Disciples met at the home of James Haggard and listened to a sermon by David Haggard. The first service by a regularly ordained clergyman was by the Rev. J. M. Gates at his own residence in the spring of 1857. The first marriage in the township was between Elizabeth, daughter of T. B. Haggard, and John Hart, in August, 1857. The first death was that of Fliza Jane, daughter of T. B. Haggard, December 16, 1857. The first town meeting was held May 11, 1858. at which time officers were elected as follows : Supervisors, Benjamin "Woodward (chairman), Cyrus H. Burt and David Simpson ; town clerk, E. G. Comstock ; assessor, Francis A. Crebb ; constables, James Haggard and Peter Stagle; justices of the peace, John Haggard and F. A. Crebb ; road overseers, Israel T. Comstock and Reading Woodward. James Haggard was appointed collector in May, 1858. There being a tie vote, no supervisor of the poor was elected.

The official list of the men who enlisted from this township during the Civil War is as follows : F. H. Bullock, William Catlin, Jr., Ryal Catlin, Alva K. Eastman, Edward Hudson, Jesse T. Hamlin, Rufus Hart, Mc. D. Willoughby, Orville Ames, Danforth W. Cook, Theodorick Drum, William Forsyth, Thomas E. Gillett, Thomas B. Haggard. George Hanlden, Simeon Steemerr Uriah Hopkins, Francis E. Presley, Jonathan Dibble, Alvin Davis. Abram Doner. Hans Jordt, Ferris Johnson, Charles C. Lent,

Cherry Grove has four large and commodious churches - -one Catholic, one German Lutheran and one Norwegian Lutheran. There have been postoffices at Ayr, Fairpoint and Spring Creek.

Central Point

Central Point, the most easterly as well as the smallest of Goodhue county townships, lies in a bend in Lake Pepin directly above Lake City. It contains one complete section and several fractional ones and is bounded on the north and east by the lake, south by Lake City in Wabasha county, and west by Florence. Its surface is broken. An isolated bluff rises in the eastern part, and its peculiar shape has won the name of Sugar Loaf. A point of land extending some distance into the lake about midway between the head and foot of same gives the town its name.

By reason of its excellent landing place and its position midway in the lake, there were many early dreams of its future greatness as a shipping point. Charles Gould settled near here in about 1850. In 1853 a Mr. Gridley made a claim to some land. He was followed by R, L. Phillips, H. L. Barrett and Hannibal Bonnell. Soon quite a flourishing neighborhood gathered about the landing, and in 1855 a village plat was surveyed and speculation in village lots for a time became quite lively.- Silas Crop built a store and stocked it with general merchandise. Mr. Feary built a hotel, which was opened by E. S. Harrison. A postoffice was established and Perry D. Martin was appointed postmaster. In 1856 C. W. and E. Hackett built another store, which was also filled with general merchandise. Charles Moe built a steam sawmill and commenced the manufacture of lumber. At this time Central Point" was the only steamboat lauding in the vicinity, and for a period it seemed designed to become a lumbering center, where would bo sawed the logs floated down the lake in rafts from points on the Mississippi and the St. Croix. But it was soon found that Lake City afforded a much better landing, and as a result business -was drawn away from Central Point and toward Lake City. However, in 1857 Lewis & Scott built another sawmill, which was conducted for a time by Frank Sterrit and afterward bought and conducted by S. S. and G. H. Grannis. The manufacture of sorghum syrup in later years became an important industry. The first school was taught in 1858. In 1873 a very fine and commodious school building was erected. The first house built in the town was a log cabin constructed by H. L. Barrett. In this house the Rev. M. Sorin conducted the first religious service held in the township. The first death was that of an infant child of C. AY. Hackett. in 1856. Of the first marriage no record has been left. It is also impossible to learn of the first town officers, as the early records were destroyed by mice sonic years ago. before any transcription was made of the important fads.

The contribution from Central Point to the ranks of the LTnion army would seem almost impossible were it not a matter of official record. According to these records, no less than twenty-one men enlisted from this town. They were: Wesley F. Bailey. Dexter Chacldock, James AY. Delong, AYallaee AY. Delong. John R. Graham, Ambrose Gardiner, John Gardiner, George Harrison. Edward B. Hawkins, Marcus Hills. Baker Harrison, Clarence Hubbard, Charles Lathan, Adjutant Perry D. Martin, Levi M. Phillips, John L. Rice, Charles H. Sibley, George Weaver, George S. Harrison, John S. Harrison and Columbus Phillips.

John G. AYooley, the famous temperance orator, started a home for drunkards in 1891, and several substantial buildings were erected, but the enterprise was afterward abandoned.