Saratoga Township

Saratoga Township

This township lies in the extreme southwestern corner of Winona county, having Qlrastead county on the west and FiUmore county on the south. Though the face of the country is somewhat broken along its western front, it contains some of as fine farming land as is to be found in any state of the Union. Settlements were made almost simultaneously in the western portion of the township and. along the northern ridge, adjoining the township of St. Charles. These settlements date back a period of nearly thirty years, and some of the claims then taken are still being farmed by the original pre-emptors. Tlie soil upon the prairie is a deep vegetable loam, with a clay subsoil ; but in the oak openings it is of a lighter character, a sandy loam intermixed with gravel. This latter is a quicker, warmer soil, and specially adapted to the growth of corn, as this cereal ripens quicker on the gravelly soil, a very material consideration in this latitude. All the valuable farming lands of the township may be included under one or the other of these classes of soil. The western portion of the township is well watered and quite a valuable water privilege exists at Troy. The volume of water, thougli not large, having its sources in unfailing springs, afibrds with its head of twenty feet sufficient power to maintain a very considerable milling industry. The staple of the farms in past years has been wheat, to which within the past decade the growth of barley has been added in quantities sufficient to dispute the palm. These grains, with clover and timothy seed (which are grown in large quantities), oats and corn, have been and still are the main dependence of the farmer throughout this whole region, little if any stock more than sufficient for farm purposes being raised. But as the wheat yield has decreased from time to time, more and more attention has been paid to the breeding of horses, cattle and swine for market, and now there are some valuable herds of these animals on well conducted stock farms within the area of the township. Dairying has also begun to challenge the attention of the farmers of this and adjoining townships, and some farms keep quite a number of milch cows, the number and quality of them increasing from year to year. Creameries are being established to manufacture the cream product of these dairy herds, and the industry promises soon to assume an important rank among the farm products of the western portions of the county. Considerable settlements had been made in Saratoga township as early as the s])ring of 1855, a few pre-emptions and actual occupancy of the land dating as far back as the fall of 1858. The settlements during 1855 were numerous, and the following season, 1856, it was (juite difhcult if not impossible to fingl any valuable lands unclaimed. The formal organization of the township was effected under the new state government, May 11, 1858, at Troy, a small village and postoffice in the southwestern part of the township, at which time the usual officers were elected. Luke Blair and Thomas P. Dixon were appointed judges of election, and J. P. Moulton and E. W. Day, clerks. The whole number of ballots cast was MO. Luke Blair, elames Walker and Robert JSTesbit were elected supervisors ; J. C. Dixon, town clerk ; E. S. Harvey, assessor ; D. Durham, collector of taxes ; Thos. P. Dixon and Oscar Kately, justices of the ]>eace ; L. M. Phelps and Alvin Durham, constables ; Geo. W. Grain, overseer of the poor, and L. B, Smitli, overseer of roads. The townshi]) was named Saratoga, on account of the beautiful natural springs in its western section, the vote standing eighty-six in favor of Saratoga and sixty in favor of Afton. The office of town clerk has been successively filled as follows: A. D. Trowbridge, elected as the successor of J. G. Dixon, in 1859, held the office three years ; E. W. Day, elected in 1862, served one year ; P. F. Thurbur, one year ; Wm. LI. Fry, one year. In 1865 E. W. Day was again elected and served until 1878, a period of thirteen years, when the present incumbent, E. B. Gery, was elected, and has held the office continuously until date, March 1, 1883. The town officers elected or holding over for 1882, are: J. D. Ball (chairman), Alexander Gampbell and O. B. Suthei-land, supervisors ; N. M. Gross, treasurer; W. B. Hesselgrave, assessor; E. B. Gery, town clerk; G. French and Samuel Gary, justices of the peace; Ira Canfield and James Wise, constables. A comfortable and commodious town hall was erected in 1877. It is situated in the center of the township and

The military record of the township was never kept. The names recorded of the few men enlisted toward the close of the war, when the pros])ects of a draft were imminent, afford no ])ro})er data from which to calculate the number of men who volunteered from this township during 1861-65 inclusive. All that can be gathered on this ])oint will be ])resented in the military records of the county as a whole. No township register of births, deaths, marriages was kept, by which to determine positively the actual date of the earlier of sucli events, yet the following statement concerning early township matters may be taken as substantially correct. The first claim to United States lands under the pre-emption act made in this township was by one Hawes, some time in the season of 1853, but the date of his claim cannot be accurately given. The second, third and fourth claims were made by Luke Blair, on September 12, 1853, principally in Sec. 2, and were for himself and his two sons, Chas. L. and John L. Isaac Arnold and Fullerton also made claims that same fall, but date of claims is not ascertained.

The first white child born in the township was George N. Blair, son of G-eo. W. and M. S. Blair (nee Deuell), born July 20, 1855. Following him was a son of Gilman French, born in the year 1855, then Geo. D. French, son of John S. and Kate French, born February 6, 1856 ; John M. Blair, son of John T, Blair, born in 1856 ; Otto Phelps, born some time in the fiill of 1856.

The first death and burial in the township was that of a non-resident, Rev. Angel Wright, who, following some horse thieves into this section from Iowa, was taken sick and died in Saratoga village, some time in the summer of 1855. The first death of an actual resident was that of Justen Braddock, early in August, 1 856, and immediately following was that of Mrs. Dr. Gates, wife of G. L. Gates, M.D., now of Winona city, who died August 25, 1856. Harriet Warren died April 29, 185Y; an infant son of George Blair's, July 1, that season; a child of Henry Olney's about the same time, and Kate Flannigan in the following September. These last four were buried in what is known as Wortli cemetery, the others in Saratoga cemetery, but all within the bounds of the township.

On the night before Christmas, 1856, a brother of Mrs. William Reeves, traveling from High Forest, Olmstead county, passed through Saratoga village, warmed himself at the hotel of Moulton & Dixon, and notwithstanding the warning of Mr. Dixon, concluded to try and reach his sister's house, five miles distant, despite the severe storm and cold. This man was found frozen to death on Sec. 9, by Mr. Charles Gerrish, on Christmas morning, eight o'clock, onehalf a mile from his house, one and one-fourth miles from Mr. Reeves'. Mr. Gerrish took charge of the body without waiting for a coroner, and finding from the deceased papers that he had come from Chatfield, took him to Saratoga for identification. And this act of Mr. Gerrish's in taking charge of the bod} without waiting for coroner, was made the occasion of an electioneering argument

The first marriage actually celebrated within the township was that of Lester Becker and Shuah Littletield, December 25, 1855; but the marriage of William Smith and Jane FuUerton, residents of the township, was performed at Chatfield at least ten months earlier, about the middle of February, 1855. Following these was the marriage of Allen Whipple and Lois Harding, November 8, 1856, and that of Samuel Burns and Jane Flemraing, at probably an earlier date than the fall of 1856, but nothing positive can be ascertained in relation thereto.

The first frame farm buildings in Saratoga township were erected on the claim of Luke Blair, N.W. ^ of Sec. 2. These were a frame barn, 16x24 feet, with 14 feet posts, and a frame dwelling (now standing as the kitchen part of the farm-house), 16x24, with 8 feet posts. These buildings were erected in the spring of 1855. The frame dwelling of H. G. Cox, still standing in excellent repair, built of oak plank, was erected in 1857. The first sawmill was built in the winter of 1856-57 (by H. G. Cox and Vincent Hix) for George Hayes and Lewis Smith. It was situated about one and one-half miles southeast from the village of Troy, on Trout run. The first gristmill was built in 1857, by Joseph and Samuel Musser, who brought their millwriglits with them from Pennsylvania. This mill is still standing at Troy, on the water privilege there, a most excellent one with about twenty feet head. The first crop of grain grown in the township, as nearly as now known, was on the Wheeler boy's claim, the N.W. J of Sec. 5, now owned by Lyman Cox.

As early as 1854^5, Harvey & Broughton, and the following year Broughton & Andrews, ke])t small stocks of goods, groceries and supplies principally along the ridge on the north line of the township. In the fall of 1856, H. M. Clark, now of Chatfield, Olmstead county, brought in a small stock of groceries and crockervware, and started business in Saratoga village. This stock was sold the folk)wing spring to Dixon & Moulton and merged into the general store established by them in the spring of 1857.

Rev. Gardner K. Clark was the first minister to settle in the township. He came in the fall of 1866 (with his son H. M.) and the first church service (Congregational) was held in Gate's log-house, still standing, a monument of early pioneer times. The following season, 1857, the church was built and in the fall of that year was oecu-

The first hotel in the township was built and kept by Thomas P. Dixon, still a resident of the city, and J. P. Moulton, who at a later date represented Olmstead county in the state legislature, and for six years was receiver of the land office at Wellington, Minnesota. The first postoffice was established at Saratoga in 'the fall of 1856. Thomas P. Dixon was commissioned postmaster, and, with the exception of two years during the latter part of Buchanan's administration, held the office until he resigned in April, 1882, the date of his removal from Saratoga to St. Charles. His removal from the office in 1858 and the appointment of John O'Learyas his successor, the latter a man who could neither read nor write, was effected on political grounds and mainly through the influence of the Chatfield land office.

The first physician who located in the township was John C. Dixon, who taught school in the little settlement of Saratoga village during the winter of 1856-7, commencing practice as a physician in the spring of tlie latter year. Dr. Dixon is not now a resident of the county, having removed some years since to Candor, Tioga county, New York,

The first schoolhouse in the township was built by voluntary subscription in the summer of 1856, on the town plat of Saratoga, near the church, and was first occupied that fall, when Dr. Dixon was employed as teacher. The first school taught in the township was opened in Charles Gerrish's house, on Sec. 9. This was a double log-house, and in one of these rooms, the south one, the school was opened in the summer of 1856 for a term of three months. The teacher's name was Helen Hewitt, and there were twenty-seven pupils on her school register.

Evergreen Lodge^ No. JpS^ A. F. and A. M. - Located at Troy, a small post village in the southeast corner of Saratoga township, was chartered December 23, 1864, upon petition of S. Y. Hyde, A. IN". Rice, S. S. Armstrong, Vincent Hicks, J. C. Hopkins, E. J. Thompson, C. M. Lovell and D. S. Hacket. Mr. S. Y. Hyde, now of La Crosse, was the first worsliipful master, and his successors have been Freeman Morse, R, B. Kellum, S. 'L. Draper, M. H. Fuller and H. H. Straw. The first secretary was A. N. Price, succeeded by Neil Currie, E. B. Grerry, W. W. Heyden, L. A. Gates, H. H. Heyden, W. E. Walker and W. B. Hesselgrave. The

The total number of members connected with the Lodge since organization has been ninety. Of this number six have died, thirty-four appear on the list of present members, and the rest have demitted. Last year the lodge completed a new hall at a cost of $1,200, and are now in comfortable quarters.