Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 19: Liberty and Ellenboro, 1900

Chapter 19: Liberty and Ellenboro

This town was organized in 1852 out of a part of Highland. As it had no mines nor other particular attractions, it was not settled very early. Jacob Roth and Andrew Ritchie came in 1847. The latter.was a prominent citizen until his death in 1893. Mr. Roth died in 1877. John A. Boerner came in 1858, and was a leader among the Germans who settled up the town. He was prominent in organizing the German Evangelical Church Society which built St. Paul's church, better known as the Rock Church, in Section 19. Solomon Clough came to the town some time in the forties. Bernard McCormick settled on Section 28 in 1850, and Thomas Weir on Section 19 in 1856. John Wilkinson came in 1854 and Frederick Martin in 1859.

The following is the roster of the principal town officers as far as can be ascertained. For the first two years the records are missing or defective.

Ellen Boro

This village was built as the result of the building of the railroad from Woodman to Lancaster in 1878. It is situated on the north¬ west corner of Section 9, on land formerly owned by Berphard Stitzer, an old settler. A depot was built here and W. W. Ford came from Lancaster to be station agent A store was put in by Smith & Bergheger. Since 1884 this firm has been Bergheger, Mauer & Langridge. A. Wefel & Son put in a second store. H. L. Fischer established the first blacksmith shop in 1879. Soon after Bernard Belskamper put in a blacksmith shop and began selling farm machinery.

Before the village was built there was a post-office in the vicinity with John Bingenheimer postmaster. The office was removed to the new village and W. W. Ford became postmaster. He was succeeded by Fred. Schuppener, John Gerhardt, Thomas A. Finnigan, andThode Sherman, the present incumbent.

The village now has two general merchandise stores, one hard¬ ware store, a meat market, two blacksmith shops, one hotel, one bar¬ ber shop, one furniture store, one lumber yard, one shoe shop and two saloons. It has an efficient physician, Dr. Nathan L Bailey, and three churches: the German Evangelical, Rev. H. Koepp, pastor; the Ger¬ man Methodist, Rev. F. 0. Barz, pastor, and the Germau Presbyterian, the pulpit of which is supplied by the pastor resident at Lancaster.

This town was organized in 1852 by the division of the town of Highland. Probably the earliest settler within the present limits of the town was J. H. C. McKinsey, who came from Platteville about 1837, and remained a prominent citizen of the town until his death August 21, 1871, aged 71. In 1853 he built a saw-mill and grist-mill on the site of the present village of Ellenboro. His wife was a sister of Major Rountree. He was long the postmaster and storekeeper of the village. Lyman C. Drake settled on Section 28 in 1839. William Foland came in 1840 and was a citizen of the town until his death in

1889, aged 81. George W. Cowan came in 1848 and the same year Manley Dean came from Big Patch to live on the farm of Almon Ailing, father-in-law of M. S. Trowbridge, of Lancaster. Among the resi¬ dents of the town at that time were Philo Tucker and George and Chester Brownell (who were noted as having the only horses in the town) and Chauncey Finley and Potower, who were burning char¬ coal. The first school taught in the town was by W. W. Robe in 1847. John M. Cannon settled in the town in 1848. Among the other set¬ tlers in the town at the close of the forties were Porter Ailing, Henry Hopkins, Frank and Darwin Bevans, Henrv Utt, and John M. Barr.

For a few months, beginning in December, 1876, Ellenboro had a a newspaper, although a very small one: the Pleasant Point Press, published by Ira D. Hurlbut, no w of the Prairie du Chien Union. It was 6x9 inches in size.

The only bloody crime of which the town has been the scene was the murder of Mrs. Christina Nuernberg, by her husband, George Nuernberg, August 21, 1884, who hung himself on a tree immediately after shooting his wife. When found, his dog was watching the corpse and would not allow anyone to touch it.

David Boyd, a farmer living on Platte River, a few miles east of Lancaster, committed suicide by hanging himself with a halter, July 2, 1877. Financial trouble was the cause.

The nucleus of the village of Ellenboro has always been McKinsey's Mill. It has had a post-office since 1 853, a school-house, a blacksmith shop, and two stores until recently, when a third store and a harnessshop were established. It has a creamery, established in 1895, which does a very large business.