Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 20: Clifton and Lima, 1900

Chapter 20: Clifton and Lima

The first settler in the town was Francis C. Kirkpatrick, who came in 1827. His essay in agriculture is described on page 17. The next settler of record was William I. Madden who settled on Section 12 in 1837. William Kirkpatrick came in 1838, John Henry in 1839, Andrew Clifton in 1841, William Clifton in 1842, Isaac W. McReynolds, William Bull, Ross J. Ferry, Benjamin Britten, and Lewis Crow in 1843. The Crow Branch Diggings were opened this year, and among those who came the next year was William Andrew. John Watson and Enoch Johnson came to the mines in 1849. William Howdle and Gilbert Bunker came in 1851, William Allen in 1854, Peter Biddick in 1855, and John Allen in 1856. Mahlon Fawcett set¬ tled on Section 34 in 1853. After 1856 the fertile prairies of the town filled up rapidly with farmers, too numerous to be mentioned.

The town was organized in 1850. It is Town 5, Range 1, and contains thirty-six square miles, a large portion of it fertile prairie. The Crow'Branch lead mines have been of some importance but agri¬ culture has long been the chief industry of the town. The agricultural interests of the town suffered for lack of transportation until the build¬ ing of the railroad, noted elsewhere; but now there is a depot in the town and two or three others near its borders. The population of the town has been : in 1855, 730; in 1860, 961; in 1865, 877; in 1870, 1,076; in 1875, 999; in 1880. 1,078; in 1885, 1,073; in 1890, 1,074; in 1895, 1,04-1.'

In 1861 William Kraemer established a wagon factory, and laid ont the village of Annaton in Section 18, town of Clifton, on Platte River. He also opened a store. The wagon buisness flourished for several years.

A grist-mill was built in 1875, by a Mr. Jacobs, who sold it two years later to Gottlieb Wilke, who in turn sold to Jordan Scheel. The mill was abandoned some time ago. The machinery was taken to Ok¬ lahoma about January 1, 1900.

Muender Brothers bought Kraemer's store, and it was burned January 22, 1888, with a loss of $4,000. Another small store was put in by George H. Selleck. It was burned February 4, 1890. G. H. Goldman, who was appointed postmaster in 1890, and still retains the office, put in a small stock of goods, but soon sold it to two Arab peddlers. The post-office is all that remains of Annaton's former in¬ stitutions.

This thriving village was a result of the building of the railroad from Galena to Montfort Junction. It is situated in Section 13, Clif¬ ton. It has one general merchandise store, one drugstore, two hard¬ ware stores, three grocery stores, two meat markets, one furniture store, one millinery shop, one harness shop, one barber shop, two hotels, one livery stable, one restaurant, two blacksmith shops, and a

The village bears the name of a family quite prominent in the town, but as they were not pioneers, they were not mentioned above. The names of several members of the family appear in the list of of¬ ficers above.

Martinville is a post-office and small village in Section 14. The village site was surveyed in November, 1856. Gilbert H. Bunker, Adam Keith, Andrew Brown, Isaac Sinnett, William Allen, William C. Wright, Charles Gundlach and Sanford Millard were the proprietors.

New California is a small village in Section 28. A post-office was established here in 1850, which was the nucleus of the village. The office was discontinued in 1855 but restored in 1856, with W. O. Thomas, later of Montfort, as postmaster. The village plat was surveyed February 3, 1850, bv C. G.Rodolf. William Henry was the proprietor.

A prominent figure in the history of Clifton was Thomas Watson, who came to Crow Branch Diggings in 1850, and died in 1895. He was long chairman of the town board and a justice of the peace.

This is one of the towns organized in 1849. Among the early set¬ tlers were Farnam Johnson, who settled on Section 20 in 1838; Isaac Gilham, on Section 33, in 1836; Joseph J.Basye, on Section 4, in 1839; Isaac Z. Whittaker, on Section 10, in 1839, and William D. Hirst in 1847. James McNair came to the town in 1846, but the same year went to Fennimore. Henry Rewey came in 1844. John Whitcher, the father of George S. Whitcher, came in 1845, and lived in the town until his death in 1878.

The town is settled largely with a very good class of people of na¬ tive stock, but one region is known as the " Bad Lands," on account of the crimes committed there. The Sisley case has been described in Chapter X, Part I. John Fank, one of the "hard cases" of the Bad Lands, was killed by William Holzer on the night of September 1,

1890. It was known that Holzer was an enemy of Fank and stood in fear of him. On his arrest Holzer confessed that he met Fank in a corn-field and, after a quarrel, shot him and buried the body in Hol¬ der's pasture in Section 22. The quarrel, he said, was about the man¬ ner in which Fank had treated Holzer's wife. Holzer was sentenced to fourteen years* imprisonment.

Arthur

A post-office called Wasbum was established in 1855 in Section 8. A small village grew up here. It is now called Arthur. The vil¬ lage plat was surveyed in November 1856. Nelson Newman was the proprietor. It was long the headquarters of a circuit of the M. B. Church.

The village has the honor of organizing the first grange of the once powerful order of Patrons of Husbandry in the county. The fol¬ lowing are the first officers: Johnson P. Rundell, Master; Lyborn