Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 22: Woodman, Marion, and Little Grant, 1900

The first actual settler within the present limits of the town was Joseph Turnby, who settled on Section 34 in 1842. In December, 183.7, John D. Ashley laid out a town he called Sutherland, on the Wisconsin River in Section 2. No lots were sold and the town never had any inhabitants. There is a tradition of a town called Allendoodleville at the forks of Green River early in the forties, but what basis there was for the tradition cannot be learned. William F. Richards created another paper town on Green River, Section 36, in 1856. In 1858 the first school in the town was taught by Ira Phillips in his res¬ idence. The first school-house was built was built in 1860 in what is now District No. 5.

The first stores were put in in 1863, by T. N. Hubbell, John H. Barnett, and Julius Lindig. The Farmers' and Mechanics' Store, by a Mount Hope and Woodman company, was started in 1866. In 1864 George Campbell built a warehouse with a capacity of 5,000 bushels.

In 1866 Israel Miles bought a building that had been built in 1864 by A. S. Young, and opened a hotel. He afterward sold out to James A. Faris. In 1869 Nathan, Schreiner & Co., of Lancaster, built a warehouse with a capacity of 10,000 bushels at a cost of $2,000.

The first school taught in the village was by Louisa Rittenhouse in the summer of 1864, in the second story of a warehouse. The "Northey House" was afterward bought by the district for $800 and used as a school building. Edward McDowell taught the first school in this building in the winter of 1864-65.

In 1864 the village of Woodman was laid off by Cyrus Woodman and Ralph Smith, on Sections 13 and 14. In the spring of that year Charles and Julius Lindig settled in the new village, the residence of the former being the first house erected there. In the same year a post-office was established at that place with S. S. Hills as post¬ master, the office being kept in the depot. Thomas Clapp succeeded to the office, and was followed by L. M. Culver, the station agent. Cyrus Ransom afterward became postmaster and kept the office in his shoe-shop. He was followed by Jamees A. Faris, who kept the of¬ fice in his store.

On February 11, 1878, a fire destroyed the depot, the post-office, J. L. Parker's store and goods, the dwelling and wagon-shop of M. B. Clark, the shoe-shop of J. W. Dexter, and the warehouse of A. Lowry & Co. Parker was insured for $2,600. The others were not insured. The fire was supposed to have been set by an incendianv.

The town of Woodman was organized it 1864. The first town meeting was held at the railroad depot. The town comprises Sections 1 to 6, inclusive, of Town 6 and all of Town 7 that lies south of the Wisconsin River and contains about twenty-seven square miles. It is mostly hill and ridge land, except the valleys of the Wisconsin and Green Rivers.

This town was organized in 1854, including the present town of Boscobel. Previous to this date it had been included in Fennimore. The first settlers generally settled along Crooked Creek. Among them was William Blanchard, who in 1850 built the "Red Mill" on Section 11, about three miles from Boscobel. Like most of the mills of Grant County, the water supply gave out and steam was substi¬ tuted, and it is now only a feed mill. Another mill was built on Sec¬ tion 2, a mile or so down the Creek, in 1863, and is still run as a water-mill and flou ring-mill.

C. A. Blanchard settled on Section 35 in 1848. George Tuffiey located on Section 11 in 1855. Among the other settlers in the fifties were Sebastian Heller, George Henkel, Joseph Hinn, Charles Mueller, and Fred and Peter Boebel - the pioneers of the present large German population of the town. J. B. Ricks came in 1853.

This town was organized in 1856. It contains thirty-six square miles, being Town 5, Range 4. The earliest settlers within its present limits were James Prideaux and James Edwards who settled in Sec¬ tion 31 in the southwestern corner of the town, in 1837. These old settlers remained on their farms the rest of their lives. One of the principal streams of the town, Blake's Fork of Grant, was long called Priddix Branch - that being the pronunciation the first settlers gave to the name of Mr. Prideaux, although it is now pronounced " Preedo," and the family is said to be of French origin, although James Prideaux came from Cornwall, England. John Welsh came in 1844, being one of the prominent citizens of the town until his death in 1860. R. A. Welsh came about the same time as his brother. Besides being exten¬ sive breeders of fine stock, they established a saw-mill and the Little Grant woolen mills, long the principal manufacturing enterprise of the town. In 1844 quite a colony came from England and settled in the town, some of them as operatives in the woolen mill. John and Ed¬ ward Garthwaite came in 1846 and opened farms. The latter after¬ ward moved to Lancaster and died there in 1889. Robert Newman opened a farm on Little Grant in 1848. He was a man of good edu¬ cation, a civil engineer by profession. He became prominent as a stock-breeder; he went to California in 1852, and staid there six years, when he returned and lived upon his farm until his death in 1895.

The town has been the theater of few bloody tragedies. June 24, 1890, Peter Henkel killed Dr. Charles Ayers, an old man who lived alone and compounded medicines. He was working on the road and attempted to remove a post in front of Avers's house, when the old man came out and called him several foul names. Henkel struck him on the head with a spade, killing him. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.