The biographical histories of the early settlers of Polk county considerably antedate the organization of the towns to which they would be referred as at present belonging, and we therefore group together those earliest identified with the history of the valley, and its first settlement at St. Croix Falls, referring also some, such as Joseph R. Brown, Gov. W. R. Marshall and Frank Steele, to localities in which they had been more intimately connected.

Gov. Wm. Holcombe was one of the active resident proprietors and agent of the St. Croix Falls Lumber Company from 1838 to 1845. He was born at Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1804; left home when a boy; went to Utica, New York, where he learned the wheelwright trade. He married Martha Wilson, of Utica; moved to Columbus, Ohio, and was successful in business, but lost all by fire, when he moved to Cincinnati, and from thence to Galena. While in Galena he embarked in steamboating on the Mississippi. Mrs. Holcombe died in Galena. From Galena he came to St. Croix Falls, where he devoted his time as agent to selling lumber and keeping books. Mr. Holcombe took a deep interest in opening the valley to public notice and improvement. He traveled over the wilderness country from Prairie du Chien to St. Croix Falls before there was a blazed path, driving horses and cattle. He helped locate the two first roads in the valley from the mouth of St. Croix lake, via Marine, to St. Croix Falls and from St. Croix Falls, via Sunrise and Rush lakes, to Russell's farm, on Pokegama lake. He supervised the cultivation of the first crops raised in Polk county, at Jerusalem. He settled in Stillwater in 1846, where he became an active worker in behalf of education, and did much to establish the present excellent system of schools. In 1846 he was a member of the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin Territory, representing this valley and all the country north of Crawford county. He was a faithful worker on the boundary question, and effected a change from the St. Croix to a point fifteen miles due east, from the most easterly point on Lake St. Croix, from thence south to the Mississippi river and north to the waters of Lake Superior. His course was approved by his constituents. In 1848 he took an active part in the formation of Minnesota Territory, and was secretary of the first convention called for that purpose in Stillwater. He was receiver of the United States land office at Stillwater four years. He was a member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional convention for Minnesota in 1857, and was honored by being elected first lieutenant governor of Minnesota in 1857. The name of Gov. Holcombe will long be remembered in the valley of the St. Croix. He died in Stillwater, Sept. 5, 1870, and was buried with masonic honors. He left two sons, William W. and Edward Van Buren, by his first wife. He married a second wife in Galena, in 1847, who died in 1880.

William S. Hungerford was born in Connecticut, Aug. 12, 1805. He was married to Lucinda Hart, at Farmington, Connecticut, in 1827. He came to St. Louis, Missouri, at an early age and engaged in mercantile pursuits in the firm of Hungerford & Livingston. In 1838 he became one of the original proprietors of the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company, and gave his time and talents to its welfare. He was of a hopeful temperament, and even in the darkest hour of the enterprise in which he had embarked, cherished a most cheerful faith in its ultimate success.

Hon. Caleb Cushing, whose name was to be associated intimately with that of Mr. Hungerford in the future history and litigation of the company, recognizing St. Croix Falls as a point promising unrivaled attractions to the manufacturer, in 1846 purchased an interest in the company, which was at once reorganized with Cushing and Hungerford as principal stockholders. The acute mind of Gen. Cushing recognized not only the prospective advantages of the water power, but the probability of the division of Wisconsin Territory, which might result in making St. Croix Falls the capital of the new territory, and formed plans for the development of the company enterprise, which might have resulted advantageously had not he been called away to take part in the Mexican War and thence to go on a political mission to China. During his absence there was a complete neglect of his American inland projects and the enterprise at St. Croix suffered greatly; the new company accomplished but little that was agreed upon in the consolidation. Cushing had inexperienced agents, unfitted to attend to his interest. He furnished money sufficient, if judiciously handled, to have made a permanent, useful property here. Conflicting questions arose between Hungerford and Cushing's agents, which terminated in lawsuits. The first suit was in 1848, Hungerford, plaintiff. Different suits followed, one after another, for over twenty years, which cursed the property more than a mildew or blight. During this time the parties alternated in use and possession, by order of court. Hungerford, during these trials, pre-empted the land when it came in market. For this he was arrested on complaint of perjury. Hungerford, by order of court, was, on his arrest, taken away in chains. He was soon after released. Hungerford was an indefatigable worker. The labor of his life was invested in the improvements of the company. Cushing, being a man of talent and influence, could fight the battle at a distance. He employed the best legal talent in the land; he met Hungerford at every turn, and Hungerford became a foe worthy of his steel. They unitedly accomplished the ruin of their town. Mr. Hungerford had an excellent family, making their home at the Falls during all their perplexities. On the occasion of his arrest he was manacled in presence of his family, who bore it with a fortitude worthy the name and reputation of the father and husband. The litigation ended only with the death of the principal actors. The perishable part of the property, mills and other buildings, has gone to ruin. The whole history is a sad comment on the folly of attempting to manage great enterprises without harmony of action and purpose. Mr. Hungerford died in Monticello, Illinois, in 1874. Mrs. Hungerford died in Connecticut in 1880. Mr. Cushing died in 1876.

Hon. Henry D. Barron.—Henry Danforth Barron was born in Saratoga county, New York, April 10, 1832. He received a common school education, studied law, and graduated from the law school at Ballston Spa, New York. He came to Wisconsin in 1851; learned the printer's trade, and was afterward editor of the Waukesha Democrat. In 1857 he removed to Pepin, Wisconsin, and in 1860 received the appointment of circuit judge of the Eighth district.

In September, 1861, he came to St. Croix Falls, as agent for Caleb Cushing and the St. Croix Manufacturing and Improvement Company.

He was elected to the lower house of the Wisconsin legislature in 1862, and served as assemblyman continuously from 1862 to 1869, and for the years 1872 and 1873. During the sessions of 1866 and 1873 he was speaker of the assembly. A portion of this time he held the responsible position of regent of the State University, and was also a special agent of the treasury department. In 1869 President Grant appointed him chief justice of Dakota, which honor was declined. The same year he was appointed fifth auditor in the treasury department, which office he resigned in 1872 to take a more active part in advancing the interests of his State. He was chosen a presidential elector in 1868, and again in 1872, and served as state senator during the sessions of 1874, 1875 and 1876, and was at one time president pro tem. of the senate. In 1876 he was elected judge of the Eleventh Judicial circuit. During his service as judge he was highly gratified that so few appeals were taken from his decisions, and that his decisions were seldom reversed in higher courts. He had also held the offices of postmaster, county attorney, county judge, and county superintendent of schools.

Although formerly a Democrat, at the outbreak of the Rebellion he became a Republican. Of late years he was a pronounced stalwart. Throughout his life he never received any profit, pecuniarily, from the prominent positions in which he was placed, his only endeavor seeming to be to advance the interests, influence, worth and ability of the younger men with whom he was associated, and hundreds who to-day hold positions of prominence and responsibility, owe their success and advancement to his teachings and advice. Of a disposition kind, courteous and generous, he was possessed of a remarkably retentive memory, which, with his intimate associations with leading men, and familiarity with public life, legislative and judicial, afforded a fund of personal sketches, anecdotes and biographies, at once entertaining, amusing and instructive.

The judge was twice married, his first wife having died at Waukesha, leaving him an only son, Henry H. Barron, who was with him at the time of his death. His second marriage was to Ellen K. Kellogg, at Pepin, in 1860. For some time she has made her home with her mother in California, on account of ill health. At the time of his death, which occurred at St. Croix Falls, Jan. 22, 1882, he was judge of the Eleventh Judicial circuit. His remains were buried at Waukesha.

George W. Brownell.—Mr. Brownell, though not among the earliest of the pioneers of St. Croix valley, yet deserves special mention on account of his scientific attainments, his high character as a man, and the fact that he was an influential member, from the St. Croix district, of the Wisconsin territorial constitutional convention, he having been elected over Bowron on the question of establishing the new state line east of the St. Croix.

Mr. Brownell was born in Onondago, New York, and when a youth lived in Syracuse, where he learned the trade of a carriage maker. He was a resident of Galena, Illinois, over thirty years, where he engaged in mining and geological pursuits. He spent two years in the lead mines of Wisconsin. He was connected with the Galena Gazette some years. In 1846 he visited the Superior copper mining region for a Boston company. He formed the acquaintance of Caleb Cushing, Rufus Choate, Horace Rantoul, and others, and located for them mineral permits at St. Croix Falls and Kettle river, and became, this year, a resident of St. Croix Falls. In 1847 he was married to Mrs. Duncan, of Galena. He was elected this year to the constitutional convention. In 1851 he returned to Galena and engaged in the grain trade and cotton planting near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in which he was not successful. In 1865 he visited Colorado and made investments there. When on a trip to Colorado, in 1866, the stage was attacked by Indians. Brownell and another passenger alighted to resist the attack. He was armed with a rifle, and, if properly supported, would probably have been saved; but most of the passengers remained in the stage. The driver, getting scared, whipped his horses and drove rapidly away, leaving Brownell and companion, who were overpowered and killed. Their bodies were recovered, shockingly mutilated. His remains were forwarded to Galena for burial. Mr. Brownell had a scientific mind, and passed much of his life in scientific studies and practical experiments. He attained a good knowledge of geology, mineralogy and chemistry. The foresight of Mr. Brownell on the Wisconsin boundary, and in other public matters, has been, in time, generally recognized. He was a good neighbor and kind friend.

Col. Robert C. Murphy.—Col. Murphy, a man of fine address and admirable social qualities, made his home at St. Croix Falls in 1860-61 and 62, during which time he was in charge of the Cushing interest and property, which position he left to accept the colonelcy of the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. His military career was not fortunate and its abrupt termination was a sad disappointment to himself and friends. An article in the Milwaukee Weekly Telegraph, from the pen of one who knew Col. Murphy well, thus sums up some of the salient points in his character and career. We make a few extracts:

"Col. Murphy was educated and accomplished. He had been instructed in the Patridge Military School, and was possessed of some experience in Indian fights on the plains with Burnside, bearing scars of that experience, and a recommendation of skill and courage from Gen. Burnside to Gov. Randall. His great intuitiveness, his ready manner, his cultivation of mind, gained for him the respect and charity of his superiors, and brought him the respect and confidence of his regiment. His father, a native of Ireland, was a successful practicing lawyer and politician in Ohio, without much education; a man of strong natural talent and integrity. Upon his son he showered all his earnings, in the form of that which the father lacked the most—books, schooling and polish. Judge Murphy (the father) was the bearer of important dispatches to Texas from the Tyler and Polk administrations in connection with the annexation of that republic to this country, and is referred to in Benton's 'Thirty Years' as Tyler's 'midnight messenger.' Young Murphy was appointed by President Pierce American consul in China, while Gen. Caleb Cushing was minister to that country, and he discharged important consular and judicial duties there with credit to himself and his government. Upon his return Gen. Cushing selected him to take charge of the Cushing interest and property at St. Croix Falls, in this State. From there he went 'to the front,' and his military career was cut short by his failure at Iuka and Holly Springs. Gen. Grant dismissed him in brief, terse words, but was willing afterward that he should be heard by a board of army officers detailed for that purpose. Stanton was inexorable and refused."

After his dismissal from the army he removed to Washington and accepted a clerkship in the post office department where he still remains. It is due to him to say that his own version of his military troubles is ingenious and plausible, and would, if sustained, quite exonerate him from the charges that have pressed so heavily upon him.

Edward Worth.—Mr. Worth came to St. Croix Falls from New York State in 1842, where he continued to reside the remainder of his life, experiencing the vicissitudes of pioneer life to their fullest extent. He died in 1863, leaving a widow, an only son (Henry) and two daughters, Myra, wife of W. T. Vincent, and Sarah, wife of John Blanding.

Mrs. Mary C. Worth.—Mrs. Worth was born Oct. 14, 1812, was married to Edward Worth, Dec. 24, 1835, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1842, where she lived till Jan. 12, 1886, when she peacefully passed away. She was a woman of rare mental ability, untiring industry and skill in managing her household affairs, and unquestioned courage, as many incidents in her St. Croix experience will evidence. She was a member of the Episcopal church and went to her grave with the respect and admiration of all who knew her.

Maurice Mordecai Samuels, better known as Capt. Samuels, was born in London, of Jewish parentage. It is not known exactly when he came to this country. I first met him in 1844, at Prairie du Chien, at which time he was a traveling peddler. In 1846 I found him in the Chippewa country, living with an Indian woman and trading with the Indians at the mouth of Sunrise river. In 1847 he established a ball alley and trading post at St. Croix Falls, where he lived until 1861, when he raised a company (the St. Croix Rifles) for the United States service, received a commission and served till the close of the war. After the war he became a citizen of New Orleans, and in 1880 changed his residence to Winfield, Kansas. While in St. Croix he reared a family of half-breed children. He was a shrewd man and an inveterate dealer in Indian whisky. Capt. Samuels was sent as a government agent to the Chippewas of St. Croix valley and the southern shore of Lake Superior, in 1862, to ascertain and report their sentiment in regard to the Sioux war. It may be said of Capt. Samuels that, however unprincipled he may have been, he was no dissembler, but outspoken in his sentiments, however repellant they may have been to the moral sense of the community. He died at Winfield, Kansas, in 1884.

Joseph B. Churchill was born in New York in 1820; was married in New York to Eliza Turnbull, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1854. He has filled various offices creditably, and has the respect and confidence of his acquaintances. His oldest daughter is the wife of Phineas G. Lacy, of Hudson. His second daughter is the wife of Joseph Rogers. He has one son living.

John McLean.—Mr. McLean was born 1819, in Vermont; was married in 1844 to Sarah Turnbull and settled on his farm near St. Croix Falls in 1850. Through untiring industry and honorable dealing he has secured a sufficiency for life, a handsome farm and good buildings. A large family has grown up around him, and have settled in the county.

Gilman Jewell came from New Hampshire; was married in New Hampshire and came to the West in 1847. He settled on a farm near St. Croix Falls. He died in 1869. Mrs. Jewell died January, 1888. One son, Philip, resides on the homestead. Ezra, another son, resides at the Falls. The other members of the family have moved elsewhere.

Elisha Creech was born in West Virginia, 1831. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1849, and was married to Mary M. Seeds in 1863. They have four children. Mr. Creech has been engaged much of his life in lumbering. Through industry and temperate habits he has made a good farm and a pleasant home.

James W. McGlothlin was born in Kentucky; came to St. Croix Falls in 1846, and engaged successfully in sawing lumber at the St. Croix mill in 1846 and 1847, but in 1848 rented the mill, being sustained by Waples & Co., of Dubuque, Iowa, but by reason of bad management, he failed and left the valley in 1849. He afterward went to California, where he met a tragic fate, having been murdered by his teamster.

Andrew L. Tuttle.—Mr. Tuttle came to St. Croix Falls in 1849, and was engaged many years as a lumberman and as keeper of a boardinghouse. He settled on his farm at Big Rock in 1856, where he made himself a comfortable home. He went to Montana in 1865, and died there in 1873. Mrs. Tuttle still resides at the homestead, an amiable woman, who has acted well her part in life. One of her daughters is married to Wm. M. Blanding. One son, Eli, died in 1883, another son, Henry, died in Montana. Perly, John and Warren are settled near the homestead.

John Weymouth was born at Clinton, Maine, in 1815, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1846, where he followed lumbering and made himself a beautiful home on the high hill overlooking the two villages of St. Croix Falls and Taylor's Falls. By frugality and industry Mr. Weymouth has accumulated a competence. He was married in St. Croix Falls in 1850, to Mary McHugh. One son, John, is married to Miss Ramsey, of Osceola, and a daughter, Mary J., is married to Samuel Harvey, of St. Croix Falls.

B. W. Reynolds, a tall, thin, stoop-shouldered man of eccentric manners, was receiver at the St. Croix land office from 1861 to 1864. He was a native of South Carolina, and a graduate of Middlebury College, Vermont. He had studied for the ministry, and, if we mistake not, had devoted some years of his life to pastoral work, but devoted later years to secular pursuits. At the close of the war he returned to South Carolina as a reconstructionist, but in two or three years came North, and located at La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he edited the La Crosse Star. He died at La Crosse Aug. 17, 1877.

Augustus Gaylord.—Mr. Gaylord was a merchant in St. Croix Falls prior to the Rebellion. In 1861 Gov. Harvey appointed him adjutant general of the State. In this office he acquitted himself well. He was an efficient public officer and in private life a high minded, honorable gentleman.

James D. Reymert.—Mr. Reymert was born in Norway in 1821, and came to America and settled in Racine in 1845. He was a practical printer, and editor of the first Norwegian paper west of the lakes, if not the first in America, and was a man of recognized literary ability. He was a member of the second Wisconsin constitutional convention, 1847, from Racine. In 1849 he was a member of the Wisconsin assembly. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1859, and served two years as agent of the St. Croix Falls Company. He was the organizer of a company in New York City, known as "The Great European-American Land Company," in which Count Taub, of Norway, took an active part. This noted company claimed to have purchased the Cushing property, a claim true only so far as the preliminary steps of a purchase were concerned. For a time there was considerable activity. The town of St. Croix Falls was resurveyed, new streets were opened, and magnificent improvements planned, but failing to consummate the purchase, the company failed, leaving a beggarly account of unpaid debts.

William J. Vincent.—Mr. Vincent is of Irish descent. He was born June 10, 1830, and came West when a youth. In 1846, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted in Company H, Mounted Rifles, and served through the Mexican War. In 1848 he came to St. Croix Falls, where he followed lumbering and clerking. He was married to Myra Worth in 1855. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, First Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, of which company he was appointed second lieutenant. He resigned in 1862. He has held the office of county commissioner eleven years, that of county clerk seven years, that of state timber agent four years. In 1879 he served as representative in the Wisconsin assembly. In 1880 he commenced selling goods with his son-in-law, under the firm name of Vincent & Stevenson. He erected the first brick store building in St. Croix Falls in 1884.

Thompson Brothers.—Thomas Thompson was born in Lower Canada, Nov. 11, 1833, and was married to Eliza Clendenning in 1861. James Thompson was born in Lower Canada, Nov. 11, 1840, and was married to Mary A. Gray in 1871. The brothers came to the Falls in 1856 and engaged in lumbering about ten years, and then in merchandising, jointly, but in 1868 formed separate firms. Thomas built the first brick dwelling house in St. Croix in 1882. Mrs. Thomas Thompson died in 1886. James erected a large flour mill in 1879.

William Amery was born in London, England, in 1831. He learned the carpenter's trade in London and came to America in 1851, locating at first in Stillwater, but the ensuing year removing to St. Croix Falls. He pre-empted the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31, township 34, range 18, and adjoining lands in 1853, and this has been his continuous home since. He has served as county treasurer four years and held many town offices. He was married to Sarah Hackett in 1855. The town of Amery is named in honor of this respected man. Mr. Amery died Sept. 4, 1887, leaving a widow, two sons and three daughters.

Lewis Barlow.—Among the first immigrants to St. Croix Falls was Lewis Barlow, an eccentric, sensitive man. He was a millwright, and, being of an unhappy disposition, led a troubled life. He was the first man married at the Falls. In 1847 he moved to the Minnesota side, where he owned considerable land. He lived here until 1852 when his family left him. He sold his interests and followed and reunited them at Rock Island, Illinois. Here he suffered much and became blind. He traveled with a panorama and so earned a scanty livelihood. In later life he revisited his old home at the Falls, but broken and dejected in spirit. He died at Rock Island in 1872.

Levi W. Stratton.—Mr. Stratton was one of the passengers of the Palmyra in 1838. He worked for the St. Croix Company two years. After leaving the Falls, he changed his residence several times, and finally settled at Excelsior, Hennepin county, Minnesota, where he died in 1884. Mr. Stratton wrote for the Minneapolis papers many interesting reminiscences of pioneer life on the St. Croix.

Elma M. Blanding.—Mr. Blanding was born in Harford, Susquehanna county, New York, Feb. 14, 1800. He was married to Eliza Tuttle in 1826. He settled on a farm near St. Croix Falls in 1856, where he died, Sept. 16, 1871. Father Blanding, as he was affectionately called in the later years of his life, was a man of exemplary habits, of strong religious convictions, and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. He left a widow, five sons and three daughters. Mrs. Eliza Blanding died Jan. 18, 1887. Wm. M. Blanding, the oldest son, owns a fine farm near the Falls, formerly known as "Jerusalem." He is a surveyor, lumberman and farmer, and a prominent citizen. He was married to Eliza Tuttle. A family of thirteen children has grown up around him. In 1887 he was appointed receiver in the St. Croix land office. John, the second son, is also a farmer in St. Croix Falls. He was married to Sarah, daughter of Edward and Mary C. Worth. Eugene E. is engaged in the drug business at Taylors Falls, and is also surveyor and express agent. He married Joanna Ring, of Taylors Falls, in 1871. Fred, the fourth son, was married in 1885 to Emma Sly. He was appointed United States land receiver at St. Croix Falls in 1887. He died in California, Jan. 30, 1888. Frank, the youngest son, was married to Annie McCourt, and lives on the homestead. Josephine, the oldest daughter, is the wife of Wm. Longfellow, and resides in Machias, Maine. Flavilla, the widow of Charles B. Whiting, lives at St. Paul, Minnesota. Her husband died in 1868. Mrs. Whiting was executrix of the will of Dr. E. D. Whiting, and successfully controlled a property valued at about $80,000. Mary, wife of Wm. McCourt, died in 1880.

Frederick K. Bartlett was a native of New England. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1849, as attorney and land agent for Caleb Cushing. He was candidate for judge of the district court in 1850, but was defeated. He subsequently settled in Stillwater, and later in Hudson, where he died in 1857, leaving a wife and one son, who became a civil engineer and died in St. Paul in 1885, and one daughter, Helen, who achieved some reputation as a writer for periodicals.

Michael Field was born June 8, 1806. He came from a New England family, his father and mother having resided in Connecticut. In early life he removed to New York and resided awhile at Rochester. He engaged principally in transportation business. The earliest work he ever did was on the Erie canal. He was married in 1833 to Miss Reynolds, who died in 1874. His children are Capt. Silas Wright Field (mortally wounded at Shiloh), Norton, a resident of Racine, Wisconsin, Mrs. Fanny Nason, wife of Hon. Joel F. Nason, Phebe and Mary, unmarried and resident in Brooklyn. Mr. Field was married to his second wife, Mrs. Harriet Lee Bracken, in 1882. He was appointed register of the land office at St. Croix Falls by President Lincoln in 1861, and served twenty-six years. Though over eighty years of age he retains his faculties and general health, and his mind is a store house of the early history of the country.

ALDEN.

The town of Alden embraces township 32, range 17, and twenty-four sections of range 18. It has both prairie and timber land, and is abundantly supplied with water. Apple river traverses it from northeast to southwest. There are many tributary small streams, and a large number of small lakes, of which Cedar lake is the largest. This lies only partially in Alden. The surface is gently undulating.

The town of Alden was organized in 1857. The first board of supervisors were Stephen Williams, William Folsom and H. Sawyer. The first post office was established at Wagon Landing in 1862, V. M. Babcock, postmaster. The first settlers were Wm. Folsom, V. M. Babcock, V. B. Kittel, I. L. Bridgman, Charles Vassau, Jr., and Humphrey Sawyer, in 1856. Mr. Bridgman raised the first crops in 1857. The first marriage was C. Vassau to Alma Kittel, in 1858, by Rev. A. Burton Peabody. The first white child born in Alden was P. B. Peabody, July 28, 1856. The first death was that of a child, Nicholas W. Gordon, June 10, 1857. Alden has two post towns, Little Falls and Alden.

Rev. A. Burton Peabody was born May 22, 1823, in Andover, Windsor county, Vermont. He was the youngest of four minor children, and was left fatherless at eight years of age, and motherless at fifteen. He obtained a good English education in the common schools, and at Chester and Black River academies. The winter terms he spent in teaching. In 1844 he came to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he spent two years, partly on a farm and partly in a law office, as a student and clerk. In 1847 he went to Iowa county, and taught school through the winter at Mineral Point. The next year he went to Clarence, Green county, Wisconsin, where he spent four years in teaching. In 1852 he entered the Nashotah Theological Seminary, where he completed the course, and was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church, June 3, 1855, by the Rev. Bishop Kemper, and took temporary charge of Grace church, Sheboygan. He was married to Charity Esther Kittel, Sept. 22, 1855, at Clarence, by the Rev. Wm. Ruger. In November of the same year he removed to Mississippi, spending the winter at Jackson. In February he went to Middleton, Mississippi, to take charge of a mission work, including several appointments. He came, the June following, to Polk county, Wisconsin, and spent the summer at Wagon Landing, on Apple river, where his wife's friends had made a settlement, but in the winter returned to his mission work in the South, and there remained until 1857. Owing to the troubled political condition of the South, he did not deem it advisable to remove his family thither, and so returned to Wagon Landing and obtained mission work, visiting at intervals Foster's Mills, now New Richmond, Huntington, Cedar Valley, and St. Croix Falls. The intervening country was, much of it, an unbroken wilderness, and he was obliged to make his journeys not infrequently on foot, to cross the swollen streams and dare all the perils of the winter storm. In 1859 Mr. Peabody accepted a call to the rectorship of St. Paul's church, Plymouth, Sheboygan county, but in 1862 returned to the valley of the St. Croix, and settled on a farm, undertaking meanwhile ministerial work at Prescott and other points, in a line extending as far north as St. Croix Falls. Three years later Prescott and River Falls were made independent, another man taking charge. In 1879 Mr. Peabody undertook additional work on the North Wisconsin railroad, including a large number of places, to be visited monthly. In 1882 his railroad work was limited to Clayton, Cumberland and Hayward. He still has charge, as rector, of Star Prairie and Wagon Landing. Few men have led more laborious lives or been more useful in their calling. He has witnessed the erection of eight churches on the field in which he labored, though concerned directly in the building of only four. Mr. Peabody's family consists of seven sons and seven daughters. One of the latter died in infancy.

V. M. Babcock settled at Wagon Landing, town of Alden, in 1856. He was born in Rensselaer county, New York; married his first wife in New York and his second wife at Somerset, St. Croix county, Wisconsin. They have four children. He has held town offices ever since the organization of the town. He has been sheriff, and was county superintendent of schools for seven years.

APPLE RIVER.

The town of Apple River includes township 34, range 16, and derives its name from its principal river. The town is well watered by Apple river and its tributaries, and it also has numerous lakes, the most considerable of which is White Ash lake. The surface of the town is gently undulating, and was originally covered with pine, interspersed with hardwood groves. There is good wheat soil, and natural meadows are found in some parts. The town was organized Jan. 22, 1876, having been set off from Balsam Lake. There are two post offices, Apple River on the west, and Shiloh on the east town line.

BALSAM LAKE.

The town of Balsam Lake embraces township 34, range 17, and takes its name from a lake within its bounds. It has an undulating surface, covered with heavy oak, pine, and maple timber principally. Balsam creek, the outlet of Balsam lake, flows through it in a southerly direction, affording fine water powers. About one-sixth of the surface is covered with lakes. The largest of these, Balsam lake, in the Indian language An-in-on-duc-a-gon, or evergreen place, gives name to the town. Deer, Long, Wild Goose, and Mud lakes are fine bodies of water with bold, timbered shores, and abundance of fish. The town is near the geographical centre of the county. The first white man, prior to the organization of the town, to locate within its present bounds was a disreputable trader named Miller, who in 1848 built a shanty on Balsam lake, from which he dispensed whisky to the Indians. This man was not long afterward driven out of the country. (See history of St. Croix Falls.) The town was organized in 1869. The first board of supervisors consisted of Geo. P. Anderson, Wright Haskins, and Joseph Loveless. The clerk was H. J. Fall; the treasurer, F. R. Loveless. The first school was taught by Jane Husband. Aaron M. Chase built a shingle mill at the outlet of Balsam lake in 1850, and he seems to have been the first actual settler or the first man to make improvements. As he had neither oxen nor horses, the timbers for the mill were hauled by man power with the aid of yokes and ropes. Other persons came to the mill and lived there awhile, but the first permanent settlers came in in 1856. They were J. Shepherd, Joseph Loveless, Joseph Ravett, and John M. Rogers. Mr. Rogers raised the first crops in the town; Joseph Ravett was the first postmaster. The first marriage was that of J. K. Adams to Miss L. A. Millerman, by W. H. Skinner. The first white child born was a daughter to R. S. Haskins. The first death, that of a child, occurred in 1870. A first class flouring mill has been erected at the outlet of Balsam lake. It is owned by Herman Corning; a saw mill is also in operation at this point. A Methodist church, 30 × 40 feet ground plan, was erected at Balsam Lake by the Methodist society in 1886.

BEAVER.

The town of Beaver includes township 34, range 15. It was set off from Apple River and organized Nov. 15, 1885. The name was suggested as being appropriate from the work of the beaver in past ages. Beaver dams are numerous on all the creeks. These ancient works will mostly disappear with the progress of agriculture. The town is drained by streams flowing into Apple river. Horseshoe lake, in the northeast corner, is three miles in length.

BLACK BROOK.

The town of Black Brook includes township 32, range 16. Apple river, with its tributaries, supplies it with abundant water privileges. Black Brook, the principal tributary, gives the town its name, and drains the southern portion. There are many small lakes. The surface is undulating and most of the soil good. The post office of Black Brook is in section 32. The North Wisconsin railroad passes through sections 25, 35 and 36. This town was originally a part of Alden, but was organized and set off as a new town Aug. 5, 1867. J. C. Nelson and G. H. Goodrich were the first supervisors. The first settlers (1863) were John Gorsuch, John Reed and Jacob Polwer; the first postmaster was —— Gates; the first school teacher, Tina Starkweather; the first marriage that of S. D. Starkweather and Mary Danforth; the first death that of Mrs. Ben Gilman.

CLAM FALLS.

Clam Falls comprises township 37, range 16, and derives its name from the falls on Clam river. The surface is rolling and timbered with hardwood and pine. It is well watered by South Clam creek and its tributaries. Somers' lake, in section 27, is the only lake. An upheaval of trap rock on Clam creek has caused the waterfall from which the town has taken its name. It is a fine water power. A dam for collecting tolls on saw logs has been placed just above the Falls. Good specimens of copper ore are found in the trap. The town was set off from Luck and organized Nov. 15, 1876. The first town meeting was held April, 1877. The first supervisors were Daniel F. Smith, John Almquist and John Bjornson. D. F. Smith was the first settler, built the first saw mill, and raised the first crops.

Daniel F. Smith, a peculiar and eccentric man, was born in Chautauqua county, New York, in 1813; emigrated to Michigan in 1834, where he married Eliza Green the following year, and moved to Racine county, Wisconsin. In 1842 he engaged in lumbering on the Wisconsin river, his home being at Stevens Point. He was of the firms of Smith & Bloomer and Smith & Fellows. Mr. Bloomer was accidentally killed, on which account the business of these firms was closed, Mr. Smith removing to Galena to facilitate the settlement of their affairs. In 1852 he removed to St. Louis; in 1853 to Memphis, Tennessee, where he engaged in the wholesale grocery business, losing heavily, in fact all the accumulations of his life. In the spring of 1855 he leased the St. Croix Falls saw mill, and operated it for two years, when trouble arose and litigation ensued, in which Smith obtained a judgment against Cushing for $1,000. In 1860 he removed to Clinton, Iowa, and thence in the same year to California. He traveled much, visiting mines. He spent some time in mining, and also manufactured shingles. In 1862 he returned to St. Croix Falls and engaged in lumbering for three years. In 1868 he built a saw mill at Butternut Lake, Wisconsin. He did much to open that country to settlement. He was the founder of a town which he called "Luck." In 1872 he was the first settler at Clam Falls, where he built a saw mill with but one man to assist, and around that mill has sprung up a flourishing settlement. Dan Smith, with undaunted perseverance, has battled his way through life, and has come out victorious over difficulties and opposition that would have discouraged and turned back other men. Mr. Smith is a plain, direct, outspoken man; a man of energy and ability. He has ably and satisfactorily filled many places of trust. For many years he has been a commissioner of Polk county.

CLAYTON.

Clayton includes township 33, range 15. The town was set off from Black Brook. The surface of a great part of the town is level and was originally marshy, but these marshes have been gradually drained, and fine farms and hay meadows have taken their place. The town was organized Nov. 10, 1875. The first supervisors were Morris De'Golier, Worthy Prentice and H. D. West. The first homestead entries were made in 1865 by Peter Bouchea and John McKay, a Frenchman, both Indian traders, who established a post at Marsh lake, but in six months abandoned it and never returned. The next settlers were Vandyke, Morehouse and Tanner, near the west line of the town, about 1870. The first improvements were made by Elam Greely in 1862, who dug a canal into Marsh lake to get water to float logs out of Beaver brook, thereby draining great tracts of swamp land. The laying of the North Wisconsin railroad track gave a fresh impetus to business, and conduced greatly to the building of the village of Clayton in section 24. The first sermon in the town of Clayton was preached by Rev. W. W. Ames, a Baptist; the first school was taught by S. M. De'Golier; the first store was opened by A. M. Wilcox, 1874. D. A. Humbird was the first postmaster. The North Wisconsin railway passes through the southeast part and the Minneapolis, Soo & Atlantic passes from the west side to the northeast corner of the town, and has a station, Gregory, in the west part.

Reuben F. Little was born June 13, 1839, in Topsham, Devonshire county, England. At ten years of age he began to care for himself, working for sixpence per week, carrying pottery in a moulding house. Before leaving England his wages had increased to three shillings per week. In the spring of 1853 he had saved three pounds sterling, and his grandfather gave him two pounds sterling. This five pounds paid his passage to Quebec and Montreal, where he got four dollars per month. Soon after he apprenticed himself for five years to learn the baker's and confectioner's trade at London, Upper Canada. Subsequently he took a homestead from the British government at Trading Lake, Upper Canada.

In the spring of 1861, at Detroit, Michigan, he enlisted in the United States infantry, regular army, and was promoted successively to first sergeant, to sergeant major, to second lieutenant, to first lieutenant. He resigned in September, 1865. During the war he served continuously in Gen. George H. Thomas' division, and took part in all the engagements under him, from Miles Springs, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee. On the twenty-second of September, 1863, Mr. Little had the honor of being the last man to leave the Rossville Gap in front of Chattanooga after the disastrous fight of Chickamauga. He was wounded in the battle of Hoover's Gap and Smyrna, and at the siege of Corinth.

Mr. Little was married in 1865, and divorced in 1869, and re-married in St. Paul in 1878. He lost his Canada homestead, and took another homestead in Lincoln, Polk county, Wisconsin, in 1866. Afterward he went to St. Paul and became one of the firm of Little & Berrisford in the wholesale confectionery business. In 1879 he returned to Clayton, formerly part of Lincoln, and reclaimed a swamp of over six hundred acres, making it a productive meadow and tillage farm. Mr. Little has served several years as Clayton's town supervisor.

CLEAR LAKE.

Clear Lake embraces township 32, range 15. It derives its name from a beautiful clear lake on the western boundary near Clear Lake village. The west part of the town is timbered principally with hardwood, and is good farming land. The eastern part is more diversified, and there are some large groves of pine. Willow river runs through the town. The North Wisconsin railroad traverses the town diagonally from northeast to southwest: The town was organized June 20, 1877; S. D. Mann, J. C. Gates, and W. R. Ingalls, supervisors. The first settlers were John Hale, L. P. Nash, S. D. Starkweather, and Perry Clark. Lawrence O'Connor was first postmaster; Mr. Starkweather carried the mail on foot. Israel Graves, in 1875, built the first saw mill in Clear Lake village and the first house. There is now at the village a stave mill owned by Symme & Co. Jewett Bros. own a saw mill on Willow river, three miles from the village, which has a capacity of 8,000,000 feet. The lumber is delivered to the railway at the village by a wooden tramway. The lots for the village were purchased from the government by A. Boody and A. Coventry, in 1856. The plat was made by Symme, Glover & Co. The survey was made by G. W. Cooley. Thomas T. McGee was the first settler (1875), and Stephen H. Whitcomb the second. The first school house was built in 1875, and the first school was taught by Clara Davis in the same year. The village has now a good graded school with three departments, Charles Irle, principal. Its two church buildings, Congregational and Methodist, were destroyed by the cyclone of 1884, but are being rebuilt. The Swedish Lutherans have a church a mile from the village. Chas. Decker was the first postmaster; A. Symme & Co. were the first merchants; P. Gates, M.D., the first practicing physician; F. M. Nye the first lawyer. The first marriage was that of John C. Gates and Ella Scovill. The first birth was Chas. W. Whitcomb, and the first death that of a child of Hans Johnson.

PINEVILLE.

The town of Pineville, a railroad station and village in section 9, is a lumbering centre. The Pineville Lumbering Company have here a saw mill with a capacity of 7,000,000 feet. The logs are brought on wooden railways three to ten miles. P. B. Lacy & Co., of Hudson, are the proprietors.

Frank M. Nye was born in Shirley, Piscataquis county, Maine, in 1852. His parents removed to Wisconsin in 1854. He was educated at the common schools and at River Falls Academy. He came to Clear Lake in 1879, and was elected district attorney for Polk county in 1880, and representative in the Wisconsin assembly in 1885. He removed to Minneapolis in 1887.

EUREKA.

Eureka embraces township 35, range 18 and a fractional part of range 19. The west part is somewhat broken by the St. Croix bluffs; the remainder is undulating and capable of agricultural improvement. There are many good farms in this town. There are a few small lakes in the eastern part. Eureka was set off from St. Croix Falls, and organized Dec. 16, 1877. The first supervisors were Lucius A. Harper, Jens Welling and William Booth. The first settlers were L. A. Harper, John C. Beede, Henry Cole and others. There are three post offices in the town,—Harper, Cushing and North Valley. At the mouth of Wolf creek, in the extreme northwestern section of this town, J. R. Brown had a trading house in the '30s, and Louis Roberts in the '40s. At this place Alex. Livingston, another trader, was killed by Indians in 1849. Livingston had built him a comfortable home, which he made a stopping place for the weary traveler, whom he fed on wild rice, maple sugar, venison, bear meat, muskrats, wild fowl and flour bread, all decently prepared by his Indian wife. Mr. Livingston was killed by an Indian in 1849.

In 1855 Carma P. Garlick surveyed a quarter section here and laid it off into town lots, and had lithograph maps published, calling the prospective village Sebatanna, an Indian town signifying "Water Village."

Charles Nevers settled here about 1860, and has now a fine farm and good buildings.

FARMINGTON.

Farmington was organized as a town in 1858. It contains forty-two sections of land, in township 32, ranges 18 and 19, with some fractions of sections on the St. Croix. It is a rich agricultural town, well diversified with prairie and timber land. Its western portion, along the St. Croix, has the picturesque bluffs common to that river, with some unusually beautiful cascades and hillside springs, of which the most notable are the well known mineral spring and the springs at the lime kiln. The mineral spring is situated on the St. Croix river, at the base of the bluff, and about one mile and a half below Osceola Mills. A beautiful hotel was built in 1876 on the cliff above, at a cost of about $20,000, which became quite a popular place of resort until 1885, when it was burned. It has not been rebuilt. The property was improved by Currant & Stevens, but afterward sold.

The following analysis shows the chemical constituents of a gallon of the water of the spring:

South Farmington Corners has a prosperous cheese factory, owned and operated by Koch Brothers, erected in 1883, turning out in 1884 sixteen tons of cheese and in 1885 over twenty tons. South Farmington has a Catholic church building.

The first crops in Farmington were raised by Wm. Kent on a farm near Osceola in 1846, and the same year Harmon Crandall and Richard Arnold improved land and raised crops not far from the present village of Farmington. Here, owing to the sandy nature of the soil, well digging proved rather perilous to the two farmers. Mr. Arnold attempted to dig a well in a depression, a sinkhole, in the prairie. As he dug deeper the sides of the well caved in, almost burying him. He managed by his own utmost exertions and those of his friend Crandall to escape, but left his boots deeply imbedded in prairie soil.

In 1887 the Soo Railroad Company bridged the St. Croix, at the cedar bend at the south point of the leaning cedars, and extended their grade along the base of the precipice overlooking the river above, and commanding an extensive view of bold, picturesque and beautiful scenery.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Harmon Crandall.—The Crandall family were the first to settle in Osceola Prairie, in the town of Farmington. Mr. Crandall moved to his farm in 1846, and lived there many years; sold out and removed to Hudson, where, in later life, he became blind. He had three sons born in Farmington. In 1882 he moved to Shell Lake, Washburn county, where he died, Aug. 8, 1886. Mrs. Crandall died May 11, 1888.

Samuel Wall.—Mr. Wall was born in 1824, in Shropshire, England; went as a British soldier to the West Indies in 1840; two years later came to New York City; one year later to St. Louis; in 1844 to St. Paul and in 1846 to the St. Croix valley, where he made a permanent home at the lime kiln, which he bought of William Willim. He was married to Anna Maria Moore in 1857. They had been educated as Episcopalians, but are now Catholics and have educated their children in that faith in the schools at St. Paul. Mr. Wall served five years in the British army for thirteen pence a day, but West India rum was cheap, only ten pence per gallon, and this, Mr. Wall pathetically remarked, "was an unfortunate element for the lime-kiln man." After twenty-six years of struggle Mr. Wall came out victorious and now strongly advises all young men to "touch not, taste not, handle not," anything that can intoxicate. The writer trusts he may stand firm.

William Ramsey was born in Ireland in 1814, and came to America with his parents in his youth, first settling in Nova Scotia. In 1834 he came to Washington county, Maine. In 1839 he was married to Sarah Stevens, at Crawford, Maine. In 1849 he went to California. In 1850 he returned, and located on his farm in Farmington, Polk county, where he still resides, an efficient citizen, who has borne his full part in the organization of town and county, and filled various offices.

Hiram W. Nason.—Mr. Nason was born in Waterville, Maine, in 1792. When of age he settled in Crawford, Maine. In 1852 he was married. He came to Polk county, and settled in Farmington in 1853. Mr. Nason died in 1859. Mrs. Nason died some years later. They were members of the Baptist church. Their children are Joel F., Levi, Merrill, Crocker, Albert, James, Maria, wife of Thos. Ford, of Farmington, and Frances, wife of Moses Peaselee, of Farmington. Mr. Ford died in 1880. He was a well to do farmer. Mr. Peaselee, also a farmer, has served as sheriff of Polk county.

Joel F. Nason.—Mr. Nason was born Aug. 31, 1828, in Washington county, Maine. He was married to Bertha Hanscomb, of Crawford, Maine, in July, 1851. Their children are Everett, Fred, Louisa, wife of Albert Thompson, and Bertha. Mrs. Nason died in 1862. Mr. Nason was married to Mary Ann Godfrey, of Osceola, in 1867. Mrs. Nason died February, 1885. He was married to Miss Fanny Field, of St. Croix Falls, in 1887. Mr. Nason settled in Farmington in 1852. He engaged in lumbering many years, and was called by his fellow citizens to fill several important offices. He served eight years as county clerk. He was appointed receiver of the United States land office at St. Croix Falls in 1871, which office he resigned in 1884, when he was elected state senator.

John McAdams was born in Tennessee in 1808. He was employed for many years on the Louisville (Ky.) canal. He was married to Eliza Robinson in 1840. Mrs. McAdams died in 1844, leaving one son, Melville, born 1842, who came with his father to the St. Croix valley in 1849. He first located at Osceola, but in 1854 removed to Farmington, where he died in 1883. Mr. McAdams was a mineralogist of some ability.

Charles Tea was born in Pennsylvania in 1817; came into the St. Croix valley in 1849; was married in 1850 to Mary McAdams, sister of John McAdams, and in the same year settled on a farm in Farmington. In 1880 he removed to Southern Iowa.

GARFIELD.

Garfield includes thirty sections of range 17, and six sections of range 18, township 33. It is well watered and has many small lakes, while Sucker lake, a lake of considerable size, is about equally divided between its own territory and that of Lincoln. Garfield was organized in 1886. The first supervisors were Abraham Sylvester, James T. Montgomery and Martin Hanson. In 1887 the Minneapolis, Soo & Atlantic railway built through the town from west to southeast and established one station, Deronda, in the southeast corner of the town. The post office of El Salem is in Garfield.

GEORGETOWN.

Georgetown comprises township 35, ranges 15 and 16. This town is abundantly supplied with water by Apple river and its tributaries, and numerous lakes, some of them of considerable size. The largest are Bone, Blake, Powder and Pipe. The timber is hardwood and pine intermingled. Immense quantities of pine have been taken from this town, and still much remains. Wild meadows are plentiful. Georgetown was set off from Milltown and organized Nov. 15, 1879. The first supervisors were David H. Smith, Elisha E. Drake and August Larbell. George P. Anderson was the first settler (1873), and his christian name was affixed to the town. The first school was taught in 1874 by John Burns. A post office was established in 1881 at Bunyan, G. P. Anderson, postmaster. The first sermon was preached by Rev. C. D. Scott, a Methodist. The first birth was that of Lucy Anderson; the first marriage that of Henry King to Etta Clark. The first death was that of August Larbell.

TWO MEN MURDERED.

Oliver Grover and Harry Knight, two prominent lumbermen of Stillwater, on July 2, 1864, were exploring for timber and hay on Pipe lake, section 10, in Georgetown. Not returning to their camp, two miles distant, the watchman at the camp, after waiting two days, went to St. Croix Falls and gave the alarm. Many parties went in pursuit of the lost men. Some traces of their presence were discovered on the shore of this lake, but the search was finally abandoned. After some months the Indians confessed that two of their young men shot the two men, disemboweled them, burned the entrails and sunk the bodies in the lake. Their bodies were never found. We append the following newspaper clipping:

"Finale.—The friends of the two Indians that shot Grover and Knight, last Tuesday delivered to P. B. Lacy, of St. Croix Falls, the valuables that were taken from the bodies of the murdered men. They consisted of $113 in gold, $282.05 in greenbacks, $160 in silver, one silver watch, one wallet and one pocket knife. This is probably the closing act of the bloody tragedy which cost two innocent men their lives at the hands of Indians steeped in liquor, and who, fearing the vengeance of the white man, committed suicide."

The two murderers had confessed the crime and shot themselves.

George P. Anderson.—Mr. Anderson was born in Fulvana county, Virginia, 1825; was educated in the common schools; lived in Ohio eighteen and in Indiana fifteen years, and came to Balsam Lake in 1866. Few men have been more active in the opening up of a new settlement. Mr. Anderson has been several times elected to office in the new county, and was a principal actor in the establishment of the Polk County Agricultural Society in 1886. He has a family of fifteen children living.

LAKETOWN.

Laketown includes township 36, range 18. It is named from the lakes that dot almost every section in the town. Trade lake, with its tributary from Butternut lake, are the principal streams. The town was set off from Sterling and organized April 6, 1875. The first supervisors were L. Bell; S. P. Heard and N. Fornell. The town was settled largely by Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and Alabamians. The latter settled in the northwestern part of the town. In 1869 Caleb Cushing bought the agricultural college lands in the town to the amount of 7,200 acres. The first school house was built in 1870, in section 8. P. Tierney taught the first school. Lindsey McKee was the first settler. He was also the first to sell out and leave. Daniel Swensbarger, a German, bought him out, and a number of his countrymen settled near him. Jacob Swensbarger started a store. N. Grondund built the first blacksmith shop. Peter Olsen built the first saw mill, at the foot of Long lake, in 1875. The first marriage was that of L. McKee and Mary Addington, by L. Bell, Esq.

LINCOLN.

Lincoln includes township 33, range 16, and the eastern tier of sections of township 33, range 17. It is abundantly watered by Apple river and its tributaries, and has numerous lakes of which Sucker lake is the largest. The soil is well adapted to the culture of wheat. There are many fine farms in this township. The surface, originally covered with timber, is undulating. The town was organized in 1860, being set off from Osceola. The first town meeting was held April, 1861. A. A. Heald, M. C. Lane and John Hurness were the first supervisors. The post town is at Lincoln Centre. The Polk county poor farm is pleasantly situated on a lake in Lincoln, and has been well managed for a series of years by Capt. Wilkie.

Amery village is located on Apple river, at the crossing of the "Soo Line" railway. It has two saw mills and a stave factory. The Minneapolis, Soo & Atlantic railway passes through Lincoln from southwest to east, and has a station at Apple River crossing, named Amery, in honor of William Amery, one of Polk county's best citizens.

Wm. Wilson was born in 1828, at Armagh county, Ireland. At four years of age he came to America with his parents, who located at Canada West, where he learned the baker's trade. In 1849 he came to Osceola and followed lumbering eight years. He was married at Osceola to Leah Moody and located on his homestead in Lincoln in 1870. He has three sons. Mr. Wilson has been a useful citizen and has done his full share of pioneer work.

LORAINE.

Loraine includes townships 36 and 37, range 15. It is a heavily timbered district, with hardwood and pine interspersed. The surface is undulating and the soil is much of it good. It is well watered by South Clam creek and tributaries, and has a multitude of small lakes. There are some fine farms in the northern part of the township. Loraine was organized Nov. 14, 1872. The first town meeting was held April, 1873. The first supervisors were, Frank J. Williams, George Phelps and John Klinch. Wm. Gallespie built the first hotel and opened it in 1873. The first school was taught by Georgia Lacy. The first marriage was that of James Lago and Almeda Johnson. The first white child was George Phillips; the first death that of a child of J. L. Ellis.

The first settler was C. Loraine Ruggles. He was somewhat eccentric. He published a book embodying his own adventures during the Rebellion, which he called "The Great American Spy." The town was named after him. N. B. Bull and Chas. Anderson were the next settlers.

Wm. Wallace Gallespie was born in Louisville, Kentucky; lived in his youth in Illinois and came to Marine Mills in 1844. In 1851 he married Cecilia M. Ring, widow of Charles Turner, of Taylor's Falls. In 1878 he moved to his homestead in Loraine, where he has a good farm and hotel. He has two sons and one daughter.

LUCK.

Luck includes township 36, ranges 16 and 17. It is a good agricultural region and contains already many valuable farms. The eastern half of the town was originally a rich pine wood region. Much of the timber is yet standing. The town is well watered by Upper Trade and Straight rivers and has many beautiful lakes, the principal of which are Butternut and North. Luck was organized as a town Nov. 9, 1869. The first supervisors were Wm. H. Foster, M. C. Pederson and J. J. Bille. The first settlers were Wm. W. Gallespie, W. H. Foster and D. F. Smith (1857). The first marriage was that of W. H. Foster, and his oldest child was the first white child born in Luck. Wm. Gallespie raised the first crops. D. F. Smith built the first saw mill. W. H. Foster was first postmaster. At present there are two post offices, one at the village of Luck, the other at West Denmark. Laura Jones taught the first school in Luck. The town has been settled chiefly by Danes, mostly direct from Denmark. A Danish high school was established in 1884, K. Noregaad, principal, at which different languages are taught. The building cost $3,000. It is beautifully located on Butternut lake. The Lutherans have three flourishing church organizations in this town.

William H. Foster was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1828; came to St. Croix valley in 1844; settled in Luck in 1857 and engaged in farming and lumbering. He served in the army during the Rebellion, and was postmaster at Luck for eighteen years. His father, Daniel Foster, came with him to the St. Croix valley in 1844 and died in 1876. His native place was New Hampshire.

MILLTOWN.

Milltown includes township 35, range 17. It is a good agricultural and stock growing town. It is watered by the small streams flowing into Balsam, Half Moon and other lakes. The timber is mostly hardwood. There is pine in the eastern part. The Patterson post office is located in section 7, Milltown in section 36. Milltown was set off from St. Croix Falls Dec. 20, 1869. The first town meeting was held Jan. 8, 1870. The first supervisors were John Lynch, M. Fitzgerald, Sr., and John Hurley. The Roman Catholic church was organized here in 1864. Their new house of worship was built in 1870. The first settlers were James and John Rogers. The first school (1865) was taught by Maggie Crawford. The first school house was built in 1866. A grange was organized in 1884. The town has now a good brick school house and a saw and flour mill.

Patrick Lillis was born in Ireland in 1807. He came to Polk county in 1856, and, with his amiable wife and enterprising sons, made a claim on what was afterward styled Milltown, an inappropriate name, but given by Mr. Lillis himself, as he humorously remarked, "because there was not a stream large enough for a mill site in the town," and Milltown it remains to this day. Mr. Lillis prospered and made himself a good home. He died Feb. 26, 1886. Mrs. Lillis died December, 1885. They left six sons. John C. is in Greene county, Texas, Simon C. is in Southern California, and Richard is in Memphis, Tennessee. Henry, the youngest, aged twenty-nine years, has for the past six years been a resident of Tacoma, Washington Territory. The residence of Martin and James is not known.

OSCEOLA.

Osceola contains all of township 33, range 18, except the eastern tier of sections, and ten whole sections and some fractions of range 19, made somewhat irregular by the St. Croix river boundary, and the obtrusion of three sections of Farmington in the southwestern part. It is a rich agricultural town, consisting chiefly of prairie, the whole forming a tableland, terminating westward on the precipitous bluffs of the St. Croix. It has a good steamboat landing and two good water powers, Osceola and Close's creeks. These are both fine trout brooks. The bluffs overlooking the St. Croix are bold and high, and, for a great part, precipitous. Most conspicuous of these bluffs is the promontory known as Eagle Point, situated just below the Osceola landing. An escarpment of limestone, about two hundred feet above the river, projects over its base, not much unlike the celebrated table rock at Niagara Falls. A tall and solitary pine tree stands upon the extreme verge of this rock, the whole forming a conspicuous landmark, visible to a distance of several miles down the river. The cascade on Osceola creek, a few rods above its mouth, has scarcely a rival amongst the waterfalls of the West. It has sometimes been called the Minnehaha of Wisconsin, but while it resembles somewhat in the lower part of its descent that celebrated cascade, the scenery around it is much wilder, perpendicular rocks towering over it to a great height, while the upper part of the fall is over an inclined plain, broken into steps. It is a favorite haunt for artists and photographers. There are several minor waterfalls of great beauty in the vicinity. The trap rock formation crops out in the eastern and northern parts of the town, rich in specimens of copper and silver. Silver is also found in ledges at East Lake.

The first land claim in the town, made May 14, 1844, by Milton V. Nobles and Lucius N. S. Parker, included the cascade and the present site of the village. The claim was made with the intention of building a saw mill at the outlet of Osceola creek. The mill company, organized in 1841, consisted of M. V. and W. H. Nobles, Wm. Kent, Wm. O. Mahony and Harvey Walker. Mr. Nobles sold his interest and removed to Willow River; Wm. Parker removed to St. Anthony. The mill commenced cutting timber in 1845. It was run at first with a small flutter wheel, which was replaced by a an overshot wheel, 30 feet; that by another, 45 feet, and that by one 50 feet in diameter. In 1845 the company built a two story boarding house, also a shop and office, near the mill. After the completion of the mill Walker withdrew from the firm and Anson Northrup was for a short time a member. Kent & Mahony for a number of years operated the mill, selling lumber in Galena and St. Louis. Mahony left for California in 1852. Around this mill, as a nucleus, the settlement of Osceola and the village were built up. The mill, with its immense water wheel, for so many years a conspicuous object on the river, has long since disappeared.

Osceola has had many enterprising business men engaged in merchandising and manufacturing. The first flouring mill was built by Kent Brothers in 1853, just above the cascade. This mill changed owners several times, and was burned in 1880. It was rebuilt by Lovejoy & Sutton in 1883. Its present capacity is one hundred barrels per day. The second flouring mill was built by Dresser & Wilson in 1867. It is situated on the same stream, a few rods above the first. It has also changed owners several times. Its capacity is fifty barrels per day. The first merchants were Wyckoff and Stevenson, in 1856. These have been succeeded by Rice, Webb, Clark Brothers, Armstrong & Co., Talboys & Staples, Dresser & Wilson, Lacy & Johnson, W. A. Talboys, Gridley & Co., Heald & Thing, Dresser Brothers, and others. Dr. Gray was the first practicing physician. After him, at different periods, came Drs. Hilton, Brooks, Gaskill, Garlick, Marshall, Searles, Cornbacker and Clark. The first deed recorded of Osceola property was a quitclaim from Wm. H. Nobles to Anson Northrup, consideration $3,250, in 1847. The first lawyer settled here was I. P. Freeland. His successors were Button, Dowling, Dyke, McDill, and others. The first sermon preached in Osceola was by Rev. Lemuel Nobles, a Methodist minister, in 1851. There are two church organizations; each has respectable church buildings. The first Baptist preacher was Rev. S. T. Catlin, in 1854. The Baptists built the first church in the county in Osceola, 1856. The first log house in the town was built by Richard Arnold in the locality of the famous Drake Troutmere springs. This house was built in 1848. Mr. Arnold raised the first crops in the town of Osceola. The first school house was built in 1852. A high school building was erected in 1868. W. A. Talboys taught the first public school in 1852. Until 1861 the schools were under the town system. In 1875 a free high school was established. The first post office was established in 1854, and W. C. Guild was postmaster for twenty years. The first town election was held April 5, 1853, when the following supervisors were elected: Wm. Ramsey, chairman; Nelson McCarty and W. C. Guild. At this meeting the town voted a tax of thirty dollars for school and fifty dollars for town expenses. The first Sunday-school was organized by W. A. Talboys in 1852.

The first marriage, that of John Buckley to Elizabeth Godfrey, was in 1853. The first white child born was John Francis, in 1847. The first death was that of Leroy Hubble, by accident, in 1845.

CHANGE OF NAME.

The name of the town was originally Leroy, in honor of Mr. Hubble above mentioned. It is to be regretted that this name was not retained, inasmuch as Osceola, though the name of one of the most celebrated Indians in American history, is shared by a post town in the eastern part of the State. It was therefore necessary to call this post town Osceola Mills, a distinction that correspondents and postmasters are not always careful to note. Osceola village remained unorganized until Aug. 10, 1887. The first officers were: President, H. B. Dyke; trustees, W. C. Reilly, R. S. Sutton, G. W. De Long, H. E. Cornbacker, Paul Filzen, S. C. Benjamin; clerk, S. Rowcliff; treasurer, C. W. Staples; supervisor, G. D. McDill; justice of the peace, George Wilson; police justice, T. Post. The village has a splendid situation upon the bluffs overlooking the river, and communicates with points on the river by boat, and with overland points by the Minneapolis, Soo & Atlantic railway, completed to this place Aug. 21, 1887. There is also a branch road from Dresser's station to St. Croix Falls. The village was visited by destructive fires at various times. Most prominent of these was the burning of the Freeland Hotel in 1857, the Western Hotel in 1878, and the first flouring mill in 1880.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Daniel Mears.—Mr. Mears was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1819. His first wife, Emeline Mendon, died in 1850, leaving three sons, Charles, David, and Daniel. In 1852 he was married to Susan Thompson. They have one daughter, Lulu, now Mrs. Wheeler, of Stillwater. Mr. Mears came West in 1848, and sold goods one year at Taylor's Place (since Taylor's Falls). In 1849 he removed his store to St. Croix Falls, where he continued merchandising and lumbering until 1852, when he went to Willow River as agent in building the first saw mill in what is now Hudson. In 1860 he made himself a permanent home on a farm near Osceola. He served as state senator from the Twenty-eighth district in 1858-59, and as state timber agent in 1874-75. As an officer Mr. Mears acquitted himself well. In politics he is a Democrat, and while in the senate took an active part in debates. The oldest son, Charles, is editor and proprietor of the Polk County Press. The three sons are married.

Nelson McCarty.—Mr. McCarty was born July 4, 1819, in Pike county, Pennsylvania; in 1834 was married to Mary McKune, and came to St. Croix valley in 1846, where he engaged in piloting and lumbering. In 1847 he made him a farm on Osceola prairie. He died in 1856. His brother Philip came to Osceola in 1850, and settled on Osceola prairie.

William O. Mahony, a native of Ireland, born about 1810, came to America while he was yet a minor, and to St. Croix Falls in 1843. He had learned the trade of a baker, but in 1844 became one of the proprietors of the saw mill at Osceola, and sold his interest in 1860. He was a man of original and eccentric mind. He went to California in 1862, and died there in 1866.

Richard Arnold is of Illinois birth. He came to Osceola in 1845, and moved to his farm near the village in 1848. In 1852 he removed to Taylor's Falls and built the Cascade House. In 1855 he was the first farmer in the town of Amador, Chisago county. In 1859 he left the valley for Pike's Peak, Colorado.

Wm. Kent Sr., was born in Scotland sometime in 1790. He was married in Scotland, and, with his wife and two eldest children, came to America in 1823. He seems to have lived awhile in New Brunswick, probably till 1829 or 30, when he removed to Eddington, Maine, whence he removed to the West and made his home at Osceola in 1852, where he and his wife died at an advanced age, honored by all who knew them. His family of six sons and five daughters all grew to mature age, and, except Andrew, who located in Farmington, had homes in Osceola The daughters are Anna, wife of Curtis Guild; Agnes (deceased), wife of I. W. Freeland; Jane, wife of Jerry Mudget; Mary (deceased), wife of Chapin Kimball; and Eva, wife of Henry C. Goodwin.

Robert Kent, oldest son of Wm. Kent, Sr., was born in Scotland in 1819; came to Galena, Illinois, in 1840, and to Osceola in 1848, where he has filled many responsible public positions. His first wife, to whom he was married in Galena in 1841, died in 1847, leaving four children. In 1859 Mr. Kent was married to Susan Babb, of Osceola.

Andrew Kent was born in Scotland in 1821. He was married in New Brunswick in 1838, but his wife died soon after. He came to Osceola in 1852 and was married to Esther Hill, of Osceola, in 1855. Mr. Kent followed lumbering for many years but finally settled on a beautiful farm in Farmington, where he still resides, an industrious, thrifty farmer.

William Kent, Jr., was born in New Brunswick in 1824; came to Galena in 1843 and to St. Croix Falls in 1844. He was one of the original owners and builders of the first mill at Osceola. From time to time he purchased the interests of other partners until he became sole owner of mill and town site. In 1853 he sold the mill to B. H. Campbell, of Galena. Mr. Kent engaged in steamboating for many years and was a popular commander. He built the Nellie Kent, the Helen Mar and Maggie Reany. Of late years he has been engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was married to Nellie Kidder in 1855. They have no children. Mr. Kent is an influential member of the masonic order, and has filled many positions of public trust.

James Kent was born in Frederickton, New Brunswick, in 1826; came to Wisconsin in 1850; and was married to Mary Jane Wilson at Osceola in 1858. In 1874 he removed to Ashland, Wisconsin, where he died in 1878, leaving a wife and five children.

Thomas Kent was born in Richmond, New Brunswick, in 1828. He came to Osceola in 1849 and was married in 1856 to Achsah Hale. He was a practical lumberman and a very active man. He was accidentally killed in 1847, while breaking a jam of logs in Clam river. He left a wife and one child.

John Kent was born in Eddington, Maine, in 1831. He came to Wisconsin with his parents in 1852. He was married to Jennie Kidder in 1866. He was a house carpenter. Lived in Duluth some years but returned and settled in Osceola.

Samuel Close in 1845 made a land claim for a mill at the falls of Close creek. Shortly after he abandoned the claim and left the country, leaving his name to the creek and slough.

Ebenezer Ayres came from Maine to the St. Croix valley in 1850, and settled on a farm in Osceola, where he made his home during the remainder of his active life. During his last years he became very feeble and partially insane, and his friends placed him in the asylum at Madison, where he died, Aug. 20, 1876. His wife, familiarly known in later years as "Mother Ayres," and greatly esteemed for her excellence of character, died two years later. They reared a family of four sons and seven daughters. The sons Charles, Seth and Andrew are farmers on typo for Osceola prairie. Warren, a fourth son, died in Iowa. The daughters were married—Elizabeth to Ambrose Sevey, Ruth to Walter Carrier, Mary (deceased) to Frank S. Eddy, Sarah to E. R. St. Clair, and to a second husband, H. H. Newberry, all of Taylor's Falls; Abigail to Wm. E. Doe, and to a second husband, the distinguished phrenologist, O. S. Fowler, of New York; Almena to —— Clough, of Osceola prairie, and, after his decease, to Wallace, of Osceola; and Emma to Charles P. Fenlason, of Pipestone, Minnesota.

Carmi P. Garlick was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1818; was married in 1842 to Elizabeth Thompson, of Ohio, and come to Amador, Chisago county, Minnesota, in 1854, where he built a saw mill. Not succeeding as he had expected, he betook himself to farming and to the practice of medicine while in Amador. In 1858 he removed to Osceola, where he practiced medicine until he entered the United States service as surgeon during the war of the Rebellion. He died at Milwaukee, Jan. 12, 1864, while in the United States service. He was educated in Columbus (Ohio) Medical College. He left a wife, one son (Louis), and one daughter, wife of Henry Jones, of Osceola.

John S. Godfrey was born in Sackville, Halifax county, Nova Scotia, Dec. 18, 1809; was married to Sarah Wright, in Stonnich, Nova Scotia, in 1832; came to Easton, Wisconsin, in 1849, to Taylor's Falls in 1851, and to their beautiful homestead in Osceola in 1852, where he still lives, respected and honored by all his neighbors as an honest, worthy and industrious man. He has sometimes engaged in lumbering, but his chief success has been as a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey are members of the Baptist church. They have four sons and five daughters. Of his sons, George died in 1872. Of his daughters, Mary Ann, wife of Joel F. Nason, died in 1885. John, the youngest son, was married to Mamie Maxwell, and died January, 1888. The daughters are married—Elizabeth to John Buckley, Charlotte to S. B. Dresser, Eunice to George Clark, and Sarah to Joseph A. Brown. The two oldest sons are married—James to M. Fenlason, Arthur to Mary J. Daniel.

William A. Talboys was born in Bristol, England; was married to Mary Rowcliff, in London, in 1845; came to America in 1845, and to Osceola in 1851, where for some years he clerked for Kent Brothers. He taught the first school in Osceola and served four years as county treasurer. He has held many positions of trust. For many years he has been engaged in lumbering and merchandising. In 1874 he built an elevator for handling wheat. Mr. Talboys and his wife are members of the Methodist church. They have three children living. The oldest, W. E., is editor of the Grantsburg Sentinel, Burnett county. Frederic C. is in St. Paul. Adelaide E. was married to Benj. Knapp, captain of the steamboat Cleon. Her husband died in 1887.

Charles H. Staples.—Mr. Staples was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1824. In 1848 he came to Bunker Hill, Illinois, and in the same year was married to Hannah Garland. He was engaged seven years in the milling business, and in 1856 came to Osceola, where he engaged in lumbering, selling goods and medicines. He has filled several county offices. Of their four children, Charles W. was married to May Foster, of Osceola, in 1878, Eva is married to H. B. Dyke, and Frank to Ella Fiske.

J. W. Peake was born Dec. 2, 1822, in Schoharie county, New York. At the age of twenty-one he settled near La Salle, Illinois, and kept a hotel. He came to Osceola in 1854, and settled on a farm. On July 15, 1862, he enlisted in the Tenth Wisconsin Battery, and served till the close of the war. He served several years as town supervisor and assessor. He died at his home, March 13, 1886.

George Wilson was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1836. His privileges for education were good. He taught school in Pennsylvania; came to Osceola in 1857; followed clerking and teaching school; was nine years in flouring mill and merchandising; was two years register of deeds, and has filled minor offices. He was married to Emma R. Fiske in 1854, at Osceola. They have two sons and two daughters, one the wife of Capt. George Knapp.

Samuel B. Dresser.—Mr. Dresser was born in Buxton, Maine, in 1832. During his youth he lived with his parents, chiefly at Bangor, where he received the rudiments of a good education in the common schools, and in Kent Seminary at Readfield. He came to Taylor's Falls in 1851, and followed lumbering and merchandising until 1862, when he settled on his farm homestead on Osceola prairie. Mr. Dresser was a member of the Twenty-third Wisconsin assembly. He was married to Charlotte M. Godfrey, June 23, 1859. They have one daughter, Helen A., and six sons, Elma T., William A., Lester B., Wyman H., Mark S., and Frank E.

Frederic A. Dresser, brother of Samuel B., was born at Moscow, Maine, Nov. 2, 1841, came to Taylor's Falls, Minnesota, in 1858, and remained some years, when he removed to Osceola. He served three years during the Civil War in the Thirtieth Wisconsin Infantry, and left the service with the rank of quartermaster. After the war he was married to Mary E. Thoms, of Biddeford, Maine. During his subsequent residence in Osceola he engaged in mercantile pursuits, served as county treasurer four years and as register of deeds five years, which office he held at the time of his death which occurred Oct. 23, 1886.

Oscar A. Clark came to Taylor's Falls in 1881, settled on a farm in Osceola in 1852, and brought hither his parents from Vermont, both of whom have since died. Oscar was a surveyor. He engaged also in the lumbering and commercial business. He was of the firm of Clark Brothers. He enlisted in a Wisconsin regiment during the Rebellion, and served till mustered out, but never returned to his home, and as nothing has since been heard from him, his friends have concluded that he must have been murdered after his discharge, possibly on the way home. Cornelius, a brother, lives at the Clark homestead; George, a brother, married a daughter, of John S. Godfrey. He died in 1873. The widow was subsequently married to Cornelius. Leman, a brother, settled on a farm in Osceola, and died in 1879, leaving a large family. Andrew, another brother, of the firm of Clark Brothers, died in Osceola.

Oscar F. Knapp.—Capt. Knapp has been conspicuous as a steamboat maker, owner and captain for the last thirty years. He was born in Clinton county, New York, in 1831. At the age of fifteen years he came West and located in Delavan, Wisconsin. In 1852 he removed to Osceola, Wisconsin, where he engaged in lumbering for about four years. In 1856 he was married to Miss Angeline Hayes, of Osceola. In the same year he engaged in the business of steamboating, with which he has been since identified more or less. His first steamboat was the H. S. Allen, which, in company with E. B. Strong, he bought of H. S. Allen, of Chippewa Falls, in 1856, for $5,000. In 1862 he built the Enterprise, a small but serviceable boat of light draft and fair speed. In 1864 Capt. Knapp built the Viola, owned by a stock company. In 1866 he built the G. B. Knapp, in 1879 the Jennie Hayes, and ran these two boats fourteen years. In 1877 he entered the employment of the United States government, improving the navigation of the St. Croix river, in which work he is still engaged. His two sons, Ben and George, succeeded him in the steamboat business. Ben, the oldest son, was born in Osceola in 1857; George, the second son, in 1859. These two boys spent their childhood and youth on the river, and have grown up to be expert pilots and captains, and inherit their father's popularity as river men. Ben was married to Addie Talboys, June, 1880; George to Claribel Wilson, in 1883. Capt. Knapp has two other children, Viola, now Mrs. Arthur Johnson, and Guy, still a minor. Mrs. Angeline Knapp died at her home in Osceola, March 6, 1883, respected and lamented by all who knew her. Capt. Ben Knapp died Oct. 5, 1887, leaving a wife and two children.

Mrs. Elisabeth B. Hayes.—Mrs. Hayes was born in 1811, in Dundee, Yates county, New York. In 1854 she removed with her husband to Missouri. After his death, in the fall of the same year, she came with her children to Osceola, where she built the Osceola House, which she kept a number of years. The daughters were Angeline B. (Mrs. O. F. Knapp), Mrs. Hubbell and Mrs. Milroy, of New York, and Mrs. Truman Foster, widow, since the wife of Capt. C. G. Bradley. Her sons were George, Frank and David. Capt. George Hayes followed piloting and steamboating, excepting during the Rebellion, when he served as a soldier in the Fourth Wisconsin Volunteers. In the latter part of the war he served as a scout for Gen. Canby. At the present time he has the appointment of steamboat inspector, with office in St. Paul. David has been prominent as a steamboat captain. He now resides in Iowa.

Cyrus G. Bradley was born in Kaskaskia, Illinois, in 1825. In 1845 he came to the lead mines in Wisconsin and to Osceola in 1848. He was married in 1846 to the widow of Truman Foster, of Osceola. Mr. Bradley engaged in lumbering, became a river pilot, running rafts to St. Louis, with stems and blades, called oars and sweeps, before steamboat towing was in vogue. When steamboats became useful in running rafts, he built two steamers especially for raft towing. He had much to do in introducing the steamboat towing business. Mr. Bradley moved to his farm near Osceola in 1874, where he still resides.

W. Hale.—Judge Hale's early life was spent on a farm. He commenced lumbering in 1822, and followed that business and piloting on the Ohio and Alleghany rivers until 1851, when he came to Osceola prairie and opened a farm. Mr. Hale was the first county judge of Polk county, and held the position eight years. He has also served as county superintendent of schools. He was born in Harmony, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1802; was married to Nancy McKeene, of Orange county, New York, in 1826. They have four sons, John, Isaac, Silas F., and Reuben W., and three daughters, Esther (Mrs. Treadwell), Malvina (Mrs. Merrick), and Achsah (Mrs. Thomas Kent).

Edgar C. Treadwell was born March 29, 1832, in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. He came with a team from Pennsylvania to Osceola in 1846, where he engaged in lumbering and piloting until 1863, when he enlisted in Company D, Second Wisconsin Cavalry. He was wounded at Yazoo river. He returned to Osceola in 1865 and was married to Esther Hale in 1866. Mr. Treadwell was the first sheriff of Polk county, and has filled other places of trust. Since the war he has resided on his farm.

ST. CROIX FALLS.

Extended mention has already been made of the village of St. Croix Falls in the general history of the first settlement of the county. The town includes township 34, range 18, and two partial sections of range 19. It was organized in 1854, but unfortunately no records of its organization can be obtained. The surface is agreeably diversified by hill and plain, and is supplied with many species of timber, including maple, elm, and several varieties of oak. The St. Croix river forms its western boundary, and presents here some of its wildest and most beautiful scenery, including the trap rock ledges of the Dalles.

ST. CROIX FALLS VILLAGE.

The buildings of the Falls company formed the nucleus of a village which took the name of the Falls. Its history has been given somewhat at length in the history of the settlement, and in "Reminiscences." It is situated on the east bank of the river, between the upper and lower falls. It contains one first class flouring mill, owned by James Thompson, one wagon and plow factory, owned by Comer Brothers, one agricultural warehouse, two livery stables (Harvey & Co., and Lillis & Co.), two excellent hotels (J. W. Mullen, and C. C. Fiske), one United States land office, one church building (Presbyterian), costing about $2,500, one graded school building, costing $6,000, one town hall and several commodious stores and dwellings. The village was platted in 1857, by Marion T. Chandler. The post office was established in 1844. Harvey Wilson was the first postmaster. The Minneapolis, Soo & Atlantic Railway Company have a branch road extending to this place from Dresser's station, a distance of three miles. The village was incorporated Feb. 21, 1888, with the following board of officers: President, J. H. McCourt; trustees, John Comer, Jacob Berger, George Thompson, Charles Amery, Barney O'Neal, Sidney Wall; clerk, Thomas Peck; treasurer, A. Hoagland; assessor, P. B. Jewell; supervisor, S. W. Blanding; constable, Hoover Christopher; justice of the peace, W. B. Bull; police justice, Thomas Peck. St. Croix village has suffered from fires. The heaviest losses were without insurance. The flouring mill was burned April 30, 1863; loss, $8,000. The company's hotel was burned May, 1880; loss, $3,000. Fiske's hotel was burned Sept. 16, 1885; loss, $6,000.

WEST SWEDEN.

West Sweden embraces township 37, range 17. This is almost exclusively a hardwood timbered district, with some pine in the north. The soil is rich and well watered with Spirit creek and Upper Wood river. The surface is undulating. The north part has numerous lakes and meadows. There is an upheaval of trap rock in section 2 and copper specimens abound. The principal settlers are Swedes. The town was organized Nov. 10, 1875. The first supervisors were N. C. Johnson, A. Larson and A. Dolberg.

STERLING.

The town of Sterling is composed of township 36, ranges 19 and 20. The east part is heavy hardwood timber land, with rich soil suitable for wheat; the west portion is very sandy and covered with a few scattering oaks and black pines. The whole town is well supplied with hay meadows, which afford great advantages to the stock raiser. The first actual settlers were Samuel Deneen and William Trimmer, who came in the fall of 1855. The year following William Lowell, from Stillwater, entered three hundred and twenty acres in sections 14 and 15, range 19, and made extensive improvements. Daniel F. Smith took up the same amount of land in section 9, same town and range, and made improvements. The first white child born was the son of James Cragin, August, 1858. The first white couple married was John Berry and Emily Stout, in 1859. The first death was that of Mrs. Dunlap, sister of William Trimmer, in 1859.

The town was organized in 1855. The first town meeting was held at the residence of William Lowell, and Samuel Deneen was the first chairman of the town. The town was called Moscow, which name was changed one year after to that of Sterling. It was the largest town in the county then. It was organized into two school districts, but District No. 1 not being able to build a good school house, an old log shanty was fixed up for school purposes, and in this Miss Fanny Trimmer taught the first school. The first saw and grist mill was built by Dr. Deneen. Olaf Strandburg established the first blacksmith shop and with it a gun shop. In 1849 Charles F. Rowley built a "stopping place," so called in those days, on the banks of Wolf creek, at the old crossing, half a mile west of Deneen's, and cultivated a few acres of land. This house was burned one night by a lot of teamsters in a drunken orgie.

Dr. Samuel Deneen, the first white settler in Sterling, was born Dec. 27, 1801, in Youngstown, Ohio. He was married in 1825 to Margaret Conly. He studied medicine in Michigan, and came to Wisconsin in 1854, and to Sterling in 1855. Dr. Deneen practiced his profession, made him a farm, built a saw and grist mill on Wolf creek, established a post office and took an active part in the interests of the new settlement. He and his wife still live on the homestead which they have held for the past thirty years. Mrs. Deneen was born in 1800.

William W. Trimmer came to Sterling in 1855 and made a home, building and occupying what was for many years known as "Trimmer's Hotel." Mr. Trimmer died in St. Croix Falls in 1874.

Arnold Densmore was born in Nova Scotia, in 1822; was married to Matilda Wallace in 1845, and came to Sterling in 1867, where he died, Jan. 20, 1886, much respected as a neighbor, citizen and Christian.

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