Fifty Years In The Northwest
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