Fifty Years In The Northwest
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