Fifty Years In The Northwest
township, has a population of eight hundred, about evenly divided
between the Norwegian and American elements, the latter being
principally from Vermont. The _Bulletin_, a lively weekly paper,
established in 1873, is published by B. Peachman. The graded school
has three departments, with two hundred and twenty-five scholars,
under the control of Prof. J. E. Brainard. The school building cost
$4,000. A state bank, organized in 1883, has a capital stock of
$25,000, and a surplus of $12,500. F. A. Decker is cashier. Baldwin
has one elevator, of 750,000 bushels capacity, two flour mills--one
with a capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels per day, built at a
cost of $55,000; the other of one hundred and twenty-five barrels, at
a cost of $20,000; one creamery, one cheese factory, one tannery, a
good town hall, capable of seating six hundred persons, four good
church buildings--Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal and
Congregational--and over thirty stores or shops. The water supply is
ample, the village being furnished with public cisterns and wells, and
having an excellent fire department, with hook and ladder company. The
village is surrounded by a rich agricultural country.
WOODVILLE VILLAGE
Is situated four miles east of Baldwin, on the West Wisconsin
railroad, at the junction of a branch road extending into Pierce
county. It is the centre of heavy lumbering operations, and is a
flourishing village. It has one church.
CADY.
Cady is the southeastern township in St. Croix county, and occupies
township 29, range 15. It is drained by Eau Galle waters. Amongst the
first settlers were Irving Gray, Charles, John, and Brazer Bailey. A
post office was established near the centre of the town in 1860. D.C.
Davis was first postmaster. A branch railroad traverses the town from
northwest to southeast. There are two lumber mills. The town was
organized in 1870. The supervisors were William Holman, Charles Palmer
and Mead Bailey. The village of Brookville is on the west line of the
town.
CYLON,
Including township 31, range 16, lies on Willow river. It is a rich
and populous township, consisting originally of mixed prairie and
timber lands. The first settlement in this town was made in 1855. The
early settlers were Otto Natges, J. Smith, H. Fouks, E. Johnson,
George Goodrich, S. W. Beel, and J. Tomlinson. The town was organized
in 1859. The supervisors were C. A. Hall, chairman; John Sweet and
John Gibson. A post office was established in 1861, Mrs. John B.
Gibson, postmistress. The Wisconsin Central railroad passes through
the southwest, and the North Wisconsin through the northwest part of
the township. There are four church buildings, one on section 18, one
near Cylon post office, and two in Deer Park village. This village, a
station located on the North Wisconsin railroad, is a wheat buying
centre of considerable importance, and has several business houses.
The school house is one of the best buildings in the county outside of
Hudson. The Catholics and Methodists have churches here.
EAU GALLE,
Township 28, range 16, is drained by the Eau Galle and Rush rivers. We
have not the date of the first settlement, but it was amongst the
earliest in the county. The first settlers were William Holman, Andrew
Dickey, Joseph Barnish, and Uriah Briggs. The town was organized in
1858, with the following as supervisors: Wm. Holman, ---- Babcock, and
---- McCartney. A post office was established in 1853, of which W.
Holman was postmaster. Mr. Holman built a saw mill the same year, the
first in the region. There are now six, mostly lumber mills. The
township is traversed from north to south by a branch of the West
Wisconsin railroad. Wildwood, a thriving station on this road is the
headquarters of the St. Croix Land and Lumber Company, a stock company
with a capital of $300,000. The town of Eau Galle has one church
building belonging to the evangelical society.
EMERALD
Includes township 30, range 16. It is drained by the waters of Willow
and Menomonie rivers, and was originally covered with pine and
hardwood timber. It was organized in 1861. The Wisconsin Central
railroad passes through the northeast part of the township and has one
station, Emerald. A high mound is a conspicuous object near the centre
of the township.
ERIN PRAIRIE.
Erin Prairie, township 30, range 17, lies on Willow river. John Casey
entered the first land in 1854. The first house was built on section
17, in May, 1855, by John Ring. Among the settlers of 1855, of whom
there were about twenty families, we have the names of Michael Hughes,
Peter Queenan and James, Michael and Thomas McNamara. The town was
organized in 1858, with the following board of supervisors: Richard
Joyce, chairman; Alexander Stevens and Peter Queenan, and Wm. McNally,
clerk. Richard Joyce was first school teacher and first postmaster.
There are now two post offices, one at Erin Centre village, and the
other at Jewett's Mills, two and a half miles apart. There are at Erin
Centre one store, one wagon shop, one blacksmith shop, and a Catholic
church; at Jewett's Mills a store, a saw, a planing and a flour mill,
all run by water. There are six good school houses in the township. It
is traversed by the Wisconsin Central railroad.
FOREST,
Embracing township 31, range 15, occupies the northeast corner of the
county. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwoods, is a new town
and is fast being converted into an agricultural district. Willow
river has its sources in this town. It was organized Dec. 10, 1881,
with S. D. Love as chairman of the first board of supervisors.
GLENWOOD,
Set off from the town of Emerald at its organization in 1885, embraces
township 30, range 15. It was originally a pine and hardwood region.
Its waters flow eastward into the Menomonie. The Wisconsin Central
railroad crosses the township from east to west. Its only station is
Glenwood. It is being rapidly settled and has already some good farms
and several saw mills. H. J. Baldwin was the chairman of the first
board of supervisors.
HAMMOND
Includes township 29, range 17. It is drained by tributaries of the
Rush river. Of the first settlers were the Peabodys, James R. Ismon,
Rev. Wm. Egbert, Rev. George Spalding, Mert Herrick, John Thayer, Mrs.
Adams, John Nelson, and Thomas Byrnes. The town was organized Sept.
16, 1856, with A. G. Peabody as chairman of supervisors and John G.
Peabody, clerk. It is now a prosperous farming town. The West
Wisconsin railroad passes through the south part of the township.
HAMMOND VILLAGE,
Located on the line of this road, in sections 27 and 28, has seven
hundred inhabitants. It is situated on a commanding elevation, giving
an extended view of the rich farming country surrounding it. It has a
school house, built at a cost of $2,500, with rooms for three grades,
and one hundred and seventy-five scholars, one elevator of 20,000
bushels capacity, one first class hotel, the Gardiner House, Odd
Fellows', Good Templars' and Grangers' halls, and three church
buildings, with parsonages--the Catholic, Congregational and
Methodist. The village contains about twenty-five stores and shops.
The water supply, on account of the elevation, is from wells and
cisterns. Rev. George Spalding preached the first sermon and was the
first merchant in the village. Hammond was incorporated Sept. 20,
1880, with J. B. Fithian as president of supervisors and John W. Owen,
clerk.
JOHN THAYER was born in 1809, in Worcester county, Massachusetts, from
which place he moved to Ohio, and, after residing there fifteen years,
came to Wisconsin and settled at Hammond village. He has been twice
married, his second wife still living, and has one son, Andrew P. The
father and son are engaged in merchandising in Hammond.
REV. WM. EGBERT was born in 1815, in Oneida county, New York. He
obtained a common school and academic education. He spent his early
life in New York City; came to Indiana in 1837 and to Hammond,
Wisconsin, in 1856. The first trial in Hammond was before Mr. Egbert,
as justice of the peace, in 1856. He has been for forty-one years a
local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been twice
married, his second wife still living. He has four children.
HUDSON.
Hudson includes sections 7 to 36, inclusive, of township 29, range 19.
Willow river flows through the northwest part. The North Wisconsin and
West Wisconsin railroads pass through the township. It is one of the
handsomest and richest farming townships in the State. It was
organized as a town in 1849. Its history is given in that of the
county of St. Croix and in the biographies of its early inhabitants.
JAMES KELLY was born at Osnabruck, Ireland, where he grew to manhood.
In 1850 he came to Hudson and located on a farm, where he prospered,
and became an honored citizen. In 1857 he married Catherine, daughter
of Wm. Dailey. He died at Turtle Lake, Barron county, Wisconsin, of
injuries received from a rolling log, Feb. 19, 1888, leaving a widow,
three sons and one daughter.
DANIEL COIT was born in Vermont in 1801. He learned the trade of a
house carpenter; came West as far as Galena, Illinois, in 1845, to St.
Croix Valley in 1848, and to Hudson in 1850. He died in Baldwin in
1884. He was a man of eccentric manners, but upright life.
JAMES VIRTUE came to Willow River Mill in 1849, settled in the town of
Hudson, and died in 1874.
THEODORE M. BRADLEY was born in 1831, in Jackson county, Illinois. He
lived three years in Lafayette county, Wisconsin; came to Osceola
Mills in 1850, and to Hudson in 1867. He has engaged chiefly in
farming. In 1857 he was married to Margaret Wilson. They have two sons
and three daughters. Mr. Bradley died in 1887.
WILLIAM DAILEY was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1800; came to America in
1819, and settled in Hudson in 1849, where he lived, a successful
farmer, until his death in 1867. He left five sons--William, Guy W.,
Jacob, Edward, and Asa, all farmers, industrious and prosperous, all
good citizens, and church members, all married and settled in St.
Croix county. Guy W. represented St. Croix county in the state
assembly of 1877. In 1866 he was president of the St. Croix
Agricultural Society.
ROBERT AND WILLIAM MCDIARMID, brothers, came from St. Stevens, New
Brunswick, and settled in Hudson in 1851, on a farm in sections 10 and
14. By industry and perseverance they have become independent, and own
fine farms, with blooded stock, improved agricultural implements, and
all the appliances for successful farming. Robert married in 1857, and
has three sons and three daughters. William married Laura Rabold, in
1860, and has three sons and four daughters. William has been chairman
of the county board of supervisors several years.
WILLIAM MARTIN was born in Vermont, in 1800. In 1846 he moved to
Janesville, Wisconsin, and in 1851 to Hudson, where he engaged in
farming. He was an exemplary christian man, and a member of the
Baptist church. His son, Geo. W. Martin, succeeds him on the farm. He
died in 1885.
PASCHAL ALDRICH was born in the state of New York, in 1820; came to
Illinois with his parents in 1826; was married in Illinois, to Martha
Harnsberger, in 1841, and came to Marine in the same year. He
returned, for a short time, to Illinois, and again moved to the valley
of the St. Croix, settling at Hudson in 1846, where he died in 1860,
leaving three sons and five daughters.
KINNIKINIC
Originally included nine towns of townships 27 and 28, from St. Croix
lake east. By the setting off of Pierce county from St. Croix, the
towns in township 27 were stricken off, and the territory has since
been reduced until comprised in township 28, range 18. It is a wealthy
agricultural township. Its surface is agreeably diversified with