Fifty Years In The Northwest
the Rebellion in the Second Wisconsin Cavalry. He removed to Rush City
in 1856.
RUSH SEBA.
Rush Seba comprises township 37, range 21, and fractional part of
township 37, range 20, consisting of about ten sections, irregularly
bounded by the St. Croix river. It is timbered with hardwood, has good
soil, chiefly a black clay loam, with clay subsoil, and is well
watered by Rush river and Rock creek and tributaries. Wild meadows and
marshes are intermingled with the timber. The town was organized in
1858, with George B. Folsom, Robert Newell and Timothy Ward as
supervisors. A post office was established in 1859, in section 14,
George B. Folsom, postmaster. George B. Folsom was the first settler,
raising the first crops in the town in 1855. The St. Paul & Duluth
railroad traverses the town from south to north. It was built in 1868,
and a branch road to Grantsburg, Wisconsin, was built in 1884.
Josephine Blanding taught the first school, in 1856. The first death
was that of James Ward, who died from accidental poisoning.
RUSH CITY.
In 1868, at the completion of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, a depot
was built and a station established at the crossing of Rush river,
around which rapidly grew up the village of Rush City. It was surveyed
and platted by Benjamin W. Brunson, surveyor, in January, 1870, in the
northeast quarter of section 21, township 37, range 26. The Western
Land Association, L. Mendenhall, agent, was proprietor. Thomas Flynn
was the first settler, he having in 1857 pre-empted the land which
afterward became the site of the village. Among the improvements in
1869 was a steam saw mill, built by Taylor & Co. This mill was burned
in 1879, at a loss of $13,000. Rush City was incorporated in 1874.
Frank H. Pratt was president of the first village council. Rush City
has now a commodious town hall, an exchange bank, one elevator, one
foundry, a good school house, built at a cost of $3,000; a good graded
school, under the supervision of Prof. V. D. Eddy; a lodge of Ancient
Order United Workmen (No. 42), a board of trade, a Woman's Christian
Temperance Union Association, a Sons of Temperance lodge, a post of
the Grand Army of the Republic (Ellsworth Post, No. 58), and a masonic
organization (Jasper Lodge). The following denominations have churches
and societies: Catholic, Episcopalian, German Lutheran, Swedish
Lutheran, and Swedish Evangelical. The Catholics are building a church
at a cost of $10,000.
THOMAS FLYNN was born in county Mayo, Ireland, 1828. He came to
America in 1831, and lived in Canada East until 1857; when he located
in Minnesota, pre-empting the northeast quarter of section 21,
township 37, range 21. His farm became the site of the village of Rush
City in 1868, and in 1869 he built the first frame house in its
limits. Mr. Flynn has been married three times, losing each of his
wives by death. He has two sons living, James H. and Frank A.
PATRICK H. FLYNN was born in county Mayo, Ireland, in 1829; came to
America in 1831; lived in Canada East until 1857, and coming to
Minnesota pre-empted the northwest quarter of section 21. He was
married in 1857 to Margaret Kelly, of Illinois. They have two sons and
two daughters living. Mr. Flynn, in 1880, erected the Globe Hotel in
Rush City, where he now resides.
RUFUS CROCKER was the second settler in Rush Seba. He was the first
justice of the peace and held other offices. Mr. Crocker was married
to Miss Mercy Hewson, of Isanti county. He is now a citizen of Rock
Creek.
FRANK H. PRATT was born in Skowhegan, Maine, in 1836. His father,
Henry P. Pratt, a veteran editor, who had served twenty years on the
Kennebec _Journal_, and later was connected with the Somerset
_Journal_ and Skowhegan _People's Press_, came to St. Paul in 1854
with his family, and was associated with John P. Owens as assistant
editor of the St. Paul _Minnesotian_. On Sunday, May 6, 1855, Mr.
Pratt went on board the steamer Royal Arch, which had landed at the
St. Paul levee that morning with a cargo of passengers, sick, dying
and dead of cholera. Thirteen had already died on the boat. Mr.
Pratt, Sr., went on board to alleviate the sufferings of the sick and
dying, and in consequence, within two days, himself sickened and died.
The writer and his family were passengers on the Royal Arch, and
witnesses to these scenes of suffering and death and Mr. Pratt's
heroic self-devotion. After his father's death Frank continued in the
office of the _Minnesotian_ as printer. He worked also in the offices
of the St. Paul and St. Peter _Tribune_ and the Prescott _Transcript_.
In 1858-59 he served as local editor and foreman in the _Transcript_
office. In 1860 he removed to Taylor's Falls, and established the
Taylor's Falls _Reporter_, the first newspaper published in Chisago
county. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C. of the Seventh Minnesota
Volunteer Infantry; was commissioned second lieutenant, and served
until he resigned his office in the latter part of 1864, having been
promoted to the captaincy of Company C. After the war he located in
Sunrise City, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1872 he removed
to Rush City, continued in mercantile business, and took an active
part in all enterprises looking to the welfare of the city. He built a
store, elevator and a fine residence, which was burned in 1881. Mr.
Pratt represented his district in the sixteenth legislature. He was
married to Helen A. Bossout, at St. Paul, in 1858. They have one son,
Fred, and three daughters. Mr. Pratt moved to St. Paul in 1882, where
he died, March 25, 1884. Fred, his son, succeeds him in business in
Rush City. He is married to a daughter of Jonathan Chase, of East
Minneapolis.
VOLORO D. EDDY was born in Java, Wyoming county, New York, Sept. 7,
1840; received a common school education supplemented by two years'
attendance at Griffith Institute, Springfield, New York; gave up his
school to enlist in his country's service, as a member of the
"Ellsworth Avengers" (the Forty-fourth New York Volunteers). The
regiment was mustered into service at Albany, New York, Aug. 8, 1861.
He served in this regiment until June 5, 1864, when he was taken
prisoner at Old Church, Virginia. He endured the horrors of prison
life until Feb. 26, 1865, and was discharged from service May 20,
1865. In 1868 he came to Taylor's Falls and engaged in teaching, which
he has made his profession, having taught continuously since 1869. He
has been county superintendent of schools for twelve years, during
which time he has resided at Rush City. Mr. Eddy was married to
Frances Cowley, at Taylor's Falls, Sept. 30, 1868. Mrs. Eddy died
June, 1881. He was married to Anna R. Olmstead, July 25, 1883, at
Arcadia, New York.
FERDINAND SWEEDORFF CHRISTIANSON was born in Copenhagen, Denmark,
April 18, 1837; came to the United States in 1866, to Minnesota in
1868, and to Chisago county in 1870. He was married to Selma A.
Willard, at Red Wing, Minnesota, Dec. 12, 1869. He represented Chisago
county in the legislature of 1878. He was assistant secretary of state
from 1880 to 1882. In 1882 he established the Rush City Bank. In 1883
he was appointed member of the state board of equalization, and in
1885 was one of the committee for selecting a location for the Third
Hospital for the Insane.
SHAFER
Comprises all of the territory of township 34, range 19, excepting the
plat of Taylor's Falls, and fractional sections in the northeast
corner of the township. It was at first heavily timbered with
hardwood, interspersed with marshes and meadows. The soil is good.
Lawrence and Dry creeks drain the greater part of the township. It is
now well settled, and has many fine farms. A Swedish colony settled
here in 1853, consisting of Peter Wyckland, Andros Anderson, Eric
Byland, Tuver Walmarson, and others. The town organized first as
Taylor's Falls, but the name was changed to Shafer in 1873. John G.
Peterson, John Nelson and John Carlson were the first supervisors. The
first school was taught by Ella Wyckoff, in the Marshall district, in
1859. The first marriage was that of Peter Abear to Kittie Wickland.
The branch St. Paul & Duluth railroad passes through the southern part
of this township. The township contributed to this road $3,000 in
bonds. A railroad station in the southwest quarter of section 32 bears
the name of Shafer, derived, together with the name of the township,
from
JACOB SHAFER, who, as early as 1847, cut hay in sections 4 and 5. He
seems to have been in no sense worthy of the honor conferred upon him,
as he was but a transient inhabitant, and disappeared in 1849. No one
knows of his subsequent career. The honor ought to have been given to
some of the hardy Swedes, who were the first real pioneers, and the
first to make substantial improvements.
PETER WICKLAND came from Sweden in 1853, and settled in the northeast
quarter of section 26. He moved to Anoka in 1860, and was drowned in
Rum river in 1880. His son Peter is a prominent merchant in Anoka.
TUVER WALMARSON was born in Sweden in 1812. He was a member of the
Swedish colony of 1853, settled in the northwest quarter of section
26. Mr. and Mrs. Walmarson reared a fine family of children. Nelson
Tuver Walmarson, the eldest son, inherits the industry and frugality
of both parents. By hard work and close attention to business the
family has prospered abundantly.
ANDROS ANDERSON came also from Sweden in 1853 and settled in the east
half of the northeast quarter of section 34. Mr. Anderson moved to
Taylor's Falls in 1859 and died there in 1873. He left but one child,
the wife of Daniel Fredine, of Shafer. Mr. Anderson was a born
humorist and fond of practical jokes. On one occasion his ready wit
was exercised at the expense of a man to whom he had mortgaged his
farm. Deeming the house in which he lived his own, in the absence of
the mortgagee he removed it to Taylor's Falls. The mortgagee, E. W.
Holman, told him that he had stolen the house and must replace it.
Anderson told Holman to take the house and replace it himself, but if
he took his (Anderson's) family along with it he would have him sent
to the penitentiary. Mr. Holman did not see his way clear and the
house was not disturbed.
ERIC BYLAND, another of the Swedish colony, settled in the west half
of the southeast quarter of section 23. In 1860 he sold out and moved
further west. The farm he left is now owned by John Nelson and is one
of the finest farms in Chisago county.
JACOB PETERSON was born in 1847 and came with his parents to Chisago
county in 1854. They located on a beautiful spot in Franconia, on the
shore of a small lake, where they made a farm and where Jacob passed
his boyhood and youth. In 1881 he commenced business at Shafer station
as a merchant and dealer in wood. He was the first postmaster at
Shafer. He was married in 1881 to Mary Heline.
AMBROSE C. SEAVEY was born in Machias, Maine, in 1824; was married to
Elizabeth Ayers, in Crawford, Maine, in 1846, and came to St. Croix
Falls in 1848. In 1852 he removed to Taylor's Falls, and opened the
first blacksmith shop. He was absent two years in Colorado, and when
he returned settled on a farm in the town of Shafer. He has a family
of four sons and six daughters.
SUNRISE.
The town of Sunrise includes the two eastern tiers of sections of
township 36, range 21, one whole and eight fractional sections of
township 36, range 20, and all of township 35, range 20, except the
two eastern tiers of sections. It is well watered by the St. Croix and
Sunrise rivers and their tributaries. The latter river rises in
Washington county, having for its principal source Forest lake, and
flows through the town in a northerly direction into the St. Croix. It
has three considerable tributaries from the west known as North,