Fifty Years In The Northwest
an elevator, hotel, three stores, a school house, Catholic church and
other buildings. The Catholic church was erected in 1873. Father
Huxley is the officiating clergyman. The village was platted by Joseph
J. Dodge; C. B. Lowell, surveyor.
JOSEPH W. FURBER was born in New Hampshire in 1813. His ancestors came
to this country with the early colonists of New England. His father
was a soldier in the war of 1812. During his minority he worked at
farming, obtaining, meanwhile, an education in the common schools and
at Foxcroft Academy, Maine. He emigrated to the valley of the
Mississippi in 1838, locating at Alton, Illinois, where he remained
for two years. In 1840 he came to St. Croix Falls and engaged in
lumbering until 1844, when he located in Cottage Grove. In 1846 Mr.
Furber represented Crawford county in the Wisconsin legislature as
representative. He traveled on foot as far as Prairie du Chien on his
way to the capital of the Territory. He represented the First district
in the first Minnesota territorial legislature and was elected speaker
of the house; was again a representative in the eighth territorial
legislature in 1857; was a member of the tenth and seventeenth state
legislatures. In 1857 he was commissioned major general of Minnesota
militia. He was also appointed United States marshal of Minnesota by
President Fillmore. He died at his residence in Cottage Grove in 1883.
He was a man of strong intellect, sound judgment and high moral
character. His widow, Sarah Wimples, to whom he was married in 1843,
one son, William W., and two daughters survive him.
SAMUEL W. FURBER was born in Stafford county, New Hampshire, in 1819.
He removed with his parents to Milo, Maine, and came to Cottage Grove
in 1860.
THEODORE FURBER was born in 1817, in Farmington, New Hampshire; came
West in 1845 and located at St. Croix Falls. In the following year he
moved to Cottage Grove. Mr. Furber was married to Sarah J. Hale in
1843, in Skowhegan, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Furber visited California in
1867. In 1885 they removed to California.
JAMES S. NORRIS.--James S. Norris was born in Monmouth, Kennebec
county, Maine, in 1810. He was married at Newport in 1845 to Miss
Haskell. Mr. Norris came to St. Croix Falls in 1839, removed to
Washington county in 1842, where he settled on a farm at Cottage
Grove, and lived continuously till his death, March 5, 1874. He raised
the first crops in Cottage Grove, and though he made farming his chief
business, his abilities were such that his fellow citizens intrusted
him with many official positions, in all of which he acquitted himself
with honor. He acted as county commissioner, was a member of the first
territorial council, member of the sixth and seventh territorial house
of representatives, and speaker of the sixth, a member of the
Democratic wing of the constitutional convention, and of the twelfth
state legislature (house).
LEWIS HILL was born at Hollis, Maine, in 1822. In 1843 he came to the
valley of the St. Croix and located at St. Croix Falls. In 1844 he
came to Cottage Grove and engaged in farming, and, excepting a few
years spent in Dakota county, has resided there since. He was married
to Abbie Welch in 1854. Their living children are Emma C., Jessie L.
and Frederick E. G.
JACOB MOSHIER was born in Nova Scotia in 1820. He removed with his
parents in 1829 to Canada West. In 1839 he removed to Illinois, in
1843 to St. Croix Falls, and in 1845 to Cottage Grove, where he still
resides. He is a house carpenter, and has also been engaged in
farming. He was married in 1854 to Maria Shatto. Their children are
Annie F., Mahala, William, Addie, Grant, Laura, and George.
WILLIAM FERGUSON came to Cottage Grove in 1844, and made a claim in
section 26.
JOHN ATKINSON was born in Lewiston, Maine, April 4, 1805. He remained
in his native town until 1833, resided in Pittsfield until 1844, when
he came West and located in Cottage Grove. He pre-empted eighty acres
of land, purchased additions to it from time to time, and made for
himself a very attractive home, where he resided thirty years. Mr.
Atkinson was twice married, first to Hannah Moore, at Lewiston, Maine,
who died in 1874, then to Mrs. A. B. Fiske, of Baytown, at which place
he now resides, an aged, much respected citizen. His first wife left
four sons and two daughters.
DENMARK.
This town is located on the point of land between the Mississippi
river and Lake St. Croix, and includes the territory lying south of
Afton, and between Cottage Grove and Lake St. Croix, fractional
townships 26 and 27, range 20. The surface is elevated, somewhat
rolling, without lakes or streams, and the soil rich and well adapted
to agricultural purposes. The early history of the town is
substantially that of its earliest settlement, Point Douglas. It was
organized in 1858. Supervisors, John Shearer, Thomas Wright and David
Hone.
POINT DOUGLAS.
Levi Hertzell and Oscar Burris, young men, located in 1839 on the
extreme point of the delta between the Mississippi and St. Croix lake,
where they cut wood and sold it to the steamboats. They built a log
cabin and store, under one roof, and traded with Indians, discharged
soldiers and French settlers. They were diligent and industrious, and
prospered. In 1846 they built a frame store building. Their trade
increased and they grew wealthy. Messrs. Levi Hertzell, Oscar Burris
and David Hone, in 1849, platted the village of Point Douglas, Harvey
Wilson acting as surveyor. It was named in honor of Stephen A.
Douglas.
The following settlers came to Point Douglas prior to 1850: Wm. B.
Dibble, the Truaxes, Harley D. White, David Barber, E. H. Whittaker,
James Shearer, Martin Leavitt, Simon Shingledecker, H. A. Carter,
Thomas Hetherington, Geo. W. Campbell, John Allibone, Mark Wright,
John H. Craig, John O. Henry, and George Harris. The first post office
north of Prairie du Chien was established in 1840, on the site of
Prescott, at that time known as "Mouth of St. Croix." This office was
removed to the opposite side of the lake in 1841, and Levi Hertzell
was appointed postmaster. The first school was taught in 1850, by
John Craig. Rev. Joseph Hurlbut, a Methodist minister, preached here
in 1848. In 1656 Rev. T. Wilcoxson, Episcopalian, established "St.
Paul's Parish." Mr. Woodruff erected a saw mill in 1851. The
enterprise was not successful. A. J. Short built a saw mill in 1858,
which eventually passed into the hands of John Dudley. The first road
to Point Douglas was the Stillwater county road, located in 1847. The
Point Douglas and Lake Superior military road was built in 1849. A
ferry was established in 1851 from Point Douglas to Prescott, which
was chartered in 1856, and controlled by W. B. Dibble, who also
established a ferry from Point Douglas to Hastings in 1857. The first
marriage was that of Oscar Burris to Amanda M. Henry, Nov. 14, 1847.
The first birth was that of Emmet M. Hone, born in 1845, son of David
and Mary G. Hone.
LEVI HERTZELL came to Point Douglas in 1839, and was quite successful
in business. In 1846 he was married to Rhoda C. Pond, an adopted
daughter of Cornelius Lyman, of Stillwater. In 1849, in company with
Burris and Hone, he platted the village of Point Douglas. In the
spring of 1856, while in New York, whither he had gone to purchase
goods, he mysteriously disappeared, and nothing has since been heard
from him. Mrs. Hertzell and her three children were left in a
dependent condition, she being able to realize but little from the
property held in Point Douglas. She soon after married again. Of her
subsequent history nothing is known.
OSCAR BURRIS, associated with Levi Hertzell as one of the first
settlers of Point Douglas and pioneer merchants and traders, left in
1849 for California.
DAVID HONE.--The following statement was given me, on request, by Mr.
Hone himself: "I was born in Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York,
April 5, 1808, and was married to Mary Henry in 1835. We came by stage
over the mountains of Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh and by steamboat from
there to Cairo, Illinois, and stopped at the Marine settlement until
Sept. 10, 1838. At that time I embarked on the steamboat Ariel, at St.
Louis, and in twenty-five days reached the head of Lake St. Croix,
from which point I proceeded on a flatboat, propelled by poles, to St.
Croix Falls, the trip occupying two days. I made a pine timber claim
on an island opposite the mouth of Kettle river. On my return, which
was made with eight companions in birch canoes, I stopped at Marine
and made a claim where the Marine mill now stands, intending to build
a saw mill. We then proceeded in our canoes to Galena, where we took
passage on the Ariel for St. Louis, landing there November 10th, after
an absence of two months, more than half of which had been spent on
the water. We reported favorably, and, organizing a company of
thirteen at Marine settlement, Illinois, with a capital of $26,000,
got our material together at St. Louis during the winter, and embarked
on the Fayette, May 4, 1839, for the point afterward known as Marine
Mills, Minnesota. We arrived May 13th and commenced at once to work
upon the projected mill, which was completed Sept. 1, 1839. I remained
at the mill until March, 1841, when I removed to Gray Cloud. I made a
claim at Point Douglas in 1843, and moved upon it in April of that
year. In 1844 I built the Union House, the first frame house built in
the territory now embraced in Minnesota. At Gray Cloud I acted as
justice of the peace. I was appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff R. D.
Lester of Crawford county, and held the office until Minnesota
Territory was organized. My first wife died in November, 1864, leaving
three sons, Edwin A., John H. and Emmet M. In 1865 I was married to
Electa Barnes, of St. Paul. In 1872 I removed to Hastings, my present
home." Mr. Hone died at Hastings, July 11, 1887.
WILLIAM B. DIBBLE was born in the state of New York in 1815. He spent
part of his early life in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama and Illinois.
He came to the St. Croix valley in 1839, and was one of the founders
of Marine, Minnesota, from whence he removed to Point Douglas in 1844,
and established ferries across Lake St. Croix to Prescott, and across
the Mississippi river to Hastings. He also engaged in farming. He was
twice married, first in 1844, to Eliza McCauslin, who died in 1847,
then to Mary Wright, who, with nine children, survives him. Mr. Dibble
died in 1884.
GEORGE HARRIS was born in Pennsylvania in 1824. In 1827 his father
removed to Illinois and was killed during the Black Hawk War while
acting as sentry. At the age of eight years George commenced working
on a farm, and continued nine years. He then removed to Missouri and
remained until 1845, when he came to Stillwater and engaged in
lumbering. Soon afterward he settled on a farm near Point Douglas,
where he still resides. His family consists of a wife (formerly Alice
White) and seven children.
HARLEY D. WHITE was born in Orange county, Vermont, in 1812; came to
Prairie du Chien in 1840 and engaged in selling goods; removed to Red
Rock in 1844 where he sold goods in partnership with Daniel Hopkins,
and settled on a farm at Point Douglas in 1847. Some years later he
removed to Beattie, Kansas. He was married to Mrs. E. Tainter, of St.
Croix Falls, in 1849. She died in 1850, leaving a daughter, who was
adopted into the family of W. H. Tinker, of St. Paul. This daughter
became a teacher and taught in the public schools of St. Paul for a
period of eighteen years, and with her earnings purchased a home for
her foster parents. Mr. White married a second time and reared two
sons, one an editor, now residing in Alameda, California. The other is
engaged in farming in Kansas. Mr. White died in April, 1888.