Fifty Years In The Northwest
when he removed to Oakdale, where, with the exception of six years'
residence at Stillwater, he has since lived. Mr. Stephens served as
postmaster ten years, as county commissioner three years, and has
filled town offices. He was married to Marie Payden in 1852. Their
children are Harris S., Arthur, Elizabeth and Emma.
ONEKA.
The town comprises township 31, range 21. It was organized as a town
in 1880. A. J. Soule was the first moderator, George Walker the first
clerk and treasurer. The eastern and southern portions are
diversified, being quite rugged and uneven. The western part is quite
level, and was originally timbered with burr oak and poplars. The town
abounds with lakes. Bald Eagle lies partly in the town; Oneka; Rice,
Egg, Eagle, Horseshoe, and others are within the town. Small springs
and rivulets abound. A tamarack swamp, varying in width from a few
rods to a half mile, traverses the town from north to south, forming a
natural barrier between the eastern and western divisions. The
principal lake is Oneka, located in sections 9 and 16. Rice lake has
been celebrated as the resort of Indians from Mendota, who camped here
annually to gather wild rice for the St. Paul and Minneapolis markets.
The first settlers were Fayette Tainter and John Chester, young men
who came together in 1850 for the purpose of locating claims and
baling hay. They carried on a stock farm for five years. The next
settlers, Lewis Sempler and his son-in-law, Joseph Freeman, came in
1855. They were followed by Dunn, Barnum, Hatch and Beecroft.
The St. Paul & Duluth railroad passes through the western part of the
town, entering in section 31, and leaving in section 5. There is but
one station upon the road, Centreville, a thriving little village,
having a hotel, store, school house, etc. Its post office was
established in 1874.
The first school district was organized in 1867. Ruth Miller taught
the first school. The first marriage was that of Joseph Lambert and
Mary Courtone. The first child born was Hoyt E., son of O. L. Kinyon,
Dec. 27, 1863. The first death was that of Herbert, son of O. L.
Kinyon, May 30, 1869.
ONEKA,
Located in the northeast quarter of section 8, was platted May, 1847,
by Franklin Jones; Chas. B. Lowell, surveyor.
SHADY SIDE VILLAGE,
Located on Bald Eagle lake, was platted in 1880, by Chas. P. Hill;
Brinckerhoff & Phillips, surveyors.
DANIEL HOPKINS, SR., son of Daniel Hopkins, of whom biographical
mention is made in the history of Newport, was born in New Hampshire.
He came to St. Paul in 1850, and engaged in the mercantile business on
Third street until 1852, when he removed to a farm between St. Anthony
and St. Paul, and dealt extensively in blooded stock until about
1855-56, when he purchased the farms of Austin and Tainter, on Rice
creek near the railroad. His farm consists of about 600 acres. The
railroad has a flag station at the farm known as Hopkins station.
STILLWATER.
Stillwater comprises fractional township 30, range 20, excepting the
site of the city of Stillwater. The surface is rolling and the soil
good. It is well watered with rivulets and small lakes. The first
settlers in the town outside the city limits were the Lymans,
consisting of the father (Cornelius) and two sons, C. Storrs and D.
P., Charles Macy, W. T. Boutwell, Sebastian Marty, Wm. Rutherford, J.
J. McKenzie, Albion Masterman, and Dr. James Carey. The first white
child born in the town was Emily S., daughter of C. S. Lyman, in 1846.
The first death was that of Betsey, daughter of C. S. Lyman, in 1846.
The first marriage was that of Abraham Click and Jane Sample, in 1853.
The first school was taught by Cynthia Pond, in 1852. The first road
through the town was from Dakota village via Carnelian lake and Marine
to St. Croix Falls. Messrs. Rutherford & Booth in 1857 built a flour
mill on Brown's creek, which empties into the St. Croix near the head
of the lake. The mill was located above McKusick's lake, and has been
for some years abandoned. Brown's creek originally passed through
sections 18, 19, 20 and 21 to the river, but was turned in 1843 from
its natural course, and made to connect McKusick's lake with the St.
Croix by a new channel cut through sections 28 and 29, thus giving to
Stillwater its initial advantages as a manufacturing centre. The
Washington county poor farm, consisting of 207 acres of improved laud
with good buildings and other conveniences, was located in this town
in 1858.
OAK PARK
Was platted May 27, 1857. It is situated between the city of
Stillwater and South Stillwater, with frontage on the lake. The
proprietors were John Parker, Wm. Dorr, Gold T. Curtis, Mary Curtis,
Olive A. B. Anderson, and Wm. M. McCluer. The surveyor was A. Van
Voorhes.
The township of Stillwater was organized April 3, 1860, with the
following board of officers: Moderator, Cornelius Lyman; judges of
election, H. Packard, W. T. Boutwell, D. P. Lyman; supervisors, C.
Storrs Lyman, H. Packard, Henry A. Jackman; clerk, Sylvanus Trask.
DAVID P. LYMAN was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, in 1822. In
1844 he came with his parents to Marine. In 1846 he removed to his
present residence in the town of Stillwater. He was married to Anna J.
Hannah, at Farmingdale, Illinois, in 1850. They have five children.
Mr. Lyman is an upright, reliable citizen, and a consistent member of
the Presbyterian church.
HENRY A. JACKMAN, a native of Robbinstown, Maine, was born July 30,
1819. He was married to Sarah Blanchard in 1848. Mr. Jackman, with his
family, his father and his wife's parents, came West in 1849 and
located in Stillwater. In 1851 he removed to his farm. He has since
engaged in farming and lumbering, and has filled several important
positions. He served as school trustee for 30 years, as county
commissioner 8 years, as warden of state prison 4 years, as state
prison inspector 20 years, and was a representative in the territorial
legislature of 1856, and the state legislature of 1867. Mr. Jackman's
father, a native of Brunswick, Maine, died at his son's residence in
Stillwater, April, 1867, aged seventy-four years. He was a man honored
for his kindness and sterling integrity. His wife, the mother of Henry
A., died in Maine in 1844. Three sons and four daughters survive them.
The children of Henry A. Jackman are Mary E. (Mrs. Russell Pease),
James E. and Alice (Mrs. Wm. A. Boxwell).
FREDERIC J. CURTIS, a native of Ireland, was born in 1818. Before
coming to America he learned the trade of boot and shoe making. He
came to America in 1843, and spent two years in New York City working
at his trade. He also spent two years in St. Louis and New Orleans. He
came to Stillwater in 1848 and settled on his farm in section 9, where
he has since lived. He held the office of sheriff two years. He was
one of the first police of the city of Stillwater and has been town
treasurer and school director. He was married to Bridget Fenton in
1849. Their children are Daniel, Thomas, James, Elisabeth, Mary,
Maggie, and Ellen B.
DAVID COVER was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, May 22,
1826. In 1844 he came with his parents to St. Louis, Missouri, where
he became a river pilot, and engaged in lumbering for eight years,
when he came to Stillwater, and for some years gave his attention
largely to selling logs and lumber between Stillwater and St. Louis.
During the years between 1860 and 1870 his business transactions were
heavy, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and from
some injudicious movements, due to lack of experience, resulted in
disastrous failure. After his failure he devoted himself to farming
and fire insurance business. He was married in 1850 to Elisabeth
Harrold. They are the parents of three sons. Mr. Cover was
accidentally drowned in Lake St. Croix Sept. 14, 1884. His life was
insured for $17,000.
JOHN PARKER came from Vermont to the valley of the St. Croix in 1848,
located for a couple of years at St. Croix Falls, and came to Oak
Park, town of Stillwater, about 1850. In 1848 Mr. Parker was married
to Susan, daughter of David Cover, who bore him three children: Edwin
E., the oldest, killed by the explosion of the boilers of the steamer
Penn Wright, near Winona; John E., living at home with his mother, and
Ella, wife of Henry Pevey, of Stillwater. Mr. Parker was a kind
hearted, genial man. He was one of the early river pilots, and came to
his death in June, 1867, while in the performance of his duties as a
pilot. In handling a line to "snub" a raft, he was caught in its coils
and so bruised that he died.
WOODBURY,
As at present organized, includes township 28, range 21. At the date
of its organization, in 1868, it was named Red Rock, and made to
include a little over two sections of fractional township 28, range
22. This fragment contains the famous painted rock, now included in
the town of Newport, and from this rock, familiarly called Red Rock,
the town received its first name. The first board of town officers
consisted of John Colby; moderator; David Little and C. Schmeiding,
judges of election; John Colby, John A. Ford, J. J. Miller,
supervisors; Ebenezer Ayers, clerk.
The town held the name of Red Rock until 1859, when, by notification
from the legislature that another town bore the same name, the board
changed the name to Woodbury, a name given in honor of Judge Woodbury,
of New Hampshire, a particular friend of Mr. Colby, at that time
chairman of the board. The fraction containing the painted rock was
set off by order of the board of county commissioners, meeting at
Stillwater in 1861, and added to Newport. It is said that this act did
not meet with the hearty approval of the citizens of the town.
The town was originally timbered with various species of oak. The
surface is undulating, and in the western part there are abrupt hills
or bluffs. It is a fine agricultural town, well watered with creeks,
springs and small lakes.
The first settlers were the McHatties, Middletons, Robert Cummings,
John Towner, and Joseph Cooper. The first marriage was that of John
McHattie and Jane Middleton, Jan. 15, 1847. The first child born was
Sarah Middleton, afterward the wife of Anthony Fritz, of Newport. The
first death was that of Sarah Middleton, May 4, 1849. The first
traveled road in the town was from Stillwater to St. Paul via
Bissell's Mound. The first post office was established in 1850, at
Oakdale, in the northern part of the town; G. Hartoung, postmaster.
The first school was taught in 1855 by Miss A. F. Colby. The German
Methodist church was organized in 1855; Rev. Jacob Young, pastor. The
church and parsonage are built of stone. The Salem Evangelical
Lutheran church was organized in 1865; Rev. J. W. Huffman, pastor.
JACOB FOLSTROM.--The history of Jacob Folstrom reads like a romance.
He was born in Sweden June 25, 1793, and when he was nine years of age
left home as cabin boy on a steamer commanded by his uncle. The
steamer was wrecked on the coast of England. He escaped with his uncle
to London, and there lost sight of him. What was his uncle's fate he
never knew. He understood nothing of the English language, and
applied to the Swedish consul for aid. Lord Selkirk was then raising a
company of men to go to his settlement on Red river, British America,
and Selkirk, who could speak Swedish, spoke kindly to the friendless
lad, and offered to take him with him to the New World. He, not
knowing what else to do, consented to go. After his arrival he found
employment with the Hudson Bay Company for a time, and subsequently
came down to the Fort Snelling reservation. When the settlers were
driven from the reservation in 1839; he made a farm in what is now
Woodbury, Washington county. At Lake Superior, in 1823, he had been