Barlows found in this sketch:
Chapter IV, page 87
| The county
seat at the organization of the county was located at St. Croix Falls.
The first election held in the limits of the present county of Polk, prior to its organization, was at St. Croix Falls, then a voting precinct, known as Caw-caw-baw-kang, a Chippewa name, meaning waterfall. The returns of this election were made to Prairie du Chien. I was present at the canvassing of these returns. They were found to be accurate. Annually since then elections were held at this point and return made, first to Prairie du Chien, Crawford County, then to Stillwater, St. Croix County, to Hudson, St. Croix County, and to Osceola Mills, Polk County. By an election held in Polk county just after is organization the county seat was removed to Osceola Mills, by a unanimous vote. The records of the first elections can not be found, they having been stolen from the safe in 1864. The following
county officers were elected in 1853: The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held in Osceola in Isaac Freeland's building, where the offices were located for many years. The first court was held in the school house, Wyram Knowlton presiding. Both petit and grand juries were in attendance. Isaac Freeland was the first attorney admitted to practice. Isaac W. Hale was the first county judge. The first marriage was that of Lewis Barlow to -------- at St. Croix Falls. The first birth in the county was that of Charles Northrup, son of Anson Northrup, at St. Croix Falls - 1844. The first death was that of John Kelly, by drowning -1839, at St. Croix Falls. The first school in the county was established at St. Croix Falls by Miss Tainter, from Prairie du Chien, in 1848. The first school house was built in Osceola in 1852, the second at St. Croix Falls in 1861. The first mail, established in 1840, was carried up the St. Croix River by batteaus in summer and by sleds over the ice in winter. It was delivered weekly; the carrier was Dr. Philip Aldrich. The first land mail route was in 1847, from Willow River to St. Croix Falls. The mail was carried by Dr. Aldrich through the woods. The first stage route was established in 1855. The first deed we find of Polk county property is recorded at Prairie du Chien Sept. 2, 1845, from James Purinton to John Witherell, of St. Louis, Missouri, for $4,933,-- a deed of trust covering a saw mill at St. Croix Falls. The second deed is from Benj. T. Otis to Edmond Johnson, conveying an undivided interest in a pre-emption claim, known as the Northrup or Jerusalem claim, about one mile east of St. Croix Falls, for $200. The first deed recorded in the county of old St. Croix was Sept. 29, 1845, from James Purinton, of St. Croix Falls, to John H. Ferguson, of the city of St. Louis, Missouri, -- consideration $1,552, --of St. Croix Falls water power property. The first store was built in St. Croix Falls in 1839 and stocked with goods by the St. Croix Falls Company. First blacksmith shop and the first hotel were built at St. Croix Falls. The first grist mill was built at Osceola in 1853. The first crops were raised at "Jerusalem," the first farm in the county, in 1839. "Jerusalem" was the farm now owned by Wm. Blanding, and was early noted as a resort for a pleasure seekers, as a place for picnics and baseball games. The first pre-emption and entry of land was made in 1848, by Harmon Crandall, of Farmington. Settlers came into the county slowly until about 1866, since which time the population has more rapidly increased. |
POPULATION OF ST.
CROIX FALLS IN 1848.
Chapter IV, page 90
The
following heads of families resided in St. Croix Falls in 1848:
H.H. Perkins, Edward Worth, G.W. Brownell, Otis Hoyt, J.R. Saunders, Arnold L. Barlow, A.L. Tuttle, M.M. Samuels, Geo. De Attley, Moses Perin, and W.H.C. Folsom. |
INDIAN
MURDERS
Chapter IV, page 96
As
it is not the custom for Indians to molest the dead, they firmly believed
a white man had taken the
gun. Little Crow applied to Major Plympton at Fort Snelling, charging
the theft upon the whites.
The major in turn wrote to Captain Frazer at the Falls to make an investigation,
as a result of which
the gun was found in a tool chest belonging to Lewis Barlow, concealed under
a false bottom.
Barlow professed entire innocence and ignorance of the matter, suggesting
that his brother
must have placed the gun there. Captain Frazer severely reprimanded
him for imperiling the
lives of all the whites in the settlement by his foolish and thievish
act. The gun was sent to Major Plympton,
who wrote to Captain Frazer cautioning him to be on his guard, as
the Indians were
much irritated.
Barlow had earned the contempt and dislike of his fellow workmen. |
CHAPTER V, page 113
| Lewis
Barlow Among the first immigrants to St. Croix Falls was Lewis Barlow, an eccentric, sensitive man. He was a millwright, and, being of an unhappy disposition, led a troubled life. He was the first man married at the Falls. In 1847 he moved to the Minnesota side, where he owned considerable land. He lived here until 1852 when his family left him. He sold his interests and followed and reunited them at Rock Island, Illinois. Here he suffered much and became blind. He traveled with a panorama and so earned a scanty livelihood. In later life he revisited his old home at the Falls, but broken and dejected in spirit. He died at Rock Island in 1872. |
HUDSON CITY
Chapter V page 155
In 1840 the locality, as seen from a passing steamer, seemed a wilderness
of orchard oaks and
maples, filling the valley of Willow River, and clothing the slopes
of the hills. A closer view might
have revealed an occasional shanty, a cabin of the first French settlers,
with small gardens,
the whole inclosed by high picket fences as a protection against strolling
Indians.
Seven years later loggers were at work on Willow River under Captain J.B. Page. The same year a couple of frame houses appeared in the oak openings. The first was built by W.H. Nobles, which is still standing and is occupied by Mrs. Colonel James Hughes. The second was built by Ammah Andrews and is now occupied by Horace Champlain. In 1848 James Purinton commenced a saw mill and dam at the mouth of Willow River, which were not completed until 1850. In 1848 William H. Nobles started a ferry over the lake. James Purinton opened a store and Moses Perin built a hotel and boarding house, which stood opposite Champlin's present livery stable. In 1849 Miss Richards, from Prairie du Chien, taught the first school. Mrs. A.M. Richardson, the wife of the Methodist minister, the second. A school house was not built until 1855. John G. Putman built the Buckeye House, corner of First and Buckeye Streets. Horace Barlow built a residence. Mr. Stone also put up a store building. The first attorneys, Daniel Noble Johnson and Col. James Hughes, commenced practice in Hudson in 1849. The first public building stood on the lot now occupied by the Methodist Church. It burned down in the spring of 1851, and an account of the fire, as published at that time, stated that the "court house, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational and Episcopal churches, together with the high school buildings, were all consumed." It is but fair to say that there were no regular church organizations at this time, but occasional services by local and transient ministers. Reverend Lemuel Nobles, a Methodist minister, preached the first sermon in 1847. The first society organization was that of the Baptists, Reverends S.T. Catlin, pastor, in 1852. In the same year Reverend A.M. Richardson was regularly appointed as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1855 the First Presbyterian church was organized under the pastorate of Reverend Charles Thayer, and Reverend Wilcoxson become the first rector of the Episcopal church. In 1856 Reverend Father McGee took charge of the Catholic Church. In 1857 Rev. C.H. Marshall was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church. A Norwegian Lutheran church was organized in 1876. All of these church organizations have good church buildings, and the Catholic Church has a flourishing school connected with it. School interests were not neglected by the early settlers. A good school house was built in 1855 and graded. The first deed recorded covering Hudson property was by Louis Massey and Frances, his wife, to Wm. H. Nobles; warranty; consideration, $67.18; situate in east half of southwest quarter of section 24, township 29, range 20. |
SETTLEMENT AND
ORGANIZATION.
Chapter V page 305 - 306
| In 1849
Lewis Barlow and Wm. E. Bush became citizens.
An abstract of the canvassed returns of an election held November 26th shows but 6 votes in the settlement. In 1850 W.F. Colby pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 25, township 34, range 19, and W.H.C. Folsom the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the same. At a regular meeting of the St. Croix county board, held at Stillwater, April 2, 1850, the following judges of election were appointed within the present limits of Chicago county: St. Croix Falls precinct, Wm. F. Colby, Wm. Holmes, N.C.D. Taylor, Rush Lake precinct, Levi Clark, Walter Carrier and Richard Arnold. At a meeting, held Oct. 7, 1850, the petition of Lewis Barlow, and ten others, of St. Croix Falls precinct was presented, asking for a special election, to elect two justices of the peace. Their petition was granted. The poll was: Wm. E. Bush, one vote; John H. Reid, six votes; Ansel Smith, five votes. Reid and Smith were declared elected. The first survey of town lots was made in 1851, by Theodore E. Parker, of Stillwater, and under this survey the village was legally established as Taylor's Falls. The first deeds recorded in Chicago County were transcripts from Washington County of lands consisting of town site property, dated 1851, conveyed to W.H.C. Folsom by J.L. and N.C.D. Taylor. |
LAKELAND VILLAGE
Chapter V page 374
Asa
Barlow Green
The name of Captain Green was once familiar on the St. Croix. He was a man of varied talents and striking characteristics, who, in a public life extending over a period of many years, figured as a lawyer, sheriff, probate judge, steamboat captain, minister, chaplain, and missionary. He was born at Warren, Vermont, 1826, and during his minority lived at home. He had a common school education, and by his own efforts attained a knowledge of the law and was admitted to practice in Minnesota and Wisconsin in 1858. He served as sheriff in Washington County, held the office of probate judge, and some-minor offices. He commanded the steamer Equator in 1859, when that boat was wrecked on Lake St. Croix. He was part owner of the boat. In 1860 he was ordained as a minister of the Calvinist Baptist Church. In 1862 he entered the United States service as chaplain of the Third Wisconsin Volunteers, and served three years, after which he devoted himself to ministerial and missionary labors. He died in Whitewater, Wisconsin. |
As an evidence
of what men can do where they have a will to work, we will refer to Andrew Barlow,
of Bancroft, who, thirteen years ago last October, landed in New York
City from the old
country, and was compelled to leave his family for want of means to
get them West.
Working his way out himself, as best he could, he accumulated enough during the winter to send for them in the spring. With industrious habits and good management he is now able to make a show of 320 acres of excellent land, 50 of which are in crops for the present year; and 30 more under contract for breaking; a barn which cost $800; a house which cost $1000, besides having his farming implements, including an interest in a threshing machine.-- |