Fifty Years In The Northwest. Folsom William Henry Carman

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      Charles H. Staples. – Mr. Staples was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1824. In 1848 he came to Bunker Hill, Illinois, and in the same year was married to Hannah Garland. He was engaged seven years in the milling business, and in 1856 came to Osceola, where he engaged in lumbering, selling goods and medicines. He has filled several county offices. Of their four children, Charles W. was married to May Foster, of Osceola, in 1878, Eva is married to H. B. Dyke, and Frank to Ella Fiske.

      J. W. Peake was born Dec. 2, 1822, in Schoharie county, New York. At the age of twenty-one he settled near La Salle, Illinois, and kept a hotel. He came to Osceola in 1854, and settled on a farm. On July 15, 1862, he enlisted in the Tenth Wisconsin Battery, and served till the close of the war. He served several years as town supervisor and assessor. He died at his home, March 13, 1886.

      George Wilson was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1836. His privileges for education were good. He taught school in Pennsylvania; came to Osceola in 1857; followed clerking and teaching school; was nine years in flouring mill and merchandising; was two years register of deeds, and has filled minor offices. He was married to Emma R. Fiske in 1854, at Osceola. They have two sons and two daughters, one the wife of Capt. George Knapp.

      Samuel B. Dresser. – Mr. Dresser was born in Buxton, Maine, in 1832. During his youth he lived with his parents, chiefly at Bangor, where he received the rudiments of a good education in the common schools, and in Kent Seminary at Readfield. He came to Taylor's Falls in 1851, and followed lumbering and merchandising until 1862, when he settled on his farm homestead on Osceola prairie. Mr. Dresser was a member of the Twenty-third Wisconsin assembly. He was married to Charlotte M. Godfrey, June 23, 1859. They have one daughter, Helen A., and six sons, Elma T., William A., Lester B., Wyman H., Mark S., and Frank E.

      Frederic A. Dresser, brother of Samuel B., was born at Moscow, Maine, Nov. 2, 1841, came to Taylor's Falls, Minnesota, in 1858, and remained some years, when he removed to Osceola. He served three years during the Civil War in the Thirtieth Wisconsin Infantry, and left the service with the rank of quartermaster. After the war he was married to Mary E. Thoms, of Biddeford, Maine. During his subsequent residence in Osceola he engaged in mercantile pursuits, served as county treasurer four years and as register of deeds five years, which office he held at the time of his death which occurred Oct. 23, 1886.

      Oscar A. Clark came to Taylor's Falls in 1881, settled on a farm in Osceola in 1852, and brought hither his parents from Vermont, both of whom have since died. Oscar was a surveyor. He engaged also in the lumbering and commercial business. He was of the firm of Clark Brothers. He enlisted in a Wisconsin regiment during the Rebellion, and served till mustered out, but never returned to his home, and as nothing has since been heard from him, his friends have concluded that he must have been murdered after his discharge, possibly on the way home. Cornelius, a brother, lives at the Clark homestead; George, a brother, married a daughter, of John S. Godfrey. He died in 1873. The widow was subsequently married to Cornelius. Leman, a brother, settled on a farm in Osceola, and died in 1879, leaving a large family. Andrew, another brother, of the firm of Clark Brothers, died in Osceola.

      Oscar F. Knapp. – Capt. Knapp has been conspicuous as a steamboat maker, owner and captain for the last thirty years. He was born in Clinton county, New York, in 1831. At the age of fifteen years he came West and located in Delavan, Wisconsin. In 1852 he removed to Osceola, Wisconsin, where he engaged in lumbering for about four years. In 1856 he was married to Miss Angeline Hayes, of Osceola. In the same year he engaged in the business of steamboating, with which he has been since identified more or less. His first steamboat was the H. S. Allen, which, in company with E. B. Strong, he bought of H. S. Allen, of Chippewa Falls, in 1856, for $5,000. In 1862 he built the Enterprise, a small but serviceable boat of light draft and fair speed. In 1864 Capt. Knapp built the Viola, owned by a stock company. In 1866 he built the G. B. Knapp, in 1879 the Jennie Hayes, and ran these two boats fourteen years. In 1877 he entered the employment of the United States government, improving the navigation of the St. Croix river, in which work he is still engaged. His two sons, Ben and George, succeeded him in the steamboat business. Ben, the oldest son, was born in Osceola in 1857; George, the second son, in 1859. These two boys spent their childhood and youth on the river, and have grown up to be expert pilots and captains, and inherit their father's popularity as river men. Ben was married to Addie Talboys, June, 1880; George to Claribel Wilson, in 1883. Capt. Knapp has two other children, Viola, now Mrs. Arthur Johnson, and Guy, still a minor. Mrs. Angeline Knapp died at her home in Osceola, March 6, 1883, respected and lamented by all who knew her. Capt. Ben Knapp died Oct. 5, 1887, leaving a wife and two children.

      Mrs. Elisabeth B. Hayes. – Mrs. Hayes was born in 1811, in Dundee, Yates county, New York. In 1854 she removed with her husband to Missouri. After his death, in the fall of the same year, she came with her children to Osceola, where she built the Osceola House, which she kept a number of years. The daughters were Angeline B. (Mrs. O. F. Knapp), Mrs. Hubbell and Mrs. Milroy, of New York, and Mrs. Truman Foster, widow, since the wife of Capt. C. G. Bradley. Her sons were George, Frank and David. Capt. George Hayes followed piloting and steamboating, excepting during the Rebellion, when he served as a soldier in the Fourth Wisconsin Volunteers. In the latter part of the war he served as a scout for Gen. Canby. At the present time he has the appointment of steamboat inspector, with office in St. Paul. David has been prominent as a steamboat captain. He now resides in Iowa.

      Cyrus G. Bradley was born in Kaskaskia, Illinois, in 1825. In 1845 he came to the lead mines in Wisconsin and to Osceola in 1848. He was married in 1846 to the widow of Truman Foster, of Osceola. Mr. Bradley engaged in lumbering, became a river pilot, running rafts to St. Louis, with stems and blades, called oars and sweeps, before steamboat towing was in vogue. When steamboats became useful in running rafts, he built two steamers especially for raft towing. He had much to do in introducing the steamboat towing business. Mr. Bradley moved to his farm near Osceola in 1874, where he still resides.

      W. Hale. – Judge Hale's early life was spent on a farm. He commenced lumbering in 1822, and followed that business and piloting on the Ohio and Alleghany rivers until 1851, when he came to Osceola prairie and opened a farm. Mr. Hale was the first county judge of Polk county, and held the position eight years. He has also served as county superintendent of schools. He was born in Harmony, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1802; was married to Nancy McKeene, of Orange county, New York, in 1826. They have four sons, John, Isaac, Silas F., and Reuben W., and three daughters, Esther (Mrs. Treadwell), Malvina (Mrs. Merrick), and Achsah (Mrs. Thomas Kent).

      Edgar C. Treadwell was born March 29, 1832, in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. He came with a team from Pennsylvania to Osceola in 1846, where he engaged in lumbering and piloting until 1863, when he enlisted in Company D, Second Wisconsin Cavalry. He was wounded at Yazoo river. He returned to Osceola in 1865 and was married to Esther Hale in 1866. Mr. Treadwell was the first sheriff of Polk county, and has filled other places of trust. Since the war he has resided on his farm.

      ST. CROIX FALLS

      Extended mention has already been made of the village of St. Croix Falls in the general history of the first settlement of the county. The town includes township 34, range 18, and two partial sections of range 19. It was organized in 1854, but unfortunately no records of its organization can be obtained. The surface is agreeably diversified by hill and plain, and is supplied with many species of timber, including maple, elm, and several varieties of oak. The St. Croix river forms its western boundary, and presents here some of its wildest and most beautiful scenery, including the trap rock ledges of the Dalles.

      ST. CROIX FALLS VILLAGE

      The buildings of the Falls company formed the nucleus of a village which took the name of the Falls. Its history has been given somewhat at length in the history of the settlement, and in "Reminiscences." It is situated on the east bank of the river, between the upper and lower falls. It contains one first class flouring mill, owned by James Thompson, one wagon and plow factory, owned by Comer Brothers, one agricultural warehouse, two СКАЧАТЬ