Kasson Mantorville High School - Komet Yearbook (Kasson, MN)

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1854 April 14. Peter Mantor, E.P. Waterman, J.M. Sumner, H.O. Parmeter, Joel Wat- kins, M.B. Dolson,S.G. Irish. William Fowler, William Cunningham, and James Wilson arrived at the present site of Man- tor ville. April 19. The party built a house for E.P. Waterman and commenced one for Peter Mantor and William Fowler, all in Man- torville. May 12. An emigrant train from Iowa arrived composed of seven wagons and ten yoke of oxen, bringing the first wo- men and children-Mrs. J.M. Sumner and four daughters; Mrs. M.B. Dolson and two daughters; Mrs. Joel Watkins and son; Mrs. Sam Rowen and children; Mrs. E.P. Waterman; Mrs. John Leader and two daughters. There were also thirteen men. May 14. Morris Dolson was born, being the first white child born in the county. May 23. The “Town of Mantorville” was incorporated by an act of the Territorial Legislature of this date, and the follow- ing constituted the first officials of the village: President,Peter Mantor; Recorder, William Adams;Trustees, J.B. Hubbcll, H.P. Whalton and H.A. Pratt. July. John Shober opened the first gen- eral store of the county in a log building on the south side of the Zumbro River at Mantorville. This building was a mere shack, 14 x 14 feet in size, and shingled with bark. It was stocked with staples, including whiskey and gunpowder. July 4. The First anniversary of the Na- tional birthday after the settlement of the county was duly remembered by the pioneers. The families at Concord went with their ox wagons to Mantorville, and the people of the latter settlement had duly prepared to receive and entertain them. A bee tree had been found a mile or so above town, and near it was made the place of rendezvous. G.W. Slocum read the Declaration of Independence on the occasion (thus being the first to herald abroad in this far inland region the foundation principles upon which the great Republic of the West was reared). They had a picnic dinner. Strawberries were plenty, and these, with the honey from the bee tree (the cutting of which formed one interesting item on the pro- gram), were the special delicacies, with such other “good things” as the pioneer mothers so well knew how to prepare. Some of the party went fishing, and all stayed till nearly sundown. August 6. The first death of a white per- son in the county was the infant of Mr. and Mrs. John Livengood, of Milton. A dry goods box was used for its coffin. September. John B. Hubbcll came from southern Illinois and settled at Mantor- villc, where he at once commenced the erection of a log hotel, the first hotel in Dodge County. November. The first religious services held in Dodge County were conducted by a traveling colporteur, or salesman of Bibles and religious tracts, at the resi- dence of William Fowler in Mantorville. November. Born to Mr. and Mrs. D.J. Moreland, of Milton Township, twin boys -the first double-header in the county. November. Gates Irish, of Milton Town- ship, and Mrs. Brown, of Rochester, Minnesota, declared themselves to be man and wife by the simple process of living togethcr-a common law marriage. November 8. The Hubbell House opened for business. December 24. The social event of the win- ter was a dance held at the home of Wil- liam Fowler, in Mantorville. During the winter several cases of smallpox broke out among the settlers at Mantorville, but no deaths occurred. May 16. The first ground broken and crop planted in the county was by M.B. Dolson at Concord, on Section 15. During the year a man named Maston settled just east of what is now Kasson, giving his name to the nearby stream, Maston’s Branch. His wife died in March, 1855. This was the first death of a white person in Mantorville Township. i 1855 MJjt It would be interesting could we know somewhat of the aboriginal history of places so peculiarly favored of nature as is the spot now known as Mantorville. We can but believe that it’s sheltered valued, with its many never-failing springs, and its outlying groves, hills, ravines and prairies, was the favorite camping place of the Indian hunter, perhaps often the transient home of me wandering bands; and deep-worn trails along the high banks of the Zumbro, both above and below the present village, worn by the mocca- sined feet of untold generations, attest that such must have been the fact. A vil- lage, of skeleton tepees was found here by the first comers, and large bands of Indians camped here every winter after- wards, so long as they remained in the country. As a rule, they were very much given to begging and petty thieving, but beyond this they were not troublesome. If allowed to, they would make free to enter the settlers’ houses at any and all times, and if they took a fancy to want anything, they wanted it persistently, if there were no men about. It is related of Mrs. Hiram Bardwell that on one occasion an Indian stole her water dipper and was detected by her in the act. Seizing that always-handy weapon of the housewife, the broom, she soon compelled him to drop his plunder and leave the place. Geo. H. Slocum has avert sensitive recol- lection of one or two incidents during his own boyhood, in which the red visi- tors were prominent actors. We let him tell them in his own inimitable way: In the spring of 1855, “Lo, the poor Indian” was quite numerous in the vicinity of Mantorville, and made frequent calls at the settlers’ cabins, One of these to our own I shall always remember. It was a raw, cold day in March. Mother was doing the family washing, and had got as far as the rinsing process, when ten or fifteen Indians of both sexes made their appearance, and all came crowding into our little room and up to the large fire- place to warm themselves. One rather sickly-looking young squaw seated her- self on the edge of the wash tub that was standing on the floor nearly full of hot water, and presently one of her male companions noticed her precarious rest- ing place. Apparently the thought came to him that a warm bath would be “good medicine” for a sick squaw, and seeming to be an Indian of an active no less than a sympathetic nature, he proceeded to put his theory into practice. A sly, quick move with one of his feet under hers, and she was sitting in the tub of hot water. But her stay in the tub, or for that matter in the house, was very, very brief. With a howl of pain, and sawing the air with both hands, that guileless Indian maiden flew out of the door and made a bee line for camp amid the jeers of her com- panions. Mr. Slocum adds: Another inci- dent I remember, that for sublime cheek and monumental imprudence could not be surpassed by the most impecunious tramp of today. Our family was seated at dinner one day, enjoying among other things a cut of very nice pork tenderloin, when in walked an Indian chief known to the Indians as “Layfayette.” Mr. Indian stoically surveyed the group around the table, and apparently seeing that I was the smallest and least able to resist of any- one there, lifted me off my high stool and cooly seating himself therein, pro- ceeded to fill his capacious stomach with tenderloin. To my anger and disgust, no one else seemed to care or dare to offer any objection. But I did not have to wait long to have my revenge. A few days after, my enemy called again, and this time in an intoxicated condition. Mother had a parcel of newspapers she had brought with her from Pennsylvania, and which she highly prized, inasmuch as in those days a newspaper was a scarce article on the frontier. The greedy eye of the chief saw them where they lay on a shelf over- head, and he was about to help himself. Mother forbade his touching them, but finally he grabbed them, when, on the impulse of the moment, she seized the only weapon at hand, a heavy hickory stick used as a fireplace poker, and dealt him a blow that staggered, at the same time that it seemed to sober him. He glared at her a moment, drew his blanket around him, and left the house, never troubling us afterward. When she fully realized what she had done, mother nearly fainted from fright. A note resort of the Indians was in the valley of the Zumbro, in the northeast corner of what is now Milton Township. It was to this camp that the pursuing party from Mantorville chased the chief Waupaconta, July 4, 1855, as detailed in another'place. Here too, that same season, 5

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CHAPTER I 1853 In the summer of 1853, a party of gov- ernment surveyors ran lines of the west- ern tier of townships in what is now Dodge County. This brings us to the coming of the first actual settlers, the brothers Mantor and Waterman, the fall of 1853, with which begins the chronology herein after given, of the settlements and development of the county. Concluding the record of changes made in the county location by the Territory was placed into, and made a part of, Rice County, being still unsettled, as was all the region immediately adjacent. February 25,1855. Within a year after the first colonies had been planted in Townships 105,106,107 108 in ranges 16, 17,18,19 were made a separate county and named after Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin. February 1856. The Territorial Legisla- ture put Dodge County into the mold for the last time, and when it was brought forth, it was as it is at present. September 1. Peter and Riley Mantor, resident of the Root River Valley, in southern Minn. arrived at the present site of Man tor ville. They left their homes to seek a place of settlement somewhere beyond the then bounds of civilization. They reached Freeport, 111., by cars (then the western terminus of railway travel), thence came by stage to Galena, thence by boat to Prairie du Chien and then on foot across the northeast corner of Iowa, crossing the territorial line into Minn., near Elliota. Striking the Root River at Forestville, they fitted out an ox-team and wagon with supplies, and adding to their company Eli P. Waterman, then a resident of the Root River Valley, pushed on by way of what is now Spring Valley. The Population consisted of 3 families- one living in a covered wagon, one in a haystack, and the third, a family named Leanders were keeping hotel-and our explorers were their first guests! Jour- neying northwestward, they struck the headwaters of the Zumbro above Ash- land, and then followed the course of the river down to the site of what is now Mantorville. Here, finding that for which they were distinctively in search-a milling privilege, with good timber and farming lands adjacent-they spent several days in taking levels and making measurements for proposed improve- ments the following year; when, their provisions being reduced to a small quantity of flour, a few potatoes, and a little honey (the product of the first bee tree out by white settlers in this region). They broke camp. The Mantor brothers staked out claims on Sections 16 and 21, now within the corporate limits of that village, and after a few days’ sojourn in this locality, the party proceeded to Iowa, from whence the Mantor brothers return- ed to their homes at Linesville, Crawford County,Pa. During the winter of 1853- 1854, after the return of the Mantor Brothers to their home in Pennsylvania, a younger brother, Frank Mantor, was in- duced to join in their enterprise, and all busied themselves in gathering supplies and in inducing residents there to accom- pany them west in the spring to the loca- tion they had selected the previous Sep- tember, and which they had already christened “Mantorville.”

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the Indians were scourged with smallpox, an unknown number of them dying. By them it was communicated to the family of Eli Brandt, a German settler, in their near vicinity, but contrary to the general- ly-accepted story, but one white person died, and that a child. May. The first school in the county was taught in May and June at Concord by Miss Cornelia Grems. May. A.J. Edgerton opened a law office at Mantorville and commenced the practice of law. He was the first attorney in the county. May 15. Dr. J.R. Dartt, the first physician to settle in the county, arrived at Mantor- ville and commenced the practice of medicine. July. This year was characterized by a very forward spring and immigrants were early on their way to this much talked of region. The county was thor- oughly explored and settlements were made far and wide. So rapidly did the homeseekers pour in that county organi- zation was made possible. The first effort in this direction was made in July of this year. The census having been taken, and disclosing a total of more than fifty legal voters, Peter Mantor journeyed to St. Paul and laid the matter before Governor Gorman, who appointed county officers, as shown by the following entry upon the county records: “Mantorville, Minn., Aug. 4,1855. It appearing by a census taken in the year 1855 and returned to the office of the Secretary of Minnesota Territory, that the county of Dodge has more than fifty legal voters, the Governor hath appointed the following officers therefore: Notary Public, Peter Mantor; County Commissioners, James M. Sum- ner, William Downard, and George W. Slocum; Sheriff, JJB. Hubbell; Registrar of Deeds, JJHL Shober; Treasurer, J.R. Dartt; District Attorney, Samuel Burwell; County Surveyor, William Chadwell; As- sessor, JJE. Bancroft; Justices, GJP. Ban- croft, Alonzo Way, R. Herzog; Constables, S.G.Irish,E.Watrous,O.B. Kidder. There has always been a popular legend current in connection with the above appoint- ments, that they were made by the Gov- ernor with the understanding that Capt. Mantor would recommend only good Democrats-which he perhaps did to the “best of his knowledge and belief’-and if afterward many of them proved to be “Black Republicans,” he could hardly be held accountable. July 4. An expedition composed of fifteen white men, under the leadership of John Shober, marched from Mantor- ville to the camp of a band of 300 Indians, under Chief Waupaconta, in the big timber in Milton, and recovered wearing apparel and money stolen the previous day front the claim shanty of E.A. Bun- ker, a mile northeast of Mantorville village. August 4. The newly appointed Board of County Commissioners met at Mantor brothers’ store, James M. Sumner, chair- man. In their proceedings Dodge County was made one election district, and the place of election was fixed at Mantor- ville. The county was also designated as one assessment precinct, and William Fowler was appointed assessor in the place of J.E. Bancroft, resigned. August 18. A school district comprising twelve sections in the township of Wat- kins, now Milton, by the Board of County Commissioners. This was the first school district organized in the county. August 18. The County Commissioners fixed the date of the first election to be the second Tuesday of October following. September. To comply with the demands of a rapidly increasing population, Wil- liam Brown and Peter Mantor each built a sawmill at Mantorville. The latter added gristing apparatus the following spring. October (second Tuesday). The first election in this county was held on this date and resulted in the election of the following: County Commissioners, William Downard, one year; James M. Sumner, two years; W.T. Collum, three years. Representative, J.B. Hubbell; Sheriff, C.H. Moses; Treasurer, Enos Bunker; Registrar of Deeds, J.H. Shober; Surveyor, William E. Chadwell; Assessor, Enos Grems; Justices of the Peace, William Bowen, and E.P. Waterman; Constables, William Cunningham, David Howard, and Joel Watkins; District Attorney, D. Rounds;Coroner, A.N. Smith. October 1. D.H. Gilbert petitioned the County Board for a county road to ex- tend from Mantorville to Red Wing on the most direct line obtainable. The peti- tion was granted. October 1. The erection of the stone hotel at Mantorville, since known as Hubbell House, was commenced. October 3. The first marriage ceremony performed in the county occurred at Mantorville. The parties thereto were John Hart and Amanda Orcutt, of Con- cord. The knot was tied by G JP. Bancroft, a Justice of the Peace. November 18. Mrs. Sarah Epsey, opened the first school in Mantorville, in a log cabin fourteen feet square, situated just east of the Hubbell House. December. A Methodist Mission was es- tablished at Mantorville. The stone church was erected in 1860 and dedicated on February 2,1868; in 1875 it was sold to the First Congregational Church, the Methodists withdrawing to Kasson. Also in 1855, Dr. Josiah Dart was a leader of a vigilante group organized to protect the settlers from bandits and horse thieves. An early history records that E.G. Rice was president of the group when in council and Dr. Dartt the “leader when executing the order of the council.” 1856 January 7. A meeting of the County Commissioners was held and J.M. Sum- ner was elected chairman. County order No. 1 was issued to William Fowler for services as assessor. School Districts Nos. 2 and 3 were organized in Concord and Milton Townships. February 29. A law was passed entitled, “An act to provide for locating the county seat of the County of Steele, etc.,” and by one provision of this law, all of townships 105,106,107, and 108 in range 19 were detached from the County of Dodge and attached to the County of Steele. The main objective of this bill was probably to fix forever the county seat of Steele County, at Owatonna. At the same time, to offset the loss of the above four townships, and as a part of the same scheme, the legislators of Dodge County sought to secure the setting off from Olmsted County of the tier of town- ships lying next to Dodge, thus giving to Mantorville a more central location in the county removing all question in this regard as to its retaining the county seat. February, 1856. The present boundaries of Dodge County were established. March 26. Mantorville village was platted by Peter Mantor, H.A. Pratt, A.D. LaDue, H.B. Whallon, A. Lancaster, and Joseph Wilbur. April. Among the new and better build- ings erected in Mantorville this spring were a general store building on Main Street by Adams and McNamara, a hardware stare building by Henry Meyers, and a general store building by Page and Garrison. April. A black bear was chased and killed by the settlers in Concord Township-the only bear killed in the county after its settlement. He weighed 462 pounds. April 8. The first school district in Canisteo, No. 23, was organized by the County Commissioners and Emma Webb taught the first school there that sum- mer. June 30. The first tax levy was at the rate of one and one-tenth per cent for the county purposes and one-tenth of one per cent for territorial purposes. October 6. It was ordered by the County Board that each election precinct be one road district. The total amount of taxes collected to this date was $430.00 in cash and $148.00 in county orders. November. The new Hubbell House, at Mantorville, opened for business Thanks- giving Day. A large gathering of pioneers participated in the pleasures of this house warming. In the winter of 1856 Indians in the large number camped in the grove on Section 12 of Vernon Township. During this winter several of the Indians died and were buried in the snow until spring, when the survivors, taking the dead bodies on their ponies, turned their faces toward the setting sun and the sound of their footsteps died away in the untrod- den west, whence they were heard of no more until 1862, when they joined Little Crow’s forces and attempted to kill off all the white population. They got a 6