Obit: Flagg, Allison (1862 - 1948)

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Surnames: FLAGG SCHUH SCHUCH BOSTWICK HATTON

----Source: Greenwood Library Scrapbook Collection

MARSHFIELD NEWS HERALD 3/ /1948

ALLISON FLAGG

Greenwood--Allison Flagg, 85, who had resided in this vicinity (Greenwood, Clark County) for 43 years, died at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, March 14, 1948, at the home of his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bostwick, 6 miles southwest of here.

Funeral rites will be held at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon at Grace Methodist Church. The Rev. Lee Holmes will officiate and burial will be made in the Greenwood Cemetery. The body will repose at the Schiller Funeral Home here until the time of the funeral.

Mr. Flagg was born Dec. 23, 1862 at Lawrence, Mich., where he lived until hew as 8 years old and moved, with his parents, to Janesville.

He was married to Mary Eva Schuch at Janesville March 31, 1885. The couple continued to make their home in that city until 1904 when they moved to a farm 8 miles southwest of Greenwood with their three children.

They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1935 and Mrs. Flagg preceded her husband in death May 12, 1944.

Mr. Flagg is survived by a son, Stryker, two daughters, Mrs. Charles (Emma) Bostwick, and Mrs. Clark (Myrtle) Hatton, all of Greenwood five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren two brothers, George Flagg, Greenwood and James Flagg, Marcell, Minn.

He was preceded in death by four sisters and one brother.

Biographical Information

The post card above was submitted by Tim Plunkett.

In 1904 the Flaggs moved to a farm 8 miles southwest of Greenwood (Clark Co., Wis.) in what was known as the "Janesville settlement", in the town of Eaton.   The May 29th, 1908 tornado hit their farm just four years later.  The
Flaggs celebrated their golden wedding in 1935.

"Greenwood, being built on a hill above Rock Creek and Black River, has not been harmed by floods, and storms have done very little damage, though serious cyclones have threatened at different times. July 5, 1907, a cyclone struck south at the John Charles' farm, Ruth Larson, being injured. May 29, 1908, a tornado wrecked a number of farm buildings four miles west and south at Flagg's."  Greenwood, The Hub of Clark County, Chapter IV

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Recently, Allison Flagg shared his memories as an early settler, coming to Clark County 35 years ago.  A few families arrived in the fall of the year, settling on the western edge of Eaton Township, a community to become known as the Janesville Settlement.  The families put up buildings and turned to clearing the land for spring’s planting.

Spring came and soon after, the same year, 1906, a vicious tornado that all but wiped out the Janesville Settlement.

It picked up members of the Louis Webber family and carried them across a field slamming them into a fence; luckily they received only minor injuries.

The tornado smashed Webber’s log house into kindling; crushed John H. Stoddard’s house; moved on to destroy Allison Flagg’s homestead and finally, tore George Flagg’s house and buildings into many small pieces.

But the tornado merely proved the hardiness of the settlers, strength of toughness they have had to prove since the beginning of the community.

“The tornado took everything most of us had,” Flagg commented, “but we just slapped some lean-tos together and went on about our business.”

This simple statement appears to be the key to the whole scheme of living for the residents of that section of Eaton Township.  In spite of the hardships, they have gone on about their business.

The early settlers of the Janesville Settlement clustered about a hardwood ridge.  This hardwood was their first crop and it was a crop upon which they depended to tide them through the winter.

The major problem was to convert the hardwood crop into cash. In those early days there were no roads and the market for the most part was in Neillsville, 16 miles away.  So, for several years the Janesville people sent sleighs loaded with wood along the frozen beds of the Black River and by a more circuitous route over Wedges Creek and its tributaries.

Two sleigh-loads of wood went out at the same time from the Flagg land.  Each sleigh carried two cords of four-foot length body maple, most of which was sold at the Neillsville electric power plan and waterworks, the Clark County courthouse and a few other private business places.  The wood brought four dollars per cord and when a driver was hired, he was paid four dollars for the 32-mile trip.  One winter Stryker Flagg, son of Allison, and Frank Hatton made 30 trips over the Black River ice to Neillsville, which meant a winter’s income of about $240.

Each summer, the Janesville Settlement’s people fought for a road.  At first it was a one-sided fight.  The town officials turned their heads against the idea.  Allison Flagg and John Stafford were selling the land on commission for J. L. Gates Land Co.  That may have had something to do with the attitudes of the officials.  They thought the road was wanted merely to sell the speculator’s land.

Nearly ten years later, the western half of the Town of Eaton was broken off, forming the Town of Hendren.  Then the road to Globe was put in.  Those who fought for the road were: John Stafford, Albert Dillenbeck, Allison Flagg and Frank Hatton.

Twenty-five years after the settlers came, the Janesville Settlement had access to a road.  Not all was rosy, the summer rains turned the road into a quagmire and winter blizzards drifted snow deep over the road.

As of now, the snow drifts get plowed out and the roads have been improved for summer driving, as well.  Living in the Janesville Settlement had become easier. May 1940, Clark Co. Press

Related Links

Obit: Flagg, Mary E. (1864 – 1944)