NEILLSVILLE, WISCONSIN

HISTORICAL SKETCH

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It is remarkable with what rapidity facts and historical data of every kind, pass into the abyses of the buried past, and the realm of the unknown, unless gathered by some careful hand, cut into marble, or written on parchment and preserved for coming generations.  Time is a slow but certain tomb-builder.  The histories of families are striking examples; how few know anything about their ancestry beyond their grandparents!  The writer confesses that his knowledge goes no farther.  Yet, how interesting it would be could we go back ten, fifteen, or twenty generations and trace our lineage down!--go back to a time when our ancestors were pirates prowling about Britain, or knights, making their county famous by their exploits, avenging wrong, inspired by the spiritual presence of some Dulcinea del Toboso.  And so with the history of places.  The founding of Rome is wrapt in the mist of tradition.  The story of Romulus and Remus, and the flight of vultures, belong to an ante-historical period.  I am not to write the history of a place which no gives promise of playing so important a part in the history of the world as the city of Seven Hills, but it must be remembered that men’s vision of the future is exceedingly limited, and stranger things have happened than the beautiful village, which is the subject of this sketch, should at some time be as famous as the Eternal City on the Tiber.

Neillsville, Clark County, Wisconsin, was first settled by three brothers, James, Henry and Alexander O’Neill, in 1844.  These three men were born and raised in the town of Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, New York, about nine miles below Ogdensburg, on the river St. Lawrence.  They had left their home some years before, and had been prospecting in the West with varying success.  James had spent some time in Louisiana and Mississippi.  James and Alexander O’Neill left Prairie du Chien in September, 1839, in a large canoe, and came up the Mississippi and the Black rivers, arriving at what is now  Black River Falls, in the same month.  They located and built a saw mill three miles below the Falls, on a creek on the east side of the river.  The mill was operated by them for about eight years.

In 1844, Henry O’Neill and E. L. Brockway started up the river prospecting, and selected, for a mill site, the spot on O’Neill Creek where Neillsville is now situated, being the northwest quarter of section fourteen, town twenty-four, range two, west of the fourth principal meridian.  Brockway still lives at Little Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin.  These three O’Neills immediately set to work building a mill on the same spot where the saw mill now stands.  The creek was then much narrower than it is now, the action of the water having worn away the banks, and made what is now a large pond.  The first building erected in Neillsville was a log house about eighteen by twenty-four feet, built on the bank of the creek, near the mill.  It stood about midway between what is now G. A. Austin & Co’s mill, and the slide in the dam for the passage of logs.  This house was occupied about two years, when a frame house was built where the residence of James O’Neill now is.  Soon after the water undermined the banks, and the first building tumbled into the creek.  Sic transit prima aedicula.

A small clearing was made in the fall of 1844 on the banks of the creek; the timber was got out, and the mill was completes in the fall of 1845.  It was twenty-two feet wide by forty-four feet long, and stood where the saw mill now stands.  It remained about fifteen years, during which time certain additions were made.  Its capacity was about three thousand feet of lumber in twelve hours.  Pine logs of first quality were to be obtained easily, all along O’Neill Creek, and could be floated directly down to the mill.  Government had then made no survey of the lands into sections, and stumpage cost very little.  The lumber was rafted in platforms at the foot of the mill, then run to the mouth of the creek, about one hundred rods, where ten platforms were arranged in a more compact and solid manner, and combined in rafts which usually contained about ten thousand feet.  There are many rapids between Neillsville and Black River Falls, and the rafts were sometime smashed to pieces.  Having reached the Falls, these rafts, were then combined into large ones, containing from forty to fifty thousand feet, and thence run to the Mississippi River.  The rafts on the Mississippi sometimes contained half a million feet.  James O’Neill, who was then unmarried, spent a part of his time at Neillsville, and the other part at the Falls.  Henry lived at Neillsville, and Alexander kept a lumber yard at Burlington, Iowa.  For three years these three brothers continued the business in this way.  Lumber in Burlington brought them about ten dollars per thousand; quite a contrast between those prices and the prices to-day.

In 1858, James O’Neill bought out the interest of his brothers in the business at Neillsville.  Henry and Alexander then removed to what is now Chippewa City, and built a mill there.  Some years afterward they sold out to Manahan & Lockhart.  The same mill property is now owned by the Stanley Brothers.  Both of these old settlers of Clark County died many years ago.

During those early days, game of all kind was abundant; deer, wolves, otter, mink, beaver, marten, and partridges were very plenty.  Deer could be shot from the door of O’Neill’s house, and wolves would frequently chase them around into the clearing, the deer sometimes taking refuge in the creek behind the barn.  Partridges were almost as plenty as chickens in a farmer’s barn-yard.

The Indians who inhabited what is now Clark County, were the Chippewas. The dividing line between them and the Winnebagoes on the south, was nearly at the confluence of the East Fork with the Black River.  They brought in deer skins and moccasins and traded them for pork and flour.  They excelled the Winnebagoes in cleanliness and intelligence; they were not vicious nor dangerous, and their chief sometimes boasted that none of his tribe ever shed white man’s blood.  They were given to stealing, and had to be closely watched on this account.

In those days, provisions of all kinds were brought up Black River in boats.  Gradually time was found to clear up farms, and to raise grain, but for many years, boats poled up the rapids, were the means of conveying supplies.

The first dance ever held in Clark County was on the evening of Christmas, 1846.  It was held in a frame house, which stood where James O’Neill’s residence now is.  This was the first frame house of the place, and was twenty-two feet wide by thirty feet long; The cellar was walled up with red-oak timber, some of which, much decayed, now lies near the mill pond.  Nearly all the people on Black River attended this dance, which was given by James O’Neill, who was still unmarried.  One Kennedy and his wife kept the house.  Among those present were the following:  W. T. Price, Jacob Spaulding, Thomas, Robert, and Mark Douglas, Jonathan Nichols, Mr. Yeatman, Mr. Van Austin, Joseph Stickney and Alonzo Stickney, Thomas Sturges, B. F. Johnson, Ben and Samuel Wright and their two sisters, Levi Avery, who now keeps a furniture store at Black River Falls, Susan Stickney, Mrs. Van Austin and daughter, Jane Van Austin, Lucinda Nichols, Isabella and Jane Douglas.  Hudson Nichols and Jim Bennett were the fiddlers.  Some came as far as from where Melrose, Jackson County now is. Robert and Thomas Douglass had a farm there, and came in sleighs on the ice up Black River.  Having danced all night and breakfasted, Mr. O’Neill hitched up his team and “went home with the gals in the morning,” or, in a more prosaic form, drove with the party to Black River Falls.  It is to be presumed that, as the sleighs glided down beneath the branches, which, silvered with frost, over-reached Black River, on that lovely Christmas morning, the maidens were as happy, and their lover’s hearts were as strongly moved by the tender passion, as are those of lovers today, when the forests have given way to beautiful farms and thriving villages. Heaven is within us, not without.

The nearest post office at that time was Prairie du Chien,  Whenever any one came from that place he brought the mail for all his friends.

In 1846, Hamilton, McClure &Beebe built a saw mill on Cunningham Creek, two miles below Neillsville.  In 1847, Jonathan Nichols built a saw mill on what is now called Cauley Creek, three miles above Neillsville.  Merrick, Miller and Dibble built a mill on the main river, eleven miles below Neillsville, in 1847, and the next year, I think, Leander Merrill, Ben Merrill and John Lane built another mill, one mile below the latter place, and John Morrison built still another mill about the same time.  During the same year, Van Dusen & Waterman built a mill eighteen miles above Neillsville, on the Black River.  All these proved bad speculations, as the expense of getting the lumber to the Mississippi was very great, and the price was low.  Of these lumbermen mentioned, it is believed that James O’Neill is the only one remaining in Clark County.  Leander and Ben Merrill still live at Merrillan, which was named after them.  They have amassed considerable wealth, and are extensively engaged in business at the latter place.  SamuelFerguson, an old settler, a blacksmith by trade, still resides at Neillsville.  Nearly all the others named are dead.

The mill on Cunningham Creek was purchased by Moses Clark.  An altercation between Clark and one William Paulley, took place in Neillsville, in the store of Clinton & Quail.  Paulley shot Clark, who lingered some time, but who finally died at Plattville, Grant County, Wisconsin, whither he had been taken for surgical treatment.  Paulley was indicted for manslaughter, tried and convicted.  He served out his sentence at Waupun, and afterwards died at Black River Falls.

In 1850, there was only fifty acres cleared where Neillsville now stands.  This clearing extended up the hill including the ground where the school-house now stands, and where the residences of R. J. Mac Bride and George C. Farnham are situated.  The growth since then has been steady and parallel with the development of the county.  It will be impossible for the writer to follow a strictly chronological plan in the present sketch, and the reader, therefore, will not expect it.  An attempt will simply be made to throw together some information, which may be interesting to old settlers and to the young, who would know something of the early history of the place.

Neillsville has always been a lumbering town, and a centre of operations for lumbermen.  An immense amount of pine has been cut from the forests of the county, which has all found its way out the Black River and its tributaries.  This business has, necessarily brought much money to Neillsville.  Indeed, until very lately, the entire business of the place may be said to have been founded upon lumbering.  As we have before said, lumber already sawed was run down Black River before logs.  These rafts frequently meeting with accidents, another plan was taken.  The logs were ripped into cants about six inches thick and floated down the river in this form.  Logs were first run in 1853, the cants then became mixed with the logs so that it was difficult to separate them, the running of the former was discontinued.  Previous to that time there had been quite a trade in shingles, which was more profitable than the running of either logs or cants, because they always found a ready market.

The county of Clark was organized in 1853.  Neillsville was laid out, and plotted in 1855, by a surveyor named Allen Boardman, James O’Neill being the proprietor.  In 1853, Samuel Weston came from Maine, and engaged in running logs down Black River.  A village was started two miles above Neillsville, on Black River, and named Weston, in his honor.  By some maneuvering of Weston, in the act organizing the county, the place named for him, not Neillsville, was named the county seat.  A Mr. Gibson was at that time the member of assembly representing Clark County, and he was very friendly to Mr. O’Neill, and through him an act of the legislature was passed, authorizing the people to voter on a change of the county seat from Weston to the northwest quarter of section fourteen, town twenty-four, range four, west, where Neillsville is now situated.

The election took place in November, 1854.  There was naturally a great struggle between O’Neill and Weston, for it was evident that the relative prominence of the two places would depend very much upon the results of the election.  There was then but one town in the county, Pine Valley; There were, however, two polling places, one at Neillsville, the other at the house of one Parker, who kept a hotel about eleven miles below Neillsville, on Black River.  There was no bridge across O’Neill Creek, and the voters crossed on the dam.  It is said that one, B. F. French, who is probably still remembered by some of the old settlers, suggested an excellent plan of operation to secure a majority vote for Neillsville.  His idea finely conceived, was to place a barrel of whiskey on the north bank of O’Neill creek, just at the end of the dam.  Weston’s men would all come that way, and it was believed would not resist the temptation to indulge in the ardent before voting.  By judicious management, they could be made so merry that it would be dangerous to navigate the narrow dam, and so the men would remain on the north side, and not be able to cast their votes.  The writer hereof will not insist, as a matter of history, that Neillsville owes it present importance to French’s whiskey barrel schemes, but merely mentions the idea as a tradition still current, and as illustrative of the shrewdness which has always characterized the esteemed gentlemen referred to.  It is presumed some voters were imported on both sides, as quite a large number of men were then in the county temporarily working in the camps.  I. S. Mason and C. W. Hutchinson had camps on Wedge’s creek, and their men all came in and voted in favor of the location at Neillsville.  The number of votes cat at the latter place was one hundred and four, and resulted in a majority of four for Weston.  The whole vote cast at Parker, twenty-one, was in favor of Neillsville, and decided the issue, making the majority in favor of the latter place seventeen.  While Neillsville would have been a center of operations for lumbermen, regardless of its being so selected, yet it is doubtless very true that its prosperity has been much increased by its being the county seat.

Clinton & Quail were the first merchants in the place, locating in 1856.  In the same year, Reuben Roik started the first hotel.  The growth of the place since then has been steady, until it reached the dimensions which we see to-day.  In the further progress of our narrative, we shall abandon the chronological and adopt a plan referring more to things and their necessary connection with each other than to time.  This, it os believed, will be more interesting to the (226) reader, and will certainly save much time and trouble to the writer.  We shall first proceed to notice some of the early settlers, and in doing so we foresee that it will be impractical to notice all, and it is very possible that when we have concluded our sketch, we shall be guilty in sins of omission, rather than commission.

The founder of the place, and the one who has done more than any body else to make Neillsville what it is, has already received considerable notice.  As his biography is to form a part of the contents of the current number of the SKETCH BOOK, it will be unnecessary to say much further of him in this connection.  It may be remarked that his daughter Belle, now the wife of W. S. Covill, Esq., was the first white child born in Neillsville and in Clark County.  She was born March 6^th, 1849.  Mr. O’Neill has done much to increase the prosperity of the place by gifts of grounds for the court house, school house and Methodist church, and by building a large and commodious hotel which bears his name.

R. Dewhurst and G. W. King came to Neillsville together, in 1856.  Dewhurst had read law in Ohio, at Illyria, with Philoem Bliss, afterward Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri.  They started a law office soon after their arrival, their office being situated in a building which stood near the gate in front of the present residence of James O’Neill.  Dewhurst taught the first winter school ever taught at Weston, during the winter of 1856-57.  King was elected Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, in the fall of 1858, and the same election Dewhurst was elected Register of Deeds and member of Assembly.  He had previously been chosen County Judge, in which capacity, the writer is informed, the most important act he ever performed, was to walk from Neillsville to Loyal, a distance of twenty miles, to unite tow loving hearts in the bonds of matrimony.  Dewhurst was again elected to the Assembly in 1874, which position he now holds.  He has been extensively engaged in lumbering, and owns much valuable pine and agricultural lands in Clark county.  All who know him regard him as an honest and excellent gentleman, and although from the prominent position he has taken in politics, he has, naturally, incurred some enmity, yet his political enemies concede his many sterling qualities.  Mr. King removed, some years ago, to Humbird, Wisconsin, where he now lives.  He is extensively engaged in lumbering, owning what is known as King’s Mill, on the direct road from Neillsville to Humbird, and being also interested in a large mill on the Mississippi.

Robert Ross came to Neillsville in November, 1848, from Canada.  He brought with him two sovereigns and a half, lent them to one Baker, and never got them back.  The first three years he made shingles, which was then a good business, as shingles were a legal tender.  Since then he has been extensively engaged in lumbering.  Some years since he removed to La Crosse, but in the autumn of 1874 returned to his farm, about a mile from Neillsville.  He is now considered one of the wealthy men of the place, owning much valuable pine land.

James Hewett came to Clark County in 1856, from Essex county, New York.  He worked by the day on Black River bridge, opposite what is now known as Arch Day’s hotel, during the winter of 1856-7, and during the winter of 1857-8 he worked on Wedge’s creek for Major Wedge, t thirty dollars per month.  The next summer he had to go to Black River Falls, saw lumber and run it to Galena to get his pay.  Upon his return from this trip he was taken down with fever and ague, which continued three months.  Upon recovering, he had not a dollar left, but he had something more valuable than money--indomitable pluck and perseverance.  On the eighth day of January, 1859, he formed a partnership with Chauncey Blakeskee and O. S. Woods, under the firm name of Hewett, Woods & Co.  This firm continued about ten years.  Woods went to La Crosse in 1867, and attended to the business of the firm in that place, and in 1869 Blakeslee withdrew and went to Sparta to reside.  The firm bought a steam tug in 1870, and another in 1872, for the purpose of towing rafts on the Mississippi river.  The magnitude of the business of this form will be seen when it is stated that from the year 1868 to 1873 they put into Black River from eighteen to twenty-five millions of logs per annum, averaging in calue, at the mouth of Black River, about twelve dollars per thousand feet.  During the summer of 1972, they erected at Neillsville a handsome brick store, which cost about ten thousand dollars.  Mr. Hewett built an elegant residence in the place in the summer of 1874, costing about the same amount.  The firm of Hewett & Woods is regarded as one of the most stable business houses in the Northwest.  Mr. Hewett is a man of very peculiar bearing.  When the writer was first introduced to him, he was impressed with the idea that Mr. Hewett was a man lacking in energy and business ability; yet this could not be, for here before my eyes were to be seen the fruits of persistent industry and prudent management. Few men blunder into prosperity and wealth.  Mr. Hewett’s quiet and unostentatious (228) way does not favorably impress upon first acquaintance, but a better knowledge of the man will convince you that there are much careful thought and penetration into the nature and relation of things behind that quiet exterior.  Mr. Woods is a pleasant gentleman, and his friends are many wherever he is known.

William T. Hutchinson came to Neillsville, October fifteenth, 1875, from Waukesha county, Wisconsin, but was formerly from Delaware.  At an early day, he was appointed postmaster at Pleasant Ridge, and was afterwards postmaster at Neillsville, from 1865 to 1871.  He was elected Register of Deeds in 1865, to which office her has been three times re-elected.  He fills every position he holds with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people.  No man is more certainly to be found at his post.  For some years he has been in partnership with Judge Dewhurst, in the real estate business.

David H. Robinson, a native of Maine, emigrated to Wisconsin in 1844, locating in Washara county, from which place he came to Neillsville in 1852.  Up to 1859, he was engaged in logging.  He also kept a hotel at Weston from 1863 to 1868.  Since then he has turned his attention to farming.  Having received a good education when young, he has been well fitted for the numerous and important positions of public trust to which he has been called.

F. G. Cawley came to this place in 1853, when quite a boy.  For the last fifteen years he had filled the position of constable, in which capacity he is said to be expert, as well in evading as in obtaining service of process.  His experience in running off cows, picking blackberries, Saturday afternoons, until the small hours of midnight, and the like, would fill a volume, and for further information we refer the reader to “Follett on Tricks,” with American notes by Doc. French.  His father, Samuel Cawley, settled here some years before his son.  From him Cawley Creek took its name.  He still lives at Weston.

W. W. Lemon arrived in Clark county from Canada, October 13^th, 1856.  His residence since then has been in the town of Levis, but as hs e is so well known by other old settlers, he is mentioned in this connection.  He has been Town treasurer six years, and has held other positions of trust.  He still lives in Levis, and is now proprietor of the Wedge Creek House.

Samuel F. Ferguson, located in Neillsville in the fall of 1845.  He had lived two years previous at Black River Falls, and on Black River.  He was born in Ohio, and thence removed to Pennsylvania.  He had gone down, in the summer of 1845, with James O’Neill, with a raft to Burlington, Iowa, where O’Neill purchased blacksmith tools.  These were conveyed up Black River to Neillsville, where Mr. Ferguson started a blacksmith shop. He made the irons for the first saw mill. The only house in the place was O’Neill’s house, heretofore mentioned as being the first erected in Neillsville.  About twelve or fifteen slept in this shanty, twelve feet wide by sixteen feet long.  Ferguson bored two holes in a log, stuck two pins in, laid pieces of board across, and this constituted his bed during the winter.  From that day to this, he has had a blacksmith shop in or about Neillsville.  He sits before the writer as he pens these lines, a man of sixty-six years, and still quite vigorous and healthy.

William Ferguson, or as better known, Uncle Billy Ferguson, a brother to Samuel F., came to Neillsville about the same time as his brother.  He was known as a hunter, in which occupation he spent the greater portion of his time. He resided in or near this place until his death, which occurred in 1871.

James W. Ferguson, a nephew of the two brothers mentioned, came to this place  April 23d, 1854.  His uncle Samuel could not find a wife to suit him in Clark county, and had visited Pennsylvania in search of one, in which pursuit he succeeded. James W. then accompanied his uncle on his return.  Since then he has resided here, excepting for four years, from November 1861 to October 1865, which he spent in the army.  He has held the position of postmaster in Neillsville since 1871.

Daniel Gates, from Essex county, New York, removed to Clark county in 1856, locating at the mouth of wedge’s creek, where he kept hotel for five years.  In 1861, he came to this place, leased the building which is now occupied by Gates & Head as a meat market, from C. Blakeslee, and opened a hotel, which he kept one year.  The next year he moved to where he now lives.  From 1862 to 1868 he was engaged in logging.  He has been Sheriff two years, Justice of the Peace four years, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors one term, and now is President of the Clark County Agricultural Society.  His partner in the meat business, Joseph Head, Esq., came to this place from Monroe county, Wisconsin, in 1867. The firm now do an extensive and profitable business, and are regarded as among the soundest and best houses in the place.

James Sturdevant came to this place in 1848, from Lee county, Iowa.  His birth-place was Pennsylvania.  At this time he did not come to stay.  He returned again in 1854, and has resided here ever since, except an absence of about a year in Washington Territory in 1874.  He was married and had four children when he came to Neillsville, viz., Robert, James, Rufus and Marshall.  Robert, who studied law under his uncle, B. F. French, and afterwards held the position of District Attorney of Clark county, removed in the fall of 1873 to Washington Territory, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession. Rufus now holds the office vacated by his brother, and is engaged in the practice of his profession and lumbering.  Their father has generally devoted his time to agricultural pursuits, but has also spent much time in keeping bees.  For many years he has had an average of about one hundred swarms.  He has returned from the Pacific coast and now lives on his farm, one mile south of Neillsville.

James French, brother of B. F. French, and brother-in-law of  J. W. Sturdevant, came here in 1848, and has lived most of the time since on his farm, about five miles south of Neillsville. He has been engaged both in lumbering and farming.  He now resides in Neillsville.

The newspaper history of Clark county is full of interesting events and spicy incidents, and if faithfully given would add much to the value of this sketch.  In nearly all the local party strife that have taken place since the first newspaper was started, the press and its manager have taken a conspicuous part, and there is hardly a prominent citizen who has not been active in the development and support of one or more newspaper enterprises.  The disposal of the official printing patronage of the county, became the issue at elections, and men voted for such candidates as would promise to give the printing to the journal of their choice.  The writer regrets that the brief time afforded has prevented his giving much desirable information on this subject, and in attempting to give even a partial history, it can only be done, in a rather incoherent manner, for want of dates in many instances.

The first introduction of the press into Clark county, was attended with many of the trials and difficulties that beset the path of pioneers in whatever occupation they engage.  Beriah Brown, Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, first corresponded with parties here in regard to the matter.  This was in the fall of 1856, and before the following spring, William C. Tompkins, who had been publishing a paper with poor success at Weyauwega, made his appearance at Neillsville, with press and type.  He had come “overland” through  (231)  woods, a distance of nearly one hundred miles, bringing the material loaded on wagons.  The country west of here, then was, for the most part of the way, an almost unbroken wilderness.  How he ever got through with safety, will probably always remain a mystery.  The first number of the paper was issued in March, 1857, and was called the “Clark County Advocate.”  It was a little “seven-by-nine” sheet, but in size and appearance compared very favorably with its surroundings.  The public printing was about the only item of revenue, but it was abundant, and the future looked promising.  The great political changes throughout the country about that time, had their effect in this remote corner of the world, and the next September, Tompkins, with not a very high regard for Beriah Brown’s kind intervention in his behalf, changed the politics of the paper from Democratic to Republican.  This, with other causes of a local nature, set things working in the community.  A spirit of opposition to the paper began to show itself, probably owing more to the desire of others to get hold of the “pap,” than anything else.  Rumors of starting another paper became unpleasantly current, so far as Tompkins was concerned.  Tompkins was quite small in physical stature, and was quick, active and impulsive.  He became conspicuous, of course, in local politics.  Some of the contests that were waged between the contending forces of the little band of settlers were made memorable for their fierce, uncompromising character. The opposing party finally succeeded, and Tompkins quietly sold out his office one day to J. S. Dore and S. W. Dickinson, the former a school teacher, and the latter a young practicing attorney, both of whom having had for some time a kind of longing for the pecuniary benefits derived from the publication of huge tax lists, not saying what literary aspirations they may have fondly cherished.  B. F. French, the recognized leader of the opposition faction, (the parties had become mere factions) was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the purchase.  It was regarded as a nice little piece of strategy, for it robbed the other party of their organ, and turned their own guns upon them.  James O’Neill and C. Blakeslee, the leading spirits of the Tompkins party, soon learned what had been done, and made Tompkins refuse to deliver up the office.  A formal demand was made by Dore & Dickinson of A. J. Manley, an employee in the office, who gave them a pretty emphatic answer in the negative.  It is said that he assumed a threatening and belligerent attitude, which had such a remarkable impression upon the minds of the two D’s that they concluded at once not to take the office then, and accordingly departed without needless ceremony.  An action of replevin was commenced, but the suit has never terminated.

An old office was purchased in Trempealeau, the material removed to Neillsville, and on the 14^th of October, 1861, a new paper was brought out by Dore & Dickinson, under the pretentious but highly patriotic title of “Union Flag.”  Then began a journalistic and personal warfare of intense bitterness, that continued unceasingly until Tompkins sold out and left the county, in the spring of 1863.  A. J. Manley, then a lieutenant in the Fourteenth Wisconsin Regiment, was supposed to be the proprietor, but until his return, in 1865, the paper was conducted by C. W. Carpenter.  Meantime Dickinson retired from the “Flag,” and removed to Sparta.  During the period between 1861 and 1865 one paper or the other would take an occasional resting spell, and suspend for a while, owing generally to the bad fortunes of the party.

The county election in the fall of 1864 was hotly contested, for it was a question of life or death with each paper. It was decided in favor of the “Advocate,” and the “Flag” stopped waving in February.  F. Cooper became associated with C. Manley in the spring of 1865, and remained until the fall of 1866, when he sold out and became publisher of the “Banner” at Black River Falls.  Manley ran for the office of County Treasurer, in the fall of 1866, but he and his whole ticket were badly defeated.

Preparations were begun by J. Dore for the publication of the “Clark County Journal,” and it finally made its appearance on January 31, 1867, with the names of J. S. Dore and E. E. Merritt as editors and proprietors.  It was an eight column paper, and in size and appearance, at least, was a marked improvement upon any former publication in the county.  Manley and his friends had received satisfactory assurance that McIntosh, his successful opponent for the office of Treasurer, would give his printing to the “Advocate.”  The starting of the “Journal,” however, was full of significance, and it became a question of grave doubt whether McIntosh was sincere in his promise or not.  In the spring, when the time arrived for printing the list of lands, notices were sent to the publishers that the Treasurer would let the job to the lowest bidder. The office was desirous of showing no partiality in the bestowal of his patronage.  The publishers met at the Treasurer’s office and began bidding.  “Jack,” as Manley was familiarly called, looked all the time as if there was something back of this unusual proceeding that he could not understand, and Dore and the Treasurer were quite confident that he didn’t!  The bid went down, down, with remarkable rapidity, until they bid a fraction of a cent, then of a mill, per description, and finally the merest fraction of a sum for the whole list.  The affair soon made it evident that the one who possessed the greatest amount of mathematical talent would get the job by expressing in figures the smallest conceivable amount.  The Treasurer hastened to District Attorney French, and was informed that he could secure bids for the privilege of doing the job.  “Fifty dollars!” cried Dore.  “One hundred dollars!” yelled Jack, determined not to be outdone.  “Two hundred dollars!” shouted Dore.  There was a heart dismayed, and Jack flew out of the office, realizing for the first time the cruel duplicity that had been practiced upon him.  He learned too late that the bids were nothing but a sham, and that the county would be obliged to pay the legal rate under any circumstances.  The fact was known to the others, while poor Jack was in dead earnest.

About that time Merritt left the “Journal” and went to St. Louis. Manley soon after stopped his paper, and removed the office to Minnesota, against the repeated protests of is many warm friends.  The “Journal” had a clear field, but it did not last long.  At the urgent request of many citizens, Merritt returned in September, bringing with him a new and complete outfit for another paper, and on the 25^th of October, 1867, issued the first copy of the “Clark County Republican.”  H. H. Hand was associated with him for six weeks only, when he left a touching valedictory behind, and found his was back to St. Louis.  The quarrels of former papers in the county were yet fresh in the memory of the public, and by common consent the “Journal” and “Republican” wisely refrained from inflicting upon their readers a repetition of it.  Everything went on smoothly for two or three years.  The election of 1868 was a complete triumph for the Republican party, and the new organ gained possession of the public “pap.”  For more than a year, Joseph Benedict, a young man of ability and bright promise, had almost exclusive editorial control of the “Journal.”  He died in the year of 1870, deeply mourned by a host of friends.  The “Journal” struggled hard to sustain itself during the two years of the “terrible privation” from the printing, and prepared for the most vigorous effort to win the election of 1870.  Merritt took the United States census of the county that summer, and got hand to come back on the paper again.  Hand was out of his element if not quarreling with someone, and the consequence was that the two papers were soon precipitated into a disgraceful fight.  There was a general raking up of old sores, and county officials, candidates and prominent men of all parties were hauled out before the public in shameful newspaper tirades upon their personal character.  There was a feeling of relief when Hand bid us good bye once more. This happened about two weeks before election, and was deemed extremely necessary to the “Republican’s” friends.  There was no letting down, of course, at that stage of the game, and it was fought out to the bitter end.  The whole Republican ticket was elected, and the “Journal” immediately subsided.  Dore was very confident of success up to the last moment, and defeat came upon him with crushing force.  R. J. MacBride and G. J. Follett called upon him the next day to condole with him over his misfortunes.  They found him sitting in profound silence, meditating upon the uncertainties of all human affairs, elbows resting upon his knees, head bent over and face covered by his hands.  It was pitiful, but Follett unfeelingly said: “Dore, I hear it reported about that you are going to start a paper at Cataract.”  A nitro-glycerin explosion could not have been more effective at starting Dore up with a bound, almost to the ceiling, “Godlemity, who told you that?  But I’ll show you that I can run a newspaper here.”

The “Republican” flourished without opposition until June, 1873, when the “Clark County Press’ was started by H. J. Hoffman, as the organ of the Reform party.  The “Republican” was sold to C. J. Cooper, in March, 1873, and D. T. Lindley became its editor.  The former gave up his interest in the paper in December last.  Mr. Hoffman accepted a responsible position in the office of Secretary of State, last September, and was succeeded in the “Press” office by his brother, E. L. Hoffman.  Both papers are in a prosperous condition, and in point of excellence rank with the best country papers in the state.

CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS

In 1847, Rev. R. R. Wood, a Methodist minister, then preaching on the Black River Falls circuit, visited Neillsville as a guest of Hon. James O’Neill, and, during the visit, favored the little community with the first public religious services ever held in the place.

Mr. Wood is well remembered by many of the old settlers on Black River as a preacher of rather more than ordinary ability, and an earnest, industrious man.  His field of labor was certainly not the most inviting, requiring hared work and no little self-sacrifice, but he accepted the circumstances as a matter of course, and did what he could to advance the cause of Christ. Although the immediate good results of his preaching were not sufficiently apparent to warrant him in becoming vain-glorious, he was certainly well received by the people; his genial good humor making him a welcome visitor everywhere ; even at lumbering camps, and among rafting crews, he was always greeted with the respect due a man of true Christian integrity.

For several years no religious services were held in Neillsville, saving such as, at rare intervals, was furnished by some clerical pilgrim paying the place a chance visit, but whose names history provokingly refuses to reveal.  The name of one, Pattee, however, has escaped oblivion, a simple hearted, eccentric old man, a local preacher belonging to the United Brethren denomination, who had made a claim and built a cabin on what is now known as the “McAdams place,” and “exercised his gifts” on all occasions when a congregation could be obtained.

In 1858, the West Wisconsin Conference, held at La Crosse, appointed Rev. James Cady to the Alma Circuit, and during the year Neillsville was made a regular appointment of that charge, having preaching once every three weeks.  The first Methodist class consisted of James Lynch, Margaret Lynch, Mary A. Sturdevant and Jane O’Neill.  Of these, all are now living in Neillsville, with the exception of Mrs. O’Neill, who died during the summer of ‘73, in full hope of a glorious immortality.  Her loss will long be felt in the community where, for so many years, she was an earnest worker for the best interests of the church.

Cady was succeeded in 1859 by Rev. John Holt, an earnest pioneer preacher of indomitable perseverance and untiring zeal, whose charge comprised a tract of country now embraced by half a dozen prosperous circuits--as large, in fact, as many presiding elders’ districts of later date.  He received from the Neillsville appointment that year, $7.50, which amount was paid in honey, gloves and stockings.  Rev. L. R. Davis was his associate preacher.

At the Northwest Wisconsin Conference, held in Sparta in 1860, Neillsville was made a circuit, and Rev. Wm. Carl appointed pastor.  However well qualified this gentleman may have been for other walks of life, as a preacher he was not a success, and we find no record of any permanent growth or prosperity of the charge committed to his care.

In ‘61, Neillsville became an appointment of Black River Falls circuit, of which Rev. Wm. H. Brocksome was pastor, who, owing no doubt to the great extent of his circuit visited this point but a few times during the year.  In ‘62, he was reappointed to the circuit, but during the year was removed, and Rev. J. W. Johnson was appointed his successor.  Mr. Johnson visited Neillsville but once during the year, and to those interested in the welfare of the church, his visit was a cause of greater regret than his subsequent absence.

In ‘63, Neillsville became a circuit again, and Rev. A. G. Cooley was appointed preacher in charge.  He remained but six months, leaving no record of any increase of membership or material prosperity during his administration.

During the years of ‘64 and ‘65, the circuit was supplied by Rev. Harvey Palmer, “a Father in Israel,” who having served the church as an itinerant for years, had located, and was making in the woods of Clark County a home for his old age.  Under his administration the bounds of the circuit were enlarged, new preaching places were added, and the membership somewhat increased.

In ‘65, J. T. Lewis was appointed to the circuit.  He labored under many discouragements during his stay, and left at the end of the year under the firm conviction that the denizens of Neillsville and vicinity “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Lewis was succeeded in ‘67 by Rev. W. T. Boughton, who found as his predecessors had already done, no doubt a field of labor demanding hard work and abundant faith.  In spite of apparent defeat he was encouraged by some genuine conversions.

During ‘78 and ‘69 rev. J. J. Walker was pastor.  By the liberal aid of the friends of the church he was enabled to build a plain but comfortable house of worship, locating it upon a most desirable lot, the generous gift of Mrs. James O’Neill.

Walker was succeeded in ‘70 by Rev. H. W. Bushnell, an able man who, winning the respect and co-operation of the community, was enabled to place the society upon a surer social and financial footing.  During his stay of three years he was abundant in labors, which were not unrewarded by gratifying results.  A burdensome church debt was liquidated, the parsonage re-modeled and much improved, and many additions made to the membership of the church.  During his pastorate the circuit was divided, the appointments of Loyal and Greenwood with their membership of fifty communicants forming a nucleus for an independent circuit, of which Rev. S. E. McLane was made pastor.

(237)  Bushnell was succeeded in ‘73 by Rev. Bert E. Wheeler, present pastor.  The society at present is being somewhat increased by added membership, and bids fair to retain the position it has attained in the confidence of the community as a working branch of the church of Christ.

The Methodist society has not been the only occupant of Neillsville as a mission field, the Presbyterian denomination having been represented here at an early day by Rev. Mr. Harris, who was succeeded, though not immediately, by Rev. Jas, Mair, who in turn was followed by Rev. W. T. Hendren, the present incumbent.  That God’s blessings may rest upon the labors of the Christian workmen in our frontier home, is the earnest prayer of all interested in the welfare or the cause of Christ and the salvation of man.

The Presbyterian church of Neillsville was organized, October 27^th, 1872, by a committee of the Presbytery of Chippewa, assisted by the Rev. B. G. Riley, Synodical Missionary.  On the same day, there were ordained, as ruling elders, Stephen Ritchey, Edward J. Rice and William Campbell.  The number of members has increased from sixteen to twenty-six.

The meeting for the organization was held in the court house, and from that time to this the meetings have been held in the same place.  The church has become deeply impressed with the necessity of a house of worship, and a good lot on Third street, the very center of the population, has been secured and paid for: cost $400.  Some of the material is on the ground, and it is proposed very soon to erect a church of moderate size, that will be an ornament to the village.  The Sunday school was organized in June, 1873, and gives promise of steady growth and great usefulness.

The minister is W. T. Hendren, a native of Ohio, who was ordained in Columbus, Ohio, May 11^th, 1864.  He came to this place from Caledonia, Minnesota, May 2oth, 1872.  During the summer, he preached a few times for the minister of the M. E. church, but chiefly in many destitute neighborhoods in the surrounding country.  Since the organization of the church, regular services have been held twice each alternate Sabbath.

Source: American Sketch Book by Bella French.