Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

April 28, 1999, Page 32

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

Good Old Days 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

April 1884

 

Lydia E. Gates, wife of James L. Gates, age 29, passed away on April 11.

 

Mrs. Gates’ maiden name was Lydia E. Eyerly, daughter of H. D. Eyerly of the firm of Gates, Stanard & Co. of Neillsville.  She came to our city with her parents in 1867.  Educated here, she taught two terms of school in the McAdams district, and one term in Neillsville.  She married James L. Gates on March 14, 1872.

 

Surviving besides her husband, James, are two children, Robbie and Edith; brothers, Frank Eyerly and Orin Eyerly, and sister, Mrs. Emily Standard.

 

Loyal News – Election has come and gone, the people have again settled down to their usual quietness of mind.

 

Graves & Son have started up their saw mill, and with a full crew of men, are able to put out 20,000 ft. of lumber per day.  They have the largest stock of logs on hand that has ever been kept at their mill lots while in business in Loyal.

 

Maple sugaring is booming with the sap running greatly.  One of those sugar factories is owned by Fred Draper and Chat Cannon, under the firm of Draper, Cannon & Co.  Norm Borden, the manager, reports a very good start in the sugar trade.

 

Dorchester News – W. Lyon has purchased Nash’s residence on the west side.  Schaeffer Bros. have bought the building used as a store by O. D. VanDusen & Co.  The VanDusen Co plans to build a new structure this summer.

 

Dorchester has a first-class physician in town, H. M. Nedry, of Ohio. We are hoping he is here to stay.

 

F. M. Clough, of Chippewa Falls, has introduced a new product to our city.  He is selling the famous electric light lamp that burns coal oil which gives more light than four ordinary lamps.  It never breaks a chimney and better still, it never explodes.  Don’t fail to see Clough to buy a good lamp.

 

The summer’s building boom has set in.  A. W. Loy has sold several portions of his land on the west side of the Black River, just opposite the foot of Grand Avenue.  Plans are for several houses to be built there this summer.  They are hoping there could be thirty or more families living over in that area.  If the city continues to push into the underbrush on the north side, in a couple years more, there could be a big town on that side.

 

Joseph Marsh, of Maple Works, reports he has sold his mill at Heathville, Town of Fremont, to Webster Manufacturing Co. of Menasha.  Webster Co. is trying to get E. E. Winch, formerly of Marshfield, to run the mill.  The mill will be fitted up with machinery for finishing spokes and will hopefully do a large business.

 

A couple of boys named Eddie Hart and Clyde Campbell killed a turkey buzzard Sunday in the outer part of town. The bird measured five feet, four inches across the wings.  It was bought by two parties in town, who will have it stuffed.

 

Dr. Mulvey, of Loyal, is expecting his brother to arrive about May 1st from Sheboygan County.  The Mulvey brothers plan to share a drug and hardware business.  They have purchased the house and lots of Mrs. S. D. Graves, where they will build a store and residence.

 

Wm. Welch, John Gwinn, Wallace Allen and Elias Weaver traveled from Loyal to Wausau this week to serve as witnesses in the court case of Booth vs. Spencer Tribune.

 

Supt. Stitch, of the La Crosse division of Wis. Telephone Co., has been in Neillsville this week, putting in more telephones.   The telephone exchange in this city now numbers 25.

 

Stitch has been making efforts to raise enough subscriptions in Merrillan to justify the company running a telephone there, also.  However, he has had difficulty selling the telephone idea in that area.

 

Fred Mick has started a copper shop near O’Neill Creek, just north of the brewery.  The shop employs two men on tight work, and one man on flour barrel work.  The tight work consists of making beer barrels for the brewery.  The barrel, or rather kegs, can be made and then knocked down, and each keg tied in a bundle for shipping.  The work of re-setting up the kegs does not cost as much as the savings made on freight charges.  Next to the copper shop, carpenters have started framing the timbers for the new brewery building.

 

A week’s rain has removed frost from the ground, started the grass growing and made the roads a sea of mud.  Friday’s log drive on O’Neill Creek was the best the loggers have had this spring.  A large quantity of logs went out with the rush.

 

Mrs. David Mason has had a building put up on the north side of Neillsville, just south of the Furlong store. She intends to open a dressmaking establishment.

 

Choice eggs for hatching from the Pure Blood Leghorn hens can be purchased for 50 cents per setting of 15 eggs.  Orders can be left at Gates, Stanard & Co., or by calling on Chas. Burpee, of Weston, Wis.

 

F. Brott, of Colby, has returned from his trip to Milwaukee.  He has purchased a vat, press and other apparatuses for his cheese factory.  Plans are being made to have everything set up and soon ready for manufacturing the milky compound. This venture will be good for the farmers of that section.  Older settled portions of our state have proven that, where cheese factories have been started, the farmers have had money to improve their farms.

 

Colby now has two meat markets, but meat is such a scarce article in town that some parties have taken to the woods in search of wild meat.

 

April !939

 

A huge fish planting program is being initiated in Clark County.  The county’s streams and lakes this year will be stocked with 4 ½ million walleyed pike, bass, trout and muskies, County Game Warden Alva Klumpner has announced.  This will be an increase of about 1 ½ million over last year’s planting. 

 

The extensive stocking program, which will be continued for the next five years, will get underway this week.

 

Included among the stocking to be done this year area a large number of German brown trout.  This is the first year this species of fish has been available to Clark County, Klumpner said.  The German brown has proved to be a much hardier fish than the brook trout.  Klumpner explained that in areas where low waters and high temperatures prevail, those conditions have been disastrous for brook trout, but the German brown have done very well.  They also are better adapted for waters extensively fished because they are perhaps the most wary and difficult to catch of any trout.

 

Clark County fishermen will be in for a larger catch of pike this year than in any season for several years past.  This is because of the fact that the 1936 planting of 1 ½ million pike fry should have attained legal size, as about three years are required for that growth.

 

A puppy crawled into a small opening under Dr. A. S. Diestan’s touring car at Stevens Point last Monday.  The puppy worked his way through a narrow passage at the right, scrambled over the motor and settled down between the battery and side of the motor. 

 

The little animal’s route could not be questioned, for he left a considerable amount of hair along the trail.  When the chiropodist got into his car Monday afternoon to start for Neillsville, the motor sounded like a cylinder wasn’t running right.  He drove to a garage to have the trouble remedied.

 

Unfastening the car hood, Dr. Diestan lifted the hood and said to the mechanic, “There’s the trouble, a broken wire.”  The mechanic standing at the left bent over and lifted a frightened puppy off the side of the motor, with the remark, “And here’s the cause of the problem.”

 

Police Chief and Mrs. Fred Rossman are observing their 60th wedding anniversary this Saturday.

 

Sixty years ago, April 15, 1879, Fred A. Rossman, then a teen-ager, walked 32 miles to Marshfield over rough and muddy roads to marry the girl of his dreams, Carrie Kunze Rossman. Rossman had learned the barber trade so, with his tonsorial skill and two dollars in cash, the young groom promised to assume the responsibility of a wife and home. The girl bride never doubted his ability t o fulfill his promises.

 

The Rossmans will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Saturday, April 15.

 

A dinner will be served at the noon hour for honored guests, their children and families, to be followed by an open house from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.

 

With the exception of a few years spent at Loyal and Ashland, the Rossmans have lived most of their married life in Neillsville.  Rossman worked at his trade and during slow business times, did painting and decorating, being trained in both trades.  Sixteen years ago, he was appointed chief of police by the city council of Neillsville, a position he has since held.  He is a member of the Odd Fellows and Moose lodges.

 

Mrs. Rossman, quiet and domestic in her tastes, has devoted her time largely to the needs and comforts of her family.  She is a gracious neighbor and friend to those who know her.

 

The Rossmans are parents of 12 children, two of whom are deceased, Leo and Irving.  The other children are: Fred A. Jr., Oscar, Alta, Nina, Ernest, Katie, Birdine, Harry, Donald and Floyd.  Also, there are 23 grandchildren and eight great-grand-children.

 

Harland Kintzele, a former Neillsville resident, took over his new duties as court reporter Monday, succeeding William A. Campman, who resigned on April 15.

 

Kintzele had served as court reporter in the 10th judicial district under Judge E. V. Werner for several years.  Previous to that, he was court reported (reporter) in the 17th judicial district under Judge Crosby in conjunction with Mrs. Hazel Brown. 

 

Clark County Forester Allen C. Covell has revealed 1,028,000 trees will (be) planted in the county this year.  The planting program will be divided into spring and summer plantings, with Norway, white and jack pine and spruce on county-owned forest areas.

 

The spring program will include plantings in the Towns of Sherman, North Foster and Hewett.  The second project will be in North Foster and Town of Hewett.

 

Miss Elsie Huckstead and George J. Wolff were married at Decorah, Iowa, September 19, 1938, keeping their marriage secret until recently.  They will live in Chicago, where Mr. Wolff resumes his work as a meat cutter for the Wilson Company, a position he has held for many years.

 

Mrs. Wolff is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arlo Huckstead, of the Town of Grant.  She completed the junior year at Neillsville High School and attended Business College at La Crosse.  Upon completing her business course, she worked for several years for R. G. Dunn and Co. of that city.  Later, she worked 11 years for the Watkins Co. at Winona, Minn., and for the past year she has held a position in the Neillsville Bank. 

 

Wolff is the son of Mrs. John Wolff of this city.  He received his education in the Neillsville schools and worked with his father in the meat business for many years.  When World War I broke out, he entered the armed forces.  After the war, he returned home to work at his trade of meat cutting, then worked as a meat salesman for a time.

 

A family reunion was held in conjunction with some wedding anniversary celebrations in 1934.  The Neillsville-Granton area natives were of the early “Buffalo Tribe” families.  Back row, left to right: Delbert A. Rodman, James King, Frank Ruddock, Thomas Wren, William King and Rev. Longnecker.  Middle row, left to right: Mrs. Longnecker, Alma King Spencer, Lucy King Brown, Julia King Brown, Etta King Ruddock, Amy King Wren, Hattie King Rodman and Belle Holmes Howard.  Front row, left to right: Anderson, Bessie Howard Anderson, Mrs. George Howard, Lillian King Howard, John Howard, George Howard, and Leonard Howard.  (Photo courtesy of Margueirte Brown Tibbetts)

 

 

 


© Every submission is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

 

Show your appreciation of this freely provided information by not copying it to any other site without our permission.

 

Become a Clark County History Buff

 

Report Broken Links

A site created and maintained by the Clark County History Buffs
and supported by your generous donations.

 

Webmasters: Leon Konieczny, Tanya Paschke,

Janet & Stan Schwarze, James W. Sternitzky,

Crystal Wendt & Al Wessel

 

CLARK CO. WI HISTORY HOME PAGE