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Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin February 23, 2011, Page 15 Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press" Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon. Index of "Oldies" Articles
Compiled by Dee Zimmerman
Clark County News |
February 1861
(The Civil War began in 1861, this year being its 150th Anniversary. Clark County was first organized in 1854. D. Z.)
When President Lincoln, in 1861, called upon the loyal North for volunteers to aid the government of the United States in suppressing the rebellion in the southern States, the County of Clark responded nobly. It then had within its borders about 120 families and a population, all told, of approximately 800. There are no records attainable relative to any enlistments for three months’ service, but the County furnished to one company of the 14th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry about 30 men. They were all enlisted and enrolled in Co. I of that regiment for three years, and when they left the state to take the field the company was in command of Capt. Calvin R. Johnson, of Black River Falls, an able lawyer and a good soldier.
The Fourteenth Regiment, it is said, was one of the best that Wisconsin put in the field. It left the state early in March 1862, and in less than 30 days, was engaged in the battle of Shiloh, where it lost nearly 100 men that were killed wounded and missing at the battle of Corinth.
The members of this regiment were with Grant at Vicksburg in 1863, and in a charge before that city in May of that year they sustained the loss of 107 men. On the surrender of Vicksburg the regiment was given the post of honor and led the advance of the troops on their entry into the surrendered city. The members of the Fourteenth also saw service on the Red River expedition and a portion of it was with General Sherman in his Atlanta campaign. Early in 1865 they were sent to New Orleans, and shortly after were engaged with the enemy at Spanish Fort until its surrender, and were in various skirmishes along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They were not mustered out until Oct. 9, 1865, about six months after the surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox Court House. General Sherman, in his memoirs referring to regiments from Wisconsin, states that her regiments were kept filled with recruits; whereas other states generally filled their quota by new regiments and the result was that he estimated a Wisconsin regiment equal to an ordinary brigade. The following is a list of the members of Company I, Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, who resided in Clark County at the time of their enlistment:
Ayers, Charles Bacon, Charles F. Bone, Chauncey Blakeslee, Wilson S. Covill, Hy G. Chamberlain, Benjamin Darling, Charles W. Foote, James W. Ferguson, Benjamin Folsom, Alexander Green, Edward Houghton, Joseph Ives, John F. King, George R. King, Louis Lynch, Edward H. Markey, Andrew J. Manley, William Neverman, John O’Neill, Nelson Osgood, Henry Ross, Robert F. Sturdevant, John R. Sturdevant, Washington Short, Schlinsog, Cyrus O. Sturgeon, Thomas Vine, Ferdinand C. Wage and Thomas Whitmore.
Charles G., Bacon was wounded at the battle of Shiloh and died as the result of his wounds. He was a son of Orson Bacon, one of the early settlers in the Town of Pine Valley. The entire farm of the elder Bacon is now comprised within the boundaries of the city of Neillsville, and is quite extensively built up with handsome residences. The Grand Army Post at Neillsville was named in honor and memory of young Bacon. The following is a list of the Clark County members of Company I, who either were killed, died of wounds, or lost their lives by disease in the South in their line of duty:
Charles G. Bacon, John O’Neill, Henry Ross, Washington Short, Thomas Whitmore, Louis Lynch, Ayers and Schlinsog;
Louis Lynch was a son of James Lynch, an early resident of Neillsville, and lived upon the block where the Congregational Church had been. John O’Neill was a son of James O’Neill, the founder of Neillsville. Washington Short’s family was long prominent in the County. Henry Ross was a brother of Robert Ross, the lumberman who, for years resided at what is known as Ross’ Eddy, about a mile south of Neillsville. Young Schlinsog was a son of Carl Schlinsog, and a brother of William Schlinsog, a prominent citizen of the Town of Grant.
Of these men in 1909, Robert J. MacBride wrote: “Since the close of the war many members have died, and at the present time there remain living only ten of the original number. Those now living are: James Ferguson, show resides in the State of Washington, and who is engaged in the hardware business at Wenatchee. George R. King, whose home is at Humbird, is a son of George W. King, a prominent man in the early days, who held offices of member of assembly, district attorney, sheriff and clerk of County board of supervisors of the County. Thomas R. Vine, one of the survivors, whose home is in the Town of Warner, his post office address being Greenwood. Joseph Ives is at present living at the Soldiers’ Home in the state of Oregon, near Portland. John R. Sturdevant is living in the city of Neillsville, he is known more familiarly as Rufus Sturdevant. Since the war he has held the offices of district attorney and County judge, presently one of the court commissioners of the Circuit Court for Clark County. Edward Houghton is now a resident of Tacoma, Wash. He was the County treasurer of Clark County for two years. Robert S. Sturdevant, whose home is at Olympia in the State of Washington, was, after the war, register of deeds an also district attorney of Clark County. Both the Sturdevants, Robert F. and J. R., are sons of James W. Sturdevant, one of the old settlers, who was a resident here at the time of the organization of the County. Wilson S. Covill is engaged in the hotel business at Olympia, Wash. He married Isabella J. O’Neill, the eldest daughter of James O’Neill, our first settler. Mr. Covill held the office of sheriff of Clark County during the years 1869 and 1870. William T. Hutchinson died at Neillsville, Oct. 4, 1876, in the 39th year of his age. He held the office of County treasurer at the time of his death, and had held the office of register of deeds for several years. For some years he was in partnership with judge Dewhurst in the real estate business, under the firm name of Dewhurst & Hutchinson. Mr. Markey, in the early days, drove stage and carried the mail twice a week from Black River Falls to Neillsville and Weston Rapids. Mr. Manley died years ago in Minnesota. Charles F. Bone was stepson of Samuel Ferguson, one of our very early settlers. He was a printer by trade, moved to Barron County, where he established the “Rice Lake Chronotype,” newspaper, continuing in the business until the time of his death. It is interesting to state that the whole membership of Company I was made up substantially of residents of Clark and Jackson counties.
(Not able to find any local Civil War veteran’s family story, I have an article written in the 1884 Cass County, Iowa Historical Sketch Book about my great-grandfather, William Duncan, whose family possibly lived in similar circumstances as Clark County area wives and families endured while their husbands-fathers went off to fight in the Civil War. D. Z.)
“William Duncan was born in Lower Canada, 50 miles southeast of Montreal, August 27, 1824. His parents, William and Margaret (Smith) Duncan, were natives of Scotland. The subject of this sketch removed to Windsor County, Vermont, when 19 years old. He obtained his education in the schools of Canada and Vermont. He learned the carpenter’s trade in Vermont and spent the year 1847 in Boston, Massachusetts, working at his trade. He then returned to Vermont, where he continued the same business until September 1848. In that year he moved to Des Moines, Iowa, which contained at that time, only one frame building. He lived in Des Moines six years, working at his trade. He then moved to a small farm 12 miles east of Des Moines.
He was married in Windsor County, Vermont, to Abigail Williams, a daughter of Henry and “Abigail (Cram) Williams. They had seven children.
William enlisted in August 1861 with Company D, of the second Iowa Cavalry, entering active duty as a Second Corporal under the command of Colonel Hatch. He served in the Civil War three years and four months. During that time he participated in the battles of Farmington and Corinth. His regiment formed part of the Seventeenth Corps of the Army of Tennessee. He also served in all the skirmishes and cavalry fights of that Corps in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. He was honorably discharged as a Commissary Sergeant in December, 1864 at Davenport, Iowa and returned to Polk County where he lived until March 8, 1868 when he moved to Section Six, Atlantic Township, at Atlantic, Iowa.”
(William was 37 years old when he left to fight in the Civil War. He went to serve his country, leaving a wife and seven children to eke out a living on their small Iowa farm acreage while he was gone.
Veterans who had served during the duration of the Civil War were entitled to apply for Federal land, no less than 100 acres, which had not yet been claimed or settled as a payment for their war service ,as they had received little to no pay during that time. William applied for and was granted 106 acres of land near Atlantic, Iowa, land, which he developed into a beef and hog farming operation, along with fruit orchards. Having been a carpenter by trade, he constructed buildings on the farm site, and later in 1882, built a new two-story octagon shaped house for their residence, which is still standing. D. Z.)
February 1951
Fifty-one below zero was hit Tuesday morning, Jan. 30, recorded by the government thermometer at Hatfield. Forty-eight below was the official reading at Neillsville.
Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Schultz recorded the temperature reading at Hatfield. They told the Press that the 51° below on Tuesday morning is the lowest recorded by them in about 17 years. They have kept the government records for about 25 years and recall only once when the reading was lower. That was back in 1932 or 1933. At that time there was a week of steady cold, ranging from 50° below to 53° below.
Sauerkraut Dinner, with Roast Pork or Fish, Friday, Feb. 9, Serving 5 p.m. and until all are served to be held at Evangelical & Reformed Church, 85¢ per plate.
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Lowell Gress, Frank Wasserburger, Bruce Hiles and Bud Hantke are now employed in Milwaukee.
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Raymond V. Izydorek has bought the Hanson interest in the Thorp Funeral Home.
The Thorp Funeral Home has been conducted by Messrs. Izydorek and Hanson, as partners, they bought the business about eight years ago from John Bogumill who established it. Mr. Izydorek had at one time worked with Mr. Bogumill, and Mr. Hanson had been a teacher in the public schools of Thorp.
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Neillsville Dollar Days, Friday & Saturday, Feb. 23 & 24, 2 Days only; sponsored by the following Enterprising Merchants of Neillsville:
A & P Food Store, Alta’s Dress Shop, Berger’s Men’s Store, Coast-to-Coast Store, Farmer’s Store Co., Fullerton Lumber Co., Gluck’s Shoe Store, Hinshaw Shoe Co., Kearns Drug Store, Larson Lumber Co., Lowe Furniture, McCain’s, Parrish 5¢ to $1 Store, J. C. Penney Co., Russell’s Newly-Combined & Enlarged Hardware-Furniture Store, Quality Market, Schultz Bros. Co., & C. C. Sniteman Co. Store.
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Community Calendar Events: Royal Neighbors’ Card Party, Saturday evening, Feb. 24, at the V.F.W. hall, Neillsville.
Hilltop Homemakers will sponsor a Bunco & Card Party, Sunday, Feb. 25th at the Pine Valley Mound School, 8 p.m. Public is invited.
128th Infantry Service Co., sponsoring a Bear feed, also Ham, Saturday, Feb. 24, at American Legion Hall in Neillsville, $1.25 per plate.
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Dad’s Root Beer Bottling Co. of Stevens Point, Wis. announces to beverage dealers: Mr. John Swenson has been appointed their Distributor for Dad’s Root Beer in the following areas: Neillsville, Christie, Globe, Tioga, Willard, Greenwood, Chili, Granton, Lynn, Shortville, Humbird, Merrillan and Hatfield.
Dad’s Root Beer is featured in the Papa ½ gallon size, Mama full 32 oz. size, the Big Junior 12 oz. size and Junior 7 oz. size.
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Mr. and Mrs. Freeman Dankemyer of the Riverside Community celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on Friday, Feb. 16. Elsie Krause and Freeman Dankemyer were married at Granton Friday, February 16, 1911, by the Rev. J. Reiff. Their attendants were her sister, Louise Krause and his brother, Martin Dankemyer. Their first home was established over the Riverside Cheese Factory.
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Among the young men who have enlisted in the U. S. Air Force, are Alois A. Laskowski, 17, and his brother, Frank J. 20, both of Loyal.
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George F. Thoma, of Globe area, drove to Waupaca Thursday to haul a truck-load of potatoes for some of the farmers in the Janesville Settlement area.
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Mrs. Hugh Haight entertained the Zilk Villa Bowling team at a dinner in her home on North Hewett Street, Monday evening. Members of the team are: Mrs. Rose Schiller, Arlene Wedekind, Mrs. Marion Arndt, Mrs. Robert Shaw and Jean Middleton.
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Lenten Specials at Quality Market, Prochazka Brothers, Owners: Rose Fish, lb. $1.00; Lobster Tail, lb. $1.00; Double Dollar Day Special: Any Popular Brand Cigarettes, Carton of 10 pkgs. $2.00, with 10 pkg. Carton of book matches.
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Dr. Carroll N. Schield has purchased the Art Meier home on South Grand Avenue. Mr. Meier has purchased a house near the Four Corners Tavern on Highway 95.
Prochazka Bros. Clover Farm grocery store was located on the corner of West
Fifth and Hewett Street for a number of years, circa 1930 to early 1950s
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