Clark County, Wisconsin

Historical Accounts

Nevins, Clark Co., Wis. Post Office, Established 28 November 1879

(Refurbished & Contributed by Janet Schwarze)
The Village of Brook was centrally located in Sherwood Township.
This 1905 Map shows the community which consisted of a town hall, 2 stores and a creamery.

Brook, in Sherwood Township, has a store, a cheese factory, a town hall, a church and a school.  1918 History of Clark Co., Wisconsin

1873 SHERWOOD TOWNSHIP is located near the southeastern corner of the county, and consists of a tract of six miles square, which is described as town twenty three, north of range one east. The tract of land included within the present boundaries of this town, and the towns of Washburn and Levis was divided in 1873, by an act of legislature. The four townships were separated into three towns, giving the town of Levis two townships and Sherwood Forest and Washburn one township each.

1874

Sherwood town records show the first meeting of the township (created in 1874) was held in the home of William W. LaFlesh, William LaFlesh apparently lived at the homestead of his brother Thomas LaFlesh who spent a great deal of time in Neillsville (on the Cawley Farm).  Like Thomas, William was also a Civil War veteran.  He was Sherwood’s first town chairman and editor of a Neillsville newspaper in the early 1870s.  Sherwood’s original name was Perkins, but apparently Tom and his wife Elizabeth suggested the name change to Sherwood Forest. 

1876

August 1876--Last Thursday’s petition was presented to the County Board, signed by citizens of the Town of Perkins, praying that the name of that town be changed to “Sherwood Forest.”  The petition was granted and the Town of Perkins is known no more by that name. Clark County Press
 

1905 Wisconsin State Census (Sherwood Township)

1887

John L Sullivan, a former resident of Jackson County, after whom the town of Sullivan was named, now resides in Clark County. The Journal is pleased to note that continued prosperity of the distinguished recipient of the “Sullivan Letter” owns a hub and spoke factory in the town of Sherwood Forest, Clark County and has the foundation for a little city. He has named it Dewhurst in honor of Judge Richard Dewhurst of Neillsville. A fine vein of iron ore has been found near there and Mr. Sullivan expects to realize a handsome little fortune from it as soon as developed. A representative of the Journal had the pleasure of meeting him in Merrillan the other day and was pleased to learn that he still retained a warm feeling for Black River Falls. As soon as John attains a modest competence he intends to return and live with us again. His breast still swells in remembrance of scenes that surround our little city. Jackson County Journal, Jan., 1887.

1891

"The town board decided to let the building of the town hall to Byron Pickering in conformity to specifications thereof for the sum of $525.00.” The building was finished and inspected on December 15, 1891.

1898

Dewhurst (Population 25)--Is a newly established postoffice in Sherwood Forest Township, Clark County, Wis., about 19 miles from Neillsville and 10 from Lynn on the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. Turner's Hand Book and Gazetter of Wisconsin by Laura J. Truner, Paul Samuel Reinsch, 1898

Nevins--Is a country postoffice on the east fork of the Black River, in Sherwood Township, Clark County, 7 miles south of Lynn, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, its nearest railroad station. It has a tri-weekly mail. Turner's Hand Book and Gazetter of Wisconsin by Laura J. Truner, Paul Samuel Reinsch, 1898

1902 Nevins, Wis. Post Mark

1915

DEWHURST & BROOKS

Dewhurst and Brooks are the names of little settlements in the town of Sherwood, in the extreme southeast corner of the county. The store at Brooks burned down recently but will be rebuilt at once. 1915 History of Clark Co., Wis.

1949

September 1949, Authority to establish approximately 25,000 acres of deer refuges, during the coming deer season on land owned by Clark County, is being sought from the State Conservation Commission.  The areas on which commission approval is sought are located in Sherwood, Washburn, Dewhurst, Mentor, Butler and two small areas in Foster, as stated by Warden Carl Frick. These areas would provide a considerable refuge area during the antlerless season ahead. Clark County Press

Being an early pioneer of Clark Co, WI the township of what is now Sherwood, Clark Co. WI was originally named Perkins after Daniel Chapman Perkins and his son, Hugh, at a meeting of the county board held in April 1874 after a order by the county board on 8 January 1874.

In 1884 Hugh Perkins became involved in an altercation with one Isaac Meddaugh, a resident of the town, at the sawmill belonging to Perkins, the quarrel resulting in the death of Meddaugh. Perkins was arrested, charged with murder. In November, 1884, when confined in the Clark county jail (not the present one) he broke jail and made his escape.

1889, the jury finding him guilty of manslaughter in the second degree. On appeal to the supreme court this last conviction was reversed, and a new trial ordered, but nothing further was done with the case.

One version of the town name change is

Not wanting the town named for a convicted murderer, the name Sherwood Forest was suggested by Gov. C. C. Washburn, who had lands and logging interests in the town. It was an appropriate name, purely sentimental, but like its ancient namesake in Notthinghamshire, England, was suggestive of the tradition of Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian.

Another version said

A petition of town citizens to the county board requesting a name change from Perkins to Sherwood Forest was presented in 1876 and the board accepted it. The name Sherwood Forest was chosen by resident Elizabeth LaFlesh, wife of Capt. Thomas LaFlesh, as the area resembled her homeland in England and her literary interest

It was known as the town of Perkins for a little over two years, when the county board of supervisors changed its name from Perkins to Sherwood Forest, under which name is existed for nearly twenty years.

And the last version said

In 1900 Sherwood Forest citizens asking to shorten the name to Sherwood presented another petition to the county board and their wish was granted

On the 12th of January, 1900, the county board, on the application of the chairman of the town, changed its name from Sherwood Forest to Forest.

"Three Friends Motorcycle West in 1935"

1936

January 1936, The men working on the WPA projects in the Town of Sherwood and at Kominsky corners, were instructed not to go back to work on those sites until the temperature rises. The Sherwood project involves the building of a dam, the back water having flooded 600 acres of land. The Kominsky project consists of building fire lanes and clearing away underbrush.  Clark County Press

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