Part 44 (1/2)

MATTHIAS WELSHANCE was born in 1818, in Pennsylvania, where he lived during his minority and learned the carpenter's trade In 1843 he removed to Galena, Illinois, in 1847 to St Croix Falls and in 1848 to Marine Mills, where he worked at his trade until 1856 Froed in hotel keeping He was for nine years keeper of the Marine Hotel and has since been proprietor of the St Croix House He was married Nov 12, 1848, to Mary J Hooper They have five children living One daughter, Mrs

Tolan, ic death at the hands of an insane husband, in 1881

Mr Welshance died in 1886

BENJAMIN T OTIS was born in Fairfield, Maine, in 1816 He ca In 1846 he located on what is known as Colby Flat, on the site of Taylor's Falls, and improved a farm In 1849 he removed to Marine His first wife died suddenly at Marine He was married to Mrs Church, of Stillwater, in 1859 Henry F, a son by his first wife, enlisted in 1862, in the Seventh Minnesota Volunteers, ounded in 1864, and honorably discharged

WILLIAM CLARK was born in New Brunswick, July, 1815 He ca He married Elisa Jane Nelson in 1861 Mrs Clark died in 1879, leaving two daughters

JAMES R MEREDITH was born Aug 22, 1812, in White county, Illinois, where he lived until eighteen years of age, when he re He went thence to Burlington, Iowa, and in 1849 located in Marine, and was employed by the Marine Company several years In 1860 he located upon his present farm In 1847 he was

JOHN D AND THOMAS E WARD The Ward brothers are natives of Massachusetts They came to the St Croix valley with their brothers-in-law, John and George Holt They have engaged chiefly in stea and river business

SAMUEL JUDD, son of Lewis Judd, was born in Illinois in 1840 He graduated at McKendrie College, Lebanon, Illinois, and came to Marine in 1863, and became a member of the firm of Walker, Judd & Veazie In 1874 he was married to Ae W and Lucille M In 1886 he changed his residence to St Paul

FREDERIC W LAMMERS was born in Ger first at St Louis, where he remained two years In 1845 he reed in lu In 1852 he settled on a farm in Taylor's Falls, and was married to Helen C Nelson, of Marine In 1865 he sold his far Lake Marine Mr Lammers has been a public spirited and excellent citizen His family consisted of fifteen children; of these thirteen are living

JAMES R M GASKILL was born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1820; graduated froraduated from the medical department of the Missouri State University in 1854; practiced medicine a short time at Centralia, Illinois, and came to Marine in 1855, where he practicedand merchandise He represented his district in the house of the first legislature of Minnesota, 1857-58, and of the fourteenth and fifteenth, 1872-73 He served during the Rebellion as surgeon of the Forty-fifth Illinois Volunteers He was for many years a trustee of the Minnesota State Prison In 1861 he was hes

They have one son and one daughter

NEWPORT

The town of Newport includes fractional townshi+ps 27 and 28, range 22, and part of sections 34, 35 and 36, in townshi+p 29, range 22: It was organized as a town Oct 20, 1858 The first supervisors were Williahby The surface is reat historic interest Gray Cloud island, in the southern part, in the Mississippi river, separated fro to some historians, Le Sueur planted a French fort in 1695 It was styled the ”Isle Pelee,” and was described as a beautiful ”Prairie Island”

The description of the island tallies precisely with that of Gray Cloud, and is applicable to none of the other conjectured localities

It is mentioned by many antiquarian writers as a place of rendezvous for French traders during the French domination in this part of the continent Gray Cloud has been known as a trading post for the last hundred years, and has the credit of being the first white settleton county, and probably in Minnesota Here cahter of dickson, the trader Hazen Mooers, one of the commissioners of St Croix county in 1840, Joseph Boucher and others were living at Gray Cloud when the Methodist mission was established at Kaposia in 1836 Gray Cloud is the translation of the Indian name of the island It was also borne by an Indian maiden, who became the wife of Hazen Mooers, who seems to have been a man of excellent repute and considerable influence The Browns cherished for hiard

Red Rock, another historic locality, derives its nareat reverence by the Sioux Indians According to Rev Chauncey Hobart, a veteran pioneer and preacher still living in Minnesota, it was the custo the Sioux to worshi+p the boulders that lie scattered along the hills and valleys When a Dakotah was in danger, it was his custorass and brush, roll a boulder upon it, paint it, deck it with feathers and flowers, and pray to it for needed help

The peculiarity of the painted boulder from which Red Rock took its naeneration pilgris and sacrifices presented Its Indian name was ”Eyah Shah,” or ”Red Rock” The stone is not naturally red, but painted with verhtered victims The Indians call the stone also ”Waukan,” or ”mystery” It lies on a weathered straturanite ledge The Dakotahs say it walked or rolled to its present position, and they point to the path over which it traveled They visited it occasionally every year until 1862, each tis It is painted in stripes, twelve in number, two inches wide and from two to six inches apart The north end has a rudely drawn picture of the sun, and a rude face with fifteen rays

Red Rock is noted as the site of a mission planted here in 1837 by the Methodist Episcopal church, by Alfred Brunson, a distinguished pioneer preacher and inally established at Kaposia, on the western bank of the river, in 1837, but removed by Alfred Brunson in the sah, of this mission, and afterward a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church South, superintended the erection of the first buildings Taylor F

Randolph and ere teachers here, as assistants in the Indian school, and also in a school of h was postmaster in 1841 John Holton was mission farmer in 1841, under a co The mission was discontinued in 1842 Mr Randolph and wife made them a home in the town of Afton, where both died in 1844

The first hter of John Holton, in 1843 The first birth was that of Franklin C Ford, September, 1844 The first death was that of a child of Rev B T

Kavanaugh The village of Newport was platted in 1857 W R Brown's addition was platted in 1874 A steam saw mill was built in 1857 by E

M Shelton & Brothers The mill was destroyed by fire in 1874 A flour mill was built in its place by Joseph Irish The first Baptist church was organized Jan 18, 1858 The first commodious house of worshi+p was built in 1878 The Red Rock Caanized in 1869 A plat of ten acres, beautifully situated in a natural grove near the village, and on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railroad, was donated to the association by John Holton These grounds have been is held during the suely attended

GRAY CLOUD CITY

Was platted in June, 1856, by J R Brown and Truman W Smith, and surveyed by J Donald McCullom

NEWPORT VILLAGE

Was platted May 2, 1857, by Joseph H Huganin, R C Knox, Wm and James Fowler, and surveyed by B Densmore