Carver County MN Archives History - Books .....History Of Carver County 1882 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 15, 2015, 9:51 pm Book Title: History Of The Minnesota Valley CARVER COUNTY. CHAPTER LIII. ORGANIZATION — BOUNDARIES — TOWNS NAMED— COUNTY BUILDINGS. By act of the territorial legislature February 20, 1855, many counties, among which was Carver, were organized. Section 14 applying to Carver county, reads: "That so much territory as is embraced in the following boundaries be, and is hereby established as the county of Carver: beginning at the centre of the main channel of the Minnesota river, where the township line between ranges 24, and 25 crosses said river; thence north along said line to the centre, north and south, of township 114; thence west along the section line to the township line between ranges 25 and 26; thence north along said line to the township line between townships 114 and 115 north, thence west on said line thirty miles to township line between ranges 30 and 31 west; thence north eighteen miles to the township line between 117 and 118 north; thence east on said line thirty-six miles to the towmship line between ranges 24 and 25 west of the fifth meridian; thence south six miles on said line to the township line between townships 116 and 117 north; thence east on said hue twelve miles to the township line between ranges 22 and 23 west; thence south on said line to the centre of the Minnesota river; thence up the centre of the channel of said river to the place of beginning." By an act of March 3, 1855, it was declared an organized county with all and singular the rights, privileges and immunities to which all organized counties are entitled, and the county seat thereof established and located at San Francisco; that at the next general election it shall be competent for the legal voters of said county to elect all the officers to which said county may be entitled, who shall qualify and enter upon their respective duties as required by law, and until said officers are elected and qualified, said county is hereby attached to the county of Hennepin for judicial purposes; that there shall be held in said county of Carver at least one term of the district court at such time as the district judge may designate until otherwise fixed by law. The legislature also authorized the county commissioners to order a election at which the location of the county seat should be decided by vote. Although the boundaries as given exceed the present limits of the county, the accepted boundaries in 1855 were the same as those now organized. By the act of March 1, 1856, establishing McLeod, county the present boundaries were fixed; except that by the act of May 23, 1857, describing the corporate limits of Shakopee, that part of-section 1, in township 115, north of range 23 west, lying north of the river, was detached from Carver county and attached to Scott; except, also, that lot 1, of section 31, township 115, range 24, is recorded in Carver county. The surface of the county—A continuous line of low bluffs extends along the river about half a mile from its banks, leaving a narrow area of lower land between. Back of these the surface is undulating and can almost be called hilly. The uneven character of the surface becomes less and less marked as we go west from the river, being only slightly undulating in Watertown, Waconia, Benton, and Hancock; and nearly level in the towns of range 26. This is one of the "big woods" counties, and was originally covered with the hard woods belonging to this area, and was for this reason converted into farms with difficulty. The soil along the river is lighter and more inclined to sand and gravel than that further back. The bulk of the land has a clay subsoil covered with deep, black loam. It holds moisture so .as to be a protection against protracted drouth and at the same time produces many extensive marshes. For the same cause lakes abound, frequently with marshy shores, but some have beautiful gravel beaches. Of these Waconia, or Clear Water lake is the largest and one of the most beautiful lakes in the state. Numerous small creeks flow into these lakes. South Fork of the Crow river in the north is the largest stream in the county. The officers of the county appointed by governor Gorman to hold positions until their successors should be elected and qualified were: John Koch, William Foster and John Allen, county commissioners; Thomas B. Hunt, register of deeds; Levi H. Griffin, sheriff. Koch and Griffin are now living and are honored citizens of the county. Mr. Hunt was colonel in the United States army during the late war, and now holds a lucrative position under the government. Foster moved to California. John Allen lives in Wright county, of this state. The first election in the county was held in the fall of 1855 at the house of A. Cleveland, in what is now Chanhassen. Officers elected: Frederick Greiner, Henry E. Wolfe and Niram Abbott, commissioners. Mr. Greiner was chosen chairman. At their first meeting, January 7, 1856, Charles Luedloff was appointed in place of Niram Abbott, deceased, according to an act of the preceding legislature for filling vacancies. June 26th, Barrett S. Judd was appointed in place of Charles Luedloff, ineligible by the law that two commissioners could not he elected from the same precinct. Ezekial Ellsworth, sheriff and collector; Gustave Krayenbuhl, treasurer; Henry Eschley, register of deeds; John Lyon, clerk and J. A. Sargent, county attorney, were appointed at first meeting of the board of commissioners. Eschley not qualifying, at the second meeting of the board, January 21, 1856, T. B. Smith, of Chaska, was appointed register of deeds, who also acted as auditor, as none was elected at that time. Krayenbuhl stated that he could not collect enough money the first year to pay the state tax. At a meeting of the board of commissioners held at San Francisco, March 3, 1856, the county was divided into five election precincts: Chanhassen, Chaska, San Francisco, Benton and Jefferson. Three assessment precincts were formed: first, composed of the election precincts of Chanhassen and Jefferson; second, of Chaska and Benton precincts, third, San Francisco precinct. First assessors: first district, George M. Powers; second district, Jacob Beihoffer; third district, Axel Jorgenson; Joseph Kessler, coroner; T. B. Hunt, clerk of the court, appointed; Jacob Ebenger, judge of probate; F. Hecklin, county surveyer, J. A. Sargent, county attorney, appointed April 8, 1856, upon petition by the board. January 7, 1856, voted that the treasurer and register of deeds may hold their offices at Chaska until further orders, as suitable buildings cannot be had at the county seat, then San Francisco. The election of October 14, 1856, was fixed upon by the commissioners for deciding the location of the county seat according to authority delegated to them in the organic act, and an exciting time ensued. San Francisco, Carver and Chaska aspired to the honor. Out of 525 votes cast, Chaska received 303 and became the county seat of Carver county, which honor it still maintains. Officers: J. M. Troll, representative; he was thus the first representative of the county to the state legislature after the erection of the state government in 1858; Robert Miller, commissioner; Frederick Greiner, register of deeds, though he did not qualify; J. O. Brunius, treasurer, who soon resigned; J. A. Sargent, attorney. The number of the votes as appeared from the poll list was 458 for the entire county. Carver county belonged to the eleventh council district, and at the election held October 14, 1856, J. B. Bassett, of Minneapolis, was elected councilman, receiving 471 votes out of the total number, 532, cast in this county. The assessor’s report, June 28, 1856, gives the following valuation: Personal property, $66,674; real estate, $94,480; total for the county, $161,154. To meet the expenses of the county, including territorial bills of the previous year, schools, etc., 2J per cent, on the reduced valuation, $153,663.10, was voted, amounting to $3,457.31, which was the first tax in the county. Besides the business mentioned, the commissioners first elected laid out new roads to an indefinite extent, established school districts and directed their energies to such enterprises as would facilitate the settlement of the county. Johnson Foster was the first justice for San Francisco precinct, appointed by the board to hold office until the following election, said election to be held at the store of Foster & Davis, town site of San Francisco. Elections for the other precincts were held: Chaska, at the store of T. B. Smith; Chanhassen, at the school-house of Chanhassen school-district; Benton, at the house of Robert Miller; Jefferson, at the house of Christian Schilling. These elections were ordered by the board. The board of supervisors of the county under the system of township organization met first, September 14, 1858, at Chaska. Present, H. B. Taylor, Camden; E. F. Lewis, Watertown; R. M. Kennedy, Farmington; Frederick Greiner, Chaska; John Groetsch, St. Valentine; Frank A. Rentz, Chanhassen; Robert Miller, Benton; Marvin White, San Francisco; J. S. Letford, Carver; H. Greving, Waconia; R. M. Kennedy was chosen chairman. June 5, 1860, the system of county representation by towns having been changed by act of legislation to that of districts, the county was divided into five commissioners districts. By an act of legislation in 1875, the system was changed to four districts and a chairman elected in the county at large. It is a noteworthy fact in the history of this county that many of the same names given in the list of first county officers recur in the roster year after year. By years of faithful service they have identified themselves with the interests of the county. Frederick Greiner was elected county commissioner at the first election; is now register of deeds; G. Krayenbuhl who was first treasurer of the county is now clerk of the court and deputy auditor; J. A. Sargent who was appointed first county attorney is now judge of probate. In the fall of 1857, T. B. Smith was elected to represent the county in the constitutional convention held at St. Paul. Dr. E. Bray and Ernst Heyd were elected to first legislature under the state constitution. We quote from J. A. Sargent’s account in the files of the Weekly Valley Herald a trial held in the second term of court December, 1857, before Judge Charles E. Flandrau, successor of Judge Chatfield. "It was at the fall term of the district court that the somewhat celebrated case—The Chaska Company against Nicholas Lang —was tried by jury. It became celebrated not for the amount in controversy, but for the style and wording of the verdict of the jury. This was so unique and original that some wag caused it to be published in Harper’s Monthly. The Chaska company commenced an action in replevin to recover possession of a small building, or house, which, it was alleged, of right belonged to the company and had been hauled away by defendant. Lang denied that he had unlawfully removed it, and the ownership claimed by the company and demanded a jury to protect his rights. The rich Chaska company was represented by Hon. L. M. Brown, one of the most distinguished attorneys of the Minnesota valley and poor Lang by J. M. Holland, Esq. After a long and tedious trial the case was given to the jury after an able charge by Judge Flandrau. The jury retired and after a short time brought into court a verdict in substance as follows: 'The verdict of the jury is that Nicholas Lang had a right to move the building wherever he d—d pleased.' Court then adjourned." The foreman of this jury was Charles Sorenson. The canal project of the Shaska company was the boldest speculation of that audacious company and although it never went any further than a survey, it is worthy of mention. The purpose was to connect the village of St. Valentine at Smithtown bay, Lake Minnetonka, with Chaska by a canal, not for purposes of transportation but to make an outlet for the lake to the Minnesota river, and utilize the fall of water obtained for mill purposes. Hon. Edward Rice, Albert Fuller and others were owners by purchase of the town site, St. Valentine, which they sold to the Shaska company for $13,000 to be paid in stock of that company. The survey was commenced in December, 1856, and ended February, 1857, under the charge of Bookee, engineer, and Seller, assistant, with the requisite helpers. The survey showed Minnetonka lake 126 feet higher than the Minnesota river at Chaska and the length of the proposed canal six and three-fourth miles. The Chaska, Minnetonka & Liverpool canal was the modest name assumed. Carver County Homoepathic society was organized February 25, 1869, for sanitary purposes with the following officers: Joseph Weinmann, president; Frederick Henning, secretary; Edward Reusse, treasurer. At organization there were fifty-nine members; the present members number about eighty. The meetings are generally held at Benton village, it being about the center of the county; they are held the second Sunday in every second month, beginning with February. Present officers: Casper Kronschnabel, president; Julius Schwarzkoff, secretary; Harry Heinen, treasurer. Carver County German Agricultural society was organized March 25, 1856 with about twenty-five members and the following officers: Herrmann Miller, president; Charles Luedloff, secretary; Hermann Schmids, treasurer. The membership increased rapidly until the war and other causes greatly retarded its impetus, from the effect of which it never recovered. Present membership numbers fifteen. Meetings are held at the Dahlgren post-office, quarterly. Present officers, William Thessman, president; Charles Luedloff, vice-president; Herrmann Miller, secretary; John Lorfeld, treasurer. Carver county poor farm was established in 1868. It was situated on sections 8 and 17, Dahlgren, and contained 200 acres. The buildings erected by the county were cheap frame buildings. Gerhard Deuhs was the superintendent during its existence. General dissatisfaction arose throughout the county in reference to the expense at which it was maintained, the result of which was a change of law in regard to the poor farm of Carver county. Each town provides for its own poor under existing law. In March, 1878 the farm was sold to the present occupant, John Plfeghaar. Schools. In 1857 five school districts had been established in the county with an aggregate number of 184 scholars; Carver, Chaska, Benton, Chanhassan and Groveland. These school districts drew $787.64, which had accumulated as school tax. Sixty-seven public school-houses are now scattered at convenient intervals throughout the county, besides many private schools under the patronage of religious denominations. Several districts are joint with other counties. Churches. Among the first to preach in the English language was the Bev. Mr. Black, a Methodist, who had pre-empted a claim at Glencoe and occasionally came down and preached the gospel to the settlers at Carver and Chaska. He had a frail constitution and died afterwards in Illinois, his native state. Revs. Galpin and Sheldon, of Excelsior, occasionally preached in the county. They still reside respectively at Minneapolis and Excelsior. Revs. Bell and Utter, of Shakopee, also preached here. Mr. Cheeseman, a lay preacher, who owned a claim in Chanhassan, which he worked during the week, preached on Sunday. Rev. Mr. Grey, an Episcopal clergyman, frequently preached at Carver. Rev. Mr. Stephenson, a Methodist, included this county in his extensive circuit. Rev. Edward Eggleston, the famous author and now distinguished clergyman, of New York city, visited this county about 1857, traveling on foot, engaged in the sale of religious publications. He also conducted religious services and astonished the people by the contrast between the green youthfulness of his appearance and his splended extempore lectures. Father George was the first German Catholic to preach in the county. He was located at Shakopee, but included this county in his labors. Besides these itinerant clergymen settled pastors of churches soon came into the field, to whom the itinerants gave place. The first were Rev. Erdman, of the Moravian church; Rev. Peter Carlson, of the Swede Lutheran, F. G. Nelson, of the Swede Baptist. There are at present thirty-three churches in the county; Catholic, eight; of this number seven conduct services in the German language; Protestant, twenty-five. The first regular practicing physician in the county was Dr. W. A. Griffin, who settled in Carver in 1857. He still continues his successful practice. Dr. J. A. MacDonald was an early physician, who acted as surgeon during the war, but at its close removed to Wisconsin, and has since resumed practice at Chaska. Dr. Davis, at Carver; Dr. Louis Goltholf, at Waconia; Dr. J. S. Richardson, Dr. Ames and Dr. S. Grant at Watertown; Dr. Haas, at Chaska; these represent the early doctors of the county. Newspapers. The "Minnesota Tallboat," printed in German, was the first newspaper published in the county. It was established in 1857 at Chaska by Fred Ortwein and Albert Wolff. After one years’ issue it was removed to St. Paul. The second was established in 1858 by L. L. and W. R. Baxter, after selling the "Glencoe Register." This was the "Carver County Democrat," and was located at Carver. The "Chaska Herald," the third and last, was established at Chaska in 1860 by Charles Warner. F. E. DuToit is now editor. County buildings. The history of the construction of the county buildings of Carver county opens a chapter replete with interest though fraught with misfortune and trouble. In the early days of the territory, when money was scarce and credit below par, various devices were resorted to by the towns in their struggle for supremacy. The ambition of Chaska to become the county seat for the county of Carver led the owners of the town site to adopt a speculative method for obtaining the requisite county buildings by which they could maintain their prerogative as capital of Carver county. To carry out the plan for raising money and securing the erection of county buildings a company was formed and incorporated in the territorial legislature under the name of the Shaska Company, of which Amasa Mason was president and George Fuller secretary. By them a deed was executed March 23, 1857, of lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, in block 27, of Chaska village, as platted and recorded, to the county of Carver for the purpose of county buildings. On the same day the board of county commissioners voted to issue bonds of the county to the amount of $10,000 in shares of $1,000 each, which sum was subsequently increased to $13,000, with interest coupons attached, bearing interest at the rate of 12 per cent, per annum, payable semiannually on the first days of January and July of each year at the office of Duncan, Sherman & Co., bankers, New York city. The Shaska company received these bonds, giving for security their bond for $20,000 for the fulfillment of their contract in the erection of the county buildings, and attempted their negotiation in the city of New York. The negotiation of a portion of the bonds was effected, although at enormous sacrifice. April 10th following, B. S. Judd was instructed to procure drawings, specifications, etc., for county buildings, agreeable to resolution of the board of commissioners, and the buildings were begun. When the work had progressed to the erection of the walls, and before the main building was roofed over, the bubble company burst, and the bills thus far incurred devolved on the county according to the contract of the commissioners, while at the same time the holders of the bonds negotiated demanded payment from the county according to their precise terms. In February, 1859, the legality of the bonds was brought in question, and May 11th following the claim, $9,693.38, against the county for bonds negotiated was repudiated by the supervisors of the county in consequence of the opinion of legal counsel employed that the transaction was irregular, from the fact that the bonds were issued by the commissioners before the work was done. Proceedings were instituted in the courts by the holders of the Shaska company bonds, and a tedious litigation ensued with immense expense, continuing until September 7, 1872. At that date the town of Chaska, stimulated by the rivalry of Waconia, which town had put in a claim for the county seat, effected a settlement with Francis W. Hutchins and others of New York city, owners of the bonds, and the property by virtue of a judgment rendered at St. Paul, by which the latter gave a quit-claim deed to Lucien Warner, George Faber and Philip Henk for $4,000, and surrendered all claims against the county. On the same day Warner, Faber and Henk deeded the property to Carver county, inserting in the deed a proviso that in case of removal of the county seat the title should rest in the township of Chaska. In their dilemma the county in 1858 hired a room of Lucius Howe for county purposes at a rent of $75 per annum. September 5, 1861, it was determined to fit up rooms in the wing of the court-house for county offices and court-room and shingle the main building. May 21, 1863, the bill of Marvin White of $2,113.85 for laying brick in the court-house building in 1857, according to contract with county commissioners, was allowed to the amount of $1,500, which sum was paid in county bonds and accepted as payment in full. It may be interesting to record that the county printing was let to J. L. McDowald, of the Belle Plaine Enquirer. Other applicants were B. M. Wright, Scott County Democrat, and John H. Stevens, Glencoe Register. Beginning October 1, 1861, and continuing to May 1, 1863, bonds of the county to the amount of $7,440 were issued to take up orders and cover the floating debt. The first court of the county was held July 17, 1856, by Judge Andrew G. Chatfield, associate justice of the supreme court, who held office by appointment of the president, and was assigned to the third district by the territorial legislature. T. B. Hunt was clerk of the court. J. H. Brown and J. A. Sargent were admitted to the territorial bar. Both, of these lawyers have been honors to the profession. Mr. Brown, after becoming a prominent lawyer in the Minnesota valley, moved to Wilmar, Kandiyohi county, and became judge of that judicial district. A murder trial enlivened this term of court. John Schlemline was tried for the murder of Nicholas Barton near Chaska in a quarrel growing out of a claim fight. At this trial the first jury in a district court in Carver county was empaneled. This was also the first murder trial in the county. The case was conducted by J. A. Sargent, county attorney, in behalf of the government, and J. M. Holland and Frank Warner for the defense. The jury disagreed, and the case was never brought up again. Murders in early times passed by without much difficulty. This court was held in a frame building near the river owned by the Fuller brothers, under the charge of their agent, T. B. Smith. H. E. Lowell was foreman of the grand jury. John Breher, son of Lenhart Breher, who settled in 1853, the north-east quarter of section 23, of Laketown, was born August 1, 1854, and is the first child of white parents born within the limits of Carver county. He now lives at Hampton, Dakota county. The first marriage was that of Joseph Vogel and Feronica Kessler, in August, 1852, in Chan-hassen, ceremony by a Catholic priest from St-Paul. The first deaths of which we learn among the settlers were those of Joseph Kessler, in Chanhassen, in 1853, and John Muntzn, December 11, of the same year in Chaska. The first school taught in this county was that in Chanhassen, in the fall of 1855, by Miss Susan Hazeltine. The first brick house in the county was built in 1857, by L. How, and the mason work was done by Lyman W. Noble. The brick were made in Chaska and were probably the first made in the county. The following railroads intersect the county: The Hastings and Dakota division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was finished to Carver in 1872, and extended through Dahlgren, Benton and Young America to Glencoe, in McLeod county, in 1873. The Minneapolis & St. Louis intersects only the towns Chanhassen, Chaska and Carver, and was built from Minneapolis to Merriam Junction in 1871, a distance of twenty-seven miles. The Benton cut-off, of the Hastings and Dakota division, was built from Minneapolis to Benton Junction, on the Hastings and Dakota division, in 1881, passing diagonally through the towns of Chanhassen, Laketown and Dahlgren, to the junction in the town of Dahlgren, called Benton Junction. The Pacific extension of the Minneapolis & St. Louis is in process of construction, crossing the north-west corner of Chanhassen, Laketown diagonally, Waconia, Young America and extending through Sibley county; its terminus is not yet announced. Stations recently established on Benton cut-off of Hastings and Dakota division, of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway: Hazeltine, on west side of Hazeltine lake, in Chanhassen, near Geo. M. Powers farm; one near the town line between Laketown and Dahlgren, not yet named; one near Pfleghaar’s farm in Benton, at the junction with the Hastings and Dakota, called Benton Junction. Additional Comments: Extracted from History of the Minnesota Valley Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Co. (1882) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/carver/history/1882/historyo/historyo69gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mnfiles/ File size: 26.1 Kb