Excerpt from The History of Renville County - Vol II, Camp Township compiled by Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge, published by H.C.Cooper Jr. & Co., Chicago, 1916 ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormatted by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Kathryn Kelly Submitted: Nov 1999 ========================================================================= pp. 1306-1307 Camp Township Camp township embraces the greater part of township 112-33. It is bounded on the north by Bandon township, on the east by Cairo township, on the south and southwest by Brown county and the Minnesota river, and on the west by Birch Cooley township. Camp township was settled before the Massacre. Their story has been told earlier in this work. The first arrivals after the Massacre were Halleck Peterson, John Halvorson and A. J. Anderson. Peterson and Halvorson had been here before the Massacre. The Anderson family located in the northwest quarter of section 18; Halvorson on the southeast quarter of the same section, and Peterson on the southeast quarter of section 20. Gradually other settlers came in. Their story is told elsewhere in this volume by Nels O. Berge. Camp township was organized April 2, 1867. Henry Graff, Halleck Peterson and John Anderson were appointed judges of the election to be held at the home of Henry Graff. This town having failed to hold an election, Halleck Peterson, on May 21, 1867, was appointed assessor. He also seems to have served in Mud Lake township. In 1904 a town hall was erected in the northwest corner of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 15. The supervisors are: A. J. Anderson (chairman), Henry Rieke and A. E. Larson. The clerk is N. J. Olson. The first real estate assessment of Camp township (112-33) was made in 1868. Those assessed were: Werner Baesch, sections 22, 27; Henry Graff, 19; Peter Hartman, 28, 33; Thomas Hill, 21, 28; Peter Isackson, 20; Peter Lahti, 20; William R. Laframboise, 22; Peter Nelson, 27; Nels Olson, 22, 23, 33. By 1871 quite a number of people had acquired property in Camp (112-33), the real estate assessment that year being as follows: George Hodgdon, section 6; Thos. Tweet, 17; Louis Garstmaner, 12; Elizabeth Graff, 18, 19; Thor L. Rudy, 18; John Halverson, 18; Peter Lahti, 20; Carl Nelson, 20; Magnus Johnson, 20; Hallek Peterson, 20; Andras Schott, 21; Karnes & Koesmo, 21, 28; Ellen Smith, 22; Peter Nelson, 27; William Pless, 27; Sylvester Olson, 22,27; Ole E. Berge, 22, 23; Andraes Olson, 28; Jens Olson, 28; Daniel O'Neil, 28; Severt Kelley, 28; Hans Peterson, 28, 33; Martha Anderson, 18; Samuel Hodgdon, 34. The first personal property assessment of Camp township (112-33) was made in 1869. Those assessed were: Louis Anderson, Jacob Anderson, John Anderson, Andres Anderson, Iver Branford, Patrick Campbell, Thomas Daveney, John Galliher, John Ganon, John Gleason, John Gilbertson, Thomas Hill, Lewis Hanson, John Halverson, Mathias Johnson, Ole Johnson, Hans Johnson, Mathias Johnson, Oliver S. Johnson, Patrick Jordan, Henry Knawf, H. Klingenberg, M. O. Lee, Andrew Larenson, Evek J. Locken, James Maxwell, Bernhard Marchner, Charles Mooney, Anders L. Nas, Peter Nelson, Ole O. Nesberg, Andrew M. Nelson, Sivert Nelson, Harel Nelson, Daniel O'Neil, Gens Oleson, L. Oleson, G. Oleson, Andrew Oleson, Sylvester Olson, Ole Obendale, Hallek Peterson, Ole Peterson, Hans Peterson, Christopher Peterson, Thomas Rudy, Ellen Smith, Andreas Shott, James Smith, John Sampson, Andres Schott, Thomas Tweet, John T. Tweet, John Tweet, Mariah Tesrow, Peter Pericks, Frank Young, John Jens, Ole Ellickson. A. J. Anderson's Reminiscences. We came to Renville county the first part of June, 1865, in company with Halleck Peterson and John Halvorson and settled in the Minnesota valley. We planted some corn, built a house of logs with a sod roof and built a stable of logs covered with coarse hay for roofing, for the cattle and sheep which he had brought with us. All the teaming was done by oxen. All the hay was cut with a scythe and the mosquitoes were so troublesome that one had to wear mosquito netting over the face in order to be able to handle the scythe. The first wheat raised was threshed out by the oxen treading around the stack and was then fanned to separate it from the straw. All of our clothing was home made. Our stockings and mittens were made of homespun yarn and the spinning wheel was kept very busy during the winter months. A tin lamp filled with burning lard furnished light. My father made our shoes and moccasins out of cow hide, using the skin from the leg in such a way that the knees and hocks became the heels of the moccasins, the fur being turned to the outside, and a little hay was put in the bottom, making a fine piece of footgear at that time. Our trousers were made of grain sacks, cut so that the stripes of the sack were on the outside of the leg. Our furniture was all home made. The food consisted mostly of cornmeal, potatoes, butter, pork, sheep, mutton, some fish and other game. The cattle had free range over the prairie, but came home of their own accord in the evening and stood near the smudge, which was built to protect them from the mosquitoes. In 1867 school district No. 1 was organized and our first teacher, Clemens Treatbar, who is still living, taught a term of three months the same year. A board shanty had been rented, which was used as a school house. In 1868 logs were cut and hewn and a school house was built. Sod was used for roofing. In the spring of 1880 a contract for $800 was given for the building of an up-to-date school house.