A History of Melville, Renville Co., MN Bios Included ========================================================================= 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. FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher Submitted: Janusry 2005 ========================================================================= Excerpted from: "HISTORY OF THE MINNESOTA VALLEY, INCLUDING THE EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA" BY REV. EDWARD D. NEILL, -AND — "HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE" BY CHARLES S. BRYANT. MINNEAPOLIS: NORTH STAR PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1882. RENVILLE COUNTY. CHAPTER LXXXIII. MELVILLE The organization of this town took place in 1876, the first election being held August 15th. The first officers, so far as can be given, were: F. E. Wolff, chairman; M. S. Rause and P. Kirchner, supervisors; Albert Brown, clerk; N. G. Poore, justice. The first claim was taken by Miss Caleff in the spring of 1872; the first settler was N. G. Poore, who came in the fall of 1872. The next spring, F. Hart, Charles Sergeant and Louis Yeager arrived. The first religious meetings were conducted by Rev. S. Adams, a Baptist, in 1877. The Moravians organized a society early in 1882; they had held meetings since 1877. Other denominations hold service occasionally. In 1874 Miss Caleff taught the first school in her dwelling on section 18. There is but one school- house in the town. The first birth in the town occurred in 1875, in the family of F. Steffens. CALEFF Samuel Caleff, native of Massachusetts, was born February 8. 1807, at Ipswich and while young moved with his parents to New Brunswick. He followed the life of a sailor twenty years. In 1857 he removed to Minnesota and settled near Hastings; came in 1878 to Melville where he holds the office of justice: his daughter Dora made the first claim in the township, 80 acres on section 18. Married in 1836, Susan Justason; of their three children, two are living. HIPPLE Henry Hipple was born April 10,1837, in Perry county, Pennsylvania, and when fifteen years old moved to Dover, Illinois; came to Minnesota in 1856; worked two years at blacksmithing in Rochester, then went to Plainview and in 1862 enlisted in Company C, 10th Minnesota; served until 1865. The year following he settled at Beaver Falls and erected the first building there; he was one of the organizers of this county. May, 1877, he located a claim on section 6, Melville. Married in 1866 Celestia A. Mills: five children. KENNING Charles Kenning, native of Prussia, was born March 28, 1850. Came in 1854 with his parents to America; lived one year at Buffalo, New York, and four years in Toronto, Canada, after which he went to Chaska, Minnesota; learned the carpenter's trade, and was in the sash and door business six years. May, 1878, he came to his home on section 7, Melville, and since 1879 has been town treasurer. Henrietta Schau was married to him in 1870, and has five children. POORE N. G. Poore was born May 29, 1838. at Columbus, Pennsylvania. At the age of four years he accompanied his parents to Ohio, and lived in various parts of that state, also spent one year in Kentucky, but returned to Ohio. He migrated to Minnesota, and for seventeen years lived on a farm near Hastings: during that time he passed one year steamboating, and was south for a time in the employ of the government. Since 1872 his home has been in Melville. November, 1860, he married Sarah J. Finney; they have five children. RAITZ George H. Raitz, a native of Pennsylvania, was born March 7, 1842, in Northampton county. The family moved to Illinois when he was twelve years old, and two years after settled in Carver county, Minnesota. Enlisted in 1862 in Company H, Ninth Minnesota, and remained in service until 1865. In 1874 he went from Carver county to McLeod, and in 1877 came to Melville. Mr. Raitz married in December, 1869, Louisa Wolff; they have four children. WOLFF F. E. Wolff, who was born December 26, 1839, is a native of Green county, Pennsylvania. When he was fifteen years of age he moved with his mother to Chaska, Minnesota, and lived on a farm there until coming in 1876 to Melville; took a claim on section 20. Paulina Hedtke became his wife February 17, 1869; of their six children three are living.