Bio of Washburn, Henry T. (b.1851) Wabasha Co., MN
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This bio comes from "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" 1920.
Check out Barbara's site for more great information on this book:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/wab3.htm
There are also some pictures and information from descendents for some 
of the bios on her pages.

Washburn, Henry T. (p. 310), who in former years carried on farming near
Plainview, Wabasha County, but has long been a resident of Goodwin, S. D.,
where he is highly respected, was born at Columbus, Wis., April 3, 1851,
son of Lyman Gardner and Esther (Doane) Washburn. The parents came from
Wisconsin to Minnesota with their family and an ox team and wagon in the
spring of 1855. The father was in poor health and two years later died,
leaving his wife with seven children, the eldest, Selden, a lad of
eighteen. Amid the hardships and discouragements of those early days the
family struggled on to prosperity, led by the brave and energetic mother.
Henry Theodore's education was obtained in a country school, which he had
to leave early to help at home on the farm. However, he has never ceased
to be a students, and from the perusal of the best books and magazines has
obtained that higher education that schools alone, however good, could not
afford. On May 30, 1877, he married Emma L. Crittendon of Dover,
Minnesota, and settled on a farm of his own near Plainview. His wife's
parents were William M. and Harriet (Alexander) Crittendon, and, like his
own, were descended from the early Puritans. They came from Massachusetts
to Wisconsin, and thence to Minnesota, at an early day. In the spring of
1881, Mr. Washburn removed with his family to Goodwin, S. D., and settled
on the homestead, where he still resides. In his own words, he thus sums
up his active career:
"I, Henry Theordore Washburn, came from that large and growing
family of Massachusetts Washburns, and was born at Columbus, Columbia
County, Wis., April 3, 1851. At four years of age I came with my family to
Plainview, Minn., where I lived twenty-five years. From there I moved to
Goodwin, Deuel County, S.D., where I have resided ever since. My father's
name was Lyman Gardner Washburn and my mother's, Esther Amerette Doane. My
education was common school and very common. I am and always have been a
farmer. For the past twenty years I have been farming about one thousand
acres and have been raising many horses, cattle and hogs. I have held no
offices except on boards of directors in business institutions. I am tied
to no political party, voting sometimes with one and agin with another. My
religion is of no recognized variety. I was married to Emma Louis
Crittendon May 30, 1877, at Dover, Minn. My wife's father was William
Howley Crittendon, and her mother, Harriett Newel Alexander. Seven
children were born to us, two of whom died in infancy. Hattie Ruth was
born April 21, 1878. She still lives with her parents and is a writer of
some note. Emma Amerette was born September 4, 1880. She married Henry
Sandland March 8, 1916, and now lives on a ranch near Selfridge, N.D.
Selden Gardner was born March 22, 1883. He still lives with his parents
and is a farmer and an expert mechanic of widespread reputation. Marietta
was born April 11, 1886. She married Charles Thomas November 15, 1911.
They have four children: Theodore, Roy, Pearl and Wallace. They now live
on a farm near Dysart, Iowa. Rose Alice was born April 27, 1894. She
married Charles DeVine March 15, 1916. They have one child, Stanley. They
live on a farm near Goodwin, S.D.
"I have remembrances of Plainview and vicinity that are
interesting to me but that is no sign that they would be to others. When
we settled on the old homestead there were no houses from Hall's little
log hotel in St. Charles to Cook's Valley, a few miles out of Wabasha. St.
Paul was a small Indian trading post and Minneapolis had not been heard
of. Of one thing I feel sure and that is that Greenwood Prairie, as it was
then called, was the most beautiful land, before it was touched by the
hand of man, that my eyes have ever rested upon. With its beautiful
island-like groves, its emerald green prairies and sparkling streams, it
made a picture that has never been surpassed in the temperate climate, in
my opinion. The early settlers in that country certainly 'burner their
brides behind them' when they came there. There was not much show of
'going back to live on the wife's folks,' when it had perhaps taken a
month of hard struggle to get there with the slow moving ox teams. As I
look back to those old days, I realize that those early settlers were
sterling stuff. My father died three years after we came to the country,
leaving my mother with seven children, the oldest eighteen. One would have
to know the situation to realize the magnitude of her task. It was a slow,
hard job to clear up and get it in a condition to raise crops, the land on
our old homestead, as we were in what was termed, 'oak opening' that is,
trees too scattering to be termed groves. So at the time of my father's
death we had but a small field under cultivation. We were in debt, too, as
my father had died of a long and lingering illness. We had a very meager
outfit of tools and stock and prices were low and markets far away. Did
our mother sit back and complain of the hardness of her lot? She did not.
But steadily, day after day, and year after year, she worked and slaved
for us, apparently with no though that she was doing anything out of the
regular program. And on top of all her other burdens she helped take care
of all sick for miles around. There were no trained nurses in those days
and so the women of the neighborhood acted in that capacity and mother and
Mrs. Bootman were noted far and wide as expert and willing, so they had
frequent calls for their services nor was there any thought of pay. She
made straw hats for all the men in that part of the country, braiding them
of oat straw, sewing and shaping them and making as good looking and a
much better wearing hat than one can buy today. She made overalls and
shirts for all the bachelors around, patched socks for O. Wilcox and did
any other job that anyone wanted done. And she won out and raised all of
us to be good citizens and we had as good an education as any of the
children around us. One of the Bryants of Elgin used to frequently tell
his boy about us, what a fine man our father was and what good boys we
were, and he told it so many times that it made the boy sore. So one day
Dr. Tefft was at Bryants and the old man was telling the boy all about it
again, as we old men will, and it got too much for the boy and he said,
'Father, the difference between the Washburn boys and me is that their
father died and mine didn't.'
"In those old days whiskey was a part of the daily fare. Every
grocery store had a barrel of it in the back end of the building with a
glass upturned on top of it and the regular customers were supposed to
help themselves as they do to tobacco now days. At our place there was no
whiskey jug nor would mother drink it or allow any of we children to, but
most of the women did drink. A man by the name of Field used to live a
mile north of us and one day as a neighbor was going by on his way to
town, Field came out with a two-gallon jug for the neighbor to get filled
with whiskey. He apologized for bothering him by saying, 'The old cow has
gone dry and it takes a mort of whiskey to keep the family going.' Most of
the men used to carry their whiskey in a flask covered with wicker to keep
it from getting broken. One day two neighbors, Crawford and Goss were on
their way to the river market with wheat when they met another neighbor,
who of course had a bottle with something in it. Of course he had to
'shoat' Crawford and Goss, as they used to say in those days. Orr got the
flask first and long and earnestly studied the heavens while Goss stood by
waiting his turn. At last Orr passed over the flask and Goss expectantly
tipped it higher and higher till it stood straight up and still no gurgle
came from its lips. At last Crawford said with a wink to the other man,
'Is there much in it, Mr. Goss?' I hear that expression used once in a
while when I go back to Plainview though the incident happened sixty years
ago."