Bio of WELKER, Peter, Wright Co., MN
(Partial bio)
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396            HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY 
$2.50 an acre. They erected a log cabin, and started their life in the 
wilderness, surrounded by trees, brush and mosquitoes. Supplies were 
obtained by going to St. Paul, a journey not at all easy to make in those 
days when the country was first being opened. Peter Welker had left his 
blacksmith tools in Illinois, and he had some difficulty in getting any 
in St. Paul. But in the spring of 1858 he managed to get a shop set up, 
and in this he made the first plow ever manufactured in Wright county. 
He made ginseng hooks for all the early settlers, and even dug a 
considerable quantity of that root for himself. He made the first pair 
of "bobs" in the county. Previous to that the pioneers had used log sleds. 
He purchased the first kettles moulded in Minneapolis. They had a capacity 
of thirty-two gallons each and were for the purpose of boiling maple sap. 
Later he secured a potash kettle having a capacity of 120 gallons. This 
kettle and the first plow made are still in the possession of the family.
 After a time Mr. Welker sold part of his 160 acres. In 1872 he built a 
frame house. In ISS3, after the death of his wife on August 23, at the 
age of sixty-four, he returned to Illinois. He then divided his time 
between Minnesota and Illinois until October, 1895, when he settled 
permanently in the latter state. He died at Wheeler, Ill., February 7, 
1906. For his second wife he had married, in 1884, Elizabeth Davis, by 
whom he had three children, Clarence, George and Frank, born in Minnesota, 
and Hattie, born in Illinois. Mr. Welker was a prominent man, and held the 
office of supervisor in Franklin township for many years.