Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/199

 HISTORY OF GOODH1 E COUNT"! 7 147 creeks, and then crosses the northern boundary into Hay Creek township. The northern pari of Belvidere is somewhat broken by these streams. ;l n<l lias a hilly contour. The southern half, though much higher, is simply undulating, or rolling. On the eastern border of the town is an isolated mound, reaching an elevation of something like twelve hundred feet above the sea. Tie- soil of the township is good, and the streams afford excellent facilities for raising stock. Belvidere is bounded on the north by Bay creek, on the east and south by Wabasha county, and on the west by Goodhue. In the spring of 1855, N. B. Gaylord and his brother, George, located on Rock creek in the northern part of the township. In August of that year, Joseph S. Thompson settled on Wells creek, and a short time afterward he was joined by N. B. Gaylord, who settled near, preferring that location to the place where he took his original claim. During the fall of 1855 occurred an event which was of importance to the future history of the county. Claus Hoist, and a number of other German families, took up their residence near the head waters of AY ells creek, and began opening up farms. The part w T hich the German pioneers and their descendants have taken in the development of the county is related at some length in another chapter. In 1856 there came an influx of immigration to this township, and the farms were soon settled up. Ida Thompson was the first child born in the township. June 13, 1856. The first marriage was that of George Steele and Junia Pingrey, a sister of Mrs. J. S. Thompson, at whose house the cere- mony was performed. August 14. 1855. by J. B. Smith. Etta Gay- lord, aged two years, died in 1858, the first death in the tOAvnship. Rev. John Watson held religious services in the house of Nelson B. Gaylord as early as the summer of 1856. Delia Eggleston taught a school in the room of her father's house in 1857, this being the first school in that section of the country. N. B. Gaylord, in 1858, having a good water power, put in operation a large hand coffee mill, and ground for himself and neighbors flour, meal and other articles. Having used up two coffee mills, he next procured a small burr millstone, and kept gradually improving his primitive enterprise until he launched out into a full-grow T n mill, with two run of stone, and a capacity of 120 bushels of wheat per day. The Belvidere mill finally took rank among the good mills of the county. A cozy log church was built by the German .Methodists near Gaylord 's mill in 1862, at a cost of $300. This society now has a large frame church. In 1865 the Catholics erected a good frame church in the southern part of the town. The Norwegian Luther- ans built a large church in the western part of the town in 1867.