Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/207

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 155 and a few young children, are given shelter and food, care and attention, as wards of the county. On Prairie Island there are located a number of Indians. They have a small church of the Episcopal denomination, and have, in a measure, learned the arts of civilization. Eggleston, a small village, is located on the edge of this town- ship. CHERRY GROVE. Cherry Grove is one of the southern tier of townships in the county. It is bounded on the north by Wanamingo, on the west by Kenyon, on the south by Dodge county, and on the east by Roscoe. One complete government township, No. 109, range 17, constitutes its area, which has remained unchanged since the township act of 1858. Its surface is that of a high prairie, with low, broad, undulations of surface. The drainage is toward the north and south, from the elevated central portion. A branch of the Zumbro winds through the southern portion of the township, and along its valley are some wooded portions, although for the most part the township is under cultivation. The soil is excellent for agricultural purposes, and a specialty is made of dairy farm- ing in that vicinity, the residents being a progressive set of peo- ple, who have adopted all the latest methods in agricultural operations. The territory comprised in the township remained practically an unbroken wilderness until 1854, when, in the spring of that year. Madison Brown located a claim on section 31. In the fall of the following year, however, he sold his claim to Silas Mer- rinian. and went to Iowa. Of his subsequent career nothing is to be learned, although it is supposed that he was hilled in the Civil War. In the fall of 1851. Reading and Benjamin AYoodward selected claims adjoining that of Brown. Benjamin soon after went to Iowa, where he died, while Reading remained as a perma- nent settler. In the following year came Silas Merriman, already mentioned, Samuel and William Shields, Joseph Seymour, Wilson Kelsey, Thomas Haggard, and John and Charles Lent. In the spring following came E. 0. Comstock, Israel T. and Taft Corn- stock. Samuel Winston, John Nichols, J. A. Ray and others. It will be noted that the majority of the settlers were eastern people, and a number of their descendants still maintain the New England and New York traditions of their ancestors. These settlers, in the earliest days, were made the subject of consider- able annoyance. Marauding bands of ruffians created acute apprehension, and the choicest claims were constantly being jumped. In the winter of 1855-56 a claim meeting was called and an organization effected for the protection of the settlers.