Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/208

 156 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY T. B. Haggard was appointed captain. This force was soon after called together to protect the settlers, which they did so effect- ively that thereafter the residents were allowed to pursue their various callings in peace. The setlement in the northern part of the township was started in 1856, when Darius Johnson made a claim on section 6. He was followed hy Payington Root, and soon after by many others, mostly pioneers from Norway. In 1857 a village was platted in the southern part of the town and called Fairpoint. The proprietors were Thomas Haggard and a man named Beekwith. In 1863 several buildings were erected in this village. A postoffice was established there in 1S58. Silas Merriam was the postmaster. Owing to the small amount of mail received, this office was discontinued in 1861. Some years later it was re-established and Herman Eastman named as postmaster. In 1867 Herman Eastman and E. B. Jewitt opened a store in the village, and a year later David Haggard was appointed postmaster. A log cabin schoolhouse was built in 1857, at the edge of a cherry grove in the central part of the township, and the first school session was taught by E. G. Comstock that winter. In 1861 a stone schoolhouse was erected on the site of this old log structure. The first church organization was effected in 1856, when the Christian Disciples met at the home of James Haggard and listened to a sermon by David Haggard. The first service by a regularly ordained clergyman was by the Rev. J. M. Gates at his own residence in the spring of 1857. The first marriage in the township was between Elizabeth, daughter of T. B. Hag- gard, and John Hart, in August, 1857. The first death was that of Fliza Jane, daughter of T. B. Haggard, December 16, 1857. The first town meeting was held May 11, 1858. at which time officers were elected as follows : Supervisors, Benjamin "Wood- ward (chairman), Cyrus H. Burt and David Simpson ; town clerk, E. G. Comstock ; assessor, Francis A. Crebb ; constables, James Haggard and Peter Stagle; justices of the peace, John Haggard and F. A. Crebb ; road overseers, Israel T. Comstock and Reading Woodward. James Haggard was appointed collector in May, 1858. There being a tie vote, no supervisor of the poor was elected. The official list of the men who enlisted from this township during the Civil War is as follows : F. H. Bullock, William Catlin, Jr., Ryal Catlin, Alva K. Eastman, Edward Hudson, Jesse T. Hamlin, Rufus Hart, Mc. D. Willoughby, Orville Ames, Dan- forth W. Cook, Theodorick Drum, William Forsyth, Thomas E. Gillett, Thomas B. Haggard. George Hanlden, Simeon Steemer r Uriah Hopkins, Francis E. Presley, Jonathan Dibble, Alvin Davis. Abram Doner. Hans Jordt, Ferris Johnson, Charles C. Lent,