Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/222

 170 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY William Freyberger, George Featherstone, J. Meacham and Rev. John Watson. William Featherstone, in relating some incidents of the early days, not many years ago, said that he broke a claim in 1856, but that a portion of his land had been broken the year before by others. He sowed ten bushels of fife wheat which he had brought from Canada, the first seed wheat of that kind in this section of the country. His first crop yielded but eighteen bushels to the acre. He sold what wheat he could spare for seed, broke up 170 acres more of land and sowed the next year, receiving a yield of about twenty-four bushels to the acre. The larger portion of this crop was also sold for seed. This is claimed by some writers to have been the origin of "hard wheat" in this state, but the same honor has been claimed for other localities. The first death in the township was that of a Mr. McMahon, who perished from exposure on his attempting to return from Red Wing on a cold night in January, 1857. The first marriage was that of James A. Jones and Mary Libby. daughter of William Libby. the ceremony being performed by the Rev. J. H. Han- cock. The first school was taught in the summer of 1856 by Mary Cox. in a claim shanty, the location of which later passed into the hands of Henry Featherstone. October 21, 1857, William Libby called a school meeting. F. N. Leavitt was chosen chairman and George Featherstone clerk. The first board of trustees consisted of William Freyberger, William Libby and William Watson. William Featherstone was clerk, making a board composed entirely of Williams. Although the district comprised nearly the whole township, there were but seventeen children of legal school age. The first schoolhouse was built in the winter of 1857-58 at a cost of $250. The first church service was held at. the home of William Featherstone in 1856. In 1862 the Methodists built a church edifice. 26x40, at a cost of $1,000. Hay Creek mills, on Hay creek, were built in the early days by a German pioneer named Kotzube, who afterward sold out to Messrs. Cogelt and Betcher, of Red Wing. In 1866 Ezekiel Burleigh opened a hotel, but failing to secure a license, he closed the place, finding that the patronage was too limited to support a "dry" hotel. A list has been preserved of the voters at the first election, held July 5. 1858. They were: John Watson, F. N. Leavitt, Philip Rounds, George Wpoley, William Libby, Ernest Rosa, Benjamin Jones, David Coverdale, Calvin Frizzell, John Watson,. William Featherstone, Jonathan R. Perkins, H. B. Wooley, Charles Perkins, C. Rosa. Edward McMahon, Samuel P. Snow,