Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

November 17, 1999, Page 11

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clark County News

 

 

November 1899

 

In August 1898, Rev. R. J. Creswell was unanimously called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church of Neillsville, Shortville, Pleasant Ridge and Dells Dam.  He closed his labors here on Nov. 1.  During his time here, 23 members were added to these different churches.  His Sunday School in Neillsville was the largest in Clark County.  More than 400 members were enrolled in all Sunday Schools of the four churches.  His salary, for the past year, was promptly and generously paid by the churches at Neillsville, Shortville, and Pleasant Ridge.  Shortville has been especially kind and helpful in the pastorate.  He turns his field over to his successor in good condition for fruitful service if wisely managed.

 

Rev. Creswell and family will soon move to Minneapolis, their former home, where pleasant and profitable service of the Presbyterian Church awaits them.

 

Rev. Geo. W. Luther, an evangelist from Michigan, will take charge of this work at the Presbyterian and three other churches for the next six months.

 

The Clark County Board of Supervisors will be in session next week.  Their first meeting is held the second Tuesday in November, unless by special meeting is convened sooner.

 

The usual standing committees are as follows: General Claims, Illegal Taxes, Pauper Claims, Town Organizations, Printing, Appropriations, Equalization for taxes, and Settlement with county Officers.  Other Committees are provided for as the necessity arises.  After the organization, the matters filed with the County Clerk for action by the board are read over and referred to the appropriate committees.  These committees respectively, assemble in the several rooms in the courthouse and discuss matters laid before them, after hearing pros and cons from interested parties called in to give information.  Bills and other businesses are returned to the clerk with the committees reports.

 

The County Board has a very interesting history.  John Fiske in his work on civil government traces township and county form of governments back to the early days of England.  The County Board represents a very prominent feature of a republic, namely, representative government, the people therein electing their representative to look after their interests in the general meeting.  Owing to the manner of settlement of the southern colonies, in large and widely separated plantations, no townships existed there and the county was the unit of representation, hence they had no body such as our board of supervisors. The New England and New York people moving westward engrafted the township system upon Wisconsin, while Virginia colonists gave the county unit system to the states south of us.  Several of the western states have adopted a modification or union of the two systems.

 

Repairs have been commenced on the Listeman Brewery lately damaged by fire.  The northwest corner of the building will have to be unroofed and an almost entirely new set of timbers put in that section where the fire was the hottest.  The repair work will take some time to return the building to its former state.

 

Neillsville Cash Milling Co. is selling Straight or Success flour at $3.50 per barrel or 90˘ per sack.

 

Balch & Tragsdorf Merchants are selling men’s all wool pants at 82˘, $1.20 and $1.33, men’s wool suits, $4.85 & $5.50.  The grocery department sells packaged coffee, 8˘ lb., bulk coffee, 9˘, 11˘, and 15˘’ 20 lbs. granulated sugar, $1. Also you can buy the Eldredge B sewing machine for $20, with all attachments.

 

The deer hunting party, consisting of Geo. Redmond, Leo Redmond, Fred Runkle, Burton Wells, Evan Williams, Tom Lloyd of Rock County, Heff Heath of Mauston and Louis Schnell returned Thursday from a week’s hunt in Township 26, 3 west (2 miles north of Rock Dam in Town of Foster).  They came back with five deer, the best record we have heard of.  While hunting, they lived in Foster’s camp near the big mound.  In addition to the deer, they found a fine bee tree, from which they brought in 100 pounds of honey, besides what they had ate while in camp.

 

Ennor’s photo car which has been side-tracked at the depot during the week is a unique thing in its line.  Ennor and his family live and make their home in the rail car, traveling all over the United States.  Many will remember Ennor when he operated a photo gallery in Neillsville some 12 years ago. The Ennor rail car will remain until Monday of next week.

 

George W. West died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Sereno Wren, Sunday, Oct. 29, 1899, at the age of 80 years. The funeral was held at the Pleasant Ridge Church, conducted by Rev. Hendren of Greenwood.  The remains were interred in the Pleasant Ridge cemetery.  West was born in England in 1819, when they with their family set sail for America, landing in New York City on Nov. 1st.  From there, they traveled to Oconomowoc where they lived until 1853, then came to Clark County, settling on a farm near where he died.  He leaves three children: Mrs. Sereno Wren at Pleasant Ridge, Wm. West also of Pleasant Ridge, and Mrs. Alice Shummel of Neillsville.  The deceased was an old soldier, enlisting in the war of the Rebellion and received an honorable discharge at the close of the War.  He was one of our County’s oldest settlers who was loved and respected by all.

 

Machinery for a new saw mill was recently unloaded at the Neillsville rail depot.  It is to be set up in west Weston by Gulligan and Linster who recently purchased a large tract of the Starr-Davis lands in the neighborhood.

 

Stop at the Merchants Hotel for dinner on Thursday.  They will be serving venison and black bear.  H. J. Brooks will give a black bear lunch on Saturday evening at the hotel. 

 

Miss Bushnell, the primary teacher in our Humbird School, has her hands full instructing 70 students, ranging from four to ten years old.

 

News of the Chili area is that they are going to have a Catholic church in their midst.

 

C. S. Stockwell and J.W. Tolford are surveying and making a plat of the new addition to the Neillsville Cemetery, this week.

 

November 1949

 

A full house greeted the Rudolph Schoelzels of Colby on their 25th wedding anniversary, as all their 19 children were present for the occasion.  The children and guests provided the food.

 

A skunk in a new sewer brought excitement and consternation to the village of Granton one day last week. The skunk is now dead and honorably buried, but the scent that is left behind in stores and homes is a memorial which lingers.

 

The skunk caught Granton with its new sewer system incomplete. The laterals in the village are under construction.  They lead into the basements of homes and stores, and are without traps. Therefore there is no obstruction to the scent which has traveled the length of the main sewer on the main street. That scent goes all along the sewer and through the laterals up into the buildings.

 

The new Northside Boy Scout Troop had an outing at Camp Higichari on Lake Arbutus last Monday evening.  They built a camp fire and roasted wieners, marshmallows and had hot cocoa.

 

Accompanying the boys were J. J. Wavrunek, scoutmaster, and Elliott Warlum and Jack Tibbett, scout committeemen.

 

The troop was split into two patrols, and James Wavrunek was elected leader of the Wolf patrol, and Jackie Tibbett was elected leader of the Panther Patrol. The Wolf patrol is composed of Tommy Wavrunek, Kenneth Burr, John Koran and Otto Hainz, in addition to the leader.  In the Panther patrol is: Larry Yankee, Delano Hubing, Edmund Zschernitz, DeWayne McCammant and Devere Krejci.

 

The Northside Scouts are meeting temporarily in the basement of St. Mary’s Church.

 

Fourteen Boy Scouts and three older advisers got a start on building a scout cabin at the city shale pit which will be used principally for overnight hikers.

 

They cleared the land and started the framework for a 15 x 15 foot structure. The building is planned to accommodate a patrol.  Assisting the boys were Dwayne Schweinler, and Dr. R. E. Peters, scoutmaster and assistant, and Jack Tibbett, Northside Scout committeeman.

 

Mrs. Robert French was pleasantly surprised this past week when 14 of her old Levis neighbors and friends along with Mrs. Otto Liskow, Mrs. George Beeckler and Mrs. Geo. Frantz, of Neillsville, gathered at her home here to assist in celebrating her 80th birthday.  She received many gifts after which a lunch was served.  On the next afternoon, another group of ladies come in to wish her a happy birthday.

 

A great deer hunt has been recorded in Clark County this season.  Warden Carl Frick estimates; that from 4,000 to 5,000 deer have been taken.  Certainly, if an antlerless season was to reduce the deer herd, it succeeded in that area.  Many deer were seen on car fenders, car tops, trunks and in trailers on Neillsville streets on Saturday alone, than had been seen here during a full nine-day season in the recent past.

 

The new filling station will be constructed at the corner of South Hewett and Seventh Streets by Urbans, who own the land.  A building permit was granted at the last city council meeting.

 

The building will be constructed under an agreement between Urbans and Standard Oil, whereby it will be leased for 10 years to Standard.  The construction will be of typical Standard style, the exterior being of white glazed tile.  It will be of the two-stall type, one stall for lubrication and one for car washing.

 

Estimated cost for the building is $10,000.

 

The Reidar Olson family has taken up residence at Merrill, Wis.  They have discontinued residence at their place east of Neillsville, formerly the Pleasant Ridge Cheese Factory.  Olson had made some improvements there, providing modern living quarters. He has also begun the development of a manufacturing enterprise, which has been discontinued.  The property is now being advertised for sale.

 

Mrs. Wilhelmina Mueller of Colby recently observed her 98th birthday anniversary.  Mrs. Mueller was born in Germany and came to this country at the age of two, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel. She still keeps her house, cares for herself and her clothing.  She attributes her old age to heredity.

 

Local jeweler, Frank Brown is still partially laid up by his hunting injury, sustained opening day of deer season when he attempted crossing a beaver dam, apparently to see what was on the other side.

 

Brown fell, twisting his knee, and is still hobbling around at this place of business.  He has had many calls of sympathy, he says, and hopes that he will be his old self soon.

 

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The Swiss Family Robinson was written by the Wyss family.  The whole family pretended they had been shipwrecked and told tales about it.  One brother wrote them down, another edited and published the book, and a third illustrated it.

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The Neillsville Brewery, located on East Sixth Street in this late 1800’s & early 1900’s, was a thriving business during its existence.  An employee is shown carrying empty cartons on a wheel arrow into the brewery building.  (Photo courtesy of Clark County Jail Museum)

 

 


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