Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

May 18, 2011, Page 11

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

May 1901

 

The farm residence of J. A. Pitts in the Town of Seif was destroyed by fire Monday afternoon, together with all of its contents including household effects, clothing and other items. A forest fire had been raging in that vicinity for a time and all efforts to save the property from the flames were futile.  A barn near the house was also destroyed, the flames wiping out every vestige of building on the place.  This is a severe loss to Mr. Pitts as the buildings were but recently erected and he had moved his household goods in from Neillsville and his wife who had been sick at Fairchild was expected home in a day or two. The loss is estimated at about $400 with no insurance.   

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There is to be a dance held Friday evening, at Mr. Meske’s barn near Christie.

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H. G. Prust, the hustling land agent from Chili was in town a few hours Monday.

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If you want a good farm wagon, spring wagon, road wagon surrey or carriage, go to Wolff & Korman’s wagon shop.

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Pat Kelley’s Rigs are always found at the head of the procession with Fast Horses at the Lowest Rates!  To get one, be in line at their stables at 6th Street, West.                                                

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An agreement has been made among the barbers of the city to close their shops at 8 o’clock each evening except Friday and Saturday evenings.                                                                              

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Less Cole, while working on the new cheese factory in Humbird, fell from the scaffold and received quite a severe jolt with a number of bruises, but congratulates himself that it did not prove more serious.

 

The cheese factory is nearing completion and if weather remains fair, they will commence making cheese Thursday morning.                                                                                                      

••••••••••

A small fire happened, caught between Kernighan’s barn and the railroad track at Chili.  A spark from a train engine caused the fire.  It was immediately put out by the Chili Fire Department.

 

Forest Fires are raging around the area a great deal and people are earnestly requesting more rain.  It’s the first of May and the thermometer has been way above 65 degrees.                                      

••••••••••

Beware the wood ticks are out!                                                              

••••••••••

Herman Ketel was operated on, this week, for removal of crushed bone from his leg.  The Drs. Conroy and French did the operating.  Mr. Ketel has been staying at the Ayers’ hospital since his accident several weeks ago.

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An auction will be held Saturday, May 11, beginning at 10 o’clock a.m., at a farm half a mile west of Neillsville, near the Black River Bridge. To be sold: 1 horse, 6 cows, 5 yearlings, 6 calves, 1 wagon, 1 buggy, 1 cutter, 1 mower, 2 sets of harness, 1 incubator, blankets, chains and camp stuff, household furniture, etc., Owner is Mrs. Wheeler Curtis; A. H. Halverson, auctioneer.                                                                             

••••••••••

The Woodman Camp took action to purchase the Schultz building on the corner of Court and Sixth Streets.  The upper part will be used for lodge purposes and the lower part rented out.  Consideration $800

••••••••••

Last week John Welsh sold eighty acres of land near Chili for Wm. Young to Nick Hubing of the Town of Grant.  Consideration $1,200                                                                             

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Work has begun on Gus Hoesly’s new residence on the North Side.  H. W. Brown laid out the foundation Monday, and the other work is in progress. Geo. Trogner has the contract and the specifications call for some excellent work and Trogner is the man to do it right.                                                                                    

••••••••••

Withee has been incorporated as a village.  It is a bright hustling little town and is in the midst of a most excellent farming region.                                                                                                    

••••••••••

Sunday seemed to be a great day for wandering down to the river with a fishing pole for some suckers, but they seem to be at the wrong end of the pole.                                                                           

••••••••••

The old dam at Hewettville burned down on Sunday, being built by Jim Hewett many years ago when he was the logging king of Clark County and Hewettville was a thriving village in the center of a dense pine forest.

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W. D. Connor, president of the R. Connor Company, offers to give unconditionally $500 each year for five years to the Marshfield Public Library.                                                                     

••••••••••

W. G. Hyslop was in the city several days this week on the trail of some rascals who burglarized his creamery on Pleasant Ridge a week ago.  He has run the following ad:

 

W. G. Hyslop is offering a $25 reward for information leading to the arrest of the parties who broke into his creamery at Pleasant Ridge on Monday night, May 13 and stole four 60 lb. tubs of butter.

••••••••••

During the past week a number of trout have been caught in the creek back of the mound north of the city.

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Neillsville Marriages:

 

May 18: William Oldham and Miss Emma Boll, Rev. Longenecker officiating. They will go to housekeeping in F. C. Wage’s house on State Street.

 

May 19th: Gordon M. Davis and Viola Brown, both of Fremont, Rev. Longenecker officiating.

••••••••••

Robert Syth of Greenwood has four teams of horses hauling lumber to the Tioga depot from Connor’s Mill.  He is finishing the job he took last winter.

 

The Connor Co. has been shipping seven carloads of lumber a week from the depot at Tioga.

 

May 1951

 

When Hattie G. Burdett died in Clark County in 1927, she had been for 10 full years without word from her son, L. H. Allen.  This son of a former marriage had gone to France in World War I, and she had never heard from him since.  Making her will in 1920, she specified that he should receive one-third of her estate, if he appeared within five years after her death.  Other wise the money should go to grandchildren.

 

This ‘Will’ posed a problem to Oscar W. Schoengarth, the county judge.  It was his duty to pass a share of the estate to her son, if the son could be found.  In the midst of Judge Schoengarth’s concern about it, Ben Frantz, then register of probate, told the judge that he had known L. H. Allen and knew that he was a railroad man.  His suggestion was that an effort be made through a railroad union to locate him.  So a letter went to the union and another came right back.  Sure; said the union: L. H., Allen was alive and very active; was, as a matter of fact, a member of the Wisconsin Legislature from the Ashland District.  So, the word went to Mr. Allen, and he appeared promptly on the local scene.  He qualified for and received one-third of his mother’s estate of $4,064.43.

 

Whatever the rest of the story is, it had no place in the records of the court and has no place here.  The sure thing is that this gentleman, a member of the Wisconsin Assembly, had come back to Wisconsin after the war, had not seen his mother or notified her of his whereabouts, and she supposed that he had been killed in the war.  Residing in Ashland, and rendering public service in Madison, he had traveled back and forth not far from Neillsville.  He came back here only when his mother’s estate was about to be closed.

 

This is only one of countless oddities that have come to the experience of Judge Schoengarth during his long service as county judge. In his work he has come to know the people of the county as nobody else knows them.  He is not only the judge of longest service in the entire state of Wisconsin, Clark County who has had the best opportunity to know the people of the county and their problems.  He has rendered them more service than any other man, and stands in a closer relation to them.

 

To the people of Clark County this intimate relationship is perhaps of more consequence than the length of service.  Not long ago the Minneapolis Tribune published a story about the Judge in which he was referred to as the dean of judges in Wisconsin. The fact is that he is the dean, not only of county judges, but of all judges in the state, Circuit as well as county.  He is now in his forty-sixth year of service.  Next in length of service is County Judge Michael Sheridan of Milwaukee whose tenure is four years less.

 

The deanship of Oscar W. Schoengarth rests upon length of service, rather than upon age.  Just as he is now the judge of longest service in the state, so he was the state’s youngest judge when he was elected in 1906.  He was then only 25; had been out of the University law school only four years.

 

As a law graduate the young Schoengarth came back to solid ground in Neillsville.  The Schoengarth family had been long established here.  Oscar, son of August Schoengarth, was born in a building at 135 East 5th Street.  The family lived upstairs and the father had a boot and shoe store below.  That building was moved away later, making way for a new building, which now houses the Ford Garage.  The former building is now the residence of George Rude on South Grand Avenue.

 

(The Rude house is believed to be the second place south of the 4th Street intersection, west side of Grand Ave. D.Z.)

 

Leaving the shoe business, August Schoengarth went into the brick-making business.  He furnished brick for many homes in this part of Clark County.  The parents of August were farmers in Grant Township, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schoengarth.  They rest in the Town of Grant Cemetery along Ridge Road, a mile northeast of Kurth Coroners on Highway 10.

 

(The Schoengarth brickyard was located on the east side of Park Street, north of the United Church of Christ. D.Z.)

 

Ready for law practice in 1901, Oscar Schoengarth not only had his family background, but he had the good fortune to secure a partnership at one with Spencer M. Marsh.  Mr. Marsh had an extensive practice; later moving to San Diego, California where he became district attorney and Circuit Judge.

 

Upon his election as county judge, Oscar Schoengarth left Mr. Marsh and set up for himself.  At that time the county judgeship was a part-time job.  For about 25 years, the Judge continued in practice, as well as carrying on the judgeship.

••••••••••

Southern Fried Spring Chicken Diners, Every Sunday, also Pork and Beef Dinners available at Minnette’s Sweet Shop, formerly Lewerenz                                                                                        

••••••••••

Urban’s Used Car Specials – 1949 Hudson 2 dr. sedan, very clean, 21,000 actual miles; 1946 Mercury 2 dr. sedan, with radio and heater; This Week’s Special 1939 Ford 2 door sedan, only $150

••••••••••

The Junior Prom of the Greenwood High School will be held on Friday evening, May 11.  The royal couple is Robert Gregorich, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Gregorich, and Alice Michett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Michett.

 

The prom theme is “South of the Border” with the high school gym decorated in cacti, sombreros and desert scenes.

••••••••••

Wedding Dance at the Silver Dome Ballroom, Saturday, May 19, in honor of Earl Gordee and Mavis Fohrman with the “Howie Sturtz Orchestra”

 

Decoration Day, Wed. May 30, there will be a Dance with the “Blue Denim Boys Band.”  The Inwood Ballroom at Hatfield will have a Wedding Dance for Cole and Brauner, on Thursday, May 24 with “Johnny Check and His Orchestra”

•••••••••

New Owners Sale at the Nemitz I. G. A.  Store, formerly Beyer’s I. G. A.: 2 Big Days, May 18 & 19.  Pure Sugar 10 lbs. 89’; Oranges, 2-dozen for 49’; Swift Sliced Bacon lb. 49’; Grand Opening Special; Cigarettes, 1 ctn. $1.89

••••••••••

Smelt Fry at the American Legion Hall in Neillsville, Friday, May 11th.  Serving 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; All the Smelt you can eat, potato salad, pickles, bread and butter and Coffee $1                                

••••••••••

Pink Van Gorden and Jim Hauge caught their limit of brook trout last Sunday, and then proceeded to Lake Arbutus and caught their limit of crappies. With 10 trout apiece and 25 crappies apiece the young men figured that they qualified as real fishermen.                                                                                               

••••••••••

Even an old fashioned buggy can go too fast around a curve according to Ray Froeba, 15, now in the Marshfield hospital with a broken right leg. Ray was driving a horse and buggy around a curve last Sunday.  He went so fast that the buggy tipped over.  The buggy went one way and Ray went another, gathering up a fracture in his travels.  Ray is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence G. Froeba of the Loyal community.                     

••••••••••

Rough road and a loose steering connection brought Louis Hagedorn and his milk truck to grief Monday morning.

 

The Town of Weston farmer and milkman was returning to his farm at bout 7 a.m. Monday after picking up and delivering the milk on his early morning route.  He struck a rough spot on County Trunk G about two miles south of his home and lost control of his truck, laden with empty milk cans.

 

The truck careened off into the ditch and was badly smashed.  An investigation showed that a steering rod had become disconnected.

 

Traffic Officer Harry Frantz was called to the scene and a wrecker was called to bring the truck back into Neillsville.  The roof of the truck was caved in and the front end demolished.  Hagedorn was not hurt.

••••••••••

Eleven young men of Clark County were inducted into the armed services on April 24, according to the list released by the local Selective Service board.

 

They were as follows: Leonard A. Haas, Thorp; Gerald N. Maier, Thorp; George H. Smudde, Colby; Robert C. Uhrig, Loyal; Edward Herian, Stanley; Wayne M. Schwanebeck, Pittsville; Harlan D. Bartsch, Granton; Alex M. Nowak, Owen; Bernard E. Schmidt, Loyal; Melvin H. Smith, Owen and Frank D. Tomczak, Withee.

 

 

 

The Beyer I. G. A. Store partially visible on the right, as it appeared in 1950 at the Grand Avenue and West 5th Street intersection (looking west).  That building was later razed and a new, large facility constructed west of the old site when Solberg became the business owner.  (Photo courtesy of Bob Boysen)

 

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