The History of  Shortville Township, Clark Co., WI

Contributed by Kenneth J. Wood

 

The Short Brothers, Founding Fathers of Shortville, Washburn Twp., Clark Co., WI

Drawings  Courtesy of  Revival Arts.

Steven James George Andrew John

 

Surnames: SHORT RITCHE WINTERS BUE MEDDAUGH KISSLING BELL KEGLEY MCGINNIS GAIER VINE STEWART

 

----- Source: Marshfield News Herald  10/19/1964 P. 9

 

History of Shortville is Story of Five Brothers and Their Families

 

Neillsville, Clark County, Wis. – The unincorporated community of Shortville in Southern Clark County takes its name from five brothers named Short, who located there between 90 and 95 years ago.  Three of the brothers were Civil War veterans who were granted homesteads by the federal government, and among them they owned most of the land in the area now known as Shortville.

 

Their names were James, George, Stephen, Andrew and John Short, and they came from Fort Atkinson in Jefferson County during the period 1869 to 1871.  Their parents, James and Betsy (Ritche) Short, came to America from Scotland, located near Fort Atkinson, and raised a family of 10 children.  Five of the children, Betsy, Belle, Jane, Mary and William, remained in Jefferson County.  James Short visited his sons in Clark County but maintained residence in southern Wisconsin and died in Cambridge.  After the death of her husband, Mrs. James (Betsy)  Short joined her five sons in the town of Washburn (now Shortville) and died here at the age of 70.

 

James, George and Stephen Short served in the Northern Army in the Civil War.  James homesteaded south of Shortville Store, and he and his wife were the parents of two sons and three daughters.  Mrs. Thomas (Jennie) Winters, still living in Neillsville at age 95, is a daughter.

 

George Short, born Jan. 7, 1841, homesteaded a mile east of the present Shortville Store on the south side of the road.  Mr. and Mrs. George Short were the parents of two daughters, the late Mrs. Fannie Bue, who lived many years in Neillsville, and Mrs. Sarah Meddaugh. Alice Meddaugh, a daughter (new Mrs. Harry Kissling) lives near Shortville and has been employed with the Clark County Welfare Department for many years.

 

Stephen Short, a Civil War veteran, proved up on his homestead near Shortville and moved a few years later to Dakota, where he lived the balance of his life.

 

Andrew Short arrived in Clark County in 1871.  He was born in Jefferson County May 28, 1849, and purchased 80 acres of land in section 3, town of Washburn, north of the present Shortville Store.  He erected a log cabin 16 by 24 feet with two rooms and pantry.  This big cabin was the location of the first Shortville post office and Andrew Short was the first postmaster.

 

Andrew short was married to Jennie Scott of Jefferson County July 10, 1872.  At that time, there were no roads between Shortville and Neillsville, and the settlers had to walk through the woods to Neillsville for supplies.  Mr. Short started farming with one cow, one pig and a few Plymouth Rock chickens.  The entire Shortville area was heavily wooded and each settler had to clear a place for home, garden and fields.

 

Like most new settlers, Andrew had little cash and did all farm work and all clearing by hand.  He cut the trees with his axe and raised an ox team from calves.  He later built a frame residence at the old location of the log home, and then added cattle and sheep.  Mrs. Short spun wool into yarn to make caps, mittens and socks.  Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Short were the parents of three children, James, Ralph and May (now Mrs. Walter Bell) of Janesville.

 

James was born Aug. 17, 1875, in the log cabin or first home of the Andrew Short family.  At 26, he purchased 80 acres of land in section 10, Washburn and later added 40 acres.  He served as treasurer of the Shortville Creamery and 13 years as treasurer of the township.

 

Ralph has lived all of his life in Shortville and is the person of longest residence in the town of Washburn.  He served from 1917 to 1920 as chairman of Washburn township and 21 years as clerk of Washburn township.  He also served as vice chairman of the former Agriculture Adjustment Administration for many years.  He was married March 26, 1919, to Edith Kegley in the home of the bride’s parents, a mile east of Shortville.  “The wedding was planned for noon,” says Mrs. Short, “but because of the spring break-up roads were almost impassable and the Rev. Harold M. Roberts, Presbyterian minister of Neillsville, was more than an hour late arriving with horse and buggy.”

 

The fifth and youngest of the five brothers to locate in Shortville in the 1869-71 period was John Short, who was born June 4, 1850.  He purchased land 2 miles east of Shortville Store and married Jennie McGinnis May 6, 1869.  The McGinnis family had located in southeasten Clark County in the town of Sherwood.  John and his wife were the parents of three sons, Ed, Arthur and William, and two daughters, Inez and Elizabeth.

 

John developed 80 acres in section 4, Washburn township.  His farm was known as the Lone Pine Tree Farm, so named because in a fire that swept the area, a lone pine tree was saved in the farm yard.  One son, Arthur, moved from Shortville in 1924 to a farm in the town of Lynn, 1 ¼ miles east of Granton on U. S. Highway 10, where he now resides.  Another son, William, was a father of Eugene Short, who developed the Short Mink and Fur Farm in the town of Grant, 6 miles east of Neillsville.  Eugene Short, now deceased, is survived by his wife, and by three sons, Dale, Glen and Floyd, who continue to operate the mink farm, and by a daughter, Mrs. Jeanette Gaier of Magnolia, Ohio.  Mrs. William (Helen) Vine is also a daughter of William Short.  She lives in the town of Grant, Clark County.

 

Although James and Betsy Short, who came from Scotland, spent only short periods in Clark County, their five sons developed Shortville from a vast wooded area to a community which had two stores, a post office, a Presbyterian Church and a school.  The Shorts owned a large part of the land around Shortville, but today, most of it has passed into other hands.  The land is all cleared and used for dairy farming today.

 

The Shorts, of Scotch Presbyterian ancestry, sponsored the organization and construction of the Shortville Presbyterian Church, which served as the Shortville Community Church for nearly 50 years.  A few years ago, the church was sold and torn down for material for a new dwelling in Neillsville.

 

Ralph Short, 75, Shortville’s  oldest resident, has been a leader in Shortville and the surrounding township of Washburn.  He and Mrs. Ralph Short reside at the exact location of the first log post office of Shortville.  They are the parents of a daughter, Mrs. Doreen Stewart of Verona.  They also have three grandchildren, Jovey, Jeffrey and Jan Stewart.

 

Mrs. Ralph Short who is recognized as one of Shortville’s most capable woman leaders, has been active in writing a Shortville community column for 45 years for a weekly newspaper.

 

“Highway and school improvements,” said Mrs. Short, “show the greatest progress in Shortville, since World War I era.  Six area rural schools were consolidated into one well equipped three room school in Shortville.

 

“Today,” she added, “most of the residents of early Shortville are gone, but some of the children or grandchildren remain to carry on the farms and join in community service.  I think there will always be a Shortville.”

 

 


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