Miltona Township
Compiled and written by Ginny Swartz
Miltona Township was established 19 December 1871; it is comprised by congressional Township 130, Range 37. The odd sections in this township were secured by the old St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company.
The even numbers were mostly taken by homestead patents.
Lake Miltona occupies about 1/6th of the Township and was named for Mrs. Florence Miltona Roadruck, wife of Benjamin Franklin Roadruck. The family homesteaded in Section 22 of Leaf Valley Township. In 1877, they sold their land and returned to their previous home in Indiana. Lake Irene, in Miltona Township, was named for Irene Roadruck whose mother gave Miltona its name.
School District #73 was located in Section 8; District #46 in Section 15; also a school in the village of Miltona.
Churches in Miltona Township include St. Paul's Lutheran Church and cemetery located in Section 8, Faith Lutheran Church in the village of Miltona and Mount Calvary Lutheran cemetery in Section 22 west of the village.
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Miltona is one of the townships in which the railroad owned a considerable amount of land. As a result, some of the lands in the alternate sections was held for a long period of time and shows up in the county recorder's records as still being in the possession of the railroad companies in 1903.
According to records located in the Recorder's Office at the Douglas County courthouse, the following individuals were the first owners who either received a patent from the U.S. Government on land in Miltona Township or purchased land from the railroad. The year noted is the year the deed or patent was recorded; often the individuals had been on the land one or two years prior to recording.
Patrick McQue - Section 1, 1886
Durfee Marquette - Section 2, 1878
R.H. McMahan - Section 3, 1888
James H. Abbott - Section 4, 1880
Nelson Peck - Section 5, 1888
Fredrick W. Balfour - Section 6, 1871
John Galoway - Section 7, 1872
John Galoway - Section 8, 1872
Selmer Brizzee - Section 9, 1887
Jason Bumpas - Section 10, 1875
Martin Norde - Section 11, 1888
Mary Hill - Section 12, 1885
Christopher Collins - Section 13, 1884
George L. Taplin - Section 14, 1874
Robert Coates - Section 15, 1881
Louis Stedje - Section 16, 1887
Wilhelm Henning - Section 17, 1888
Joseph C. Carter - Section 18, 1877
Samuel and Delia Lucas - Section 19, 1879
Samuel and Delia Lucas - Section 20, 1876
Calvin B. Abbot - Section 21, 1884
Harrison Foster - Section 22, 1880
Hiram Shackford - Section 23, 1880
Timothy Martin - Section 24, 1875
Herman Ziebell - Section 25, 1888
Charles Jungrath - Sections 26 & 27, 1871 & 1874
Railroad - Section 28
Railroad - Section 29
Peter Lunderville - Section 30, 1878
William Smith - Section 31, 1893
Frank Schram - Section 32, 1877
Railroad - Section 33
Garrett Cronk - Section 34, 1879
Charles Jungroth - Section 35, 1874
Carl Fida - Section 36, 1887