This one of the southern tier towns of Freeborn county, lying contiguous to Iowa on the south; and the townships of Albert Lea, Shell Rock, and Nunda, respectively, on the north, east, and west. It is a full congressional township, the greater part of which is under an admirable state of cultivation, as a glance at the statistics will show.
The surface of the township is considerably broken and inclined, in places, to be very hilly although there are no bluffs, and but few places so abrupt as to be detrimental to agriculture. There are also numerous sloughs dotting the prairie, which form the only obstruction to cultivation to be found, and many of these are valuable for hay and grazing. A good deal of small timber is found, and it might be said the greater part of the area is jack and burr oak opening land, although very open, with prairie and natural meadows interspersed. The main body of timber is in the central part.
The soil is variable, but in the greater portion of the town is of a rich dark loam, although not unfrequently a locality is passed where the sand and clay are visible.
The water courses of this town are all sluggish and small affairs, there being only one which is as yet dignified upon the map with a name. This is Goose Creek, which rises west of the boundary and enters by way of section eighteen, then taking a southeasterly course passes through Grass Lake and leaves for Iowa. Another small stream rises in the northern part and flows southeasterly across the northeast corner of the town. Several small streams flow into Grass Lake, but have no names, and in the low country are liable to change their courses.
Grass Lake is a body of water located in the corners of the four southeastern sections in the township. It is a sloughy concern, and is surrounded by such a low, wet and marshy country, that it is impossible to get to it: in fact, it is said that the entire southeastern part of Freeborn has never been explored]
There are no villages in the township. The Minneapolis and St. Louis railroad enters and crosses the northeastern corner, and the B. C. & N. railway line crosses the northwestern corner.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The early settlement and initiatory steps which led to the founding and subsequent development of this thriving township, in common with the majority of Freeborn county's subdivisions, dates back well into the fifties. Its early pioneers and hardy civilizers were not adventurers who came here merely for speculation, nor were they men who expected or even hoped to accumulate a for�tune in a day; but men who knew there would be trials and hardships to endure, while the first few years of their existence here must be almost a hermitage. And they were not mistaken, as those who can retrace the steps of memory to actual experience will testify, while those without having passed through it can never know.
It is claimed that Freeman township had received a settler as early as 1854; this statement is made in a sketch of the history of the township published in the Albert Lea papers in 1877, and prepared by Mr. Parker, president of the Old Settlers' Association, and Mr. Botsford. But for the edification of our readers we will publish the sketch verbatim, to-wit:
�The first settler in this town was Ole Olenhouse, who made his claim as early as the summer of 1854, and was probably the first settler in the county.
Jacob Hostetter acquired the first title to land, which occurred on the 19th of June, 1856. He was the first mechanic, and worked as a carpen�ter.
Sarah White, in 1859, taught the first school, the same being held in the dwelling-house of Joseph Shaw. The first parties married were Louis B. Probetin and Libbie Banning, in 1857, the ceremony being performed by William Andrews, Esq. The first child born was in 1857, and connected with the Olenhouse family. The first death was that of Mrs. Wadsworth, who died in 1860.�
Where the above information came from we know not, and, therefore, will make no comment upon it; but will commence the story of early settlement, as we get it from the most reliable and oldest settlers now living.
Among the early settlers, not the first in the township, was John Freeman, in whose honor the town received the name it bears. He was born in Northamptonshire, England, in the year 1805. In 1855, he came to Minnesota, and direct to this township, where he secured, under the pre-emption law, the whole of section fifteen for himself and three sons. After living in a tent for several months he erected the log house in which he now lives, the logs being cut from poplar trees, and covered with what was termed a �shake roof,�clapboards cut from oak timber. The log house is in a good state of preservation, and under the third roofing. Three of Mr. Freeman's sons are yet in the town, and one is on the Pacific coast.
The above statement is disputed by some, as to his being the first, and we give all sides a hearing by producing the statement. John Oldinghouse [or Olenhouse] was a native of Germany, having lately sojourned for a time in Wisconsin, arrived in Freeman township in the summer of 1855, with his family, and squatted upon section twelve, where he dug a hole in the ground and covering it with poles and hay, spent the winter here. The following year he pulled up stakes and removed to section twenty-four, and this point is probably the hinge leading to the error into which many settlers have fallen in thinking the date of his settlement in section twenty-four was identical with that of his arrival; for in early days, his original place in section twelve was considered in the town east of this, or the Shell Rock settlement.
Olenhouse erected a shanty upon his new farm and made improvements, remaining there about two years, when he with his family removed to Kansas, where he died soon after his arrival, from the effects of an exposure which affected his brain.
In the fall, a man named Mr. Oliver Diamond,
arrived and constituted the next settler. He was a native of Vermont, and located in the same section with Oldinghouse (24,) where, among other improvements, he erected a log house, 16x22 feet,
which still stands, although rather delapidated
and unoccupied, a remembrance of 'ye olden time'.
Diamond did not remain long and sold to Charles Grim who still lives on the place. About the same time in 1855, Jacob Hostetter, a Pennsylvania German, who came direct from Ohio, to Wisconsin, settled with his wife, four daughters, and two boys, upon section one. He erected a log house and commenced improvements which he continued for fifteen or sixteen years, and then sold to Mr. Nelson who is yet on the place. Mr. Hostetter now resides in the township of Albert Lea.
The spring following the arrival of Hostetter, in March, 1856, Christian Bias, a German, arrived, and being a single man, commenced keeping �batch," upon the claim he secured in section twenty-two, the present Joseph Lang place, and remained here for a couple of years when he returned to Illinois from whence he came.
William Edwards, from England originally, but late from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, arrived on foot in Freeman township on the 20th of September, 1856, and took a claim in section twenty-four, where he commenced improvements, boarding in the meantime with Oliver Diamond. His claim was jumped shortly afterwards by a Mr. Finch, and he took a place in section twenty-two; but finally, in 1857, sold that and took the place he now occupies in section three.
Just before Christmas, in 1856, a couple of Germans, Charles Bessinger and Phillip Herman, late from Canada, made their appearance and selected homes. Chas. Bessinger selected his domain in section nine and lived there several years, when he sold to his brother, Morris Bessinger, who yet owns the place. Phillip Herman planted his stakes upon a fine track of land in section thirteen where he yet holds forth. The first of that small but determined army of the natives of Norway, arrived shortly afterward in the person of Lars Nelson, who declared him self at rest upon a farm in section twenty-three, and he has since been joined by enough of his countrymen to declare a majority of the inhabitants of the town.
EARLY EVENTS.
FIRST BIRTHS.�The first event of this kind to transpire occurred in 1857, and ushered into this reputed world of sorrow, Matilda Oldinghouse, whose parents resided in the town. Another early birth was that of a son of Oliver and Emily Diamond, it is claimed late in 1856.
FIRST MARRIAGE.�This took place in March, 1858, and joined by the holy ties of wedlock, Mr. W. Wadsworth and Miss Sarah Freeman.
DEATH.�It is claimed that the first death in the township carried away George W. Wadsworth, a son of the parties who were first married in the town. The child was nine months old.
OFFICIAL RECORDS.
This town effected an organization as a local government at a meeting held on the 2d of April, 1861, at the house now occupied by William Free�man, by the election of the following officers: Supervisors, B. H. Carter, Chairman, William H. Moore, and Lars Nelson; Clerk, W. Wadsworth; Treasurer, Henry Eiton; Assessor, William Eaton; School Superintendent, J. E. Marvin. After this meetings were held for four years in the same house, and then the schoolhouses were brought into requisition.
The present officers are as follows: Supervisors, Ole Opdahl, Chairman, Robert Freeman, and Ole Anderson; Clerk, W. Wadsworth; Treasurer, O. K. Flaskerul; Assessor. E. K. Flaskerud; Justice of the Peace, Andrew Lang. Another Justice was elected, but he stubbornly refused to qualify or have anything to do with it, so, as expressed by a citizen, �his place was easily filled by leaving it vacant.�
The matters pertaining to the public welfare have been well and ably managed, nothing having transpired to disturb the usual tranquility of such business.
POPULATION.�The census of 1870 gave Freeman a population of 604. The last census, taken in 1880, reports 772 for this town. Showing an increase of 168.