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Joyce
I. Bant, a native of Knox Mills, conducted
extensive research on Knox Mills and the surrounding area that resulted in
a manuscript in June 1985 documenting the settlement and history entitled, Culture and Continuity of Knox Mills, Wisconsin (1864
– 1931). Joyce has graciously given permission to share excerpts
from her research project in this Price County GenWeb
site.
Although
Joyce’s manuscript is specific to Knox Mills, some information was
about the Town of Brannan
and has been included on this page. All of the quotes are directly from her
manuscript and may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without
her written permission. For more information on her complete manuscript,
please contact her at: [email protected]
“The
first settlers that arrived in the Town of Brannan
came up along Military Road
from Jenny (Merrill) to Spirit, which is located in the extreme
southeastern part of Price
County. Several
families located there, along the Spirit River,
in the vicinity of Major Isaac Stone, the first white settler in the
territory. Here they formed what was known as the Spirit River
Settlement.”
“This
is how the Spirit
River community
looked [when] Knox bought the land: In 1878 there were 3 settlers (Price
County wasn’t formed until March 1, 1879). On March 8, 1879, a
Phillips newspaper reported. “K. A. Ostergren,
the leading representative of the Swedish colony in the Town of Brannan, the
settlement of which he is the founder, is increasing in numbers and wealth
and in a few more years will be a place of no little consequence.” It
should also be noted that K. A. Ostergren was the
agent for the railroad lands and most likely did much of his advertising in
Sweden.”
“The
Swedes had immigrated to the area because of the promise of a chance to
make a living for themselves whereby they could build a home and farm and
join the larger community and educate their children.”
The
July 6 and 13, 1881, issues of the Phillips Badger, in the “Ogema-Brannan” column, noted that “settlers
are coming in almost daily…nearly all of them direct from Sweden.
Many of them bring considerable sums of money, and are thus able to make themselves comfortable for a short time. The most of
them at present are settling in Towns 34 and 35, 1 and 2
east…Brannan. The government land in these towns is nearly all taken
up, and last week Mr. K. A. Ostergren, sold nine
forties. Thirty-two forties of government land (homestead) were pre-empted
by A. P. Morner for new settlers during last
week. “Mrs. A. Andrae has 6 acres this
spring making a total clearing of 24 acres and is building a new house and
is going to put up a new barn 30 x 50. F. Marheine
has cleared 6 acres this spring making a total clearing of 20 acres; John
Peterson has cleared 3 acres, a total of 18; John Freund has cleared 6; E.
Andrews – 6; H. John – 4; A. Adams is building a new house and
Fred Anderson a new barn. About 20 acres of wheat and 10 acres of corn have
been planted. There are between 80 and 100 head of cattle in the
settlement. D. Kline has 40 men at work building a dam on the south branch
of the Spirit
River.”
Types
and quantities of crops raised by the above mentioned settlers in 1881 are
also noted in the manuscript. Crops noted were winter wheat, potatoes,
turnips, rye, oats and corn.
“In
1881 contracts were let for three new schools in the Town of Brannan. The price of
these three schools was $299. The schools measured 18 feet by 28 feet, with
a 10-foot clearing around the building. M. M. Byrnes was the successful
bidder for the one in the Herman
John District,
John Norlan for the other two. Until then there
were only two schools operating in the Town of Brannan. The first school had been held
in the Village
of Ogema
in a frame shanty. A schoolhouse was built there in 1877. The following
summer of 1878 a school was built ten miles east of Ogema
in the Peterson district, which was located on the present Sprit Town Hall site.”
“By
the summer of 1885 The Phillips Times reported in the Brannan Items section
that John Peterson had completed “a splendid” residence costing
about $1,000.00. John Pierson had a house in course of construction and
when completed would be a “commodious and comfortable”
residence. Fred Marheine, Senator of the N. Y. Zouaves moved into a new house he had completed lately
costing $700. Thus one by one the pioneer houses were removed to make room
for more larger and better structures.”
“…the
population of the Town of Brannan
had increased from 278 people in 1880 to 587 (minus Ogema)
in 1885.”
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