Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

June 19, 2002, Page 23

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

June 1902

 

A large number of people, who live in Neillsville, rode out to A. Barton’s in the Town of Weston on Saturday night.  Barton has built a new barn and he invited everyone to a dance that was held in the barn hay mow on Saturday night. There were over 300 at the dance and a good time was reported by those who attended.

 

Everyone had such a good time at the dance that Barton scheduled another barn dance on Saturday, June 21.

••••••••••

The Lutheran school closed for the season last Friday.  Teacher of the school, Chas. Kalpe, left for Milwaukee where he will visit for a few days.  Leaving Milwaukee, he will travel to his hometown in Missouri for the rest of the summer.  He will be back here to teach again when the new school term starts.

••••••••••

Marriage licenses were recently issued to the following Clark County couples: George J. Lippert and Clara Eisentraut both of Neillsville; Ronald M. Lamont, of Colby and Maybelle Varney, Town of Warner; William R. Kurth and Bertha Wilding, of the Town of Grant; Daniel M. Jones and Cora J. Gallagher, both of Colby; Maurice M. Huls, of Stanley and Minnie Verwyst, of Thorp.

••••••••••

On Monday, E. F. Deal, a gentleman from the new Town of Dewhurst, came into our office.  He brought us a sample quart of strawberries that were ahead in size and flavor of any we have seen before.  Deal didn’t name any variety of the berries, only that they were grown on the “Dewhurst desert.”  He owns 680 acres of the “desert” which he is opening up to civilization and causing to bloom like the strawberries.  Dewhurst is destined to be one of the best towns in Clark County.

••••••••••

The Gress boys moved the old B. Dangers Co. grocery store building the other day.  The building was moved to make room for the fine new structure that will be going up in its place.

••••••••••

Dan Stannard, who lives on the Northside, is enjoying a short lay-off.  He works as the fireman on the steam shovel located at the Wedges Creek gravel pit.

••••••••••

Fred Reber has purchased the house next to Dr. Leason’s on the North side.  He is having city water put into the house.

••••••••••

Victor C. Woelffer’s drug store has a fine selection of new hammocks on hand.  The hammocks come in various colors, grades and various prices.

••••••••••

Now is the time to buy an ice cream freezer. Stop in at Schroeder’s hardware store to see the sizes of ice cream freezers available and the price of each.  You are sure to find the size you need for your family.

••••••••••

G. D. Hoesly is building a sidewalk in front of his residence on the Northside.  This sidewalk will be substantial and permanent.  The material being used is vitrified brick laid upon a thick foundation of sand and gravel.

 

June 1952

 

An estimated 500 persons attended the 50th anniversary service of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Town of Pine Valley last Sunday.  Dinner was served to 236 members.  Many from neighboring congregations came in the afternoon to attend the celebration.

 

The celebration was the occasion of recalling much in the history of this church and of the neighborhood.  Church services for this congregation run back as far as 1871, when the meetings were held in the adjacent schoolhouse.  Then the services were held every three weeks and the minister came by horsepower from Granton.  His routine was two Sundays at Granton and the third Sunday at Pine Valley.  He was paid $150 per year for serving the congregation.  He arrived at the William Beyer home on the Saturday night before Sunday service.  In the winter, one of the Beyer boys hurried out to care for his horse while the minister hurried into the house to seek the warmth of the stove.

 

The first minister ever to serve the parish was the Rev. Witte.  He came in 1871 and left in 1875.  The Rev. H. Fisher came in 1876 and left in 1894.  In 1894, the Rev. John Juchow came to serve as minister and left in 1898.  The Rev. Wm. Hummel came in 1898 and it was during his time as minister that the congregation decided to build a church building.

 

The congregation formed a charter on November 1st, 1901.  The building committee consisted of three members; William Meihak, Sr., W. C. Thoma and Frederick Puttkamer.

 

Rev. P. H. Haas came in 1901 and while he was pastor, the church building was put up.  William Beyer, Sr. donated one acre of land to the congregation for the church building site.  Since then the ministers to serve the congregation have been: Rev. J. Reiff, 1906 to 1927; Rev. John Buth, 1927 to 1944; and Rev. Leonard Domke, 1944 to 1952.

 

A new minister, John H. Jacklin, will be installed in July.

 

Only two of the charter members of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church were present to help celebr4ate its 50th year.  They were Mrs. August Dux, who lives with her son, Arthur Dux in the Town of Pine Valley, near the church and Mrs. W. C. Thoma, of Neillsville.  The other members were: August Beyer, Fredrick Wagner, William Beyer, Sr., W. C. Thoma, August Dux, William Dux and Frederick Wegner, all of whom have passed away.  These people started having service about 1901 in the schoolhouse on the hill, beside the present church building.  In 1902, the church building was erected under the direction of the building committee.

 

At the 50th anniversary celebration, new records were placed in the cornerstone.  The records placed in the cornerstone in 1902, were not readable when taken out recently.  The documents were not placed in a moisture-proof box, so the writing was completely obliterated.  The new records were put into a moisture-proof container so as to be preserved when opened in another 50 years.

 

Rev. L. Domke, of Rice Lake was the speaker at the 10:30 a.m. service and Rev. Honebein, of Augusta spoke at the 2:20 p.m. service.

 

Mrs. August Dux says that it didn’t seem difficult, 50 years ago, to build the church.  It probably was not more work than the building of the milk house now under construction by her son, Arthur, on his farm.

 

Also, the church didn’t cost much more to build either, very little compared to today’s costs.  The Rev. P. H. Haas, who was then holding the church services in the Hillside School, wanted a church to preach in. So he went around to some of the people who came to services and collected about $700.  Mrs. Dux remembers she and her husband gave $100.  Some other people gave the same amount of money while some gave lesser amounts.  Wm. Beyer, Sr., gave the acre of land.  The Beyer family still owns the adjoining land.  Mrs. Dux said, “There were not very many people to give then but as soon as we had the building up, a lot more members joined the church.”

 

The men of the congregation built the church, although it was summer and there was much farm work to do, too.  Of course, nobody had so much cleared land, but there wasn’t the labor-saving machinery then like there is now.  Mrs. Dux said she did much farm work.  She helped bring in hay and helped pitch the hay of (off) the hayrack, too, as there was no such thing as a hayfork lift in those days.  She disliked putting up the grain shocks, so she would do the cutting of the small grains.

 

Shortly after the church was built, The August Duxes had their youngest daughter, Helen, baptized.  She was two weeks old and the first baby to be baptized in the new church.  She is now Mrs. Ernest Carl of Nekoosa.  There were 16 members of the first confirmation class in the church.  Of that class, Mrs. Dux says there is only one that is still a member of the church.  That member is Ernest Schuelke.  The other class members have moved away and some go to a different church.  Said Mrs. Dux, “When we were having church in the schoolhouse, we used to have the minister from Granton give services part of the time and a minister from Neillsville, part of the time.  After the church was built and we had the Granton pastor, some of the people went to Neillsville to attend church.”

 

Going to town, from where they lived, to attend church wasn’t easy in those days.  Mrs. Dux recalls having a terrible time with the horse and buggy because the roads were so muddy at certain times of the year.

 

The community is one of large families, three families having 12 children each.  Those were the Meihaks, the Beyers and the Pollnows.  So the church has grown, with about 31 families now in its congregation and it has a communicant member-ship of about 81.

 

Mrs. Dux came to Neillsville from Germany and her parents lived in the Town of Pine Valley. Their farm was across the road from where Ed Marg now lives, but the buildings are gone.  She worked for the Charles Cornelius family who lived at the time near the Lutheran Church.  Later, Cornelius built the large house on the corner of 2nd Street and Clay Street in Neillsville.  She had also worked for the Rudolph Knoop family.  At that time Neillsville was very small with only a few buildings.

 

When Mrs. Dux married, she went to live with her husband’s parents in the house where she still lives, now owned by her son, Arthur.  The house has had a couple of additions and has been remodeled since, but he part she moved into, as a bride, was built of logs.  The only time she lived elsewhere in her married life was the one year they rented their farm out and went to Oregon.  Their three children were small at that time.

 

Mrs. Dux said that the church wasn’t fully equipped for many years.  There have been many memorial gifts. But the church itself is just the same as it was built 50 years ago, with the exception of the steeple.  About five years ago, the lightning struck the steeple and the church would have burned but the men in the neighborhood were able to put the fire out.  There wasn’t too much damage to the church at that time.  The church was then refinished without the steeple.

 

The following memorials were presented at the 50th anniversary celebration:

 

A landscape planting was given as a memorial to the charter members, by the children and grandchildren of Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Beyer, also by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Dux, also by Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Meihak, Mrs. F. Beyer and Paul Thoma.

 

The American and Church flags were given as a memorial to Albert Wegner and Mr. & Mrs. Fredrick Wagner by Mrs. Albert Wegner and Mrs. Arthur Haugen.

 

The Missal stand was given in memory of Emma Schuelke by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Zank and the congregation.

 

The Altar cloth was given in memory of Mrs. Ernest Henning by the Henning family and the congregation.

 

(The congregation of Zion Lutheran Church of the Town of Pine Valley is celebrating their 100th Anniversary this weekend.  The church structure built in 1902 was razed in recent years and a new structure has been built for worship services on the church site.  The church is located on Granton Road, near the intersection of County Road G, northwest of Neillsville. DZ)

••••••••••

The old Youmans house on Pleasant Ridge will be razed.  The work of dismantling the interior was started Monday by the present owner, C. A. Paulson, and his son, Chap.  When the interior has been dismantled, it is their purpose to organize a working bee to do the wrecking of the exterior and the frame.  When finished, friends and neighbors will be called to the site for a picnic.

 

With the wrecking of this house, a landmark of Clark County will disappear.  The house stands at the peak of the Ridge, east of Neillsville.  The house has always been conspicuous because of its size and location.  The early histories record that there was a 14-room house on the farm when it was purchased in 1884 by Clarion A. Youmans.  Its construction goes beyond that date.  Thus the building is crowding the century mark in age.

 

The house does not fit the modern taste or needs.  Its size and high ceilings are the worry of the man who buys coal to heat it and its size and fussiness are the despair of the woman who tries to keep it clean.  To repair it and heat it and clean it is beyond the modern willingness. The Paulson’s will build, mostly out of the material in it, a modern one-story house, with three bedrooms, located just to the south of the present site.  The main entrance will be to the west.  The workaday entrance will be to the south.

 

The more southerly location will lessen the present exaggerated distance from the house to the barn. The Paulson’s have walked many unnecessary miles in traveling from house to barn and back again.

••••••••••

Flitter’s Grocery features farm-dressed fryers for 45c per lb. as their main sale item of the week. A hot weather special, in time for summer picnics when ice-cold lemonade is a must, is 6 lemons for 24c.  They also have many picnic supplies on hand; wieners, marshmallows, paper plates, paper cups, napkins and other items. 

••••••••••

McCain’s big sale continues; Wash Dresses, price from $4.17 to $5.95; Ladies’ handbags, reduced to $1.98 plus tax; White Hats, from $1.98 to $3.98; Sleeveless Blousettes, white or print, $1.98 to $2.98.

••••••••••••••

 

A view of the dining area in the 14-room Youmans home that was located on Pleasant Ridge for many years.  The home was razed in 1952.  (Photo courtesy of the Youmans family collection)

 

 


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