Clark County Press, Neillsville,

August 22, 2007, Page 24

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

 

Compiled and contributed by Dee Zimmerman

 

 

Clark County News

August 1917

 

The Schwamb’s Cooperative Dairy Co. was organized recently at Tioga with a capital stock of $3,000.  The purpose of the company is to manufacture and ship cheese.  A factory is to be built east of the village of Tioga, which will have a capacity of 12,000 pounds of milk daily.  Work on the factory will begin at once and milk will be received at the new factory early in September.  The capital stock is divided into 120 shares and 30 farmers have joined the undertaking.  The start will be with 7,000 pounds, daily, and the outlook is for this amount to increase in a short time.  The officers elected are: John Schwamb, president; Albert Voight, vice President; Louis Glasow, secretary and R. D. Ingham, treasurer.

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The latest thing placed on the market, in the line of waterproof garments is the Trench Coat.  It is the finest thing for Wisconsin weather of either season.  The retail price of the Trench Coat is $22.50.  We wish this coat to be known and in order to accomplish this purpose; we offer the same to the first six persons calling, for $15.00.  Call at the uptown office in the Rabenstein Building.  Equity Garment Co., Neillsville, Wis. Manufacturers, Wholesalers and Retailers

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Considerable work is being done on the Catholic School and Church.  A new sidewalk is being laid in front of the church and a basement with heating plant is being built in the school, beside other repairs and improvements in the school.

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Last week, Lieut. James Jacques and Lieut. Jo Haugen came home from Ft. Sheridan and will spend ten days here before being called to active service in their new positions.  Mr. Haugen received the commission of 2nd Lieutenant, as did also John Rude, who arrived home Saturday.  Donald Crothers and Maurel Rabenstein, who have been training at Ft. Sheridan, but in the aviation corps, are also home and when called will go to the aviation camps to take their actual instructions in flying.

 

Another boy to receive a commission is Dr. Placido Hommel, who last week received a commission as First Lieutenant in the Medical Corps and has been assigned to the Third Regiment of Wisconsin National Guards.

 

The United States Army’s Aviation Corps as introduced during World War I.  Donald Crothers and Maurel Rabenstein, both of Neillsville were two of the first men to be trained as pilots in the army aviation program.  Donald Crothers is pictured above, standing by one of the bi-planes, which he was trained to fly.  (Photo courtesy of the George Crothers family collection)

 

•••••••••

Jack Clune, engineer on the Omaha passenger train, between Marshfield and Merrillan, no doubt by doing what he did last week, saved the lives of several Marshfield boys.  He caught some boys on a bridge, 2 ½ miles west of Marshfield, where they had gone to swim.

 

The bridge is obscured from the east by a deep cut and proceeding along at a good speed, Mr. Clune did not see the boys until he was nearly upon them.  Jack has had many thrills in his 40 years experience as an engineer, but none needed quicker action than this to save lives.  Throwing on the emergency brake and reversing the engine, was the work of only a second, but none too soon and when the train came to a stop, it was only a few feet from the boys, who were hurrying as fast as they could to get off the bridge.  One of the boys, in the mean time, had fallen between the ties, recovering himself in time to reach the approach.  It was a mighty narrow escape, as all might have been killed only for the heroic effort of Mr. Clune.  Even with this warning to keep off the railroad property, the very next day another party of boys attempted the same feat of crossing the bridge in front of the train.  The swimming pool is only a few rods from the bridge.  Parents and guardians of children who frequent this place, should lose no time in giving warning to keep off the track and especially the bridge, otherwise the life of some loved one may pay the penalty.

•••••••••

 

There will be a dance at Prock’s Hall at Globe Friday, August 31st.  Music will be by the Crandall Orchestra.  Everybody is invited.

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Available is a Rawleigh Medicine business with full outfit, team of good horses, new wagon, and other essentials.  The territory is in Eau Claire County, Wis.  If interested, come and see L. V. Chapple, Augusta, Wis., or inquire of Joe A. Zilk, The Rawleigh Main (Man) of Neillsville, Wis.

•••••••••

 

The attention of hunters is called to note numerous changes in the game laws made by the last Legislature.  Particular attention is directed to the manner of issuing licenses.  Heretofore it has been a common practice among hunters, to simply enclose the fee of $1.00 in an envelope, together with the last year’s license, and mail it to the county clerk with the request that a new license be issued.  The new law prohibits this method of obtaining the license.  Application must be made out on a regular prescribed form, signed and sworn to before a notary, or someone qualified to administer an oath.  Upon receipt of the application, properly executed, the clerk may issue the license.  The county clerk is liable to a fine of $50 for violation of this statute.

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Buy Chesterfield cigarettes, made of a blend of imported and domestic tobaccos, 20 cigarettes wrapped in glassine paper package, to keep them fresh, for only 10c.

August 1952

 

With the new Exposition building at the fair grounds, the old fine arts building will be turned into a complete youth exhibit, this year.  All the exhibits in the old building will be 4-H, with the exception of the educational display shown by the superintendent of schools, Russell Drake.  These exhibits will occupy the north, east and west wings.  The south wing has been made into a dormitory for the boys who stay on the grounds during the fair.  The boys, in other years, slept in the loft over the cow barn.  Their cots will now be moved from the cow barn to the boys’ new dormitory.

 

The women’s exhibits, formerly in the fine arts building, will occupy the center of the exhibition building.  Other exhibits, mostly commercial will be arranged along the sides.  The Homemakers and hospital will have booths in the Exposition building.

 

Another change to be made this year is the arrangement for the dinner being given annually by the 4-H for the Kiwanians and Rotarians, usually occurring on Saturday.  The dinner will take place, this year on Friday, Governor’s Day.  Gov. Kohler will be a guest and will speak.  Mrs. Kuhl, who has cooked at the 4-H camp for a number of years, will not be able to cook this year because of ill health.  Mrs. Carl Hoffman will take her place.

 

A new requirement is that 4-H members bring calves from 1 to 5 o’clock only, on Thursday.  This is due to a new state order requiring calves to be examined by a veterinarian at the time of entry.  The order was issued in consequence of the appearance of anthrax elsewhere in the state.

•••••••••

 

“Hats and more Hats” was the theme of the Ladies’ Day Jamboree at the Country Club, Thursday.  Ladies from Neillsville and other clubs from towns around here spent an all-day session at golfing.  The morning was given to more serious golf but after lunch had been served, in the clubhouse, the afternoon was devoted to “goofy golf.”

 

The hats were all kinds and were assembled in mot cases to resemble something else besides a hat.

 

The hats weren’t the only part of the fun.  Each golfer had to “tee-off” astride a wooden horse with bright blinking red eyes, and the wooden ball was hit with a wooden mallet.  Some of the girls, of course, preferred to ride sidesaddle.  Edna Georgas hit the ball with such a professional swing that it caused every one to wonder where Edna had learned to play polo.

 

And then on hand, was an old time hearse that went out on the golf course to pick up the “dead ones” as they got tired and dropped out of the game.

•••••••••

 

Darwin Graves, long-ball hitter of he Neillsville Country Club, gave par a fright in the local club’s Jamboree Sunday, when he carded a one-over par 75 for 18 holes.  It was the lowest 18-holes scored on the Neillsville course this season.

 

Winner of the four-man team event, with 323 strokes for 18 holes, was a team made up of: Graves, Neillsville; Bob and Bert Cattanach, Owen; and Hank Lutz, Thorp.

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Mrs. G. W. (Rose) Longenecker died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ray Orr, Manchester, Ia., August 23.  Funeral services were held at Wauwatosa.  She will be buried beside her husband, the Rev. George W. Longenecker, who died May 11, 1951.

 

The Longeneckers came to Neillsville from Michigan in 1887.  The Congregational Church was just starting in Neillsville, having been organized six years before.  So the young couple, having been married five years, started on a pioneer task.  After eight years, they moved to Berthold and Plaza, N.D., taking with them four children.  The family lived there for three years; then went to Minot and Drake for two years, then to Provost, Utah for two more years.

 

In 1911, having been married for about 20 years, Mr. and Mrs. Longenecker started from Utah with their two boys, a mountain wagon, three horses and a mule.  The two daughters came by train.  The trip took three months and when the Longeneckers reached Neillsville, they found a call waiting for them to go to Viola to serve a church there.

 

In 1916, they came back to the Neillsville pastorate.  This time, in addition to the work of the church, the Longeneckers farmed the Fred Bruley place, just north of Neillsville.  Later they bought Sunset Point; long to be the family home, on the north banks of the Black River.  Here, Mr. Longenecker had a large garden and Mrs. Longenecker, who liked to entertain her friends, often serving fresh melons from their garden.  The Rev. Mr. Longenecker once said that Mrs. Longenecker liked to have people sit at her table just as he liked to see them sit in the pews of his church, on Sunday morning.

 

Following his resignation from the Neillsville pastorate at the end of 1945, Mr. and Mrs. Longenecker divided their time between Sunset Point and residing with their various children.  Finally, with Mr. Longenecker unable to carry on around the home, they sold their household goods and gave up their residence in Neillsville.  After Mr. Longenecker’s death, Mrs. Longenecker continued dividing her time among her children.

 

One of the most notable of events in the last years of the Longeneckers was the publishing of Mr. Longenecker’s book, “Sunset Poems.”  Credit for the publication belongs to Mrs. Longenecker, who saved the poems her husband thought worthless, some times rescuing them from the wastebasket.  Finally, she compiled them for a book.  In 1947, a copy of the book was presented the Neillsville Library at a community open house at the Congregational Church.

 

Mrs. Longenecker was a good helper of her husband in the work of the church.  She organized women’s groups.  The old North Side circle met often at her home at Sunset Point.  She taught Sunday school as long as her husband was pastor.  She once said that the Sundays she missed t church were very few because a tiny baby was no reason to stay at home.  Her children started to got to church when only a few weeks old.

 

The four Longenecker children: Ernst, the oldest, is an industrial engineer; residing in Wauwatosa, Mrs. Gladys Edwards; Wauwatosa, is a teacher in a vocational school; William Longenecker is a professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin; Lois, Mrs. Ray Orr, is wife of a college professor.

 

Among the effects of Mrs. Longenecker is an autobiography of book length, which recounts the life of a country parson and homesteader in the nineteenth century.  This book tells the story of the tremendous pull of the ministry upon Mr. Longenecker and a quiet kind of education, which was given the Longenecker children.  The Longeneckers went to North Dakota primarily as homesteaders and farmers, but they had scarcely turned a furrow before Mr. Longenecker secured a tent, put it up in the yard and called the neighbors in for religious worship.

 

In those days, there were no autos and no movies; nothing to distract the mind of the children.  Father and Mother Longenecker employed no baby sitters; there were no such things.  They remained at home with the children, and in the long winter evenings Mr. Longenecker read to them from Shakespeare and the other classics.  The effect of this sort of old-fashioned training has been in evidence in the careers of the Longenecker children.

•••••••••

 

Monday, Clare Carlson and Ford Holum went to Green Bay, where they conferred with officials of the district Red Owl office.  Mr. Holum is buying out E. E. Schwarze’s interest in the local Red Owl store.  He has rented the former Wheeler Forman house, on the north side.  He and Mrs. Holum plan to move over Labor Day weekend.

 

•••••••••

An open house was held Sunday, August 24, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Vollrath in Greenwood, in celebration of the 50th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Brandt of Greenwood.  Approximately 125 guests, who included all of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, were present.

 

Mrs. Brandt, nee Minnie Rossow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Rossow, was born in the Town of Beaver on March 9, 1882.

 

John H. Brandt, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Brandt, was born in Germany, October 18, 1868.  When he was 11 months old, the family moved to Plymouth, Wis., living there a short time.  His parents then settled on a farm in the Town of Beaver.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Brandt were married in Loyal, August 28, 1902 with the Rev. H Bringer officiating.  The wedding attendants were Charles Rossow, a brother of the bride who was present for the party, and Miss Frieda Brandt of Greenwood, sister of the groom.

 

They have two children: Mrs. James (Emma) Morrow of Colby and Paul Brandt of Rochester, Wis.; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

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