Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-06-23
Bloomington Early Settlers-Collegi-
ate Seminary-Industry the Best Cap
ital-Farm Improvements Blake 8
Prairie Bloomington Business Direc-
tory-Personal.


ital-Farm Improvements-Blak
Prarie-Bloomington Business Direc-
tory-Personal.
A purchase of land property was
made at Bloomington in the year
1850 by D. w. Taft, who erected
thereon the following year the fine
Touring mills which became at once
the nucleus of village. Mr. Taft
owned and run the mills for about ten
years when they became the proper
~ OF Cyrus Sergeant, who sold
them year or two since to Samuel
Woodhouse T. Miller, who by their
personal attention are making them
first class paying property, and of
general usefulness to the farming and
business public.
La the year 80 Mr.. Taft laid ont
some lots and sold them for improves
ments, naming the place Tatton,
which has since been changed TO
Bloomington.
We give the names of settlers from
1850 to 1866, US follows D. W. Taft
P. G. Schuyler, J. L. Benham, Albert
Glinas, f. Mount, +. P. Finn. Mack
intosh, Ira Stock well, Jno. W. Brack
cit, John Collier, ]. c. Trainer, DR..
Brooks, DR.. Allen, Prof. Allen. VIII
liam Brown, Smith Brown, L. Os-
borne, Orrin Wilson AMI some others
out Of mind.
IN 1855 Prof. Allen opened select
school. He advertised TO give in .
s:ruction to classes in the English
branches, the mathematics and Ian
guages, ami doubtless laid the foun>
dation To what was accomplished by
his successors, Mr.. and Mrs. Parsons,
the Iafton Collegiate Seminary. The
Stockholders Of the institution, Prof.
Parsons their agent, proceeded to
erect in 1857, the fine building at
Bloomington, now known as .'The
Academy" This soon became in.
deed a very popular school, and rose
al once under the management II
Parsons and wife to be the first insti>
tuition of the kind in the west part of
the State, in point of numbers in at
tendance and apparent success. But
at the height of its glory the Stock
holders got to differing about trifes,
and their differences grew into noun.
tains in the way of adjustment. The
result was, the school came to slum-
bering standstill, and to this day ex>
| hibits no signs of waking. Miss Clag.
gett occupies one Of the rooms with
good private school.
Some day an active scholar, ad-
venturous and bold, and aspiring to
honors and fame, will takepossession
of this property and lend to it such
new inspiration as will make it fine
success The truth is, tho institution
was born too early in the day of ed
cational inspiration to be success
at the first and the forced means
used to run it through to stage
of meridian usefulness begot pet
ty conspiracies among the selfish,
who preferred its death to being tax
ed for its support. There are at
\ DiC nan q dpHCI tu6tlbQtlOHo vi
the kind in the west part of our
State suffering from the same cause,
and they may likely go into tenn
porary decline. Perjury always poi
sons its arrows and hardly ever fails
to bring down any institution it aims
at. But time rolls over PERJURY and
brushes it to dust, So in the case
of the Tafton Academy
Industry is the chief capital stock
at Bloomington, and it is such CAPT,
tai stock, which puts all on Level
and gives lively competition. Had
ready made capital gone there and
formed central monopoly with its
branches-industry playing a crouch
ing second part, the shape of things
would be reversed poverty and
idlenoss struggling for the favors
which. wealth and pride bestow.
But instead the leading men at
Bloomington are not buithened with
wealth, and are all in that condition
and surrounding which begets indus
trious habits ; they respect labor
and labor respects them. We saw
the other day dnringa brief visit one
OF the leading citizens in leather
apron shoeing a neighbours horse
another was pounding rocks, and a
third mixing mortar. These men OF
present fortune and standing we
knew when dollar was to any one
of them quite stranger Said an
aged friend, " my dear sir, Bloom
ington supports but single grum-
bling loafer, a misery sabbatarean---
who idles seven Sundays in the week
and works never one /"
We make some mention of the
farm improvements which are the
great supports of Bloomington
These for that elaborate section
known as Blake's Prairie are com !.
paratively new, few Of them above q
dozen years old. So late as 1855,
that rich prairie contained far more
wolves than souls, and you might
ride an hour most any direction with.
out seeing house. At present we
doubt if an acre of wild and untamed
prairie land can be found thin ten
| miles of the town.
The farm adventures who first
went to settle thereabout were all
poor. Only the doctor and the Herr
aid would credit them, trusting to a
day of hope. In tact, most men
held it as q maxim that (" farming
does NOT pay" 1t was long believed
that to trust the soil was TO invite
beggary. Such notions were widely
disseminated by the shaving land
grabbers who, gaunt sort of finan-
cial wolves, used to control the bust.
ness men and the poor squatter
upon the fat but undeveloped forty
or eighty had TO dodge these shavers
and financial hounds as ducklings in
hail storm.
OF course such settlers as these
were could at first render but little
support to the new village OF Taf-