River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1876-05-18
HISTORICAL INCIDENTS OF RIVER FALLS.

name was selected by Prof. G. w.
Pratt. who laid out a village still
known, and doubtless ever will be, as
the village of Greenwood Falls. The
Greenwood Hotel, built by G. w.
Cairns, was an appropriate name un.
der the reign of Messrs. Winchester,
Byington and others, while it now
gathers fresh laurels under the cogno.
men Of the "Central Hotel" Green.
wood Mills, built at an early day by
Messrs. Cox & Green, now owned by
Messrs. Mckay, Bowron & Woodruff,
are, and we trust ever will be, a land
mark on the sands Of time, so 20
speak, which will remind the traveller
of future years Of the honored, il not
classical name, once borne 10y the
town.
To write history of this town
without constantly weaving in some
village wool, would simply be impossi-
BILE, since the village itself has always
been the center of attraction. Some
towns seem to have no common CEN
ter, while others have. Clifton, Troy,
and Kinnickinnic, for instance, may
be mentioned as examples of the for
mer, while River Falls, Maiden Rock
and Diamond Bluff are examples of
the latter.
Among the earliest settlers of the
village were Joel Foster, ". n. & o. S.
Powell, c. B. and S. L. Cox, Alva
White, G. R. Griffin, G. w. Pratt, J.
A. Short, II. A. Farnham, and score
or so of others whose names will nat
urally come into notice as we continue
this history.
Among the earliest settlers of the
town proper, were J. NJ. Cowan, Hosea
B. Bates, S. NJ. Davis, C. Hutchinson,
J. F. Nichols. Asaph Pratt, I. E., E.P.
and Edwin Tubbs, and the parents of
the Tubbs brothers (the father long
since deceased). George Braley, Thorn.
as and Calvin Randall, A. Morse, w.
II. and Martin Moore, Tobias Lord and
three sons, S. B. Hickerson, and
many others of whose names we will
be hereafter reminded.
Thus far we have dealt exclusively
with the (heretoforel unwritten his
tory Of the town. Upon turning to its
records We find that the 'Arst town
meeting of the town of Greenwood
was held at the house of Col. Mason
Stone, April 4, A. d. 1854" Joseph
Wood, John Cline and J. I. Shepard
were appointed inspectors Of election,
and Thomas Dickerson, clerk. The
first thing appearing upon the minutes
is this: ION motion of Joel Foster a
tax of S25 was voted to defray the
contingent expenses of the town for
the ensuing year." And this was the
extent of the taxes for that year.
The record shows that sixteen 5otes
were polled at this meeting, namely:
Thomas Shotten, Joseph Wood, Martin
E. Moore, Nathaniel n. Powell, Oliver
5. Powell, Joel Foster, Andrew f.
Hart, VIM. WEIGH, Clark I. Green, S.
B. Hickerson, J. T. Shepard, Eli F.
Lewis, j. S. McKune, Charles w.
Mann, John Olive, Thomas Dickers0n.
And here we might say that the
town embraced at that time, a large
portion Of what is now part of Cliff
ton, and very liberal share, to say
the least, of what is now known as
Oak Grove.
The personal history Of these first
voters of our town would doubtless be
interesting but we are unable to trace
them to any great extent. We will
give it SO far as we are able to.
Thomas Shotten was an industrious
farmer but died at an early day, leay-
ing no issue. His widow managed the
farm for many years, until weary of
so much care and responsibility, when
she gave all her earthly possessions to
comparatively young man, George $.
Belts, who agreed to maintain her
during the remainder of her life.
They afterwards removed to Prescott,
where. soon after, Mr.. Belts met with
an accident which very soon caused
his death. Mrs. Shotten survived him
but a few years, and her history is ia
miliar to every body in this portion of
the county.
Martin +. Moore is still living, and
now resides ON section ten in this
town.
Nathaniel n. Powell died many years
ago, leaving a widow and two children
who now reside in this village. Joel
Foster, 4 !. Hart, o. S. Powell, S. B.
Hickerson and J. S. McKune still live
in this town. J I. Shepard resides at
Ames, Iowa. John Olive lives in Pres
colt; Eli Lewis lives in Minnesota;
Clark T. Green. who, by the way, is a
brother Of Rev. Barlow Green, left
the place in 1855, and Is supposed 10
be living somewhere in Mimi. Thorn.
as Dickerson removed 10 Prescott at
an early day, from whence he again
removed, but whittier we know not.
OF William WEIGH and Charles W.
Mann, we are unable TO gain any
knowledge beyond the record OF their
votes. Col stone, though IL does not
appear that he voted, now lives in