Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-12-21
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.

Then will come the local histories.
There will be twenty-four departments
one for each township besides that
for the City of Willmar. Each de
partment will be divided into several
features, in some such order as follows
l. A plat of the township with de.
tails brought up to the present year.
,. An outline OF the early settle
ments, and incidents Of early life not
already related in the general chap
ters.
;. Origin of geographical names
not otherwise accounted for, and any
peculiarly interesting feature of the
town.
t. Births and Deaths: Births first
birth, statistics, twins born; Deaths
first death, accidental deaths, epidemics
and names Of women who reached %
years or more of age
5. Villages, postof1ices, and organi.
cations not otherwise accounted for
&. Township government, being a
synopsis of all available records OF
town meeting with lists Of town officers.
7 School history A sketch OF
every school district o. which the
schoolhouse is located within the
township, with lists of teachers and
enrollments.
8. Church history, with lists of
officers who have served.
9. Cooperative enterprises, as
creamery insurance and telephone
companies and noteworthy enterprises.
10. Lists of Early Settlers, alpha
betically arranged: (a) The first
settlers and their families pre-emptors
and squatters); ;b) The homestead
ers. with dates of filing or "proving
up' as the case may he; (c) O her
early settlers Of whom we have in
formation.
This much every township will
have, regardless of whether any citi-
zens has been liberal enough to sup
port the work or not.)
IL. Biographi of patrons. A
very interesting feature which usually
contains great deal of local history.
The cuts of the different farm homes,
etc., will be interspersed among the
pages of the township in which the
patron lives Or desires to have the
same appear Thus at a glance the
reader can determine who the public
spirited citizens are who have made
possible the recording of the early
settlement and progress of his COM
munity.
The above order may be varied to
meet the conditions of township. but
it is very brief outline~of the scope
Of the information to be furnished.
histories is nearing the finish. v it'll
hint 00ooci0ro1 0vnoofS1r ho
sketches of school stricts, town
governm nts, church organizations,
creameries, ETC., ETC., are all written
We are at work making the general
arrangement and reducing the mis-
cellaneous information to readable
form. Conflicting statements must be
harmoniZed, repeated tempts must
be made to account for early settlers
who have not been heard from, and
lacking information must be secured
if possible, etc. This leads to dozens
of inquiries being mailed every day.
One obj ct in writing this is to try to
interest the people to whom inquiries
are sent to respond in the interest of
correct record of their town. In
most in stances we get an Immediate
response, but there have been mailed
fully thousand inquiries which have
not so far been heard from. In most
instances we have the information
desired secondhand, but we much
prefer to have it first-hand.
The headquarters for the historical
department is ut 322 First street,
Willmar. Here anyone who has any
information in regard to early history
is welcome. Anyone interested in the
proper record of his town, school dis
trlct church or other organization is
welcome Anyone who will volunteer
to 60 over township lists of settlers
to see whether nativity, etc., is COR
rectly given is thrice welcome. We
have no time for the idly curious, but
are glad to see those who will assist
us in getting correct information.
No one who visits this pace need be
afraid of being impOrtuned to become
a patron If he is not one already.
That part of the work is done at the
business Office or elsewhere.
But some will say. is all this work
worth while? What is the use of
being so particular? What use will q
county history be to the community"
TRIBUNE Pr