Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1922-05-24


estant Germans among whom Phillip
! Gross, Gotfricd and Adam Kreiser,
! Christian Buacher, John Trautman,
| Goodschal, John Grosser and some
| others whose names l am unable TO
| recall. These PEOPLE had no fixed
| place Of WOr ship and would meet on
| Sundays and observed the sabbath at
their respective cabins and some of
| the time in the Potosi and other
school houses. John Walter, Jacob
Bruner and some others living in Po-
tosi were wOrshippers with those of
! the Dutch hollow district. Jacob
| Bruner as a rule performed the dut-
| les of a minister. He was a very
small man in stature and we'll versed
in Christian doctrine. For many
year he conducted a tailor shop and
maintained a bible repository. He
owned and occupied the two-stOry
brick building now owned and occu-
pied by the Misses Glennon. These
early protestant settlers subsequently
became members Of the Presbyterian
church in PotoSi. Phillip Gross was
man of intelligence and highly es-
| teemed by everyone. He served as a
I member of the town board in 1856
| 57--58-59 and 80, and was a valuable
member.
Among the many others who came
at an early date and settled in Dutch
hollow and nearby were John Stoll-
meyer, Henry Brake, Anton Hopper,
George Liebfried, Bernard Mechler,
Bernard and Gerhard Markus, HUI
bert Gerhardt, Peter Joseph Udelhof-
en-, John Fisher, Henry Meier, Joseph
Langkamp, Herman Stoecker, Peter
| Goodhausen and so many others
whose names | cannot recall The
most of these men in the early days
] followed mining and afterward pur-
chased land and engaged in farming.
Peter Rlindert had home just a
little north Of the business center of
the little village. He was fairly sue
cessful in mining and with his son,
the late Theodore Blindert, discov-
cred a big body of lead ore on his
ow inland. Water was encountered
at about depth of fifty feet. A
| steam pump was put on and after
| constant pumping of weeks the water
was not lowered and the project was
abandoned. 1t was vertically an under
ground lake.
Peter Joseph Blindert was a soldier
of Napolean at the battle of Waterloo
beat a snare drum. Like his grand
son and namesake, P. J. Blindert of
British Hollow, he was a lover of
good horses. He died at an old age
many years ago.
| John Polander, Hubert Gerhardt
and a man named Linnbacher, who
settled here in early days, also saw
military service with Bonaparte.
McClain and Palmer unearthed a
] big lead up the hollow above the
writer's home, and John Sumner dis
covered one just a short distance
north of the writer's home. Many
other good leads were discovered
in the Dutch hollow district.
There were two fatalities in the
mining camp. A man named Henry
Suer, mining alone on the hill across
the hollow from Provision hill, lost
his life by being caved in He left
wife and several children. A boy
named George Mukse, stepson of
| Geo Liebfried met death while work
| ing in a shallow hole down the hollow
below the church. He was gouging
under a big rock when without a Sec
onds notice the rock gave away and
| fell on the boy, crushing him.
George Liebfreid was man with
club feet. He was tailor by trade
and worked at the trade in the village
of Potosi and in Dutch hollow. He
built brick house south OF the
church that afterward became the
property of JOS. Langkamp Jr., who
added a frame addition to it. 1t is
now occupied by George Argus, a SON
in-law of Langkamp.
Anton Hopper came at an early
date and opened up a shoe shop. He
built a stone house on the main
! street of the village and piled his oc-
cupation in this building to the time
of his death many years ago. This
old landmark was torn down a few
years ago and a modern one-story
frame residence built by ]. P. Plue-
mer, stands on the lot.
| Bernhard Mechler was another
boot and shoe maker who settled in
| 1S48, coming from Baltimore, Md.
He built a brick house north and
near the church. and worked at his
trade up to the time of his death
a great many years ago. A son, VIM
Mechler, yet living in British Hollow,
succeeded to the ownership OF the
property and later sold it to Anton
| Gerhardt. 1t is now owned by Mrs.
Mary Kisting, daughter OF Ger
hardt's. William Mechler subse-
quently became a boot and shoe
maker in this place. He worked as a
| journeyman, first for Peter Ellinger
| in Potosi, then at different places.
He married Miss Katherine Mechler
and after a period in California he
returned and opened up a boot and
shoe shop. He was a fine workman
and enjoyed a lucrative trade. He
built large two-story frame building
for a shop and dwelling and occupied
the same adding saloon to it later.
He retired from business a few years
ago and sold the property to John j.
Stelpflug.
Jacob Ames came at an early date
and opened up the first blacksmith
shop in Dutch Hollow. He was fine
workman and his equal was hard to
find. If a person had difficult piece
of work to done, no matter what,
it was taken to Jake Ames and with
his skillful craft it was invariably
done we'll. He was genius at MS
trade but like many others he had
his faults and died a poor man.