Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1924-05-21
HISTORY OF
THE KINGS
FORD SCHOOL

The 7th and Sth grade history pu-
pills of the Kings Ford school, district
No. of Ellenboro, have completed a
past and present history of their dis
trict. They have tried to the best OF
their ability to obtain these facts as
nearly correct as possible. If any
readers disagree with anything that
has been written, the pupils will be
glad to correct any of their errors.
The pupils who helped to write this
history are Vada Bradley, Pearl
Thier. Elmer Eek and Archie Cum
Minis.
Chapter Early Settlers
Some of the early settlers that came
here from the eastern states were
John and Leonard Bradley, Benjamin
Springer, Abner Moses and Mr. OIL
ert. Some that came from the Euro
pean countries were John Thier and
Jacob Hayne from Germany; George
King from England, and Mrs. Conroy
Quick from Ireland. They came here
because they could do better. Some
came with oxen and wagons and some
of them walked part of the way. They
brought merchandise with which to
trade with the Indians.
Chapter 1.-THE First Industries
The chief industry was FARMING.
Before these people began farming
thew had to clear the land. The crops
they raised were corn, potatoes, wheat,
oats, barley, rye and hay. These peo-
pie had few implements, but what
thew did have were shovels, hoes,
plows, and for harrows they used a
brush. Some had buildings for their
implements and others did not.
Their first markets were at Galena
and Dubuque. Some people carried
their products while others hauled
them. The kind of trees that grew
here were maple, oak, elm and ash.
They cut the trees with an axe of
Ratchet. They did not ship any lum-
Der at first, but later they did.
Chapter III-Trade and Commerce
These early settlers did not trade
with the Indians. They did not have
coaches at that time but later on they
did. Their mail was taken from town
to town, and the people had to go to
get it. There wasn't any store IN this
community.
These early settlers had canoes in
which they travelled by water.
CHAPTER Misunderstanding
The people who did a great deal OF
manufacturing made many useful ar
ticles for the home and the farm,
some of which were candles made
from tallow, yarn spun from wool
and then made into stockings, sweat
ers, caps, coats, mittens, and blan-
kets. They made their own wagons.
CI,on4or " HOula T,ifn
The people had very few comforts
for they did not have new things to
work with as we do now. Instead of
! conveniences they did most of their
work by hand In those days the
candles were in constant use and
| lamps used to a small extent.
The frepIaces were the best things
| for heating in those days and also
for warmth.
The people love0 fun and some OF
their best known pleasures were dane
| ing parties, wood chOpping parties
sleigh riding parties, skating parties
fishing with hooks or spears, hunting
and barn raising where wrestling
matches always came after them.
Chapter VI-Early Schools
The first school house was built in
the woods where the present one now
stands. This stood for a while and an
other one was built where the main
road now runs The first one was toe
far for some of the children to come
They built another one in this pres
ent school yard a little distance from
the present one. This one stood fol
about 80 years. A meeting was hello
in it one night and it caught fire al
ter they had gone home. The nex1
morning it was burned down. The
first school houses were made of logs
and later boards.
In early days the pupils went tC
school until they were eighteen OF
twenty years of age. Their studies
were reading, arithmetic, writing ant
spelling. They didn't have many books
Sometimes they had to borrow books
from one another. Some of the frs
teachers were Jennie Bailie and Ame1
ia Mcnamara The first teacher tina
taught in the present school was Dor
is Cook. One of the games was bal
in which everyone took part.
Chapter VII-Early Churches
The first church of this communit!
was the Aupperle church. 1t is still