Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2022 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A PIONEER HISTORY OF BECKER COUNTY, MINNESOTA by Mrs. Jessie C. West Pioneer Press Company, St. Paul, MN., 1907 Page 220 Chapter XVI FIRST SETTLEMENT BY WHITE PEOPLE The first occupation of the soil of Becker County by white people, of which we have knowledge, was in October 1802, when a small trading post was established at White Earth by men in the employ of the Northwest Fur Company. They, however, remained there but a short time. This post was run by a man by the name of DUFORD. During that same month, October 1802, a small trading post was established at Shell Lake, in what is now Shell Lake Township, by WILLIAM MORRISON, the man who first discovered Lake Itasca and the extreme head waters of the Mississippi River a year later. In 1854, DONALD McDONALD, of Otter Tail Lake, built a log house on the northeast shore of Detroit Lake, on the little prairie a few rods west of where the Pelican River enters the lake. After trading there with the Indians about two years he returned to Otter Tail. In the year 1867 a treaty was made at Washington by which various tribes of Indians, residing along the Mississippi River, were to be removed to White Earth the ensuing year. Arrangements were accordingly made that fall by which one million feet of pine logs were cut and banked on the east side of White Earth Lake during the winter of 1807-08 to be sawed into lumber for the use of the Indians the ensuing year. These logs were cut by men in the employ of WM. THOMPSON and FRED PEAKE, who had been awarded the contract for banking the logs, and they all returned to their homes below with the advent of spring. This was the first party of men to begin operations at White Earth. About the last of April 1868 a small party of men was sent to White Earth from Crow Wing, by Major J. B. BASSETT, the Indian agent, to begin farming operations. A contract was made with JOSEPH W. WAKEFIELD to break 240 acres of land for -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 221 the Indians, and about the 25th of April a small party of white men was sent to White Earth with teams to do this work. PAUL H. BEAULIEU was the leader of this party. He had been recently appointed to the position of Government farmer at the agency about to be established and was sent with this advance party to select and survey out the land to be plowed and to take charge of affairs generally until such time as the agent himself should arrive. They arrived at White Earth about the 10th of May, and PAUL remained in the county, and as he was the only one of the party that did remain he is entitled to the honor of being the first pioneer settler with white blood in his veins to settle permanently in Becker County. The first white person to settle in Becker County, outside the reservation, was PATRICK QUINLAN, who settled on the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 35, of Burlington Township, a few rods north of the county line, on the 28th of May 1868. He supposed at the time that he had located in Otter Tail County, by none of the county or township lines had been establshed at that time. When the Chippewa Indians passed by his place, a few days afterwards, on their way to their new homes at White Earth, and also when the HENRY WAY party passed a few days still later, he told them all that he was living in Otter Tail County, which led WAY and SHERMAN to believe they were the first white settlers in Becker County, but after the line between Becker and Otter Tail coun- ties was run by W. W. HOWARD in the summer of 1870, QUINLAN found himself living in Becker County. QUINLAN'S wife was a full-blooded Chippewa and this circum- stance leaves the WAY-SHERMAN party entitled to the honor of being the first party of "simon-pure" white people to settle in Becker County. On the 14th day of June, 1868, the first installment of Indians, about 150 in number, came to White Earth under the direction of Maj. J. B. BASSETT, then Indian Agent, and under the guidance of TRUMAN A. WARREN; and another large party came in 1869, making several hundred who had gone to White Earth during those two years. On the 28th day of June, 1868, HENRY WAY, ALMONS W. SHERMAN and L. D. SPERRY took up claims near Oak Lake in what is now Detroit Township. They put up hay and returned to their families at Clitheral. SHERMAN moved to Oak Lake that same fall and they and QUINLAN were all the white people to winter -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 222 in Becker County during the winter of 1868 and 1869 ourside the reservation. In the spring of 1869 WAY and SPERRY came back from Clitheral with their families, and in the month of June, following, three Norwegians, JOHN F. BEAVER, CHRIS. ANDERSON and FRED JOHNSON, located in the western part of what is now Audubon Township. A little later on another party, mostly relatives of WAY and SHERMAN, came and located a little south of the three Norwegians in the same township. This party consisted of BUCKLY B. ANDERSON, wife and seven children, JACKSON BURDICK, a son-in-law of B. B. ANDERSON, wife and three children and HARVEY JONES, a single man who took land on Section 18. Along in October of that same year, Dr. DAVID PYLE, who had been appointed government physician at White Earth, came and located in the same vicinity and remained there the most of the winter. Two other men came with him, whose names were M. L. DEVEREAUX and DAVID BEVERIDGE. The three men brought a shingle mill with them, and made basswood shingles during the winter of 1869 and 1870, on what is now Section 18 of Audubon Township. MARK WARREN wintered somewhere in the county, and also another man by the name of TALMAGE, who lived in a dug-out; on what is now Section 20, of Audubon Township. We are now able to make a pretty accurate list of all the people who wintered in Becker County during the winter of 1869 and 1870, outside the White Earth Reservation. IN WHAT IS NOW BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP PATRICK QUINLAN MRS. PATRICK QUINLAN JOSEPH QUINLAN, a small boy. IN WHAT IS NOW DETROIT TOWNSHIP HENRY WAY MRS. HENRY WAY DORA WAY NELLIE WAY FANNY WAY ALMON W. SHERMAN (Died during the Winter.) ALMA SHERMAN DEE SHERMAN Page 223 MRS. LOIS CUTLER, mother of MRS. SHERMAN LOIS ANDERSON, granddaughter of MRS. SHERMAN DEWITT SPERRY MRS. DEWITT SPERRY ELLA SPERRY, FRANK SPERRY, children of DEWITT SPERRY ALICE SPERRY, niece of DEWITT SPERRY MRS. BARBARY STILLMAN, mother of MRS. SPERRY IN WHAT IS NOW AUDUBON TOWNSHIP CHRISTEN ANDERSON MRS. C. ANDERSON ANNIE ANDERSON, daughter of CHRIS. ANDERSON JOHN F. BEAVER MRS. JOHN F. BEAVER (Died in the spring of 1870) FREDERICK JOHNSON BUCKLEY B. ANDERSON MRS. B. B. ANDERSON JEDEDIAH ANDERSON, son of B. B. ANDERSON EDWARD ANDERSON, son of B. B. ANDERSON RICHARD ANDERSON, son of B. B. ANDERSON ELVA ANDERSON, daughter of B. B. ANDERSON FREEMAN ANDERSON, son of B. B. ANDERSON MIRON ANDERSON, son of B. B. ANDERSON ANDREW ANDERSON, son of B. B. ANDERSON JACKSON BURDICK, son-in-law of B. B. ANDERSON MRS. JACKSON BURDICK (*see note) IDA BURDICK, daughter of JACKSON BURDICK EUNICE BURDICK, daughter of JACKSON BURDICK OREN BURDICK, son of JACKSON BURDICK HARVEY JONES DAVID PYLE M. L. DEVEREAUX DAVID BEVERIDGE MARK WARREN _____ TALMAGE (*Transcriber's Note: per 1870 census her first name was JERUSHA) The census of 1870 gives the population of Becker County as 308. These figures are misleading, as to my certain knowledge there were not more than sixty people in the county on the first day of June of that year outside the White Earth Reservation, so -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 224 that the other 238 reported at the time must have been mostly on the reservation, and nearly all of them Indians. In the summer of 1869, a party sent out to explore a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad, passed through the county from the west, and among them was JOHN O. FRENCH, now of Detroit Township, who was connected with the party. In the summer of 1870, the probability that the Northern Pacific Railroad would pass through the county brought quite an influx of settlers, too many to mention in detail at the present time, but they will be accounted for under the heading of the different townships. At the beginning of the year 1879, there was not a single settler in the whole region of country east of the Otter Tail River, which includes rather more than the eastern half of the county. That summer J. F. SIEGFORD, his son, FRANK SIEGFORD, GEORGE M. CARSON, A. W. SANDERSON, and C. E. BULLOCK, opened the way and led the van-guard of pioneers to the beautiful prairies of Osage and Carsonville, that have since developed into one of the most thriving and prosperous communities in the county. The timbered townships were somewhat slower to settle, but at the present time (1905) there is scarcely a quarter section of government land in the county without a settler. The first white girl born in the county was CLARA D. WAY, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. HENRY WAY, who were then living at Oak Lake in Detroit Township. She was born on the 20th of July, 1870. The first white boy born in Becker County was OLAUS REEP, son of Mr. and Mrs. SEVALD REEP, who was born on the 29th day of July 1871 and recorded January 20th, 1872. The first death among the white settlers was that of ALMON W. SHERMAN, who died at Oak Lake on the 31st day of December, 1869. The first white people to get married in the county were I. J. HANSON and ANNIS MIX, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. DAVID MIX, who were married by Rev. J. E. WOOD on the 22d day of October 1871. FRANK M. CAMPBELL of White Earth took the census of Becker county in 1870. The first deed of conveyance for land in Becker County was made by CHRISTEN ANDERSON to the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- pany, for the west half of the southwest road of Section 8, in -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 225 the present township of Audubon. This deed was made the 11th day of July, 1871, and recorded January 20th, 1872. The first mortgage in Becker County was made by OLE PETERSON to KNUTE NELSON, present United States senator. The mortgage was for $200, and was on the east half of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and lot 5 of Section 4, in the present township of Audubon. The mortgage was dated January 9th, 1872. The first school in Becker County was taught by Mrs. JULIA A. SPEARS at White Earth in the fall of 1870. The first school in Becker County, outside the reservation was taught by Miss NANCY M. COMSTOCK, in the fall of 1871, in a house belonging to HENRY WAY, in what is now school district number three in Audubon Township. The first school taught in Becker County, in a legally organized school district, was in district number one in the village of Detroit, by Miss LOTTIE FRANK, beginning on the second day of July, 1872. The first religious service in Becker County was held at White Earth by the Rev. JOHN JOHNSON, (Enmegahbowh), in the fall of 1868. The first religious service in Becker County, outside the reservation, was held by the Rev. Dr. LORD on the shore of Floyd Lake on the 22d of August 1869, at the camp of the Northern Pacific Railroad exploring expedition. The first religious service ever held in Becker County with a full audience of Becker County people, and by a minister residing in this part of Minnesota, was conducted by the Rev. T. WATLESON at the house of JOHN F. BEAVER in what is now Audubon Township, on the sixth of November, 1870. Father GURLEY was the first resident minister in Becker Coun- ty, ourside the reservation, coming here as missionary for the Northern Pacific Railroad, under the auspices of the Methodist church in July 1871. ===========================================================================