Section 3. George P. Walker Was the First Settler. He Built the First

house and raised the first crop; Thomas T. Magee came in 1855. In 1860 the town was organized, Thomas Hurley and Geo. P. Walker being supervisors. In 1862 Mr. Magee built a saw and flour mill in section 5, and platted the village of El Paso. In 1875 he removed to Clear Lake, Polk county, of which town he was the first settler. Clara Green taught the first school in El Paso, in 1861. There is one Catholic and one Lutheran church in the village. The name El Paso signifying a crossing, is of somewhat obscure derivation.

ELLSWORTH

Was organized under the name of Perry, March 3, 1857, but in 1862 it received its present name. It occupies a central position in the county and includes township 26, range 17. This is a rich farming town, originally timbered with hardwood. The surface is elevated and gently undulating. It is drained on the east by the tributaries of Rush river, but has no large or important streams. The first supervisors were: P. M. Simons, chairman; Caleb Bruce and Wilson Kinnie. The first settler was Anthony Huddleston, who came April 23, 1856, and pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 20. On November 26th, of the same year, came Caleb, Elihu W. and Eli T. Bruce, who pre-empted farms on sections 18 and 19. During the same year Wilson and Norris Kinnie and David Klingensmith pre-empted farms in sections 18 and 19. Lilly, Miscen, Russ, and Campbell came also in 1855. The first log house in the town was built by Anthony Huddleston in 1855. Norris Kinnie built the first in what was afterward the village of Ellsworth. The first school house, a log building, built was in 1857, and Mary Filkins, now Mrs. G. H. Sargeant, of Minnesota, taught the first school. The first marriage was that of Charles Stannard and Mary Leonard, in 1855. The first birth, that of the twin children of Wilson. Both died. The first death of an adult was that of Mrs. Jacob Youngman in the winter of 1855. The post office was opened in 1860, with Seely Strickland as postmaster.

ELLSWORTH VILLAGE.

The original owners of the southern half of section 18, and the northern half of 19, Norris Kinnie, Eli T. Bruce, Henry P. Ames, and Wm. Crippin laid out and platted the village of Ellsworth in 1862. Wm. Crippin, built a frame hotel there in 1860. C. S. Dunbar opened a store in 1861. The prospect of Ellsworth becoming the county seat gave a great impetus to business enterprises. This was decided by a popular vote in 1861, but owing to some technical defects was resubmitted to the people of the county in 1862, and then definitely decided. In the year 1862 the citizens of Ellsworth built a log house in which the first terms of court were held; meanwhile the county officers had their offices in the basement of Crippin's hotel. The permanent county buildings were not erected until 1869. They are built of stone and cost $60,000. In 1863 a frame schoolhouse took the place of the old log structure, and in 1874 a commodious brick building was erected, at a cost of $5,000.

The Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics have church buildings. There is one newspaper, the Pierce County Herald, edited by E. F. Case and E. S. Doolittle. The Barnes saw mill built in 1867, burned down and rebuilt, has a capacity of about 5,000 feet per day. A branch railroad, built from Hudson to River Falls, was extended to Ellsworth in 1885. The depot is one mile from the village. The Pierce County Central fair grounds, containing seventeen acres, are located near the village. The grounds are inclosed and are covered with a fine maple grove, in the midst of which is a large flowing spring. D. W. Woodworth was first president of the fair association. Ellsworth has two handsome cemeteries, Maplewood and the Catholic.

The village itself is beautifully situated on an elevated plateau originally covered with hardwood timber. The streets are tastefully adorned with maple trees.

ANTHONY HUDDLESTON.--Mr. Huddleston is of Irish descent. He was born in West Virginia in 1804; had but limited educational privileges; lived for a part of his life in Ohio and Indiana, and settled in Ellsworth in 1855, being the first settler in the town. He was a house carpenter for over sixty years. He was a member of the Dunkard church sixty-two years. He was married in 1826, in Ripley, Indiana, to Susannah Whetstone. They have three sons and six daughters living.

PERRY D. PIERCE was born in Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York. He traces his lineage to ancestors who came across in the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth Rock. He received an academic education, studied law with A. Reckor, Oswego, New York, and was admitted to practice at Cooperstown in 1843, practiced in Albany three years, and in 1854 came to the St. Croix valley, locating first at Prescott, where he served as district attorney for four years, and county judge eight years. He was married in 1860, to Lua E. Searsdall. He is now a resident of Ellsworth.

HANS B. WARNER, of Ellsworth, Pierce county, was born at Gulbrandsdalen, Norway, July 12, 1844; received a common school education; is by occupation a farmer; emigrated and settled in Dodge county, Wisconsin, in 1853, and thence removed to Pierce county in 1855, where he has since resided. He enlisted in March, 1864, as a private, in Company G, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry; was wounded and captured in front of Petersburg, Virginia, July 30, 1864, and was held a prisoner of war in Danville and Libby prisons until paroled, September, 1864; was discharged from service on account of wounds received in battle July 18, 1865. He has held various local offices, and the position of county clerk of Pierce county from January, 1869, to Dec. 21, 1877, when he resigned, to assume the duties of secretary of state, to which office he was elected in 1877, and was re-elected in 1879, serving in all four years. He was elected to the state senate in 1882 and served until 1886. His home business is farming and real estate. He was married in 1866, to Julia E. Hudson.

GILMAN.

The town of Gilman includes township 27, range 16. The postal villages are Gilman, section 10, and Olivet, section 36. Gilman was organized as the town of Deerfield, in 1868, but in 1869 the name was changed to Gilman. The first supervisors were Oliver Purdy, Caleb Coon, Bardon Jensen. The first school was taught in 1870, by M. L. Maxgood. A Norwegian Lutheran church was built in 1883, at a cost of $1,500. There are six school houses with an aggregate cost of $2,000. The first marriage was that of Caleb Coon and Cenith Preston, in 1867. The first birth was a child of this married couple. The first death was that of Mrs. Rufus Preston. The first post office was at Gilman, U. F. Hals, postmaster. The first settlers were B. F. Gilman, in 1859, still a resident; N. B. Lawrence, soon after, now removed; Rufus Preston and family; Joseph and Caleb Coon and families, in 1865, still resident. J. R. Maxgood, B. Jensen and son, E. B. Jensen, the Matthieson brothers, Z. Sigursen, H. Bredahl, S. J. Goodell, Nels Gulikson, M. O. Grinde, Albert Martin, P. Vanosse, and T. B. Forgenbakke are among the oldest citizens.

HARTLAND.

Hartland occupies township 25, range 17. It has one post village, Esdaile. It has one saw mill and a factory for the manufacture of hubs and bent wood work, operated by Charles Betcher, of Red Wing, Minnesota, which gives employment to seventy-five men and ten teams the year round. The village of Esdaile has also two general merchandise stores and a hotel. Hartland was organized in 1859. The first supervisors were A. Harris, chairman; Joseph Sleeper and R. M. Sproul. Amongst the first settlers were Augustus E. Hodgman, section 24, 1854; James Buckingham, section 28, 1854; Lewis Buckmaster,