Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/232

180 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY first religious observance of a public nature in the town. The first school was taught by Georgiette Easterly in the summer of 1857. In 1858 H. H. Oleson opened a blacksmith shop, which was the only one in the township until 1868, when a man named Mutz built a shop near Easterly's hotel. In the spring of 1867 the Goodhue Seed Association was organized for the purpose of receiving the advantages of a combination which would pro- cure seeds and other articles at wholesale instead of retail prices. The officers of the association were: President. Samuel Parker; secretary, Harrison Lowater; treasurer, T. M. Lowater. In the earlier days church services were held at the homes of the settlers; sometimes in charge of a clergyman, lint more often conducted by some of the pioneers themselves. An early church was the German Lutheran church, organized in the spring of 1868 by the Rev. Christian Bender. At that time it had but seven members: A. Seeback, Gotlieb Seeback, R. Haas, Charles Semke. William Betcher, Herman Kempe and Peter Tipke. A church was built the same year at a cost of $500. Rev. Mr. Bender preached the dedicatory service the last Sunday in August. Later a new church, 36x50. was erected at a cost of about $2,500. At a meeting held at the home of Peter Easterly. April 5, 1859, of the voters of that part of Belvidere lying in section 15, the matter of a separate township was favorably acted upon and the following officers were elected tentatively: Supervisors, P. Easterly (chairman). Ezra Bennett. Sylvester Cranson; town clerk, John Stowe ; collector, F. Cranson; assessor, Sylvester Cranson ; overseer of the -poor, H. B. Patterson. At the same meeting it was voted to call the new town Goodhue, after the county. A petition was prepared and this having been granted, September 13, 1859, township 111, range 14, was constituted a separate body, with the proviso that the name be either Lime or Goodhue. For a short time the township was known as Lime. J. Going, then county clerk, appointed in 1859 the following pro- visional officers: Supervisors, Charles H. Mclntire (chairman), L. C. Burke, H. B. Patterson ; town clerk, John Stowe ; justices, Samuel Parker, Sylvester Cranson ; constables, H. Olson and S. W. Carney ; assessor, George Spicer ; collector, F. Cranson ; over- seer of roads, John Gleason ; overseer of the poor, H. Danielson. The following year a regular board was elected. The name Goodhue, which from the beginning had been the choice of the people, became the official title in January, 1860. Among the early chairmen of the township were Charles H. Mclntire, T. M. Lowater, Samuel Parker, A. A. Anderson, David Purdy, F. Tether, J. Finney, W. H. H. Bruce, E. Kolbe. The early clerks