History of Freeborn County

In the compilation of the History of Freeborn County it has been the aim of the Publishers to present a local history, comprising, in a single volume of convenient form, a varied fund of information, not only of interest to the present, but from which the coming searcher for historic data may draw without the tedium incurred in its preparation. There is always more or less difficulty, even in a historical work, in selecting those things which will interest the greatest number of readers. Individual tastes differ so widely, that what may be of absorbing interest to one, has no attractions for another. Some are interested in that which concerns themselves, and do not care to read even the most thrilling adventures where they were not participants. Such persons are apt to conclude that what they are not interested in is of no value, and its preservation in history a useless expense. In the settlement of a new County or a new Township, there is no one person entitled to all the credit for what has been accomplished. Each individual is a part of the great whole, and this work is prepared for the purpose of giving a general resume of what has thus far been done to plant the civilization of the present century in Freeborn County.

 

Table of Contents

Preface... III

CHAPTER I-XXIII.
Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota... 1-128

CHAPTER XXIV-XXVII.
Outline History of the State of Minnesota... 129-160

CHAPTER XXVIII-XXIX.
State Education... 161-176

CHAPTER XXX-XLIIL.
History of the Sioux Massacre... 177-256

CHAPTER XLIV.
Chronology... 257-262

CHAPTER XLV-LI.
Freeborn County... 263-357

CHAPTER LII-LIII.
City of Albert Lea... 358-402

CHAPTER LIV.
Albert Lea Township... 403-406

CHAPTER LV.
Alden Township... 407-414

CHAPTER LVI.
Bancroft Township... 415-423

CHAPTER LVII.
Bath Township... 423-428

CHAPTER LVIII.
Carlston Township... 429-434

CHAPTER LIX.
Freeborn Township... 434-442

CHAPTER LX.
Freeman Township... 443-449

CHAPTER LXI.
Geneva Township... 449-458

CHAPTER LXII.
Hayward Township... 458-464

CHAPTER LXIII.
Hartland Township... 464-470

CHAPTER LXIV.
London Township... 470-474

CHAPTER LXV.
Manchester Township... 475-483

CHAPTER LXVL
Mansfield Township... 484-489

CHAPTER LXVII.
Moscow Township... 489-498

CHAPTER LXVIII.
Nunda Township...498-508

CHAPTER LXIX.
Newry Township... 509-511

CHAPTER LXX.
Oakland Township... 512-516

CHAPTER LXXI.
Pickerel Lake Township... 517-524

CHAPTER LXII.
Riceland Township... 525-528

CHAPTER LXIII.
Shell Rock Township... 528-540
Index... 541-548

 

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As a continuation of the early history of the county, quite a full account of the meetings of the Old Settlers' Association is given here, with very full reports of some of the speeches or addresses, which are rich in reminiscences and so well presented that a rewriting could not improve them. Coming in this form, it slightly interferes with the continuity of the plan of the work, but this is fully compensated for by a disruption of the monotony which might otherwise become tedious in the perusal.

The old settlers of Freeborn county who were desirous of perpetuating the memory of the hardships, the trials, troubles, and privations on the one hand, and the pleasures and triumphs on the other, of pioneer times and frontier life, joined in a call to all those who came previous to 1860, to meet on the 12th of July, 1875, for the purpose of organizing an Old Settlers' Association.