Brauns Create Braun Settlement (1879)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Braun, Noah, Torsh, Warnke, Schmalz, Clement, Kapellen, Korman, Wolff, Rabenstein

----Source: Scrapbook of Mrs. Emil (Marianna Braun) Noah

A write-up taken from a German newspaper published in Neillsville, Wisconsin and translated by Mrs. Emil Noah, a granddaughter of the happy couple.

Seventeen years ago (1879) when Clark County had trails but no roads, a family from Sheboygan County arrived here to face the work and hardships that combine trying to make a home in the wilderness. This family consisted of parents, Wilhelm and Anna Thorotea (Torsh) Braun and four sons, Gottfried, Wilhelm, Christian and Friedrich, and three daughters, Louisa, Christina, and Eva.

They settled in the northwestern part of the county, where the townships of Warner, Hixon, and Reseburg meet, about 24 miles from Neillsville, where they bought land, Grandfather Braun and two sons, Gottfried and Wilhelm in the town of Hixon (became town of Longwood in 1893), Christian in the Town of Warner, and Friedrich in the Town of Reseburg. Though the farms were in three townships, it was only a (cat’s leap) minor distance from one to the other.

Through hard work and hardships they finally got the land cleared, which became their home, while roads and streets were still but a dream.

No one at this time can imagine how things look 17 years ago that had not lived and slaved through the work. A present, leaving Greenwood, a person would expect the same impassable trails of yester years, but no trace of them remains. The streets are nice and wide, and as a person turns north toward Hemlock, roads have been built. At Hemlock a high steel bridge, somewhat like the one on 5th Street in Neillsville, spans the Black River. After crossing this bride, a few arms are seen, but also beautiful hardwood forests. The roadsides are lined with raspberry bushes loaded with luscious fruit. The wonder of this beauty is finally changed when our eyes behold in the distance some clearings.

To the left of the road lies the farm of Frank Horn, son-in-law of the Grandparents Braun, to the right the farms of Gottfried and Wilhelm Braun with their large barns, house and gardens. It is a picture a person will never forget. A short distance to the west and south from here lie the farms of Friedrich and Christian Braun and Robert Horn, the latter is also a son-in-law of the Grandparents. John Warnke, related to the Brauns, also has a nice farm.

As most of the land in the community was in the hands of the Brauns or relatives of the Brauns, it got the name of “Braun Settlement.”

The elderly couple lived in the house of the oldest son, Gottfried.

The paternal love often written about by writers is here portrayed in its fullest extent. Seldom does a person find families that live together as peacefully as the ones in “Braun Settlement.” Year in and year out they have been helping each other and the main factors are the aged parents.

It is, therefore, no wonder when it was decided that the Golden wedding of the parents was to be celebrated in due honor, as this also was the first Golden Wedding amongst the German Settlers in Clark County. (See BioA for Braun, Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm from 1896)

Grandfather Braun died September 18, 1915 – age 94 years.
Grandmother Braun died December 30, 1897 – age 77 years.