News: Columbia ‘Land of Memory’ (27 May 1965)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Everett, Scherman, Sollberger, Leason, Jonkel, Yndogliato, Hemp

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) May 27, 1965

Columbia ‘Land of Memory’ (27 May 1965)

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Everett of Hawthorne, Calif., and her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Scherman of River Forest, Ill., were visitors Saturday afternoon at the William Sollberger home.  Mr. and Mrs. Everett picked up the Schermans in Merrill, where they had been visiting with relatives. The two couples planned to return to Merrill Saturday evening to continue their visit there for another week; then return to River Forest to spend some time with relatives in Chicago. River Forest is a Chicago suburb.

The Schermans and the Everetts are also planning a drive through Michigan, parts of Canada, then down the eastern coast before returning to their respective homes.

Mrs. Everett, the former Elizabeth Scherman, and her brother, Robert, once lived in Columbia on the property now owned by Mrs. Frances Sollberger and son, Leonard, of Neillsville. Their father, Dr. Scherman, was a dentist who resided here and commuted to Neillsville, where he had an office.  This office location was taken over by the late Dr. Leason when the Schermans left this area in 1904.  Dr. Scherman also had an office in his home, where he treated his Columbia patients.

The Robert Schermans mentioned camping on the property for a week in 1943. At that time Mrs. Ruby (Poertner) Jonkel (now Mrs. Tom Yndogliato of Pine Valley) and her three children lived in the house. The Schermans had been guests at a dinner in the Jonkel home.

The Schermans also spoke of a warm friendship with the late Mr. and Mrs. Warren Hemp of Neillsville, and of their visits with the Hemps at their cottage on Black River, near Hatfield.

The Everetts visited this area in August, 1951, after both had retired from employment in Hawthorne. At that time they were on an extended tour of Canada and the United States.

After leaving the William Sollbergers, Mr. and Mrs. Everett and the Schermans drove to the former Scherman property to review old scenes and recall the past in memory.

This area is rich in memories.  Throughout the coming months many former residents will return here and note the vast changes that have taken place.  Once residential and well settled, but now becoming a land of trees and wilderness, a recreation area, and as tourists often remark, ‘peaceful and beautiful.’