Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

March 27, 2019,  Page 11 

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled and Contributed by Dee Zimmerman

 

March 1929

 

Robert Strey has been studying on a plan of building a homemade snowplow, and it works wonderfully. Collecting all his ideas together, he sat on them and this is what he came up with: taking two 8-foot planks and joining them in the shape of an A and placing a tractor disc between the sides of the A, did the trick. Bob did good work with eight horses pulling the snowplow. The neighbors are very thankful for Bob’s invention.  

•••••••••

According to State Auto law, owners of automobiles are required to purchase licenses Jan. 1st or before auto is driven on the public highways.

 

After April 1st we will arrest all owners who have not a 1929 license on their car.

 

Police Department                                                                            

•••••••••

A deal was consummated last week whereby M.J. Seidelman, well-known farmer of the Town of York and his brother-in-law F.A. Schultz, of St. Paul, Minn., became owners of the Loyal Sales. George Cleary, former owner of Loyal Sales becomes owner of the M.J. Seidelman farm on County Trunk K, in the Town of York.

 

Mr. Schultz comes highly recommended as an expert mechanic, having had about 20 years garage experience.

 

Leon West retains his position as salesman for Chevrolet cars and trucks. Ben Sayles, well-known to many of our readers as being a good mechanic with several years of experience, has been employed by the new company.

 

The firm name has been changed to Seidelman and Schultz Chevrolet Co.

•••••••••

New Superior Whippet Four-Cylinders & Six-Cylinders.

 

The new car is well qualified to carry on Whippet’s unsurpassed reputation of dependability with minimum service costs.

 

Whippet Four-Coach Coupe, or Sedan $525. Whippet Six-Coupe with Rumble Seat, or Sport Roadster $725.

Deluxe Roadster $850. Neillsville Garage Co.

 

(Our family owned a used Whippet sedan in the mid-1930s but not for long. As I remember that car apparently had been “too used.” My dad soon traded it off to purchase a different model.

 

A neighbor owned a Whippet Coupe with a rumble seat, which was fun to ride in on a warm summer day. DZ)

 

Willys Overland Motors, an American automobile company, started business in 1906. The above photo is of the 1926 Willys Whippet Phaeton model, with the entire top that could be folded down, or the isinglass side windows only that could be rolled down for an open-air ride during the summer. Willys introduced a popular Jeep model used by the U.S. Army troops on the battlefields during World War II.

 •••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Carpenter, Wisconsin pioneers, now living in San Diego, California celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.

 

Loyal Wis. 1874 – it was in this town, nestled in the heart of Wisconsin logging country and buried in snow, that a young couple were married 55 years ago on Jan. 25. The bride, Miss Ida Ann Harding, was 19 years old. The bridegroom, Alford Carpenter, a stalwart Wisconsin logger, was 27.

 

The years weighed lightly on this couple. Mrs. Carpenter, age 74, carries out her philosophy that one should use every minute in some constructive work. A pile of recently finished patchwork quilts is a demonstration of Mrs. Carpenter’s work. Stacked neatly on the back porch, a pile of wood, freshly split every morning and carried in, is a testimony of Mr. Carpenter’s ability at the age of 82.

 

“There wasn’t any minister at Loyal in 1874,” Mrs. Carpenter said. “There was a big boarding house, and Old Fife Hartford ran it. He was justice of the peace. He was the one who married us.”

 

“It was mighty cold , too,” Mr. Carpenter said. “Going home, the wolves howled. At night, they would come up to the cabin door.”

 

“I met Alford in the cranberry marsh,” Mrs. Carpenter said. “We high school girls used to go out and pick the berries. Alford drove us out there. At night, we would go to a dance. Alford played an accordion. Somebody else played a jewsharp, or harmonica. After the dance, we would ride back in an ox cart. The roads were too deep for horses, so oxen pulled the cart.”

 

In the winter, Mr. Carpenter worked for the  logging companies. When spring came, just before the logging drives, he would go out with the men to be the cook. The Carpenters had a 40-acre farm in the Town of Fremont.

 

“We lived on this after we were married,” Mrs. Carpenter said. “We had grain, cows, corn and potatoes. There was nothing but trees when we moved on it. The land all had to be cleared.”

 

“We would have timber bees,” Carpenter explained. “We would cut the trees and then pile them up and set them on fire so we could use the land for farming.”

 

The neighbors were few and far apart. We didn’t see them often, but, they were more friendly than they are nowadays.”

 

“When we returned after being married, the loggers, 75 or more of them, gave us a great greeting. What with the wolves howling and the men shouting, you could not hear a thing.”

 

Four of the six Carpenter children are still living, including Mrs. Alberta Lockbridge, who lives with the Carpenters, after they moved to California eight years ago.

 

As Mr. Carpenter said, “We are real Wisconsin Badgers. We were born there, raised our family and educated them there.”

 

(The Carpenters homesteaded in the Town of Fremont where the virgin hardwood timber grew. They cut the big trees to clear the land and burned it! Makes one cringe to think of what wonderful maple lumber could have been sawed from some of that virgin timber, only to be burned. DZ)  

•••••••••

Monday forenoon as John Moen and Art Kunze of Neillsville were at work shingling Dr. Rath’s house in Granton, the staging gave way and as a result both men fell to the ground. Mr. Moen had two ribs fractured and Mr. Kunze had one arm broken and several teeth loosened, both to be laid up for some time. Mr. Moen is able to be about but will not work for a while.                                        

•••••••••

The new Dells Lumber Co. this winter banked a considerable body of logs on Wedges Creek, a number of miles upstream from Columbia. The snow went off before the logs could be hauled to the railroad,  and Mr. Tibbetts, who is in charge of the logging operations here states that the company plans to drive the logs on Wedges Creek to Columbia and load them on the railroad there.

 

It is a good number of years since the last log drive on Wedges Creek and the operation will be quite a novelty to the younger generation here and arouse the old memories of many of our older people.  

 

When the drive is on, let us all turn out and see the logs go down the creek.

 

Anent the proposed log drive on Wedge’s Creek, Bob French of Levis calls to mind some of the old Black River Log-drivers and their remarkable feats. Johnny Levis was long conceded as the champion, though “Black Bill” Seymour of the same town was nearly his equal, and especially in long jumps from one log to another.

 

Ed Bruley and George Miller are said to be the only two Neillsville men who ever rode a log from Ross Eddy to the mouth of the Cunningham Creek without getting dumped into the river.

 

Will Hogue of Greenwood was also a noted log driver. He still lives at Greenwood and was a candidate last year for sheriff. Jim Stafford, the founder of Staffordville, went through the “Mormon Riffles” at Hatfield twice in one day on a log, without falling in. That was where the Hatfield Dam is now located.

 

Doubtless there were many other experts in those old log-driving days up and down Black River.

 

March 1954

 

Some members of the Loyal Trinity Lutheran Church made a field trip to Winchester Sunday, to examine an educational unit there. They hope that such a building can be erected on to their church building in the near future.

 

Those who made the trip were, Mr. and Mrs. Reno Herdrich, Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Gotter, Mr. and Mrs. Lavern Dahlby, John Steeves, Mrs. Ed Dobbe, Herman Noeldner, Norbert Noeldner, Leonard Noeldner, Carl Loppnow, Phillip Capelle, Julius Nysted and The Rev. E.E. Alto.

 

(Soon after, the Trinity Lutheran Congregation was able to fulfill their plans, by building a new educational unit adjacent to the church building. DZ)                                         

•••••••••

Completion of one of the most successful small church fundraising campaigns ever conducted was announced at a “Victory dinner” at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Greenwood, last week.

 

As a result, plans for a new church building for the congregation have been adopted and construction is scheduled to start in the spring. The site chosen is located just west of Highway 73, north of County Trunk G, on Greenwood’s north city limits.                                                       

•••••••••

Antigo Potatoes

There will be a Truck Load of Antigo Potatoes at the parking Lot, Rear of Farmers Store, Neillsville, Saturday, March 13 – 2 p.m. Russets Burbanks, Bakers 100-lb. bag $1.15; Red Potatoes 100-lb. $1.15 – No. 2’s – 100-lb. Bag 75’                                                                                                

•••••••••

Old-time vaudeville will stage a come-back in Neillsville when the home-talent “Gay Nineties Revue” is presented on the armory stage April 24-25, the first week-end after Easter Sunday.

 

The revue is under the sponsorship of the Chamber of Commerce with Mrs. Glenn Roberts in charge of the production. An effort is being made to achieve an authentic “gay nineties” atmosphere throughout the performance.

 

Proceeds from the revue, will be used by the Chamber of Commerce for the annual Fourth of July celebration, which is again being planned.                                                             

•••••••••

Fremont Grange held a meeting in the Chili hall Saturday night, Master Harold Meissner conducted the business meeting. Elmer Martin, Master of Clark Grange, was a visitor. The sixth anniversary of the grange and March birthdays of members was celebrated. An anniversary cake was made by Mrs. Erwin Farnsworth and served after the meeting.                                                               

•••••••••

The Gorman Cooperative Dairy Co. sold its milk truck recently to Robert Bogdonovich, who expects to haul milk for them beginning March 16. The milk route is about 40 miles long.

•••••••••

Neillsville High School students earned seven “A” ratings of a possible 13 in the Cloverbelt league forensic contests held at Stanley last Saturday. Other schools participating were Owen, Withee, Stanley and Thorp.

 

Winning “A” ratings for Neillsville were Shirley Keller, Clair Wendt, Cheryl Mabie, Susan Thompson, Pat Stigen, Carol Reber, and Joyce Vandeberg. Those receiving “B” ratings were Jerry Quicker, Mary Cummings, JoAnn Webster, Charlotte Covell, Connie Duchow and Linda Suchow.

 

The group was accompanied by coaches, Miss Daphne Beeckler and Miss Lorraine Bement, and by Mrs. A.C. Covell. They will compete in the district contests at Eau Claire next Saturday.

•••••••••

Robert Oestreich, who has been stationed with the Navy at New York, is spending a furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Everett Oestreich, of Loyal. From there he expects to go to Japan.

•••••••••

A/1c James Chadwick, who has been stationed At Ellsworth Air Force Base at Rapid City, S.D., is spending a furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Millard Chadwick, and other relatives in Neillsville. He will go to California at the end of his leave to await his orders for Korean service.

•••••••••

The Rev. Fr. Joseph Maciulaitis, a native of Lithuania who fled his country before the Communist army of Red Russia in 1944, has been assigned as assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic congregation.

 

He arrived here Friday and is now engaged in assisting the pastor, Fr. Leketas.

 

Rev. Fr. Joseph Maciulaitis was ordained a priest and served several parishes in his native country and served as chaplain of several schools.

 

He remained during the Russians’ first occupation of Lithuania during the early part of the war. At that time, he said, the Russians were restrained in the actions toward the priesthood because of their fear of an uprising of the people.

 

When the Communist Russian armies repelled the Germans from Lithuania in 1944, however, Fr. Maciulaitis fled from his native country, in advance of the retreating Germans. He went to Vienna, Austria, and soon was forced to flee a second time to evade the Russians. This time he went into Bavaria.

 

After the close of hostilities, Fr. Maciulaitis went to a displaced persons camp at Schwabisch, Germany. He remained there for five years, until 1950, when he was permitted entry into the United States.

 

For the next two and one-half years, he served as an assistant pastor in Easton, Pennsylvania, then he went to Indiana and now has been assigned to work in the La Crosse diocese being assigned to work, as an assistant pastor of St. Mary’s congregation.

 

Fr. Maciulaitis speaks several different languages, including English, Lithuanian, Polish, German and Russian.

•••••••••

Marriage Licenses:

Joseph Voight, of Loyal, and Constance Matanic, of Loyal, married in Loyal March 20.

Charles Fees, Town of Garden Valley, Jackson County, and Deloris Terrell, Town of Mentor, married March  16 in Neillsville.

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