The township lines of Wellington were surveyed
by Wm. J. Neeley in August, 1859, and the subdivision of the township was
made by James V. Bunker in June, 1867. According to the government
survey it contains 23,071.98 acres of land. At quite an early date
in the settlement of the county the advantages of this splendid township
began to attract the attention of the home-seekers, and it was only a short
time until quite a number of energetic, thrifty young men located there
to make for themselves permanent homes. At the present time there
are quite a large number of well improved farms, and the township as a
whole has a prosperous appearance. For several years there was a
post office located on the southeast quarter of section 2, called Celton,
but it was discontinued, and another post office was established in the
southwestern portion of the township, with the same name as the township.
The southern half of Wellington was first settled principally by Americans,
and the northern half by farmers of German descent. Several small
ponds of water appear on the first surveyor’s map of the township, but
it would be a difficult matter to find all of them in a dry season.
There is a small stream, having its source in two of these ponds, which
flows from north to south through the township. It has no railroad,
the nearest railroad stations being at Humboldt and Hartford in this county,
and at Parker in Turner county.
GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH.—This church was organized in 1880, with a membership
of twenty. In 1890 a church building was erected on the southeast
quarter of the southeast quarter of section 33 in Wellington. The
following ministers have had charge of the church: The Reverends
William Schmidt, August Hilmer, William Hilmer and H.G. Loenker, who is
its present pastor. There is also a Sunday school connected with
the church with an average attendance of thirty-six.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—This
church was organized in 1890, with a membership of seven. The services
are held in the school house located on the southwest quarter of section
29 in Wellington, once in two weeks, and the Rev. T.B. Boughton has been
conducting the services since its organization. The present membership
is seventeen. There is a foreign missionary society connected with
the church, also a Sunday school with about forty-five scholars.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.—There
is a Roman Catholic church in this township, but we have failed to obtain
its history. The church building erected a few years ago is quite
a fine looking structure, and is located near the west line and about the
middle of the township north and south. The Rev. Lawrence Kerley
is the present pastor.
WELLINGTON TOWNSHIP BOARD.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
BARNES, ERASTUS R., was
born in Iowa county, Michigan, June 7, 1844; worked on a farm and attended
school until 1861, when he enlisted in Company I, First Regiment of the
United States Sharpshooters, and served two years; then engaged in the
boot and shoe business a few years; learned the tailor’s trade, and came
to Sioux Falls on the 15th day of September, 1887, and engaged in the merchant
tailor business, until 1896. He is now the owner of the L.T. Harper
farm of 400 acres in Wellington township, and is engaged in farming.
He is an enterprising and respected citizen.
BUNDY, JOHN, was
born in North Carolina, January 4, 1829. He removed from there to
Indiana and then to Minnesota, from whence he came to Dakota, and located
in this county May 20, 1878. He secured by pre-emption the east half
of the northeast quarter of section 22, and the west half of the northwest
quarter of section 23, in Wellington, where he still resides. He
enlisted and served in the 13th Indiana, Companies C and E, from April
19, 1861, till September 19, 1865, and was slightly wounded twice.
He is a good citizen.
BUTT, WM. HENRY,
was born in Carbon county, Penns., March 3, 1867. On the 22d day
of March, 1880, he came to Wellington in this county, with his parents,
and has since resided there. His father took up the northwest quarter
of section 5, and the subject of this sketch still lives on the old homestead,
to which he has added by purchase the southwest quarter of section 32 in
Humboldt, and has a good farm of 320 acres. He has been a member
of the town board one year, and is a good citizen.
CARLS, HENRY, came
to the United States from Germany in 1870, and located in Iowa for three
years; then removed to Nevada and lived there about seven years, and came
to this county in 1882, where he has since remained. He located a
tree claim on the northwest quarter of section 12, which he afterwards
changed into a homestead, and purchased the southwest quarter of the same
section, in Wellington, and now has a good farm. He was born November
20, 1850.
CASE, FRANCIS H.,
was born at Canton Center, Hartford county, Connecticut, June 29, 1862,
and lived there until he removed to Dakota, except one summer which he
spent in Minnesota. He came to this county in March, 1878, and his
mother, Mrs. Polly Case, took up as a homestead the west half of the southwest
quarter of section 20, and the west half of the northwest quarter of section
29, in Wellington, where he still resides. His sister, now Mrs. Stanley
P. Searl, also took up as a homestead the east half of section 29, which
he afterwards bought from her, and now resides there. He has been
constable of Wellington several years, and has held school district offices.
CHAPIN, FRANK H.,
is a native of New York, and was born in 1856. His parents removed
to Minnesota when he was twelve years old. He was educated in the
public schools, and graduated from the high school at Owatonna, Minnesota.
On the 26th day of February, 1878, he came to this county and settled in
Wellington township, and resided there until 1894, when he removed to Escondido,
California. He was a good farmer, and owned three-fourths of a section
of land. He was highly respected as a neighbor and citizen, and a
wide circle of acquaintances regretted his departure to his present home.
DUBBE, CHRIST,
is a native of Germany, and was born May 9, 1853. He emigrated to
this country and settled in Wellington in 1879. He secured the title
to the southeast quarter of section 14, under the homestead law, and now
has a good farm.
EVEN, JOHN B., was
born in Iowa, May 13, 1864; was educated in the public schools, and has
always been engaged in farming. In March, 1893, he settled in Ellington,
where he purchased the northeast quarter of section 29. He has been
a member of the town board three years, and is its present chairman.
In July, 1894, he was appointed postmaster and still retains the office.
He is an enterprising, respected citizen.
ENGLE, JURGEN, came
to this country from Germany in 1869. He located in Wisconsin and
remained there twelve years; then removed to this county and took up by
pre-emption the northeast quarter of section 26, in Wellington, where he
resides with his family. He was born March 16, 1833.
FAKLER, WILLIAM,
has been a resident of Wellington township since April 7, 1878. He
is a native of Germany, and was born December 12, 1830. He emigrated
to Minnesota and resided there until he removed to this county. Under
the homestead and tree culture laws he secured a farm of 320 acres in sections
24 and 25. He has a good farm, and is an active and respected citizen;
was one of the first supervisors of the town board of Wellington, and has
been town treasurer since 1889.
GRAMKOW, J.H., was
born in Mecklenburg, Germany, August 2, 1862. He emigrated and lived
in Wisconsin until he located in this county January 29, 1879. He
took up as a homestead the southwest quarter of section 34, in Wellington,
where he still resides and has a good farm. He has held the office
of clerk of the school board several years, and is a good citizen.
GRAMKOW, JOSEPH,
is a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, and was born in 1834. He emigrated
and came to Dakota in 1880, when he took up as a homestead the southeast
quarter of section 27, in Wellington, where he still resides.
HARPER, L.T.,
one of the first settlers of Wellington township, was born in the town
of Darien, Genesee county, New York, March 28, 1830. He removed to
Pennsylvania and lived there and in Illinois and Minnesota before he came
to Dakota. In January, 1878, he took up a homestead and tree claim
in section 21, in Wellington, where he resided until November, 1889, when
he sold his farm to Mr. Barnes of Sioux Falls, and removed to Parker, Turner
county, S.D. In 1893, he removed to California, where he has since
resided. He held several town offices while a resident of Wellington,
and was highly esteemed as a citizen.
HOMAN, THEODORE, was
born in Jackson county, Iowa, September 13, 1855. He lived there
for twenty-eight years, and came to Wellington, March 25, 1883, where he
has since resided. He owns the northwest quarter of section 9, and
the southeast quarter of section 5, and is a successful farmer. He
has been a member of the town board of supervisors several years, two years
as chairman, and is a highly esteemed citizen.
JONES, ARTHUR B., was
born in New York on the 4th day of February, 1854; was reared on a farm
and educated in the common schools. He resided for some time in Michigan
and Minnesota, and arrived in this county in February, 1878, and settled
in Wellington. He took up the southeast quarter of section 29 and
the northeast quarter of section 32 under the homestead and tree culture
laws. He built the first frame house in Wellington on his homestead,
and planted the first tree in the township. He greatly improved his
farm with fruit trees, groves and comfortable buildings. He was town clerk
from 1882 to 1893, justice of the peace for several years, and served as
county commissioner five years. He was well liked as a neighbor,
was an upright official, and a public-spirited citizen. He sold his
farm and moved to the Pacific coast in 1893. It will take him some
years in his new home to secure as long a list of warm friends as he left
in Minnehaha county.
KASTEN, WILLIAM,
was born in Pommern, Germany, in 1855; emigrated to the United States in
1872, and resided in Wisconsin six years; removed to Dakota in 1878, and
settled in Minnehaha county in 1879; took up as a homestead the southeast
quarter of section 31, and a few years ago purchased the Arthur Jones farm
in sections 29 and 32, where he now resides, and is farming his old homestead
in connection with his purchase. He is an enterprising and successful
farmer; has held town offices several years, and is a respected citizen.
KLUCKER, SAMUEL,
was born in Switzerland, November 8, 1839, and emigrated to the United
States and located in Ohio in 1852. On the 18th day of April, 1861,
he enlisted for three months in Company D, 4th Ohio Infantry, and on the
4th day of June, 1861, enlisted in the same company and regiment for three
years. In the fall of 1862, he was transferred at Harpers Ferry into
the 4th U.S. Artillery under Gen. Call. When the order was issued
that those who had less than ninety days to serve and would re-enlist,
could have a furlough for thirty days, he availed himself of the order,
got his furlough and re-enlisted for three years. Nineteen days after
the issuance of the furlough he was back in camp at Brandy Station.
He served out his time of enlistment, which expired the 13th day of February,
1867, having been in the field in active service five years and nine months.
This is his war record, and comments are unnecessary. He was for
a short time a resident of Larchwood, Iowa, and then came to Wellington,
where at that time not an acre of prairie had been broken. He made
a timber claim filing on the southwest quarter of section 13, where he
still resides. Mr. Klucker is a good, substantial farmer, and highly
esteemed as a neighbor and citizen.
KOESTER, HENRY, is
a native of Germany, and was born April 20, 1828. He emigrated to
the United States and lived in Wisconsin until 1880, when he removed to
this county. He secured a homestead upon the northwest quarter of
section 35, in Ellington, where he resides and has a good farm. He
has added to his farm by purchase, and now owns about 480 acres of land.
He is an enterprising farmer and a good citizen.
LECHNER, JACOB,
came to this country from Germany, where he was born July 24, 1848.
He was in the German army, and served during the war between Germany and
France for three years. Soon after the close of the war he emigrated
to this country, and after residing in Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri
a few years, came to Wellington October 10, 1878, and located on the southwest
quarter of section 32, where he has since resided, and has a good farm.
LOWTH, MICHAEL F.,
came to Sioux Falls in April, 1878. He soon after located a homestead
in Wellington, where he died October 18, 1883. Before coming to this
county he had been engaged extensively in the foundry and machine business
at Owatonna, Minnesota. From January 1, 1880, until January 1, 1883,
he was county superintendent of schools, and filled the office to the great
satisfaction of the public. He was a charter member of Cyrene Commandery
of Knights Templar of Sioux Falls, and was an industrious, energetic, enterprising
citizen, and his death was universally regretted by all who knew him.
LUETH, CARL M., was
born in 1849, in Mechlenburg, Germany. He emigrated to the United
States and resided in Iowa for several years. He removed to Wellington,
this county, in 1882, and bought the southeast quarter of section 1, where
he has since resided, engaged in farming, and has a valuable, well improved
farm, comprising at this writing about 480 acres. He is an industrious,
enterprising farmer and a good neighbor and esteemed citizen.
ODEL, OSWALD, was
born in St. Lawrence county, N.Y., July 9, 1852; moved with his parent
to Salem, LaCrosse county, Wisconsin, in 1856, and on the 21st day of March,
1877, came to this county and settled in Wellington, taking up a homestead
and tree claim in sections 19 and 20, where he has since resided.
He has held school and town offices, is active in politics, and is an esteemed
citizen.
RANG, JOSEPH,
was born in Germany January 9, 1853. He emigrated to the United States
and lived in Michigan until he removed to this county in 1887. He
bought 280 acres of land in sections 35 and 36 in Wellington, and is engaged
in farming. He has a good farm, and is an enterprising, respected
citizen.
SCHIEVELBEIN, FRED,
is a native of Germany, and was born May 7, 1857. He emigrated and
located in Iowa until 1879, when he removed to Dakota and settled in this
county on his present homestead, the northwest quarter and the west half
of the southwest quarter of section 3 in Wellington, which is a good farm.
He also owns the southwest quarter of section 34 in Humboldt. He
has been director of the school board in district No. 112, for several
years, is an industrious farmer and a good citizen.
SEARL, CHARLES N.,
was born at Ellicottville, New York, in 1856; lived in Minnesota for some
time, and came to Dakota February 26, 1878; took up as a homestead and
tree claim the north half of section 33 in Wellington, where he resided
until 1898, when he rented his farm and removed with his family to the
city of Sioux Falls to educate his children. He has held several
town offices, was assessor of Wellington and Wall Lake in 1890, and is
an enterprising and respected citizen.
SEARL, STANLEY P.,
was born in 1855 in the state of New York. He lived there and in
Minnesota and Missouri prior to his coming to Dakota in 1878, from which
time he has been a resident of this county. He entered as a homestead
the southeast quarter of section 32 in Wellington, where he still resides.
He has held the office of town treasurer, is a good farmer and a respected
citizen.