Transcribed and submitted by Kay Scholtz <scholtz@tznet.com>
Source: 1918 History of Clark County Wisconsin; Compiled by
Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge. Reviewed by James O'Neill, Chicago and
Winona, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co. 1918, “Historical Contributions”,
pages 698-9
MRS. JULIA A. MEAD, who was born in Fulton County, New York, in 1842,
says: “In 1851 I came to Jefferson County, Wis., with my mother, two
brothers and two sisters. I was married in Jefferson County in
1861 and remained there until 1865, when, with my husband and two
children, we started for Clark County. We went as far as Sparta
by rail, and there took a wagon and started overland for Clark County
through a wild country, and over rough roads. We reached
Neillsville in two days. From Neillsville to Greenwood the timber
was very dense, and where Greenwood now stands there was a forest of
pine and hardwood. The first night we stopped at the house of C.
S. Honeywell, the only house there. This building is still
standing, though sided over and improved. The next day we
started housekeeping half a mile north of town in an old house known as
the old Dwyer house. In the spring of 1866 we moved on to our
homestead six miles north of town and started living in our little log
shanty, built without a nail in it. The snow was then three feet
deep on the ground. The only clearing was where our house stood,
the rest of the farm being densely covered with timber. We
started feeding travelers, furnishing them with tents to sleep in, and
I continued in this occupation for seven years, my husband in the
meanwhile being engaged at logging and at clearing the
farm. We built a new house in 1871 and remained on the farm
till 1893. Our supplies were purchased at Black River Falls and
were carried mostly on my husband’s back. During the first seven
months I was on the farm I saw just one white woman. We had a cow
and calf, and I used to have to chain the dog to the door to watch the
children while I hunted the cow and calf in the woods. There were
many Indians but they caused us no trouble. For three years our nearest
neighbors were in Greenwood. In the early days my husband and I
carried the mail on horseback from two miles south of where Greenwood
now stands to George Huntzicker’s hotel, one mile south of where
Longwood now is. C. S. Honeywell started the first store in
Greenwood, which was burned down. The first hotel was built and
run for several years by W. H. Begley. We used to hitch up our
oxen and drive to George and Henry Huntzicker’s and dance till broad
daylight, to music furnished by one fiddle, played by Tom Syth.
My best dress during all those times was taken from the back of sheep
by my own hands, while I lived in Jefferson County. The Eatons’
and Honeywell’s wives and daughters - four women and four girls - were
all who attendee these dances during the winter of 1866. When we
passed through Neillsville there were only five houses. There
were few buildings in Greenwood, except the Honeywell cabin, prior to
1871. After that a few settlers came in and people commenced to
stump the land and get it in shape to work.”
