King, Edward (1825 - 1903), Clark County, Wisconsin History & Genealogy

Edward King of Pleasant Ridge passed away April 20, 1903 at the age of 77 years, 9 months and 10 days. He was the father of twelve children, eleven of who survive him, viz., James, Frederick, Thomas, Hattie Rodman, Lillie Howard, Lucy Brown, Alma Spencer, Lattie Selves, Amy Wren and Ettie King. Deceased was born in England and came to America when sixteen years old. He has resided in Clark County since 1866. The funeral was held at Pleasant Ridge Church last Friday, Rev. Guy Campbell officiating.

----Sources: Research by Joan F. Bodamer, Summer School 1971, contributed by a family member.

In the year 1844, a party of four married couples and six single men, who were all related, came to this country from Cambridgeshire, county of Sussex, England. They came to the New World in the hope of finding land they could call their own and begin new lives as farmers. Each man in the party had a trade including the following; brick maker, stone mason, carpenter, millwright, wagon maker, well-witcher, and digger and also a blacksmith.

The moved their possessions from New York to Buffalo by way of the Erie Canal. They settled in Buffalo, New York where they hoped to stay together as a group. A short time later they decided that they were not satisfied with this part of the country. After much discussion, they elected one member of the party, Fred Vine, to proceed west to locate new farm land more to their liking. On his way west, Fred heard about the forests and deep loam soil of the Central Wisconsin Territory. When he arrived there, he discovered one dense virgin forest consisting of white and red oak, basswood, birch, hard maple, white pine, elm, and ash. Fred decided that this was the place to settle. He selected land on a site that was later to be name "Pleasant Ridge". It was an extension of the third Wisconsin glacial moraine which had rich fertile soil.

When the remaining people moved onto Wisconsin, they came by steamboat to Detroit and from Detroit to Chicago by the military road that was completed sometime after 1825. Roads to west central Wisconsin were almost non-existent. After leaving the more heavily populated southeastern part of the state, settlers traveled along Indian trails on horseback or with ox-drawn wagons. Many settlers made the journey by traveling westward from Chicago to the Mississippi River and then north by riverboat or canoe to La Crosse and from there up the Black River to settlements in Clark and Jackson County.

When the remaining settlers arrived in Wisconsin, they decided to homestead on the north side of this ridge, because the land there was more level. Each man had eighty acres of land which, when cleared, made excellent farm land. This area lies East of the present city of Neillsville, Wisconsin, which later became the county seat of Clark County, and is now paralleled by U.S. Highway #10.

Just after this group of Englishmen arrived, a big party of Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois came and camped about a mile south of Neillsville. They had come to cut timber for their temple at Nauvoo. Their camp was located along Cunningham Creek. The timber there was the largest and the tallest of any in the territory. This timber was floated down the Black River to La Crosse, where it was sawed into Lumber and ten floated down the Mississippi River on big rafts to Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormons were here for several years engaged in this lumbering.

This account centers around one member of the party, Edward King (1825 - 1903). He was born June 25, 1825, and was nineteen years old when he arrived in America. One year after his arrival, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Buss, a daughter of one of the married couples who had come to America with the original party. Shortly after their marriage, they moved west from Buffalo with the rest of the party. They homesteaded eighty acres of the land on the north side of Pleasant Ridge. (about this same time many German immigrants were coming to this area. They homesteaded land on the south side of this ridge.) All this land had to be cleared and buildings erected. Every member of the party joined in and helped each other with the building of their homes and clearing their land. After all their homes were built, they proceeded to build a church. They then built a school and one of the wives of the group was the first teacher. All material used were hewed from the logs that had been cut while clearing the land. These logs were hauled to the sawmill on Wedges Creek which was west of what later became Neillsville.

Sixteen years after their arrival in Wisconsin, the CIVIL WAR broke out. Clark County furnished one company of the 14th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, about thirty men. They were enrolled in Company I of that regiment. The regiment left the state early in March 1862, and in less than thirty days, was engaged in the battle of SHILOH. Members of this regiment served with Grant at the Siege of Vicksburg, and part of it were with Sherman in his attack campaign. It was possible for a man who was drafted to hire someone to take his place in the Army.

Edward King paid $500 to a man to take his place in the service. Jake Brown, who was Frank Brown's uncle, was to have received $500 to take another man's place. He had just reached Madison, Wis., when the war ended and he never received a cent for his services.

Edward King farmed until 1863, when something happened that offered him the opportunity to resume his original trade as brick maker. While his nephew Bill Selves was digging a well beside a small creek that flowed through what later became "Neillsville", he discovered a clay soil below the black loam that would make excellent brick. He told his Uncle Edward about this discovery and Edward arranged to buy this land. Using basswood trees from his farm land, cut into four foot lengths to bake in his kilns, he started manufacturing bricks. Around 1873, it was rumored that the newly organized County of Clark was contemplating a court house. That same year, Edward received the contract to furnish 400,000 red brick and all the dimension lumber for the court house in Neillsville. (This court house stood until 1865 when a new one was built.) For this job he received $3,600. In 1883, he made brick for the two school buildings, two churches, and several homes in Neillsville. Since he was the only brick maker in town, his business prospered.

The second Clark County Courthouse (above) was built, starting in the fall of 1875 and completed in 1876, for the amount of $35,000, under contract with C. B. Bradshaw. The brick for the structure was provided by Edward King of Pleasant Ridge..

By 1883, Edward and Elizabeth had twelve children. The order of their births was as follows: William (1856), Samuel (1858), James (1860), Hattie (1862), Frederick (1864), Lilly (1866), Lucy (1868), Alma (1871), Thomas (1873), Lottie (1876), Amy (1876), and Etta (1863).

Elizabeth King had a sister who was an important member of the community. She was born Sarah Buss, and married one of the original members of the group. (She was known by all as "Aunt Sally"). In any pioneer community the midwife was one of the most important members. Sally was a midwife and doctored everyone--young and old. Her stock of drugs consisted of Laudamum ( a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight--the equivalent of 1% morphine), Somma leaves, and secret spirits of niter. No matter how cold the nights or how deep the snow, Aunt Sally was always available to minister to the ills or help a mother in labor.

Aunt Sally had a wart about the size of a hazelnut in the middle of her forehead. When she was not using her eye glasses to read by, she would hang them over this big wart. This was such a handy arrangements that all the children wondered why everyone who wore glasses did not have a wart like this.

In 1872, just 99 years ago the 30th of June, three sons of Aunt Sally got the job to witch and dig a well on the new Clark County Fairgrounds. This job was to be completed by September 1, 1872. One son, Bill, was at the bottom of the 108 foot well doing the digging. His two brothers were up above, lifting up the dirt and sending down the lumber to shore up the sides. Suddenly the well caved in, but by a freakish accident, formed a cover over Bill thus saving his life. The two brothers spread the alarm and soon the people living nearby and people from the Neillsville were soon on the scene. They managed to get a 2 inch pipe down the well. Through this pipe they pumped air down to Bill with the aid of the blacksmith's bellows. The fire bell at Neillsville notified the surrounding countryside of the disaster. As the news spread many people from as far away as Marshfield and Eau Claire arrived at the scene by train. By the second day there was a crowd of over 2,000 people at the fairgrounds. They began to dig another hole beside the one Bill was in, working in relays. As soon as one team tired, another took its place. Several steers were barbequed to feed the crowd. After three nights and two day, they were able to tunnel through from the new shaft to the well and pulled Bill through. He cursed loudly when they pulled hi out of his new boots that he had worn for the first time on the day the well caved in. All the time they were digging the second hole, Bill could be heard cussing the diggers and telling them to hurry too. They say that at one time over 3,000 people were on the grounds all wanting to help. This well is still used after 95 years.

One of the things that bothered Aunt Sally things that bothered Aunt Sally was the fact that one of her sons married his first cousin, Lottie King. Two of their four children were feeble-minded and their lives in an institution. Stella Buddinger, sister to these two children, remembers when he Uncle Richard went courting his first cousin Etta King. Then Aunt Sally found out about this, she was fit to be tied. She caught them when Ette was getting into the buggy to go riding with Richard. She jerked Etta out of the buggy and gave her a dozen whacks across her behind and took a whip to her son, Richard...all the time shouting, "Just as I expected."

In 1875, two large lumber companies started an operation in Clark County. The largest was the Coleman and Paul Lumber Company of La Crosse, Wis., who operated in the southern half of the county. The A. R. Owen Lumber Company was a smaller company, and operated in the northern half of the county. There were also smaller outfits that logged in the county and sent logs to La Crosse with the spring drive. Each logger had hammers with their initials cut into head. Every log was marked at both ends with this hammer and when they reached La Crosse, the logs were separated much like western cattle after a round-up.

Most all the young men went into the logging camps in the winter. The work was hard, the days long, but the food and pay was good. Boom companies were organized on most rivers and small creeks. These companies built dams along the rivers and streams to hold the water for the spring drives. The dams had gates through which the logs passed downstream. Men rode these logs with a pike pole to help balance themselves. They had heavy spikes in their boots and used their pike polar to get logs loose from the brush and rocks. The drive was much easier after getting to Black River Falls, as there were no stones in the Black River from there to La Crosse. Logging operations started as soon as there was enough snow to haul logs on heavy beamed sleighs. The roads were iced and very large loads were hauled with 2 horses or oxen. The logs were piled along the river banks on skids and when the water was high enough in the spring and ice all out, they were dumped into the streams and the drive begun. The main river used for floating the logs to La Crosse from southern Clark County was the Black River, as all other streams emptied into this river. Contributory streams used were the East Fork of the Black River, Wedge's Creek, Cunningham Creek, O'Neill Creek, Rock Creek, Collie Creek, and the Poplar River. The sites of many of the dams on these creeks and rivers can still be seen after almost 150 years. After the main drive was over, men with teams went along the creeks and rivers re-floating the logs that were stranded along the banks. Following this, the horses were returned to La Crosse. The work was then over for the season.

Edward King's third daughter, Lucy, married Peter Brown in 1891. His family had come to Wisconsin in 1844 to settle in Milwaukee before moving to land near Neillsville in 1860. Peter worked for the Coleman and Paul Lumber Company for sixteen years hauling supplies and working in the spring drive. In 1893, a son, Benjamin Jacob was born, Jacob being the name of Peter's father. In 1895, another son, Frank, was born. They both spent their early years on the family farm on Pleasant Ridge. Both boys attended the original school built by their grandfather Edward King and the group that had first settled on the north ridge. Many of the children descended from the four original families were among those attending this school. It was called "Furth School".

As the English children cam over the hill from the north, the German children (who also attended this school) would be coming from the south. The German children would start yelling, "Here comes the Buffalo Tribe". Quite often a fight would start and dinner pails would swing. Many times Ben and Frank would not have any food left for the noon meal. If the teacher discovered the fight, she would punish all the participants by keeping them after school. The Brown boys had to walk one and a half miles to school and back. After one of these fights, they would blate getting home to do the chores. They could expect to be punished again by their parents.

About the time that Frank started school in 1900, the Winnebago Indians started coming to their farm every spring. The Indian band was led by Big Nose Joe, who got his name from his enormous nose. He would ask Peter Brown if they could dig ginseng on a tract of land that Peter owned down along O'Neill Creek bottom. Peter would always give his permission and then old Big Nose Joe would ask if he had any dead chickens lying around. They were always polite and seemed to be grateful to Peter for letting them dig ginseng on his land.

Amy King, another daughter of Edward and Elizabeth, married Tom Wren in 1904, and Tome became a member of the "Buffalo Tribe". They had four girls and two boys. Tom was a "will of a wisp" who never had a job and considered himself a great poker player, fighter, and drinker of hard liquor. His family grew up with little or no parental direction. Amy's sister, Lucy Brown, kept all six children in clothing and food. On the 4th of July about 4 o'clock in the morning, Tom would touch off about six sticks of dynamite with his rifle. He would place the dynamite on a big flat rock and shoot into it with a 30/30 rifle. When it went off it would blow the Peter Brown family out of bed as their farm was about two blocks from the explosion. Peter would cuss Tom for hours.

Tom had four brother-in-laws living nearby, and they hated him like poison. During prohibition he made a very poor quality moonshine. He was on and off his father's farm about a dozen times until his father got disgusted with him and sold the farm.

In 1951, Tom and Amy celebrated their golden wedding. Tom had a peculiar way of acknowledging his congratulatory cards and gifts. If Tom found money in the envelope he would announce it in a loud voice. If it did not have any money, he would throw it on the floor. He got about $250 in cash and it lasted him three nights at the tavern where he played poker. The last twenty years of his life he was on relief. He had many opportunities to succeed, but made a failure of all of them. He died in 1970 at the age of 91. His wife, Amy, died in 1973 at the age of 95.

The group known as the "Buffalo Tribe" managed to gain quite a reputation. In June 1903, a few of these boys went down to Shortville to break up a dance. Shortville at that time had a general store, church, schoolhouse, town hall, and a blacksmith shop. The "Buffalo Tribe" tried to cut in on a dance. The German boys, Franz and Galbreth brothers, did not appreciate this and the fight started. Now the boys on the ridge had brought an outsider along by the name of Bill Waterman. Bill's father was not well liked by the "Buffalo Tribe" because he fought with the rebel army against the North in the Civil War. Most of the members of the "Buffalo Tribe" had fought n the Northern army. The "Buffalo Tribe" boys got an awful beating. Tom King, Edward's youngest son, was hit on the head with brass knuckles and died about four weeks later from the wound. Every member of the group had been injured in some way.

Edward King's youngest daughter, Etta, married Frank Ruddock in 1905. Frank was nicknamed "Ox" because of his tremendous size and strength. About three weeks after their marriage while going home from work, Frank decided to stop in John Simmon's saloon for a glass of beer. John Gallbreth, who had been involved in the Shortville fight two years earlier began to heckle Frank about being a member of the "Buffalo Tribe" no that he had married into it. John wondered if Frank could fight any better than the bunch who had come to the Shortville dance years earlier. One word let to another and soon the fight started. Word spread fast and in no time fifteen to twenty men were there to cheer their favorite. John was a powerful man too. It was touch and go as to how the fight would come out. Lawmen were there too, but they did not interfere with the fight. The fight lasted over an hour and when it ended, John was out cold. His face was pounded to a pulp, and his right ear was almost torn off. Four of his ribs were broken, and six teeth were missing. He was carried off to Dr. Bradbury's office for treatment. They say it was several weeks before he could do any work. Then the sheriff took Frank home to his new bride of three weeks, she promptly fainted.

Elizabeth King died on Jan. 25, 1900. After her death, Edward moved back to the farm to live with his daughter Lucy and her husband, Peter Brown. He remained there until his death on April 12, 1903. Both Edward and Elizabeth King are buried in the town of Grant cemetery, which is located on Pleasant Ridge, five miles east of Neillsville on US. Highway 10.

A few years after Edward's death, Peter and Lucy Brown moved into the city of Neillsville. Peter found work with a well to do family by the name of Hempel as their chauffeur, gardener, and general handyman. The Hempel home and estate was one of the largest in Clark County.

Ben and Frank Brown attended the local high school, Ben graduating in 1911, and Frank in 1913. Both boys furthered their education by attending college and working until World War I broke out in 1917. They both enlisted in the Army Signal Corps. Ben was sent to France in March of 1918, and Frank in Ap0ril of 1918. They were separated all the while they were in France except for one occasion their paths crossed due to transferring troops. That an unexpected surprise, as the two boys were very close while growing up, and to be suddenly separated for one and half years was a traumatic experience for both. The boys were discharged in 1919 at the end of the war and came back home to Neillsville to live.

Ben had married Laura Griffith, daughter Edward and Pattie Griffith in 1918, just before leaving for France. Laura lived with her in-laws, Lucy and Peter Brown while Ben was overseas. She worked as a clerk at the C.C. Sniteman Drug store that is still a thriving business on Main St. in Neillsville as he decided he like Army life to a certain point. He also worked in Neillsville at the Neillsville Condensary plant which processed milk from the local farmers. In 1930 there was a serious labor dispute at the plant. Ben and Frank were sworn in as vigilantes and issued automatic rifles in case of trouble but it was broken up before anything serious started peter love to hunt but did not have a very good rifle so Frank purchased and auto loading rifle and later gave it to Peter his nephew Peter Brown son of senior Peter Who liked it very much using it to kill several buck deer. And had many successful deer hunting years down at Ernest Ulrich farm in the town of Levis.

Laura and Ben built a little white Frame house on the Southside of Neillsville in 1931. Ben also changed jobs and went to work for the Neillsville post office meanwhile continuing to advance in rank in the National Guard.

Frank Brown attended Bradley University in Peoria Illinois from 1914 to 1915 learning the watch repair trade. In 1916 he opened a jewelry store in Neillsville. He closed the store temporarily during his army service, reopening it upon his returning from overseas. The store was on Main St. between Sniteman's Drug Store and the Neillsville Bank. On New Year's Day, 1923, Frank married Frances Hogg, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hogg of Melrose, Wisconsin. A daughter, Marguerite, was born on October 23rd, 1923, and a second daughter, Joan, born on October 2nd, 1927.

Both Marguerite and Joan attended school in Neillsville. This was the same school Edward Vine had made brick for in 1883.

Frank was very active in a number of community doings such as, Masonic Lodge, Neillsville School Board, the Clark County Republican Party, Veteran's Administration Officer and numerous other areas of endeavor. He was instrumental in getting his brother, Ben, appointed Postmaster of Neillsville during the Hoover administration from 1928 to 1938. Following Roosevelt's presidential victory in 1932, Ben was succeeded as Postmaster by Frosty Kurth due to the political change. He returned to his job as a postal clerk. Frank never liked Frosty Kurth. He thought he was the biggest crook in Clark County.

Frances Brown was the Neillsville Librarian from 1921 / 1923 and from 1940 / 1958, and was also active in many local projects.

Peter Brown, Ben and Frank's father, died of a stroke, Dec. 16, 1933, shortly after the birth of Ben Laura's first child, Oct. 1933. The little girl was christened, "Betty Jane". She caught pneumonia about two months after birth and died in Dec. of 1933. She is buried in the Neillsville cemetery in the Brown family plot.

A son, Peter, was born October 28, 1934, and a daughter, Lura, born May 28, 1936, to Ben and Laura, which were very happy events as both parents were in their late 30's and early 40's at the time. Lura was penned with nickname, "Tootie" right away by her father and to this day still answers to that name to a certain privileged few of the Brown relation.

Ben and Laura sold their home in Neillsville in 1938 and purchased a 120 acre farm in the town of York about four miles north of the city. At this time Ben was Captain of the local National Guard unit, having risen through the ranks over the years.

During deer hunting season in the Fall of 1939, (Ben and Frank were avid hunters all their life) Ben contracted a serious cold which developed into pneumonia. He was bed ridden during the month of December, and just when it seemed he was on the road to recovery, he suffered a severe heart attack and died on New Year's Day, 1940, while listening to the Bowl games. He was buried with full Military and Masonic honors in the Brown family plot in the Neillsville cemetery.

Laura continued to run the farm after Ben's death with the help of hired men, many of them not very good workers. Names that come to mind were Harold Erbke, Smoky Darling and Charlie Korth. One of them had an old car with a rumble seat that Tootie and Peter enjoyed riding in.

There were hard times on the farm during this period. One year the whole herd of cattle came down with Bang's Disease and all the milk from the cows had to be dumped into the barn gutter. Milk checks were very small and the farm income didn't amount to much more than $1,000 per year from 1940 to 1948.

Tootie and Peter attended the Happy Hollow grade school which was right next to their farm. Instead of going out the driveway and down the road to school, they would cut through the pasture and under the wire fence to get to school. (Peter later told the story to his children of having to walk two miles through driving rain and blustering snow storms to get to school, which was stretching the truth slightly).

The two children experienced many happy times during these years of growing up on the farm despite not being very prosperous.

They had a pet sheep by the name of Nanny that they both teased constantly. Peter would get the poor sheep all riled up and it would start chasing him around the house. He would come of running around the corner of the pump was yelling for Tudie to open the door jumping into the porch just before old Nanny butted him a good one.

One of the Brown's neighbors by the name of Hoesly had a grandson Donnie roll who came to visit them on the farm every summer from the big city of Bloomer Wisconsin. Judy and Peter picked on Donnie as much as they did Manny their pet sheep. One time they put some of nannies sheep raisins in a nice little white bank and offered them to Donnie to try some delicious homemade candy. He took a handful and pop them into his mouth. He then proceeded to vomit and gay all over the place and run home to tell his grandma misses holes like those brown kids were trying to poison him.

Another time that he was visiting his grandparents he came over to the Brown farm all dressed up in a new blue suit complete with the tie. A creek that crossed the brown driveway had a large knothole right alongside of the culvert and Tootie Peter and this kid Donnie Row, got into an annoying match right on that Colbert. During the free-for-all poor old Donnie got pushed right down into that muddy old pothole new suit and all. Again he ran home to tell his grandma and this time Judy and Peter really caught hat although their mother was one not to spank very often she sure could school. When they were bad in raising heck she would go to the phone and turn the hand crank and say is this the sheriffs office will you come out to our farm and pick up our two naughty children? It used to scare the kids into thinking he was really coming to get them.

Peter was afraid of the dark and when he and Tootie would go upstairs in the house or down into the basement to play he would always pushed to the ahead of him so if the bogeyman jumped out it would eat Tootie first. She was fearless in many ways. Many was the time she rescued Peter from a fight with another boy. She would wade right into the kids slugging kicking pulling hair and spitting at him in the face no matter how big of a kid he was.

One of the brown children's favorite person's during those days on the farm was Lucy Brown their grandmother whom they called "Nanny" (their that she had been named after her). It was always a great pleasure to go and visit her at her house in Neillsville for a weekend or for her to come out to the farm and stay for a few days.

Nanny was the world's greatest cook. She could make dumplings as large as a softball and as light as cotton. Her sugared raised donuts for our favorite. Judy and Peter would eat raw dough holes out of all the donuts before she had a chance to fry them.

One day Nanny was hanging up the Wash clothes on the line outside and Nanny (the sheep) saw a Nanny (our grandma) bending over to get some clothes out of the close basket. Well, when Nanny butted Nanny, right in Nanny's rear end, you would have thought World War II had started all over.

Our grandma Nanny always came to our farm during thrashing time to help cook the large meals for the thrashing cruise. Chicken dumplings, pies, cakes, cookies and all kinds of good food was served and lots of it because thrashing day was hard work for all concerned.

The crew would back up the thrashing machine next to the barn and hook up a big belt on pulleys to an old McCormick Deering steel wheel tractor and that machine would run all day.

Another favorite place was the Irish farm down the road where they went swimming in the pond sometimes in the raw depending on who was all swimming there.

Bobby Irish was peters best friend and Joan Irish his sister was Tootie's best friend. The four of them had an awful lot of fun growing up during those years.

Part of the brown farm was near the Irish bar and about August it was blackberry picking time. Laura, Nanny, Tootie and Peter would pack lunches and go down into the woods and spend all day picking and eating blackberries. The mosquitoes would just about eat them alive but they would come home later in the afternoon with at least three mill pales full of berries to be eaten and can for winter pies and jams and jellies.

Halloween was a fun time also. The kids would go out in groups of 5 to 10 and try to create a little damage. They would swipe some apples from auto Warren's orchard tip over some milk cans and try to overturn any bar machinery that they could lift. They ended up getting chased by all the neighbors dogs and finally settled down at one farm for a game of hide and seek in the dark.

There was an old story at that time about one of the neighbors by the name of Bill rained out who lived next to the brown farm. He answer to the name of Buck-fart. The story goes that when he was a young man he and his chums went out on Halloween night to tip over their neighbors outdoor toilet. They found a likely subject down the road apiece. There was one man on each side lifting the building with Bill pushing from the rear. On the count of three they all picked up the toilet and moved ahead one step. Well you can imagine where old "Buck-fart" ended up heap deep in crap!

They say his swearing record was never topped until the year Tootie jerked old Henry off the thrashing Wagon.

Another big spectacular was what one of the neighbors Elmer Hoesly got married and all the people in the area held a "Chivalry" for the newlyweds. They came to his farm with every noisemaking thing they could lay their hands on--shotguns, cow bells, firecrackers etc. Then they try to make all the noise they can't until the newlyweds come out of the house with beer and food.. It was one of the few times like thrashing time that all of the neighbors could get together for fun and gossip. After all, they didn't have Saturday night at the movies or Lawrence Welk to watch at that time.

Every Friday night the Browns would crowd into Charly Forth's 1932 Pontiac coupe and head for town to do the shopping. Most of it was done at the farmers store with timeout for some candy from Schultz's 5 and 10, or a malt from Lewerenz's sweetshop. We always stopped to say hi to aunt Frances at the library and uncle Frank at the jewelry store. The last stop for the night was Potter's grocery store for a few more groceries and ice cream cones to top off the evening.

There was the time that uncle Zen Griffith (Laura Brown's brother) tried to teach her to drive a car. Down the road they went with Judy and Peter jumping and laughing in the backseat of their old 1938 Ford. All this commotion was making their mother very nervous and when they came to the driveway to turn in, she turned right into the ditch. She never try driving again.

Laura's "Uncle Will" would come and visit the farm every summer from South Dakota. He would help a little with the farm work but mostly play solitaire and drink beer when he knew no one was looking.

Francis and Frank Brown we're just about second parents to the Brown children after their father been died. They would come out to the farm about every weekend to visit took them for rides in their car bought them many many things and help Laura very much in running the farm. Aunt Frances made the most delicious white layer cake. It had frosting an inch thick on top cupboard with coconut. No one in the family has ever been able to duplicate that cake. She also made a stew that uncle freight called "Slum-Gullum". It made your mouth water when you knew she was serving it for dinner.

They held a Christmas party and dinner at their house every year for the whole wrong clam. One year Frank had a man dress up in a Santa Claus suit and come to their house Christmas Eve the pass out presents. Peter guest who it was in the suit right away. It was old man Catlin, the barber. You could tell by the way he talked he had a lisp. Probably because he didn't have his uppers him. The big part of the celebration was the Wishing well. Aunt Frances would put together a huge cupboard tub full of prizes with a string attached to each with the name on the end. Then I'm a signal everybody would pull on their string and get a present. These had to be one of the happiest times of the year for the whole Brown family.

Laura Brown and the two children remain on the farm until May 1948 then held an auction and sold their farm and all their personal property The three moved into the city of Neillsville and resided with Lucy Brown at her home for year later moving to an apartment above a time shop. Laurel worked as a waitress at Lawrence Street shop during this time.

In the summer of 1950 Laura Brown's father Edward Griffith died in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Laura was asked by her sisters to move her family to Oshkosh to care and live with her mother had a grandpa at her apartment at 29 1/2 Central Avenue. Peter Staed and Neillsville with his grandma Brown to finish his junior year in high school.

Grandma Brown Nanny took sick February 1951 and was taken to the Eau Claire hospital for treatment where she died on April 10, 1951. She is buried in the Brown family plot in the Neillsville cemetery. She was well loved by all.

We May have wavered off the main subject of the buffalo tried but the legend still stands with the families involved in his further explained in Frank Brown's epilogue to this book.

Epilogue

Each year since 1844 the buffalo tribe has grown now it numbers into the hundreds young people often call Frank Brown to ask them how they can trace their genealogy. They want to clean membership in the tribe. It seems to be more popular as time goes on. Many members of the Buffalo tried live on both sides of Pleasant Ridge and in and around Neillsville plus in many of the states of the nation. Perhaps there are many more that do not know that they're eligible to be members.

Frank E Brown 1971

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