Bio: Prechel, Otto & Tressa - Early Spencer Area Farm (1912)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Prechel, Johnston

Source: Spencer Centennial Book (1874 – 1974)

According to the abstract of the Prechel farm, the land was transferred from the United States to the State of Wisconsin in 1864. In 1866 it became the property of the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. In 1878 the Railroad Company sold it to Phillips and Colby, a railroad construction company. In 1888, after passing through several hands, it became the property of Frank Johnston, whose widow, Etta Johnston, once owned the hotel on Highway 13. She rented the farm for a number of years, until 1912, when she sold it to Otto Prechel and his wife, Tressa, who had moved here from Waupaca County.

In 1914, Mr. Prechel built a new barn. He had cut the timber from his own land and the lumber was sawed at $2.00 per thousand feet. Hardware materials cost $58.00, including nails at $1.75 a keg. Cost of labor was $200.00. Their son, Harold, and his wife, Eunice, purchased the farm in 1953. The original 120 acres, located west of Spencer on Highway 98, in the Town of Sherman (Clark Co.), has been increased from time to time, until it now has an area of 280 acres, upon which are kept 80 head of stock, including 48 dairy cows.