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see also History of Greenwood Township top (The following is a copy of a copy)
(This is a typewritten copy of the original manuscript, hand written by the author, a long time resident of Greenwood Township, Vernon County, Wisconsin. He did not date it, so I am not sure when it was written. I received the manuscript from George's niece, Winnie Bruce, of Viroqua, a retired teacher, aged 90. This copy was made in April, 1986). Richard M. Shreve. The first settler on Debello Ridge was William VanAlstine. He came about 1851 and settled in what is now Section 23, Greenwood Township. His cabin was built about 30 rods east of where the Debello Cemetery is located. An unbroken wilderness extended for miles in every direction. The next year, Isaac Meek and William Jordan moved in from Indiana. The year 1852 was the year of the great trek to Oregon. VanAlstine had caught the Oregon fever, so Mr. Meek bought his claim, and Jordan built his cabin on adjoining land on the east, where the Anton Liska house now stands. (Tony Nunes now lives there) In those days the trip to Oregon was usually made by ox team. Four to six oxen were hitched, to each wagon, and a number of emigrants having banded together for mutual protection, the trains would start on the six month trip across the plains and the Rockies. John and Caleb Shreve came in from Ohio in 1853. John lived for a while where the Fred Machovec home now is, but afterward located on the land now owned by William Fronk. He resided there until his death in 1894. Caleb located on Section 22, the present Herman Setzer farm. He cleared the land, and fenced it with a fence ten rails high. The rails were not slivers, either: many of them were as large as two or three ordinary rails. Every rail was notched as carefully as a house log, For many years the fence stood a source of wonder and amazement to every passing stranger. (Caleb was my Great Grandfather). Robert Bailey carne from Canada in 1854, and located on the quarter section now owned by Walter Snyder. His son, James Bailey, born that same year, is said to have been the first white child born in Greenwood Township. The Baramores, and probably others came about the same time. The next year, 1855, quite a number of settlers arrived, among them Miles Bundy, a physician. He built near the upper spring at the foot of the Melancthon Creek hill. The lone pine standing in the field at the foot of the hill is one that Dr. Bundy planted in his dooryard in 1856. Dr. Bundy traveled long distances on foot and on horseback to minister to the sick. Unable to endure the hardships of a pioneer doctor's life, he later returned to Indiana. In 1855 a village was platted by James Straight and Richard Smith, at the crossroads where the Debello School now stands. The village was named Debello. (According to information received from the State Historical Society, this is an Italian name, loosely translated as "A place of beauty") The village never developed into anything more than a mere hamlet. Richard Smith brought in a stock of goods and erected a store building, It was in the southwest corner of where the crossroads now are. The building was of unhewn logs, and covered with a shake roof. Smith only stayed a year or two, then closed out his business and moved to Missouri. He is said to have been killed in battle during the Civil War. After the war, Alonzo McKoon conducted a mercantile business there for a while; at other times the building was used for a dwelling house until it became too dilapidated for that purpose. It stood until the late seventies, when it was torn away and the land put under cultivation. Then there was a blacksmith shop, presided over by one Daniel Bates. This is said to have been east of the store, on land now owned by Ed Janousek. On the north side of the road, directly across from the store was another building used as a dwelling house, Post Office and hotel. Moses Jordan lived there. Debello was on the main road followed by the emigrants who were moving to the LaCrosse country and southern Minnesota. Those who lived near this road, picked up many a much needed dollar by keeping these people overnight. An old cabin used to stand in a maple grove where the Frank Janousek dwelling now stands. This was known as the Mike McGonigel house. Mike is described as a rollicking curly haired Irishman. He married a daughter of James Brown, and a few years later they returned to their native state, Ohio. These buildings, with the school house and possibly another dwelling or two comprised the town. About ten rods west of the crossroads, on the south side of the road, can be seen a low mound in the fence row. On this spot the men of the village dug to a considerable depth in search of water, but found none. In dry weather the nearest water was a spring on the Frank Barbour farm, nearly a mile distant. The cabins of these early days were usually built with rafters hewed out, by hand and logs and roofed with shakes. A chimney was built at one end, to accommodate a fireplace. Over the fire the bread was baked, and all the cooking done. The floor was made of plank, hewed out with the broad axe. With just these crude conveniences the people got along without half the complaining we hear these days. By the time the great Civil War began in 1861, Debello ridge and the adjoining valleys were quite well settled. The call to arms created intense excitement here as elsewhere. Men and boys, the old, middle aged, young met at Debello Saturday afternoon for drill. Those who had guns brought them, others used a pitchfork or stick in place of a gun. I never learned whether they had a drill master, or who he was. Possibly William Jordan, as he was a veteran of the Mexican War. During the four years struggle, at least a dozen men who lived in the territory then comprising the Debello School District served in the union army. Here is a list of their names: Rufus Bruce, William Jordan, James F. Riley, John Shreve, Hezekiah Shreve, Caleb Shreve, Ezra W. Shreve, Robert Bailey, James M. Bundy, Phineas Bundy, Byron Knuteson, William Hyne. No doubt there were others. Of those I have named, Robert Bailey was killed in action, James M. Bundy and William Hyne died of disease. Byron Knuteson came home at the close of the war much shattered in health and died soon after. Rufus Bruce, aged 48 was the oldest of these men, and Phineas Bundy, aged 16 was the youngest. The old men and the boys carried on at home the best they could. Soon after the war came the "hops boom". Many took to growing hops, but then, in the seventies, the hops market failed. This, with the great financial crash of 1873 left many people in straightened circumstances. Gold and silver went out of circulation. For change there came pennies, 3 cent silver pieces, nickels and 10 and 25 cent paper bills--or shinplasters, as they were called. Some children were 10 years old before they ever saw a silver dollar or a dime. The depression lasted until the early eighties. The people got along some way. No one thought of asking or accepting charity. Better times came at last and money became more plentiful. In the early sixties, an epidemic of diphtheria swept through the settlement. Before it could be brought under control, many of the children died. Seven died in one family within a few days. Then there was the cold New Years day, January 1, 1864, by far the coldest day ever known in Wisconsin. Many are the stories the people of that time told of it in later years. Many other incidents might be mentioned, but a little about the school, and I will close. The first school house in what is now District 5 was built at Debello about 30 or 35 rods west of the store building on the south side of where the highway now runs. This house is said to have been a typical log cabin, built of round logs and plastered with clay. The house was built about 1856 and only used 8 or 10 years. Jennie Smith is said to have been the first teacher. Who the other teachers were, down to Civil War days, I do not know, except that Joe Martin is said to have taught for the munificent sum of $10.00 per month and board. Some of the children who attended school in this building were: Sam and Agnes Bailey, Ezra Smith, Sarah Shreve, Hattie and Frances Bruce, Melinda Jordan, Peter Brott, Phineas Bundy, Clem and Bessie Cherington, besides many others. During the Civil War, Gaylord Freeman taught for a time, also Mr. Shore. There are no records extant, but a second school house was built, probably about 1866, or near that time. It was built a little to the east of the other house, and stood on the north side of the road. The logs were hewn white oak, and the building was plastered with lime mortar and had a shingle roof. Some of the teachers in the late sixties and early seventies were: Laura Burdick, Mary Renick, Martha Commich, Julia Knowles, Maria Smith and Rebecca Smith. There being no church building in the community, services were held in the school house. Some of the men who preached here, from the close of the Civil War down to 1880 were: J. H. McMees, Mr. Commick, Martin Rogers, James H. Shreve, Adam Shambaugh, Donald Young, William Smith and Charles Hubbard. These men were, for the most part farmer preachers, but they preached with a power and fervency that made saints rejoice and sinners tremble. The school house, as I first remember it contained 12 or 14 home made seats. These seats were supposed to be for two pupils, but often three or four were crowded into them. Some of the seats are now in the Greenwood Town Hall. In addition to these was the "long seat", a bench that ran the entire length of the building on each side. In the center was a large box stove. On the north wall was the blackboard, behind which the teacher kept a generous supply of ironwood switches within easy reach. There was no uniform system of text books; each pupil brought whatever kind he chanced to have. This made so many classes that the teacher had time for little else. The teachers were paid from twenty to twenty-five dollars a month. In the winter when the older boys came, there were sometimes as many as 60 enrolled. Where they all found room is a mystery, The noon hour was usually enlivened by a fight or two, which added zest to the sport. The teachers in the last half of the seventies and the early eighties were: Frank Fine, Alice Mallow, Charles Johnson, Lydia Thompson, Edith Mitscher, Mary King, Mary and Flora Saltz, Frank Boynton and Kate Costello. In l885 the present school house was erected. An acre of land was purchased of Mr. Janousek for .$12.00. David Mullen furnished the material and built the house for $465.00. Some time later the old house was sold and moved away for a dwelling. Later it was used by the Lutheran People as a parochial school. building. It now stands in the Blosko Liska's farmyard, the logs apparently as sound as when taken from the forest 75 years ago. Annie Brandon taught the first term in the new house. In 1886, the district dads concluded that we older boys needed a man to handle us, so they hired George Moody for the then unheard of salary of $40.00 per month. Moody had a gift of being able to see everything that was going on in the school room, and we soon learned that the best way to get along with him during school hours was to attend strictly to business. He was a good teacher, and during the two years that he taught here he did much to get the school out of the rut it had been in for years, and establish it on a better basis. But I am getting down to modern times, and this is supposed to be a partial description of pioneer days. So I will close forthwith. These are a few items written from memory, as I heard them from the lips of some of the men and women who lived in these hills and valleys in the long ago. Footnote: I have attempted to copy this as accurately as possible from the yellow and aging manuscript. I apologize any errors I may have made. Mr. Kegley used an old fashioned pen, the kind you dipped in the ink, and displayed " good command of the English usage. It would be interesting, I’m sure, to read some of the other poems and other material he wrote. signed by Richard M. Shreve
Note by D. Shreve: the only corrections I did on this were a couple obvious spelling errors. The names Commich and Commick appear to be the same surname, but it is unclear which spelling is correct. Although Richard M. Shreve used the version of his name as shown above, he was better known as Milburn Shreve.
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