The Fairwater Historical Society completed another step in its organizing efforts at its annual meeting on March 4, electing its first officers and Board of Directors. Marie Hardesty , Cirena Lenz, William Loechelt, and Barbara Vande Brink were elected to terms as Board Members. Bob Schuster, president, George Sanders, vice president, Arlene Leppin, secretary, and Arlene Erdman, treasurer, were elected to 1-year terms as the society’s initial officers. The Board also voted to create two additional positions, electing Tom Montag as publicity officer and Lois Schmuhl as accessions officer. Stelters Honored The Historical Society honored Oliver and Frances Stelter at its annual meeting March 4, citing their many years of effort in promoting an awareness of the history of the village. The Stelters were made honorary Board members, awarded life membership, and designated as the first official members of the society.
Ness to Speak at April Meeting Gillman Ness, longtime president of the Markesan Historical Society, will speak at the monthly Fairwater Historical Society meeting on April 1. Mr. Ness is expected to discuss the recent project to restore the Markesan railroad depot, now in use as part of the Grand Valley Museum. Montag, Schuster Attend Workshop Tom Montag and Bob Schuster represented FHS at a workshop for local historical societies on March 26 sponsored by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Workshop topics included oral history, fund raising, and collecting and caring for photographs. Ninneman and Schmuhl Donate Public School Photos Mary Ninneman and Marcelette Schmuhl, among the last teachers in Fairwater’s public school, have donated their photographs of the school and its students to the Fairwater Historical Society. Included are student photos taken during 1967 and 1974-81 and student exhibits from 1975-76. Lawson Family Donates School Desk Nancy Lawson and family have contributed a school desk to the FHS project to recreate an elementary classroom in the former public school. The desk appears to date to the 1930’s. Vande Brink Transcribing Fairwater Register Barb Vande Brink has begun transcribing the surviving issues of the Fairwater Register, the village’s only newspaper. Published between 1903 and 1905 by Elmer Howe, the Register recorded community news during the village’s most active construction period. Vande Brink has completed the last six months of the surviving copies of the paper, from January to July, 1904. Included are reports on the first annual meeting of the Fairwater State Bank, completion of the new Free Will Baptist church in Jim Town, creation of a telephone exchange for the Alto Telephone Company in the Tinkham brothers’ store, construction of the Lutheran parsonage on Church Street, demolition of the old mill house at the end of Washington Street and construction of a new house on the same site by John Laper, completion of an addition to William Bloch’s hotel, and construction of homes for C. S. Griffith, Dr. O. M. Layton, Elsie Warner, Herman Fratzke, and Mrs. Burgess. The transcriptions will be added to the clippings collection on the Fairwater Web site. Planning for Memorial Day Dedication of Pangburn Stone FHS is working with the Fairwater-Brandon American Legion post on plans for the Memorial Day dedication of the new Henry Pangurn stone in the Fairwater Cemetery. Pangburn, a Civil War veteran of Company A of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry, died in Fairwater on April 5, 1865, the morning following his return home. Pangburn’s stone has been missing for many years, and through the efforts of Arlene Erdman a new stone has been created by the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs. Early Letters from Fairwater Located by Sanders Gerald Sanders has found two letters written late in 1884 from Fairwater by Soren Hansen to her son, John H. Simmons, and has made transcripts available to the society. The first, dated August 4, reads: Fairwater, Wisconsin Dear Hans, Your letter of July 20 we have received with joy and are glad and hope it will always be well with you on your undertakings. When we hear of them it makes us feel good and I believe that when a person goes forth with industry and righteousness you will always have success. It has been hard for us to get the harvesting done. For the last two weeks we have had so much rain but are glad that the hay was harvested. We had four small loads of hay but the grain is short and much weeds that have pretty much choked the grain so that it is not so good. Jacob is well and has worked for David Hillman for three weeks. He was sick for three weeks, and then for two weeks he could not work again. He says we have been good to him and he has often told us this. Peter is in Neenah but forgets to write home. Mary has gone to Stevens Point but we don’t hear much from anyone. We are well and have it good enough. We have sold a big cow to a man who has rented [unreadable place and received $10.00 paid down and are to get $25.00 more in October is fall is well. She didn’t give much milk and didn’t have a calf and feed is so expensive. We still have two cows [unreadable]. Jens Jorgenson said there was no hurry about the $5.00 [unreadable] ne said he had not paid Norris [unreadable] We have sold our two best horses [unreadable] We will have $260.00 coming in this fall. It seems that my letter is getting long so I think I will close for this time with a hearty greeting to you and hope that all will go well with you. It doesn’t look like your sisters and brother will make much progress here. So good-bye Soren Hansen |
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NEWSLETTER
Meetings The Fairwater Historical Society meets the first Saturday of each month at the Fairwater Lion’s Club on south Main Street. An exchange of photographs and information begins at 2:00, followed at 2:30 by the meeting. The public is invited. The annual meeting is held the first Saturday of March. Acquisitions The Fairwater society accepts donations of items with historic ties to the immediate Fairwater area. Contact Lois Schmuhl, accessions officer, at Radio Road, Brandon, WI 53919. Membership Membership in the Fairwater Historical society is $10 annually for individuals and families, $100 lifetime for individuals. Contact Arlene Leppin, PO Box 151, Fairwater, WI 53931 Web Site The society maintains a Web site on the Wisconsin Local History Network. Featuring projects, activities, calendars, and copies of the FHS newsletter, the society’s site can be browsed at: www.wlhn.org/fairwater_histsoc Newsletter Current issues are available at the Fairwater post office. Past issues and mailings are available through Bob Schuster, 6020 Kristi Circle, Monona, WI 53716 (608-221-1421).
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