Peering at the Past Fires, fatalities, 50 years and leap year festivities

Part ten of a series

It became associated with Sadie Hawkins, a 1937 cartoon character. But 57 years earlier, a similar social event occurred in 1880 Caledonia. The 1882 History of Houston County recounted notable events year by year.

THE YEAR 1878

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In December, Mr. John Knock, a German living in the township of Brownsville, was killed by the fall of a large limb of a tree he was attempting to fell. His skull was fractured, and he survived but a few hours. He was a prosperous farmer and left a family.

Joseph Fleishman, of Brownsville, committed suicide in December, by shooting himself through the head with a pistol. Not long before his residence was burned, which so depressed his mind, that he thus attempted to escape his troubles; his age was about fifty.

THE YEAR 1879

On the 6th of April, while Mr. John Higgins and Mr. Nels Emerson were hunting and fishing on Winnebago Creek, Mr. Higgins shot a duck, and the same ball glanced to the right and fatally shot his companion, Mr. Emerson, in the neck, so that he died two days afterwards.

In May, a man named Nicholas Krause, who lived in Crooked Creek, was found dead in his house where he lived alone; he had probably fallen and instantly expired. He was about seventy-four years of age.

DIED IN CALEDONIA. – September 25th, Philo Dibble, at the advanced age of 91 years.

SUICIDE. – Frank Seward, a young man living with Gilbert Thomas, shot himself dead in the presence of a young lady in the house. He was from New York. No reason is known for the rash act.

FIRE. – On the morning of September 5th, a fire was discovered in the rear of Mr. West’s blacksmith shop in Caledonia. The shop and a barn near it was consumed. J. W. Cook’s building was in imminent danger, but was saved, which was fortunate as it contained a drug store, the Journal office and the post office. After burning a pile of wood in the rear of Cragen’s saloon, the fire was subdued. A simultaneous fire occurred on a farm belonging to A. D. Sprague. A haystack and corn crib were destroyed.

THE YEAR 1880

A LEAP YEAR PARTY. – The ladies of Caledonia, desiring to make the most of the quadrennial year, when conventionally they are supposed to have rights extraordinary, on the 4th of February inaugurated a leap year party at the Barnes House. The usual order of male preference in gallanting the ladies was reversed. All the details, the orders, and paying the bills were done in a most charming way by the women, who certainly set up an admirable example of polite attention. All the usual social amusements were indulged in, and the supper was most elaborate, comprising everything from the most elaborate, comprising everything from the most solid and substantial to the daintiest luxury. The festivities were kept up with the fullest enjoyment until 3 o’clock A. M. when the ladies took their partners home.

THE YEAR 1881

FIRE. – At Brownsville, on March 30th, the house of A. L. Darling was burned, entailing a loss of $1,200, which was a total one to him, as an insurance policy had expired, and was to have been renewed the next day. Besides Mr. Darling the following persons were losers by the fire: Ed Dean, Elmer Davis, James Wilson, Mrs. Henry Whicher, Miss Darling, of Winona, and Mrs. Holmes.

GOLDEN WEDDING. – On Saturday, the 22nd of October, at an early hour in the evening, the numerous friends of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Dunbar, met at their house in Caledonia, to celebrate with them the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day. These occasions are not so common as to be permitted to go unrecorded. Fifty years is much more than an average lifetime, and what fifty years of wedded life signifies, with all the trials, troubles, and tribulations on the one hand, and the pleasures, pastimes, and poetry of life on the other, only those who have thus traveled side by side, can fully realize. There were a large number of presents in great variety, and most appropriate for the aged couple.