From, "The History of Houston
County", Taylor Publishing, 1982 - Page 41
Mayville Township is
located in the central part of Houston County, the northwest corner being the
almost exact center of the county. Crooked Creek valley bisects the
township; running from Caledonia easterly into Crooked Creek Township. The
valley being quite deep, with high steep bluffs and many dry runs, leaves the
better farm land on the north, west and south sides of Mayville.
While the first white
settler of Mayville is unknown, but some of the early settlers and the
approximate date of their arrival are: 1854--John
O'Heron, Jerry Holley, T. J. Murphy; 1855--Ed Buckley, Mr. Cashman, Martin Rohan,
Thomas and James Kennedy, Thomas Moriarity, Mr. McCurdy, Charles Klein, John
Mann, and Winston Taylor; 1856--Gasper Molitor, John Mead, P. Kelly, J. J.
Reinhart; 1857, Nicholas Neu. The Irish settled the north half
of the township and the German speaking people the south half. Now we find
residents of many national origins.
The first marriage in
the township was between Will Schwinden and Catherine Reinhart.
The township was
organized at the home of Gaspar Molitor in
1859. The first supervisors were: John
Schwindon, J. G. Clark and James Kennedy, and W. F. Carrol,
clerk. No mention of a treasurer. Most of the early township
business concerned the establishment of roads and maintaining them. Also,
it seemed like every year they voted on whether or not they sould allow horses,
cattle, mules, and assess to run at large between April 1 and October 15.
Other early names
are: John O'Heron, Michael Mernack, Nicholas
Krier, Hubert Esch, John Neu, Peter Paulan, Peter Simon, Michael Weber, Frank
Johnson, Peter Gengler, James Connley, Michael Dunn, Philip Dunn, Peter Kennedy,
Marlow Bergerman, Charles Andrew, Michael Leary, John Holliday, George Holliday,
John Frisch, Peter Kelley, Alexander Stapleton, James Casey, Nick Allgroth, N.
E. Dorval, Michael Beck, Nicholas Welscher, Michael Frebig, Timothy Murphy,
Frank Schanzen, H. M. Philips, Mathias Schwindon, Charles Murphy, Joseph Vossen,
C. H. Brown, J. H. Davidson, Edward Bennet, J. E. Pope.
The supervisor who
served the longest was probably Pat Hayes,
from 1908 to 1960. The present officers are Lloyd
Jennings, Herman Heinz, Maynard Welscher. Joe Dahlberg as
clerk, and Viola Guillien as
treasurer. Viola is the first lady to serve.
The present town hall
on Main Street, across from the fairgrounds, in Caledonia was purchased and
moved their in 1912. Before that the polling place was District 43 (Murphy
School).
Among the many changes
of the past 50 years has been the coming of REA, the closing of small rural
schools, the taking over of the farmer owned telephone lines by the Bell System,
and improving the black topping of many of our farm roads.
Farming, too, has
changed. It has gone from wheat raising by the early settlers to general
livestock farming, to the specialization we have now. Once nearly every
farmer milked some cows, had hogs or beef or both. Farms have become
larger and now dairy cattle are found on about 40 farms. About 20 farms
have hogs and 30 have beef cows or feeder cattle or both. A few farms have
no livestock. The principle crops are corn and alfalfa hay.
Mayville--where did the
name originate? I don't think I have ever seen the name used
elsewhere. Maybe the early settlers looked forward to the month of May,
after the long hard winter. In May the grass is green, the wild flowers
are in bloom and the crops are being planted. Mayville--a nice place to be
especially in the spring.
Compiled and submitted
by Clarence Eikens
