History of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens.

              166
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
1 east.    The store of Treve & Smith was desig¬ nated as the place  for the first town meeting.
Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were detached from the town of Bad Ax and attached to Jef¬ ferson.
Harmony was another of the towns created in November, 1855. The territory, as then em¬ braced, is probably best described by tracing its boundaries as follows: Commencing at the northeast corner of township 13, range 6 west; thence west on the township line to the north¬ west corner of said township; thence south on the range line to the northeast corner of section 13, township 13, range 7; thence west on the sec¬ tion line to the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence down the river to a point opposite the southwest corner of section 16, township 12, range 7 west; thence east on the township line to the southwest corner of section 13, township 12, range 6; thence north on the range line to the place of beginning. The first town meet¬ ing for Harmony was ordered held at the house of John Ruwalt.
The indebtedness of the original towns was appropriated out among the new towns created. This made eleven towns in the county—Bad Ax, Bergen, Jefferson, Kickapoo, F'orest, Hills¬ borough, Union, Webster, Christiana, Green¬ wood and Harmony.
On the 27th of March, 1857, by authority of the board of supervisors the town of Bad Ax was divided and Sterling was created. This town then embraced the following territory: Sections 19, 20, 21, 30, 29, 28, 31, 32 and 33, township 12, range 5 west; sections 4, 5,-6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17 and 18, township 11, range 5 west; sec¬ tions 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, township 11, range 6 west; sections 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, 19, 20, 29, 30, 31 and 32, township 12, range 6 west; the north half of township 11, range 7; and the south half of township 12, range 7. It was ordered that the first town meeting of Sterling be held at the house of Lewns Sterling on the 7th of April, 1867.
At the same time the board ordered that sec¬ tions 7, 8, 9, 16, 17 and 18, township 12, range
5 west, be detached from Bad Ax and attached to Jefferson. Section 1, township 12, range 5, was taken from the town of Viroqua, and made a part of Jefierson.
On the 28 of March, 1857, the towns of Wheat¬ land and Masterson were created, and ordered organized. Provision was made for holding th^; first town meeting of Wheatland at the house of Jonathan Law, April 7, 1857. The first town meeting of Masterson was to be held at Hunt
6 Oleson's mill, on the same date.
The town of Wheatland then embraced the following territory: The north half of town¬ ship 11, range 7 west, and the south half of township 12, range 7; also sections 19, 20, 29, 30, 31 and 32, township 12, range 6; and sec¬ tions 5, 6, 7, 8, 17 and 18, township 11, range 6 west.
The town of Masterson embraced territory which was taken from Christiana: Township 14, range 3 west.
Whitestown was created at the same time, embracing township 14, range 2 west—the same as at the present time. The first town meeting was ordered held at Prentice's store, April 7, 1857.
On the 27th of March, 1857, an important act was passed by the board of supervisors. It changed the name of the town of Bad Ax to Lock- haven. Thus it remained until the 24th of No¬ vember, 1857, when the name of Lockhaven was abolished, and Franklin took its place. At the seme time the name of the town of Masterson was changed to Clinton.
On the 10th of November, 1857, C. W. Law- ton and others, presented a petition to the board asking that Kickapoo be divided, but it was rejected.
The town of Bergen was divided Nov. 10, 1857, and Hamburgh was created, embracing the territory of township 14, range 6 west. It still embraces the same territory, although the final "h" has been discarded, the name now be-