STARTING SPARTA, POST #6

Sparta Thursday 7-21-11 This installment finds us (me) in sunny Sparta, Wisconsin.  I had spent Wednesday night in Spring Valley, Minnesota because that was the home of the Edwards family who married into the Breton family with Arthur’s marriage to Edith Breton, the eldest child of John Walter Breton.  It’s a pretty, little, wide space in the road with green lawns, pretty homes and not much else.  There may be more and I may be hearing from the Chamber of Commerce but I really didn’t spend much time looking around.  After another meal of locally grown produce, frosted corn flakes, I lit out.  It was my goal to get to Sparta early enough to set up camp and then begin hitting the research possibilities.  On the way there I took the scenic drive from Spring Valley to LaCrosse and it WAS scenic. Beautiful hills, bluffs, and the Root River meant campsites and pristine woodlands.  After a nice long phone conversation at the side of the road with Karen I crossed the Mississippi around 7:30 am and headed ‘On (to) Wisconsin.“  The Leon Valley Campground was my spot, actually 26A was my spot, but I loved it because I could pull right through it with no backing necessary, it had trees on both sides, a picnic table and nobody on either side.  I learned that before I before I unhook the trailer from the truck and put the trailer up on its jacks I should pull out the cord and hose from the trailer to see if they reach the electrical plug-in and spigot.   It won’t happen again, I assure you. Sparta is where the John Bretons came after leaving Milwaukee in 1871.  It was in this “western” town that John Walter’s father and mother became entrepreneurs, operating their own commercial laundry for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad.  J.W. and his siblings attended school here, made friends here, and J.W. found two wives here.  The family was here for only four years before the lure of land in the Dakota Territory and J.W.’s job in Huron took them west.  There might not be much documentation of their presence here since they were here for such a short time, but since I was going through, I had to see what I could stir up.  My first stop was the Free Library where I perused some old newspaper microfilm and copied an ad for the Newbury-Ward Iron works.  Since I had no birth or deaths to look for that only left marriages and family records indicate that John Walter married Lizzie Sawyer in Huron.  In fact, they were married by Abram Thompson, John Walter’s sister’s (Maggie’s) husband.  I searched the papers shortly after the wedding date and no mention.  At that time records did not have to be filed, and I couldn’t find it in the county’s Marriage Record books either.  Good thing I have the other resources to help tell the story.  Next I trudged over to the History Center that is in the grand old Masonic Building.  There will be a picture in the blog.  Upstairs is the Deke Slayton Space and Bicycle Museum but my interest was to see what they had that would help further my efforts.  Here I worked with several volunteers since the Coordinator was out of town on a mission to procure new computerized microfilm readers.  I worked with one of them in Huron and they are brighter and easier to work.  Mostly we struck out in the areas we explored there.  I took my frustrations upstairs and was pleased to see the collection of bicycles and space gear donated by Slayton. They also had a ¼ scale model of the Wright Brothers Flyer that some of the local airplane aficionados had built. Using similar materials such as linen and wood, it was very authentic and a joy to see up close.  I went back downstairs and asked about property records.  I was directed to the majestic courthouse (blog worthy picture) and was surprised to see that I had to go through a security check like at the airport.  Once in, I found that the Register of Deeds office was in a modern building catty-corner to the courthouse.  Off I went and found myself again lifting heavy, big ledgers of Grantee and Grantor records.  It’s an experience handling these old leather, some suede, books, seeing the fountain pen writing, noticing the different handwriting of the various clerks and knowing that it was the technology and organization of the day.  I found both residential and rural properties for both the Bretons and Wards.   Susan, the clerk there, took it upon herself to photocopy a present day map and highlight a route out to see the rural property for me.  Again, the kindness.  After closing time I returned to the campground and erected the awning for the first time in the wild.  It went well and I welcomed the shade.  It wasn’t as hot as the previous week, but. Nonetheless I closed out the evening with a swim in the pool.  As I was bobbing about, I heard some kids come running up who thought that one of their own was in the water without them.  I heard one say, “Is that Jerry?”  “Naw,” one of them said, ”It’s just some old guy.”  Well, I started grinning from ear-to-ear.  I really hadn’t ever thought of myself with those descriptors, but…I suppose they were right.  Is that what they call a “Wake-up call”?  So I continued to bask in the cool and looked forward to the days when I’ll soon enjoy the warm waters for my soon-to-be arthritis. It was so cool that I cooked dinner in the trailer.  A delightful Hamburger Helper with sausage. There was plenty left so into the ice box it went.  Wal-mart had block ice so I made a daily trip there.  That was my first day in Huron and the next days looked promising.