Hello Folks, Just a quick note before we get into another segment of our history today. You may have noticed how quiet this list has been (well...more than usual, okay?) over the weekend and on Monday. The reason was that the server for the list was down. Rootsweb's staff has worked diligently all weekend to restore the use of the many lists that were on this server. We are back up and running and you should have received all of the backlogged emails that were sent but couldn't get through. The only glitch that I am aware of is that you may have tried to unsubscribe from the list and it didn't work. If that is the case, then please try again. If anyone needs help, please let me know. Everything else is 'back to normal' so why don't we get going on today's segment of the Eau Claire Beginnings? Here it is! Peter Truax was born in New York in 1828 and came to Eau Claire in 1855. He farmed on Truax Prairie until 1867 and then went into merchandising in town. His house in town was at 114 Second Avenue on the site now occupied by the educational building of Grace Lutheran church. In the early days, a new land yielded gigantic crops and Peter raised a turnip weighing 12 pounds and a potato that was 1 pound, 10 ½ ounces. His father, Jacob, lived to be over 100 years old and had been a member of the crew of Fulton's steamboat on the trial trip between New York and Albany. Jacob had six sons of which the eldest was John. John died in 1887 in Eau Claire and another brother, David, was also in Eau Claire. Peter Truax was interested in race horses all his life. One time he was returning from New York with four valuable horses which broke through the ice while crossing the river at Black River Falls. Three of the horses were drowned. He built a three story building in connection with the Eau Claire Lumber Company. The third floor was to be a hall and the main floor occupied by his dry goods store and D. E. Brown, hardware. This was in 1869. The winter before he had bought Porter and Moon's block on the corner of Barstow and Ferry Streets (Gibson) for $6,000. He also logged in the winter time and was considered one of the most successful loggers on the Chippewa. In the winter of 1880 he put in 5,5000,000 feet of logs. Ephraim Boree lived in the Town of Union which was probably why he did not qualify as treasurer (last Thursday's story -- NS) He came to Eau Claire from Reed's Landing. His son Charles lived in the state of Washington and daughters were Mrs. R. Elwell and Mrs. J. P. Burroughs. On petition, the county board acted on November 15, 1860 and erected a new town, the Town of Oak Grove. The ordinance set off from the town of Half Moon that part west of the Chippewa River, and north of the quarter line of Sections 20 and 19, of Township 27, Range 9 and of Sections 18 to 24 of Township 27, Range 10. This gave the Town of Oak Grove a southern boundary three and one half miles south of the Chippewa County line. Today the boundary line may be more graphically described as running from the Chippewa River through the Court House Square westerly, and through the site of the old high school. The line was about half way between Lake Street and what is now known as Grand Avenue west. The site on which the Court House now stands was in the new town, while the south end of the block, on which Captain Sherman's home (708 Second Avenue) now stands, was in the Town of Half Moon. Ephraim Robbins was more commonly known as Wheeler Robbins. His second house stands on the west side of highway 53 across from the Robbins school and the home of his son Hubbard was torn down to make room for the school. The Robbins came to Eau Claire in 1854. Hubbard's wife, Ida L. Turner came to Eau Claire in 1865 from New York. In 1858 Wheeler Robbins advertised that he was prepared to furnish fresh milk to citizens of Eau Claire every morning except Sunday at six o'clock at their doors. George W. Deming ran the ferry "Union" which crossed the Chippewa from Gibson to Grand Avenue west for three years. In later years he was a member of the County Board of Supervisors and served as an alderman from the Fifth and Seventh wards. The family lived at 626 Menomonie Street. He died in 1881 leaving five children. A daughter Cora, married Burt DeYo and a son Herman, was shot to death in Hayward in 1884 where he worked in a hotel. +++++++++++++ Tomorrow, we'll be reading about Eau Claire in the Fifties -- the 1850's that is! -- Nance mailto:nsampson@spacestar.net