Here are more of those early settlers from Eau Claire Co. Chapin M. Seeley erected a residence ready in the spring of 1857 which was the first plastered building in Eau Claire. (A dubious honor when considered in conjunction with the story about Selim Peabody's early experiences in Eau Claire.) Mr. Seeley's house and small bank building were located on the south side of Gilbon (Gibson? N. S.) Street, on the west half of the block between Barstow and Farwell. He was appointed with Charles Whipple and R. F. Wilson and others to lay out several state roads to Eau Claire in 1856, and was the surveyor who ran the lines for the village of Eau Claire acting as agent for the proprietors. Mr. Seeley was for a time cashier of the Bank of Eau Claire which had been started in 1856 with W. H. Gleason as president and C. R. Gleason, cashier. Charles Whipple succeeded Seeley as cashier in September, 1858 and Seeley moved to Meadville, Pa. the next month. Daniel Shaw located a mill at what is now called Shawtown. Ingram and Kennedy purchased a site for their first mill. Adin Randall came from Madison in 1885 (I believe this should actually be 1855 - N. S.) and began the erection of the Eau Claire house on the site of the present Hotel Eau Claire. He bargained for Gage and Reed's half of the town property for $45,000 the whole of which had cost them $300. In the fall he transferred his interest to Chapman and Thorp for a bonus of $2000. According to Marshall Cousins he was a second cousin of Simon, George and Thomas Randall. He was described as a "live wire" and did much to push the development of the west side. He had the west side platted in August 1856 by Frank Moore and W. W. Spear and recorded it as Eau Claire City. The land was covered with brush without a finished building upon it. By the fall of the following year about thirty houses had been erected but further progress was checked for some time when it was discovered that Adin Randall had executed a mortgage on the whole land and no title could be given purchasers. Permission was given Randall in March '57 to operate a ferry across the Chippewa. He, along with Shaw and Company excavated a canal 1200 feet long connecting Half Moon Lake with the river and built a planing mill near the mouth of the canal. This was in 1857. The mill was at the foot of 9th Avenue. Because of the financial panic and hard times of 1857-1860, he lost the land he had platted as Eau Claire City. He sold the planing mill in 1860 and went to Chippewa Falls for a short time, after which he built a saw mill at Jim Falls. Later he bought a grist mill at Reed's Landing. One time Mrs. Randall was lighting a camphene lamp when it exploded and burned her arms and face and almost everything in the room before the fire could be extinguished. Randall was making plans for a bridge across the Eau Claire at Barstow Street but died in 1868 before the plans were executed. He was only thirty seven years of age and left a wife and six children. His obituary said, "The west side was long called 'Randalltown' due to the interest Mr. Randall took in its growth. He was a man of strong inflexible mind who was most generous both with money and time used for the benefit of others." The family home still stands at 526 Menomonie Street. His son Edgar H. died in 1917 leaving two sons who lived in Eau Claire, Adin Arthur and Everett Harold. A son of Adin's, Burdett, died in Denver in 1880, and a daughter was Mrs. Nellie G. Palmer born on the west side in 1857 who died in 1910. Mrs. Adin Randall died of cancer in 1885. ++++++++++++ There's still lots more of these stories, so we'll just keep going on with them. I hope you are enjoying them! -- Nance mailto:nsampson@spacestar.net