German Settlement

“The first lumbering was undertaken in Price County by Major Isaac Stone in what is now the town of Spirit, on the Spirit River, a tributary of the Wisconsin River. Major Stone came to the Spirit River country in 1860 before the land was marked by government surveyors. He married an Indian and raised a family of two sons and one daughter. He cut the choice timber on the land and backed his logs on the Spirit River, then floated them down the Wisconsin. In due time he became the first homesteader in Price County. He located his homestead in what is now the town of Spirit on June 18, 1868.”  (Crop Reporting Bulletin, WI August 1953)

In 1873 Siegfried Meier, a German immigrant visited the area with his son looking for good homestead lands. It must have met his approval as records indicate that in 1878 he returned with a group of relatives from Germany who settled the area along a portion of the Spirit River. The little settlement that came to be known as the German Settlement grew.

A detailed history and description about the German Settlement in the Town of Spirit was written by Roy Meier in 1977: German Settlement History. (Contributed by Joyce Bant. Used with permission by Marilyn Erickson.)

A portion of German Settlement’s history has been preserved for educational purposes by the German Settlement History, Inc. Please visit their website to learn more about this organization: www.germansettlementhistory.org

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