"Charlie made but a short stay in the north this time and did not create a very good impression while here on account of his aversion to labor. (Said he would go home cod up the old gent and could live easy with him this winter!) He also said he would tell you that I cheated him in trade and would try to put you against me. The fact is he was trying to trade with someone all the time and I refused to trade with him many times when it would have been to my advantage to trade as I did not want to take advantage of him. I made but one trade with him, gave him my watch my revolver and five Dollars in cash for his watch which was equal to $25 cash and you can buy a new watch today of the Stamp for $22. I bought his old horse when he got him to Detroit and gave him 30 for him, have been at expense of shipping him home about 10 Dollars and I could not sell him for 23$ today.

I paid him fifteen Dollars for one month and one weeks work let him work when and where he was a mind to and never asked him to work with my other hired hands. All he done during the time he was with me would not pay for his Board one half of the time he was with me And he told around that he would get just as much pay & as much thanks as though he worked hard this is (a) matter that I do not like to refer to nor should I but I did not know what kind of a story he might tell and I thought I would give you my version of the whole matter and perhaps put you on your guard for I am sure he is more able to work than you are. I should never have thought of Charlie being so deceitful myself had not his confidents informed me of the matter since he went home."

"Herbert Charles Getty was on his own since eleven years of age. In 1885 he went out west with his father, Charles, who wanted to have a homestead on the Rogue River at Grant's Pass. I don't know how long they were there. We lived in Fairmont, Minnesota, for awhile and I was about four or five years old when I last saw my grandfather and his youngest son, Wilbur, who was about ten years old. Wilbur had a large rocking horse, and he took me upstairs to see it. My father, Herbert, was a volunteer Spanish American War veteran. He served in Company I  15th. Minnesota Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish American War.

The 15th Regiment was mustered into service July 18, 1898, and mustered out on March 27, 1899. He was a charter member of the Charles E. Bond Camp No.9.

"In February 1899 Herbert married Gina B. Iverson, in Minneapolis. He was 23 years old and she was 19. Gina was born in Norway September 30, 1880. They had three children: Nellie M., born February 7, 1900; Bert L., born September 18, 1902; and Alice M., born August 10, 1913. Alice died June 7, 1980. My father belonged to the Odd Fellows Lodge and was almost up to the rank of Patriarch Militant when he decided to leave and join the Masonic Order.

"My brother Bert was a DeMolay 'til he was old enough to join the Masonic Order and has been a member for 57 years. I have been a member of the Eastern Star fifty six years. Our family moved to Vancouver, Washington, where my father was a machinist engineer by trade, and he held a steam engineer’s license from Minnesota. Herbert Charles Getty died on January 20, 1963, at Barnes Veterans Hospital in Vancouver. Gina B. Getty died June 21, 1977.

"Alma stayed with her mother, Ellen, after her parents' divorce. She married Alonzo Taylor and they had five children: Pearl and Earl, twins, born in Spooner, Wisconsin, and John, Lany and Hertha. Alma died August 18, 1968. Her husband had preceded her in death.

"Jessy also remained with her mother after the divorce. When she was a young lady, and living in California she was murdered. The murderer was a man who tried to force his attentions on her and she resisted. He was a carpenter, working on a house which was being  built next door to the house where she was either rooming or working.

"Wilbur K. Getty married Isabel Grant in 1922. They had three children: Patricia B., Margaret Dee, and Wilbur G. Wilbur made a couple of trips to Vancouver to visit with us, and the last time he was here was shortly before my father died. He was 72 years old when he died on July 18, 1967, in Santa Ana, California. His wife, Isabel, died on September 15, 1958.

"Charles' first wife, Ellen A. Deline, was born in 1861 at Seneca, Michigan.

Her father was John Henry Deline, a Methodist minister. She had a brother, Lester, who was also a Methodist minister, and a sister, Esther, who was a nurse. Lester was living in Wenatchee, Washington, the last we heard of him.

He came to visit us once. Ellen remarried a man by the name of William B. Kirkwood on June 8, 1900. I have her wedding ring and inside, their initials and date of marriage are engraved. She died in December 1931 in Anoka, Minnesota.

"Charles' second wife, Edith M. Budd, was born in 1867 in Martin County, Minnesota, to William Hampton and Lydia Jane Swearingen Budd. In 1907 she and Charles, and her father, Mr. Budd, their son, Wilbur, the Grant family, and several other families from Fairmont, moved to Santa Ana, California. Charles and Peter had a falling out, so it was time for Charles to move on. Charles bought into several businesses, one being a laundry, but wasn't successful in any of them."

Nellie M. Getty

Faremont April 15

Dear Nease and Nephew

it has Ben a long time since I have heard from any of you Folks as I was thinking of you thought I would write in hopes to hear how you all are no Doubt Buy this time you and Charley are all a lone as the younger ones are gone for them selves Buy this time I am Real well and am living with Ina She is married and has a fine home I Just came from Myrtles She lives in Omaha hear youngest Daughter was very Sick and they Sent For me But I am glad to Say that She is getting much Better and we think She will Be all right I Celebrated my 66 Birth day while there I am very spry But Still I can see that I cant stand to do the work that I cold once I got word some time a go that Brother Charley Getty had a stroke But was some Better But is not very well I never Expect to see him a gain as he never will come Back to this country is Eger Exelby still living I would Be so glad to get a letter telling me all the news what Became of Bill Underwoods widow now if you get this I hope you will try and write to me as I would Be so glad to get a letter I would like to come and see you Folks some time But it is a long way to come all a lone But I mite come Some time give my Regards to all your Family and Friends will close with Love

From Mrs. Maria Getty 869 So

Park St Faremont Minnie

LAST OF WILLIAM H. BUDD FAMILY. FIRST 'In SE'ITLE IN FAIRMONT. illES

HISTORY RECALLED BY PASSING OF MRS. EmTH BUDD GETTY, DAUGH'IER OF FAIRMONT'S FIRST FERMANENT SETTLER.

 The last immediate descendant of' William H. Budd, Fairmont's first permanent settler, Mrs. Edith Getty, is dead at Santa Ana, California. She was a daughter of' Mr. Budd. She had been around as usual the day before her death. She died in the night, her body found the next morning by her son, Wilbur Getty, near whom she made her home. Old friends here believe Mrs. Getty was about 76 years of' age. She was born in Fairmont.

The passing of the last member of Mr. Budd's family gives occasion for again publishing the story of the father of Fairmont, and whose name remains in local geographical nomenclature with Budd Lake, Budd Street and Budd Hill, all in the city of Fairmont.

Mr. Budd lived in Fairmont from 1856 to 1907, when he moved to Santa Ana, California, where he died November 3, 1915, at the age of 86 years, seven months and six days. He is buried at Santa Ana. There is some interest in having his remains returned for interment here and honored with a suitable monument as Fairmont’s first permanent resident.

The last public event locally in which Mr. Budd participated was laying the corner stone of the court house in 1906. One of his most important contributions to the community was the history of the county he wrote in 1907. and which covers its development up to 1880. This book is long since out of print and copies have become rare and valuable. It should be revised, brought up to date and reprinted.

After having spent a long and useful career as a farmer and having accumulated some means and gained an enviable reputation for honor and integrity, the gentleman whose name we have just given is now living a retired life in Fairmont, Martin County, Minnesota. He is the son of Abraham D. and Margaret F. (Goble) Budd, natives of New Jersey. The place of the nativity of the subject of our sketch is in Roxbery (now Mount Olive) Morris County, New Jersey where his birth took place March 28, 1829, on the farm, where his father was born, and where he died July 21, 1867. William H. was reared and in the common schools he acquired his education. On attaining his majority he went to Dodge County, Wisconsin, and for six months engaged in day labor. In March and April of 1851 he took a trip through western Wisconsin to within twenty miles of LaCrosse, and there were but three houses on the present site of Sparta. After leaving Reedsburg, on the Little Baraboo River, there were a few houses scattered along for ten miles, and thirty miles beyond on the Kickapoo River, was a logging shanty, twenty miles from where the trail struck the Prairie du Chien and Black Falls Road. Mr. Budd looked around for a day or two but the county was mostly timber land and he left for Prairie du Chien. Next he went to Iowa, traveling through some of' the northern counties of the state, which was mostly wild prairie with some timber on the streams. There were rot few settlers and the houses were frequently from ten to twenty miles apart and much of' the traveling to and from was done on foot

Returning to Dodge County, Wisconsin, in the course of' a month and a half', Mr. Budd purchased a farm on which he lived part of' the time until 18,54.

He then came to Minnesota and engaged in carpentering and other work in Mankato, after which he took a trip east and northeast to find some people with teams and stock, who came across the country and should have reached their destination two weeks previous. The country was not surveyed and the company being lost had to travel over a part of the road twice. It was four or five days before Mr. Budd succeeded in finding them about ten miles from Faribault, Rice County. He also worked in Kasota and St. Peter for some time being variously employed until December 11, 1855. He visited Mankato and St. Peter when there were but seven houses in the former and one in the latter.

At times there were large numbers of Indians encamped on the bottom lands along the Minnesota River, sometimes numbering into the thousands, and they often proved a great nuisance to the white settlers. On the 11th of December, 1855, he started for Dodge County, Wisconsin, traveling on foot from Kasota to Winona and LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The morning of the second day was foggy and about one o'clock it began raining, but after two hours the wind shifted and the rain changed into a driving snow, which was blown before a strong northwest wind and not only covered his clothes with a sheet of ice, but also obliterated the road and it required skill and a clear head to find the way. He spent the night in Owatonna, and the next day started out again wading through snow from twelve to eighteen inches deep. It was a hard journey. After four days he reached Winona, and the water was flowing along in its regular course, but after two days, the weather turning so intensely cold, he crossed the river on ice one mile below LaCrosse. At the last named place he was forced to remain two days for the stage company would not take their teams out of the stable, the weather being so bitterly cold. Mr. Budd remained at the New England House kept by a Mr. Robinson, one of John Jacob Astor's men who went across the continent to Astoria on the Columbia River to secure furs. Four days later our subject reached his destination and there remained until March, selling the land which he owned there.

We next find Mr. Budd in Milwaukee, whence he went to Chicago, then by the way of Springfield, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri, where he took a steamer for Kansas City. From that place he went to Lawrence, Kansas, which was in the midst of the border warfare of 1856. In the few days he passed there he had some experience in defending the town from ruffians of the slave state faction. Mr. Budd was a free state man. He went through to Delaware Indians' country and had to pass one night with the Indian farmers, after which he proceeded to Leavenworth on the Missouri River, but after a few days he went up the river to St. Joseph, where he joined a company of five that traveled across the country to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to attend a land sale, then went by Stage to Dubuque.

Six of the party left Council Bluffs in a heavy rain storm and frequently had to bridge over marshy places along the road. The second day they had to walk part of the way and help lift the coach out of the mud, but Des Moines was at length reached and after a night passed there they proceeded to Iowa City, then the state capital, and after a long and tedious journey reached Dubuque. Mr. Budd went up the Mississippi on a steamer and the river was so high that the house in which he had passed the night in December was in the water up to the window sashes. That was one of the greatest overflows of the Mississippi that has ever been known

From St. Paul Mr. Budd went by steamer to Mankato and in a few days started for the Winnebago Agency, where he was employed as assistant overseer of the Indian Reservation until July 1, 1856, when he came to Martin County to assist several families in securing locations. He had no team and had to travel the entire distance on foot. This part of Martin County was then a part of Brown County which was divided in May 1857 by the legislature into nine new counties. Mr. Budd here bought a squatter's right to a claim on which was some native timber, for he expected to soon be in need of this for fuel and he did not mistake.

He paid $.50 for his place and could at that time have secured any claim to the north or west for twenty miles. He also purchased a team and for some time continued to hold his claim, a part of which is now platted within the city limits of Fairmont, and upon the tract is situated his present home. He passed through all the hardships and difficulties peculiar to life on the frontier and has borne an important part in the development of this region.

 In March, 1857, the chief, Inkapaduta, with a band of Indian braves made an attack on the village of Springfield, now Jackson, Minnesota, and, not satisfied with their depredations there, went to Spirit Lake and Okoboji, killing eight persons and wounding more at Jackson and about thirty six at Okoboji, and capturing four women and girls. Some of the Indians passed through the county and camped near Fairmont, but were prevented from committing any more depredations here by some volunteers from Iowa. Mr. Budd, in company with a few neighbors, fortunately, had gone to Iowa for provisions at that time, or his own home would probably have been attacked.

This journey into Iowa, made with several ox teams, was fraught with many hardships. They were detained by a snow storm which lasted sixty hours and snow fell to the depth of three to five feet. The storm turned to rain which freezing, formed a crust on the snow making it difficult to travel. Places of entertainment were scarce and at times he was Obliged to pay $1 for sleeping on the floor on his own blankets, and fifty cents each for feed and shelter for his oxen.

Owing to scarcity of hay, they had to take the oxen farther south to find a suitable place to leave them for a few weeks. When he returned to Iowa for his oxen he was obliged to break the crust on the snow for four miles, to enable the oxen to get to a beaten road where they could travel.

Mr. Budd now again went to Dodge County, Wisconsin, but after a short time returned to his home in Martin County. In the summer he improved some of his land and on the 22nd. of July received information of another Indian attack on the troops on the Indian land, caused by their not having received their pay and supplies from the government. Mr. Budd with some of his neighbors, built a fort and prepared to withstand any attack, and he was elected lieutenant and given charge of the little garrison • There was much excitement and one man was shot receiving a flesh wound. After a month passed in the fort, all danger being over, they returned to their farms and homes.

In December, 1857, the county of Martin was organized and Fairmont named as the county seat. By the Governor, Mr. Budd was appointed one of the first county commissioners, and in October, 1858, he was appointed postmaster of Fairmont, a position which he held until the spring of 1860. At that time the village of Fairmont (or portion of it) was surveyed and platted in the vicinity of our subject's farm, and in all these matters he took an active part, assisting materially in the development of all projects tending toward the advancement of this locality. He continued in the office of county commissioner until the spring of 1860, when, in the month of June, he went to Rice County, working in the hay and harvest fields, afterwards going to Mason County, Illinois, but after a few weeks returning to Minnesota, stopping at Chatfield and Winona through the winter and a part of the succeeding summer, employed at the carpenter’s trade. In the fall of 1861, he returned to his claim in Martin County and was elected to the office of county commissioner for the second district, entering upon the duties of that office in January, 1862, and serving until February 20, 1864.

He has served as county clerk and filled other official positions, but• again he turned from the affairs of peace to those of war, and in the fall of 1862 and the spring of 1863 acted as scout and guide to the various parties. During the Indian outbreak in September, 1862, he helped to organize and joined the home guards of Winnebago City, being in the company one month.

He was instrumental in having the state form a line of military posts and garrisons from Fairmont to Madelia and Ford Ridgely and to the north, for the protection of the settlers from the red men. On the 20th of February, 1864, Mr. Budd enlisted in Company C, Sixth Minnesota Infantry, serving faithfully until August 19, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. He participated in the battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, together with numerous skirmishes, and battles of minor importance.

When the war was over and the county no longer needed his services he returned to his farm and his home, and during the years that followed was engaged principally in agricultural pursuits, although he worked to some extent at carpentering. For nearly nine months after his return from the war he was able to perform but little work, his health being broken by disease contracted while he was in the service. In 1876 he sold a part of his land  220 acres  to Mr. Percy Wollaston for $20 per acre, but still retains possession of part of it.

Mr. Budd was married in Martin County, March .31, 1864, to Lydia Jane Swearingen, daughter of John B. and Jane (Brown) Swearingen, natives of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, respectively. Mrs. Budd was born in Illinois and first married Z. Allen by whom she had two children, Selpha and Amy Jane. The former is the wife of D. B. Edwards, and the latter married D. A. Dale, and both live near the Budd homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Budd had two daughters, Edith May, wife of Charles Getty, and Jennie, and both make their home with their father. In 1893, Mr. Budd was called upon again to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 22nd. of August and was buried in Fairmont cemetery by the side of her parents. They had traveled life's journey together for twenty nine years and her loss is deeply mourned.

Mr. Budd is a member of Phil Kearny Post, No. 18, G.A.R., Department of Minnesota, of which he has been chaplain and quartermaster, serving in the latter position at the present time (1895). His life has been well and worthily passed, and in addition to the offices which have been mentioned he has served two terms as president of the village board, and in the fall of 1866 was again elected county commissioner, continuing in that office until 1873 as chairman of that board. During 1867, the board had to secure from the government a loan of $3,000 to assist the needy throughout the county. He has discharged his duties with a promptness and fidelity that has won him high commendation and no more faithful officer could be found. The part which he has played in the history of this state makes him worthy of honorable mention in this volume among the honored pioneers and the founders of the county.

The story of the frontier life is familiar to him not from hearsay but from experience, and in the development and progress of the county he has been an important factor. When the danger of Indian hostilities was imminent, he bravely prepared for the defense of those who were helpless, when the destruction of the Union was threatened he donned the blue and followed the stars and stripes. When his fellow townsmen called him to office he was again true to his duty and in all the relations of life he has ever been the same honorable upright gentleman that is now known far and wide in southern Minnesota and is respected alike by young and old, rich and poor.

Published in 1895