According to one account, the Williams family left Wisconsin for Minnesota sometime in November of 1855. " Hugh and Margaret settled in Wisconsin where they lived for 5 years and then sold their land and moved to Minnesota in 1855. "Thos. Jones, Evan Evans "Y Pant", and Hugh R Williams families moved to South Bend, MN in 1855; from Llanfihangel-Genau'r-Glyn,Wales." This could be a clue to Hugh's birthplace.
The community of Cambria Township was located in the northeast corner of Blue Earth County. It is bounded on the north by the Minnesota River. It was given the name of Cambria because many of the early residents were Welsh from Cambria, Wisconsin.
What follows is an account taken from the history of Cambria Village during its early days that might shed some light on the hardships faced by Hugh and Margaret Williams and other early pioneers in the area. One has to admire and respect them for their endurance and spirit.
T 55 "History of Cambria Village And The Presbyterian Church."
The area which includes the present day Village of Cambria was open to homesteading through the treaties of Mendota and Traverse des Sioux of 1853. A few of the early pioneers settled in and around Eureka (now Judson) and South Bend, where Hugh and Margaret lived for a few months.]
The early settlers faced many difficulties and hardships including severe winters, four years of grasshopper infestations, prairie fires, renegade Indians, non-existent roads, and swampy conditions which produced multitudes of mosquitoes. These "pests" were vilified in jokes and unlikely descriptions such as "they are large as geese" and "as populous as one million to the cubic inch."
The early Welsh emigrant pioneers were generally miners. There were few farmers, carpenters, or blacksmiths among them. They came to Minnesota unprepared and ill-equipped to farm, build homes, and struggle against the conditions they were called upon to endure. They lacked the tools and expertise necessary to provide for their own needs. As a result, they experienced low crop production and inadequate housing and the early years were very difficult.
This is an account of the first "mansion" built in Cambria. "About the 12th of June, John E. Davis and family arrived in Judson from Big Rock, Illinois, and for a few days stayed at the shanty of William C. Williams, Judson, while erecting their cabin in the present town of Cambria, one of the most fashionable mansions of the day. ...The home featured "two forked posts put up about ten feet apart, a ridge pole was laid on them, against which , slanting from either side, were placed a number of dry tepee poles and the whole covered with hay, except one end over which a quilt or blanket was hung for a door. This was the first residence in the town of Cambria and John E. Davis and family were the first residences. Soon after this Morris Lewis and David A Davis built the second mansion in this town. It consisted of a hole in the hillside, a hay-stack roof and a basswood log front. Here the two pioneers dwelt like two badgers in a hole."
With simple hand tools such as an with which they fell and split timber; the sickle with which they cut the wheat they began to make a home for themselves in an inhospitable land. Supplies were obtained from St. Paul or Shakopee which involved a long, slow journey with oxen.
But it wasn't all bad. Cambria was in a location bounded on four sides by rivers and creeks which protected them from prairie fires. River transportation was available. The land was fertile. Water was plentiful. And hard wood was available for building materials. There was much for which they could be grateful.
The worst recorded winter in Cambria was 1856-1857 shortly after Hugh and Margaret arrived. If cold weather wasn't enough of a deterrant, that spring the Inkapadoota War broke out when Indians attacked and killed settlers in Iowa and Minnesota. A company of soldiers were sent from Fort Ridgely near New Ulm to pursue them, but they escaped. There was an Indian village in Cambria township about a mile east of the cemetery. This must have been the Indian village below Hugh's farm. According to family lore, the family hid in a cornfield from the attacking Indians.
According to the Lake Crystal newspaper dated
September 12, ...." the family [Hugh and Margaret and daughter Catherine, and
son Richard] left to go to southern Minnesota in November of 1855." The
following is a revised part of the Lake Crystal article. "They had yoke and oxen and one cow when they settled on the farm owned
by George Wagner. They lived there for about three months before they
moved to a 160 acre farm southwest of the village of Cambria, Minnesota, which they acquired by preemption paying two
and one-half dollars per acre. Here they built a log house.
Like other pioneers of those early
days, the family lived on johnny cakes and prairie chickens. The chickens
were so abundant they could be caught in traps. Passenger pigeons and
partridges were also included in the menu. What courage and faith did these early pioneers have to endure.
Regular church services were held in the home of Mr. David Davis a deacon in the Congregational church which was organized by the Rev. Jenkin Jenkins. It would be called Salem Congregational.
A tribe of Indians lived in a village each winter, by a large spring, just below the
Williams farm.
Richard Williams played with the Indian children until the uprising occurred when he was seven years old. Prior
to the outbreak of 1862, the Indians brought wild ducks and geese to the
Williams family and traded them for bread.
Hugh R. Williams joined the Butternut
Valley guard to protect the settlers from the invading Indians. During the outbreak, the family took
refuge in South Bend. In their absence, the Indians took one of thier horses and a colt.
Mrs.
Margaret Williams died in 1867, cause of death unknown. Later that
year, their daughter, Catherine, married William Salisbury Hughes of
Butternut
Valley. Hugh R. Williams signed their marriage certificate as a
witness.
Hugh R. Williams married again on May 19, 1869
in Cambria, Minnesota, to Ruth Rees whose father was a minister named Joseph Rees.
They moved west in 1881 and lived in Coalville, Utah, long enough to have one
child and then settled in Lewisville, Idaho. Their son Richard Williams bought the home farm
in 1881. T
"Hugh R. Williams", Hughes, Thomas. History of Blue Earth County and Biographies of Its Leading Citizens, Middle West Pub. Co.:Chicago,1901. http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24156317M/History_of_Blue_Earth_County_and_biographies_of_its_leading_citizens
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