serving for many years on the school board, and
town and county boards. Eight more children were
born to them - Celia, Iva, Laura, Dolores, Ruth,
Fayett, Kenneth and Elsie. Mother Elsie died
January 20, 1932, and Father, Fayett, died May
14, 1952. Both are buried in the Twin Lakes
Cemetery, Chippewa County.
Willaim and Ethel (Gillett) Rathbun live in the
Township of Rusk. We have a daughter, Marijean.
She is a business and science librarian, working in
the Brown County Library, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
She married Kenneth Zahorski, whose parents live
in the Town of Strickland, Rusk, County. He
teaches English Literature at St. Norbert's Col-
lege, DePere, Wisconsin. They have 2 daughters,
Twila and Alison.
Clark and Laura (Gillett) Breed live in Barron
County. He served in the U.S. Army in World
War II. We have five sons, Derald, general con-
tractor and a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve;
Peter, SM Sgt. in the U.S. Air Force and a Viet-
nam Veteran; Michael, a teacher and resort owner,
living in the Town of Big Bend, Rusk County;
Clark, machine operator and Robert, a self-
employed carpenter, served thirty-nine months in
the U.S. Army. Our daughter Robin married Ran-
dy Bohl and they farm in Barron County. Submit-
ted by Ethel Gillett Rathbun and Laura Gillett
Breed
COLEMAN BLAN GILLISPIE
Blan as he was known, was born October 8, 1875
at O'Brian Creek, West Virginia. Was married to
Ethel Verna Hall April 22, 1911 at Ira, West
Virginia. To this union were born six children -
Woodrow, Glena, Clara, Opal and Ruth. Another
son died at an early age.
Blan and Ethel moved to Sterling, Colorado
with three children and settled on a homestead.
There two more children were born into the family.
Blan saw an ad in the paper placed by the
Laidlaw Realty, which caused him to become in-
terested in Rusk County. He built a covered
wagon, disposed of the homestead and most of
their possessions. The remaining was loaded into
the wagon and with his family set out for Wiscon-
sin in August of 1922.
A friend of the family came along on the long
trip. They purchased milk, eggs and produce from
farmers along the way and prepared their meals on
open fires.
The family arrived in Ladysmith Octobeer 15,
1922 after nearly three months of traveling.

life and material things had little or no value to
him.
Ethel worked at the Fame Canning Company
and she had a loom that she wove rugs on to bring
in a little extra money.
Later on the family moved to the southwest part
of Ladysmith where the children went to school at
the "Blue School" as it was called, possibly
because it was painted blue at that time.
Blan died at the age of 88 on February 7, 1964
and Ethel died November 19, 1970, one month
before her 75th birthday.
Woodrow is now living in Portland, Oregon.
Having graduated from high school here, he
returned last June for his 50th Class Reunion.
Glena Hendrickson also resided in Portland and
Opal Michaelson lives in Salem, Oregon.
Clara Banta is in Minneapolis and Ruth
Walsvik still resides in Rusk County in the Con-
rath Area. Ethel Verna Hall Gillispie
GIRARD FAMILY
I, Mary Girard Zehner, was born August 12,
1902 in a log house that was recently donated to
the Rusk County Historical Society.
My father Fritz Girard was born in Switzerland
June 29, 1869. My mother Elise Rosalie Zutter
was born March 19, 1867, also in Switzerland.
Dad came to America in his youth, settling in
Chippewa Falls. Mother followed 3 years later;
soon they married. Being unable to speak the
language was a hardship. They bought land by the
Flambeau River, on 101 Tote Road.
Father's younger brother immigrated later on,
settling nearby. To us kids he was known as "Un-
cle"; to his friends "Achille". He devoted his life to
repairing clocks, watches. He never married.
My folks spent many hours tilling the soil, mak-
ing trails (roads) and building their log house. We
grew up there, attending the one-room "Girard"
School. Dad was active in politics; was school clerk
for years. Teachers boarded with us: it was taken
for granted.
Mother and Dad raised 5 boys and 2 girls (4
babies died at birth). Thirteen year old Adolph
was accidentally shot. The other boys at fourteen
and fifteen started working at the pulp mill. Ar-
thur joined the Navy in 1917, serving through
WW I; later became Superintendent of the
Ladysmith Paper Mill. Henry ran the electric
plant at Thornapple Dam. George farmed until
Henry's death, then resumed his job. Ernest "Rus-
ty" farmed. Agnes moved to Spokane, met and

Coleman Blan Gillispie 50th Anniversary

The friend who came with them purchased the
team of horses and covered wagon and returned to
Colorado.
Their first home was near the entrance to the
fair grounds. The house was located where
Highway 8 curves.
Blan found employment at the Great Western
Paper Company as a fireman, where he worked
until he was laid off at the beginning of the
depression.
From that time on he worked at anything he
could find to earn money to support his family -
times were very hard and the family had to make
the barest necessities stretch as did many others.
Hard work and honesty was Blan's philosophy of

married Frank S. Callihan and was in the
restaurant business. I married Herman Zehner in
1923, lived at Thornapple Dam and had 4
children: Bernie, Okalhoma; Beverly, Spokane;
Barbara Mae, Idaho; and Budd, Milwaukee. After
our "kids" left home, we moved to Spokane, where
we still live.
Years ago the farm was a stopping place for
travelers between Flambeau, Ladysmith and
Bruce. A room in the house served as an office and
the bar. We remember the log drives from upstate
to Mississippi. It was a treat to watch the men
work the logs. They stopped for food, to relax, un-
wind, enjoy the bar room and play cards. They
were weary, ready to stop at the "half-way house."

The room was later turned into a living room; with
cars, it was no longer needed.
Our folks had many experiences to relive.
Mother loved telling them, some hair-raising. We
loved to sit and listen.
A good friend Joe LaPointe did much traveling
with headquarters at the home place. A bachelor,
an avid hunter and fisherman, he spent his later
life in a shack near the river. His hair, shoulder
length, was snowy white and wavey; how proud he
was. Many stopped by to take his picture. In his
nineties he was taken to a rest home where he
passed away.
My father died on June 29, 1923; Mother died
on October 8, 1950. Family members operated the
farm for a while, then it was rented out.
In 1965 the heirs of the Girard farm sold it to
Andy Nyquest, Chicago. He built a lovely home
there. After his death his wife donated the original
log house to the Rusk County Historical Society.
The only remaining Girard members are my
sister Agnes and I.

The William Newhouse residence in Tony
JOHN GOETZ
John Goetz was born April 28, 1876, in
Doberstorf, Germany, to Phillip and Barbara
Goetz. In 1884, at the age of 8 years, he and his
family immigrated to America, settling in Jeffer-
son, Wisconsin. Three years later, the Goetz fami-
ly moved to Clark County where they secured a 6
acre parcel of land in the settlement known as
"Heintown". Many other people from Jefferson
had also come here to work at the stave and
heading mill and sawmill operated by John Hein
and his son, Tony. The mills employed about 30
people from the area. John Hein also owned the
general store and boarding house in the settlement
which was named for him. He also owned a stave
mill in Neillsville as well as a dry goods and
grocery store there. In 1897 Mr. Hein and his
amily moved north to a small village called Deer-
tail in Chippewa County. Deertail was later
renamed "Tony" after Tony Hein and Chippewa
County became "Gates" in 1901 and Rusk in
1905. Upon arriving at Tony, the Heins's started
up another store and heading mill as well as
several other enterprises.
As a young man, John Goetz worked at the Hein
Lumber Mills at Heintown and in 1899 decided to
follow the Heinses to Rusk County. He continued
working for them at the mills and stayed in the
hotel which they also owned. It was while he was
living at the hotel that John met Margaret
Newhouse who was employed as a housekeeper
there. She was the youngest daughter of William
and Mary (Leonard) Newhouse. Her father also
worked in the mill as well as being engaged in far-
ming. Margaret was born on February 20, 1885, in
Brown County and moved to Heintown at an early
age. In 1899 she and her family also moved, to
Tony to work at the Hein lumber mill.
One of John's most vivid memories while work-
ing in Tony was the train wreck which occurred in
the early 1900s. The crash involved a freight train
and a passenger train known locally as the
"Limited." He witnessed the accident and was
among those who came to the aid of the survivors.
On June 5, 1906, John Goetz and Margaret
Newhouse were married at Tony. They continued
to live there until 1906 when they moved back to
Heintown and began farming.
The rest of Margaret's family stayed at Tony.
Her oldest sister, Frances, was the first wife of Joe
Oswald of Tony, and they had one son, Clyde. The
second sister Elizabeth, or Lissie as she was