Castle Rock Township

Castle Rock Township was first settled in January of 1854 by Talleyrand Périgord Brown (1809-1881) who was born and raised in Kanawha West Virginia. His story is an interesting one. His parents, Charles (1770-1848) and Elizabeth Slaughter Brown (1790-1850) were both born in West Virginia, children of early settlers to America. Charles was a wealthy salt maker in addition to being very successful in real estate. From 1808 until 1854, salt production was the staple of the Kanawha Valley with 52 salt furnaces lining the shores of the Kanawha River.  In 1848, Talleyrand inherited a 40-acre tract of land from his father, where he had already been operating a ferry service. He established the town of Winfield, which became the County Seat, and built a mansion, called Red House, which is now being used as a courthouse. This was the home that he left in about 1855 when he moved his family to Cottage Grove, Minnesota. His reason for leaving was tangled in the pre-civil war differences that the State experienced being on the Northern border of the Confederacy. The Salt industry at that time relied heavily on slaves as the processes was very labor-intensive. Talleyrand’s father once owned more than 100 slaves, which Talleyrand freed when he left West Virginia.

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Talleyrand married Sophia H. Forqueran in 1833 and the couple had six children before heading West. His oldest daughters stayed in Virginia and married. William, George, James, Ella, and Talleyrand Jr came to Minnesota and the couple had three more children after they arrived. Their daughter Lucy was the first child born in Castle Rock in 1860. Talleyrand selected a grove of timber called Virginia Grove to make his claim. The grove had oak, maple, and other hard timber. He was Town Chairman in 1859 and very active in growing the town but made the decision to again relocate to a new town in LeSueur County called Cleveland. Established in 1854, the town fought to be named the county seat but lost. Talleyrand arrived about 1863 and this is where he lived his last days. This writer speculates that his reason for this move might have been tied to the fact that both the town of Cottage Grove and the new town he established, Cleveland were both dry, temperance towns.

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In the years 1856 and 1857, Castle Rock expanded considerably with many new claims. Once just a mining town, there was now a post office, a school, and churches. The 1860 Census showed the population of Castle Rock to be 399. In 1880 the population had grown to 708. In 1867, a station for the Milwaukee, St Paul, and Minneapolis railroad. The elevator was built the year before and used as a depot until the new depot in the center of town was built a year later.

 

STILLMAN MEEKER was the first station agent. Born in Fort Ann, New York to Sidney and

Laura Woodward Meeker (both American-born, early settlers) on August 9, 1842. He

graduated from Eastman College and enlisted in New Jersey 34th Regiment 16th corps

and fought in the Civil War until 1866. He came to Minneapolis first and then to Castle

Rock where he was a station agent and also ran the newly constructed grain elevator for

seven years. He married Harriet Turner and the couple had three sons, Sidney (who

became a doctor), Joel Lewis, and Ernest William. He was also appointed Post Master.

After this, he ran the mill in Waterford for three years and formed the Meeker Brothers

General Dealers and Proprietors of the Grain Elevator. Between 1878 and 1880 he ran the

elevator in Douglas County and then relocated to Mobile Alabama. He died in Tennessee

at the home of his son Sidney

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FREDERICK CHARLES PRYOR (1874-1960) managed the Farmers’ Elevator in

Castle Rock. His father Henry Laverne Pryor (1837-1937) came to Dakota 

County with his father Alexander Pryor (1809-1880)(shoemaker & farmer)

from Harvey, New Brunswick, Canada in 1854. He made a claim for 160 acres

in Castle Rock and increased his holdings to 560 acres. He married Elizabeth

Ann King (1845-1943), from the Isle of Man. Her father Charles was a painter

in Hastings. Their children are: Gertrude L, Frederick C, Henry L , William T and

Nellie. Frederick attended agricultural school for one year then purchase a farm

in Castle Rock where he farmed with his brothers until he retired in Northfield.

They specialized in raising fine stock. He eventually bought stock in the elevator but never married.

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CAPTAIN LEONARD ALDRICH (1819-1903) from Vermont played a big role in establishing

Castle Rock. The first meeting for the organization of the township was held at his house.

He was one of the first supervisors, elected in 1857 and he held the annual meetings in

his home until he left for the war in 1862. The first religious services were conducted at

Leonard’s home as well as the first school was opened in a back room of his house in

1861 and used until the new school was built. Leonard’s parents were Thomas Esquire

 (1791-1844) and Elizabeth Irish (1790-1837) of Wallingford, Vermont. They had two sons,

Doctor Joseph Augustus (1817-1907) and  Leonard Joseph. Joseph settled in Colorado

after being stationed in New Ulm, Minnesota as a surgeon during the Indian War.

Leonard, born February 11, 1819, studied law in Ohio where he met and married his

wife, Hannah Bailey Harris (1823-1901) in Chardon, Ohio on October 27, 1842. The same

year they headed for a new settlement in Minnesota called Red Rock

(now Cottage Grove) where they made their home for two years. When Dakota County

opened to settlement in 1854, he made a claim and harvested a crop of hay. He returned

home and settled permanently in Castle Rock in February of 1855. He was appointed Post Master, then in Vermillion, and operated this out of his home. In the summer of 1862, the Civil War was not going well for the North. President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 6000,000 volunteers. On August 1, 1862, Leonard held a picnic at his house to raise a company of volunteers. They formed Company F, Dakota County of the 8th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. Leonard was elected to serve as Captain. They left together, traveling first to Hastings and then to Fort Snelling for outfitting prior to their departure south. 112 men total, all but six had joined that August day at the picnic. The response to the President’s request for volunteers had exceeded expectations. The men of the 6th Minnesota were asked to return home and harvest their wheat because there was a shortage of uniforms, rifles, and equipment. One week later they returned to Fort Snelling but were again surprised by their orders. They would travel north and west and not south. The Dakota Indian Uprising was heating up and then Governor Ramsey requested soldiers to help protect the citizens of Minnesota. Over 1,000 settlers would be killed in this war. For the next year, the men were stationed in small towns and in May of 1864, they were issued Canadian ponies & told to join General Scully’s expedition of the Dakota Indians now west of the Missouri River. They fought in the valley of the Killdeer Mountains in western North Dakota, in the South Dakota Badlands, and finally near the Yellowstone River. On September 15, 1864, the command headed for Fort Snelling where two years prior they had received their orders. Leaving mules, ponies, and excess equipment at Fort Snelling, the men of the 8th marched to St. Paul where they boarded a steamboat for La Crosse, then overland to Chicago. From Chicago, they headed south in rail boxcars arriving in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on November 24th. Thirteen days later Company F was under fire at the Battle of the Cedars. Losses were significant. Killed with Samuel H Higgins, Sgt Aaron Brigham, and James H Payton. Sixteen were wounded including Captain Aldrich’s brother Alonzo. They next joined General Sherman’s command in the east. Here they became part of the 23rd Army Corps where they traveled to Washington D.C. on February 1, 1965. 

Looking pretty rough and tough, they were nicknamed “Sherman’s Woodticks.” In March, Company F fought in the battle of Kingston and as they approached Raleigh, North Carolina they heard the news that the war was over. They now became part of the Union Army of Occupation. In July, they returned home by steamboat. When the ship approached St. Paul, cannons were fired and bands played to welcome them home. They were mustered out of service on July 11, 1865.

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Captain Aldrich returned home and moved from Castle Rock to Lake Shetek, Minnesota. Active again in community service, he served as county attorney, County auditor, and justice of the peace. In 1889, he returned to Dakota County and practiced law in Farmington. Captain Leonard Aldrich died on August 17, 1903.

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Company F, Dakota County of the 8th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment met for an annual reunion for several years. The photos below are of some of the men.

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