Burch family, the Burnham family, the Fender and Chrisman families, George Armstrong, Wiley Hawkins, John Rector, Jesse Keeney and others. With the Jones family came the two sons-in-law, Jesse Dunlevy and Walter Black. Wiley Hawkins and John Rector married daughters of Randall Collins. Con and Cleat Austin married Dennis Collins' daughters.
The church building was moved into town in 1920 to its present location to the east of the present Chas. McCutchen home.
Wiley Hawkins, John Rector and George Armstrong were carpenters by trade and built many of the homes in and around Battle Creek.
MUSING
County Commissioner proceedings September 11, 1898, as it appears in the Enterprise, relates to our highway south of town — now State Highway 121: A committee consisting of Herman Hogrefe, Otto H. Maas, and Thomas Wade appeared before the board to solicit aid in grading the "public road" running south of Battle Creek. They guaranteed to furnish at least four hundred dollars worth of work if the county "would do the proper thing." On resolution of the board, it was agreed to furnish an elevating grader with two men and two teams and pay $250.00 when the committee makes a report that the guaranteed work has been done." This stretch of road at that time and long thereafter remained practically impassable every spring. It is now hard surfaced. The county board in 1898 consisted of H. W. Winter, Norfolk; John J. Hughes, Battle Creek, and Chris Schmidt from southwest of Madison.
This board of commissioners may have been the same which sat in 1905. Emil Winter was County Clerk and had resigned his position to accept a position as cashier in a bank in Petersburg. Mr. Winter was a Democrat as were two members on the board of commissioners which had to fill the vacancy. The Board tried to persuade Mr. Winter to withdraw his letter of resignation. When Mr. Winter expressed fear of what the people would think of him if he withdrew his resignation, Commissioner Schmidt, who was a Republican and made up with honesty and integrity what he may have lacked in English grammar, came up with this pearl of philosophy: "When you promise to done something wot is wrong, dot is no sin when you don't done it."
Others who came to the town after the turn of the century and helped in promoting Battle Creek would include Wm. Nedrebet who for many years served farmers as a veterinarian and for as many years brought many laughs with his practical jokes.
About 1918 cam Frank Schreiner to buy the Wm. Seip farm where the Clarence Bauermeister family now live. Later, he bought the acreage east of town where the Arland Freudenburgs now live. Frank served on the school board for a number of years and took an interest in all public affairs. Mrs. Lawrence Walz and Mrs. Vic Brozek are his daughters and Dr. Ora Schreiner of Norfolk is the son.
97