The
original patent for the SW ¼ of Section 5 in Rockford Township was
granted to Robert and Mary Ann Godfrey on March 10, 1860. This section
had been granted by the US Govt. to the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad
Company under an act of Congress dated March 3, 1857. The purpose of the
act was to aid in the construction of a railroad from Stillwater via
St. Paul and St. Anthony to a point between the foot of Big Stone Lake
and the mouth of the Souix Wood River with branch with a branch via St.
Cloud and Crow Wing to the navigable waters of the Red River of the
North. (This was as recorded in the book of deeds of Wright County.)
When one reads that description of the proposed Railroad line you can
understand that they did not have a detailed plan for the line nor the
faintest idea of where or when it would be built. It also demonstrates
how desperate the government was to have railroads developed and granted
land at random. Note: presently a railroad is not even close to Lake
Charlotte or Lake Martha. The Godfrey’s probably purchased the land from the Railroads. We do not have a record of where the Godfrey’s built a house. Their land included some of the area between Charlotte and Martha and extend south to the Section line ( Presently Co.Rd. 33) and west to section 6 which is today the North part of the Marschel Farm. The Godfrey’s owned the land when the 1879 map was made up. The land was sold to John and Carolina Zitzloff in 1892. It was sold to Carl and Mary Zitzloff in 1899. Harvey and Leona Hayes purchased the land on October 27, 1953. Charlotte Shores was platted on February 8, 1955. Mr. Hayes had a small building on Lake Martha across the road from the former home of Laura Francis where Joe Francis is building a new house in 2006. Mr. Hayes had a few row boats on Charlotte that he rented out for fishing. He also sold candy and a few items in his shed on Martha. Earl Dixon tells me that the road from Co. Rd. 33 to the Lakes was further to the west than the present road. (More information needs to be gathered about Charlotte shores. Lots 1-9 for sale, Lot 10 Raymond Grilz, Lot 11-13 Kathryn Wigdahl Lots 14-15 Ron Larson, Lots 16-17 Patty Kuerschner, Lots 18-19 Mike/Mary McDonough, Lot 20 Lloyd & Arlyn Matson, Lot 21 Lon/Julie Voight, Lot 22 Tom/Wendy Haas, Lot 23 Lanny/LaVonna Hanson, Lot 052307 Joe/Sue Francis) |
 |
|