The West River Road

The West River Road runs parallel to the Pecatonica River* and past the old Hoeft homestead in Cadiz Township in Green County, Wisconsin.  Karl and Ernestine Gransee Hoeft came to America in 1883 and purchased land in Cadiz Township in 1892 and 1893.** They took out two mortgages to pay for the property.***

Cadiz was described this way in the History of Green County Wisconsin, Union Publishing Company 1884 Page 260:

The image below shows the Hoeft land in the lower right hand corner of Section 19.

From a plat map collection of Green County, 1902      

Though the river did not run through the property they probably experienced the periodic flooding the river was prone to as Cadiz Township was quickly denuded of forest in the late nineteenth century by settlement.  Karl and Ernestine farmed land for almost twenty years until Karl died in 1902. **** Eventually their son Charles Haeft, my great-grandfather, farmed the land until the end of 1931.

Notes
* The Pecatonica is supposed to have derived from the Sauk word for muddy according to the book Paddling Southern Wisconsin: 83 Great Trips by Canoe and Kayak by Mike Svob, Big Earth Publishing, Sept 1, 2006 page 112.

**Warranty Deed Volume 73 page 158 Green County, WI dated August 30th 1892.  R.W. Trickle to Carl Hoeft for $500.00. Cadiz Township: SW1/4 SE1/4 of Section 19, 1N R6E containing 40 acres.

Warranty Deed Volume 75 page 244 Green County, WI dated December 11th, 1893. John Heitz to Charles Haeft for $1,800. Cadiz Township S1/2 SE1/4 of Section 19 containing 80 acres.

***Mortgage Volume 38 Page 492 Green County, WI dated 30 August 1892.  E. Schmidt to Carl Hoeft and Wife for $450.

Mortgage Green County, WI dated 11 December 1893 to Chas. Haeft and Wife for $1700.

****Death Volume 3 page 194 Green County, WI dated 23 July 1902.  Charles Hoeft.