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Part I
Names change, but the site remains the same. That is the story of many of the settlements within Lyon County. The village of Garvin is an example of that type of evolution.
The village of Custer was organized as early as 1876. In the spring of 1886 the site became known as Terry, and the town site was platted by the railroad company. After about one year, the name was changed to Kent, and in July 1891, the village was named Garvin.
In about 1857, an Indian trading post was established on the Cottonwood River near the northeast corner of the township. According to L.C. Ives, a pioneer who lived near New Ulm and trapped in this area in 1861, the post was built at a bridge crossing the river and was on the trail running west to the Missouri River. A few rods up the river from the bridge springs were located. With this feature in mind, the place was called Saratoga Springs. Possibly the first white man to have residence in Custer was John Renniker, who managed the trading post. He was killed by Indians on his return from New Ulm with a load of supplies and provisions. Shortly after this, Aaron Myer, with his wife and four children, took charge of the post. He had one wagon, a "span" of horses and a team of cows, broken to drive. Philip Kerby, Henry Back and a Mr. Allen were located there with him. The year before the Indian massacre of 1862, Myer experienced trouble with the Indians and moved to Lake Shetek to be nearer the white settlement there. As the Indians attacked the settlement, he escaped to New Ulm by ox team. His wife was killed somewhere west of New Ulm.
Custer, located in Custer Township, although one of the first settlements in Lyon County (second to Lynd), was not locally organized and governed until 1876. When plans were first laid for the organization of the precinct in the early summer of 1876, the residents proposed to name it Reno in honor of the general then taking a prominent part in the Indian campaign. Before the organization was made, however, Gen. Custer and his forces had been massacred at the Little Big Horn and some blame for that disastrous event was attached to Gen. Reno. When the petition was presented it asked for the name Custer in honor of the massacred leader of the white forces.
The flow of immigration into Custer began in 1868 with the arrival of H.C. Masters, John Avery, Horace Randall, Walter S. Clayton, Edward Horton, and G.F. Robinson. Records show that Masters, Avery and Robinson homesteaded on farms. Robinson's first home was a "soddy," then a log cabin built on the southeast quarter of Section 1, Custer, and in it was held the first Board of Commissioners meeting of Lyon County.
These first settlers from Lake Sarah (Murray County) and Custer faced an unspoiled expanse of prairie interrupted only by gentle, rolling hills and the wooded tracts at the edge of some lakes and rivers. In the south part of the town were two lakes, Lake of the Hills and Long Lake. Along the Cottonwood River were some groves of natural timber, but large tracts were cut for fuel. Their new life began as they built dugout caves then advanced to sod houses. Later, log cabins were built with shake roofing and floors of hewn logs or no floor at all but dirt or grass. Settlers lived in them with the crude necessities of life. Trunks, benches, stools, kegs and boxes were used as chairs. In some homes a problem of too few dishes required children to eat last. The bed was a simple affair -- a tick filled with straw or some other similar material -- and was set upon a wooden slat frame. The children often slept on the floor or in a trundle pulled out from under the bed. They traveled by oxen as far as New Ulm for provisions and supplies, the round trip taking about a week, and some made this trip on foot. Babies were born, very large families reared, and the semblance of a good life was pursued under these conditions.
(Continued next week)