LINCKLAEN, named from Col. John Lincklaen, the former proprietor of the township, and agent of the Holland Land Company, was formed from German, April 12, 1823. A part of Pitcher was taken off in 1827 and another part in 1833. It lies in the north-west corner of the County. Its surface is a hilly, broken upland, divided into ridges by the narrow valleys or ravines of the streams running north and south. The declivities are generally steep and the summits from 400 to 600 feet above the valleys. Mud Creek flows south through the west part of the town, into Otselic. Ashbel Creek and several other small streams take their rise in the south and east part of the town and flow into the Otselic. The soil is a shaly and clayey loam.
Lincklaen, (p. v.) situated on Mud Creek, in the west part of the town, contains a Methodist and a Congregation church, a hotel, a saw-mill, a cider-mill, a blacksmith shop, a harness shop and about a dozen houses.
The Congregations Church was re-organized in 1859, under the labors of Rev. O. Ketchum, and consisted of eighteen members. The number of members at present is only fourteen, and they are without a pastor. The church edifice is a substantial wood building occupying a commanding site at the south end of the village. the Methodist Church stands upon the opposite side of the street. It is a frame building and was erected in 1861, Rev. Albert Ensign is the present pastor.
About a mile south-east of Lincklaen, on lot 20, is the Lincklaen Cheese Factory and Creamery, for the manufacture of butter and skimmed milk cheese. David E. and Samuel R. Stillman are the proprietors. About three-fourths of a mile north of Lincklaen is the saw-mill, grist-mill, and carding machine of W.D. & W.A. Wilcox.
Burdick Settlement, in the north part of the town, contains a Seventh Day Baptist church, a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, two shoe shops, and wagon shop, a cheese factory and sixteen dwellings. The cheese factory of Jerome F. Wheeler, located at this place, makes English cheddar cheese. The church in this place was set off from DeRuyter in 1831, and contained at the time of its organization thirty members. The present number is 91. Rev. Lebeus M. Burdick was the first pastor, Rev. Amos W. Coon is the present pastor. The church edifice is a small wooded structure erected in 1836.
7. in the east part of town, is the Baptist church,. The edifice was erected in 1844, at which time the membership was about forty; at present the number is about twenty-five, and they have no regular service. On lot 46, in the south-east part of the town, is the creamery and cheese factory of Zira Parce, for the manufacture of butter and skimmed milk cheese.
The first settlements were made about 1796, Gordon Wells, Abel Fairchilds, Elisha Catlin, Joseph Pulford, Nathaniel Gray, Wolcott Bennett, Joseph Darling, Jesse Catlin, Aaron Peet, John Wilson, Elisha Blount, Christopher Shipman, and others by the name of Backus and Walters.
The first birth was that of Matilda Wells, in 1800, and the first death that of a child of Christopher Shipman. Willima Bly was the first school teacher; Elisha Catlin kept the first inn; and Fairchild Brothers the first store. Catlin & Shipman built the first sawmill, and J. Pulford the first grist-mill. The first religious services were held in 1798 by Rev. Seth Williston.
The population of Lincklaen in 1865 was 988 and its area 16,072 acres. In 2024, the population is 362, area 26.6 square miles, a total of 17,024 acres.
It contains two school districts with a school population of 299, 273 of whom attended school during the last year. The average attendance was 140, and the amount expended for school purposes $1,693.56