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Gc 977.501 F73m v.1 1271400
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01052 8153
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018
https://archive.org/details/fonddulaccountyw01mcke
MAURICE McKENNA
Fond du Lac County,
Wisconsin
Past and Present
MAURICE McKENNA EDITOR
VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912
1.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I 1271400
INTRODUCTORY
SINGULAR REMAINS OF ANTIQUITY-INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN-EARLY JESUIT MISSIONS-UNDER FRENCH DOMINION-EXPLORATIONS OF JOLIET AND MAR- QUETTE-ENGLISH SUPREMACY-THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. I
CHAPTER II
STORY OF THE ROCKS AND FIELDS
VARIOUS PERIODS OF FORMATION -- KETTLE RANGE OF HILLS AND RIDGES-RICH AND ENDURING SOIL-COMMERCIAL CLAY AND LIMESTONE-ALMOST IMPENE- TRABLE FORESTS OF VALUABLE TIMBER-A VERITABLE PARADISE FOR WILD BEASTS AND BIRDS-TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY-DRAINAGE AND RECLAMATION OF WASTE LANDS. 45
CHAPTER III
CREATION OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
ACT OF ORGANIZATION FOR COUNTY OF FOND DU LAC-PRESCRIBES BOUNDARIES AND METHODS OF GOVERNMENT-FIRST WHITE MEN IN COUNTY-LAND IS SUR- VEYED-FIRST SETTLER-REMINISCENCES . 55
CHAPTER IV OFFICIALS
MEN WHO GOVERNED THE COUNTY-FIRST BOARD NAMED COMMISSIONERS-LIST OF OFFICIALS FROM 839 TO 1912 . .. . 77
iii
iv
CONTENTS CHAPTER V
PROGRESS
COURT HOUSES AND JAILS BUILT-THE INFIRMARY AND INSANE ASYLUM-MILLS- DAIRYING-VALUATION OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY-POPULATION. ... JOI
CHAPTER VI
THE LOG CABIN WAS THE PALACE OF THE PIONEER-CHIINKED LOGS, COVERED WITH CLAPBOARDS-RIFLE AND SPINNING WHEEL-ALMOST ANYTHING WAS A BEDROOM-COOKING WAS PRIMITIVE FOR SHARP APPETITES-WELCOME FOR THE WAYFARER-PRAIRIE FIRES AND WOLF HUNTS-AMUSEMENTS FOR THE FRONTIER PEOPLE WERE NOT LACKING-WHAT UNREMITTING TOIL HAS AC- I21 COMPLISHED
CHAPTER VII
MUCH IN LITTLE
FRATERNAL ORDERS AND SOCIETIES-FOND DU LAC TURNVEREIN-OLD SETTLERS' CLUB -WRITERS, SINGERS, ARTISTS-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-NONAGENARIANS- FIRST THINGS. 13I
CHAPTER VIII WAR AND WARRIORS
FOND DU LAC IN THE CIVIL WAR-NAMES OF ORGANIZATIONS AND MEMBERS-GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-THE FOND DU LAC GUARDS-HIBERNIAN GUARDS-COM- PANY E IN THE SPANISHI-AMERICAN WAR. I47
CHAPTER IX TRANSPORTATION
INDIAN TRAILS AND PRIMITIVE ROADS-PLANK ROADS-THE RAILROADS AND CELE- BRATIONS OVER THEIR COMING-A NORTHWESTERN WRECK-TRAFFIC ON LAKE WINNEBAGO 183
CHAPTER X THE BENCH AND BAR
EARLY COURTS-THE BENCH AND ITS ABLE MEN-ADVOCATES PROMINENT AT THE FOND DU LAC BAR-AMONG THEM WERE ORATORS, WRITERS, POETS AND MEN OF HIGH SOLDIERLY QUALITIES. 193
V
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XI
MEDICAL FRATERNITY
THE PIONEER DOCTOR-PRIVATIONS AND DANGERS TO FACE AND OVERCOME-NURSE AS WELL AS PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON-LONG LIST OF FOND DU LAC MEDICAL MEN-MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS. 215
CHAPTER XII THE PRESS
THE NEWSPAPER EARLY IN FOND DU LAC-MANY ABLE MEN CONNECTED WITH THEM-THE FARST NEWSPAPER IN THE COUNTY-PRINTING AND PRINTERS- THE PRINTER EDITOR. 223
CHAPTER XIII FINANCIAL
BANKING OF GREAT ANTIQUITY-FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY -THE EXCHANGE BANK OF DARLING & COMPANY-MEN ENGAGED IN THE BUSI- NESS OF RECTITUDE AND OF HIGH STANDING. 237
CHAPTER XIV TOWNS OF THE COUNTY
ยท FOND DU LAC FIRST TOWN ORGANIZED-FIRST SETTLERS ON THE FARMS-ORGANIZ- ING AND NAMING NEW TOWNS-THEIR GROWTH AND VILLAGES-BIRTH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 243
CHAPTER XV REMINISCENT
THE FOND DU LAC "HOME COMING" BRINGS MANY STORIES OF OLD TIMES-MRS. SARAH BISHOP WRITES OF WHEN FOND DU LAC WAS A "BIG WOODS"-CHASED BY A BEAR-A TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR-COLONEL J. A. WATROUS CONTRIBUTES- GOVERNORS TALLMADGE AND BEALL-SOME OLD SETTLERS. 281
CHAPTER XVI CITY OF FOND DU LAC
FIRST SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS-VILLAGE AND CITY CHARTERS-GROWTH AND PROSPERITY -- GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC UTILITIES-INDUSTRIAL FOND DU LAC 305
vi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVII
RELIGIOUS
THE ORGANIZATION OF CHURCHES IN FOND DU LAC EARLY EFFECTED-FIRST RE- LIGIOUS SERVICES HELD IN THE LOG CABINS OF THE SETTLERS-HISTORY OF THE CHURCHES OF THE CHIEF CITY. 333
CHAPTER XVIII EDUCATIONAL
THE PIONEER SCHOOL AND TEACHER-GROWTH OF THE SYSTEM IN FOND DU LAC- MANY HANDSOME AND COSTLY BUILDINGS-SCHOOL HISTORY FROM 1843 TO 1912 -PUBLIC LIBRARY, ETC. 349
CHAPTER XIX CITY OF RIPON
SECOND MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY-EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS --- RIPON BIRTHPLACE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY-HAD AMBITION TO BECOME COUNTY SEAT-CHURCHES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS. 387
CHAPTER XX CITY OF WAUPUN
FIRST SETTLER CAME IN 1838 TOOK UP PERMANENT ABODE IN 1839-DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST WEDDING-WAUPUN BECOMES A CITY-HER INSTITUTIONS, ETC. ... 395
History of Fond du Lac County
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
SINGULAR REMAINS OF ANTIQUITY -- INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN-EARLY JESUIT MISSIONS-UNDER FRENCH DOMINION-EXPLORATIONS OF JOLIET AND MAR- QUETTE-ENGLISH SUPREMACY -- THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
There are singular remains of antiquity throughout America, universally conceded to be the work of a prehistoric race, commonly called the Mound Builders. That these works owe their origin to a people more intimately ac- quainted with the arts of life than the aboriginal tribes which inhabited the con- tinent upon its discovery, is abundantly proved by these records which are found scattered throughout the entire length and breadth of our land. The at- tention of archaeologists is being more and more directed to a study of these peculiar evidences of a vanished half civilization, but as yet neither their ori- gin nor the date of their inhabitance has been determined. Such traces as are left, though abundant in quantity, are vague as to character, no written memo- randa having come to light, nor hieroglyph whose key can unlock the mystery. The remains consist chiefly of mounds of earth, which, notwithstanding the leveling and wearing action of the elements, have kept the form into which those mythical hands molded them. Hence, the name of Mound Builders. In these mounds are found the traces of such useful arts as place beyond per- adventure the users of them higher in the scale of progression than the savages who succeeded them. These mounds and enclosures are various in form, and it is supposed that they were dedicated to uses as various. Some are believed to have been fortifications; others, places of sepulcher and of sacrifice, while some were the sites of temples, and others observatories. The ground selected for their erection seems generally to have been an elevated plateau on the banks of either lake or river, and the builders were apparently influenced by the same considerations as govern men in modern times in the choice of places for set- tlement. It is a fact that many of our most opulent cities are built upon the sites of these ancient works, proving that those by-gone races availed them- selves of the same natural advantages as we do of today. These earth works are by no means of uniform shape or size. Some are regularly arranged, form- ing squares, circles and octagons, others are like walls or fortifications, while
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
others (and these are more numerous in Wisconsin than elsewhere, and first noticed in this state) are in imitation of the shapes of animals, birds, beasts and fishes-and in the forms of trees, war clubs, tobacco pipes, and other sig- nificant implements of race. It is not an improbable supposition that these curious figures were intended to represent a badge of tribe-a sort of gigantic armorial device on a scale commensurate with the vastness of the territory in- habited. In all existing nations symbols are employed as an expression of na- tional individuality, and are deeply cherished by the people. England has her lion, France her eagles and her fleur-de-lis, Scotland her thistle, and amongst our present North American tribes we have such titles as Sitting Bull, Driving Cloud and Black Hawk. So these mounds may have been shaped to represent tribal or family insignia, and were possibly dedicated to the burial of members of the special clans who reared them. These animal shaped mounds, equally with the round tumuli, contain human bones. These bones are in a very brittle and decomposed state, having roots and fibres growing through them, and are distributed equally through all parts of the mounds. In the construction of these monuments it is evident that the bodies were laid upon the surface of the ground and the earth heaped upon them. No appearances are to be found of graves having been dug below the surface. In many cases later burials have been made upon these mounds, where possibly some nomadic tribe made a grave for its dead above the long buried and almost forgotten race. This sur- face burial, in which earth was brought and heaped above the dead, was not the custom among the North American Indians, their mode being a shallow grave, or suspension on platforms, or in trees, and this is counted another proof of the non-identity of the Mound Builders with the people that followed them.
In some parts of the state are found earth works of a different character from the mound proper, which from their supposed use, are styled "garden beds." These beds are methodically arranged in parallel rows, much as a gar- dener would lay out his ground for flower culture, and are of a variety of sizes and shapes, sometimes occupying acres in extent.
These mounds are not the only traces of the lost inhabitants. The copper mines of northern Michigan afford ample proofs of their having been worked at some previous period, and as implements of this metal are abundant among other vestiges of the Mound Builders, they were, without doubt, the prehistoric miners. Professor Irving believes that, as the Michigan copper belt extends across Wisconsin to Minnesota, copper must have also been mined in this state. The Jesuit fathers frequently mention the existence of copper, and even use the term mines, though there is no evidence that they either saw or heard of actual mining in the technical sense of that word. As early as 1636, which was prior to the time when they themselves had visited the Great Lake, they speak of the presence of native copper, and of its having been taken from the mines. In the "Relations" for 1659-60, after missions had been established in this region, they reported it to be "enriched in all its borders by mines of lead, almost pure, and of copper all refined in pieces as large as the first, and great rocks which have whole veins of turquoise." Professor Whittlesey says, in a paper to the Smithsonian Institution, that there are evidences that these ancient mines were abandoned several hundred years before the advent of the French into that re- gion, and their acquaintance with the northern tribes. As there is no legend
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
among the Indians of their ancestors having worked the mines, nor any imple- ments in their possession that could have been used for that purpose, it is highly improbable that they could have been the original workers. In ancient mining pits have been found wooden shovels, fragments of wooden bowls and broken stone mauls. The effects of blows from these stone mauls are visible upon the rocks. In other places are the distinct marks of picks and drills, as fresh and perfect as if they had been recently made. Coals and ashes are also found in the old excavations, along with the remnants of tools used, and in some cases the scales of fishes, evidently the remains of miners' meals.
It appears that these people were supplied only with very simple mechanical contrivances, and that they penetrated the earth only to a short distance, their deepest works being only about the same as those of, old tin mines of Cornwall, England, which were wrought before the conquest of Britain by the Romans.
Dr. Hoy, president of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, finds upon examination of the implements made out of copper by these people, that they were beaten or hammered into the required shape, not melted and molded. In a large majority of cases he found specks of pure silver scattered over their surfaces, which he counted as evidence positive that the specimen was never melted. Their fibrous texture was another proof that they were ham- mered or beaten out. Professor James D. Butler, however, appeals from this conclusion, and believes the people knew the art of smelting, "though the man- ner may be past finding out." He claims that as a rule the articles they manu- factured were of utility rather than of ornament, and that he has found evi- dences of melted metal in their construction. The discussion is of interest only as going to prove a greater or less degree of advancement among these workers in the appliances of labor. If smelting was practiced, more complicated inge- nuity was evinced than if only the rude hammer was used.
We have scarcely learned the alphabet of this strange language written all over the surface of our country. Thus far in the study of the subject of the Mound Builders little more seems demonstrated than the ancient occupation of the territory by a semi-savage race. No trace of high art or of refined civiliza- tion piques the antiquarian or stimulates the imagination of the student with visions of valuable discoveries yet to be made. The chief interest lies in solv- ing the mystery of the utter disappearance of a race, which has so entirely dropped out of human annals as scarcely to live even in legend. We only know that a people lived, were numerous, industrious and widely established, but whence they came or whither they vanished is mere conjecture. Their names were not "writ in water," but in the earth. The turf of the prairie, the margin of the river, the cleft in the rock testify to their having been. But whether defi- nite history, can be written from such memoranda must rest with the future archaeologist.
THE INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN
The obscurity which enshrouds the history of the aborigines of the north- west prior to 1634, continues the gradation of human occupation of the soil, from the impenetrable mystery of the Mound Builders to the era of letters. But little is known of the lives and habits of the savage nations inhabiting what is now' Wisconsin, before their discovery by civilized man. The sparse
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
knowledge which has come down to us, of those years of warfare, during which the untutored brave contested with his brother for the right of existence, or of the milder and infrequent periods of peace, wherein were enjoyed rude arts and tender passions, have but a basis of tradition on which to stand; and as a sub- ject invested with romantic hues, because so far removed from the stern glade of historic fact, form a gracious topic for the pen of fiction rather than the pen of history.
It is the purpose of this work to treat but briefly of those divisions of the In- dian nations which fill merely an auxiliary or preliminary station in the record of Wisconsin tribes.
The country bounded on the north by Lake Superior, on the east by Lake Michigan, on the south by wide spreading prairies, and on the west by the Mis- sissippi, was first seen by a European in the year 1634. Jean Nicolet then dis- covered that upon this wide area met and, with measureable peacefulness mingled two far-reaching families-the Algonquins and Dakotas. The excep- tion to the rule of hostility was the Winnebago tribe, which, although belonging to the Dakotas or Sioux, were peaceful toward the Algonquins. Parkman says : "A detached branch of the Dakota stock, the Winnebago, was established south of Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, in the midst of the Algonquins." Tradition points to the former as having, at some distant period of the past, migrated from the east-and this has been confirmed by a study of their language; to the latter as coming from the west or southwest, fighting their way as they came. As yet there were no representatives of the Huron-Iroquois seen west of Lake Michigan, that great family then dwelling northward and southward of Erie and Ontario lakes.
Of the Algonquins, the principal branches were the Chippeways, Menomo- nees. Pottawatomies, Mascoutins, Miamis, Kickapoos and Illinois (the latter to the southward) ; of the Dakotas but two divisions were in Wisconsin, the Win- nebagoes and a few bands of chance Sioux.
Already had the French secured a foothold in the valley of the St. Law- rence ; and, naturally enough, the broad expanse of water to the westward of- fered an irresistible inducement to the explorer. Thus it was that the shores of Green Bay were visited in 1634, by Jean Nicolet, who beheld, upon the right in ascending the bay, a tribe of Indians, lighter in complexion than their neigh- bors, remarkably well formed and active. These were what are now known as the Menomonees. Although of the Algonquin stock, their dialect differed so much from the surrounding tribes that for a long time they were accredited with a distinct language. Their homes and hunting grounds were on the Menomo- nee river, though within the period of a century they shifted somewhat, and without infringing upon the territory of other tribes, spread out to the west- ward and southward, their principal village at that time being at the head of Green Bay. In 1634 they took part in a treaty with some representatives of the French, who at this time were intent upon the occupation of this wild region. After this, twenty years elapsed before there is any record that they were again visited by white men.
Early in December, 1669, Father Claudius Allouez visited the mouth of Green Bay, and on the third of that month celebrated Holy Mass for the first time in his new field of labor. In May of the following year, he reached the Menomo-
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
nees, who were then a feeble tribe, suffering from disasters in war, and nearly exterminated. He did not remain long with them, and was succeeded by Father Louis Andre, who built a cabin upon the Menomonee river. This hut the sav- ages burned, and he was afterwards obliged to live in his canoe. He was not wholly unsuccessful in his missionary work, for, in 1673, Father Marquette found good Christians among this tribe. By degrees they extended their inter- course with the white fur traders, and gradually were drawn under the banner of France. They joined that government in its war with the Iroquois, and subsequently in its conflict with the English.
In 1760 the French post at Green Bay was surrendered to the British, though the latter did not take possession until the autumn of the following year. The land upon which the fort stood was .claimed by the Menomonees. Their principal village was located there, though a lesser one was at the mouth of the Menomonee river. They did not revel at the occupancy of the British, possibly for the reason that they were in a reduced state, having lost three hundred of their warriors by smallpox, and many of their chiefs in the late war in which the French commander had engaged them against the British. Moreover, they found an advantage in dealing with British fur traders, as they could purchase supplies of them for half the prices they had paid the French. Their good faith to their new allegiance was soon put to the test, as Pontiac's war broke out in 1763, and the post of Mackinaw was captured. This, instead of inciting them to a revolt against their new rulers, gave them the opportunity to prove their integrity, for they, with other tribes, escorted the garrison at Green Bay across Lake Michigan, to the village of L'Arbre Croche, on their way to Mon- treal. Their alliance with the British continued through their first war with the American colonies, and through the later contest of 1812-15. But, as they had yielded peaceably to the British after their conquest over the French, so when the American force arrived at Green Bay to take possession of the country, they greeted the commander as "my brother." At this time their territory had become greatly extended. It was bounded on the north by the dividing ridge between the waters flowing into Lake Superior and those flowing south into Green Bay and the Mississippi; on the east by Lake Michigan; on the south by the Milwaukee river, and on the west by the Mississippi and Black rivers. This was their territory, though they were practically restricted to the occupation of the western shore of Lake Michigan, lying between the mouth of Green Bay on the north and the Milwaukee river on the south, and to a somewhat indefinite area west. Their general claim, as late as 1825, was north to the Chippewa country ; east to Green Bay and Lake Michigan; south to the Milwaukee river ; and west to Black river. This tribe, which in 1761 had been feeble and de- pleted, had now, in less than three-quarters of a century, become a powerful nation, numbering between three and four thousand. As late as 1831 the Me- nomonee territory preserved its large proportions ; but in that year it was shorn of a great and valuable part by the tribe ceding to the United States all the eastern division, estimated at two and a half million acres. The following year they aided the general government in the Black Hawk war. In order that the Menomonees might become more established, they were assigned as a perma- nent home a large tract of land lying north of Fox river and east of Wolf river, with a reservation of their territory west for hunting grounds, until such time as the general government should desire to purchase it.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
In 1836, another portion, amounting to four million acres, lying between Green Bay on the east and Wolf river on the west, was disposed of to the United States, besides a strip three miles in width from near the portage north, on each side of the Wisconsin river, and forty-eight miles long, still leaving them in peaceful possession of a country about one hundred and twenty miles long and eighty broad.
Finally, in 1848, the government purchased all the remaining lands of the Menomonees, preparatory to their migration to a reservation beyond the Mis- sissippi of six thousand acres. This latter tract, however, was receded to the United States, for, notwithstanding there were treaty stipulations for the re- moval of the tribe to that tract, there were such obstacles in the way that they were finally permitted to remain in Wisconsin. Lands to the amount of twelve townships were granted them for permanent homes on the Upper Wolf river, in what is now Shawano and Oconto counties-a very small portion only of their once vast possessions. They removed to this reservation in 1852. Thus are the Menomonees the only one of the original tribes, which, as a whole, has a local habitation within its limits. This tribe refused to join the Sioux in their outbreak in 1861, and several of their warriors served as volunteers in the United States army in the late Civil war.
The Winnebagoes, or "Men of the Sea," as the name signifies, were first visited in 1634, at which period their villages were upon the head waters of Green Bay. They were one of the tribes belonging to the family of the Da- kotas, and had come hither from the westward, but whether from the Pacific, as their name might indicate, is not known. Their ancient seat was Winnebago lake, whither they afterward removed up the Fox river. Their country in- cluded not only this lake but all the streams flowing into it, especially the Fox river, and was subsequently extended to the Wisconsin and Rock rivers. They were brought under the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, who, in 1670, found them worshiping idols. At the commencement of the eighteenth century the Winnebagoes were finally allied to the French and in peace with the dreaded Iroquois. In 1718 the nation numbered six hundred. They subsequently joined the French against the Iroquois, and also aided them in their conflict with the British. But with the British possession of the post at Green Bay they allied themselves with their conquerors and kept up this friendship through the revo- lution and the War of 1812. At this period they were estimated to number 4.500 and were counted a bold and warlike people. When the United States took possession of the post of Green Bay in 1816, they apprehended trouble with the Winnebagoes, but after a single remonstrance with the commandant, they submitted to the new order of things and afterward made a treaty of peace. In 1820 they had five villages on Winnebago lake and fourteen on Rock river. Five years later their claim to territory was an extensive one. Its southeast boundary stretched away from the source of Rock river to within forty miles of its mouth, in the state of Illinois, where they had a village. On the west it extended to the heads of the small streams flowing into the Missis- sippi. To the northward it reached Black river and the Upper Wisconsin, but did not cross Fox river, although they contended for the whole of Winnebago lake. In 1829 a large part of their territory, in what is now southwestern Wis- consin, was sold to the United States. In 1837 they ceded to the general gov-
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