The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 1

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899


USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc. > Part 1


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COLLEGE


:


HARVARD


LIBRARY


TAS


--- -


A COLLECTION OF AMERICAN HISTORY


IN MEMORY OF CHARLES ELLIOTT PERKINS


OF BURLINGTON IOWA


LACH MAN


:


THE MAKER


OF HIS OY


.


.


01


President Hatons d'écitorical wer peux 1 Chicago, L'eauet 4, 7885.


J


0


THE


HISTORY


OF


ROCK COUNTY,


WISCONSIN,


CONTAINING


A HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY, ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, RESOURCES, ETC., AN EXTENSIVE AND MINUTE SKETCH OF ITS CITIES, THEIR IMPROVEMENTS, INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, SOCIETIES, ETC., ETC., WAR RECORD, BIO- GRAPHICAL SKETCHES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLERS, ETC., ETC., ETC .; ALSO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN, CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF WISCONSIN, CONDENSED ABSTRACT OF LAWS OF WISCONSIN, MISCELLA- NEOUS. ETC., ETC.


ILLUSTRATED.


-. .. . ..


CHICAGO: WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY. MDCCCLXXIX.


LS 27808.6.5


HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY C 14 1914 CHI ?. ES ELLIOTT PERKINS MEMORIAL COLLECTION


Julver Hage Moyne 22 0 PRINTERS 118 8120 MONROE ST 70 CHICAGO 20


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.


PAGE.


1 Antiquities


Indian Tribes.


21


Township System. 146


Dairy Products .. Pork and Beef ..


.203


Pre-Territorial Annals.


29 Free High Schools ... .147


Wisconsin Territory .... 41 School Offices 147


Wisconsin as a State


5% |


State Teachers' Certificates. 147


Tobacco-Cranberries. 205


Liquors


... 205


Second Administration. 57 Libraries .148 Miscellaneous. .. 206


Third Administration.


59 .


Pourth Administration ..


62


Fifth Administration. 6-


Sixth Adıninistration. 66 .


67


War of Secession Commenced.


69 | Agriculture


Eighth Administration ...


76


Ninth Administration ..


85


Lead and Zinc ..


.162


90 Iron


165


Tenth Administration.


92


Eleventh Administration


93


Twelfth Administration.


91


Thirteenth Administration ... 97


99


Fifteenth Administration ...


104


Sixteenth Administration


109 : Railroads. .. 173


Topography and Geology 110


Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 173


The Archæan Age ..


112


Paleozoic Time-Silurian Age. 115


Devonian Agc ...


119


Glacial Period ..


120


West Wisconsin. 180


Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western .. 180


Education of the Blind. .241


Green Bay & Minnesota. 181 Institute of Deaf and Dumb. 241


Wisconsin Valley 181


Industrial School for Boys .. 242


181 State Prison .. 249 Sheboygan & Fond du Lac. Mineral Point. 182 State Hospital for the Insane .. 212


Madison & Portage 182


Northern Hospital for the Insane. 243


North Wisconsin


183


City of Milwaukee. 243


Prairie du Chien & McGregor.


183 Health Resorts. .244


246


Axitation for Free Schools .. 141


183


Schcol System under State Govern- Conclusion. ment. 141 Lumber. 185 .


School Fund Income.


142


State University ... 143


Commerce and Manufactures. 198 : Population by Countice. .258


Agricultural College .. 144


Furs. 199 Nativity by Counties. 259


Normal Schools. 144


Lead and Zinc-Iron ... .200


Valuation of Property


260


Teachers' Institutes. 146


.146


Grain


.202


ABSTRACT OF WISCONSIN STATE LAWS.


PAGR. ;


PAGK.


PAGR.


Actions.


283


Elections and General Elections.


.263 Landlord and Tenant. 281


Arrest


.283


Estrays.


279 Limitation of Actions .. 285


Attachment.


284 : Exemptions.


284 Marks and Brands. .. 28


Adoption of Children 276


Fences


280 , Married Women


283


Assignment of Mortgage.


274


Forms of Conveyances


273 . Stay Law ... 284


Assessment and Collection of Taxes .. .207


Forms of Mortgages.


274 ! Surveyors and Surveys. 282


Assessment of Taxes ... 268


Garnishment ...


284 Support of Poor. 282


Bills of Exchange or Promissory Nc tex ....


... 272


Highways and Bridges


.. 270 . Suggestions to Persons Purchasing Books


Borrowed Money


267 Hours of Labor. .. 273 by Subscription 285


Capital Punishment.


.278 Interest.


277 Title of Real Property by Desceut. .. 278


Collection of Taxes. 270


Intoxicating Liquors


271 Weights and Measures. 278


Commercial Terms. .285


Judgments ...


284 , Wills. .. 276


Common Schools ...


266 . Jurisdiction of Courts


277 ; Wolf Scalps. .278


Damages for Trespass


279 Jurors


.278


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE.


PAGE


Vote of Wisconsin for Governor and Presi-


Population of the State ..............


.308


PAGE.


Wisconsin State Constitution ....... .... 287


U. 8. Constitution .. ...... ... 297 dent. .. 306-307


PAGE.


PAOK.


19 : Educational :


Commerce and Manufactures :


Concinsion .. 208


The Public Domain.


.210


Commercial Schools


151 Health 151


Geographical Position .230


Physical Features. .230


Geology.


.231


Copper.


168


('limatology ..


232


Rain Character


.233


Isotherms


.234


Barometrical .234


Winds. .. 235


Peat-Building Stones


172


Climatological Changes from Settling in the State 235


Chicago & Northwestern ... 176 ;


Wisconsin Central. 178


Western Union ... 179


Ratio of Sickness, Ft. Howard and Win- nebagu ... .239


Climatology ..... 121 Trees, Shrubs and Vince. Fauna .... 134


128


Fish and Fish Culture .. .134


Large Animals-Time of their Disap- pearanco ...


138 Peculiarities of the Bird Fauna. .139


Educational


140 !


Original School Code. 140


Chippewa Falls & Western.


183


Narrow Gauge ...


Pulmonary Diseases.


248


184 Statistics 249


Population, 1875, of Townships, Alpha- betically Arranged by Counties ...... .. 219


Acreage of Principal Crops.


.. 261, 282


Graded Schools.


Hops .. 204


First Administration.


52


Teachers' Associations ...


.. 148


State Superintendents. 148


Water Powers. .. 206


College Sketches. 149


Manufactures .208


Female Colleges .150


Academies and Seminaries. 151


.230


Mineral Resources 162


Gold and Silver


.168 .


Brick Clays ...


168


Cement Rock 170


Fourteenth Administration.


Limestone-Glass Sand. 171


Influence of Nationalities. 237 Occupations- Food-Education, etc ...... 238 History of Disease ..... 238


Change of Diseases.


Banking .... 191


Lumber ....


201


.203


Seventh Administration.


. Statistics of Volunteers.


Drainage .232


iv


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.


PAGE. |


PAGE. |


PAGE


Telegraphic, Burr Robbins' Menagerie, The Cemeteries, The Thousand and One, Janesville a Quarter of a Century Ago, Inventions .... ... 529 to 605 CHAPTER IX .- CITY OF BELOIT .- Intro- duction, An Early Adventurer, Thie- bault, Blodgett, New England Emi- grating Company, Land Title Litiga- tion, Origin of the Name Beloit, First Events, A Pioneer's Recollections, Beloit Village in 1845, Beloit a Quarter of a Century Ago, City Government, City Seal, Police Court, The Archwan Society, Manufacturing Enterprises, Schools, Post Office, Hotels, Public Halls, The Military, The Old Veterans' Club. Musical Societies, Bands, Beloit Reading Club, Beloit Bible Society, Gas Works, The Bridges, The Ceme- tery, The Banking Business, The Women's Christian Temperance Unton, Secret Societies, Society for Protection Against Horse-Thieves, Beloit Public Libraries, Beloit Water-Power, Princi- pal Conflagration, The Beloit Churches, Banks, Fire Department. 606 to 647 CHAPTER X .- ROCK COUNTY VILLAGES- Clinton Junction, Evansville, Shopiere, Orfordville, Lima Center, Foutville, Hanover, Afion, Magnolia, Magnolia Station (Cainville), Emerald Grove, Avon, Edgerton, Old Milton, Milton Junction, Etc., Etc ... 648 to 694


PORTRAITS.


PAGE,


PAGE. !


PAGE.


Allen, O


523 .Dickson, J. P ..


577 ( McEwan, Peter. 433


Baker, Jos.


343 | Evans, John M.


818 . Martin, C. Loftus.


595


Bennett, Isaac M.


505 -Greenman, H. G


451 Palmer, Henry


711


Bennett, J. R


559 ^Goodwin, S. J ..


613 Smith, A. Hyatt 379


Brenton, J. L.


747 , Goodell, J. E.


649 |Williams, C. G.


3:25


Chittenden, George W


397 Goodrich, Joseph


667 (Winans, John .. 415


Carpenter, A. B


631 Goodrich, Ezra


685 | Whitford. W. C. 487 .Cheever, D. G. 783 (Johnson, Daniel 469 Warren, J. H. 641 sCovert, George.


801 Lord, S. L ...


837


Doty, Ellie.


309 McCausey, George H. 361 :


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


PAGE.


PAGR. |


PAGE ..


Avon


882


Janesville ..


695 : Porter


869


Beloit


732


Johnstown ..


809 Plymouth


872


Bradford ..


884 | La Prairie ...


833 ; Rock ..


795


Center ..


¥52


Lima.


789


Spring Valley 858


Clinton


775 ; Magnolia


877 | Turtle ... 799


Fulton ..


840


Milton ..


813


Union. 861


Harmony


890 | Newark.


770


!


Dead. ....... 389 to 442 CHAPTER VI .- Political History, Rock County Agricultural Society and Me- chanics' Institute, State Fairs in Rock County, War Record, Educational Interests, Rock County Pharmaceuti- cal Association, Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois Industrial Asso- ciation, Mack Murder ... ... 443 to 501


-


CHAPTER III .- Political Geography, The Early Settlements, Pioneer Reminis- cences, Pioneer Life, " Squatters " and their "Claims," Rock County Organ- ized. .. 336 to 359 CHAPTER IV .- Rock County as Repre- sented on Early Maps, Rock River Navigation and Rock County Steam- boats, Territorial District Court and Stato Circuit Court, Rock County Board of Supervisora, County Court of Rock County, Court House and Jail, County Officers, 1839 to 1879, Territor- ial, State and National Representation, Railroads. .359 to 388


--


CHAPTER VIII .- CITY OF JANESVILLE .- First Settlement, Early Growth, Janes- ville as a City, the Janes Correspond- ence, Henry F. Janes, Public Schools, Commercial College and School of Telegraphy, Religious Institutions, Manufactories. Theaters and Halls, Chinese Settlement, Young Men's Asso- ciation, Fire Department, Milltary, Police Matters, Janesville Societies, Lady Lawyers, The Post Office, Corn Exchange, Janesville Hotels, Ranks, Amusing Errors, U. S. Grant and Team, Insurance Companies, The Water Supply, Pioneer Society, The Legal Profession, Ford, Ferries and Bridges,


-


CHAPTER V .- Rock County Press, Rock County Bible Society, Wisconsin Insti- tution for the Education of the Blind, Agriculture of Rock County, Horticul- ture and the Horticultural Society, Rock County Poor Farm, A Memor- able Tragedy, Rock County Statistics, - 1


Some of Rock County's Illustrious


CHAPTER I .- Topography, Elevations, Water Power of Rock River, Springs, Artesian Wells, Geological Formations, st. Peters Sandstone, Trenton Lime- stone, Galena Limestone, The Glacial Formations ...... ... 309 to 319


CHAPTER II .- Physical Geography, The Mound Builders, Indian Occupancy, The Black Hawk War, United States Surveys and Land Sales, First Settle- ment in Rock County ...


.. 320 to 335 | CHAPTER VII .- TOWNS OF ROCK COUNTY -Avon, Beloit, Bradford, Center, Clin- ton, Fulton, Harmony, Janesville, Johnstown, La Prairie, Lima, Magno- - lia, Milton, Newark, Plymouth, Porter, Rock, Spring Valley, Turtle, Union, 502 to ..


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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. BY C. W. BUTTERFIELD.


I .- WISCONSIN ANTIQUITIES.


The first explorers of the valleys of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and its tributaries, seem not to have noticed, to any considerable extent, the existence within these vast areas of monuments of an extinct race. Gradually, however, as the tide of emigration broke through the barriers of the Alleghanies and spread in a widely extended flow over what are now the States of the Northwest, these prehistoric vestiges attracted more and more the attention of the curious and the learned, until, at the present time, almost every person is presumed to have some general knowledge, not only of their existence, but of some of their striking peculiarities. Unfortunately, these signs of a long since departed people are fast disappearing by the never ceasing operations of the elements, and the constant encroachments of civilization. The earliest notices of the animal and vegetable kingdom of this region are to be found in its rocks; but Wisconsin's earli- est records of men can only be traced in here and there a crumbling earth-work, in the fragment of a skeleton, or in a few stone and copper implements-dim and shadowy relics of their handicraft.


The ancient dwellers in these valleys, whose history is lost in the lapse of ages, are desig- nated, usually, as the Mound-Builders ; not that building mounds was probably their distinctive employment, but that such artificial elevations of the earth are, to a great extent, the only evi- dences remaining of their actual occupation of the country. As to the origin of these people, all knowledge must, possibly, continue to rest upon conjecture alone. Nor were the habitations of this race confined to the territory of which Wisconsin now forms a part. At one time, they must have been located in many ulterior regions. The earth-works, tumuli, or "mounds," as they are generally designated, are usually symmetrically raised and often inclosed in mathematical figures, such as the square, the octagon, and the circle, with long lines of circumvallation. Besides these earth-works, there are pits dug in the solid rock; rubbish heaps formed in the prosecution of mining operations; and a variety of implements and utensils, wrought in copper or stone, or moulded in clay. Whence came the inhabitants who left these evidences to succeed- ing generations ? In other words, who were the Mound-Builders? Did they migrate from the Old World, or is their origin to be sought for elsewhere? And as to their manners and customs and civilization-what of these things? Was the race finally swept from the New World to give place to Red men, or was it the one from which the latter descended ? These momentous ques- tions are left for the ethnologist, the archaeologist, and the antiquarian of the future to answer- if they can.


20


HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.


Inclosures and mounds of the prehistoric people, it is generally believed, constituted but parts of one system ; the former being, in the main, intended for purposes of defense or religion; the latter, for sacrifice, for temple sites, for burial places, or for observatories. In selecting sites for many of these earth-works, the Mound-Builders appear to have been influenced by motives which prompt civilized men to choose localities for their great marts; hence, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities of the West are founded on ruins of pre-existing structures. River terraces and river bottoms seem to have been the favorite places for these earth-works. In such localities, the natural advantages of the country could be made available with much less trouble than in portions of the country lying at a distance from water-courses. In Wisconsin, therefore, as in other parts, the same general idea of selecting points contiguous to the principal natural thoroughfares is found to have prevailed with the Mound-Builders; for their works are seen in the basin of the Fox river of the Illinois, in that of Rock river and its branches, in the valley of Fox river of Green bay, in that of the Wisconsin, as well as near the waters of the Mississippi.


While a few circumvallations and immense mounds, such as are common to certain other portions of the United States, are discoverable in Wisconsin, yet by far the largest number of earthworks have one peculiarity not observable, except in a few instances, outside the State. This characteristic is a very striking one The fact is revealed that they are imitative in form- resembling beasts, reptiles, birds, fish, man. All these, for convenience, are usually classed under the general name of "animal mounds," although some are in the similitude of trees, some of war clubs, others of tobacco pipes. Generally, these figures are in groups, though sometimes they are seen alone. For what purpose these earth-works were heaped up-they rise above the surface two, four, and sometimes six feet-or what particular uses they were intended to subserve, is unknown. It is, however, safe to affirm that they had some significance. A number resemble the bear; a few, the buffalo; others, the raccoon. Lizards, turtles, and even tadpoles, are out- lined in the forms of some. The war eagle, and the war club has each its representative. All this, of course, could not have been a mere happening-the work of chance. The sizes of these mounds are as various as their forms. One near Cassville, in Grant county, very complete in its representation of an animal, supposed to be of the elephant species, was found, upon measure- ment, to have a total length of one hundred and thirty-five feet. Another in Sauk county, quite perfect in its resemblance to the form of a man, was of equal length-a veritable colossus; prone, it is true, and soon to disappear, if it has not already been destroyed, by ravages of a superior civilization.


In portions of Wisconsin, as well as in a few places outside the State, are found earth-works of another kind, but quite as remarkable as the "animal mounds," which, from their supposed use, have been styled "garden beds." They are ridges, or beds, about six inches in height and four feet in width, ranged, with much apparent method, in parallel rows, sometimes rectangular in shape, sometimes of various but regular and symmetrical curves, and occupying fields of from ten to a hundred acres.


The Mound-Builders have left many relics, besides their earthworks, to attest their presence in Wisconsin in ages past. Scattered widely are found stone and copper axes, spear-heads, and arrow-heads, also various other implements-evidently their handiwork. As these articles are frequently discovered many feet beneath the surface, it argues a high antiquity for the artificers. Whether they had the skill to mould their copper implements is doubtful. Such as plainly show the work of hammering, indicate an art beyond that possessed by the Red men who peopled America upon its first discovery by Europeans. In a few instances, fragments of human skulls have been found so well preserved as to enable a comparison to be drawn between the crania of


21


THE INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN.


this ancient race and those of modern ones; the results, however, of these comparisons throw little, if any, light upon "the dark backward and abysm " of mound-building times.


The evidences of an extinct people of superior intelligence is very strikingly exhibited in the ancient copper mines of the Lake Superior region. Here are to be found excavations in the solid rock; heaps of rubble and dirt; copper utensils fashioned into knives, chisels, and spear and arrow-heads; stone hammers; wooden bowls and shovels; props and levers for raising and supporting the mass copper; and ladders for ascending and descending the pits. These mines were probably worked by people not only inhabiting what is now the State of Wisconsin, but territory farther to the southward. The copper was here obtained, it is believed, which has been found in many places, even as far away as the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, wrought into various implements and utensils. But there are no traces in Wisconsin of a " copper age " succeeding a "stone age," discernadle in any prehistoric relics. They all refer alike to one age-the indefinite past; to one people-the Mound-Builders.


II .- THE INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN.


When, as early, it is believed, as 1634, civilized man first set foot upon the territory now included within the boundaries of Wisconsin, he discovered, to his surprise, that upon this wide area met and mingled clans of two distinct and wide-spread families-the Algonquins and Sioux. The tribes of the former, moving westward, checked the advance of the latter in their excursions eastward. As yet there had been no representatives of the Huron-Iroquois seen west of Lake Michigan-the members of this great family, at that date dwelling in safety in the extensive regions northward and southward of the Erie and Ontario lakes. Already had the French secured a foot-hold in the extensive valley of the St. Lawrence; and, naturally enough, the chain of the Great Lakes led their explorers to the mouth of Green bay, and up that water- course and its principal tributary, Fox river, to the Wisconsin, an affluent of the Mississippi. On the right, in ascending this bay, was seen, for the first time, a nation of Indians, lighter in complexion than neighboring tribes, and remarkably well formed, now well known as the MENOMONEES.


This nation is of Algonquin stock, but their dialect differed so much from the surrounding tribes of the same family, it having strange guttural sounds and accents, as well as peculiar inflec- tions of verbs and other parts of speech, that, for a long time, they were supposed to have a distinct language. Their traditions point to an emigration from the East at some remote period. When first visited by the French missionaries, these Indians subsisted largely upon wild rice, from which they took their name. The harvest time of this grain was in the month of September. It grew spontaneously in little streams with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places. The harvesters went in their canoes across these watery fields, shaking the ears right and left as they advanced, the grain falling easily, if ripe, into the bark receptacle beneath. To clear it from chaff and strip it of a pellicle inclosing it, they put it to dry on a wooden lattice above a small fire, which was kept up for several days. When the rice was well dried, it was placed in a skin of the form of a bag, which was then forced into a hole, made on purpose, in the ground. They then tread it out so long and so well, that the grain being freed from the chaff, was easily winnowed. After this, it was pounded to meal, or left unpounded, and boiled in water seasoned with grease. It thus became a very palatable diet. It must not be inferred that this was the only food of the Menomonees; they were adepts in fishing, and hunted with skill the game which abounded in the forests.




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