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F 587 W2 H67+
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OYEZNA CO
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Cornell University Library F 587W2 H67 + History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. C
3 1924 028 871 627 Overs olin
DATE DUE
PRS
250
J
GAYLORD
PRINTSDINU S.A.
UN
LA
V
Y
1865
ED
D
Cornell University Library
The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028871627
THE
HISTORY
OF
WAUKESHA COUNTY,
WISCONSIN,
CONTAINING
AN ACCOUNT OF ITS SETTLEMENT, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES: AN EXTENSIVE AND MINUTE SKETCH OF ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES-THEIR IMPROVEMENTS, INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOCIETIES; ITS WAR RECORD, BIOGRAPH- ICAL SKETCHES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLERS: THE THE WHOLE PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF WISCONSIN, STATISTICS OF THE STATE, AND AN ABSTRACT OF ITS LAWS AND CON- STITUTION AND OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
-
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY. MDOCOLXXX.
F
1 587 W2 H67+
A688154 PREFACE
TT is with no little pride that the publishers present this work to the citizens of Waukesha County, knowing that, with whatever inaccuracies it may be found to contain, it will prove one of the most valuable books ever added to their libraries. It is a book wholly unlike any other ever published, being exclusively for and concerning the people of this county, and is of such size, completeness and comprehensiveness as could never have been furnished had the community been less advanced in civilization, culture and wealth than it now is.
Had the publication of this history been delayed five years, many facts now contained in it could not have been rescued from oblivion. The index shows what the book attempts to preserve. That it contains errors would be foolhardy to deny ; for the very nature of all historical publications, depending, as they do, upon oft-repeated and oft-mangled stories, imperfect newspaper accounts and memories weakened by the toils and sorrows of many decades, renders perfect accuracy absolutely impossible. However, let the public take these prefatory remarks as a pledge that the publishers have spared no means, and the historian no labor or patience, to make every account as near perfect as possible; and let every reader remember also, as he notes the contents of the hundreds of subjects the book contains, that, wherever the historian has been led in the least astray, it was due to the citizens of Waukesha County, for whom the work was undertaken, and from whom he obtained the least and the greatest of the facts necessary in its compilation.
To those who have taken particular pains to aid in making this a valuable book, sincere thanks are here returned; and, as years roll on, and the work becomes more and more cherished and valuable, the thanks of the future will be still more sincere than ours ; - sincere not only, but entirely universal.
WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY.
Fr
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
PAGE.
Educational :
Township System ..
146
Free High Schoole ..
147
Pork and Beef ..
203
School Offices.
.147
Wisconsin as a State
52
First Administration
148
Second Administration ....
Third Administration
148
Water Powers.
59
206
Fourth Administration.
Fifth Administration
64
Sixth Administration.
06
Academiee aod Seminaries
151
Commercial Schools.
151 }
Health
230
Geographical Position
230
Physical Features. Geology. 231
Drainage
232
Copper ..
168
Climatology
232
Eleventh Administration.
93
Gold and Silver
168
Raia Character
233
Twelfth Administration.
94
Brick Claye ...
108
Isotherme
234
Cement Rock
170
Barometrical.
234
Limestone-Glass Sand. 171
Peat-Building Stooes 172
Railroads.
173
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Panl. 173
The Archæan Age ..
112
Chicago & North westero
176
Paleozoic Time-Silurian Age
115
Devonian Age ..
119
Western Union
179
Glacial Period ..
120
West Wisconsin
180
Climetology
121 |
Trees, Shrubs and Vines
.128 .
Fauna.
134
Wieconein Valley
181
Fish and Fish Culture. .134
Large Animale-Time of their Disap- pearance.
.138
Peculiarities of the Bird Fauna.
139
North Wisconsin.
183
Educational
.140
Original School Code ...
140
Chippewa Falls & Western 183
Change of Diseases.
246
Pulmonary Diseases 248
Statistics
29
Population, 1875, of Townships, Alpha-
Baoking.
191
hetically Arranged by Counties ........ 249
Population by Couoties.
.258
Commerce and Manufactures.
198
State University.
.143
Agricultural College.
.144
Furs
199
Nativity hy Counties ..
.259
Normal Schoole.
144
Lead aad Ziac-Iron.
200
Valnation of Property.
.260
Teachers' Institutes.
.146
Graded Schools
146
ABSTRACT OF WISCONSIN STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
Actions
283
Elections and General Elections
263
Landlord and Teaant.
281
Limitation of Actions. 285
Attachment 284 Exemptions .284 Marks, and Brands. 281
Adoption of Children 276 Fences. 280 Married Women 283
Assignment of Mortgage. .274
Assessment and Collection of Taxes
.267
Assessment of Taxes.
268
Garnishment.
284
Bills of Exchange or Promissory Notes. .272 Borrowed Money 207 Hours of Labor. 273
Capital Punishment. .278 Interest. 277
Collection of Taxes .. 270 lotoxicatiog Liqners 271
Commercial Terms.
.285
Common Schoole ..
.266
Damagee for Trespass.
279
Jurors
PAGE.
Wisconsin State Constitutioo. .287
U. S. Constitution
297
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE. Vote of Wisconsin for Governor and Presi- .306-307 det .....
-
Population of the State.
.......
308
1
PAGE.
Antiquities
19
Indiaa Tribee.
21 |
Pre-Territorial Anoals. 29
Wisconsin Territory.
41
Hops.
204
Tobacco-Cranberries.
205
Liquors
205
52
57
Libraries
148
Miscellaneone.
206
62
College Sketches.
149
Manufacturee
208
Conclusion.
208
The Public Domain
210
230
Wiads
235
Climatological Changes from Settling
in the State.
235
Influence of Nationalities.
237
Occupations-Food-Education, etc ....
.. 238
Ratio of Sickness, Ft. Howard and Win-
nehago ..
239
Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western 180
Green Bay & Minnesota. 181
Sheboygan & Fond du Lac.
.181
State Prison
24.2
Mineral Point ....
182
Madison & Portage .. .182
Northern Hospital for the Tasane .. .243
City of Milwaukee
243
Prairie du Chien & McGregor.
183
Health Resorts.
244
Narrow Gange.
183
Agitation for Free Schools.
.141
School System under State Govern-
Conclusion.
184
meat
.141
Lumber
185
School Fund lacome.
.142
Arrest. .283 Estrays ... 279
Forms of Mortgagee
.274 'Surveyors and Surveye. 282
Support of Poor. 282
Suggestione to Persons Purchasing Books
by Subecription.
.285
Title of Real Property by Descent. 275
Weights and Measuree.
278
Judgments.
284
Wills.
276
Jurisdiction of Courts.
277
Wolf Scalps.
278
278 :
Commerce aod Manufactures :
Dairy Products
203
State Teachers' Certificates.
147
Teachers' Associations,
State Superintendents.
Seventh Administration
67
69
76
War of Secession Commenced.
Agriculture.
Mineral Resources.
151
Eighth Administration
162
Niath Administration.
85
Lead and Zinc.
162
Statietice of Volunteers
90
Iroo.
165
Teath Administration
92
Thirteenth Administration
97
Fourteenth Administration. 99
Fifteenth Administration
104
Sixteenth Administration
109
Topography and Geology
110
Wiscoasia Central 178 History of Disease ..... .238
Education of the Blind .. 241 Institute of Deaf and Dumb 241 Industrial School for Boys .. 242
State Hospital for the Insane. 242
Acreage of Principal Crops.
.261, 262
Grain
202
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Highways and Bridges
270
Forms of Conveyances.
273 : Stay Law.
284
Lumber ..
201
PAGE.
Female Colleges.
150
iv
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Political Geography .309
Topography 310
Geographical Formations. 313
Stone Quarries and Lime-kilns 317
Rivers
.318
L&kes
319
Water Powers 321
Soils
321
.324
Fossil Remains. 327
Native Vagetation. 324
Mineral Springs .. 328
Pre-historic Relics. 337
An Ancient Document. 342
First Settlement. 347
Government Land Districts sad Offices .350
Claim Committee and Laws ..
.350
Land Sale 352
Pioneer Hardships and Pleasures 353
Organization of County. .358
County Seat and Buildings 360
First County Records ... 364
County Officers, 1846-1880 366
Waukesha in Constitutional Conventions ... 371 Territorial Representation
371
State Representation .372
Representation in Congress ..
.372
Premium Farm.
580
Territorial District Courts and Judges .373
Circuit Court and Judges 375
County Court and Judgee .375
How and by whom County was named.
.376
Pitts Ellis.
.584
Indian Names.
377
Indian Occupancy .. 381
Hunting and Trapping .385 Rev. John Adams Savage .586
An Early Experiment .385
Residents of 1838 .385 Sehina Barney. 589
Plank Roads .387
Railroads,
.387
Milwaukee & Rock River Canal. 392 Calvert C. White. .594
Early Music.
394
First Temperance Organization. 395
County Finances
396
Wisconsin ladustrial School for Boys 401
Cantennial Historical Address. 418 Chauncey H. Purple .. 602
" The Eenjuns are Coming"
424
Waukesha County ss a Summer Resort. .. 426
Old Log Schoolhouse. 436
Old Prairieville Academy. 436
Nashotah House ..
438
Oconomowoc Seminary .. 445
Carroll College ..
447
General Educational Interests. 450 Sun Dials. 622
Agriculture
.454
First Under-ground Railroad. 457 First Things ..
Pioneer Reminiscences.
.466
By Nathaniel Walton, 1880.
.466
Waukesha ..
By Lyman Goodnow, 1880.
.467
By Mrs. Talbot C. Dousman, 1880.
473
By Almon Welch, 1880
475
By Hamilton Nelson, 1880
.482
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
Brook field.
959
Menomonee
PAGE. 984 Pewaukee. 932
Delafield .987 Muskego. 903 Summit .882
Eagle ... .. 894 Mukwonago .964 Vernon. 991
Genesee. 922 Now Berlin 911
Lisbon
.976
Merton
947
Ottawa
1004
PORTRAITS.
PAOE.
Barstow. Wm. .....
51
Bacon, W. D .. .275
Blair, William 67 Haight, T. W 829 Beaumont, Eph. 919
Carney, P. H. .721
Lawrence, George.
.415
Clinton, Adam 211 Moore, V. L. 885 Tichenor, Vernon 83
McCarty, Thomas 795 Towosend, Copeland .433
Martin, Leonard 195 Vieau, A ..
Peffer, George P
.469
White, C. C ...
523
Phillips, Henry ..
...
.667
Wright, W. L
.739
Perkins, A. E .. 577 Weaver, James. 131
Gove, R. L 703 Parsoos, W. S 259 Weaver, Richard .361
Goss, B. F. 451 Putnam, Amos 179
Gilbert, A. E .. .649 Richmond, Thompson. 505 Weaver, Thomas .309
Hunkios, H. H. 99
Hatheway, R. C.
685
Randall, Alex. W 35 Hurlbut, Edwin .865 Savage, J. A. .115
PAGE.
Pioneer Reminiscences-
By T. S. Redford, 1880. 483
By Mrs. John Weaver, 1875, 484
By Alexander F. Pratt, 1854. 485
Churches
Secret Societies.
657
Banks
.660
Public Halls.
662
Hotels
663
Village Officers, 1852-1880.
670
Conflagrations ..
671
Fire Department.
672
Manufacturing Interests.
673
Miscellaneous Sketches ...
676
677
Old Settlers Done up in Rhyme .. Waukesha in 1842 680 Waukesha in 1844 680 Waukesha in 1853. 681
681 656 Waukesha in 1860. 684 What Waukesha Contained in 1865 687 Waukesha in 1880. 557
687
Notes and First Things .690
City of Oconomowoc.
Villsge and City Government. 690
Past Condition and General Growth .. .695 Public Schools and Academy .702
Fires and Fire Department 705
Brass Bands.
706
Library Association 707
Yacht Club
.708
709
Cemetery Association. Hotels 709
Churches
.711
Secret Societies.
716
Manufacturing 719
Attorneys
720
Postmasters
720
Physicians-
720
Notes.
720
War Incidents. 723
Incidents and Anecdotes 724 Analysis of L& Belle Spring 727
Beauties of Oconomowoc ... 728
Histories of Towns : Brookfield 729
Delafield
731
Eagle
735
Genesee.
741
Lishon.
744
Democratic Party
611
Merton
748
Republican Party.
615
Menomonee
752
Mukwonago
75G
Muskego
764
New Berlin
768
Oconomowoc ..
771
Ottawa ...
775
Pewaukee
778
Summit
784
Vernon ...
789
Waukesha
793
PAOE.
Small, William 775
Hardell, A. G .... 901 Small, D. H. 397
Shears, Henry 541
Jones, Thomas D. .937 Sugden, Thomas 163
Snyder, Andrew 847
Campbell, Albert. .559
Deissner, Chas. T 227
Dousman, T. C., 631
Evans, John 613 Pearl, Elishs .487 Wagner, John .757
Frazier, William M.
811
Field, Martin
243
Waukesha-
640
Postoffice and Poetmaster's.
Public Schools.
641
642
By Mrs. A. B. Hall, 1880 .489
By Andrew E. Elmora, 1880.
.491
By Thomas Sugden, 1880. 492
493
503
Agricultural Society
Dairying.
.508
Wool Growing and Sheep Raising. 509
War Record .. .510
Roster of Volunteers .515
The Glover Rascue. 549
Seven Murders.
550
Early Manufacturing.
554
Early Horse-racing Fests 555
·
A Distinguished County.
County Poor-House and Farm.
Postoffices.
Newspapers
.558
Fruit Growing .. 571
Thief-Detection Society.
572
The Name ..
690
Oconomowoc Agricultural, Mechanical and
Stock Association.
573
Old Settlers' Clubs.
574
Population of County &t Different Periods ... 581
Distinguished Dead
583
Jacob Linsley Beso.
.583
Dennison Worthington 584
Matthias J. Bovee .. 586
Rev. Robert Boyd, D. D. 587
Rufus Parks, 589
Bishop Jackson Kemper, D. D. .590
Adam E. Ray 597
Richard Hardell. 597
Alexander Foster Pratt .. 598
Sydney Alfred Bean, 600
William Augustus Barstow 602
John Hodgson.
606
Alexander W. Randall 608
Oriental Evanic Order of the 1,001 610
Political Parties ..
611
Anecdotes and History, Unclassified 623
One Hundred Years Hence
633
Location
633
Different Names .. .634
Incorporated
.. 635
Father of the Saratoga of the West ..... 638
Oconomowoc ..
.845
Waukesha Village
795
PAGE.
Hardy, W. H. 955
.325
Weaver, William 2d .. 291
Rice, Joho A 379
Warren, Stephen
.147
Youmans, H. A.
595
PAGE.
627
.633
Waukesha.
.836
558
By Chauncey C. Olio, 1880.
Elevations
MAP OF WAUKESHA CO.
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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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