USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 11
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
No. 21, and to real estate men of the present as Webb & Bronson's plat of the town of Winnebago. The main road of the portage bounded the tract on the south, and the Indian agency building was near its northern boundary, west of Fox River. On the opposite shore was Fort Winne- bago in all the pride of its two years.
The angle in the tract, at its most northerly point, is near the junc- tion of Conant and Adams streets, and was mentioned in the deed as "the corner of the pickets which surround the grave of the late John Eenyer." The tract probably could have been conveyed to John B. L'Eenyer, but he had conveyed his rights virtually to Mr. Griguon, who had occupied for a time the lands in question, as well as a number of his relatives. The northern line of the Grignon tract included not only L'Ecuyer's grave, but the old Indian burying ground, upon which Pauquette was about to ereet the first church between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The deed issued from the general land office at Detroit and was clear of any complications, save "any right or claim which the said heirs of John Ecuyer, deceased, may have in and to the same."
L'ECUYER'S GRAVE
Not long before his death. A. J. Turner wrote thus of the grave of . Jean B. L'Ecuyer, one of the most noted landmarks on the famous Grignon Tract: "There are persons still residing in Portage who re- member the picketed grave of L'Ecuyer very well, which stood just in front of the window of the house on Lot 1, Block 185, now occupied by Mr. Esehwig, owned, I believe, by Bluford Turner. The writer of this article also remembers the grave well, which was marked by a small American flag over it, which had evidently been kept flying by some relative or friend of Mr. L'Ecuyer.
"L'Ecuyer's grave, which was thus made the most conspicuous landmark in what is now the city of Portage, was not, as some have supposed, obliterated by the grading of Conant Street several years ago, which operation required the removal of the remains of those who had been buried in the Indian burying ground at that point, but the bones of the famous pioneer remain where his kindred had placed him some ninety years ago. I am able to say this from the fact that some Government officers engaged in definitely fixing the boundaries of French Claim No. 21, no longer ago than last summer, run the lines of the claim, and when the point was reached at which L'Ecuyer's grave was supposed to be located, a small excavation was made by one of the work- men, and scarcely two feet from the surface L'Ecuyer's bones were
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
found in a good state of preservation. The excavation was immediately filled up and the bones of the famous pioneer were left without further disturbance. A small flower bed about a couple of feet in front of the window soon appeared over the spot.
"Probably the good woman who utilized the loosened earth for the purpose of a flower bed was wholly unconscious of the fact that, as she planted her chrysanthemums in the prepared earth, she was marking the grave of one who was probably the first bona fide citizen of our city, and who had a hundred years before been an active business man at the portage, transporting from the Wisconsin to the Fox, by his primitive methods, the furs gathered as far away as the sources of the Missouri to a market at Quebec.
"It is to be regretted that we do not know more of John B. L'Ecuyer, who was one of, if not the very first person to make Portage his definite abiding place. We do know where his bones lie as a conspicuous land- mark. It would be fitting if some permanent tablet should be placed to ever mark the spot."
THE POST CEMETERY
And speaking of landmarks, the Soldiers' Cemetery belonging to the fort must not be forgotten. It is one of the landmarks which the Government, assisted by Wau-Bun Chapter, D. A. R., of Portage, keep in respectable repair. The grave guarded with special solicitude is that of Cooper Pixley, a soldier of the Revolution who died March 12, 1855. It is believed that he has not to exceed half a dozen comrades in Wisconsin soil. In the Fort Cemetery are known to repose the re- mains of soldiers who have had their honorable part in the War of 1812, and in the Seminole, Black Hawk, Mexican, Civil and Spanish- American wars. But most of the graves of those who fought in the earlier conflicts have been obliterated by a fire which swept over the ground many years ago. Besides the stone marking the burial place of Cooper Pixley, there is another of special interest, albeit no warrior lies beneath it; only the infant child of Lyman Foot, one time surgeon of Fort Winnebago. Both are annually decorated by the ladies of the chapter, one with pride, the other with tenderness.
Major Clark and Captain Low were both buried in the Soldiers' Cemetery, but their remains were finally removed to the family grounds elsewhere. Robert Irwin, Jr., the Indian agent, died at Fort Winne- bago in July, 1833, but his body was taken to Fort Howard for burial.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
WISCONSINAPOLIS AND OTHERS LIKE IT
To the right of the cemetery is a plat of ground surveyed and once laid out as the City of Wisconsinapolis. It was on the north side of Swan Lake in the town of Pacific and extended north to Stone Quarry Hill-that is, the plat covered this territory. Although the plat was filed by Doctor and Surgeon Foot, of Fort Winnebago, in January, 1837, Wisconsinapolis had received one vote during the previous year by some member of the territorial council when the question of the location of the capital was up before that body. But Wisconsinapolis was never anything more than a paper town, like Winnebago City on the south side of Swan Lake, Ida, just east of the first named, Wisconsin City and Baltimore City-all platted by Larned B. Harkness, who hoped that the territorial capital might be fixed at one of them. He was in the townsite business up to his neck, but none of his ventures seemed to evolve into anything substantial.
CHAPTER VI
LAND OWNERS AND REAL SETTLERS
FIRST SALES OF COLUMBIA COUNTY LANDS-THE LAND DISTRICTS-ME- NOMINEE INDIAN LANDS SURVEYED-LIST OF FIRST LAND ENTRIES- WALLACE ROWAN, FIRST REAL SETTLER-MRS. ROWAN FROM "IN- DIANER"-THE ROWAN INN-JUDGE DOTY OBJECTS TO THE HOURS- LAST OF THE ROWANS-THE ENGLISH COLONIES OF POTTERS -- ARRIVE IN THE TOWN OF SCOTT-OTHER TRADES RECOGNIZED-POTTERSVILLE -TWIGG'S LANDING-DISBANDMENT OF THE SOCIETY-INHABITANTS OF COUNTY (1846) 1,200-COLUMBIA COUNTY ON EARLY MAPS.
By the end of 1833 a large amount of the public land of Wisconsin south and east of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers had been surveyed, and were placed in the Green Bay and Wisconsin districts, the office for the latter being at Mineral Point. The lands in Columbia County which fell in the Green Bay District included the towns of Randolph, Court- land, Fountain Prairie, Columbus (with the site of the city of Colum- bus), Hampden, Otsego, Springvale, Scott, Marcellon, Wyocena, Low- ville, Leeds, Arlington; all of De Korra lying in Range 9 east, Pacific; so much of Portage as lies southeast of the Grignon Claim, and all of Fort Winnebago lying east of the Fox River. The whole of the present towns of Lodi and West Point, and so much of De Korra as lies south- east of the Wisconsin River in Range 8, were in the Wisconsin Land District. The towns of Lewiston, Newport and Caledonia, so much of Fort Winnebago as lies west of the Fox River, the Grignon Claim and all of Portage lying northwest of it and south of the Wisconsin, were not included in either district, being unsurveyed lands belonging to the Menominees.
FIRST SALES OF COLUMBIA COUNTY LANDS
Public sales of the surveyed lands were held in 1835, at Green Bay and Mineral Point, the four sections constituting the military reserva-
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tion in Columbia County (near the center of which was Fort Winne- bago) being held out of the market by the General Government. Ex- cept these reserved sections and the unsurveyed Menominee lands, all of Columbia County was immediately opened to private entry at $1.25 per acre. But no entries were made in that year. In June of the fol- lowing year the Milwaukee Land District was erected out of the southern part of the Green Bay District. In the new division was embraced the territory included in the present southern townships of Arlington, Leeds, Hampden and Columbus.
THE LAND DISTRICTS
It was provided in the act of Congress creating the Green Bay and Wisconsin land districts that they should embrace the country north of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers where the Indian title to the same had become extinguished. On the 1st day of November, 1837, the Winne- bago Indians ceded to the General Government all their lands east of the Mississippi River. By this treaty the United States came into possession of lands north of the Wisconsin, of which that portion lying in the great bend of that river (now Caledonia) was a part; so this territory, with much other, was ordered surveyed, being completed in 1845. The Green Bay and Wisconsin land districts were then extended north, so that all of what is now the town of Caledonia lying in Range 8 east, and so much of Portage south of the Wisconsin as lies in that range, fell into the Wisconsin Land District.
MENOMINEE INDIAN LANDS SURVEYED
In October, 1848, the Menominee Indians ceded all their lands in Wisconsin to the United States, but, as stated, the latter did not come into possession of them until the spring of 1851. That part lying in Columbia County, which has already been described, was at once sur- veyed, and the two land districts again extended north, so that all of what is now the town of Caledonia lying in Range 9 east fell into the Green Bay District and all in Ranges 6, 7 and 8 east, into the Wisconsin District. This accounts for all but the Grignon Tract, which gradually descended from the original owners, who received their patent from the General Government, and was platted and subdivided, from time to time, hy those who came into possession of it, as will be explained in detail as the story of the founding of Portage city progresses.
The lands north of the Wisconsin River and west of the Fox were surveyed in 1851 and came into the market in the following year.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY LIST OF FIRST LAND ENTRIES
These facts are given as an introduction to the following table, showing the first land entries made in Columbia County, the record being presented alphabetically by towns, cities and villages :
Arlington; Wallis Rowan; S. E. 1/4 N. E. 14 S. 3, T. 10, R. 9; entered June 6, 1836. Caledonia; Joseph Ward; S. E. 14 S. E. 14 S. 19, T. 12, R. 8; entered December 18, 1846.
Caledonia; A. J. Hewitt; N. 1% N. E. 14 S. 30, T. 12, R. 8; entered December 18, 1846.
Courtland; Peter Goulden; E. 1% S. E. 14 S. 10, T. 12, R. 12; entered June 5, 1844. Columbus, City; Lewis Ludington; S. E. 14 S. 12, T. 12, R. 12; entered February 18, 1839.
Columbus, City; Lewis Ludington ; N. E. 14 S. 13, T. 12, R. 12; entered February 18, 1839.
Columbus, City; John Hustis; S. W. 14 S. 12. T. 12, R. 12; entered February 18, 1839.
Columbus, City; John Hustis; N. W. 14 S. 13, T. 12, R. 12; entered February 18, 1839.
Columbus, Town; Lewis Ludington; E. 1% S. 24, T. 12, R. 12, entered February 18, 1839.
Dekorra; Wallis Rowan; N. E. 14 S. E. 14 S. 34, T. 11, R. 9; entered June 6. 1836. Fort Winnebago; Robert McPherson; E. 1% S. E. 14 S. 26, T. 13, R. 9; entered August 11, 1836.
Fort Winnebago; Robert MePherson; S. E. 14 S. 27, T. 13, R. 9; entered August 11, 1836.
Fountain Prairie; James C. Carr; W. 1% N. W. 1/4 S. 34, T. 11, R. 12; entered July 19, 1843.
Hampden; Alfred Topliff; S. W. 14 N. E. 14 S. 11, T. 10, R. 11; entered June 28, 1844.
Leeds; John Dalziel; N. W. 14 N. W. 14 S. 26, T. 10, R. 10; entered October 3, 1844. Lewiston; E. F. Lewis; N. W. 14 S. 21, T. 13, R. 8; entered October 28, 1852.
Lodi; Ebenezer Hale; N. W. 14 S. 21, T. 10. R. 8; entered June 21, 1836.
Lowville; Catherine Low; E. 12 N. E. 14 S. 32, T. 11, R. 10; entered May 10, 1845. Marcellon; Hiram MeDonald; N. W. 14 S. W. 14 S. 29, T. 13, R. 10; entered February 15, 1836.
Newport; Michael Laffan; S. W. 14 S. 12, T. 13, R. 6; entered October 11, 1852. Otsego; Samuel Emery; S. E. 14 N. E. 14 S. 10, T. 11, R. 11; entered December 27, 1843.
Pacific; David Butterfield; lot 3 S. 1, T. 12, R. 9; entered January 30, 1836.
Portage; Augustin Grignon; entered April 26. 1832.
Randolph; Mary Perry; W. 12 N. W. 14 S. 12, T. 13, R. 12; entered February 8, 1844. Scott; John Dodge; E. 1% S. E. 14 S. 34, T. 13, R. 11; entered February 8, 1844. Springvale; John Dodge; W. 1% S. E. 14 S. 1, T. 12, R. 11; entered April 29, 1845. West Point; S. Taylor, et al .; lot No. 5 S. 2, T. 10, R. 7; entered March 9, 1836. Wyocena; Joseph W. Turner; lots 5, 11, 12 S. 5, T. 12, R. 10; June 17, 1836.
Wyocena; Joseph W. Turner; lot 5 S. 6, T. 12, R. 10; entered June 17, 1836.
Lodi, Village; Ebenezer Hale; N. W. 14 S. 21, T. 10, R. 8; entered July 21, 1836. Cambria ; James Waunkie; N. E. 14 N. E. 14 S. 6, T. 10, R. 12; entered April 2, 1845. Randolph, Village; Allen Brunson; E. 1% S. E. 14 S. 10, T. 10, R. 12; entered April 29, 1846.
Rio; Jeremiah Folsom, Jr .; N. E. 1/4 N. E. 14 S. 10, T. 10, R. 11; entered August 28, 1847.
Fall River; John Brown; N. E. 14 N. E. 14 S. 34, T. 11, R. 12; entered October 18, 1843.
Kilbourn City; C. F. Legate; N. 1% N. E. 14 S. 12, T. 13, R. 6; entered December 7, 1852. Pardeeville; W. W. Haskin; S. 12 N. W. 14 S. 10, T. 12, R. 10; entered January 8, 1848. Vol. I- 6
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Poynette; James Duane Doty; E. 16 S. W. 1/4 S. 34, T. 11, R. 9; entered February S, 1837.
Poynette; James Duane Doty; W. 1% S. E. 14 S. 34, T. 11, R. 9; entered February 8, 1837.
Poynette; Alex. S. Hooe; N. E. 14 S. 34, T. 11, R. 9; entered February 8, 1837.
WALLACE ROWAN, FIRST REAL "SETTLER"
The first settler in what is now Columbia County was Wallace Rowan, a typical Hoosier, kind-hearted, honest and just enough eccen- tric to be interesting. He moved from Dane County with his wife and large family of children, having entered his forty acres at the Green Bay land office. He located on the military road and opened a tavern
LOG CABIN OF THE REAL SETTLER
a little south of what afterward became known as Dole's Mill, adjoin- ing the village of Poynette. "I was at his honse," says Moses M. Strong, "on the 19th of February, 1837, and there was no appearance of his having just arrived there." IIe was living in a log house, built by himself on his own land, and he was there to stay. There was no other settler, as the term should be used, within the present limits of Colum- bia County.
Rowan's house was a double-log affair, built both for trading with the Indians and for accommodating travelers. He was a man of medium height, rather thin and dark; was sociable and talkative, and tock great pains to make all who stopped with him as comfortable as pos- sible. Adjoining his tavern he enltivated a tract of land to corn, pota-
1
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
toes, oats and vegetables; thus providing refreshment for man and beast.
MRS. ROWAN, FROM "INDIANER"
Mrs. Rowan appears to have been an energetic, if somewhat un- polished woman; but she was a good housekeeper, and that was what the situation and the weary travelers called for. She was a stalwart champion of Indiana, as those found who sometimes twitted her on the name of her native state, so suggestive of savagery to the rough jokers. One of the most persistent repeatedly asked her to what tribe she be- longed, and got his answer: "Gol dern it, I don't belong to no tribe : I'm from Indianer!"
THE ROWAN INN
Mr. and Mrs. Rowan had two attractive daughters, who also assisted to make the inn popular. One picture of Rowan's Hotel is thus drawn by au old settler: "I arrived there in 1837 at 11 o'clock P. M. on horseback. The hostler, a Frenchman, was yet up, making fires to keep comfortable those who were sleeping on the floor. After taking care of my horse, I went into the house. There was a good fire, and the floor was covered with sleeping men. I asked the French hostler for some- thing to eat; so he went out into the kitchen and brought me a whole duck and two potatoes. He said that was all he could find cooked. After eating I felt like lying down. He pointed to a place between two men. I took my blanket and crowded myself into it.
JUDGE DOTY OBJECTS TO THE HOURS
"Next morning the teamsters got up to feed their teams, and in taking out their corn they scattered some inside and outside the house. James Duane Doty (afterward governor) was lying next to the door in his robes. I was next to him in my blanket. A lean, long, old sow found the corn that the teamsters had scattered outside the door. This encour- aged her to follow up the corn that was scattered inside. Finding some among Doty's robes, she put her nose under him and rolled him over, when he exclaimed 'Landlord! Landlord ! you must postpone my break- fast for some time, as I am not yet rested.'
"Then I heard some curious noise outside which kept me awake; so I got up and found that the noise was created by a grist mill erected in front of the door for grinding corn into meal. A pestle hung to the
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
end of a spring pole; a mortar was made by burning out a hollow in the top of a stump. We all of us had the first mess made out of this mill, and you could compare it to nothing but the fine siftings of stone- coal, such as you find in a blacksmith's shop. But we had good coffee and plenty of honey. We all made a hearty breakfast and were thank- ful for it."
LAST OF THE ROWANS
Besides his tavern in De Korra, Rowan kept a trading house at Portage in 1838. Two years later, with a man named Wood, he made a claim on Baraboo River, building a sawmill at the upper end of Bara- boo village. They supplied the lumber used in building some of the first houses in that place and made a business also of rafting lumber down the Wisconsin River. In 1842 Rowan left Columbia County and took his family with him to Baraboo. He soon after died, and neither his eldest daughter Ducky, the beanty of the family, nor the homely but helpful wife, long survived him.
THE ENGLISH COLONIES OF POTTERS
The most important "Inmp" addition to the pioneer settlers of Columbia County occurred in 1847, when fifty unemployed potters of Staffordshire, England, located in the town of Scott. The emigrants were under the control of the Potters' Joint Stock Emigration Society and Savings Fund, an English organization designed to encourage the purchase of lands in the western states of this country for homesteads and permanent settlement. Its fund was raised from weekly contribu- tions of each member, the amount depending on the number of shares held. Each share was fixed at one pound sterling.
It was proposed, with the moneys thus realized, that a certain num- ber of families, chosen by ballot, should be sent to the society's land. Each family was entitled to twenty acres of land, and the migrating expenses of any colony were defrayed by the general fund. It was also permitted any member who had paid one pound for his share, the privilege of emigrating at his own expense; thereupon he was allowed the choice of twenty acres of land, agreeing to enltivate it and erect a dwelling on it. Anyone elected by ballot who did not choose to go could designate a substitute. Women were permitted to become mem- bers of the society, but could not hold office.
In 1846, when a sufficient emigrating fund had been raised, Hamlet Copeland, John Sawyer and James Hammond were sent out by the society to collect information and locate lands for the use of such nnion
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
potters as desired to go to the United States. They brought with them a fine set of fancy pottery as a present to the general land commissioner at Washington. When they arrived in that city the commissioner was absent, but his brother, who was a clerk in the department, received them-also the pottery, in the name of his chief-and advised them to seek homestead lands in Wisconsin. Coming to the state they carefully looked over the field, and selected 1,640 acres in a body, lying in the town of Scott. This they surveyed into twenty-acre tracts, on each of which was to be erected a dwelling house; all according to the regula- tions of the society.
In Easter week of 1847 a colony of fifty-two started for the Western lands. Among them were representatives of the eight branches of the potters' union-Isaac Smith, Henry Dooley, Enoch Pickering, George Summerfield, Joseph Cloons, Samuel Fox, George Robertshaw and Wil- liam Bradshaw. The colonists left the potteries of Staffordshire ac- companied by a band of music and several thousand people, who came to bid them farewell and God-speed. Taking ship at Liverpool, they sailed for New York, landing at Castle Garden after a five-weeks' voyage. By way of Erie canal they journeyed to Buffalo, N. Y., and thence to Milwaukee by lake. Here the party was met by James Ham- mond, who was to be their conductor to the selected lands.
ARRIVE IN THE TOWN OF SCOTT
Arriving in Scott, they found but four houses erected, and all in an unfinished condition. The men therefore went to work and built houses for themselves, in the meantime living as best they could. At that time provisions were hard to obtain, with or without money. For days and sometimes weeks, bread was not to be obtained; potatoes, too, were scarce, butter unknown, and the outlook was dreary indeed.
Discouraging reports were sent back to friends in England, which had the effect of discouraging further emigration and crippling the work of the society. Many who had taken an active interest in the work withdrew their aid, so much so that sufficient funds could not be raised to even supply the wants of those who had been sent out. At this juncture the society was reorganized, and instead of limiting its membership to the potters, all trades were admitted.
OTHER TRADES RECOGNIZED
A circular issued by the general agent of the society in May, 1848, contains this: "At the commencement of the Potters' Joint Stock
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Emigration Society, and up to the present time, its operations were con- fined to potters alone. It is now the pleasure of the founder to announce that these operations are thrown open to the service of other trades, and that the snecess of the potters in their land movement for trade's protection is of the most cheering character. Apart from strikes, they have succeeded in raising the price of their labor upward of twenty percent, and throughout a long and unparalleled stagnation of trade, they have conserved the. improved price thus secured. This great suc- cess is wholly a consequence of their land operations. Instead of re- sorting to ruinous strikes, they have put the ax to the root of all Trades' evil-surplus labor. In ninety-nine cases out of every 100, these just demands have been complied with; and when refused and men dis- charged from their employ, these objects of persecution were at once removed to self-supporting twenty-acre farms. rejoicing in their release from the oppressors' yoke."
POTTERSVILLE
On the first purchase of land by the society in the town of Scott were settled, in the first year, 134 persons. The settlement was called Pottersville. The new rules adopted by the society secured to each individual not only twenty acres of land, but a two years' credit for twelve months' provisions on the store of the colony, five acres of his tract broken, sown and fenced, a log dwelling, and passage money of himself, wife, and children under eighteen years of age.
TWIGG'S LANDING
In 1849 Thomas Twigg was sent out with full power to purchase 50,000 acres of land, and as agent for the society he bought extensive tracts in the towns of Fort Winnebago, Columbia County, and Mound- ville, Marquette County. On Section 4, in the northern part of Fort Winnebago Township on the banks of the Fox River, he opened a society store and a blacksmith shop, calling the little settlement Twigg's Landing. The means of transportation across the river was given the rather high-sounding name of Emancipation Ferry.
DISBANDMENT OF THE SOCIETY
But the English colonists were not yet fully emancipated from their troubles. The stewards in charge of the store contracted debts which they could not meet. Suits were brought against the society, judgment
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
obtained and a levy made upon the more improved lands in the town of Scott. Friends of the parties then living on the land bought it in and permitted the occupants to remain thereon. News of this state of affairs reached England, and confidence was destroyed in the manage- ment of the society, which soon disbanded. A few of the emigrants returned to the mother country, but the greater part remained, some of whom entered other lands in Columbia and adjoining counties and became substantial citizens.
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