USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 32
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GETS CURIOUS ABOUT MISS THOMAS
During the first year I saw but little of Mr. Thomas. I was told by the neighbors, however, that he had a marriageable daughter, and those
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who knew her seemed to speak well of her. At first I gave but little heed to what was told me in regard to her, but my desire to see her gained strength as the neighbors would talk to me about her, and tell me how she stood in their estimation. I was seldom there, however, my busi- ness calling me away a good share of the time. And Lucy, for this was her name, was also absent most of the time, being engaged in teaching school, some two or three miles distant, and although we had seen and heard of each other quite considerable perhaps, no formal acquaintance occurred until the winter of 1850-51. After that time, however, we were often together, and enjoyed each other's company, and as I was then engaged in opening up my farm, I was seldom away from home, and although she was teaching the same school she had taught the summer before, the distance between us was not so great but that we often saw each other, and as I was always on good terms with the old landlady, Mrs. Ensminger, with whom I boarded, and had the liberty at any time of using her old pet mare and buggy, I occasionally carried Lucy to her school on Monday morning. As time wore on the attach- ment between us seemed to strengthen, and the state of each other's feeling began to be pretty well understood, although no word had been uttered by either, by which any inference could be made as to just how we stood in each other's esteem. Interest and affection, however, continued to twine a cord between us that was gradually strengthen- ing and drawing us nearer to each other, until at last a declaration of love was made, coupled by an offer of marriage which was accepted. In due time the day which was to unite us was agreed upon, and was the ninth day of November in the year of our Lord, 1851. Upon that Sabbath morning, I hitched the old lady's mare onto the buggy, and with a young man of my acquaintance, started for the residence of Mr. William Curtis, some five miles distant, who was then a justice of the peace in the town of Lowville. My object in going there at that time was to ascertain if he was at home, and to inform him of my inten- tions to be at his house the same evening with a young lady to be united in the holy bonds of wedlock.
MARRIED BY SQUIRE CURTIS
Mr. Curtis gave me to understand that he would be on hand, and when I made my appearance at his residence in the evening, accom- panied by her to whom I was about to be united, the squire was ready to receive us. There were a few young people there, who I presume had been given to understand in some way what was about to happen. After an hour or so spent in a sort of neighborly visit and friendly
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chat, I suggested to the Squire the object of our coming there, and of which he was aware, to which he quietly responded. Yes, he knew what we were there for, and directing us to stand up and join hands, proceeded in a somewhat solemn manner to perform the marriage cere- mony, which was not very lengthy, although perhaps just as effective as though it had taken an hour to pronounce it. In a short time we left the Squire's and returned home, and continued on in the same even tenor of our ways, as though nothing of a very serious nature had occurred.
Marriages in those days were quite a different thing to what they have become since then. Men did not marry silver spoons, tea sets and napkin rings. At that time they, as a rule, married women, and worked for such things afterwards, if they got them at all. Nor did the an- nouncement of their marriage fill a column or two of the local county paper. Times were different then. Money was less plenty, and interest in each other's welfare with but little money to spend in visiting and jaunting around, kept people closer together.
THE THOMAS FAMILY
"Lucy Thomas. to whom I was married on November 9, 1851, was born at the village of Cambridge, in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, her parents having removed there from Hinsdale, Massachusetts, a few years before her birth. Samuel B. Thomas, her father, was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on the tenth of June, 1797. Her grandfather, whose name was also Samuel B. Thomas was born in Wor- cester county, Massachusetts. Her great-grandfather on her father's side was from England; his wife, however, whose maiden name was Bartlett, and who was my wife's great-grandmother, was born in Berk- shire county, Massachusetts. My wife's mother, whose maiden name was Samantha Jackson, was also born in Berkshire County, Massachu- setts. Her grandfather, on her mother's side was by name Joshua Jack- son. He was a Baptist minister. Her grandmother's maiden name was Abigail Whiting. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and was twice married. The name of her first husband was Dixon and he was a colonel in the Revolutionary army. After his death she married Mr. Jackson, and by her second marriage had only one child, my wife's mother.
"For a short time after our marriage we lived with the old people, my wife's parents. We only stayed there, however, until we could get things ready to go to housekeeping. The stove had to be got, and that had to come from Milwaukee. My brother-in-law, John Thomas, was
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going there with a load of wheat, and was to bring the stove back with him. It was in the month of December, on Christmas day, however, before we got fairly ready to start out for ourselves, and as the old people had moved into their new house some time before, the old log house that had sheltered so many before us, and which has before been referred to as having heen built by Mr. Rowan, was ready to receive us. Although, at the time of our taking possession the south half of it was occupied by a Mr. Hubbard, a blacksmith, who moved out of it in the spring.
UNION SCHOOL AND CHURCH
It was then used for the purpose of keeping school, and teaching the young ideas how to shoot. The teacher who presided over these somewhat unruly gatherings, was a Miss Roxelana Ackerman, a small, trim, slim, little creature .
. . Roxa, as we called her, taught a good school however, and gave very general satisfaction. There were no churches near us in those days, and the school house was generally used for all public meetings and the gatherings of every description. And as the south half of this old log cabin was being used for school purposes at this time, what religious meetings we did have were as a matter of course also held there. Some times a Baptist minister by the name of Cornell would come and preach to us, and sometimes when he was expected he would fail to put in an appearance. On such occa- sions when the elder failed to meet with us, my father-in-law, Mr. Thomas, would read a sermon, or a chapter or two from the Bible, some one present perhaps would offer up a prayer, and some hymns were generally sung, after which the few who had gathered there for holy purposes would disperse and return to their homes.
"At that time, even although the country was quite new, I could not help but think of the changes a few short years had made in the use this old log building had been put to. But a short time before these meetings were being held there, the old people who had built the house and whose home it was might have been seen quietly sitting and smoking their clay pipes by the door on a Sunday afternoon while the indolent redman would occasionally pass out and in to procure a little fire-water, beads, or calico, and whose squaw and papooses might be seen lying in groups around the trees and bushes that surrounded the old house, talking and tittering as guileless and happy perhaps, as those who had just left it. And there is no doubt but that the white children of Mr. and Mrs. Rowan were often joined in their sports and plays by the children of their dusky brothers.
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ROWAN NOT FIRST SETTLER
"In the history of Columbia County, published in the year 1880 by the Western Historical Company, on page 371, a statement is made for which the Hon. M. M. Strong is responsible that Wallace Rowan was the first settler in the county of Columbia. I beg leave to differ with Mr. Strong, however, in this matter, as there is no doubt but that a man by the name of Hastings lived in the county sometime prior to the breaking out of the Black Hawk war. And there is no doubt but that he came there to live and engage in the same business as that afterwards followed by Mr. Rowan, viz., trading and trafficking with the Indians. He had selected for this purpose nearly the same piece of ground that Mr. Rowan afterwards located upon. He erected a house some two hundred yards north of the spot Rowan subsequently built on. He moved his family there and had children born in the house he built, and where he must have lived for some time. And but for the war which broke out during his stay there, known as the Black Hawk war, there is no knowing how long he might have remained. The stream on whose banks he had built was known by his name for a long time after he left it. As late as December 28, 1846, a deed made by James Ensminger and wife to Hubbard E. Johnson was recorded wherein a reservation is made of that part of the forty acres therein deeded, lying north of the Hastings creek. Just how long he had lived there before the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, I am unable to state, but that he came there to live, and that he had a permanent home there as much so as any of the earliest settlers usually have in new countries, there is no doubt. Neither do I know just what kind of a man he was. I have been given to understand, however, by those who did know him that he was apt to take advantage of the Indians at times, as many other traders used to do in those early days. And it is said by some that it was as much in consequence of some unjust treatment which they received at his hands that he was compelled to leave his home as the condition of affairs which then existed between the Indians and the whites. Perhaps both circumstances had something to do with his abrupt departure. Any unjust treatment that they might have received at his hands, however, could have been arranged, as had undoubtedly been done before, had it not been for the recent rising and warlike preparations that had for some time been going on amongst the followers of the noted chief and warrior, Black Hawk. No doubt but that his log building was quite a substantial structure and large enough to accommodate the wants of quite a numerous family. As hos- tilities were about to commence in the vicinity of Fort Winnebago,
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the family of Mr. Hastings was notified by a friendly squaw that their longer stay there was coupled with danger and that they had better quietly depart. And some time during the night after this friendly warning had been given, they quietly stole away, and before sunrise of the following morning had reached the fort before alluded to and secured protection. The events which followed proved that the warning had been given none too soon. For the same night upon which they left their home, it was laid in ashes, and I myself have seen some of the coal and pieces of charred logs, that lay there partially covered up, many years after the burning. I have frequently seen one of the mem- bers of this family, that was born in this house. Some of them also for many years lived at Wyota in this state, and I am almost certain that some members of the family still live there. From what infor- mation I have been able to secure, I am quite confident that Mr. Hastings must have reached this place and built there as early as the year 1830, if not before. Those early settlers could not have been attracted to this spot by the superior quality of the soil, for within a few hundred rods from where they built, the land is far superior in quality, and much better calculated for farming purposes. Their buildings, however, were located, one on the north bank, that of Hastings, and that of Rowan's on the south bank of as fine a spring brook, with as pure, clear water as I ever saw, and the brook near where the building stood was crossed by the old Military road leading from Fort Crawford on the Mississippi to Fort Howard on Green Bay, so that there is no doubt but that these selections were made principally with a view to trading with the Indians.
PURCHASES A HOTEL
"We lived in this old log cabin during the winter of 1851 and 1852, and until the month of August of the latter year. During this time I succeeded in extending my improvements and increasing my pros- pects of living in the future. I also purchased the hotel property of Mrs. Ensminger, for which I agreed to pay her the sum of one thousand dollars, but did not pay her one dollar down on making the purchase. I gave her, however, a mortgage for the full amount on the real prop- erty I bought from her, and on the land I owned besides. This property consisted of five and three-fourth acres of land lying on the north side of the creek formerly called the Hastings creek, and was the piece before referred to as having been reserved by Mr. and Mrs. Ensminger in deeding the balance of the forty acres to Mr. H. E. Johnson, and was a part of the same forty acres that was entered by Wallis Rowan on the sixth day of June, 1836. There was also the house, barn and other Vol. 1-21
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improvements besides nearly all of the furniture, some little stock, hay, etc. The buildings were supposed to be on this land, but before making the purchase, I had discovered that they stood upon the land I already owned, having been placed there by mistake in not knowing just where the lines ran when they were built. There was no advantage taken of Mrs. Ensminger, however, on this account, for she was in time paid every dollar with full interest, that was agreed upon.
"A thousand dollars was quite a large debt for a man of my means to contract in those days, and many of my intimate friends, regarded the venture as very unsafe on my part. In fact, quite a number expressed the opinion that it would be likely to ruin me; that I would not only lose the hotel property, but the land also that I owned before buying it. I had boarded there, however, some eight months, and saw while there what business had been done and felt satisfied that in mak- ing the venture. I ran no risk and was likely to profit by it in the end. Besides this I had to have some buildings on my farm, and those stood just where I wanted them. And as a country hotel had been my prin- cipal home for upwards of two years while I was engaged in teaming, I had formed a tolerable fair idea as to how they should be run, and what the wants of the traveling public were, and my wife and myself were both young and healthy, and able and willing to work, which as a rule insures success.
"In the year 1851 some rather important events occurred, with which I was either immediately or in some way afterwards connected. During that year I split my first rail to make the first fence on the first land I had ever been possessed of. I plowed the first furrow and planted the first seed on my own land. I wooed and won the girl I loved, and to whom I was married, as before mentioned, and in the same year our first housekeeping was begun.
FIRST VILLAGE PLAT OF POYNETTE
"The first village plat of Poynette was made this year by Samuel B. Pinney, who had bought the land from my father-in-law, Samuel Thomas a short time before, and who had also kept store in the old log house sometime prior to making the purchase. The land purchased by him and platted was a part of the northeast quarter of the south- east quarter of section thirty-four township eleven north, range nine east. Shortly after platting, however, he transferred it to my brother- in-law, John Thomas, who at that time was active as postmaster in the place. We had no postal route established to here then, and our office was only a side office and our mail being left at the Lowville postoffice
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some five miles distant, was gone after twice a week. This duty was performed by some one of Mr. Thomas' family for several years, and was a great convenience to those living near the place at that time. We succeeded however, in getting a postal route established about this time to run this way from Madison to Portage, and old Mr. Thomas MeCleery, who for several years ran the stage through here, supplied our office three times each way weekly, which was a great improvement and much appreciated by the few who then lived around here.
"A village had been before laid out on lands adjoining the land at this time platted by Mr. Pinney, by Mr. J. D. Doty, who entered one hundred and twenty acres of land on the southeast quarter of section thirty-four, township eleven north, range nine east, on the eighth day of February, 1837. And the plat of the village laid by him was recorded on the fifteenth day of March, in the same year. The name he gave to the village was Pauquette. This plat was subsequently vacated. A short time before Pinney's plat was made, application had been made by petition to the postoffice department through Mr. Doty, who was then in Congress to have a postal route established from the city of Madison to the city of Portage, running through this place, and also to have our postoffice established as a regular postoffice on this route. The petitioners stated in their petition that they desired the name given to the office to be Pauquette, the same as that given by him to the village he had laid out. By some clerical error, however, the name given the office was Poynette and no effort was ever made to change it. And when Pinney had his plat made, the name given to the village was the same as that given to the postoffice.
"At this time there was around here only the old Rowan log house, the frame house just built by Mr. Thomas and another also just built, by Mr. H. E. Johnson, besides the hotel and outbuildings connected with it, and it was several years after this before any others were built.
SCHOOL DISTRICT OF 1852
"In 1852, a school district was formed from territory in the towns of Arlington and De Korra, and included the territory upon which Poynette was platted. The district was called Joint School District No. 4 of Arlington and De Korra, and in this district in the same year, a new school house was built some eighty rods south of where the vil- lage now stands. It was a frame structure eighteen feet wide and twenty-eight feet long, and one story high. Although small it was regarded as quite a house in those days, and for many years it served the purpose that country school houses were generally calculated to
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serve. Many an able sermon was preached within its walls. And political discussions were of no unfrequent occurrence there. Debat- ing clubs held their meetings here also, and it was used for town meetings and ,election purposes, and for nearly all meetings of a public character. Neither was it at all uncommon for the weary traveler to treat himself to a night's shelter under its roof. In fact, the country school house in the early settlement of a new country is one of the most useful institutions imaginable.
"Up to this time I had given no heed to politics, and although I had often heard some very hot discussions in the bar-rooms and other public places, I had paid but little attention to the arguments advanced, and cared but little which party succeeded in the fight for power. At the approaching election, however, there was to be a president elected, and I was urged by men of both parties to declare my intentions of becom- ing a citizen, that I might be qualified to vote, and henceforth share the blessings guaranteed by the government to all American citizens. As I had no other intention than to remain in the United States, I concluded that it might be well enough to take up with their advice. And on the twenty-fifth day of August, 1852, I presented myself at the clerk of the courts' office, in Fort Winnebago for the purpose before stated." (Ilere follows a copy of his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, the first step toward naturalization.)
AN IMPORTANT YEAR
"I also determined to pay some little attention to politics in the future, so that I might, as I supposed, be enabled to vote and act understandingly. And as the approaching presidential election called out some very able and efficient speakers, I had a fair opportunity of deciding upon the candidates then in the field. Columbia County also had some leading lights in those days who thoroughly understood the entire fabric or system of the American government and were able to tell just what would save and what would ruin the country. As I had heard both sides of the political question, thoroughly discussed and had become favorably impressed with the sayings of some of our leaders in Columbia County, I concluded to cast my first or maiden vote at the coming election for Franklin Pierce, for President of the United States, who proved to be the successful candidate.
"On the 27th day of August of this year, I took possession of the hotel property before alluded to and before six months had passed, we became satisfied that by continuing in the same course we would not only soon be able to pay off our indebtedness but would probably be
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able to either extend our possessions, or lay up something for a rainy day. On the first day of September of this year (1852), and soon after taking possession of the hotel, our first child was born, and being a boy I of course felt as a father is apt to feel over his first born, and as I had determined to cast my first vote for Franklin Pierce for President, I also concluded that my child bear his name. I had too much reverence and respect for my father's memory, however, not to recognize the almost universal practice or custom in Scotland of naming the oldest child, if a boy, for his grandfather on his father's side, and if a girl, for her grand- mother on her mother's side; and consequently gave him my father's name also. He was therefore named Hugh Pierce. This year, as will be seen, was also a very important one in my history, and besides the events named I might also say that the purchase of the hotel property was the means of giving me my first start in the accumulation of what little property I have since become possessed."
The narrative of Hugh Jamieson in the manuscript is divided into two parts. The first comprises one hundred and eighty-three pages, his life through his boyhood in Scotland and through the early events just described in Wisconsin. Its writing had occupied his leisure inter- vals throughout one entire winter, and the second volume, as it might be called, was probably written in the next winter. The title of part two is "Days of my Manhood," and begins with the autumn of 1852, when Hugh Jamieson was the head of a family and the proprietor of the inn in what is now the village of Poynette.
WHY THE HOTEL PAID WELL
"Up to this time but little produce had been raised north of the city of Portage, and the bulk of provisions and merchandise used by people living in the pineries was carried by wagon from the southern part of Wisconsin and northern part of Illinois, a great deal of which came from Galena in the last named state. And many of the heaviest firms in Grand Rapids, Stevens Point, Wausau, and other prominent lumbering points in the pineries of Wisconsin, had their supplies brought from the places before named, in those days. The cost of transportation must have been considerable, as the distance the goods were carried would run from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty miles, and the roads at that time were not very good. In the winter season immense quantities of corn, grain, meal, etc., was carried into the pineries by farmers, who generally loaded back with lumber, shingles, and such goods as they required at home, and which they could secure in exchange for the produce they had carried into the woods. Quite a
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number of live stock was driven to the pineries at that time, consisting principally of hogs and cattle. In fact, the pinery market, as it was generally termed then, was the best market which the farmers of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois had. And although considerable of the carrying was also done in the summer season, the bulk of it was done during the winter, when sleighing was good on the roads, hard frozen. The lumber then manufactured in the pineries was run down the Wisconsin River during the summer season, into the Mississippi, and generally sold at points along the Mississippi River, or run to St. Louis and then sold. The men engaged in the performance of this labor in those days, had either to make their way back on foot or by stage, except in some instances when a number would club together and hire a private conveyance. At this time also there was a considerable immi- gration to the north and northwestern part of the state, and from the trades and traffic before mentioned, and because of the continuous travel back and forth, hotels were much needed and generally well patronized, especially at convenient and well appointed stopping places. And al- though there was much that might be regarded as rather agreeable con- nected with keeping hotels in those days, it also had its drawbacks. The country hotelkeeper came in contact with men of all grades and pro- fessions, and from nearly every country on the habitable globe. And although this afforded him an opportunity of studying human nature, it also brought him in contact at times with men of a rather disagree- able and somewhat querulous disposition. In most cases also the build- ings were too small to accommodate the wants of the traveling publie. The increase in travel had been so rapid and in some places unex- pected, that buildings had not kept pace with the demand and wants of the people, and it was no uncommon occurrence to lodge from six to ten on the barroom floor and sometimes double that number or more among the hay in the loft of the barn. This condition of affairs was well understood, however, and in general quite cheerfully accepted by those who were last to arrive. The condition of affairs, however, had greatly improved in my days of hotel keeping to what they had been some eight or ten years before, at which time it was no uncommon occurrence for a member of Congress, perhaps, to occupy one corner of the floor, while a governor of the state snored in another with two or three raftsmen and other travelers lying between. And although I never witnessed just such a scene as this in my own house, I have known them to be mixed up in as promiscuous a manner in beds in the same room, and I doubt not but that some may still be alive who can remem- ber enjoying as good a night's rest on the floor of a country bar-room in some of the western states as they ever did on the beds furnished them
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