USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 40
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Mrs. Prescott says her father seemed to have a presentiment that he was not going to die a natural death, and told his family that in case he should be killed he wished to have H. L. Dansman appointed as the guardian of his children. This was done in accordance with his wishes. Soon after her father's death in 1836 she was taken by the Yellow River Mission School, in Iowa, where she remained some time. Then she worked for a family named McDowell in Iowa about two years, not knowing that she had any property, and supposing herself to be an object of charity while at the school. She was found in this situation by Henry Rice, of Minnesota, who knew her family and reported the facts to the school management. She was then sent to school for three years in St. Louis, when she returned to Wisconsin and has lived within its bounds ever since. She says that at the time of his death her father was the owner of thirteen sections of land, and that the heirs have received little benefit from the property. Mrs. Prescott has always been a devout Catholic and, as stated elsewhere, one of the most joy- ous acts of her life was performed only a few years ago, when the remains of her beloved father were rescued from an unmarked grave and she finally restored them to the consecrated grounds of her church.
TOWN OF LEEDS
Like Caledonia, the Town of Leeds is almost entirely agricultural. No effort has ever been made to locate a village within its limits, although at an early day Leeds, North Leeds, Leeds Center and Keyser were established as postoffices, but, with the later coming of the rural delivery, its facilities of intercommunication have been sufficient.
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CHIEF OF THE FORAGE TOWNS
The town is located virtually on the top of the watershed between the Wisconsin and Rock rivers, has a surface of rolling prairie and a general altitude of from 450 to 570 feet. Its soil is so well and equally watered that all grasses are abundantly grown. The land is neither dry, nor drowned out by flood waters. Consequently Leeds is chief of the forage towns, devoting more than 6,000 acres, or over one fourth of its area, to the hay crop. It has also a larger area given up to barley than any other town in the county.
FIRST LAND CLAIMS AND SETTLERS
The first entry of land in the Town of Leeds was made October 3, 1844, by John Dalziel, and consisted of the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 26.
Prior to this time LaFayette Hill made claim on Section 14. He erected a log house, which, in his absence during the winter of 1843-4 was burned by the Indians. The claim was made over to others, and Mr. Hill moved into what is now the Town of De Korra. Others came and went in 1844, those of more permanent character being Thomas Dalziel, William T. Bradley, Charles B. Thompson and Henry Waterhouse.
The first school in the town was held on the corner of the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 14 in 1848. In 1850 a log schoolhouse was erected which burned down the first winter, and the following year a stone house was erected, which served District No. 1 until June, 1878, when a good frame house was erected.
LEEDS CENTER
This schoolhouse, which still stands, at the postoffice of Leeds Center, was established in 1856, chiefly through the efforts of Dr. R. A. Squires who became its first postmaster. Leeds Center was then on the stage lines from Beaver Dam to Lodi and from Madison to Portage, and the little settlement which sprang up in 1856-57 with the schoolhouse, the postoffice, the tavern, the blacksmith shop and two general stores as outward evidences of progress-these institutions and a number of dwelling houses in friendly touch came as near being a village as any center of population in Leeds Township. But most of those evidences have since disappeared.
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ORGANIZATION OF TOWN
The Town of Leeds was organized in 1850, but did not attain its present area until 1855. In the latter year it set off to Arlington the east half of the township by that name, making each a full township. From its first organization the town meetings have been held at Leeds Center.
POSTOFFICES
In 1854 Leeds postoffice was established in the southwestern part of the town, with William P. Bradley as postmaster; North Leeds in 1858, Humphrey MeKinney postmaster; and Keyser in 1876, Benjamin Brae- son postmaster. The southeastern part of the town, in which the post- office last named is situated, was largely settled by Germans and Nor- wegians, who have always been considered industrious and valued set- tlers.
FIRST NORWEGIAN CHURCH
As already stated, on the 27th of March, 1847, the first Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Columbia County was organized by Rev. I. W. C. Dietrickson in that part of the Town of Leeds as Spring Prairie Congregation, and the first services were held at the house of Sjur Reque. The original society consisted of settlers residing in the towns of Leeds, Hampden, Otsego and Lowville, the membership afterward including Norwegian Lutherans in the more western towns of Arlington and De Korra, Columbia County, and in several townships over the southern line in Dane County. They were finally organized into three congregations-Spring and Bonnet Prairies, this county, and Nor- way Grove, Dane County. The large church in the Town of Leeds was erected in the extreme southeast near the Dane County line.
CHAPTER XXXIII
JAMES R. HASTIE'S RECOLLECTIONS
"OLD DADDY" ROBERTSON'S FAIR-THE SETTINGS-EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY TURNED LOOSE-NO OTHER LIKE FAIR OF 1861-LAST DAY OF DE KORRA HOME GUARD-BIG BILLY WOOD GETS EVEN-LIVE STOCK EXHIBITS-CAN WE BEAT THESE ?- NO MORE DADDY'S FAIRS- A MYSTERY STILL-KENTUCKY CITY-ITS ONE BUILDING-THE POOR MAN'S COURT-DIXON'S FIRST CASE-HONOR TO THE WESTERN PIONEER-LAND SPECULATORS CROWD OUT SETTLERS-VILLAGE OF DE KORRA AT ITS BEST-IN THE MELTING POT.
James R. Hastie, now in his eighty-second year, is one of the pioneers of the Town of De Korra and Columbia County. He has been a resident of that part for fifty-eight years. In his early manhood he taught school, has been chairman' of the town board for several terms, treasurer of the county, and otherwise prominent in public affairs. Mr. Hastie is there- fore well qualified to write of early affairs connected with the old Vil- lage of De Korra, near whose site he has so long resided, as well as the mellow old times of the early '60s in the town of Caledonia, just across the river. He is one of the associate editors of this history, and, among other events which some of the old settlers will recall with a warm stirring of the blood, writes of the "Caledonia Fair at Thomas Robert- son's, familiarly known as Old Daddy, the biggest and best farmer in the town, if not in the County of Columbia."
"OLD DADDY" ROBERTSON'S FAIR
The event occurred in September, 1861, such annual gatherings being always held in that month. This fair at Daddy's, however, Mr. Hastie holds to be the greatest of its kind ever pulled off, Mr. Robertson being the most wonderful host of his day. The writer says: Caledonia is a fluffy, hilly town of many excellent farms, and very much the home of the Indian, with still some remnants of him left. At one time it had an
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Indian farm, where the Red Man was given lessons in agriculture by Captain Low of Fort Winnebago, but the Scotchmen had a covetous eye for it, and came hither by instalments until it was a veritable Scotland; and they brought with them their manners and customs, their festivals and their fairs, and, of course, their toddies and toasts.
THE SETTINGS
"The Caledonia Fair was an annual September affair; sometimes at the Indian Farm, oftentimes at Alexander McDonalds (first settler of the town) opposite Portage, or at John Pierson's, the old raftsman, whose home was further down on the bank of the Wisconsin River ; where plenty of whisky of some sort could be had. There were no restrictions as to how much was wanted, or drunk upon the spot; youth was no bar, neither was old age. Temporary dining halls were thrown up, in which a hundred could sit down at tables glistening with frosted cakes.
"A farm field was the Fair Grounds, and it took acres to hold the visitors, A genuine Scotch rivalry existed among the biggest farmers- those having the most stacks-for the fair was largely held in the open fields, among the stacks of grain or hay and in the farm buildings.
"The fair was inaugurated before any revenne tax was put upon intoxicants, and very small licenses were charged for their sale; hence there were plenty of lunch and drinking stands in evidence; and often before the day ended the evidence was convincing. The second year of the Civil war, with its revenue laws and widespread excitement over bloody battles and sieges, was the last during which the Caledonia Fair was held.
EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY TURNED LOOSE
"Few of this day have an idea of the magnitude of the round-up of all classes at these fairs, prior to that year-how they flocked to them for miles around: and this one of September, 1861, was the greatest of them all. It was like the Babel of the Bible-a gathering of all the tongues, vogues and brogues. The fair at Daddy Robinson's capped the climax.
No OTHER LIKE FAIR OF 1861
"The Caledonia Fair of 1861 was held among acres of grain and hay stacks, and everything was turned loose to the gathering public. They were given the freedom of the entire premises. Refreshments were sold,
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liquid and solid; drinking and smoking without restraint, among stacks of grain, in barns and granaries. The gathering began soon after sun- rise, and the host remained until the 'shades of night were falling fast.' Then the lads and lassies sought the Alpine Heights of Jim Allen's House, to have it out in dance and prance. Everything was filled-yard filled, house filled, dancers filled, prancers filled. The hilarity went on, from start to finish, without diminish, through a dark and dismal night till broad daylight before it took its flight. Never again, while trees grow and water runs, will there ever be such a gathering in the locality of where the Town Hall of Caledonia now stands.
"Will there ever be brought together again such a Wild-Wester, such an aggregation, such fiddlers and dancers? Didn't they four it down and didn't they hoe it down ?- the Bills and the Bobs, the Jacks and the Daves, the Toms and the Tims, the Als and the Ikes. And there were maidens and matrons to match. All under the one thatch, from cellar to garret-it all belonged to the dance.
LAST DAY OF DE KORRA HOME GUARD
"Only one Jap. Sage ever existed; and he fiddled there. He was also the drummer for the De Korra Home Guard. That was their last day on earth as an organization. They performed their last evolution at the Daddy Fair. They were organized by Captain William Ryan shortly after the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The Captain had been a Brit- ish soldier and the Sumter affair stirred his fighting blood. So he called together the Home Guard and drilled them in marching and evolutions; taking some of the awkwardness out of the boys. Their regular uni- forms were red flannel; shirt trimmed with black velvet, with brass but- tons (eagles on them) ; black pants, with red stripe down the legs; gray caps. Perhaps fifty wore uniforms, and as many more drilled without. They were a handsome and sturdy body of men, but did not enter the service as an organization. A majority of them went to the war-as infantrymen, cavalrymen, artillerymen, sharpshooters and in the naval service. Most of them were volunteers; only a few drafted. Some were in the Iron Brigade.
"The first man killed at Pittsburg Landing was one of the Home Guard-George Hillman, of the Eighteenth Regiment Wisconsin Volun- teers. Captain William Ryan served in the Iron Brigade; was wounded several times and lived for years afterward at Baraboo. Timothy O. Kennedy, first lieutenant, was a member of the Light Artillery service and died before the conclusion of the war. Few remain at this date who were members of the company at the Caledonia Fair in Septem- ber, 1861.
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"The Home Guard was the main attraction of the day at that famous event, although there was a company of volunteers present under Cap- tain Christy, of the Eleventh Regiment. For some reason the Home Guard, whose members were a superior looking body of men, did not fraternize with the volunteers. Many times they had hot words and nearly came to blows. It was a big day for John Barleycorn to show his prowess.
BIG BILLY WOOD GETS EVEN
"One can hardly picture Big Billy Wood, infuriated at a stand- keeper who sold fruits and candies and gave him change for a 50-cent piece, instead of for the $10-gold piece paid over by the customer. Billy had come to the fair with some hundred dollars of shining eagles, and this dishonest stand-keeper thought to bunko him, but was somewhat astonished when Billy raised one of his barrels of apples over his head and smashed it to the ground as if it had been a bag of peanuts. The apples came out of both ends of the barrel and rolled under the feet of the bystanders, while Billy, to make havoe more complete, snatched out of the earth one post of the awning as he went by, brought down the tent in a heap and threw the stake out among the crowd. IIe never looked hack for his change, but his stalwart six-foot-six, carrying 240 pounds of Scotch bone and sinew, had had its fling, and felt satisfied.
LIVE STOCK EXHIBITS
"The exhibits of cattle and horses were indeed a credit. Teams of horses were often finely matched and well broken. The same was true of the ox-teams, and there were many in use with proficient drivers. Much teaming for long distances before the railroads were built had given men experience in managing teams; if any comparison with the present is made, it is safe to say that teamsters were more skilful fifty years ago than today.
CAN WE BEAT THESE ?
"The fertile, virgin soil prodneed the best of products. One is forced to exclaim, What wheat-spring and winter-oats, corn and rye, barley and buckwheat! So we had beer for the brewing and pancakes for the frying. Such pumpkin fields, yellow with them. Garden stuff galore, and then some more! And turnips and cabbage, beans and peas-all grew in astonishing quantity and quality. Such melons-musk and
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water !. Wild plums and crabapples, and garden fruits of all kinds, grew in perfection. The Fair was always well supplied with all of these. Then there were plenty of dairy products. Both butter and cheese, skil- fully made, were among the exhibits. All these things told of a land of plenty, showing the reward of the husbandman.
No MORE DADDY'S FAIRS
"Yea, Yea! It is safe to say of fairs of the present day, with their balloon ascensions and flying machines, big race tracks, baseball and football attractions-that we have farmers' fairs no longer; no more Daddy's fairs among the stacks of grain and hay.
A MYSTERY STILL
"And as I look back at that occasion-why Old Daddy's beautiful stacks and the entire premises were not burned on that breezy, boosy day, with hundreds of pipes and cigars burning among them, is yet one of the mysteries which I have never been able to fathom."
KENTUCKY CITY-ITS ONE BUILDING
Mr. Hastie has the following to say regarding Kentucky City, which once waited on Fortune in what is now the northwestern part of the town of De Korra: "Kentucky City was about seven miles south and a little west, on the east bank of the Wisconsin River. Among the other attractions of its paper plat was a block of ground known as The Green -a Kentucky term for a plot of public ground and brought to Columbia County by some of the native sons of the old Southern state. The Lafayette Hill tavern, a two-story wooden building, was the first and only structure erected while the place bore the name of Kentucky City. It was built in 1837.
THE OLD FERRY AND SCHOOLHOUSE
"Chicago was large, Milwaukee wasn't much, when people from both cities moved thither, after Kentucky City became De Korra village. For more than thirty years there was much traffic which crossed the river on the ferry which ran between De Korra and what is now the town of Caledonia. The writer first saw this ferry and crossed the Wisconsin on it fifty-eight years ago.
"The first schoolhouse built in the vicinity was across the river from
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Kentucky City. It was a typical log hut, with the bark and knots left. Thomas (Daddy) Robertson, John Pate and perhaps James Wilson had settled in Caledonia. There were large families, and Scotch ones, and Scotch dominies were employed."
THE POOR MAN'S COURT
Mr. Hastie thus sketches a Squire of his locality, when Archibald Hastie, his father, his mother, a brother and sister, arrived in De Korra village, overland from Madison, Wisconsin, and originally from Caledonia County, Vermont -- "the only Caledonia County to be found on the map of the world;" the date, March 28, 1856: "Our pioneer parents could improvise. They could cross rivers withont bridges; they could enact laws without capitals ; they could hold courts without courthouses, and they could execute a bold bandit without a gallows. Eternal vigilance was the price of their liberty.
"No better constitution will ever be written than our forefathers penned for the foundation of social order. They saw the wants of humanity. Having been poor themselves, they did not forget the poor man, protecting him against the strong by making justice cheap; pro- viding for him a cheap court by constitutional law.
DIXON'S FIRST CASE
"Justice of the Peace Hugh Muir, a pioneer Scotchman of the town of De Korra (in what is now the town of Caledonia), was such a poor man's court. His court room was his log cabin, with the usual big fireplace. Luther S. Dixon (then a young lawyer, afterward chief jus- tice of the State Supreme Court) had his first case before this tribu- nal. It was a jury trial and the real dilemna came when the jury had to be confined for deliberation. The only place available outside the dignified court room was a dug-out used for a root-house. Into this the jury were thrust to be separated from the bystanders and the Court."
HONOR TO THE WESTERN PIONEER
Here are some good words and pictures of the Western brand of pioneer, as illustrated hy the old settlers at and around the village of De Korra : "We bow in reverence to the Pilgrim Fathers and kiss the rock on which they landed. Their hardships and privations were many, but those of the Western Pioneer were also numerous. Our brave fathers and mothers are entitled to a share of our grateful remem-
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brance; our children should be able to find an account of their acts and deeds.
LAND SPECULATORS CROWD OUT SETTLERS
"Here they were, one hundred miles from Milwaukee, their nearest lake port. But they couldn't depend for existence even on that, for they had little money with which to buy and they must first get something to exchange. What were their resources? Lumber was the chief, and that was rafted down the river. Land had to be paid for, even from the Government.
"Many a man traveled on foot up into the Wisconsin pineries to earn a sum with which to buy a piece of land, and when he had his money would run on foot to some Government landoffice, a hundred miles away. Often more than one had an eye out for the same land. Speculators, with no notion of becoming residents would invest in lands and hold them against settlement for years, to the great annoyance of the home- makers who had to take the leavings. Columbia County passed through this ordeal.
VILLAGE OF DE KORRA AT ITS BEST
"The Kentucky Syndicate owned nearly all the near land to De Korra village; hence, it stood in the woods for years. The most exten- sive farming was across the Wisconsin River in the town of Caledonia, the people coming to De Korra to the mill, blacksmith shops, stores and lumber yards. At one time there were, in the village, three taverns with barrooms, and a number of stores and shoe shops; but the most important business was the rafting of lumber. Most everyone was more or less engaged in it-rafting, handling, buying and selling-often taking it to St. Louis.
"Rafts would tie up to some trees on shore. Often there would be delays for hours on account of wind, the pilots not being able to see the channels for the waves. When tied up they would take on sup- plies of eggs, meat and flour; also, getting the jugs filled with whiskey and molasses."
IN THE MELTING POT
Again : "The population of De Korra was a make-up of people from quite a number of states-Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana. There was little difference in the composition on either side
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of the Wisconsin River, only, of course, Caledonia was mostly Scotch. There were also some French, now and again a Yankee, and quite a sprinkling of French Canadians. The Germans came later and they took firm root in the soil; so that now Caledonia may be called German- American. The Scotch got the soil at $1.25 per acre, the Germans now hold it at $100 or more per acre."
Mr. Hastie then proceeds to show how the strength of Columbia County, as of the nation, lies in the composite type which is evolving from this mingling of all races and nationalities. But lack of space forbids further drafts upon his fertile mind.
JAMES R. HASTIE ON CURLING
The following from the pen of James R. Hastie, of De Korra, throws some mellow light upon the origin and progress of curling in Columbia County : "Darwin may be correct in his Survival of the Fittest, but the theory doesn't seem to apply to De Korra village. It didn't sur- vive, but it ought to. It didn't quite die. Its soul languished, and still remains in a trance. But it retains one hope, although that is in cold storage. It is the cradle for extracting excitement and joyous laughter out of ice.
"Long live the Roaring Game of Curling, cradled here by the brawny Scots, who upon a certain moonlight night, with their wives' flatirons hied themselves to the ice at the mouth of Rocky Run! After playing awhile with the Flats, they conceived the idea of making wooden blocks, after the image of the curling stones of Auld Scotland. The experiment was made perhaps the next day; for Scotchmen are pushing fellows when a curling Bonspiel lures them on. Those who must be given a place in history as the originators and first promoters of the game in Columbia County were David McCulloch, Ninian Thompson, Joseph Wood, Peter Taylor, and others of the village of De Korra, whom they induced to come into the game; and nearly all the Scotchmen within a radius of ten miles made wooden curling blocks and did get into it. Caledonia brought all its clans forward-the McDonalds, McLeishes, Marshalls, McMillans, Whitelaws, Bairds, Flemings, Greys, Stewarts, Niels, Ire- lands, Muirs, Murrays, Harveys, Stevensons, Pates, Blacks, Prentices, Richmonds, Douglasses, Blacklocks, Piersons, Lindseys, Ramseys, Hamil- tons, Broddies, Niecols, Gibbons, MeLeans, Johnsons, Thomas Robertson (Old Daddy) and others.
"Many of these were heads of old-fashioned families of from eight to a baker's dozen, which made this part of Columbia County a miniature Scotland. De Korra had some, and Arlington and Lodi quite a con-
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tingent ; combined, they could match Caledonia with ten or twelve riuks of four curlers each, equipped with a pair of wooden blocks and broom- the latter usually borrowed from the kitchen. Bonspiels and Burns Fes- tivals kept Scottish sociability alive for many years.
"Curling from Caledonia and De Korra may be said to have passed through a wooden period; thence into an Iron Age, and now has reached its grandeur in polished granite in the hands of polished gentlemen. Scotland made good contributions to the settlement of Columbia County in her countrymen, her curling and her kirk; if she hasn't many converts to her kind of Christianity in founding Scottish kirks, she certainly has not come short in spreading her gospel of curling. Her crusaders car- ried their brooms into many metropoles, playing for costly trophies. The medal presented by Alexander Mitchell, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad to the National Curling Club of America was once won by Skip J. E. Jones, editor of the Portage Democrat. Portage has now one of the finest rink buildings in the county, if not in the state-electric lighted, and all. Jabes Wells Crusaders of Portage have more and greater victories to their credit than the fol- lowers of Peter the Hermit. Jabe, like Grant in his generalship, stands in a class by himself.
"In the later times the players have not all been Scotchmen. We find the Germans take to curling like ducks to water; but whatever the times and whoever the players, the generalship, the strategy, the tactics of curling remain the same. The game typifies warfare-a smashing of heads, not scattering of brains. Blood never reddens the ice."
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