USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > Madison > A history of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin : including the Four Lake country : to July, 1874, with an appendix of notes on Dane County and its towns > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
97
FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
be devoted to the advancement of the best interests of the people. In 1840, it was enlarged to a seven column paper, and came out decidedly in favor of the Whig party, raising the name of WM. H. HARRISON at the editorial head - declaring for HARRISON and Reform. The paper continued with marked success until May, 1848, when it was temporarily suspended. In 1848 the office was purchased by DAVID ATWOOD & ROYAL BUCK, and the publication was resumed. The further his- tory of this and other Madison newspapers will be hereafter continued.
Judge KNAPP* gives the following account of the communi- cations leading to and from Madison at his first visit:
" My first recollections of actually seeing Madison and its surroundings carry me back to the summer of 1838, when after a rapid reconnoisance for a canal from Waupun to the head of Duck creek, I came to Madison as a delegate to a Territorial Congressional convention. Our road then ran on the west side of the Fourth Lake (the lakes were numbered, and had no spec- ial names in those days), and over the high prairies in the western part of Westport and Vienna, coming in at the paper "City of the Four Lakes," through Mandamus and around the south end of the lake, so as to enter the present road near the stone quarry.
" But two roads, then, led from the capitol out of town, the one west, partly along State street and University avenue, to near the residence of A. E. BROOKS. There it parted, one run-
* Hon. Jos. G. Knapp was born at New Lebanon, N. Y., Sept. 21, 1805. He studied law, and removed to Wisconsin, landing at Green Bay, Novem- ber 20, 1835. He came to Madison, 1839, and was editor and proprietor of the Wisconsin Enquirer in 1842. He was elected by the Territorial Legislature January 29, 1846, Superintendent of Public Property, suc- ceeding Hon. John Y. Smith, and was re-elected February 9, 1847, and March 9, 1848, to the same office. Mr. Knapp practiced law in Madison until his appointment in 1861, as Associate Judge of the Territory of New Mexico. This appointment he held until 1863, when he returned to Wis- consin. Judge Knapp has written much for the newspapers and periodi- cals on agricultural and scientific subjects generally. He removed to New Mexico in 1873, and resides at Mesilla.
98
HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
ning southwest, leading towards Green county; the other con- tinued west beyond the second railroad culvert, at which place it branched for Blue Mounds and Fort Winnebago. The Green county road branched again beyond the Dead Lake, for HUME's Ferry over Rock river. Janesville was then scarcely begun. This then, and long after, was the road to Rock and Wal- worth counties. The east road forded the Catfish river nearly where the bridge now is, and branching soon after, one led to Cottage Grove, where it again parted, one to Lake Mills, and, the other to Fort Atkinson. The main track followed near the present road to Sun Prairie, and thence to Lake Mills by way of Marshall, then called " Bird's Ruins."+ It was by this line the first workmen arrived here from Milwaukee. Near the " 76" farm, an Indian trail ran by the Prairie House. HORACE LAWRENCE lived there then, in a little house, keeping " bach." This was the only house between Madison and ROWAN's. The trail crossed Token creek a mile above the present village, and then ran over the prairies, striking the military road at Row- AN's, now Poynette. By this trail I returned from Madison. Then there were no roads in the direction of Columbus, Beaver Dam and Waupun. In fact those towns were then unsettled, and the lands unentered at the land office.
Then the "City of Four Lakes " ¿ had a very decided ad-
+ Bird's Ruins had its name in this wise: It had been observed by Col. Bird's party who passed there in June, 1837, that it would make a desi- rable location; and as Bird's trail was for some time the only route of travel between Milwaukee and Madison, Zenas H. Bird, a brother of Col. Bird, took down his small building in Madison, about the spring of 1839, and re-erected it at the crossing of Waterloo creek, and moved there, with the view of establishing a tavern at that locality, and put up a much larger frame for a house; but by the autumn of that year, other routes of travel begun to be opened, and Mr. Bird regarding the prospects as unpromising, abandoned the premises, and returned to Madison; and left to the action of storms and weather, the building, in the course of two or three years, fell to the ground - and hence the place was named Bird's Ruins. The village of Hanchettville, since changed to Marshall, subsequently sprung up there. Mr. Bird, an early hotel keeper, died in Madison in 1843.
# A post-office was established here before the one at Madison, but was discontinued August 9, 1837.
99
FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
vantage over Madison. That city, owned mostly by Virginia gentlemen, had houses and people; Madison had no such luxu- ries, but it had an energetic proprietor. To-day one is a city with a Mayor and common council, four storied stone and brick blocks, with moss on the roofs, railroads, Nicholson pavements, macadamized streets, sidewalks and stoned gutters, plenty of debts and taxes, thronged streets with noise, dust and jostlings of business, conflagrations and fire engines. The other city is a wheat field, or grown up to brush, with less houses than it had in 1836.
The anniversary of National Independence was celebrated in due form (1839). JOHN CATLIN, Esq., was President, A. A. BIRD and SIMEON MILLS, Vice Presidents. The Declaration of Independence was read by GEO. P. DELAPLAINE, and the Ora- tion by WM. T. STERLING. The celebration was a " great suc- cess." Volunteer toasts were given by S. MILLS, A. A. BIRD, G. P. DELAPLAINE, R. L. REAM, D. CLARK, A. SMITH, C. PEAS- LEE, E. BRIGHAM, WM. N. SEYMOUR, L. F. KELLOGG, GEO. HYER, and others. Some of the toasts were very severe on the politi- cal actions of Gov. S. T. MASON, Acting Governor, who was for some reasons exceedingly unpopular. Of this celebration, Judge J. G. KNAPP, who was present, remarks: " The Madison- ians having determined to celebrate the Fourth of July, and to vary for the occasion the usual diet of bacon and fish, "UNCLE AB," of the " Worser," had agreed to deliver them a fat steer for the occasion. The evening of the third came, and NICHOLS also, boisterously happy. Individually he had commenced an- ticipating the good feeling, which the keg he carried in his wagon, intended primarily for the "Worser," but ultimately de- signed, after quadrupling its cost in favor of that institution, for the Madisonians, whose whistles had long been dry. Men drank "Peckatonica " and " Rock river," in those days, and thought there could be no feast without it. * True to his trust, NICHOLS had brought the steer, and tied him in a thicket to a burr oak tree, near the intersection of Dayton and State streets,
*" Peckatonica " and Rock river," and the names of some other streams, were used to designate various grades of whisky.
100
HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
where none of the hungry men could see it. Then taking one more drink from his " pocket pistol," he advanced to the crowd of loungers and longers; for the whisky of the " Worser " had long since failed, and all were remarkably dry. The keg was unloaded and tapped in less time than I can tell it, and all hands summoned to drink. So the Fourth of July began, as it not unfrequently happens, on the third. The tethered steer was forgotten, in the joy that whisky, as meat, drink and lodging, prevaded the crowd; and none enjoyed it more than "UNCLE AB" himself. The Madisonians, next day, celebrated the Fourth in due course. They marched in due form to martial music made by two squeaking fiddles .; Fiddlers and men at the head, and women at the tail of the line. GEO. P. DELA- PLAINE read the declaration, and WILLIAM T. STERLING deliv- ered a short but broad winged eagle oration. After which the procession reformed in close order, and with "double quick " marched back to the "Worser," and to the public dinner of ba- con and fish, the diet of other days, except they had whisky to drink. They eat, they drank, and they danced to the cheery notes of the fiddles, and were right merry.
Three days after, when the keg was empty, and no more whisky to be had, " UNCLE AB " sobered of, and bethought him of the steer tied to the burr oak, and that instead of having been served up on the National feast, he was still under the tree. There it was that the butcher's knife released him at once from his three days' fast and from life; and he served to vary the daily diet of bacon and bread on common days of the year."
A school was taught by Mr. EDGAR S. SEARLE, in the sum- mer of 1839. Mr. SEARLE continued one term, and was suc- ceded in the summer of 1840, by E. M. WILLIAMSON. These gentlemen and their successors, taught in a small building on the corner of Pinckney and Dayton streets. The building is described as having a wooden frame, the inner walls of brick and entirely destitute of the modern conveniences of school houses at the present day. Four sticks driven into - sometimes
+ George W. Stoner, Esq., a youth at that time, says that Eben and Luther Peck played the fiddles, and Thomas Hill played the flute.
101
FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
through - a slab, and convex side down, formed movable seats. Mr. WILLIAMSON taught the boys only, his school numbering about six pupils. The girls were taught at the same time by a Miss PIERCE, in an old building, situated in the vicinity of DEAN's new block. At this early date, thirteen pupils comprised the membership of the Madison schools. Mr. WILLIAMSON con- ducted the school two terms, and was succeeded in the winter of 1842, by Mr. THEODORE CONKEY.
The further history of our schools will be continued under the proper dates.
On the 14th of December, 1839, EDWARD CAMPBELL adver- tises he had purchased the stock of CATLIN & MILLS and was pre- pared to supply the wants of the people in this section, that they need not be dependent on Mineral Point, Galena and Mil- waukee for supplies; and November 26, N. T. PARKINSON & Co., advertise the "Madison Exchange " on DOTY's corner, half way between the American and Madison Hotels. These two merchants are the only persons who advertised in the Madison Express, the others were small dealers. In November, DAVID BRIGHAM & THOS. W. SUTHERLAND advertised a law office and land agency.
The first steps taken for the establishment of a church at Madison were as follows: A paper was drawn up in the follow- ing form with the accompanying signers, on the 25th of July, 1839. E. M. WILLIAMSON, Esq., has kindly furnished a copy of the same:
"We, whose names are hereunto attached, believing the Holy Scriptures to be the word of God, and deeply feeling the import- ance of maintaining divine services in our town, and preferring the Protestant Episcopal Church to any other, we hereby unite ourselves into a parish of the said church for the above and every other purpose which is requisite and necessary to the same.
"MADISON, July 25, 1839.
" Signed by JOHN CATLIN, J. A. NOONAN, HENRY FAKE, H. FELLOWS, M. FELLOWS, A. HYER, H. DICKSON, H. C. FELLOWS, ADAM SMITH, A. LULL, ALMIRA FAKE, LA FAYETTE KELLOGG, GEORGE C. HYER, J. TAYLOR, A. A. BIRD, DAVID HYER."
102
HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
The history of this church will be continued hereafter.
We find that JOHN T. WILSON and ELIAS J. WILLIAMS were in business here as blacksmiths, in 1839. In December Mr. WILLIAMS retired. CATLIN and NOONAN advertised a general land office business; W. N. SEYMOUR & J. T. CLARK, attorneys, D. BRIGHAM & T. W. SUTHERLAND were practicing law and land office agency. JAS. MORRISON advertised the American Hotel for sale August 31, 1839, and on the 2d of September, it was advertised by KINTZING PRITCHETTE by his attorney M. M. STRONG. The title of this property even at that date was in dispute, and was not settled until many years afterwards. ED- WARD CAMPBELL advertised that he had purchased the stock of CATLIN & MILLS, and proposed continuing the business. Mrs. LOUISA M. SAWIN, formerly Miss L. M. BRAYTON, says that in 1837 she taught a select school in Madison. The first one in the town.
ROBERT L. REAM, Esq.,* an early settler, now a resident of Washington, D. C., has kindly furnished his reminiscences of 1838 and 1839, which are here given:
"In the latter part of April, in the year 1838, I first visited Madison. I traveled there in company with Mr. WELLS, who, with a two-horse team, was supplying the people of Madison with produce from his farm in Green county. Madison then consisted of not more than a dozen houses, built and in pro- . cess of erection, counting every cabin and shanty within three miles of the capitol, and was the only market for Green county farmers.
" Mr. WELLS and I left Monroe, then called New Mexico, in the morning, and reached Grand Springs, near Sugar river, late in the afternoon, and camped there for the night. This was before the land there was entered by Mr. McFADDEN, and the Springs had not yet been named. We built a large log fire,
* Robert L. Ream was born in Centre county, Penn., October 16, 1809; emigrated to Ohio in 1832, and from thence to Wisconsin. While a resi- dent of Madison he held a number of offices. He now resides at Washing- ton, D. C., and has held, for a number of years, a position in the General Land Office.
103
FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
(to keep off the wolves, as Mr. WELLS said), and fried our ba- con and boiled our coffee. The aroma from our dainty dishes must soon have filled the atmosphere, for the prediction of Mr. WELLS was verified in an incredibly short space of time, by the surrounding of our camp with prairie wolves in droves. Then commenced such a snarling, fighting, barking and howl- ing as I never heard before or since. They made the 'night hideous,' and kept up the music with a thousand and one varia- tions until morning's dawn. During the night we chopped down more trees, cut them into logs, and kept up a rousing fire, the roar and crackle of which made a splendid accompani- ment to our opposition concert in camp, which consisted of negro melodies and camp-meeting songs, which we had learned from the Hoosier prairie breakers in Greene, where it had been my good fortune to serve an apprenticeship at prairie break- ing. Thus we spent a sleepless night (my first night in Dane county). We struck camp early next morning, without bid- ding our recently made acquaintances a very formal adieu.
"We found the then traveled road very crooked and winding, and running at almost all points of the compass, and when within five or six miles of Stoner's prairie we halted and took observations. After determining the proper course to take in the direction of Madison, I went ahead with an axe, blazing trees. Mr. WELLS followed with his team. We struck the prairie where GEORGE VROMAN's farm was afterwards located. The road which I then blazed was afterwards adopted by the public and traveled for many years. After passing through the prairie, we followed the old trail to Madison, where we ar- rived the second day.
" Having business at Fort Winnebago, and there being no travel in that direction, I was compelled to make the journey alone, so I negotiated with Mr. UBELDINE for a roan-colored, bob-tailed Canadian pony, with cropped mane, large ears and white belly. Mr. UBELDINE kept the only livery stable, and this was the only horse to be hired in Madison. On this im- posing steed I seated myself next day, and started for the fort, forty miles distant by the trail. There was no wagon road
104
HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
from Madison in that direction, and the only two houses be- tween there and the fort were those of WM. LAWRENCE near Token creek, and WALLACE ROWAN's hotel on the military road, some thirty miles distant from Madison. At this hotel I put up for the night, and being not much used to that particu- lar kind of locomotion, was very tired. ROWAN's wife served me bountifully with hoe cake and bacon. I then went to sleep and slept soundly until towards morning, when I was aroused by several cocks crowing simultaneously in close prox- imity to my bed. I did not discover until daylight that the foot rail of my bedstead was the roost of Mr. ROWAN's chickens.
"I remained the next night at Fort Winnebago, and pick- eted my pony on a grass plot near the hotel, giving him about thirty feet of rope. The hotel was the only house where trav- elers could be entertained outside the garrison. Mr. HENRY MERRILL and his family lived in it. I found the accommoda- tions excellent. An amusing incident occurred there that night which I cannot help mentioning. In the room in which I slept were four beds, one in each corner, and all curtained. I occupied one of these beds, and it appears that the other three were occupied by gentlemen and their wives. In the night we were all aroused by a cry of robbers, thieves, Indians, etc. All started up at the alarm, the ladies shrieking with fright. The room was dark, and in the confusion we ran against each other very amusingly. When a light was struck, the scene was ex- tremely ludicrous - ladies in their night clothes looking like affrighted ghosts, some of them clinging to the wrong man; men without any night clothes, and very little of any other kind, making frantic exertions to find out the cause of the dis- turbance. The supposition was, that some soldiers had been on a carousal, and had mistaken the hotel for the garrison; but, under the charge of Capt. LOWE, such a breach of the regula- tions would never have been allowed; and the cause of the alarm was not satisfactorily explained.
"I found my pony safe in the morning. The gallinippers had worried him badly, and kept him in motion most of the
105
FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
night; the blood was still oozing through his perforated skin. Then, and not until then, did I realize the true force of the ex- pression 'thicker than mosquitoes.' The atmosphere was lit- erally filled with them. In those days, persons in the habit of traveling much, were obliged to protect their faces and heads with gauze or mosquito-bar vails, so very great was the annoyance of these insects.
"I will here digress, and relate some of the incidents told me at that time about the frontier soldier's life.
"It often happens that the government troops in these west- ern outposts become badly demoralized and mutinous. When watched so closely that they cannot safely carry bottles or jugs of liquor into quarters, they resort to every imaginable means of smuggling it in. They have been known to saturate their blankets, overcoats and other garments with whisky obtained of the sutler, then pass the guards unsuspected, and, after reaching quarters, wring out the whisky and drink it.
"Shortly previous to my visit to the Fort a mutiny was threatened there. Capt. LOWE was in command. The sentinels at the gate refused to obey orders, which was reported to the captain. He made his appearance in due time, and demanded an explanation. As the sentinel whom he suspected for disloy- alty was performing some extra evolutions which the captain did not care to exactly understand, he suddenly raised his right foot, and dexterously broughtit with full force against the head of the sentinel, and brought him sprawling at his feet. This improvised tactic - (not in the manual) - was so demonstrative that the mutineers quailed before him, and at once subsided into submission, and no further attempt at mutiny was made during his command at the Fort.
" Returning to Madison, I spent the next night at Mr. Row- AN's, slept in the same bed, and as before was awakened at cock crowing. At the dawn of day I discovered what I thought was a small flock of sheep, scattered around on the floor, but on closer observation, I found they were Indians. They had come in during the night from some trading post, where they had
8
106
HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
obtained new white blankets, and had taken possession of the floor, without ever disturbing my slumber.
"From Madison back to Monroe there was no mode of con- veyance, and I made this journey on foot in one day. It was then fully forty miles by the meanderings of the road. There were no bridges, and I was obliged to wade Sugar river and its tributaries as well as several large marshes, in some of which the track lay knee deep under water, and I suffered severely with the rheumatism in consequence thereof.
" Aside from the promising prospect of Madison as the seat of government of a great state not far in the future, I became so infatuated with the natural beauties of the place, that I soon determinated to make it my home. Like an emerald gleaming among pearls it nestled amid the clear placid waters of the Four Lakes, and the view from the undulating surface of the country around, was a setting well fitted for the unsurpassed jewels, not unworthy of comparison with the famous views from the shores of Lakes Como and Magaire or the Bay of Naples in the old world.
" In the latter part of May or June of the same year I made another trip to Madison, when I negotiated with Mr. PECK for the Madison House, and in the month of June removed my family there and took possession as the landlord. This was the first house in Madison, now passed from our view into chaos, the shadow only remaining -it has been photographed - was not an isolated cabin, but comprised two log cabins built of oak logs, each cabin twenty feet square, one and a half stories high, the inside hewed slightly with an axe to straighten the walls, the cracks between the logs chinked and daubed with mortar. These cabins were set about twenty-four feet apart, the space be- tween them boarded up, roofed with oak plank, battened with slabs and floored with puncheons, as was also the balance of the house. There were plenty of doors and windows. The grand hall between the cabins made a spacious dining room, answered well for a ball room, and was often used for holding caucuses and secret councils under lock and key. On the north side there was also a cabin built of logs, shed shape, called a lean-to; this
107
FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
building, made a large kitchen and room for servants. I take that bach, there were no servants but the mistress of the house. The hired help occupied it when we had any. To this we built an additional room of frame work boarded with shakes and roofed with shingles, for a family room.
"The pioneers of a new country before the era of railroads, telegraphs or mail facilities, can only realize the domestic trials, troubles and turmoils incident to a back wood's life. Fortu- nately there were few lady travelers on account of the great in- conveniences in modes of travel and accommodations on the road.
" There was a number of Indian wigwams around us, some in sight of our doors; at first Mrs. REAM lived in great fear and dread of them, and attributed her peace and the success with which she gained their good graces, to a large bunch of pea- cock feathers which she had brought with her, and dealt out to them one by one. They seemed to have a talismanic effect. We made repeated endeavors to civilize them and teach them to be of service to us, but their utter disregard to cleanliness and innate laziness baffled all our efforts. Hired girls were out of the question, and the stronger sex were consequently of- ten to be seen bending gracefully over the cook stove or wash- tub, as well as cleaning and scrubbing. On one occasion we were happily relieved for some weeks by the assistance of two young ladies, the Misses PEIRCE of Green county. Their help was invaluable to us, but it seemed so, also to others, for they both soon returned to be married to worthy men of their own county. One became Mrs. RusT, the other Mrs. RATTAN, both well to do farmers' wives. Next there came along a Teutonian named SCHWARTZE, with a kit of cabinet maker's tools upon his back, which he had packed all the way from Milwaukee to Galena, expecting to find work there but failed, then returning by way of Mineral Point, reached Madison broken down, dis- couraged. and disheartened and without a penny. I think it was on the 4th of July, 1838, when he arrived, at any rate the people of Madison were holding a jubilee of some kind, and a ball was coming off at the Madison House. Our newly arrived
.
108
HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
guest desired to engage in the festivities, provided he could borrow some clean clothes suitable to the occasion. These were soon forth coming from our wardrobe, and when properly ar- rayed he became the grand attraction of the occasion, and ex- hibited his accomplishments by waltzing a long time with a tumbler filled with water on his head. He was nearly sixty years of age, but as agile and as active a boy of ten. As we could converse with him in his native tongue, he was loth to leave, and more from sympathy than anything else, we engaged him to make some articles of furniture, such as could be wrought from oak or basswood lumber as we had no other kind. Among other useful articles that he constructed was a wheelbarrow. When he had finished his mechanical labors we employed him as head cook at the rate of seventy-five dollars per month, and he was also to keep the household furniture in repair. He was exceedingly kind and clever all the time, looking out for our interests. He remained with us several months. I remember one strong blustering day in the fall, Judge Dory and Col. MORRISON arrived with their ladies. They had traveled all the way from Mineral Point without rest or refreshment and re- ported themselves, tired, cold and hungry. With orders to get the best supper the house could afford, SCHWARTZE was soon in the dough up to his elbows and some one else was directed to build a fire in a large Franklin stove standing in the best room, which had been placed at the service of our distinguished guests. There had been no fire in the stove during the past season, and it was not discovered until the smoke gave warning that there was a large crack or fissure in the back of the stove. The fact was soon made known to Mr. SCHWARTZE, who felt bound to. see everything about the house in good repair, ran with an un- baked loaf of bread in his hands, clapped it on the crack in the stove and filled it up, thus stopping the smoke for the time be- ing. He returned to the kitchen congratulating himself upon his ingenuity in improvising so readily this cement. · As soon as the stove became heated the dough baked and burned, thus causing a denser smoke than before, and the ladies were obliged to leave the room. Mrs. REAM, who was somewhat more prac-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.