USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 22
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five or six feet in height, a party of Indians appeared and demanded that the newcomers leave immediately. The irate savages gave vent to their disapproval by tearing down the log shanty and thus vanished the golden dream of the adventurers. Eben Peck laid claim to the land at the lower rapids of the Baraboo about the time Wood came but he did not bring his family here until some time afterward. Wood was followed by Wallace Rowan, the first settler in Columbia county, and a resident of Dane county before the Black Hawk war. Previous to the coming of Wood Jean Baribault had trapped and fished along the stream which bears his name. When Wood built his first campfire in the sound of the falling waters of the river, his nearest neighhors to the east were at Portage and to the south at Sauk City. To the last named place James S. Alban had brought his family across the Wisconsin river on the ice the winter before. Wood probably came in the fall of 1838, and Rowan eame the following January. When Rowan moved from Poynette to Baraboo it was in midwinter and the family almost perished from exposure.
"Wood built his cabin on the bank of the Baraboo river just west of the house on the Ochsner place at the end of Seventh avenue, and Wallace Rowan put up his home of logs near the road in front of the location of the present residence of James H. Ilill between Baraboo and Lyons.
"The first house in Baraboo erected by Wood may have been as large as 12x12 feet. There was half a window and the drippings from the roof fell to the east and west. The house was not large but big enough for four. There was a stick chimney laid up with mud made from a bank of elay. There was a floor of dirt, a board door and a few wooden pegs to hang things on. The material cost nothing as trees were free and hardware was not essential. As to the out of doors there was much to spare in Wisconsin at that time.
THE FIRST DAM
"Wood and Rowan made a claim to the land where the Island Woolen mill now stands and they built the first dam in the Baraboo river just north of where the mill is located. A portion of the dam has survived the frosts and floods to this day. They made but little progress with the mill until the fall of the next year. Capt. Levi Moore had arrived in the meantime with a set of tools and assisted in the completion of the improvement. In June, 1844, came the flood which carried away the mill and all the logs toward the Gulf of Mexico. Abe Wood's daughter, Mrs. Margaret Gardner, now residing at Wayne, Nehraska, says that she can remember sitting on the river bank with her Indian mother and sister and seeing the mill go down. Rowan sold his interest in the dam site to Captain Moore and Wood disposed of his interest to Henry Perry and Moses Nuff.
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"Only a few months ago Mrs. Margaret Wood Perry Gardner visited Baraboo and the scenes of her childhood. She rode about the place and noted that practically every thing was changed. The deep woods along the thoroughfares to the west were cut away, Indian trails were paved, roads and houses dotted the landscape. The only thing she could recog- nize at her old home and where the first log cabin stood was the bend in the river.
"Wood built a log cabin across the river to the south of the location of the Island Woolen mill and moved his family there. He also lived for a time near the Maxwell dam at the foot of Mound street. He occupied the days in hunting, fishing, rafting on the river and converting odd jobs into eash.
"In 1845 Wood was one of a committee to select a site for the county seat of Sauk county. Besides Wood the committee was composed of Captain Levi Moore, W. H. Canfield, Thomas Remington. Edward Rent- dorff and Count Haraszthy. The last two were Saukites. While on the expedition the provisions became exhausted and failing to get game the party was without food for two days. They had about coneluded to kill and eat a dog that bore them company, so the records state, when Captain Moore was fortunate enough to shoot a deer which supplied them with an abundance of food. The committee reported that this section of Sank county was habitable and the county seat was afterward located at Baraboo.
"Warner and Palmer once had a store ou Third avenue where the Stanley Company is now located, and E. W. Palmer of the above named firm relates that during the '50s they had a surplus of potatoes when spring eame. A barge was built 70 feet long and 10 feet wide, and Wood took the load down the Baraboo river and the Wisconsin and Mississippi river pilots afterwards saw that the craft was safely landed in St. Louis. While the venture was like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow yet Wood engineered the deal successfully so far as the transportation was concerned.
"Mr. Palmer said that Wood assisted in making good terms with the Indians. He bought furs, but if the Indians would not sell to him he would persuade them to sell to the Baraboo firmn.
"In those days there were many Indian dances at Delton and Wood with his family was usually there.
BIG HEART UNDER ROUGH CRUST
"Mrs. Jennie Clark Van Orman of Omaha has written the following to Mrs. J. G. Train of Baraboo which shows that evidently under the rough crust there was a big heart : 'Indeed we did know Old Abe Wood. Ile used to come to our house very often, and he was quite a character. A very large man, over six feet in his stockings, dark, with large, dark,
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kindly eyes, a tower of strength physically and ready to fight for his friends. As he was sometimes given to drink, he was liable to be put to bad uses by immoral people who used his strength to gratify their desires for revenge. He was fond of children and I can well remember how he used to seat me on his shoulder and carry me about. ยท One event is strongly impressed upon my mind. Some one of our boarders gave a dancing party at our house, the old Clark hotel on the south side of the river. Some of the Baraboo tough element was not invited; that always meant trouble as those neglected gents usually appeared at the ball with their pants in their boot-tops, their hats carelessly tipped over one eye and a general "devil may eare" attitude that never failed to intimidate the ladies, the party would close immediately. This outfit appeared at our house with big Abe in the midst. Of course the party closed. The toughs picked up a quarrel with some man and a fight seemed imminent. My mother, who was yet very weak (as the twins were only about two weeks old), was terribly excited, and rushed into the room where my father was trying to get the fellows out. Mother insisted upon leaving the house. Old Abe stood calmly looking on and when he saw her distress he said, "Mrs. Clarke, do you want these fellows put out?" She answered, "Yes." Then in a slow, quiet way he said, "Now Mrs. Clarke, you go right back to your room. I will take care of these fellows." And in a moment one rowdy found himself outside, the others scattered after him, and peace was restored. Afterwards big Abe came over and said to father: "Mr. Clarke, you and your wife have always been kind to me and I came with the boys last night just to protect you, for I saw they meant trouble; they thought I was going to clean out the house ; they were fooled."'
SEPARATES FROM WIFE
"About 1850 the family went to Prairie du Chien to draw their annui- ties from the government. There Wood saw his wife for the last time. Just what occurred is not known, but Mrs. Wood and Hannah went to Minnesota with other Indians. In later years Captain Moore went to Mankato to see if Mrs. Wood had signed the deed to the Baraboo elaim. He found this to be true. In Minnesota he learned that Mrs. Wood was living with Gassy Bill and she was known as Man-une-tioney. Levi Cahoon, now of Baraboo, resided there at the time. Hannah died and was buried in Minnesota. Mrs. Wood sleeps in the reservation cemetery in Nebraska.
"Wood and his daughter, Margaret, went from Prairie du Chien to Illinois, where his brother resided. Later the brother and his family, Wood and his daughter came to Baraboo.
"The brother stopped at the log cabin which had been deserted by the Wood family months before, and later moved to the vicinity of Caze-
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novia. From there he went to California and all trace of the family has been lost.
ABE WOOD'S DEATH
"For a time Wood was employed on the rafts on the river and was at Newport quite often. His daughter resided with different families and became acquainted with Charles W. Perry, whose home was in Milton, Wisconsin. They were married at Newport and soon after he went to
MRS. MARGARET WOOD GARDNER
Milton expecting to return. After some months he finally came back and Wood was so incensed that he shut his son-in-law up when he returned. They all finally decided to go to Milton to visit his family. While there Wood fell from a light wagon, as the result of the team starting up sud- denly. Mrs. Abigail Mills, George W. l'erry, and Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Perry were in the vehicle besides Wood. He fell backward over the rear seat, striking on his back and head. His spine was injured and after being at Milton for two weeks was taken to the home of Elder N. A. Perry at Albion, Dane county, where he died three weeks later. He was attended by Dr. R. S. Head, the only physician in that country at the
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time. He died in great agony, September 25, 1855, aged 60 years. His daughter and her husband were his constant attendants. He was buried in the little church yard at Albion and fifteen years later his remains were moved one and a half miles north to a new cemetery. Like the grave of his friend, Wallace Rowan, and many other pioneers, the tomb is not marked and its exact location is not known."
The Margaret Wood, mentioned as having been born on Squaw Point, across the lake from what is now Madison, Wisconsin, was twice married. In 1855, when eighteen years of age, she married Charles W. Perry, to whom she bore one son and three daughters. Her first husband died many years ago and in the early '80s she moved to Nebraska, and settled at Emerson, that state. There, in 1905, she married Henry H. Gardner, and at the time of her death, at that place in 1914, she left her husband three married daughters, eighteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Thus passed away the last member of the pioneer family of Baraboo.
ALBERT JAMESON
In December, 1838, not long after Abe Wood settled at Baraboo Rapids and James S. Alban on Sauk Prairie, the beauty and fertility of the valley lands of the Wisconsin a little further west than the Prairie commenced to attract settlers thither. At the time mentioned, Albert Jameson, Andrew Hodgett, Alexander Bills and Nelson Lathrop located claims near the present southern boundary of the Town of Sumpter. William Johnson arrived soon after from Belmont, crossing the Wisconsin River on the ice, and established himself near Jameson in the valley of Otter Creek. Erecting a cabin, during the winter he employed himself in getting out rails to fence his elaim. Both Johnson and Jameson brought their families about a year later.
Fortunately, Messrs. Jameson and Uncle William Johnson have told the simple stories of their settlement in the valley of Honey Creek, where the latter long enjoyed the distinction of the oldest settler of his locality.
The following letter, written to William H. Canfield, explains itself :
"KINGSTON, Nov. 25, 1870.
"FRIEND CANFIELD: I received a few lines from you wishing me to give you a few of the particulars respecting my coming into this county. My first visit here was Deeember 12, 1838, in company with Andrew Hodgett, Alexander Bills and Nelson Lathrop. We crossed the Wis- consin river on the ice; the snow was about six inches deep. After mean- dering as much of the prairie as we could, we camped in what has since been called the Hoover Hollow, from John Hoover who settled at the mouth of it. We swept away the snow and made preparations for the night; some making a fire, some collecting pine boughs-there being in this gorge, as well as others along this range of bluffs a few pine trees-
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for a bed. These we had to substitute for blankets, for we had none. I was engaged in getting supper, which consisted of rather a plain fare, simply corn meal wet with cold water and baked upon a stone. After our repast we retired to our lodgings and spent the night pleasantly. We located our claims on the 20th; my elaim I am now living upon. We then started for the river. Esq. Alban had moved over the river with his family that day. We put up that night with him, and was entertained as well as could be expected under the circumstances. To the best of my knowledge Mrs. Alban was the first white woman living within what is now the county of Sauk. William Johnson came in a short time after we had located our claims. Cyrus Leland, I think, came here the following June; he brought his family with him, and Mrs. Leland was the second white woman upon our prairie. I did not bring my family until I had been here a year or thereabouts. I had been here about a year before I knew anything about the Baraboo except by the Indians. The first woman who crossed the bluffs was Mrs. Peck, in company with Eben Peck, her husband. They had to cut their road through the brush over the bluffs. Like other new places, the very first settlers labored under many and great inconveniences. Our nearest mill was south of Mineral Point some twenty miles, owned by I. J. Sheldon. I never expected to have seen so great a change take place as has in the settlement of this county, in so short a space of time. The improvements, commerce, etc., are nearly equal to the older states already. Yours truly, "A. JAMESON."
Mr. Jameson spent two years (1853-55) in California and Oregon and during 1859-75 was most of the time in the Pike's Peak Region. His son Orrin was with him in 1861, but joined the Union army and was killed at Atlanta. While in the West Mr. Jameson was occupied in mining, building bridges and merchandizing. During the last few years of his life he suffered much from rheumatism and other ailments, but eamne home to Baraboo to die. His death oceurred November 17, 1875.
UNCLE WILLIAM JOHNSON
In one of his "Outline Sketches" Mr. Canfield gives the following account of Uncle Johnson's settlement : "I have learned from Mr. John- son and family that he left Belmont in the fall of 1838. When they arrived at the Wisconsin river it was sufficiently frozen over to cross on foot. They left their team at the river with a man to care for it, went to the bluffs near the Honey Creek Valley, and crossed over into what was called the Pocket, to a cabin occupied by one Lathrop, where they spent the night. The next day they went to the point of the bluff where he now resides and, liking the location, set his men immediately to work. There had been a storm, commencing with rain and then freezing, which
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festooned every twig and branch with ice. The day was clear, making, says Mr. Jolinson, the most brilliant display of ice adorning that he ever saw. They threw up a small cabin near the spot where now stands the steam sawmill, and spent the winter in getting out rails. Thirty or forty Indians lodged near them. They were fair neighbors and dealt with their white friends considerably, never, but in one instance, having any diffi- culty. Then an Indian insisted on having flour when they could spare no more and was about helping himself, when Carey (his eldest son) caught hold of his clothes in such a way as to walk him hastily on tip-toe out of doors, to the great amusement of the other Indians.
"The next spring Mr. Johnson came on with five ox teams, a set of blacksmith's tools, a large breaking plow and a mill similar to an over- grown coffee mill. He got the mill of Colonel Moore, of Belmont, Iowa, and Moore got it of an old pioneer, who, it is said, ground for toll. It is believed to have cracked the first kernel of corn in the Northwest, as well as the first in Sauk County. It was capable of grinding nearly a bushel an hour. The old mill should be preserved as a memorial.
"The Johnsons got J. S. Alban to help them across the river. It was with much difficulty that they got the cattle into the water, but finally succeeded. One yoke, however, would not swim, sinking and rising like a drowning person. They finally got them started beside their two canoes and made good progress until their feet struck a sandbar, where they made a stubborn halt and effectually anchored them out. They coaxed and whipped; the eattle turned their yoke. They unyoked them to keep them from drowning, tied each one to a canoe and put the boys (John Robbins and George Folen, both of whom are now dead) into them; and Johnson and Alban got into the water and crowded them off the bar. They then made a great effort to get into the canoes. The boys were frightened almost to death, for neither of them could swim. They might have taken hold of their horns and kept the canoes away from them; but instead of so doing they broke everything except the paddles over their heads. They soon got them unfastened and let them go their own way, and the boys landed upon an island. They were two poor canoemen to get to Alban and Johnson, who were obliged to swim to them. But they had time to do that and get back to the oxen before they landed on the opposite shore. One ox was thought to be dead. They hauled him out and he finally came to and got well; but from that day to the day of his death he could not be got near the Wisconsin river. They started in above Upper Town and landed upon this side, below town, a distance of a mile and a half from where they started.
"That summer Mr. Johnson broke sixty acres for themselves and as much more for their neighbors. The next summer they fenced and put into crops what land they had broken; and their harvest was never better. In the fall he moved his family here. After this harvest the little mill was of much use. It was a rule of the family that one man should grind
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before breakfast enough for the day's use. The neighbors also made much use of this mill.
"When the land came into market Mr. Johnson entered 640 acres. He has sold none except what he has deeded to his sons; having now 400 acres. He had three girls and a boy by his first wife, and eight boys by his present wife some of whom are married. He has been and now is, an energetic man, and has probably assisted in laying more roads than any other man in the county, excepting surveyors."
WILSON, OF WILSON'S CREEK
Probably John Wilson, a Scotchman, located his claim in the south- western part of what is now the Town of Troy on the creek which bears his name, as early as the spring of 1838. It was said of him: "Mr. Wilson was a somewhat restless and adventurous person in his youth and had, before he came here, in his more advanced years, 'been about a good bit,' here and there. Governor Washburn and partner employed him to come from St. Louis to Helena (Iowa County) to work in their shot-tower at a very early day and, being so close after the treaty with the Winne- bagoes was concluded, he must needs come over the river and examine the country. Upon seeing it, he determined to locate. How early it might have been when he first came over prospecting cannot be determined, but possibly in the spring of 1838. Afterward, as early as 1840, he had moved in his family and was living there permanently. The old Government canoe that used to carry provisions up the Wisconsin to the forts, that was cut out of a log and was large enough to carry fifty barrels of flour and the men to row it, was in Mr. Wilson's possession and served him in navigating the river. Mr. Wilson was a man of no mean ability and talents. He was somewhat of a scholar, and could paint, draw and earve very artistically. Alexander Stuart had a Highland scene painted admir- ably, and there were many other relics of his genius scattered about the country."
THE SAUK VILLAGES
It was in the year 1839 that the two settlements on Sauk Prairie took such permanent form as to seem really like villages. What is now Sauk City became known as Lower Sauk and Prairie du Sac as Upper Sauk, the names being adopted with reference to location on the Wisconsin River. Lower Sauk obtained a somewhat earlier start.
In the spring or summer of 1839 Albert Skinner put in an appearance with his family, settled at Lower Sauk and built a boarding house, or bought the residence of J. S. Alban for that purpose. His boarders were confined to single men, and his was the second family to settle upon the present site of Sauk City. Soon afterward Charles Parks and family
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occupied a house built by D. B. Crocker on his claim, now including the principal part of the village of Prairie du Sac, or Upper Sauk. The first house erected at Prairie du Sac stood upon the lot subsequently occupied by the residence of the late Jacob Ochsner.
Mr. Crocker laid out a portion of his claim into village streets and lots, and soon afterward erected a log house and placed a small stock of merchandise in it. This was the first store in the county, and said to have been the pioneer store west of Madison (1). Before that under- aking nearly all the goods used by the setters of Eastern Sauk County were brought from Milwaukee. The store building at Prairie du Sae stood a little south of where the Baxter House was subsequently erected and was not torn down until the late '70s.
FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
The first Fourth of July celebrated in the county, that of 1839, occurred at Upper Sauk, and drew a crowd of twenty-five grown-up inhabitants. Quite a feather in Prairie du Sac's cap. Not long afterward John Le Meassure and William Frink purchased half of Mr. Crocker's claim, and the three so advanced the interests of Upper Sauk that it soon . overtook the twin village. In 1840 they platted the Village of Prairie du Sae only two miles above Sauk City, and the two were fairly launched on their career of rivalry.
COUNT HARASZTHY AND HIS COLONY
A decided accession to the strength of Lower Sauk came in the sum- mer of 1840 in the persons of Agostin Haraszthy, with his father, Charles, and his cousin, Charles Halasz. The Haraszthys were of an ancient and noble Hungarian family, Agostin being of a restless and energetic, yet self-contained and practical nature, adaptable and liberal in his disposi- tion. He was a born promoter and colonizer, and a pioneer with a breadth of view and a romantic inclination which marked him as the most remark- able man whose career was identified with the history of the Wisconsin Valley in the mid-period of the nineteenth century. The most complete and authentic account of his life and the most clear-cut description of his remarkable character have been given by Verne S. Pease and pub- lished in the "Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin" for 1906.
FATHER AND SON
The father of Count Haraszthy, as he was generally known in Wis- consin, was a scholarly, scientific gentleman, quiet, gentle and unob- trusive, the opposite in every respect of his vigorous, progressive and popular son. They were both radical and democratie in thought and
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deportment, but each in his way. Charles Halasz was so young in years that his character does not stand forth in the early part of the narrative. It seems quite probable that the Haraszthys came to America in the spring of 1840 as a result of the Kossuth liberal movement of the previous year. Many of the supporters of the great Hungarian took flight during that period.
The three shipped from Hamburg in March, 1840, with the intention of going to Florida, but on shipboard met Edmond Rendtorff, whose brother, Adolph, had already settled in Illinois. Captain Marryat was
AGOSTIN HARASZTHY
COUNT AGOSTIN HARASZTHY
then one of the most popular authors of the day, and his description of the beauties and possibilities of the Wisconsin Valley, with corroborative testimony of some Englishmen bound for Mineral Point and the lead regions, brought about an agreement to locate in that section of Wis- consin. After some months of reconnoitering, including a temporary settlement near Rock River, above Lake Koshkonong, Messrs. Haraszthy and Halasz pitched camp on Sauk Prairie, accompanied by a number of German workmen.
"This was the middle of July, 1840," says Mr. Pease. "Their paradise was already claimed by a few Americans, and Haraszthy bought a small piece of river frontage from Burk Fairchild, one of the earliest settlers.
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