USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 24
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 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
Victoria Wisconsin Peck was born at Madison, September 14, 1837, to Eben and Rosaline (Willard) Peck, the first white child native to the new capital of the new territory. The pretty baby opened her eyes in the new log house completed a few months before, and was soon looking upon the oak brush and oak openings around. Naturally the babe becaine the pet of the government, and the parents reciprocated by naming her Wisconsin.
MRS. PECK ENTERS THE BARABOO VALLEY
But the Valley of the Wisconsin was the real lodestone which had drawn the family to the West, Eben Peek having already made a claim on the site of Baraboo. In the fall of 1839 Mrs. Rosaline Peck set out from Madison in a carriage, with her husband and her brother-in-law, Luther Peck, in order to see the elaim and the country in general. At Sauk Prairie they were obliged to leave the vehicle, and travel on horse- back along an Indian trail to the Baraboo River. Mrs. Peck was the first
Digizedby Google
214
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
white woman to enter the Valley of the Baraboo. The water was very high, and Mr. Peck advised his wife not to eross the river, but she was determined to see the claim, and so swam her horse over at the expense of a thorough soaking. In the following fall the Pecks brought their children, and the family settled on the claim made along that part of the river banks known as the Lower Ox-bow, afterward platted as Man- ehester. There they lived for seven years, when they were dispossessed of their claim, and moved to the locality where she lived for so many years, known as Peck's Prairie. Soon after the improvements on the farm were commenced the husband and father started for California, overland, and was massacred by the Indians. Mrs. Peck was thus left with her two children, but protected them, as well as her homestead, through many years of brave perseverance and hard trials. In the early days before the coming of a physician Mrs. Peck treated the sick with much success. She once told of setting the broken leg of a neighbor's child who lived five miles away, she being compelled to ride behind her husband along an Indian trail after dark to reach the house. When she arrived there was no candle and the father of the child walked half a mile to a neighbor's who had some lard, from which a grease dip was made. The operation was successful, and the child rapidly recovered. Mrs. Peck added that "there were no deaths in the Valley until after the doctors camc." The later years of Mrs. Peck's long life were made comfortable and pleasant through the devotion of her son and daughter, and her death occurred in October, 1899, in her ninety-second year.
Vietoria Wisconsin Peck eared for her good and faithful mother dur- ing the last years of her life. She had married the talented lawyer and author, N. W. Wheeler, and, with the exception of a residence of nine years at Chippewa Falls, had lived at Baraboo since babyhood; and as a kind old lady, waiting for the mysterious summons she is still a resident of it. Mr. Wheeler died in July, 1885, and their home was long a center of elevated enjoyment.
MRS. PECK HOLDS CAPTAIN MOORE
Mrs. Rosaline Peck was the personal means of drawing not a few permanent settlers to Baraboo. Capt. Levi Moore, who developed the first water power at the Rapids, came to investigate the locality in 1840 and was about to leave the wild country for some locality more civi- lized. Mrs. Peck's bright, hopeful face caused a reaction, and he remained to become one of Baraboo's inspirations and supports.
SURVEYS IN SAUK COUNTY
The surveys in Sauk County previous to its civil and political organi- zation in 1844 included virtually the southern two-thirds of its area-
Dia zedby Google
215
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
the south half of Baraboo and Greenfield townships, and the whole of Washington, Westfield, Freedom, Sumpter, Merrimack, Honey Creek, Franklin, Bear Creek, Spring Green, Troy and Prairie du Sae. William A. Burt ran the township lines in 1840 and the subdivisions were sur- veyed as follows: Alvin Burt, the southern portions of Spring Green and Troy, in 1842, and the northern part of Troy in 1840; Robert D. Lester, southern part of Bear Creek and Franklin, in 1843; Alvin Burt, all but the northern two tiers of sections in Prairie du Sac Township, 1842; Robert D. Lester, the northern portion of Bear Creek, 1843; James M. Marsh, north half of Franklin, 1840; Alvin Burt, the northern portion of Prairie du Sac and the southern parts of Sumpter and Merrimack, in 1842; James M. Marsh, Town of Washington, 1844; James E. Freeman, towns of Westfield and Freedom, and south half of Town of Baraboo, 1844; Alvin Burt, southern portion of Greenfield, 1842.
The remainder of the county was surveyed in 1845, both township lines and subdivisions, by J. E. Whitcher, Garret Vliet, Theodore Conkey and John Brink. Thus the entire county was practically preparing for settlement.
THE COUNTY'S FIRST CENSUS
There was another indication that civilization was on the way. A eensus of the region now included in Sauk County was taken. In the spring of 1842, Sheriff A. A. Bird, of Dane County, to which Sauk County then belonged, under official instructions and in accordance with an aet entitled " An act to provide for the taking of the census of the inhabitants the Territory of Weskonsan, approved February 18, 1842," returned the names of the following persons, as "heads of families," then residing in the county. The figures set opposite the names indicate the number of persons belonging to each family, though they really included others :
Sauk Prairie .- Prescott Brigham, 4; E. P. Brigham, 4; Josiah E. Abbott, 7; J. Waggoner, 5; Andrew Garrison, 2; Nathan Kellogg, 6; William G. Simons, 5; H. F. Crossman, 6; John La Messeure, 15; W. Langdon, 3; Calvin Frink, 11; John Gallard, 3; A. Morgan, 4; George Dunlap, 3; Jonathan Hatch, 9; Albert Skinner, 7; J. Hayden, 8; Adolph Rendtorff, 6; James S. Alban, 8. Total, 116.
Baraboo .- M. Crain, 2; Robert V. Allen, 2; Levi Moore, 5; Moses Nulph, 4; John Meads, 1; M. Gillson, 6; Orrin Hudson, 1; Peter Manaar, 3; John Rainey, 2; John de la Ronde, 1; Thomas Kelsey, 1; C. Randall, 7; Henry Lewis, 6; Milo Blood, 5; Don Carlos Barry, 6; James Christie, 6; D. Gilson, 7; Edward Kingsley, 5; Mrs. V. B. Hill, 6; Abram Wood, 3; Wallace Rowan, 11; John Draper, 5; Lewis Brunson, 5; William H. Canfield, 3; Simeon Griffith, 5; Richard Clark, 1; Thomas Clark, 3; Solo- mon Shaffer, 3; Edward Johnson, 5; Daniel Brewster, 3; Eben Peek, 5; William Stephens, 1; S. Knox or Traux, 5. Total, 134.
Dgized by Google
216
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
Helena .- The name of the census distriet which is supposed to have included a strip of territory south of the Wisconsin River. It is well known that Charles Halasz, Robert Bryant and others whose names are familiar in the history of this county, lived on the lower end of Sauk Prairie, north of the river, but, as the taking of this census occurred two years before the organization of the county, and while it belonged to Dane County, it may be that Helena census district lay on both sides of the Wisconsin. Such is the opinion of an old settler of Baraboo. The record was: P. M. Nichols, 4; Charles Halasz, 13; Robert Bryant, 10; Birosch, 8; Alvin Crane, 8; H. B. Staines, 9; E. Brown, 1; Cyrus Leland, 10; John Russell, 2; Henry Teal, 6; M. Blodget, 1; John Hoover, Jr., 3; John Hoover, Sr., 4; Zenas Herrington, 8; Albert Jameson, 5; Albert Myers, 4; John Kellogg, 4; Andre Hodgett, 1; William Johnson, 9; Samuel Mather, 3; D. R. Baxter, 4; George Cargill, 5; Samuel Woodruff, 9; William Tanner, 4; John Wilson, 7; Frank Pravoneil, 5. Total, 146.
This census was by no means a correct one. It is the only one in existence, however, taken at that early day. It is known to be incom- plete, for the reason that the names of several of the first settlers in the county who were the heads of families were omitted. The census-taker seems to have contented himself with the names of those at the head of families, and those engaged in business, overlooking many persons then engaged as "hired hands." For instance, it will be observed that there were thirteen persons in the "family" of Charles Halasz. This doubt- less included ten or a dozen men then in the employment of Mr. Halasz. The same may also be said in reference to the figures opposite the names of many others.
WILLIAM H. CANFIELD
William H. Canfield, the well-known historian, surveyor and archae- ologist, who did as much as any one man to introduce Sauk County to mankind and womankind, came to Baraboo from his native county of Onondaga, New York, in time to be enrolled in the 1842 census. . When he came to the little settlement at the Baraboo Rapids in that year there were few families with whom his own might associate. Abe Wood, his Indian squaw and two daughters had come in 1838, and Wallace Rowan and family followed the next year. About this time Eben Peck and his family came over the bluffs from Madison, and they were doubtless a godsend to the Canfields, who settled on Skillet Creek on the farm afterward occupied by O. Knopp. Later Mr. Canfield moved to his father's farm on the edge of Lyons, which remained his home until his death June 23, 1913. During his later years his daughter, Mrs. D. A. Darby, resided with him, and gave him the care of a devoted daughter.
Mr. Canfield was a surveyor and made many plats in the county which are now in the courthouse. For many years he filled the office of
Dia zed by Google
-
217
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
county surveyor, and at one time he knew nearly all the people in the county. His business took him to almost every farm and to every village.
Mr. Canfield was a member of the democratic party and of the Seventh Day Advent Church. He was active in the fight against liquor in the very beginning of the City of Baraboo, and continued to be a temperance advocate during his long and active life. He left but few relatives. Mrs. Darby is the only daughter and the only son, E. F. Canfield, resides
WILLIAM H. CANFIELD
at Monterey, California. There are two granddaughters, daughters of Mrs. Darby, at Vallejo, California. They are Mrs. J. C. Loney and Miss Cornelia Darby. The late HI. H. Howlett, of Baraboo, was a cousin and Mrs. Charles Walrath, Walnut Street, is a second cousin. There are a few other distant relatives who did not reside at Baraboo.
Mr. Canfield was one of the most active men that ever lived in the community. Ile planned and worked as if he would always be here. Within recent years he talked of continuing his local history work and expected to do other things. Especially in recording early events of the county, his influence will long remain. He was firm in his convictions
Digiandby Google
218
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
and most dependable. His friendship was wide, although the chain of friends from the time of territorial days has been broken by the passing of those he best knew.
This local historian was the chief spirit of the Sauk County Old Set- tlers' Association for many years, and was not only its secretary but placed much of its history into print. He succeeded in purchasing a plat of ground at Devil's Lake State Park which he hoped to make a perma- nent home for the organization. He wrote much local history during his life. "Outline Sketches" and "Historical Sketch of Baraboo and Greenfield" are two volumes which contain the most that he has written. Not only is there much of local history, but there are pencil sketches of the scenery, catalogues of birds and other features of the county. He was interested in archaeology and surveyed the celebrated Man Mound as early as 1859. He also surveyed many other Indian mounds in the county, the greater number of which have been destroyed. He was a lover of all nature, the birds, the animals, the rocks and the flowers com- ing under his careful observation. Given early advantages of a thor- ough education and opportunities for careful investigation in his chosen fields, Mr. Canfield might have earned wide fame. At it was, his labors were highly valued, and his fine worth as a man was never called in question.
DELL CREEK (NEWPORT)
Through the efforts of John Metcalf and Daniel Whitney, the former subsequently owner of the upper or Lyons Sawmill on the Baraboo River, and the latter owner of the present site of Portage, a settlement was established at the mouth of Dell Creek near the northern boundary of Sauk County. It was a resting place and a revietualing station for the lumbermen, after their rafts had "shot the Dells" and they were about to start on their long run to the mouth of the Wisconsin River and the Mississippi. It was known in the carly '40s as Dell Creek; at a later date, as Newport.
FIRST SETTLERS OF GREENFIELD TOWNSHIP
In the meantime several settlers had located in the southwest corner of what is now the Town of Greenfield, three or four miles from Baraboo, Edwin Johnson eame thither with his family, consisting of a wife and three children, and resided in the town until his death. The next set- tler was Thomas Clark, who came to the same locality in 1842, and two years later built a grist mill on a small stream near what is known as the Red Schoolhouse. Mr. Clark purchased a couple of small millbuhrs from someone who had been unsuccessful in operating a mill on Honey Creek and attached them in the usual way to a centrifugal water wheel. There
Dieedby Google
219
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
was no bolting apparatus in the mill, and the early settlers who patro- nized it took their flour or meal with the bran in it. One of them related that having carried a bag of corn to be ground at Clark's Mill, and not finding the proprietor at home, he poured his grist into the hopper, turned on the water and ground it himself. He was not positive whether he left the usual toll, but was inclined to believe that he paid himself for his labor in grinding the grist.
In 1843 there also settled in this section of Greenfield Township Lorrin Cowles, Sauk County's first probate judge; R. G. Cowles, son of the judge, and Solomon Shaffer, his son-in-law. The Cowles bought the claim of Mecazer Thacker, a Turk, being half of section 33, with five acres of wheat on it.
TOWN OF SPRING GREEN
In the far southwestern part of the county, besides Thomas Wilson, the godfather of Wilson's Creek in the present Town of Troy, one Turner located on what is seetion 18, Spring Green Township, near the village. It is believed he came as early as 1841, but as he died soon afterward of sunstroke with only Indians for neighbors, knowledge of him and his doings is very meager. It is known that he left a widow and two chil- dren, and that they remained until the arrival of Thomas Williams, a few months afterward. The Widow Turner soon became Mrs. Williams, who, as will appear hereafter, became a well-known character.
JONESVILLE
Shortly after Mr. Williams arrival Evan Jones and family of two sons and two daughters settled on the banks of the river a little south- west of where the Village of Spring Green stands. He located there with the intention of building up a town. At one time three men from the East eame to the locality on a prospecting tour and offered to pur- chase Mr. Jones' claim and start a town; but he would not sell, and the few who settled on his land and near by constituted Jonesville. Not long after its proprietor located, one of his sons and two daughters were drowned while canoeing on the Wisconsin, and he left the country after several years of half-hearted efforts. His remaining son, Thomas, opened a store about this time, his establishment being one of the first in that section of the county. Before he started it the settlers in the southern part of the county had either to go to Prairie du Sac, Richland City, or even into Iowa County for needed supplies.
HONEY CREEK SETTLERS
The first settlers of the Town of Honey Creek were members of the Ragatz family. In July, 1842, Bartholomew Ragatz and his sons, Chris-
Digitized by Google
220
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
tian and Thomas, settled on section 36, in the extreme southeast corner of the township. There were no white neighbors on the west or south of them nearer than Wilson and Turner in Troy and Spring Green, and on Sauk Prairie, than V. Accold and A. Wolf. The Ragatzs immediately erected a cabin and provided outhouses and provender for their stock. The head of the family had brought fifteen head of cattle and as many hogs, with the intention of following stock raising and dairying. At that time it was a very uncertain venture to raise swine, especially, as the woods were infested with wolves, and few of the early settlers made the attempt to go into the live stock business; but Mr. Ragatz and his sons made the venture and were successful, for within three years they had forty head of cattle and a hundred hogs. They also made the first butter and cheese in town years before any other of the settlers became dairy- men. They also built the first bridge over Honey Creek. The land in the town of Honey Creek did not come into market until three years after the Ragatz family located; consequently before they could enter and pay for their claim they had made valuable improvements on their property.
TOWNS OF FAIRFIELD AND MERRIMACK
The principal other sections which were settled previous to 1844 are included in the townships of Fairfield and Merrimack. The first settler in the town of Fairfield was Amon Anderson, a Norwegian, who in 1843 settled on the Wisconsin River in the north part of the town. He built a log cabin, prepared a plat of ground for sowing, and in the following year raised a good crop; the commencement of a long and prosperous career as a farmer. He left a fine farm to his son, which passed, in turn, to Jolın Lamar.
Several settlers located in the Town of Merrimack about the time the county was organized-George Wood, the year before, and Zaeth Eldridge and H. Searl about 1844. He built a small grist mill on what is known as Searl's Creek, section 4, in the southern part of the town- ship, about two miles west of the present Village of Merrimack, which had not yet appeared above ground. The Searl Mill had not been ready for business more than two months before a freshet undermined the dam, which went out so completely that it never was rebuilt.
Diezed by Google
CHAPTER IX
COUNTY AFFAIRS
ELECTION WHILE IN CRAWFORD COUNTY-PRAIRIE DU SAC, FIRST COUNTY SEAT-FIRST ELECTION-FIRST MEETING OF THE COUNTY BOARD- ROAD DISTRICTS AND ELECTION PRECINCTS-TERRITORIAL COUNTY OFFICERS-THIRD ELECTION PRECINCT CREATED-FINAL ORGANIZA- TION UNDER TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT-JUNEAU COUNTY ATTACH- MENTS-CREATION OF OTHER TOWNS-COUNTY ROSTER CONTINUED- COURT HOUSE AT PRAIRIE DU SAC-COUNTY SEAT AT BARABOO-FIRST BARABOO COURT HOUSE- THE BRICK COURT HOUSE TWO COURT HOUSES BURNED-THE 1905-06 COURT HOUSE-COUNTY POOR FARM AND INSANE ASYLUM-COUNTY JAIL AND SHERIFF'S RESIDENCE- STATISTICAL POPULATION, 1875, 1880 AND 1885-POPULATION, 1890, 1900 AND 1910-NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION IN COUNTY-DR. KATE LEVI ON THE GERMAN ELEMENT-PROPERTY VALUATION, 1880-1916-FIRST EVENTS IN SAUK COUNTY.
It appears from the records that nearly a decade passed after Sauk County had a separate political existence before a town organization was effected. The eastern counties of the territory were generally favor- able to the township system, and voted for it when the legislative act was submitted in 1841 "to provide for the government of the several towns in this territory and for the revision of county government," but the southern and southwestern counties, such as Green, Crawford and Iowa, favored the old system of county commissioners, which had been in force since 1837.
ELECTION WHILE IN CRAWFORD COUNTY
In the fall of 1839, while Sauk Prairie was yet a part of Crawford County and there were only a few settlers in that locality and at the Baraboo Rapids, an election was held at Prairie du Sac. Fourteen votes were cast, and the returns were made to Prairie du Chien, the county seat, the ballots being taken by a messenger who took a canoe down the Wisconsin River. At the session of the Territorial Legislature of 1839-40 the Sauk Prairie settlers petitioned to have a county named Sauk set off from Crawford. Their petition was granted the following year, and in
221
Dlazedby Google
222
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
1841 a new voting preeinet was created including the Valley of the Baraboo. It is said that at the fall eleetion of 1842 the settlers in that part of the county were first represented at the polls. As the new county had been attached to Dane for judicial and political purposes, the re- turns of that election were made to Madison.
PRAIRIE DU SAC, FIRST COUNTY SEAT
At the session of the Territorial Legislature of 1843-44, the voters of Sauk Prairie petitioned that body to fully organize Sauk County, but the residents of the Baraboo Valley remonstrated on the ground that there were not enough voters in the county from which to draw a jury list and fill the county offices. Besides the foregoing objections they did not desire the county to be burdened with the expense of a county organ- ization. The remonstrance availed nothing, the bill went through the Legislature and was approved March 10, 1844. After looking over the county the commissioners appointed to locate the county seat decided upon one of the Sauk villages, the one that would make the largest dona- tion. Sauk City eame forward with the Bryant-Harszthy House valued at $3,000 and Prairie du Sac offered some village lots supposed to be · worth more than the property tendered by Lower Town.
Some months later the people of Prairie du Sac offered the deeds of the donated lots to the county board. It was thien discovered that they contained a elause that the land was revertible to the original owners in ease of the removal of the county seat. In the summer of 1845 a rousing meeting was held in the town of Sumpter and a committee was appointed to explore the interior of the county to see if the land was suitable for habitation. In October the committee consisting of Count Harszthy, and Edmund Rendtorff of Sauk City, Levi Moore, Abe Wood, Thomas Remington and William H. Canfield of Baraboo.
FIRST ELECTION
An election was held at the house of Samuel Shaw, on the 11th of March, 1844, at which the following persons received the number of votes mentioned : For sheriff, Joshua E. Abbott received 39 votes, and Burke Fairchild, 1 vote; for county commissioners, John Hoover, 43 votes, Levi Moore, 44 votes, William G. Simons, 46 votes, Arba M. Seymour, 1 vote, and Thomas B. Cowles, 1 vote; for clerk of the board of commis- sioners, Burke Fairchild, 38 votes, and William Eikey, 1 vote; for register of deeds, Eben M. Hart, 46 votes, and Samuel Riggs, 1 vote; for treasurer, Nathan Kellogg, 38 votes, and William Eikey, 1 vote; for distriet sur- veyor, William H. Canfield, 44 votes; for coroner, John C. Kellogg, 44 votes, and H. P. Kelsey, 1 vote; for collector, James I. Waterbury, 46 votes; for school commissioners, Cyrus Leland, 46 votes, W. H. Canfield,
Da zedby Google
--
223
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
45 votes, and A. M. Seymour, 43 votes; for assessors, Harris Searle, 45 votes, Jonathan Hatch, 46 votes, Luther C. Peck, 43 votes, George Williams, 2 votes, A. M. Seymour, 1 vote; for justices of the peace, Cyrus Leland, 43 votes, Prescott Brigham, 43 votes, Alvin Crane, 34 votes, Burke Fairchild, 1 vote, A. M. Seymour, 1 vote, and Daniel B. Crocker, 1 vote; for constable, John B. Skinner, 38 votes, A. M. Seymour, 1 vote, Samuel Kelsey, 1 vote, and John Hoover, 1 vote; for judge of probate, Prescott Brigham, 44 votes, and Samuel Kelsey, 1 vote. The judges of election were Lyman Crossman, Prescott Brigham and Daniel R. Baxter; clerks, George HI. Howard and Henry Wagner. There were 47 votes cast.
FIRST MEETING OF THE COUNTY BOARD
The first meeting of the board of county commissioners was held at the house of Joshua E. Abbott, at Prairie du Sac, the county seat, on the first Monday of April, 1844; present, John Hoover, William G. Simons and Levi Moore. Mr. Hoover was elected chairman of the board, and Andrew Garrison was appointed clerk, as Burke Fairchlid, who had been elected to that position, did not appear.
ROAD DISTRICTS AND ELECTION PRECINCTS
The first business of importance disposed of was the organization of the county into five road districts and the appointment of the supervisors over them. District No. 1 began at the north line of township 9, ex- tended west and south to the county line; thence east to the county line. along the Wisconsin River, to the place of beginning. Jonathan Hatch was named its supervisor.
No. 2 began at the line of township 9, ran west to the line between sections 34 and 35, town 10; thence north, three miles, into town 11; east to the county line and south, .to the place of beginning. Philip Blodgett, supervisor.
No. 3 began on the section line between 34 and 35, town 10, was extended west to the county line, thence north three miles into town 11, east to the corner of district No. 2, and south to the place of beginning. William Johnson, road supervisor.
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.