USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of the state of Wisconsin : being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 75
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
other contributions. In the autumn | 1742, to the death of Tecumseh, at the of 1834 he went to Mobile, at the In- Thames, in 1813. vitation of Peter A. Remsen, a cotton- factor there, who had married his consin; and in May, 1834, he left there, and went to Granville College, Olio, arriving June 4, where he remained for over two years. His parents having removed from Lock- port to Toledo, O., he visited them at the latter piace, in the summer of 1835, and took part with the Buckeyes in a little skirmish with the Wolver- ines, pleasantiy called the Battle of Mud Creek, in the environs of Toledo, -one of the episodes of the Ohio and Michigan boundary diffieuity at that period.
In the antumn of 1836 he ieft Gran- ville, for Hudson River Seminary, near Stockport, N.Y., where he remained a year; and then went to reside in the family of his patron and friend, Mr. Remsen, near Alexander, Genesee County, in that State, pursuing his studies, and an extensive course of reading, privatelv.
When in Mobile, he made a begin- ning of collecting unpublished facts and traditions relative to border his- tory, in this instance pertaining to the daring Creek chief, Weatherford, - a habit which, for over forty years, he has since practised with so marked sneeess. While at Granville, he had become interested in the border works of Withers, MeCluny, and Flint, and afterwards of Hail; and, finding them oftentimes at varianee with each other, he conceived the idea, in 1838, of a work on the Western Pioneers, hoping to be able to rectify many of these de- feets and errors. This led to an ex- tensive correspondence, and repeated journeys in the Western and Southern States, between 1840 and 1871, aggre- gating over sixty thousand miles, by publie conveyances, on horseback, and on foot, attendant with many hard- ships, and several times greatly en- dangering life itself. Many aged pioneers and Indian fighters were in- terviewed, -the companions of Dun- more, Lewis, Clark, Boone, Kenton, Sheiby, Sevier, the Campbeils, Sumter, Robertson, Crawford, Brady, and the Wetzeis; and thus an unequalled coi- lection of original historic materiais was gathered, embracing well-nigh two hundred and fifty manuseript volumes, covering the whole sweep of the Angio-American settlement and border warfare of the West, from the first fight in the Virginia Valley, in
In 1840 Mr. Draper went to Ponto- toc, in Northern Mississippi, where he edited a weekly paper for a while; tried rough farming-life one season, fifteen miles from a post-office, and was chosen a justice of the peace. In 1842 went to Buffaio, serving as a cierk in the canai superintendent's office for a year; returned to Pontotoc a short time, journeying among the pioneers; and finally, in 1844, becom- ing again a member of Mr. Remisen's family, then residing near Baltimore, and subsequently in and near Phila- deiphia, maintaining an extensive eor- respondence, and making frequent journeys in the Western and Sonth- western States, and gathering a unique library illustrative of border history.
Mr. Remsen, his patron and friend of many years, dying in the spring of 1852, Mr. Draper, with Mr. Remsen's family, whose widow he subsequently married, removed to Madison, Wis., in the autumn of that year, where he has since resided. Beside perfecting his Border Historical Collections, he has devoted much of his time towards building up the State Historieal So- ciety of Wisconsin, editing its six voi- umes of Transactions, and aiding in gathering its valuable library of sixty- five thousand volumes. In the fail of 1857 he was chosen State Superintend- ent of Public Instruction, and labored with much zeai and success in securing the adoption of a State system of township libraries, by which nearly eiglity-nine thousand dollars were raised for the first year's expenditure, but which was repealed in consequence of the great war tornado of 1861, and the money appropriated for military pur- poses. Some such measure is very certain to be re-enacted at no very distant day.
Beside the six volumes of Collections of the Historical Society, several pamphlets, and two elaborate school- reports, he prepared in 1869, aided by W. A. Croffnt, a thorough work of over eight hundred pages, called " The Help- ing Hand: an American Home Book for Town and Country, devoted to Farm- ing-Matters, Stoek, Fruit-Culture, and Domestic Economy." He has recent- ly completed a work of much care- ful investigation on the Mecklenburg Deciaration of Independence; and is now engaged, in conjunction with C. W. Butterfield, the able author of "Crawford's Expedition," on a volume
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
on "Border Forays and Adventures," largely from original materials; to be followed by others on Sumter, Boone, Clark, Kenton, Brady, and their bor- der associates and Indian-fighters.
Twenty - five years ago, Granville College, Ohio, conferred on Mr. Draper the honorary degree of Master of Arts; and, in 1871, the University of Wis- consin, that of LL.D., in recognition of his services in behalf of the histori- cal literature of the country, and his unflagging efforts in building up a great publie library in Wisconsin. He is either an honorary or corresponding member of the principal historieal societies of the country.
Mr. Draper has been a man of much system and persistent industry, never getting wearied or discouraged in whatever he undertakes. "The frost- king," says F. A. Moore, "has been busy with his hair; yet his face and eye and step retain the freshness and elasticity of thirty. Seeing him now, it is hard to comprehend the secret force and energy that have inspired him through all these long and patient years; that have, again and again, sent him through ahnost every nook and cranny of the West and South in search of any old serap of letter, paper, or relic, or to find the last man, woman, or child that could shed light upon the events and actions of the great pioneer period of the West." "Our wonder was," observes the well-known biblio- grapher, Joseph Sabin, "that a man of his slight physique could have aceom- plished a tithe of his work."
Such is a brief notice of the man of whose collections Jared Sparks ex- pressed his amazement at their extent thirty years ago; and whom Col. John McDonald, himself a pioneer, and author of "Border Sketches," denomi- nated "The Western Plutarch."
HON. MORGAN L. MARTIN. - He was born at Martinsburg, Lewis Coun- ty, N.Y., March 31, 1805, and graduated at Union College, New York, 1824. He removed to Detroit, Mich., in 1826, and to Green Bay in 1827, where he has ever since resided. He was a member of the legislative eouneil of Michigan from 1831 to 1835, a delegate to Con- gress in 1845, and a member of the legislative council of Wisconsin from 1845 to 1847. He was a member of the Second Constitutional Convention in 1848, member of the assembly in 1855, and of the senate in 1858-59. He was postmaster in the United States army from 1861 to 1865, and United
States Indian agent from 1866 to 1869. Mr. Martin is a lawyer by profession. In politics, a war Democrat, but has acted independently since the war. Supported Gen. Grant at the last elec- tion for the presideney. He was a successful candidate for the assembly in the fall of 1873, receiving five hun- dred and ninety-nine votes against five hundred and sixty for his opponent. But few are now living who have been identified longer or more prominently with the history of the State than has Mr. Martin; and none, perhaps, have discharged the duties of office or pri- vate citizen better than he. He is now in his seventieth year, hale and hearty as many a younger man.
HON. JOHN TABOR KINGSTON. - Hc was born in St. Claire County, Ill., Jan. 31, 1819. In the year 1829, his father removed to Central Illinois. In the spring of 1832, he removed with his family to Chicago, but, on account of the Sauk war, did not reach there until the spring of 1833. In the fif- teenth year of his age, the subject of our sketch left home to seek his for- tune in the Territory of Wisconsin. He came to Racine, made a claim, and built a house. After remaining there some time, he returned to his father's home. In March, 1833, he returned again to his claim in Wisconsin. In 1842 he removed to Grand Rapids, and, in 1848, to Neudah, his present home. He was elected elerk of the board of supervisors, register of deeds, and county surveyor of Portage County, In 1845; clerk of the circuit court in 1847; and elected to the State senate in 1856-60; was appointed a trustee of the Hospital for the Insane in 1870; and, in 1872, was appointed a trustee of the Northern Hospital for the In- sane. He has held the office of town clerk, chairman of the town board, or president of the village, sinee the organization of the town of Neudah, In 1853. He was member of the assem- bly in 1874. Mr. Kingston is by occu- pation a lumberman.
HON. WALTER D. MCINDOE. - Ile was born in Scotland, March 30, 1819. He emigrated to this country in his fifteenth year, and for a time was a clerk in a large mercantile house in New York city. For some years there- after, he pursued the same business in the eitles of Charlestown, S.C., and St. Louis, Mo. Early in the history of Wisconsin, Mr. McIndoe settled within its limits, and became extensively en- gaged in the lumber-business. Being
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a man of enlarged business-views, his | in the Thirty-eighth Congress for the operations soon became quite exten- sive, and he became generally known to the people of our State as one of its most enterprising and prosperous elti- zens.
In the fall of 1849, he was elected to the assembly of the State, and was an able and useful member of that body during the session of 1850. In politics he was then an active member of the Whig party. He was in the minority party of that legislature, and, of eourse, was not as conspieuous as he would have been In the majority; but the. sound, practical qualities of his mind gave him prominence with his fellow- members of all parties. In the session of 1854 he again represented his dis- triet in the assembly in the samne ac- ceptable manner, not only to his own immediate constituents, but to the people of the whole State.
During the summer of 1854 the Republican party of Wisconsin was organized. Mr. McIndoe had a strong attachment for the old Whig party, and did not willingly yield up that organization for the new one. In the fall of that year he was again eleeted to the assembly, but elaimed to be ehosen as a Whig, and not as a Repub- lican. A United States senator was to be elected; and, after a long struggle in eaucus, Charles Durkee received the Republican nomination. This choice was decidedly distasteful to the mem- bers, who were inelined to still consider themselves Whigs. After some days spent in vain, Mr. McIndoe, with his friends, finally yielded, and east their votes for Mr. Durkee, securing his eleetion. From this time Mr. McIndoe became firmly identified with the Re- publlean party, of which organization he has been an active, consistent, and prominent member ever since.
In the fall of 1862 Hon. Luther Han- chett, member of Congress of the then Second District, died, and on the 30th of December, at a special eleetion, Mr. MeIndoc was elected to fill the vacancy in the Second Distriet for the Thirty- seventh Congress, and for the full terin
Sixth District under the then new ap- portionment. In 1864 he was elected as a member of the Thirty-ninth Con- gress. He thus served two full terms and a fraction of a term in the national house of representatives. During this time he was chairman of the Com- mittee on Revolutionary Pensions, and a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs. In 1856, and again in 1800, he was chosen as a presidential elector.
In 1857 Mr. McIndoe was a prom- inent candidate for governor before the State convention. At first the contest was mainly between him and Hon. E. D. Holton for the nomination. It resulted, after a protracted struggle, in the nomination of Hon. A. W. Ran- dall, a new man.
Since his retirement from Congress, he has attended wholly to his private business, which had beeome somewhat deranged from his long absenee in the public service.
He died at his residenee in Wausau, on the 22d of August, 1872, in the fifty- fourth year of his age.
HON. PAUL JUNEAU. - Hon. Paul Juneau was the second son of Hon. Solomon Juneau, the founder of Mil- waukee, and was the first-born of that revered pioneer after his permanent settlement at the flourishing commer- cial emporium of Wisconsin, on the 28th of April, 1823. In 1849 he was elected member of the assembly from the Juneau district, in Dodge County, at which place and county he resided the last years of his life. In 1852 he was chosen register of deeds, which office he held four years. He was acci- dentally shot by a ball fired carelessly and at random from a pistol at Juneau, and died in a few minutes, -Ang. 13, 1858. At the time of his decease he was a member of the assembly from his district, and also elerk of the cir- cuit court of Dodge County. He will long be remembered for his many vir- tues, and deeply regretted that his should have been an end so untimely and lamentable. Mr. Juneau was in his thirty-fifth year.
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