USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 15
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
"The experience of E. A. Carey at this mill may be related here. One morn- ing in 1846, Ed. (as we all called him then), loaded his grist into his wagon and, bright and early, started for the mill. Getting there at noon the mill was silent and cold and no wood to get up steam. He helped to chop the wood and hauled it to the mill and got up steam, but his grist was completed so late he concluded to stay all night. In the morning his oxen were gone and he scoured the country looking for them, but not until in the afternoon did he find them leisurely pastur- ing on the prairie at Taycheedah. Driving them back to the wagon and the yoke, he loaded his grist and started for home at ten o'clock at night. But soon another bitter experience came to him. At the foot of McClure's hill, this side of what is now Winnebago Park, the tire of one of the wagon wheels came off. He got it on in the darkness and managed to keep it on with a big stone in each hand until he arrived home at three o'clock in the morning, without having had any- thing to eat since the morning before. Ed. says he was tired and hungry, for he had his boy appetite along with him. One can well imagine he would be very hungry and very tired, but to use a modern expression, 'he got there just the same.'
"The Conklin mill in Empire was built in 1845 and did very good service for
115
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
the settlers. It was of limited capacity, of course, like all early day mills on small streams.
"Next came the Seymour mill on the west branch of the Fond du Lac river, near where Seymour street now crosses that stream. It was also limited in its capacity for work and during most of its existence was little more than a corn cracker and feed mill. It came into existence in 1848.
"Captain Soper originated his scheme for a mill on the east branch of the Fond du Lac river, just south of this city, in 1849. Of course, the water supply for power was small. It did very good work but was able to run only in the spring and fall when there was plenty of water. It has been out of existence many years.
"The year 1850 brought a number of mills to this vicinity. The Ike Orvis mill at Avoca, near Oakfield, and the Conklin mill at Oakfield are still in use, but being located on a very small stream are of limited capacity. The Allen mill, located on a small spring brook a short distance south of Winnebago Park, had the tremendous head of about sixty feet, but the water supply was so small that it never did much work. The Geisse mill at Taycheedah was a steam mill, and the best and most reliable of its time .. It was burned in 1854 and was not rebuilt. In 1857 T. S. Henry built a mill near the corner of Arndt and Brooke streets. It was run by steam but was burned after a few years. In 1850 John Beeson, a brother of Edward Beeson, started a sawmill and turning factory at Waucousta, and in 1856 added a flouring mill to his plant there. L'ater a mill was built at Dundee. Later on steam mills appeared at various places but those had no part or lot in the pioneer days' experiences.
"The stone mill of Allen & Aldrich and Allen & Treleven had its origin at a much later period and for a long time was principally employed in grinding corn for Boyle Brothers' yeast factory. The Helmer mills came still later.
"Silver creek at Ripon in the early days was a fine stream for mills, and, at one time, there were no less than five flouring mills and one woolen factory on it within a distance of two and a half miles. Most of these long since disappeared and those left have steam for power much of the year. The water in the stream is now but about one-fourth of its former volume.
"Waupun had had a water mill from about 1850 and like so many others was a very good one at first, but the water decreased in quantity to the extent that it became necessary to add steam.
"In 1848 'it was proposed to erect a first-class three-story flouring mill in this city,' and Messrs. Wheeler, Snow, Driggs and one or two others were interested in it. The timber for it was hewed and the frame erected at the corner of Macy and Court streets north of the court house. That frame stood there many years and until weather beaten, when the structure was deemed unsafe and the city authorities ordered it removed. Just why the work was not proceeded with could not be ascertained, but it was believed to be due to a lack of the necessary capital.
"Such were the mills of the early times and such the experience of the pion- eers. After 1852 there was little trouble in getting grinding done and along toward 1860 an entirely new era set in, when the Minneapolis and other big mill- ers began the work of distributing their product and it has pretty much wiped out the small mills; they being used now, if used at all, as mere corn crackers and feed mills. The railroads have reached out to even the small villages and
116
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
the product of the large mills is thus distributed so readily that practically we have no frontier to need mills. The days of privation such as our pioneers ex- perienced have passed away forever.
"Let the people of today try to realize the situation here in the winter of 1847-8, when wheat, corn, buckwheat and rye were pounded in a big mortar made of wood instead of being ground in a mill. People now find fault with roller mill made flour if not in the perfection of milling and obtained at an hour's notice. Fifty years ago our predecessors were glad to get anything for bread-grain pounded in a mortar and unbolted was gladly accepted. Ask B. J. Gilbert, Jay Roblee, James and Seth Sylvester and others of that period, who experienced it. It is said of good natured Jo. Hall that during that winter, when everything was frozen and the mills could not run because of scarcity of water, he went to She- boygan Falls with a grist and the miller told him he could not get it in less than four weeks unless it rained or thawed. Jo. told him he did not dare to go home, for his wife would kill him if he returned without the grist, and when supper time came Jo. offered to pay the miller a quarter to go to his house and see them eat bread, which would be a real curiosity to him. Jo.'s humor induced the miller to tell him if he would keep out of sight until after dark and leave for home at two o'clock in the morning, he would run his grist through for him. Jo.'s fund of humor was used to some purpose that time.
"Edward Beeson was at Geisse's mill at Taycheedah, the day his son, J. J. Beeson, founder of the Reporter, was supposed to be stolen by the Indians, but was found asleep in a hen's nest behind a board leaning against a tree.
"The old mills have now nearly all passed from existence and reading about them here is all the knowledge some people will have that they were ever here. People now living, or in the future to come, will not have experiences such as our ancestors had in this important matter. The conditions are different; the way of doing things is different. Let us therefore read and reflect on what those pio- neers did for us; how they endured privations and suffered for us and left this grand and beautiful country in shape for us to enjoy. Let us cherish their mem- ory and give them at least an occasional thought."
DAIRYING AND CHEESE MAKING
The industry of making cheese and butter in Fond du Lac county early became one of the large proportions and a source of generous income to the many who engaged therein. Fond du Lac county took precedence of all others in the state in the manufacture of cheese, shipping out of the state the first consignment of the product. To it also belongs the distinction of setting up the first cheese factory and the organization of the first dairymen's association.
The making of cheese for the markets was first attempted by Chester Hazen, of the town of Springvale, in the spring of 1844. The experiment was a success and by the year 1850, he had a herd of twenty cows, and from the milk they produced cheese was made after an improved plan, in vats. Mr. Hazen con- tinued the business for many years with great success and profit.
Warren Florida, in 1852, began making cheese in the town of Waupun, and the same season George D. Curtis, of Rosendale, was engaged in the business. About a year later, Henry Bush, of Byron, had a dairy on his farm and was mak-
117
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
ing a fine brand of the product. These were the beginnings of what is now one of the chief sources of revenue of a small army of men in this county, almost every part of which has its cheese factory.
The first cheese factory built in the state of Wisconsin was put up and oper- ated by Chester Hazen in 1864, in Springvale town. He had a herd of one hun- dred milch cows at the time, and both the large number of cows and the factory attracted no little curiosity from neighbors and visitors to the place. In the course of a year the number of cows had increased to two hundred; in 1868 there were four hundred and in 1870 Mr. Hazen had a great herd of one thousand milch-producing cows. This meant a large output of the factory and, noting its growth and continued success, many similar factories sprung up in various parts of the county.
The firm of Vincent & Waterman had the second cheese factory in Fond du Lac county. It was built in the north part of the town of Springvale in 1866. Before the season was closed the firm of Strong & Hammond had a factory ready for operation in Oakfield. A factory was built in Ripon by J. J. Smith in 1867 and, by the year 1870, there were factories turning out the best of cheese at Ladoga, Brandon, Rosendale, Waupun, Ripon, Oakfield, Alto, Metomen, and three at Fond du Lac.
At the Ladoga factory, in 1870, the output from the milk of 625 cows was 1,923,264 pounds, and this was shipped as a car lot, the first consignment of the kind sent out of the state of Wisconsin. From then on to the present time the practice of boxing and shipping at the factories has become a general one.
There were thirty factories in Fond du Lac county in 1879, which turned out 2,244,000 pounds of cheese. For this splendid result 4,500 cows furnished the milk. In the former year, Chester Hazen had been awarded the first prize for Wisconsin factory cheese, at the International Dairy Fair, held at the American Institute in New York city.
The first dairymen's association organized in the state of Wisconsin was formed in Fond du Lac county in the year 1870. Chester Hazen, pioneer in the business, was selected as president, and H. C. Strong, secretary. The second meeting of the association was held in 1871 and the members re-elected Hazen president. His official associates were: F. S. Jenkins and W. J. Jennings, vice presidents ; H. D. Hitt, treasurer ; H. C. Strong, secretary. Directors : William Knight, of Alto; Charles Norris, Brandon ; James Cornell, Byron ; D. D. Trel- even, Fond du Lac; A. C. Whiting, Springvale; Abel Bristol, Oakfield; H. C. Waterman, Rosendale; William Starr, Ripon; John Howard, Waupun; Edward Reynolds, Metomen. In 1872, the dairymen of the state had fully awakened to the vast importance of their avocation and organized the State Dairymen's Asso- ciation. Chester Hazen was deservedly selected as its president.
Fond du Lac county is still to be reckoned with when the local, state and national dairymen's associations assemble for their annual conventions. The factories and products of the Fond du Lac dairies take prominence in the annual reports and the prices paid for Fond du Lac cheese in the great central markets of the country are of the highest.
118
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
VALUATION OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE COUNTY
In the year 1846, the real property of Fond du Lac county, as returned by the assessors, was valued at $246.571. No returns were made of personal property. Sixty-five years thereafter, or in 1911, the following apportionment of taxes for the county, gives the reader, at a glance, a word picture of Fond du Lac's wonderful growth in wealth :
Names of Towns,
Cities and Villages :
Total Real and Personal Property
State Tax
County Tax
County Supt. Tax
Alto
$ 2,321,688
$ 3,470.69
$ 3,055.45
$ 82.42
Ashford
2,250,536
3,364.32
2,961.81
79.90
Auburn
1,627,050
2,432.28
2,141.27
57.76
Byron
2,433,087
3,637.22
3,202.05
86.38
Calumet
2,152,539
3,217.83
2,832.84
76.42
Eden
2,133,016
3,188.64
2,807.15
75-73
Eldorado
2,174,577
3,250.77
2,861.84
77.20
Empire
1,910,546
2,856.07
2,514.37
67.83
Fond du Lac
1,985,696
2,968.42
2,613.27
70.50
Forest
1,930,914
2,886.52
2,541.17
68.55
Friendship
1,213,600
1,814.21
1,597.15
43.09
Lamartine
2,000,844
2,991.06
2,633.20
71.03
Marshfield
2,404,465
3,594.43
3,164.39
85.36
Metomen
2,464,670
3,684.43
3,243.62
87.50
Oakfield
2,238,240
3,345.94
2,945.63
79.46
Osceola
1,356,519
2,027.86
1,785.24
48.16
Ripon
2,064,895
3,086.81
2,717.50
73.30
Rosendale
2,130,738
3,185.24
2,804.15
75.65
Springvale
2,217,248
3,314.56
2,918.00
78.72
Taycheedah
1,850,04I
2,765.63
2,434.74
65.68
Waupun
2,1 58,690
3,227.02
2,840.93
76.64
Brandon V.
650,613
972.60
856.24
23.09
Campbellsport V.
692,440
1,035.13
911.28
24.58
N. Fond du Lac V.
997,731
1,491.5I
1,313.06
35.42
Oakfield V.
560,560
837.98
737.72
19.90
St. Cloud V.
322,152
481.58
423.97
11.44
Fond du Lac City
17,477,977
26,127.81
23,001.80
Ripon City
3,722,825
5,565.25
4,899.41
Waupun City
5th and 6th Wards. .
942,788
1,409.37
1,240.75
Total
$68,386,685
$102,231.18
$90,000.00
$1,641.71
POPULATION OF THE COUNTY
In the year 1836 the county of Fond du Lac had but two residents, Colwert Pier and his wife. In 1840 the county had a population of 139; in 1842 the num- ber had increased to 295 ; in 1846 there were 3,544 people living in the county, and in the year 1847 there were 7,459. The census for the year 1850 made a splendid
119
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
showing. The population was then 14,510, a gain of almost 100 per cent. In the next decade the growth in population was much more rapid and more than doubled the population, the number being 34,154. In 1870 the population was 46,273. For the last three decades, 1890, 1900 and 1910, the federal census gives the following figures :
1910
1900
1890
Alto town
1,2II
1,290
1,316
Ashford town
1,316
1,755
1,868
Auburn town
1,099
1,417
1,509
Brandon village
684
663
660
Byron town
1,203
1,234
1,216
Calumet town
1,328
1,443
1,399
Campbellsport village
650
.....
Eden town
1,372
1,393
1,333
Eldorado town
1,290
1,363
1,458
Empire town
757
865
873
Fond du Lac City
18,797
15,IIO
12,024
Ward I
969
Ward 2
1,358
Ward 3
1,136
Ward 4
1,400
Ward 5
1,030
Ward 6
1,166
Ward 7
1,129
Ward 8
I,O9I
Ward 9
1,173
Ward IO
1,042
Ward II
1,293
Ward 12
1,327
.... .
.....
. .
Ward. 14
945
Ward 15
1,206
.....
.
....
.
Fond du Lac town
1,IO3
1,280
1,126
Forest town
1,189
1,206
1,3II
Friendship ยท town
863
852
856
Lamartine town
1,17I
1,223
1,232
Marshfield town
1,610
1,992
1,938
Metomen town
I,I36
1,194
1,193
North Fond du Lac village.
1,960
Oakfield town
850
1,47I
1,324
Oakfield village
522
. .
Osceola town
937
1,077
1,272
Ripon City
3,739
3,818
3,358
Ward I
840
Ward 2
946
Ward 3
868
... .
..
Ward 4
1,085
. ... . .
. .....
.
. .
...
.. .
... ..
.....
. ... . .
... . .
... .
Ward 13
954
.....
Ward 16
1,578
120
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Ripon town
1,045
1,067
1,185
Rosendale town
1,002
1,106
1,099
St. Cloud village
309
Springvale town
1,045
1,189
1,092
Taycheedah town
1,282
1,293
1,269
Waupun city (wards 5 and 6)
1,145
1,118
1,062
Waupun town
995
1,170
I,II5
CHAPTER VI
THE LOG CABIN WAS THE PALACE OF THE PIONEER-CHINKED LOGS, COVERED WITH CLAPBOARDS-RIFLE AND SPINNING WHEEL-ALMOST ANYTHING WAS A BEDROOM-COOKING WAS PRIMITIVE FOR SHARP APPETITES-WELCOME FOR THE WAYFARER-PRAIRIE FIRES AND WOLF HUNTS-AMUSEMENTS FOR THE FRONTIER PEOPLE WERE NOT LACKING-WHAT UNREMITTING TOIL HAS AC- COMPLISHED.
PIONEER LIFE
Most of the early settlers of Wisconsin came from older states, as Pennsyl- vania, New York and Ohio, where their prospects for even a competency were very poor. They found those states good-to emigrate from. Their entire stock of furniture, implements and family necessities were easily stored in one wagon, and sometimes a cart was their only vehicle.
THE LOG CABIN
After arriving and selecting a suitable location, the next thing to do was to build a log cabin, a description of which may be interesting to many of the younger readers, as in some sections these old time structures are no more to be seen. Trees of uniform size were chosen and cut into logs of the desired length, generally twelve by fifteen feet, and hauled to the spot selected for the future dwelling. On an appointed day the few neighbors who were available would assemble and have a "house-raising." Each end of every log was sad- dled and notched so that they would lie as close down as possible ; the next day the proprietor would proceed to "chink" and "daub" the cabin, to keep out the rain, wind and cold. The house had to be redaubed every fall, as the rains of the intervening time would wash out the greater part of the mortar. The usual height of the house was seven or eight feet. The gables were formed by shortening the logs gradually at each end of the building near the top. The roof was made by laying very straight small logs or stout poles suitable dis- tances apart, and on these were laid the clapboards, somewhat, like shingling, generally about two and a half feet to the weather. These clapboards were fastened to their place by "weight poles" corresponding in length with the joists just described, and these again were held in their place by "runs" or "knees," which were chunks of wood about eighteen or twenty inches long fit- ted between them near the ends. Clapboards were obtained from the nicest oaks in the vicinity, by chopping or sawing them into four-foot blocks and riving these with a frow, which was a simple blade fixed at right angles to
121
122
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
its handles. This was driven into the blocks of wood by a mallet. As the frow was wrenched down through the wood, the latter was turned alternately over from side to side, one end being held by a forked piece of timber.
The chimney to the western pioneer's cabin was made by leaving in the original building a large open place in one wall, or by cutting one after the structure was up, and by building on the outside from the ground up, a stone column, or a column of sticks and mud, the sticks being laid up cob house fashion. The fireplace thus made was often large enough to receive fire wood six to eight feet long. Sometimes this wood, especially the "back log," would be nearly as large as a saw log. The more rapidly the pioneer could burn up the wood in his vicinity, the sooner he had his little farm cleared and ready for cultivation. For a window, a piece about two feet long was cut out of one of the wall logs, and the hole closed, sometimes by glass, but generally with greased paper. Even greased deer hide was sometimes used. A doorway was cut through one of the walls if a saw was to be had, otherwise the door would be left by shortened logs in the original building. The door was made by pin- ning clapboards to two or three wood bars and was hung upon wooden hinges. A wooden latch, with catch, then finished the door, the latch being raised by any one on the outside by pulling a leather string. For security at night this latch string was drawn in, but for friends and neighbors, and even strangers, the "latch string was always hanging out," as a welcome. In the interior over the fireplace would be a shelf, called the "mantel," on which stood the candle- stick or lamp, some cooking and table ware, possibly an old clock and other articles. In the fireplace would be the crane, sometimes of iron, sometimes of wood. On it the pots were hung for cooking. Over the door, in forked cleats, hung the ever trustful rifle and powder horn. In one corner stood the larger bed for the "old folks," and under it the trundle bed for the children. In an- other stood the old fashioned spinning wheel, with a smaller one by its side, in another the heavy table, the only table of course, which was in the house. In the remaining corner was a rude clapboard holding the table ware, which consisted of a few cups and saucers and blue edged plates standing singly on their edges against the back, to make the display of table furniture more con- spicuous, while around the room were scattered a few splint bottom or Windsor chairs and two or three stools. These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true hearted people. They were strangers to mock modesty and the trav- eler seeking lodging for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offering, was always welcome, al- though how they were disposed of at night the reader might not easily imagine, for, as described, a single room was made to answer for the kitchen, dining room, sitting room, bedroom and parlor, and many families consisted of six or eight members.
SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS
The bed was very often made by fixing a post in the floor about six feet from one wall and four feet from the adjoining wall, and fastening a stick to this post about two feet above the floor on each of two sides, so that the other end of each of the two sticks could be fastened in the opposite wall. Clapboards
123
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
were laid across these, and thus the bed made complete. Guests were given this bed, while the family disposed of themselves in another corner of the room, or in the "loft." When several guests were on hand at once they were sometimes kept over night in the following manner: When bedtime came the men were requested to step out of doors while the women spread out a broad bed upon the mid-floor and put themselves to bed in the center. The signal was given and the men came in and each took his place in bed next his own wife, and the single men outside beyond them.
COOKING
To witness the various processes of cooking in those days would alike sur- prise and amuse those who have grown up since cooking stoves and ranges came into use. Kettles were hung over the large fire, suspended with pot hooks, iron or wooden, on the crane, or on poles, one end of which would rest upon a chain. The long handled frying pan was used for cooking meat. It was either held over the blaze by the hand or set down upon coals drawn out upon the hearth. This pan was also used for baking pancakes, also called "flap-jacks," batter cakes, etc. A better article for this, however, was the cast iron spider, or Dutch skillet. The best thing for baking bread those days, and possibly even in these latter days, was the flat bottomed bake kettle, of greater depth, with closely fitting cast iron cover, and commonly known as the Dutch oven. With coals over and under it bread or biscuit would quickly and nicely bake. Turkey and spare ribs were sometimes roasted before the fire, suspended by a string, a dish being placed underneath to catch the drippings.
Hominy and samp were very much used. The hominy, however, was gen- erally hulled corn-boiled corn from which the hull or bran had been taken by hot lye, hence sometimes called "lye hominy." True hominy and samp were made of pounded corn. A popular method of making this, as well as real meal for bread, was to cut out or burn a large hole in the top of a huge stump in the shape of a mortar and pounding the corn in this by a maul or beetle sus- pended by a swing pole like a well sweep. This and the well sweep consisted of a pole twenty or thirty feet long fixed in an upright fork so that it could be worked "teeter" fashion. It was a rapid and simple way of drawing water. When the samp was sufficiently pounded it was taken out, the bran floated off, and the delicious grain boiled like rice.
The chief articles of diet in an early day were corn bread, hominy or samp, venison, pork, honey, pumpkin (dried pumpkin for more than half of the year), turkey, prairie chicken, squirrel and some other game, with a few additional vegetables a portion of the year. Wheat bread, tea, coffee and fruit were lux- uries not to be indulged in except on special occasions, as when visitors were present.
WOMEN'S WORK
Besides cooking in the manner described, the women had many other ar- duous duties to perform, one of the chief of which was spinning. The "big wheel" was used for spinning yarn and the "little wheel" for spinning flax.
124
HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
These stringed instruments furnished the principal music of the family, and were operated by our mothers and grandmothers with great skill, attained without pecuniary expense, and with far less practice than is necessary for the girls of our period to acquire a skillful use of their costly and elegant instru- ments. But those wheels, indispensable many years ago, are all now superseded by the mighty factories which overspread the country, furnishing cloth of all kinds at an expense ten times less than would be incurred now by the old sys- tem.
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.