USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 31
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Among the societies flourishing at the college may be mentioned St. Thomas Literary Society for the senior, and St. Lawrence Literary Society for the junior students. They promote literary culture and develop the students' talent in read- ing, recitation, dialogue, essay, debate and oratory. The College Choir cultivates vocal music, especially the Gregorian & Cecilian Chant. The College Cornet Band, Orchestra & Glee Club provide music for the various . social entertainments throughout the year. The faculty consists of eleven fathers and one professor of instrumental and vocal music. The number of students is one hundred and fifty. A limited number of scholarships is granted to poor and deserving boys who aspire to the holy priesthood in the Capuchin Order. This institution, by virtue of the Charter of the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order, is empowered "to confer such degrees and grant such diplomas as are usually con- ferred by similar institutions." A well selected library of four thousand books, and a carefully equipped museum are within reach of the students.
During the activity and progress on the part of the college, the parish and mon- astery had not remained idle. The fathers were constantly improving in and about the parish church till a spacious and beautifully decorated church appeared as it is today. The cemetery was enlarged and embellished by large artistic statues in the middle and in the two upper corners, fourteen chapel like niches were erected of brick and cut stone, containing terra cotta representations of the stations of the cross along one of the walks leading up the hill from Notre Dame Convent. Midway between the church and the village on another road is the so-called Ecce Homo chapel. The space before the monastery was changed to a grove of cedar and pine trees, with a fine cement sidewalk running down the Vol. I-17
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hill to the village. On Mount Carmel the convent and chapel were enlarged in the course of time, and finally in 1908 a large new parochial school was built at the cost of $16,000. It is of brick two stories high and fully equipped for mod- ern teaching. The present head of the monastery and rector of the congregation is Rev. Father Pacificus Raith, while the present rector of the college is Rev. Father Benedict Mueller, a native of New York.
AUBURN
Auburn lies in the extreme southeast corner of Fond du Lac county. It is bounded on the east by Sheboygan county, on. the north by Osceola, west by Ash- ford towns and south by Washington county. It contains thirty-six sections of land but these are not all full sections. The actual number of acres in the town is 22,901.99, being 138.01 acres less than a full section. The territory of Auburn includes that platted by the United States as township 13 north in range 19 east. The township lines were run during the first quarter of the year 1834 by Mullet & Burk. It was sub-divided into sections and quarter sections during the second quarter of 1835 by Deputy Surveyor Hiram Burnham. By him the lake on sec- tions 10 and 15 was called Crooked lake. The one on sections II and 12, 13 and 14 was named Offset lake, but these names were not retained. The one on sec- tions 10 and 15 is now named Lake Fifteen and one on section 12, Forest lake. The land surface of Auburn is smooth in appearance though not level. It is gently undulating with ascents and declivities of various heights and depths. The streams of water,-of which the principal ones are the three branches of Mil- waukee river-flow with a strong current. Lying as it does within the broad belt of heavily timbered land, skirting the north part of the western shore of Lake Michigan, the territory now included in the town of Auburn, presented to the eye in its natural state, neither prairie, openings nor hay marsh-nothing but continuous woods and forest trees proclaimed the excellence and fertility of the soil which sustained their growth, the principal of which were sugar maple, bass- wood, elm, black ash, white ash, red oak, white oak, hickory and butternut. The large groves of sugar maple offered excellent opportunities for the manufacture of maple sugar.
Black sandy loam, mixed with marl, and a subsoil of reddish clay, feature the soil of this town. Many of the farms have living springs. The different varieties of grain are cultivated here in abundance, while the grass is excellent and grows luxuriantly. The Northwestern Union railroad, now a part of the Northwestern railroad system, cuts across the southwest corner of the town. The . first settler was Reuben Crouch and John Howell, who built a log hut upon the spot now the site of the village of New Cassel, and so near the line that divides the town from Ashford that both towns claim them as the first settlers. It was not long after their arrival that a small settlement was made in the immediate neighborhood by J. O. Baldwin, J. L. Perry, C. Crownhart, Rev. H. A. Sears and others. Some of these mentioned found their farms to be in Ashford town after the separation took place between that town and Auburn. In February, 1847, Roswell Hill built a house on a purchased lot on the west side of Milwaukee river and moved into it in July following, with his family, and sometime there- after Seward Wilcox, Harvey Woodworth and Almon Wheeler settled in the
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neighborhood. That same year, 1847, the town of Auburn was organized and at the first election, which was held at Crouch's mill, twenty votes were polled. Ludin Crouch was elected chairman and Hiram Hatch, town clerk. After Ash- ford was separated from Auburn, an election was held in April, 1845, at which time twenty-seven votes were cast. T. S. Wilcox was elected chairman; M. Buckland, clerk; A. W. Wheeler, assessor ; C. D. Gage, collector ; and M. Miller, superintendent of schools. The town was named Auburn by R. F. Adams, after his native place in the state of New York. The first settler of Irish nationality was Michael McCulloch. Philip Oelig and Gerhart Volkerts were the first Ger- man settlers.
The first marriage was that of C. Hemenway to Harriet Hall, in December, 1847, and the first death was that of Mrs. J. O. Baldwin in 1847.
The town takes great pride in its schools and churches. There are a number of cheese factories and its villages are so situated as to make them accessible to the inhabitants of the town and are splendid trading points. The Northwestern has a station at New Cassel.
The village of Ebersville was founded by Andrew Eber, who came from Mil- waukee in 1855. He purchased the water power at the village and built a saw- mill. In 1851 a postoffice named New Fane had been established on the line between sections 29 and 30 by T. S. Wilcox. This was moved to Ebersville in 1875 and at that time the village consisted of a saw and feed mill, two stores, a Lutheran church and repair shops. At this time it is without a postoffice and has lost most of its former importance.
New Cassel, now Campbellsport, was the first settlement in the towns of Auburn and Ashford. Ludin Crouch, a New York pedagogue, who had spent some time in Waukesha, came to this region and camped over night with an Indian. He had been in search of a water power and followed up the Milwaukee river. Here he found what he desired and returned to Waukesha. In the follow- ing spring, accompanied by his brother-in-law, John Howell, he returned and erected a log shanty, the first one built in the towns of Ashford and Auburn. Mr. Crouch also entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on the middle branch of the Milwaukee river, and Mr. Howell eighty acres on the opposite side. These pioneers were joined in June by H. Barnett and J. L. Perry, with their wives. The next to appear here were C. Crownhart and wife, J. O. Baldwin and wife, E. B. Hall and wife, Joseph Johnson and wife, C. and R. Hemenway, L. Pryor, William Brown, C. North, H. Hatch, J. E. Helmer and wife, Adin Nelson and wife, William Pool and wife, T. S. Wilcox and others. The village plat was surveyed by John Bannister, and after a celebration gotten up by some of the ladies of the settlement, July 4, 1846, the place was named Crouchville, which was changed by Emil Brayman, in 1856, to New Cassel, in honor of Hesse-Cassel, his birth place in the fatherland. The village extended across the line in the town of Ashford, which created an unsettled dispute between the two sons as to who were the first settlers, both towns claiming the same persons for that distinction.
The Crouch sawmill began operations in the fall of 1846 and furnished the settlers for a considerable area with lumber for their farm buildings. It was first run by the Hemenway brothers and afterwards changed hands many times. Emil Brayman, referred to, purchased in 1856 one hundred and sixty acres, which
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included the mill and soon after raised the frame work of a flouring mill. Hav- ing failed, the building stood incomplete and unused until about 1863, when the Hirsch brothers finished and put it into operation. It finally came into possession of A. Colburn & Sons, who ran it for many years and made it one of the best mills of the county.
New Cassel has a postal station and was known for many years as Auburn but the postoffice was changed in 1856 to New Cassel. C. Crownhart was the first postmaster, keeping the office in his tavern at Crownhart's Corners. Marvin Buckland, S. C. Matteson, Seth G. Pickett, Adin Nelson, Emil Brayman, Mrs. Emil Brayman, S. Hirsch, P. Burkhouser, David Gudex, F. M. Findeisen were among his many successors.
The Baptist church society was the first to come into any prominence in this community. They held their religious services in the fall of 1846 in H. Barnett's house, Rev. A. H. Sears preaching. In 1852 an organization was formed in the schoolhouse at Five Corners. R. F. Adams was elected deacon and clerk. In 1866 a church edifice was built under the supervision of J. E. Helmer, Henry Barnett and C. Anson, who comprised the building committee. The first preacher was Rev. H. A. Sears.
The Evangelical Reformed church was organized and built a log cabin church in 1855 in the south part of Auburn. The leaders in this society were Ulrich Legler, John Senn and U. Gundel.
The first church building was erected in 1867 in New Cassel and the first preacher was Rev. Reine.
The first Catholic services held in the village were by Father Dael of Fond du Lac. The meeting was in Owen Bannon's house. The society was organized in the '50s, and James Kramer, J. Guippe, C. Becker, O. Bannon, T. Hoy and M. McCulloch were among those who composed the first members. An attempt to build a church failed but in 1866 the church being organized, a house of worship was erected and soon thereafter a residence for the priest, the work being done under the supervision of Father Michels. In 1874 St. Joseph's convent was built at a cost of $10,000. This was erected for the sisters of St. Francis, who at the time numbered eighty-five. Here a boarding school is conducted and in a building near by is a parochial school. These old buildings of course have been replaced by new and modern ones and the society is one of the oldest and most prosperous in this community.
The first hotel to open its doors to the public in New Cassel was by Adam Holzhauer, in 1856. In 1869 he built and opened the Adams House.
That part of Campbellsport situated in the town of Ashford was a large farm bought of H. B. Martin by Stewart Campbell for the purpose of attracting the Air Line railway to that section. Upon the purchase of the land, Mr. Campbell gave the railroad company three acres and the company afterwards bought three acres more and platted a village. Jacob Haessly named the place Campbellsport in 1873. The first lot was sold to W. Saemann and the second to James McCulloch, who built thereon the first store. Mr. Saemann built the third house and second warehouse. Practically all of the original plat has been sold in village lots.
Campbellsport is now a little city of considerable importance to its people and the county at large. It was incorporated from parts of Ashford and Auburn
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towns in 1902 and now has a population of 650. The school is a graded one and has a high place in the annual report of the county superintendent of schools. There are four churches-St. Mathews Roman Catholic, Methodist Episcopal, German Reformed and Baptist. The Methodist organized in December, 1862, and held their first meetings in Carter schoolhouse. The organizers were J. N. McSchooler and wife, L. Norton and wife, William L. Andrews and wife, George Mosher and wife and Leonard Goodax. The first regular services were held after the erection and occupancy of the church edifice in 1875. The building com- mittee was made up of J. N. McSchooler, W. Saemann and William S. Hendricks. Rev. McFarland was the first pastor and the trustees were J. N. McSchooler, W. L. Andrews, William Dusenbury, Stuart Campbell, W. S. Hendricks and M. Saemann. The organization of the other churches mentioned was of more recent date.
Among the fraternal orders and societies of Campbellsport are: Campbells- port Camp, No. 3172, R. N. A .; Campbellsport Camp, No. 79, M. W. A .; Camp- bellsport Court, No. 4363, I. O. F .; Catholic Knights of Wisconsin, Branch No. 57; Twin Village Assembly, No. 102, E. F. U .; Wicker Lodge, No. 138, I. O. O. F .; Widows and Orphans Benefit Association.
Wicker Lodge No. 138, I. O. O. F. was organized January 8, 1868, by G. M. Cheeney, of Janesville. The charter members were S. L. Marston, I. S. Sheldon, E. P. Odekirk, D. Wilcox, R. Romaine, G. Romaine, T. F. Gage, M. H. Flint and a Mr. Hancock. The lodge is strong in membership and means, owning its own hall. The first officials were: S. L. Marston, N. G .; M. H. Flint, V. G .; E. P. Odekirk, R. S .; Hancock, P. S .; G. Romaine, Treas.
Campbellsport is sixteen miles southeast of Fond du Lac and is a well set up little village. It has a national bank, hotels, general stores, lumberyards, railway, mills, wagon shops, cheese factory and physicians. The village is a station on the Chicago & Northwestern railway.
FRIENDSHIP
This township originally formed a part of Eldorado but in 1848. was set off as a separate town. The first settlers were Miner Wilson, who came in 1844, and Champion Wilson, in 1845. The town was organized in 1848 and the first election was held at Lyman Walker's house, April 12, 1849. Henry Bruce was chairman and Edwin R. Roberts, town clerk. This is one of the most wealthy and unbroken towns in the county. It lies along the west shore of Lake Win- nebago and contains but seventeen full sections of land, the balance being shore marsh and lake. There are but few springs and streams but the soil is very deep and rich and the timber tracts of excellent quality. The cereals are raised here in profusion. The farms are among the best in the county, with build- ings, fences and roads in keeping with the ideas of the people of the twentieth century. As has been said, the first settler was Champion Wilson, who came to the town in 1845. Many others followed in 1846, among them being L. Forbes, Edwin Robbins, Russell McCarty and C. B. Patterson.
Soon after the first settlement of the town Champion and Miner Wilson began the manufacture of chairs, which they continued for some time. Among others who came early in the history of the town may be mentioned Henry
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Bruce, Edwain R. Roberts, Charles Wheton, Hector Monroe, Adolph Hen- ning, Ebenezer Austin, John Stoddart, Charles Carberry, Mitchell Perrizo, John Kinsman, W. J. Raycraft, William Lumly, Fitch Kinsman, Hall McCourt, Pat- rick McMonigal and Thomas Herrling.
The first births in the town were those of Julia Roberts and Dora Cook and the first two deaths recorded were of Burns and Colman.
A school was taught as early as 1847 on section 28, by Elias Worden, and in 1848 a school building was erected on section 21, in which Mrs. Robinson taught the first lessons.
John Prescott preached the first sermon in Friendship at the home of Ly- man Walker, in 1849.
Friendship postoffice was established in 1848, with Johnson Pritchard as postmaster. Later the office was discontinued and changed to Vandyne, on sec- tion 5, nine miles northwest of Fond du Lac on the Wisconsin Central and Chicago & Northwestern railroads.
The first store in the town was conducted by Adolph Henning on section 16, in 1851.
The first cheese factory was built in 1879.
In 1854 the cholera scourge visited this section, causing great misery and six deaths.
In 1860 the German Methodists built a church edifice on section 17, where it is to this day. In 1902 North Fond du Lac village, a suburb of the city of Fond du Lac, was incorporated from parts of Fond du Lac and Friendship towns. A more extended notice of the village will be given in the chapter. de- voted to the city of Fond du Lac.
The village of Vandyne is quite a trading center for that portion of the town and has well conducted Methodist and Lutheran churches, hotel, cream- ery, a lumberyard, general stores, feed mill, blacksmith shop, cheese factory and a resident physician.
METOMEN
This name in the Menomonee language means "grain of corn," and was given to the town by F. D. Bowman. The first cabin built by a white man was by Colonel Mansfield in 1844 but he did not bring his family to the location until several other homes were established. The first entry of land was made May 29, 1844, by C. D. Higley, but the first home founded was by Daniel Eggle- ston, who brought his family in the latter part of June, 1845. In two years after the first settlement all government land had been taken up by actual settlers. The town was organized April 7, 1846, at the house of F. D. Bowman. Samuel Carter was chairman and A. C. Robbins, clerk. At this time Waupun and part of Alto were part of Metomen. The first resolution passed at the meeting referred to established the pay of all town officers at seventy-five cents per day unless otherwise fixed by law. At the first election, which was held at the time of the organization meeting, Almon Osborn was chosen as chairman; Daniel Eggleston and S. A. Carpenter supervisors; James England, E. L. Mc- Corpin and Jacob Carter, assessors; Harvey Sexton, treasurer ; A. C. Robbins, town clerk; S. H. French, collector; Henry Boardman, A. C. Robbins and
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND PARSONAGE, BRANDON
GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, BRANDON
1
BRANDON HIGH SCHOOL
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Robert Jenkinson, school commissioners; S. H. French, S. A. Carpenter and. Ira Lee, justices of the peace. Of the $161.32 levied as taxes in Metomen in 1846, $100.87 were collected.
Metomen lies on the west line of Fond du Lac county immediately south of Ripon and northwest of Waupun. It has the distinction of being a very rich locality. Its topography is fertile, undulating prairie, with little of its area in timber. The uneven portions have a soil of sandy loam and a subsoil of gravel, with an occasional outcrop of limestone which has been profitably worked for commercial use. Gravel has been generously used for the building of good roads. The lowlands have developed much vegetable mold, and these when tho- roughly drained have constituted a mine of agricultural wealth.
Round Prairie, northwest of Brandon, has always been celebrated for its beauty and fertility and Metomen is generally a veritable Eden. Its elevation is a gradually rolling and surface a deep warm soil. Much of the land is higher than any of the surrounding country. In fact it is a watershed, upon which the streams flow southeasterly, northerly and westerly. The east branch of Rock river rises in Metomen and the Grand river in the southwest corner affords mill advantages. Creeks and brooklets are in evidence except upon the uplands and some remarkable springs also abound. The spring on the old Almon Os- born farm on section 2 is the largest in the county and is the principal source of Silver creek, which flows into Green Lake. Cariboo spring, on the old Mans- field farm, discharges an immense volume of water. This is the head of Grand river. Wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley fructify most generously in this community and with the production of these cereals stock-raising has been added, from which a large annual revenue is acquired by the busy and enterprising husband- man. It is said that for general farming purposes Metomen is not excelled in the state.
The first real settler was Daniel Eggleston, who brought his family to a log cabin in the third week of June, 1845. One week later, Jacob Carter and family located near here. The settlement was added to that season by Almon Osborn, S. H. French, E. F. Mansfield, Robert Jenkinson, John and Thomas Coats, William C. Worden M. D., and Matthew Wilson and A. Dart, and from that time on the population increased in numbers and in wealth. In 1846 there were other additions made to the little band of settlers, among them be- ing Daniel Eggleston, S. A. Carpenter, James England, D. L. McCorpin, Jacob Carpenter, Harvey Sexton, A. C. Robbins, Henry Boardman and Ira Reed.
. The first birth in the town was that of Franklin French, who was born on the 26th of October, 1845, in the unfinished cabin of Jacob Carter. The first sermon was preached in the spring of 1846 by Rev. Jeremiah Murphy, a Bap- tist minister, in Daniel Eggleston's log cabin. In the summer of 1846 Rev. W. G. Miller, whose reputation became state wide, began preaching in the schoolhouse on section 2, in the Walworth vicinity. Elder Marcellus Barnum was the first resident clergyman of the town. He organized a Wesleyan Society at Reed's Corners in 1847, which was afterwards merged into the Congrega- tional church. The first death was that of Frederick Nay, which occurred in March, 1846. The first marriage ceremony performed united a Mr. Farnam and a Miss Collins, in April, 1846.
In 1846 the first public school was established on section 2 and Lois Walker
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was the teacher, her pupils gathering in a private house. The next summer, however, a schoolhouse was built on the same section and the school therein was presided over by J. W. Wilsie.
In the spring of 1846 a postoffice was established, called Grant River. Jacob Carter was placed in charge. At about the same time another postoffice was established, called Mansfield, with Daniel Eggleston as postmaster. The office at Grant River was soon discontinued but the Mansfield office remained for a number of years. Later an office was established on section 10, called Meto- men. This has since been discontinued. It was a station on the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul railroad, five and a half miles southeast of Ripon, where there is a general store, a grain elevator and a Methodist church.
William Stanton in 1846 built a sawmill, and Dakin & Lathrop erected a touring mill in 1847 on Grant river, within the town limits of Fairwater. This firm were also the first merchants in the town, having started a store at Fair- water in 1847.
The town of Metomen has a number of schools and churches, splendid roads, and is crossed by two branches of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad-one in the southern tier, in the second tier of townships from the south, and the other entering in section 36 at the southeast corner and leaving it at section 3 in the northern tier.
The village or hamlet of Fairwater, is a station on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad on section 30, and is eight miles south of Ripon and four and a half miles west of Brandon. Here is located the Fairwater State Bank, of which A. W. Bonesteel is president; Derk Bruins, vice president; and C. S. Griffith, cashier. There are two churches-Free Baptist and Zion Evangelical Lutheran, grain elevator, lumberyard and farm implement concern, general store, well conducted hotel, creamery, blacksmith shop and a physician.
Several of the first settlers located in the northern part of Metomen, at what later became known as Reed's Corners, at one time a settlement of some importance, but now of no especial note. In 1852 a postoffice was established at the Corners and Giles Eggleston was appointed to preside over it. This office has been long since discontinued. A Methodist church was organized by Rev. Marcellus Barnum in 1847, but the society did not erect a building until ten years later. In 1865 the society merged with the Congregational, which had for its pastor Rev. S. Bristol. In 1846, Rev. W. G. Miller held religious ser- vices near Reed's Corners and in 1860 a class was formed by Rev. S. S. Lang. . The society erected a church. in 1866, during the administration of Rev. A. A. Reed.
Brandon is a prosperous village, lying in the southeast part of the town, with its corners extending into townships 25, 26, 35 and 36. In its early history it was a lively place, known as "Bungtown," but on the completion of the railroad in 1856 the village was named Brandon by William Lockin, in honor of many of the early settlers who had come from Vermont. The first house built within its borders was erected by R. W. Pride, in 1849. This was the Milwaukee & Horicon railroad, now a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system, and passes through the center of the village almost diagonally from southeast to northwest. The first way bill for freight over the road was for a consignment of merchandise to G. Perkins & Company, merchants, whose place of business
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