USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 32
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Commercial Street, looking south from Travelers' Inn
Main Street, looking East
STREET SCENES IN BRANDON
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
in 1856 was in the Walker House. Mr. Perkins later became county judge of Fond du Lac. Regular freight trains, however, did not run until the 19th of October, 1856,-four days after the firm of Perkins & Company had received its goods.
The first passenger train which left Milwaukee for Brandon came into the village about noon on Saturday, October 18, 1856. The event was an occasion of special rejoicing. Charles Larrabee Horicon was the leading orator of the day. H. W. Gregory was the first station agent. Since the advent of the rail- road, the town has grown to considerable proportions until it now has a popula- tion of 690.
CHURCHES
Rev. H. Allen, a lay preacher living on a farm in the northern part of the town, formed a Methodist class in 1848. The meetings were held at Union Prairie schoolhouse until 1861, when the church was removed to Brandon and it rapidly grew in strength and importance. Services were held in private houses or schoolhouses and sometimes in the hall of a building later converted into a hotel. A church building was erected in 1863 during the pastorate of Rev. Henry Rector. This has since given place to a more modern structure.
The Congregational church was organized on the 19th of April, 1857, by Rev. S. Bristol, in a schoolhouse near the center of Metomen town. The first deacon was John Wilson and the first clerk, Robert Jenkinson. The society moved to Brandon in 1862 and in the following summer erected a church edifice under the pastorate of Rev. Norman McLeod.
The German Methodist Episcopal church was organized by the formation of a class in 1866 by Rev. August Turnitzer, who supplied the pulpit for some time. A church building was erected in 1876 under the pastorate of Rev. F. Stroebel. The first meetings, however, were held in the Congregational church.
The German Lutheran Evangelical church building was erected in 1874. The society, however, had been organized some time previous to this time.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The first school in Brandon was a small affair presided over by a single teacher in 1856. By 1864 a two-story frame structure was erected containing four rooms, each presided over by a teacher. This building has given way to a more modern structure and today the Brandon high school is one of the best ap- pointed and conducted educational institutions in the county. Graduates from this school are fitted for entrance into institutions of higher learning and for practical business life.
SOCIETIES
Brandon Lodge, A. F. & A. M. was organized under dispensation dated June 13, 1863. The first meeting was held July 10, 1863. The charter members were: Elisha Gallop, who was elected the first master; I. C. Kelly, first sec- retary ; Anson Ely, James McClellan, E. H. Yorty, James McGill, Henry Hen-
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
rickson and Zenas Scott. The charter was issued June 4, 1864. The lodge is prosperous and has a comparatively large membership.
Brandon Lodge, No. 107, I. O. O. F. was organized upon a charter from the grand lodge, dated January 21, 1864. The charter members were Lewis Wistler, Frank Perkins, C. B. Pierce, L. S. Shepherd and Isaac W. Tower. The lodge owns its temple-a two-story brick structure, free from incumbrance.
Brandon Encampment, No. 25, was organized January 19, 1869.
Martha Lodge, No. 6, Daughters of Rebekah, was organized January 21, 1870.
Brandon is a flourishing little city and is a trading point for a rich agricul- tural country. It has general stores, hardware stores, drug stores, groceries, millinery shops, jewelry stores, and flour mill, planing mill, wagon shops, harness shops, shoe stores, meat market, hotels, blacksmith shops, barber shops, grain elevators, lumberyard, farm implement concerns, physicians, creamery, gas works, bank, a newspaper-The Brandon Times, manufactory of road graders and a lawyer, who is also an auctioneer.
RIPON
The present town of Ripon, with the town of Rosendale, at one time made up what was known as Ceresco. In 1846 Ripon was separated from Rosendale and at an election held that year Lester Rounds was chosen as chairman and William Starr town clerk.
The first settlement in this town was made by the advance guard of the Wisconsin Phalanx, which numbered nineteen persons, who came from Keno- sha, then known as Southport, in May, 1844, and located in that part of Ceresco which later became a ward of the city of Ripon. The Phalanx, spoken of in another part of this work, came with teams, tools and provisions, erected frame houses and in 1847 built a flouring mill and raised nearly twenty thousand bushels of wheat from four hundred acres of land. At one time its community interests numbered two thousand acres of land, but in 1850 when it was de- cided to disband the organization, there was about six hundred acres of land to be distributed, or the equivalent thereof, in equal proportions to the members.
Ripon is the extreme northwestern town of Fond du Lac. It has for its west- tern boundary the county of Green Lake. On the north is Winnebago county, on the east the town of Rosendale, and on the south is the town of Metomen. . The soil here is very productive and as a consequence the farmers are among the best not only in the county of Fond du Lac but in this section of the state. It is well watered and the roads are well made and kept in repair. The Sheboy- gan-Fond du Lac railroad, now a part of the Northwestern system, and branches of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul cut across the township from north to south almost through the center from east to west and from Ripon northeast. A part of Rush lake is on the north line of the town.
Among the first settlers outside the limits of the city of Ripon were D. P. Mapes, Dr. Spaulding and L. Soper. Others who were early in the field were J. M. Foster, W. F. and S. Crawford, Morris Farmin, Uriel Farmin, Lester Rounds, William Starr, J. M. Clark, James Stewart, Stephen Bates, Warren Chase, E. A. Newton, Samuel Sumner, T. B. Robbins, A. B. Beardsley, A. J.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Allen, J. V. Fitch, H. H. Mead, H. S. Town, Abraham Thomas, S. M. Brown, Ferdinand Richter, H. E. Stilwell, William Light, H. H. Dixon and I. F. Stickney.
The greater part of the history of this town will be found in the pages de- voted to the history of the city of Ripon.
THE WISCONSIN PHALANX
In the village of Southport (now Kenosha), Wisconsin, in the spring of 1844, an association of men and women was organized, called the Wisconsin Phalanx. The members were disciples of Fourier, who conceived a plan for the rejuvena- tion of society and what would now be termed "the uplift" of mankind. In other words the new departure was designated by Fourier as "the science of new rela- tions." The "union of labor and capital" took prominence in the general scheme, and the discussions by the society relative to the proposed unions "vast econo- mies," its equitable distributions, its harmony of groups and series, its attrac- tive industry, its advantages for schools, meetings, parties and social festivities, were many and attracted the notice and interest of a large following. The idea spoke for a community of interests and the Wisconsin Phalanx raised a large sum of money, by the sale of stock in the association at $25 a share. Ebenezer Childs, a prominent citizen of Green Bay, was employed to locate a desirable location for the Phalanx, and taking with him three men, Childs, after consuming twelve days in his explorations, chose a tract of land in the town of Ripon, Fond du Lac county. The spot was "in a beautiful valley, on a small stream that tumbled over cliffs of lime rock, and after a course of three miles, emptied its clear waters into Green Lake, upon the shores of which now stand many beautiful summer cottages." Warren Chase, the leading spirit of the movement, sent eight hun- dred dollars of the association's funds to Green Bay, in payment of several quar- ter sections which had been collected and the entry of the land was made in the name of Michael Frank, of Southport, and a member of the society. On Sunday, May 27, 1844, with horses, ox teams, other stock, tools, farm imple- ments, provisions and tents, the colony, comprised of nineteen men and boys, arrived at its destination. The night before the Fourierites "had camped on the north bank of Silver creek near where the stone mill was afterwards erected, in what is now the city of Ripon;" and, "on the morning of May 27-to them ever memorable, they repaired to the valley below, on the beautiful plains sur- rounded by hills, like an amphitheatre, and one of the most beautiful spots nature has formed in Wisconsin, and there, on their own lands, pitched their tents." The members of this band of men imbued with lofty ideals were: Alexander Todd, Jerome C. Cobb, Warren Chase, Jacob Beckwith, Nathan Hunter, John Limbert, T. V. Newell, H. Gordon Martin, William E. Holbrook, Uriah Gould, Lester Rounds, Laban Stilwell, James Stuart, William Dunham, Joseph S. Tracy, Carlton Lane, George H. Stebbins, Seth R. Kellogg and Chester Adkins. The names of all members of the society during its existence, from the spring of 1844 until the fall of 1850, follow :
Warren Chase, Mary P. Chase, Milton M. Chase, Charlotte D. Chase, Albert Chase, Lester Rounds, Aurillia Rounds, Sterling P. Rounds, Rhoda A. Rounds, Horace E. Rounds, James Stuart, Almira Stuart, Agnes Stuart, Robert L. Stuart,
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
John P. Stuart, Helen P. Stuart, Thomas Stuart, Frederick O. Stuart, Jacob Beckwith, Hannah Beckwith, James G. Tracy, Joseph S. Tracy, Uriah Gould, Nathan Hunter, Chester Adkins, Laban Stilwell, Julia Stilwell, William B. Stil- well, Rachel Stilwell, Julia A. Stilwell, Charles E. Stilwell, Truman V. Newell, Esther Newell, Charlotte E. Newell, Asa Bissell Newell, William E. Holbrook, William Dunham, Almira Dunham, Adelia A. Dunham, William H. Dunham, Carlton Lane, Harriet Lane, W. Irvin Lane, Eugene F. Lane, Charles W. Lane, Alpheus Lane, H. Gordon Martin, Julia Martin, Augustus Martin, Mary Etta Martin, Robert Martin, Caroline Martin, Alexander Todd, Jerome T. Cobb, George H. Stebbins, Mrs. George H. Stebbins, Seth R. Kellogg, Ebenezer Childs, William Seaman, Arelisle Seaman, Arelisle C. Seaman, William H. Seaman, Charles F. Seaman, Charles W. Henderson, Harriet Henderson, George H. Hen- derson, Antoinette Henderson, Daniel Hager, Volney C. Mason, Hiram Barnes, Eliza Barnes, Mary E. Barnes, Marshall Barnes, Uriel Farmin, Eliza Farmin, Marcellus Farmin, Marcelia Farmin, Albert Farmin, Luther Jenette Farmin, Isabel E. Town, Hiram S. Town, Edward D. Town, Nathan Strong, Sarah Strong, Sylvia H. Strong, Phoebe Ann Strong, Betsey Strong, William Boutelle, David B. Dunham, James Hebden, George Limbert, Margaret Limbert, John Limbert, Elizabeth Limbert, Newton O. Adkins, William D. Strong, Eunice Strong. Harriet N. Strong, Henry V. Strong, Ann Eliza Strong, Cynthia A. Strong, Alice A. Strong, James M. Bacon, Corintha Bacon, Ellen A. Bacon, Emma J. Bacon, Eveline F. Bacon, Emerette L. Bacon, William Workman, L. M. Par- sons, Oscar Wilson, Jacob Woodruff, Warren W. Braley, Morris Farmin, Lu- cinda M. Farmin, Hiram Farmin, Giles Farmin, Mahlon Farmin, Almira Farmin, Otis H. Capron, Robert Shelden, Gilbert Lane, Benjamin Shelden, Isaac Russell, Mary Anna Russell, Nathan H. Strong, Sarah Strong, Lewis G. Strong, Benja- min F. Strong, Sarah A. Strong, James R. Strong, Emily Strong, Asenath Hub- bell, William W. Hubbell, John A. Hubbell, George W. Clark, Mary M. Clark, W. H. Clark, George Clark, Gersham Danks, Caroline A. Danks, Adeline E. Danks, Henry C. Danks, Richard D. Mason, William Starr, Linus B. Brainard, James Clarkson, Job Bennett, Stephen Bates, Emily Burgess, Russel Smith, Eliza Smith, Julia M. Smith, Hezekiah G. Smith, Martin L. Smith, Ellen E. Smith, Phoebe Ann Smith, James M. Edgerton, Byron S. Sanborn, Adaline San- born, Josephine M. Sanborn, Arabella A. Sanborn, Caroline M. Sanborn, Mary A. Sanborn, Betsey Parsons, Levi Parsons, Pamila Woodruff, Frank Woodruff,, Mary R. Wilson, Samuel Babcock, Rachel Babcock, Aaron C. Babcock, Henry C. Babcock, Walter S. Babcock, Stephen V. Babcock, Simeon Babcock, Kitty Ann Babcock, Charles F. Timan, Mrs. Sophia Stevens, William P. Stevens, Eunice E. Stevens, Duane Doty Stevens, Robert Miller, Margaret Miller, Margaret A. Miller, William Miller, Elizabeth Miller, Minerva J. Miller, Mary Jane Miller, Lucina Miller, John Irving, Mary Irving, Elsy M. Irving, Isa- bella Miller, George Miller, Lucy M. Kellogg, Agnes Kellogg, Helen S. Kel- logg, Sarah Limbert, Emma J. Limbert, Albert Shepard, Nancy Shepard, Merrit Shepard, Albert Shepard, Jr., Mary Bennett, David O. French, James M. Boutelle, Charles W. Carntz, David D. Martin, Mary E. Martin, Mary J. Martin, Cassius C. Martin, Esther Martin, Louisa Shelden, Olive Shelden,
Shelden, Mary J. Lane, Elihu R. Rounds, Melissa B. Rounds, Mary J. Rounds,
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Lucy A. Hunter, James M. Clark, Mrs. Celestia M. Clark, James Maxwell Clark, Miss Celestia M. Clark, Alice Caroline .Clark, Benjamin Wright, Sally Wright, A. D. Wright, Julia A. Wright, S. J. Wright, Melvira M. Wright, David Simp- son, Harriet Edgerton, Leroy Edgerton, Orrin Devine Wright, Melissa J. Adkins, George Adkins, Garrett H. Baker, Elmina Baker, Mary Eliza Baker, Ellen L. Baker, Hannah D. Baker, Charlotte A. Haven, Harriet H. Haven and Matthew Limbert.
The community grew in numbers and prosperity as the years went by and in 1845 the association was incorporated. Finally, the undertaking was a suc- cess, but this could not be said of its social progress. Hence; dissatisfaction was engendered and in the fall of 1850 the Wisconsin Phalanx ceased to exist in Fond du Lac county. At one time the colony owned two thousand acres of land, but at the time of the dissolution there were but six hundred acres remaining in the town of Ripon. In April, 1850, an apprisal of the land was fixed upon in small lots and during the summer most of the property was disposed of. Every- thing of value was equitably divided and the affairs of the association were settled upon a basis that left no trouble or unpleasant memories.
BIRTH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
For some years prior to 1912, a great unrest had been experienced all over this country, by the condition of things in general, the more especially by reason of the growth of what is termed "bossism" in the two leading political parties. This dissatisfaction culminated before the close of the National Republican Con- vention at Chicago, in June, 1912, in the withdrawal of a large portion of the members of the republican party from its councils and the formation of a new party, which took the name and title of the National Progressive party. As a matter of course, the new party which was formally organized, at a called con- vention held in the following month of August, at Chicago, came in for wide- spread attention and the question naturally arose, "when and where was the republican party born?" The matter was discussed through the columns of the newspapers, one place claiming precedence and the honor, and another section of the county being equally certain of being entitled to the distinction.
Ripon, an important little city of Fond du Lac county, is a strong claimant, as the birth place of "the grand old party," but the Chicago Tribune takes issue with statements of that kind, in the following article published in the Tribune of date July 29, 1912 :
"Naming the Republican party: Recently 'M. H. B.' asked some questions in the columns of the Tribune with reference to the part taken by the Tribune and its editors in the organization of the Republican party. The following extract from an address delivered by Col. E. B. Lewis of Evanston at a meeting of the Old Tippecanoe club held at the Grand Pacific hotel September 29, 1894, may be of interest in that connection. The address was on the subject, 'The Origin of the Republican Party,' and was reported in the newspapers of the following morning :
"In the history of our country the Republican party occupied an important place. The formation of the party was a work so great that no man alone was
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
capable of performing it. The ideas embodied in the platform took root in the hearts and brains of different men in different parts of the land at almost the same time.
"Four political meetings, however, formed the cradle of the great organiza- tion. During the latter part of June, 1854, a call was issued for all the opponents of slavery extension to meet in a massmeeting at Jackson, Michigan. The call was signed by such as Zachariah Chandler, Jacob M. Howard, H. P. Baldwin, Austin Blair, and Isaac P. Christiancy. At this meeting a political organiza- tion was perfected and the Republican name adopted, but this was not the first. The day previous to the Jackson meeting, July 5, 1854, a meeting was held at the Tremont house in Chicago.
"Among those present were Cassius M. Clay, Dr. Egan, J. Young Scammon, Attorney Mclllroy, P. M. Scripps, Iver Lawson, Andrew Nelson, J. H. Kedzie, R. K. Swift, P. Almini, N. Peterson, Consul Schreiden, P. Hussander, Charles J. Sundell, Dr. Gibbs, and others. It has been openly stated in the public press that this meeting was not held at the time and place mentioned, but there is abundant and overwhelming evidence to prove that such assertions are ground- less. As Cassius Clay writes, the platform of the new party provided for the destruction of slavery, by constitutional and lawful means.
"This, however, was not the first source from which the Republican party sprang. More than three months prior to this a meeting was held on March 20, at Ripon, Wisconsin, at which a Republican party was formed. In February of that year a meeting was held at which resolutions were adopted condemning the Nebraska bill in unmeasured terms. Among those who attended the March 20 meeting were A. E. Bovay, G. Bowen, A. Loper, C. F. Hammond, A. Thomas, and J. A. Woodruff.
"Another meeting cradled the Republican party, and our fellow citizen, Joseph Medill, must divide with John C. Vaughn the honor of being the first man to call a meeting and organize a political party which should resist the encroachments of slavery.
"It was Joseph Medill who chose the name Republican, with which the new party was finally christened. The first meeting was held March 12, 1854, in the editorial rooms of the Cleveland Leader, Hiram Griswold, Joseph Medill, Rufus P. Spalding, Edwin Cowles, G. F. Keeler, Richard C. Parsons, Edward Wade, John Barrand, and H. B. Hurlbut being present.
"The meeting lasted until after midnight and several hours were devoted to . naming the new party. Salmon P. Chase had written a letter advocating strongly the name of 'Free Democracy ;' others wanted to call it 'The Free Soil' party. Mr. Medill fought for the name 'National Republican,' and finally, by a vote of seven to five, 'National Republican' it was. Ten or twelve days later, at a larger meeting, held in a small hall on the city courthouse square, the name and platform of the new party were ratified. Other and larger meetings followed.
"A great state convention was held in Columbus in July and a state ticket was nominated that swept Ohio."
Major A. E. Bovay was one of the organizers of the republican party at Ripon and by his own words that great organization was formally brought into being on the 20th day of March, 1854. As to the Ripon organization the date
REPUBLICAN PARTY
BIRTHPLACE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, RIPON
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
is undisputed, and, even if the Tribune is correct in its dates the difference in time between the Cleveland (Ohio) meeting and the Ripon meeting is hardly worthy of notice. The events that led up to the formation of the republican party at Ripon is best told by Major Bovay, who took a most active and promi- nent part in the new party :
"I had been a whig but the whig party was then dead. Its defunct condition was not generally realized but it was dead nevertheless. It had been routed, horse, foot and artillery in the fall of 1852. That battle was its Waterloo. No party could outlive such a terrible slaughter of its innocents as that was. True, up to the spring of 1854, it still held on to its organization. But it was a mere shell; a skeleton army, nothing more.
"The leaders could not marshal their troops; could not anywhere bring their forces into line; in short, the party was dead, though not dissolved. Moreover, the country no longer took any interest in the old whig issues. The slavery question dominated everything else. Nobody talked or thought any longer about protection to American industry. It was slavery in the states, slavery in the ter- ritories, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the refrain was ever slavery, and nothing else. There was one great, overshadowing, pro-slavery party-the democratic; there must also be one great anti-slavery party to antagonize it. The logic of history demanded it. Such a party had become inevitable. The whig party was not this party and could not be. It had outstayed its time and its usefulness ; it was an anachronism. It had become an obstruction, an impediment, a nuisance. But how to get the organization out of the way-that was a rather formidable question. It stood there a great, useless, lifeless thing, awaiting some possible political earthquake, which would be violent enough to shake it to pieces. And the earthquake came.
"The triumph of slavery had been so complete in the slaughter of 1852, that its cohorts thought themselves strong enough to do anything, so they laid their hands on the oldest and most sacred of the compromises. The shock was tre- mendous. Instantly the whole north was in a flame of indignation and rage. The hour had struck. This was the tempest that was to sweep from our sight not only the whig organization, but also all those little fragments of parties, free soil and the like-that had grown out of the slavery agitation in years that were past. The time had come for all liberty loving whigs to dismantle their house. As for me, I did not propose to wait for the passage of the Nebraska Bill. It was foreordained to pass; then why wait? I felt 'in my bones,' as old Candace said, that the righteous rage of the time ought to be turned to some permanent account and not permitted to effervesce in useless foam. I set to work in the most systematic way that I could contrive, to dissolve the whig party and to organize the republican party right here, fully convinced that others would do the like elsewhere, and, that in a few months we should have a great, irresisti- ble northern party, organized on the single issue of the 'non-extension of slavery.'
"This is the point at which the late vice president takes notice of our move- ment. His history is very brief, but substantially correct. Jehdiah Bowen was my chief helper ; a merchant of high standing, a man of intelligence, position and influence, his assistance was of the utmost importance. One part of the work was specially difficult. All the people, except the most hardened democrats,
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
responded to my appeals with the utmost avidity, up to a certain limit. They said, 'Oh, yes, oh, yes; we are with you in denouncing this thing. It is a great outrage; it is a swindle; we will protest; we will resolve; we will sign all the remonstrances we can think of.'
"But-and just here came the pinch-a good many of the old whigs begged hard for the whig party. 'Spare the party ; spare the party. Let all the outside elements come to us ; our party is good enough; we will fight the democracy on this ground; we will triumph.' The good souls; they had to be told squarely that the 'whig party must go;' that the very heart and core of our movement was that to which they could not agree. To let the whig party stay was to insure permanent power to the democratic party. To retreat from the formation of the new party was to surrender to the slave power. They came to the meetings, and were respectfully heard, but the large majority had made up their minds. The hour was late, the candles burned low; it was a cold, windy night at the vernal equinox. In the end, all but two or three gave in, and we formed our organization.
"I remember every word and act, as if the time were but yesterday. The election of that first republican committee-A. E. Bovay, Jehdiah Bowen, Amos Loper, Jacob Woodruff and Abraham Thomas-was a solemn act. Every man present fully believed that he was helping to make a permanent piece of history. And he was. Yes; that point ought to be clearly understood. This was no blind, unconscious movement, of which the human family make so many. We did not build better than we knew, as some have supposed; we built precisely as we knew ; and there stands the edifice. Look at it. It will bear examination. It was no fragmentary movement. It contemplated the combination of all shades of anti-slavery sentiment in the country in one grand organization to resist the encroachments of slavery, under the name republican.
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