USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 34
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The first marriage was celebrated between Stephen Claggett and Margaret O'Neil, in 1847, and the first birth was that of Charles A. Wolcott, July 30, 1847. George Barnett's death in 1847 was the first to take place in the com- munity.
A postoffice was established in the spring of 1848 and placed in charge of Necoli Jorgensen. It was called Bothelle.
Among others who settled in this town may be mentioned Stephen Claggett, J. O. Henning, Thomas and James Merchant, Alexander Cronk, Cyrus and Joseph Haskell, John and Robert Cowhan, John Claggett, John F. Steele, Wil- liam Dilts, N. Deul, Isaac Claggett, John Adams, David Austin, E. and William Williams, A. R. Wilber, Nelson Phillips, A. M. Donnelly and H. Dilts. These all came between the years of 1846 and 1847.
Elder E. M. Wright, a Freewill Baptist, preached the first sermon in Eldo- rado township, at the home of Cyrus Haskell, in 1848. Hiram Wheeler and James A. Scribner erected the first grist mill in 1857 on section 31. The first schoolhouse was built in November, 1848, and the first store was opened in 1849 on section 7, by M. Jorgensen.
CHAPTER XV
REMINISCENT
THE FOND DU LAC "HOME COMING" BRINGS MANY STORIES OF OLD TIMES-MRS. SARAH BISHOP WRITES OF WHEN FOND DU LAC WAS A "BIG WOODS"-CHASED BY A BEAR-A TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR-COLONEL J. A. WATROUS CONTRIBUTES- GOVERNORS TALLMADGE AND BEALL-SOME OLD SETTLERS.
Mrs. Sarah Bishop wrote: "My father, C. L. Pierce, came to Fond du Lac in 1847 and was married to Calista Fargo in 1848. They lived in the house which stood many years at the southeast corner of Marr and Third streets. It was a one-story house, built on the two streets and known as the 'castle' in early days. Four families lived there, namely: Judge Drury, George White, A. W. Pierce and my father and mother.
"George Arnold's parents were neighbors on the corner of Fourth street, and Luther Ellis lived across the way where Mr. Potter's residence now stands. My mother went to Delavan, Wisconsin, to visit her parents, and I was born in that village in 1849. When I was three months old we came home to Fond du Lac, making the journey in a lumber wagon to Racine, visiting my father's people and then continuing our trip. This has been our home continuously since. My mother died in 1899, and my father passed away this year (1912). I had one brother, George A. Pierce, who died in 1887.
"I remember the old Badger Hotel, with its flowing fountain, the 'big foun- tain,' on Marr and Fourth streets, and the first one in the city at the corner of Main and Division streets. When I was five years old I fell into the big hogs- head, which was in the ground under the flowing water. I was rescued by Ed- ward Doolan, one of the earliest settlers, who lived in a little log house on the bank of the river where the Fritz store building now stands. I remember the old postoffice on North Main street. I also remember the spring which was on the McWilliams property, where the malt house now stands. The big thorn- apple trees which grew over the spring were a delight to us children when thorn- apples were ripe.
"I remember the big woods on Division street, west of where the railroads are. They were very low land and called the flats or the inland. In the spring time they were all under water. The river was crossed by means of fallen trees. My father's shop and barn were on the corner of Division and Main streets.
"I have seen the city grow from a few houses and business places to the beautiful city it now is, known far and wide for its good roads and streets and its great white way. The churches and schoolhouses have all been built during my time. I have an Indian paddle, used in the Fond du Lac river many times in
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
1848; a badge of the Wisconsin Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 ; and a picture of C. N. Snell, who was city marshal when M. C. Darling was mayor. I am contemplating a trip to California this fall, perhaps to make my home. Should I remain, I am sure there will be no place so dear to me as Fond du Lac, and who knows 'East, West, Hame's Best.'"
Mrs. Mary F. Thorpe, a former resident of Fond du Lac, wrote :
"When my father took his homestead two miles west of the city it was all a vast wilderness and the Indians were there in great numbers. I remember one afternoon I came home from school and there was a group of Indians there and father was at the grindstone sharpening their knives, and when he had gotten the knives sharpened, one old Indian knocked father's hat off his head and grabbed hold of his hair with one hand and had the knife in the other. From his actions I thought he was going to kill my father and how I did scream, and then the Indians laughed. As I look back now it seems as though we had a hard time with the red men.
CHASED A BEAR
"Our house was located on a little rise of ground on the banks of the river. . It was the west branch of the river that runs through Fond du Lac. We watched the Indians go down the river in their canoes and we children were so afraid they would stop and come to the house. We used to wonder why father was never afraid of the Indians. One time we saw a bear in the clearing near the house and we children chased after it, thinking it to be a black calf, but our father called us back and he went after it himself. I remember how good the flesh meat from the bear was. When father and the boys would go down to Seymoure's Mills fishing, they would come home in the morning and get the ox team and wagon to bring home the fish. They would unload them on the bank of the river and then what a time we would have cleaning them.
"In the winter what a time we would have with the snow, which at times would be so deep that we would have to put two and three yoke of oxen on a sleigh to go around to the neighbors to gather up a load of young folks to go to a spelling school or a singing school. The snow was so deep that the stumps could not be seen and the first thing we would know we would all be thrown from the sleigh into a snow bank. Oh! for those old times back again. It makes me homesick to look back and remember those old times. My father has been . dead a great many years and the old homestead is still there, although in the possession of strangers, but my heart still goes out to it in loving remembrance."
C. D. Jewell, of Eureka, Montana, wrote :
"My parents came from Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1846, and settled in the town of Empire. The Pier family and a few others living near the city tried to induce my father to purchase some property near them, but just at that time de Neveu creek was on a rampage and real estate in the coming city was decidedly damp-it was worse than that-it was submerged. Father allowed he came west to acquire a farm, not a water privilege. I mention this incidentally, not that it is a matter of general interest, but merely to show that had my father's judgment been different my financial standing of today would also have been different.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
"It was in 1857, if my memory is not at fault, that we moved to Fond du Lac city. At that time Fond du Lac was a mudhole, pure and simple. It was divided and generally known as upper town and lower town, and there was a strong rivalry between the two sections, particularly among the pupils of the different schools. Many and frequent were the 'scraps' indulged in with vary- ing results as. to who were the victors. Lower town was the business end of the city. From there there were several boats running to Green Bay and inter- mediate points, as well as to Wolf river towns. The Shebogyan plank road handled a large amount of traffic between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, bringing general merchandise of all sorts from Sheboygan, and returning to Sheboygan the wagons were loaded with wheat. I do not think at that time a bushel of barley had ever been raised in the county. The average tariff on wheat on the forty mile haul was from fifteen to twenty cents a bushel. Some of the farmers hauled their own, but that was what it was worth, yet we of today 'holler' about freight rates.
"All this has been mentioned and threshed out by other and more able cor- respondents. The question is 'Will I be in at the home-coming?' I have been debating that question for two months past. I am considerable of an old settler myself. Fond du Lac is and always has been my home. To be sure I have been away as my business required, but when I wanted to go home, I always went back to Fond du Lac. I have always had property interests there. I was going to say I was born there, but that would be a mistake. The first two years of my life were spent in New York. To make up for this I was married in Fond du Lac at our residence on Sophia street near the corner of Forest avenue, on Christmas eve, 1847. My dead are all buried in your cemeteries. Nearly all I hold dear in this world are there. Will I come? I want to see the few old ones of my class that are left. I want to meet the many who have made their homes there at a later day. I want to see you all and shake your hand. Great God, man, I must come! To be sure I am seventeen hundred miles away from the dear old town which is considerable of a long way, but I want to see you all so badly that I just must come. So please save me a hall bedroom some- where, or if that is not possible tell Frank Nolan I am on the way and he will surely give me the bridal chamber in his elegant hostelry on First street. Will I come? I surely will if the walking holds good."
A. Branshaw, of Dallas, Texas, wrote :
"It is now nearly forty-five years since I left your city and I can say that in all that time there has never been a single day that my thoughts have not gone back to the 'Old Home.' Of course, I have during that time visited for a short time the home of my childhood, and the memory is dear to me.
"I have read with much pleasure the letters from many of the old boys as published in the home papers, and am familiar with most all the happenings mentioned in these letters. I remember well the old swimming place in the west branch, and the crop of 'blood suckers' each boy harvested when he came out, also the tying of shirts among the scamps. All this is yet fresh in my memory.
"I remember perfectly the upbuilding of that part of the city west of Main street and north of Division street, my father having arrived in your city in April, 1855. He owned the shop on the northwest corner of Macy and Division, near the bridge, and built our home on Doty street, in what was then heavy
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woods, and I think he built the first house on Doty street. I remember well when the woods were cleared for this purpose and from his shop to the house there was only a path running through the woods. I was in your city in 1910 and the old shop was still standing. I could write of much more along these lines but do not wish to tax your time. Now and then I note in the list of deaths as shown in the papers, the passing away of many of my old boyhood friends. It leaves a feeling of sadness which I cannot well explain. Recently occurred the death of Tom Hastings, and just before T. S. Weeks, and now the death of John Dana-all friends of my early days. It makes one feel that he should do all in his power to attend this Home-coming and meet there such of the old boys as come home once more. In the nature of things we are getting old and not likely to see each other very often in this life. Our timber is getting shaky, the varnish is wearing off, we are showing age,
"'A general flavor of mild decay, But nothing local, as one may say.'
"These being the facts, I think we should try our best to be on hand, put on our 'blue bonnets, tie the yellow ribbons up under our chins, and once more be boys again,' and in memory of 'other days' sing,
" 'Then once again, before we part, My empty glass shall ring ; And he that has the warmest heart Shall loudest laugh and sing.'"
PIONEER STATESMAN ONCE LIVED IN TIIE TOWN OF EMPIRE WAS A TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR
James Duane Doty, the second territorial governor of Wisconsin, was one of the earliest pioneers of Fond du Lac county. He built a house in the town of Empire in 1838, where he lived two years. He was president of the original Fond du Lac Land Company and selected the site of the then village, now city of Fond du Lac. Governor Doty, the ablest and most comprehensive of our pioneer statesmen and the one who possessed a better knowledge of the terri- tory and its resources than any other man of his time, was born at Salem, Wash- ington county, New York, November 5, 1799.
In 1819 he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Michigan and' soon after was elected clerk of the supreme court and secretary of the territorial legislature.
In 1820 General Cass made his famous tour of the lakes and penetrated the source of the Mississippi in a flotilla of birch bark canoes. Doty was secretary of the expedition and his report is looked upon as embodying the most accurate information to be had in reference to the conditions of the country before it was settled by the whites. At the close of this expedition, at the age of twenty- two, having revised and published the laws of Michigan, Doty went to Wash- ington and was admitted to practice before the United States supreme court. In 1832 he was appointed by the secretary of war to lay out military roads from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien and to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago.
Dr. Mason C. Darling
Edward Pier
Governor James D. Doty
Governor Nathan P. Tallmadge DISTINGUISHED PIONEERS OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
The first legislature of the territory of Wisconsin met in 1836 and fixed the seat of government. Governor Doty, knowing the topography of the coun- try better than any other man, entered a large tract of land between the lakes at Madison-a beautiful location-platted it and offered free a site in the midst of a fine natural park for the capitol buildings. After a bitter fight he was vic- torious and Madison was chosen as the seat of government, much to the dis- appointment of speculators and politicians who wanted the capital located else- where. Yet all concede now that Governor Doty selected the most beautiful loca- tion in the state for the state house.
Governor Doty was territorial governor of Wisconsin from October 5, 1841, to September 16, 1844. He made a vigorous attempt to have the southern boun- dary of Wisconsin established on a line drawn westward from the head of Lake Michigan as the ordinance of 1787 provided which would have made Chicago, instead of Milwaukee, the metropolis of Wisconsin.
It certainly was a tribute to the shrewd sagacity and business ability of Mason C. Darling, a country village doctor, to be a match in competition and litigation with a land company with a large capital-for those days-with Governor Doty, one of the most brilliant lawyers and ablest statesmen in the state at its head.
In 1846 Governor Doty was chosen to serve in the convention to form a new state constitution and in 1849 he was elected to congress and reelected in 1851. In 1861 he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in Utah. In May, 1863, he was made governor of Utah, in which capacity he was forced to con- tend with the bloody and unscrupulous powers of the Mormon church, which office he held at the time of his death, June 13, 1865.
SOCIAL GATHERINGS, INSPIRING ADDRESS AND FAMILY REUNIONS IN PLENTY
By Colonel J. A. Watrous, U. S. A.
I cannot and would not forget that Fond du Lac homecoming. First, because the charming and in all ways delightful memories of it all are stamped so deep and so firm upon memory's plates that they will ever remain a beautiful and uplift- ing chapter in the history of every one who returned to the old home city and enjoyed the happy occasion.
Second, because I am sure that Fond du Lac set the state and nation, yes, and the world, a homecoming pattern that need not be improved upon, if, indeed, it can be.
It was a week of as perfect entertainment and pleasure as any sane, normal mortal should be allowed to make a bid for; and, besides, the pleasure and en- tertainment were of a character profitable and creditable alike to residents and visitors. Intellects were brightened, understanding broadened, eyes feasted, hearts gladdened and patriotism much increased by the exercises and experiences. Picture to yourselves a genuine family reunion, one without a jar or a flaw, full of good cheer, and you will have a good idea of what was experienced at Fond du Lac last week.
How was it brought about? I shall give you only a partial answer, not for my own gratification or the gratification of the people of Fond du Lac, for we all have been paid over and over again by the cluster of unforgetable events,
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but for the benefit of the people of the other cities who may have in mind a home- coming.
To all such let me give a word of advice: When you have decided to enter upon such an enterprise, and I hope that every city in Wisconsin with a popula- tion of from 5,000 to 50,000, will make a decision-send a commissioner to Fond du Lac to interview that city's committee of arrangements, in quest of informa- tion as to how to plan and how to execute, and then plan and execute as Fond du Lac did, without a hair's variation. They know how it is done. Do not be discouraged when I say that Fond du Lac began to prepare for this fifteen or twenty years ago, when the old city was anything but attractive, save in one respect. It emphatically has had an attractive population ever since 1836, when the Pier brothers broke ground for the first log cabin.
One of the homecomers expressed the sentiments of a thousand children, gray haired as well as youthful, who had returned to the old home, when he said: "I believe that the Fond du Lac of the past and the present has more kindly, noble hearted, patriotic, hospitable men and women to the acre than any other spot on earth, not excepting the garden of Eden."
So much attention had been paid to growing such a population that the city improvements were rather neglected. This is no time or place to tell how back numberish Fond du Lac was previous to fifteen or twenty years ago, when it dawned upon the people that it was time to clean up, build up and make a real city, one as full of beauty, conveniences and comfort as possible, with attractions on every street, a veritable health resort.
A year ago they had so far carried out their plans, had wrought such a com- plete transformation, had made a new and a model city, that they were not only well pleased with their achievements, but they had seen an unyielding desire to have their former fellows come home and join them in rejoicing over the changes.
There was nothing of the commercial, nothing of the selfish in the desire. They were now planting for a crop of dollars. They had a lingering, loving and a hungering wish to again meet the neighbors and friends of the long ago- people who had swarmed to nearly every state in the Union. They knew they had something to show them well worth looking over; in short, that Fond du Lac was there in all her beauty, with the goods, with good health, fine streets, twenty miles of them well paved, long rows of mercantile houses, many factories, churches, schoolhouses, shady bowers, strong banks roomy homelike hotels, beau- tiful parks, a model street car line, perfect water and drainage systems, streets lined with residences that would adorn a city many times more pretentious, public buildings that will be ample when the city is fifty years older and has a population much greater than its present 20,000, a public library, Masonic temple, Elks' hall, armory, not to mention several other spacious halls, a Y. M. C. A. building, and a manufacturing output that put to blush a long line of cities with three or four times their population.
The cry went up from all sides : "We must have a homecoming." The city was splendidly equipped for the enterprise. It had an up-to-date mayor, a live wire business men's association and women's clubs of like character, all backed by the rest of the population. The right kind of a committee on arrangements was created, all of whose members seem to have tried to see which could be the
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most loyal, active and useful. Hundreds of traveling men of the city and state were primed to seek out the names and addresses of former "Fondy" inhabitants. By that and other means 4,000 addresses were secured and all were sent such an earnest, loving, whole souled Fond du Lacky invitation to come home that more than a thousand came and the rest sent a shower of letters of regrets and reminis- cences that will long be an attraction in the public library. All sorts of recep- tions, reunions and interesting public meetings were planned.
The Masons, Odd Fellows, the Grand Army, Knights of Pythias, Elks, high school, church societies, business societies, National Guard, etc., have to have reunions or banquets and some of them, both. Not a detail seems to have been overlooked during the six months of preparing.
Have I said enough to convince you that Fond du Lac was ready to greet the multitude of guests, hailing from all parts of the country ?
Every train on the four railroads was met by cheerful committees. The first impression given the guests was a lasting one. They saw what I have no hesi- tancy in declaring was the most beautiful, and at the same time the most patriot- ically decorated city ever looked upon. That sounds too loud does it?
Imagine the well shaded and handsome city decked with several hundred, and I think five hundred, large, waving, welcoming American flags, bright and laughing, fresh from the factory, reinforced by thousands of fluttering, smiling, dancing smaller flags. That was "Fondy's" decoration for what I am bound to say was a homecoming without a superior, to date. Who wonders that it thrilled, heartened and gave added inspiration to the returning battalions ?
For years I have been pleading for that style of decoration on all occasions when decorations are called for. There is nothing more beautiful and appro- priate; nothing which leaves a more abiding and desirable impression; nothing that is calculated to make a people more patriotic and gladder that their home is in this liberty affording nation-this American republic that stands first among the world's countries. And from a money point of view, it is cheap. May the day soon come when all communities will pattern after Fond du Lac in the mat- ter of public decoration. It is not what can be said by the house owners, and I am proud to have once lived with that good people, in praise of Fond du Lac and her hospitality, but what cannot be said.
It was a week of joy to both visitors and visited. I do not want to appear as wandering beyond the bounds of truth, veracity and sincerity in speaking of that homecoming week, but I am going to say, and a thousand former "Fondyites" will back me in it, that it was a week of mingling of people who will ever be puzzled to name another week in their lives that was more completely crowded with genuine happiness; and if they all are not gladder than ever that they were born; that they are citizens of the best country God ever blessed; that they once lived in dear old Fond du Lac, and that they have been back to Fond du Lac, good old Fond du Lac, I misjudge them. It was eminently fitting that such a glorious event should include a safe and sane Fourth of July, the most success- ful celebration the city had ever known or witnessed, by 50,000 people; one in which thousands of school children participated and were taught lessons in patriot- ism that will make them better men and women, more worthy of citizenship in this land of freedom and boundless opportunities.
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OLD SETTLERS; GOVERNORS TALLMADGE AND BEALL
James Pumpelly of Indianapolis, Indiana, delivered a very entertaining ad- dress, taking for his theme "Old Settlers; Governors Tallmadge and Beall," speaking as follows :
"My friends and my acquaintances, or rather I fear, only sons and daugh- ters of friends and acquaintances.
"If any friends of this assembly of home-comers were the old friends of fifty-six years ago, I might ask you, do you remember this incident or that inci- dent of old times that I am about to tell you, but I fear to learn that time in his certain flight has left me, one of the oldest-memory only. The friends have passed away from a city gorgeous in its foliage, in its beautiful streets, smooth and perfect sidewalks and very handsome dwellings, instead of the town of my memory fifty-six years ago, small, contracted and almost shabby, surrounded by miles of fenceless prairie over which sometimes the prairie fires swept even to the borders of the old court house yard.
"Fifty-six years ago I visited this place and at last found my old school- mate, John Tallmadge, son of Governor N. P. Tallmadge, four miles out on the prairie, living in an old two-story log house.
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