USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 18
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The commissioners, Hon. William Medill, who was commis- sioner of Indian affairs, and Col. D. Jones, met the Menominee tribe on Lake Poygan in October, 1848, to make the annual pay- ment and hold a council. Oshkosh and the chiefs all strongly
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opposed the treaty offered, which was a reservation of territory for their use west of the Mississippi river. After four days in council without results Mr. Henry S. Baird, secretary to the commission, took his horse and started for home, having lost hope that a treaty could be made. Hon. Morgan L. Martin was appointed in his place, and by his advice to the Indians that the United States owned the land now and the tribe was merely per- mitted to remain by sufferance, and unless they accepted the offer of increased annuities now they might not have the oppor- tunity again. He referred to the clause in their former treaty, which in effect extinguished title to all their lands, which the President could take advantage of at any moment, and give them such an increase in annual payments as he deemed just. They finally consented to the treaty and were removed to the Keshena Reservation on the Wolf river above Shawano several years later.
Thus by numerous councils and treaties all the territory of Winnebago county became by purchase fairly made and by treaties signed by the numerous chiefs of the two tribes who claimed the title the proper and legitimate property of the United States. The Menominee tribe were paid nearly a million dollars for their lands. It would be difficult at that period in Western development, when there was but one frame house in Chicago, to find an individual or corporation who would have paid more. As an investment for the United States it was a good thing; but, considering the civilization wants and requirements of the aboriginals, it was a better investment for them. In the light of history they were paid all it was worth.
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XIV.
BUILDING A COUNTY-ITS CIVIC ADMINISTRATION, COURTS, SCHOOLS, BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS.
The white inhabitants of the area set off as Winnebago county in 1840 were a few farmer pioneers about Butte des Morts, and at the future site of Oshkosh, then known as Saukeer, Merton's Point or Stanley's Ferry, also Knagg's Ferry and Athens. The United States Menominee Mission at Neenah was abandoned in 1836 and the property as a reservation withheld from sale. By an act of the Legislature passed January 6, 1840, Winnebago county was set off from Brown county and made a separate county with the boundaries as they are at present and have been since that first law describing the boundary. In this same law Nathaniel Perry, Robert Grignon and Morgan L. Martin were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat and purchase a quarter section of land for the use of the county upon which to locate the court house. It does not appear that these commis- sioners ever met or ever acted on the subject. Prior to this act there was an act passed March 8, 1839, making a township of Winnebago of the territory since formed into the towns of Menasha, Neenah, Clayton and two townships of Outagamie county, in which is now located the city of Appleton; but at. that date containing only the White Heron Inn of Hipolite Grig- non at the Grand Chute. The first election was to be held at the home of Nathaniel Perry, who still resided at Winnebago Rapids. By the same act of 1839 the town of Butte des Morts was made of the territory now included in the four townships bounded by the present towns of Winneconne, Omnro, Algoma, Oshkosh and the square township of Vinland. The first election was to be held at the residence of Webster Stanley.
These laws seem to have been inoperative, possibly because of the small population, and February 18, 1842, a law was ap- proved organizing the counties of Winnebago and Calumet from
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the first Monday in April, 1843. Apparently the law makers were ignorant of the geography of the region, as they placed the first election at the school house in Manchester, Calumet county, on the opposite side of Lake Winnebago, twenty miles from the new county of Winnebago. The settlers along the Fox river at the future city of Oshkosh ignored the provisions of the law and refused to cross the lake to hold their first election. They opened the polls in the cabin of Webster Stanley over in the woods east of Ferry street. This election was held on Monday, April 4, and Tuesday, April 5, and we presume was upon due notice to all the inhabitants of the region. It was not authorized by law, but was very independent and democratic and doubtless very regular, as two days were given to poll all the votes. There was a total of 143 people in the region then being organized into a county. At this election, which was the first held in the county, there were twenty-three men polled and present who voted. There were twenty-one offices. distributed, and it is said that six voters got away without any office. Mr. Chester Ford was chairman and Jason Wilkins clerk, both sworn in by T. Lee, coroner. Clark Dickinson was appointed clerk, as Wilkins refused to serve. The further result of the election: Chester Gallup and William C. Isbell, supervisors; John Gallup, town clerk; Thomas Lee and Louis B. Porlier, assessors; Webster Stanley, treasurer; Thomas Evans, collector; Robert Grignon, Ira F. Aiken and Shipley A. Gallup, commissioners of highway; John P. Gallup and Clark Dickinson, school commissioners; Henry A. Gallup and Louis B. Porlier, constables; Jason Wilkins, sealer of weights and meas- ures; Ira F. Aiken, Henry Moore and Archibald Caldwell, over- seers of highways; Robert Grignon, Chester Ford and Chester Gallup, fence viewers. David Johnson, William Powell, James Knaggs, Augustin Grignon, William W. Wright and William A. Boyd received some votes for these offices.
Under the laws of the Territory of Wisconsin, approved 1836, the territory of each county was declared one township for rais- ing taxes and to regulate highways, and the three supervisors of the town shall perform the duties of county board. and the town clerk was to act as county clerk. By the election mentioned above, which was an election of the town of Butte des Morts, under the laws of 1839 of Brown county the chairman and super- visors became the county board, or should have been so regarded, except for the mix-up mentioned, by which the election was
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specified to take place at Manchester. To legalize the acts of the settlers an act was passed by the Legislature March 29, 1843. Three days later the Legislature passed an act of April 1, 1843: "The town of Butte des Morts, of county of Winnebago, shall hereafter be known as Winnebago, embracing all territory with- in the limits of said county, and future elections shall be held at the house of Webster Stanley."
A town meeting of the town of Butte des Morts had been held April 4, 1843, at which Mr. W. C. Isbell was chosen chairman and W. A. Boyd was clerk. There was appropriated $50 for cur- rent expenses, and salaries fixed at 50 cents per day. At the election held at the said town meeting W. C. Isbell was elected chairman and L. B. Porlier and Lester Ford for supervisors, and George F. Wright town clerk. These officers of the town of Butte des Morts now became the officers of the town of Winne- bago, including the whole territory of the county, and these same officers became under the laws of the territory the county board and therefore were the first county board of Winnebago county. As a county board they held their first meeting May 1, 1843, at the house of Webster Stanley, which became thereby the first court house, and it stood very near the present court house. At this meeting there was present the chairman, Wil- liam C. Isbell, and one supervisor, Chester Ford. Mr. L. B. Por- lier was absent. A quorum being present, the treasurer's bonds of William W. Wright were approved. A week later these two members, in whose person reposed the majesty of the new county, met and solemnly voted to raise by tax the sum of $50 for current expenses. A resolution was passed to adopt a county seal, device an eagle, holding a snake in his claws. This seal, still in the clerk's office, was a small penny coin issued in 1837 by Doctor Feuchtwaugers, of New York. The two members again met as a county board on May 19, 1843, and resolved that the register of deeds is "required to record all land conveyances entire." The treasurer's report for 1844 shows receipts of $49.76 and expenditure of same amount. At the election for sheriff held at the house of Webster Stanley, May 1, 1843, there were sixteen votes cast. The annual election held at Stanley's house, April 2, 1844, for the town of Winnebago, Harrison Reed was elected chairman and William C. Isbell and C. R. Luce supervisors, the highest vote cast being twenty-three. These officers then became ex officio the county board.
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BUILDING A COUNTY.
The first county election for the county officers was held the · fourth Monday of September, 1844, resulting in the election of W. C. Isbell, register of deeds; George F. Wright, clerk; William W. Wright, treasurer; Samuel L. Brooks, district attorney. The highest number of votes cast were eighteen. At the same time a test vote was had to obtain the sentiment of the settlers as to statehood, and there were nineteen votes against to four for statehood.
The Legislature passed an act in 1845 providing for the elec- tion of three commissioners to locate the county seat. At the annual town meeting in April, Clark Dickinson and Robert Grig- non were elected and Joseph Jackson and Harrison Reed were tied for third place with twenty votes each. At a special elec- tion Harrison Reed received the highest number of votes. The commissioners met at the Stanley house on July 6 to deliberate on the location of the seat of justice. Robert Grignon presented a proposition from Augustin Grignon for Big Butte des Morts. Clark Dickinson presented a proposition from Chester Ford to locate it near the mouth of the Fox river at Oshkosh. Harrison Reed made a verbal offer of a site at Winnebago Rapids, now the city of Neenah. When the commissioners met again in July they reported in favor of Butte des Morts and accepted Augustin Grignon's offer of 300 feet square and the land was deeded to the county in October, 1845. This location created great dissat- isfaction, and with their usual enterprise the citizens of the future metropolis of Oshkosh set about to change the location to their settlement, where all voting had up to that time taken place. An act of the Legislature was obtained February 8, 1847, locating the county seat at Oshkosh and organizing the county for judicial purposes. Several offers of land for sites were made to the county, but that of L. M. Miller, Samuel H. Farnsworth and Sewell A. Wolcott for ten lots was accepted and deeded on April 2, 1847. On this site the buildings were finally erected and so remain seated to this day.
The citizens of Butte des Morts did not propose to quietly sub- mit to the location of the county seat at Oshkosh, and demanded a vote of the whole county on the question. This vote was taken on April 2, 1850, for and against removal of the county seat to Butte des Morts, and stood 472 for removal and 690 against, with no returns from Algoma, Utica and Neenah. The location was now assured to Oshkosh.
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
The first county building erected was an oak jail, costing $500, of which Oshkosh paid $300. Albert G. Lull had charge of its erection and Mr. Kendrick Kimball was the builder. A small three-room brick office building was completed in 1853 in the corner of Court House square in Oshkosh for the registrar, clerk of court and county clerk and treasurer. In a few years the ex- . panding business of the county and its courts required more pre- tentious quarters. Contracts were let for the erection of the court house, which forms the major part of the present build- ings. It was completed in the fall of 1860 at a cost of $7,000 for carpenter work, $9,000 for mason work, $2,000 for iron work and other items, making a total cost of $19,689. The local enthusiast exclaimed : "It is entirely proper to say that we have the largest and best court house in the state." The building was erected of Milwaukee cream brick with a stone basement; was two stories high above the basement. The basement contained the jail cells and the sheriff's residence. Several years after an ex- tensive addition was made to the west wing, occupied for the county court and its records. A few years ago the county erected a large and handsome modern jail and sheriff's residence south of the court house, costing $15,000. The county poor farm is economically conducted and the new houses, recently erected at a cost of $60,000, are ornamental and representative. There is an extensive pile of buildings near the Northern Hospital, erected at a cost of $150,000, which is the Insane Asylum of Winnebago county, and used also for the incurable insane of other counties who pay for their care.
The County School of Agriculture was established in Winne- bago county in 1907. Early in January, Hon. E. R. Hicks had addressed the county board on the subject and the committee appointed to report on the school made a favorable report in March. The offer of Winneconne of $6,000 and a site was ac- cepted and immediate arrangements made to found the school, the building costing $40,000.
The most profitable investment ever made by the county was in its work house, where tramps are made to break stone. It originated from the desire to rid the county of the tramp nuisance. The justice and police cost of tramps, maintenance and "move on" order was costing the county $30,000 a year. Supervisor M. M. Schoetz, of Menasha, proposed the work house plan. The building cost $2,500 and a small sum for superin-
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tendence, and as soon as it was ready for occupants the tramps avoided the county and have never returned to their old ac- customed haunts.
When the first settlers located in the woods on the future site of Oshkosh there were but 11,000 people in the whole state of Wisconsin. When the postoffice was established at Oshkosh the first in the county, in 1840 there were possibly less than 100 people in the whole county. By 1842 there were by the enumera- tion made by the sheriff 143 white people in the county. In ten years the population of the state had increased to 155,000 people, showing a stream of immigration. The people came mostly from New York and New England. The census for 1846 gave Win- nebago county 732, an increase of 600 in four years. From that time on the population rapidly increased. In 1847, one year later, the population had increased to 2,787, and to 10,179, three years later, in 1850. Five years later 7,000 were added, and by 1860 there were 23,770. During the war the population increased over 7,000, and by 1870 it was 37,279. Fifteen years later, in 1885, it reached the 50,000 mark. Thus in fifty years 50,000 people had swarmed from the East and foreign lands to build the flourishing cities, make great investments, improve the highways and found the leading and second county of the state. By the last census there were 60,233 people to show for the sixty years of settlement.
In county official life the whole political force of the county has usually aroused annually a lively interest because the places are worth the effort for the money in them. For many years the office of sheriff was the center of the hottest contest, the office often being worth as high as $30,000 and often $50,000 for the term, a scandalous condition, which has been largely modified by the county board. The office being reduced to a one-term tenure has limited its value also. The office of clerk of the court has been a valuable and desirable position, both for the money in it and the influence of the position as well as education af- forded by necessary contact with all the bright lawyers. Ed- ward Eastman, the first to hold this office, was appointed by Judge A. G. Miller, January 12, 1848. George Gary, elected clerk in 1857, was admitted to the bar in 1858 from this office. W. G. Rich, clerk in 1860-62, was an editor, senator from the county and Governor of New Mexico. Col. HI. B. Harshaw, who came out of the Civil War with one arm, was immediately given this
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
office, to which he was steadily re-elected from 1864 until he finally resigned, January 1, 1878, to become postmaster, then state treasurer of Wisconsin. On his return home he opened a law office. The office was then permanently filled by Tom D. Grimmer from 1878 until 1889. Mr. W. W. Kimball then became the popular clerk for a number of terms.
The county had originally been connected with Brown county for judicial purposes, and then for a short time with Fond du Lac county by an election of the people; but November 7, 1848, the county elected their own probate judge. This court has the settlement of dead men's estates, and its officers keep the records. It has now become a very important office, and its records are carefully housed in fireproof vaults. Judge A. A. Austin became the first judge of probate. Judge G. W. Washburn was ap- pointed to fill the unexpired term of Judge Hodges, who had been elected state prison commissioner in 1858, the term expiring in 1865; but April 5, 1864, Judge G. W. Washburn was elected to the office of judge of the tenth judicial circuit and resigned as judge of probate. Judge C. D. Cleveland, the present in- cumbent, was elected to the office in 1886, over twenty-two years ago, and has held the office the longest and is the most dis- tinguished of all its incumbents. The jurisdiction has been in- creased to take appeals from justices and with original jurisdic- tion in civil causes to large amounts.
The office of district attorney has been held by a number of men who have become distinguished at the bar. The term is two years. and Judge A. A. Austin seems to have caught the plum for a number of random terms, making twelve years in all. Judge G. W. Burnell got fastened in the place in 1876 and the farmers kept him there for six years, though he made several efforts to be a private citizen. W. F. McArthur was shot dead on the street in Neenah just at the close of his term in 1883. Then Hon. Silas Bullard, of Menasha, had the office for two years, when Henry Fitzgibbon, of Menasha, a Democrat, was elected. He was several times nominated by his party, but the county has been for many years Republican.
The office of county clerk has become now a very important position, and is ably filled by Mr. J. J. Fish, of Neenah, who can remain there as long as he will keep the place. Years ago when Mr. George F. Wright was first clerk in 1843 his duties were not very great and the office was in his pocket.
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BUILDING A COUNTY.
The registrar of deeds' office has been worth a fight to obtain for a good many years and has been filled by a good number of distinguished men. Clark Dickinson was the first registrar, in 1843, and it was possibly because he set things down by the short synopsis that the county board resolved that all instruments must be recorded verbatim. Samuel L. Brooks, an early settler and surveyor, was registrar 1845-46; Edgar Cronkhite, merchant and banker, in 1856; IIon. James II. Foster, pioneer and state senator, was registrar in 1858-60; Robert MeCurdy, state treasurer, was registrar in 1866, 1868 and 1870; John Strange, the large paper manufacturer of Menasha, was elected to the office in 1896 by an immense majority.
In the make-up of the county board it is easily the most repre- sentative body of men in the whole county. Originally in 1842 the township system prevailed, by which the board was composed of the three supervisors of the town of Winnebago, whose terri- tory was expanded to cover the county for this purpose. This system prevailed for five years until 1847, as the county until that time had but one town. Then in 1861 the assembly district sys- tem, by which a supervisor was elected from each assembly dis- trict, the members were elected biennially until 1866, when the members were elected for three years, one member being annually elected. This system was changed in 1870, constituting the chair- man of towns, and supervisors elected from the wards as the board, a system revived, that had prevailed from 1847 to 1862. There are now thirty-nine members; eighteen of these are town chairmen, and four supervisors elected from the city of Menasha, four from the city of Neenah and thirteen from the city of Osh- kosh, representing one from each ward in the cities. As this body equalizes the assessments of their respective civil areas each strive to send their strong men to save their town or city from being charged with more than its proportion of taxes for county and state purposes. It therefore becomes a strong and representative body of men. During the last sixty years this board has had as members from time to time nearly all the men who have become in after years distinguished by higher position or great deeds in commerce or civic life. There are nearly 2,000 members named in that long list, which contains almost a roster of the men of the county who have done things in building up its great commercial and agricultural prosperity and wealth.
After 1842 the county remained attached to Brown county for
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY ..
judicial purposes until, by the act of February 8, 1847, the county was organized for judicial purposes to form part of the third judicial circuit, and the county seat was again declared located at Oshkosh. The first session of the circuit court was to be held by Judge A. G. Miller in May, 1848. A clerk of court was ap- pointed and a grand jury drawn, who appeared and waited a week, but as the judge did not appear the jury were discharged. Chief Justice Alexander W. Stowe was elected and held the first term of court in the school house in the village of Oshkosh, October 16, 1848. The next year a term was held in the new office building erected in the corner of the court house square. Since 1865 all circuit judges have been residents of the city of Oshkosh-G. W. Washburn, D. J. Pulling and Judge G. W. Burnell.
The schools of the county were begun in 1841, when Miss Emeline Cook taught the first school in the county at the village of Oshkosh. Henry A. Gallup closed the school by marrying the teacher. The first school taught in Neenah was in 1847 and in Menasha in 1848. Mr. A. B. Foster taught school in a log cabin in the town of Nepeuskun in 1847 on section 8. In the same year a log school house was erected in Rushford with Mr. W. R. Man- ning as first teacher. In Winneconne a school house was built in 1848, and two years later a frame shanty was erected in the vil- lage, where the first school was opened by William Mumbrue. In Clayton Miss Amanda Ilicks taught in 1850, and Miss Lizzie Mc- Clean at Gillinghams Corner, Vinland, in 1849. A school house was built in 1846 near the present Boyd School in a district com- posed of Black Wolf, Nekimi and Algoma, with Eliza Case as first teacher. The first school in Omro was taught in the home of Myron IIowe in 1848 by Mrs. Abraham Quick. In the Gilman Lawd district Mrs. George Beckwith and Hanna Olin taught the first schools about 1847. The Wolf river schools were opened in 1858 by Mrs. Mary Hagers, and Miss Julia Jordan taught in Poygan in 1853. The Fish Corner, Utica, school was opened by Miss Kimball in 1848. These were the pioneer schools of a system that now thrives with great success over the county, and the scholars of these schools have taken high rank in the professional, civic and commercial world.
A building was completed during 1870 for a third State Normal School at Oshkosh, but, owing to lack of funds, was not opened for admission of pupils during that year. The opening and the
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ceremony of dedicating the building took place September 9, 1871. George S. Albee, A. M., was president. He had been principal of public schools at Racine and retained the position of president until his death. He was greatly honored and beloved by all who knew him. His successor, Prof. L. B. Halsey, endeared himself to students and faculty and was universally beloved by all the citi- zens of Oshkosh. The Oshkosh Normal has been a model college, very successful in its work, and always overcrowded with students. The sudden death of President Halsey in 1907 from the accidental discharge of a gun while out camping, in the hands of his own son, was a very sad occurrence. His death was felt to be a great loss to the state. Over 1,000 students attend the Normal College.
A law was passed in 1870 authorizing an additional state hos- pital for the insane. After an examination of several sites in dif- ferent parts of the state by commissioners appointed for that purpose, choice was made of the location offered by the citizens of Oshkosh, consisting of 337 acres of land, about four miles north of Oshkosh on Lake Winnebago. The necessary appropriation was made and the north wing and central buildings were com- pleted and opened for admission of patents in April, 1873. Fur- ther appropriations were made from time to time for additional wings and in 1875 the hospital was completed in accordance with original design at a total cost of $525,250. The building has been constructed on the most approved plan, suited to accommodate 550 patients, but does accommodate 650. In December, 1873, Dr. Walter Kemster, of Utica, N. Y., was elected superintendent as an expert alienist and continued to discharge the duties of that position with great skill until 1890. Dr. W. A. Gordon, "the sage of Winnebago," has been in charge of the hospital for twelve years. His careful, intelligent supervision has greatly improved the institution and the care of patients. His administration has become a national subject of praise and remark. Dr. Gordon is also a prose poet, a literary student and a celebrated essayist and after-dinner public speaker, his style partaking of the short para- graph or short sentence of epigrammatic character so much used by Carlyle.
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