History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People, Part 19

Author: Publius Virgilius Lawson
Publication date: 1948
Publisher: Chicago : C.F. Cooper
Number of Pages: 773

USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 19

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Dr. Gordon combines the emotions of a humanitarian with the routine duties of a public official and physician, and applies him- self faithfully to the care of the unfortunate placed in his charge. He not only sees to their wants, but takes delight in the better-

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ment of the pleasure grounds, the productions of the farm, the growing of trees, the stock and 2,000 fowl and all the economics possible. Some one sent him from Boston a report of a painting of a famous Paris doctor who several decades since caused the shackles to be struck from the insane under his care. Since then great changes have been made in the care of the insane and Dr. Gordon has made many advances. There is much necessary sys- tem in the care of so many under one roof, yet it is possible to individualize each case and give each their proper care. That Dr. Gordon has reduced the death rate of the institution 50 per cent is the best evidence of a watchful care. He has removed the "Keep off the grass" signs, laid out beautiful flower beds, made old cinder heaps into flower beds, turned surface ditches into lawns, made the back yard as handsome as the front, planted strawberries and berry bushes so that all the patients have their rich fresh fruit, when formerly only the officers had it. IIe has laid out a mile long walk and lined it with trees by meadow and lake, begun a menagerie where the pretty deer, badger and fox vie with the monkeys for attraction. All this beauty and amuse- ment with the out of doors is for the nature healing of the body and the restoration of the mind follows.' The outdoors at stated hours has been changed from "daylight to dark." All the fresh air possible as it sweeps in pure and sweet from the broad surface of Winnebago lake. One night several years ago the heat in the great building was intolerable. He could not sleep and made the rounds of the wards to learn the condition of his sick people. They were locked up in their little rooms off the wards with all their filth and odor and misery. The corridors were dark. No light could be had for fear of fire. Some of them in want of water had pounded great dents in their doors. It was a sure enough madhouse, and the conditions were bad enough to make a well person go mad. He made up his mind something must be done to change this wicked method of all-night imprisonment. He had the gas, which was the only light at that time, arranged outside the window so it would stream down the hall from a reflector; then they arranged lavatories on each corridor and had a tank of water ready at hand for drinking. The doors were ordered left unlocked. This humane arrangement it was feared might result in someone being injured by these irresponsible subjects; but no such results have followed. On the doors in some of these cham- ber cells can still be seen the hacks. mars and dents made by the

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imprisoned inmates calling for water or air. One day it was neces- sary to give a patient a hot bath. While attendants were making ready he thought he would assist to hurry along the arrange- ments by turning on the hot water in the iron bathtub. He noticed with the first flow of water there came a black mass of filth. An investigation discovered that the tubs had but one out- let for the waste water, which was the same orifice through which entered the clean water, and that a settling bend in this pipe caught the last outflow of filth which was flushed back into the basin with the incoming clean water. Such a sickening piece of plumbing should never have been installed, but it was what had been used for years. Some of these old iron tubs can still be seen piled in the basement and ought to be placed on exhibit with the thumbscrew of the Inquisition. They have now a bath house where the patients are laid on a board, thoroughly rubbed by two attendants working daily, so that each patient is attended to at least twice a week all the year round, and the water is not drawn from polluted sources but from extensive settling basins which have been recently installed. The patients are given, in addition to the regular and nutritious food served, such other healthy food as suits the taste of each patient-in fact, the sick are treated like guests rather than as factors in a systematic routine, and Dr. Gordon seeks their happiness and their restoration. Going down a corridor one night he noticed his steps echoed in the long uncar- peted floor and, being reminded that the guard made that journey every two minutes by a watch clock at each end, he had the store house searched and all the old carpets made up into narrow hall rugs, which are now rolled out every evening and laid away after daylight. He then saved $100 a month by combining a dozen din- ing rooms into one, and the meals are warm and fresh when served. Some of these dining rooms were almost a quarter of a mile from the kitchen.

The plumber had arranged the steam heating system, so that all the drip was carried back to the boiler through the ground, out of doors, reaching the boiler cold. He caused the whole sys- tem to be dipped on the reverse, and got the water back to the boiler at 154 degrees hot, thereby saving thousands to the state in fuel.

A few years since he had in the great conservatory of the asylum a century plant in bloom. The aged old plant had been cared for a half century, when it began to show signs of doing

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things, sent out a sprout which grew a foot in one day, and then for several weeks rapidly shot upwards to thirty-five feet in height. A hole was cut through the roof of the conservatory and a tower erected around the stalk with a stairway to the top for visitors. After several weeks the stalk died down, and the whole plant rotted away, never to bloom again. This summer, 1908, another century plant is in bloom at the asylum.

County Traveling Library.

The law authorizing the county traveling library was passed in 1901. Immediately after its passage Winnebago county adopted the system, and thus became the first county in the world to establish a library system. These libraries are sent to a central station in each town and crossroads, over ten thou- sand books are read each year. The county now has thirty libraries in circulation. Of the establishment of this system the Wisconsin Free Library Commission in their state report for April, 1901, said :

"After the passage of the above law, the county board of Winnebago county voted to establish a system of county travel- ing libraries in accordance with its provisions, and decided to appropriate $500 for the purchase of books. The Board of Libraries was appointed and included Hon. P. V. Lawson, of Menasha; L. E. Scott, of Neenah; R. E. Root, of Omro; Miss Lillian Kimball, of Oshkosh, and Mrs. L. E. Chapelle, of Eureka. The board met and organized April 10. Two officers of the com- mission were present at the request of the board, and will aid in the organization of the new system. Hon. P. V. Lawson, president of the Fox River Valley Library Association, and au- thor of the law, was made chairman of the board, and Miss Lillian Kimball, secretary. Miss Emily Turner, librarian of the public library at Oshkosh, was employed as librarian. Mr. Law- son stated that the heirs of the late E. D. Smith, of Menasha, had contributed fifteen traveling libraries of fifty volumes each, and that the Twentieth Century Club of Oshkosh would con- tribute $50 to purchase a traveling library, and E. P. Sawyer donated two libraries. Winnebago county has a population of 58,000; but 40,000 of its citizens live in cities having public libraries, of which one at least, the library in Menasha, is free to farmers in its vicinity. A few of the smaller villages are

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nearly ready to establish local libraries, and within a year or two every citizen of Winnebago county will have a free library near his home. We regard the experiment in Winnebago county as a. very hopeful one, and believe that many other counties in the state will follow so worthy and promising an example."

IT.

RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM W. WRIGHT. STYLED THE FATHER OF OSHKOSH. AND HIS WIFE, MARY ELIZ- ABETH. STYLED THE MOTHER OF OSHKOSH. OF THE EARLIEST BEGINNINGS OF SOCIAL. CIVIC AND RE- LIGIOU'S LIFE IN THE COUNTY AND THE CITY OF OSHKOSH. HAVING LIVED THROUGH THE CHANGES FROM A WILD FOREST TO A CIVILIZED COUNTRY AND THE CITY A MODERN EMPORIUM OF TRADE, TROBBING WITH THE LIFE OF MODERN COMMERCE.

Mr. William Wallace Wright came to Oshkosh in 1836. when there were but two other families there. and none of them dreamed of the coming city. He was born in Auburn, New York, July 7, 1819, a grandson of Dr. Thomas Wright. native of Dublin, Ireland, who came to America as a young man, just before the Revolution, offering his services to General Wash- ington, who appointed him one of the surgeons in his own command. Remaining with the army throughout its long strug- gle. he was finally appointed to rank of surgeon general. After the war he practiced his profession in New York City. owning a half acre of land. now included in the Trinity Church property. Here he married, by which union was born, January 1, 1779. George Wright. Dr. Wright died on the ocean while on a journey to claim his share of his father's estate. His widow sur- vived him many years. dying in Albany at a very old age. George Wright. their only son, received his education at Albany. New York, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He took up the trade of millwright. building mills through New York and Michigan, Canada and Wisconsin. He moved to Cleveland and Detroit in 1834, having previously married at Maulin's, New York. and removed to Auburn. where Hon. W. W. Wright was born in 1819. While at Detroit he was engaged to build a flour- ing mill at Depere. Wisconsin, and arrived there in 1836. The following September he engaged to erect a flour mill at Brother- town agency. across the lake, and began work on it in Novem- ber. 1836. Their journey up river passed Winnebago Rapids has

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been described under Neenah. Mr. Hotchkiss took Mr. George Wright and his son, W. W. Wright, then a young man of seven- teen, from Depere up the rapids of the Fox river, and over the lake in a large rowboat, propelled by six Brothertown In- dians, with one at the helm. They procured the assistance of Menominee to get over the rapids at Neenah. That winter Mr. George Wright, having heard of the beautiful lands near the mouth of the river at unnamed Oshkosh, crossed the lake to ex- amine the country. Concluding to locate there, he returned to Brothertown, where he procured material for building, and hired an Indian to transport it over the lake. The same year he finished the mill at Brothertown, and returned to New York for his family, with whom he arrived on the site of Oshkosh in February, 1838, and moved into his new house, the third one erected in Oshkosh. IIere Mr. Wright took a squatter's claim of 156 acres, which he subsequently entered, on which Oshkosh stands, being the first ward and part of the fourth. Governor Henry Dodge appointed Mr. George Wright justice of the peace. It was in the kitchen of his house that the election was held to give the name to Oshkosh in the winter of 1839-40, participated in by all the white men, creoles and several Indians. The house stood in the wilderness opposite the present high school build- ing on the site of the late George W. Pratt's residence on Algoma street. Squire Wright died there, March 30, 1841. He was mar- ried to Electa Whitney, born at Salem, New York, February 19, 1783, daughter of Captain John Whitney, a native of Ridgefield, Massachusetts, who had entered the Revolution as a private and was promoted to captain. She died at the home in Oshkosh February 10, 1847. Their children were George F., William Wal- lace, Philip V., Electa W., who became Mrs. Rhodes, and Hen- rietta A., who married Tim E. ('rane, the lumberman. By the will of Squire Wright the estate was divided among the three sons. Mr. George F. Wright took some interest in promoting the town, and with Albert Lull and others undertook to build a railroad to the southwest through Ripon. the road since under the control of the C., M. & St. P. Ry. Mr. Philip V. Wright also took an active part in building up the town and moved to Cali- fornia in 1877, for his health, and died there.

Mr. Stanley, who had the first house in Oshkosh, lived to see a city grow up about him ; but derived no substantial benefit and moved away about 1870. Mr. Chester Gallup, who located lands near by, died in 1849, leaving the lands to the sons, Henry,

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John and Amos. The latter moved to Missouri, and the other brothers soon sold their lands and moved onto adjoining farms; but remained always identified with the interests of Oshkosh and are men kindly remembered by the pioneer.

William Wallace Wright, the father of Oshkosh, was born in Auburn, New York, July 7, 1819, where he received the chief part of his education, then followed his father to Wisconsin, at- tending school at Green Bay, and in 1836, at seventeen years of age, located in Oshkosh. Here in the forest he opened a trader's cabin, dealing in the merchandise of a country store, and dealing in real estate. From the estate of Squire Wright he had 106 acres between Main and Jackson, and the river and Irving, and had surveyed in 1847 a plat of town lots known as "W. W. Wright's additions," extending from Algoma street to the river. The lands originally owned by Squire Wright extended from the river north to Irving street, between Main and Wisconsin street, embracing the heart of the city now. Mr. W. W. Wright con- tinued to farm the uplands; but from time to time platted them into city lots as the town advanced, and disposed of the lots. In 1866 he purchased Stony Beach, a tract of seventy-one acres, and the water front was platted and sold in lots on which thirty- four summer cottages have been erected, making an attractive and pleasant summer settlement, within a few minutes' ride of town on Interurban cars running every fifteen minutes. Mr. W. W. Wright was the first treasurer of the town and county of Winnebago. He has been alderman and held other offices. In the M. E. Church Society "he has held every office except pastor."

Mr. W. W. Wright was married July 23, 1843, at the residence of Thomas Evans, at the foot of Washington street in Oshkosh, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Evans, daughter of Daniel and Mary Evans, born in 1823, in Geauga county, Ohio, educated in the village of Parkman, and in 1842 moved to Oshkosh with her brother Thomas. Mrs. Wright is living in the home at Stony Beach in fine possession of her faculties, and quite vigorous in body and now at 85 years of age, making a garden with her own hands and can cook a supper as well as many younger people. While working in her garden the past summer, a shower came up when she was reminded to go in under shelter of the house; but she continued at her work in the garden, re- marking she "was old enough to know when to go in out of the rain." She holds now a singular place in the great city, merg-

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ing into 40,000 population, of having seen it grow up about her. She came to the site of Oshkosh half a dozen years before there was a platted lot in it. And the town has grown around her, spreading out for miles in every direction. She is now the mother of Oshkosh, alone the only one of all her friends in the county living who were here when she arrived. Their children are: Walter W., George Frederick, Frank E., Edward E., New- ton G., Mary A., wife of Mr. Dudley Fernandez; Ida May, wife of Dr. W. H. Titus; Nellie K., the artist, and Miss Jeanette A.

First Days In Oshkosh.

On his eightieth birthday, W. W. Wright related to a "North- western" reporter how he found Oshkosh: "I worked in Broth- ertown until February, 1837. I then crossed on the ice on Lake Winnebago, in company with my father, and came here to reside, taking up a homestead of 120 acres in the present First Ward. Our farm was located in a kind of clearing among scattered timber lands, and we erected our house or cabin of hewn logs on the spot on Algoma street, where the residence of Hon. George W. Pratt now stands. I married Miss Mary Elizabeth Evans July 23, 1843. We were wedded on the lake shore by Rev. Cut- ting Marsh, the missionary to the Stockbridges."

Mr. W. W. Wright died March 24, 1903, at his home in Osh- kosh, aged 84. For a number of years he had contributed pioneer recollections to the "Northwestern," some of which we reprint here, with slight changes to save repetition and connect them :

The Beginnings of Religious Meetings.

"The first meeting of a Methodist class was held in Oshkosh, near the mouth of the river, in the summer of 1839, under the leadership of Rev. Clark Dickinson, a local M. E. preacher. Mr. Dickinson lived in the town of Black Wolf. In the fall of 1840, the first organization was formed by Rev. Jesse Halsted, a traveling preacher of the Methodist Society. It was known as the Methodist class, and was composed of six members. The leader was Ida Aikin. Mrs. Aikin, Rachel Aikin, Mrs. George Wright (the speaker's mother), Mrs. Anna Brooks and Mrs. Thelka Ford were the original members of the class. On April 11, Rev. Gallup, a traveling preacher of the Rock River circuit, embracing Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, preached the first

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sermon and made regular visitations every four weeks to Osh- kosh.

These meetings were usually held at the homes of the mem- bers, a large number occurring at the home of Mrs. Fleming. In 1844 Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Wright organized the first Sunday school in a grove, where the house of Dr. G. M. Steele now stands. The first class sat upon a log, under the shade of an oak tree. Of that class there are only four who survive and none reside in Oshkosh. The Sunday school, however, which was begun at that time has been continued ever since. In 1848, a school house was built upon the place now occupied by the Atheran Hotel, and in that building meetings were held until the court house was built, after which that was the place for services. In 1850 Mr. W. W. Wright donated the land now occupied by the First Presbyterian Church to the First M. E. Society of Oshkosh and a church 30x42 was erected. Later it was enlarged to meet the increasing needs and afterward sold, and the present building erected. In 1852, when Rev. M. Hinebaugh was pastor of the little church at the corner of Church and Division streets, the ladies' society had raised money enough to purchase a new car- pet, and on the next Sunday Rev. Hinebaugh called attention to the fact in the following language: "Brothers and Sisters : You will see what our good women have done. We have our church all fixed up now. It is nice and clean and we want to keep it so. To the men who use tobacco I want to say, when you come to church hereafter, before you enter the building, you take your quid out and put it on a stone or a chip, so as not to dirty the floor. The quid will be all right; no dog or no hog will touch it."

First Sabbath School on a Log.

"In the spring of 1844, the first Sabbath school was organ- ized, consisting of Superintendent W. W. Wright, assisted by my wife, also teachers. The school was opened on a large fallen tree whose location was in the woods at now Algoma street in front of Doctor Steele's present residence. At that time the same site was occupied by a small frame house owned by Wm. Wright .. The school was composed of six children, five males and one female. Also one adult besides the superintendent. Names of children were Nelson Allen, Albert Allen, George Stanley, Henry Stanley, Charles Libel and Malinda Stanley. They were all

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seated on the big log, and each one was furnished with a testa- ment, from which they read a lesson, as no one had learned any lesson to repeat from memory, and then the superintendent would explain as best he could what had been read. Two or three hymns were sung, and a prayer offered up to God for His bles- sing on this Sabbath school. Lessons were given out for the next Sabbath school, and the school dismissed. Thus was organ- ized the first beginning of Sabbath school in Winnebago county.

Pioneers.

"The first meeting of the county board was held May 1, 1843, in the house of George F. Wright, brother of W. W. Wright, a log house that stood until 1874, a few rods west of the residence of Dr. Titus on Algoma street." Before Winnebago county was organized for judicial purposes Mr. W. W. Wright was sum- moned in 1841, to appear at the court house in Depere, then the county seat of Brown county, on October 12, 1841, to serve as juryman for the term, Judge Miller presiding, as appears by the diary of Mr. Wright. Evans Brothers came west May, 1838, Chester Ford in 1839. August, 1838, old Chas. Grignon put up a log house on bank of river near upper bridge and lived in it until his death. Robt. Grignon lived on what is now called Sunset Point on Lake Butte des Morts, and was living there in 1836, when I first came here. My first acquaintance with Wm. Powell was in 1839. Ira F. Aiken came here in the spring of 1841. Joseph Jackson came here to live from Kenosha in 1840. Jason Wilkins, a tailor, came in the spring of 1840. Dr. Chris- tian Linde came in- 1842.

First Wheat Raised.

"Nothing whatever was raised here in the way of provisions until the summer of 1837, when Chester Gallup raised one acre of winter wheat, sown in the fall of 1836, and a patch of corn, potatoes and a few other vegetables. Mr. Stanley also raised a few vegetables during the same year, as did my father and myself. Provisions of all kinds were expensive. I well remem- ber the first barrel of pork my father bought in Green Bay and paid $40 in cash for it. Also two barrels of flour for which he paid $20 each, and they were not very good at that, being shipped from Buffalo, N. Y. Our supply of potatoes we bought

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in Brothertown at $2 per bushel. Our houses were not very elaborately furnished, as not much furniture was brought from the east owing to the excessively high freight charges, and nothing of the kind was manufactured nearer than Green Bay, and such a luxury was too expensive for most of the settlers to indulge in.

Household Furniture.

"The consequence was that many articles of household furni- ture, such as common chairs and bedsteads for the boys to sleep upon, were manufactured from such materials as could be ob- tained from the woods. The nearest flouring mill was located at Grand Kaukauna, and operated by a French half breed. The long distance made it very difficult to get there with our grain, especially in the summer time. In the winter we could travel much easier, as we went on the ice with horse and ox teams. I well remember going to the above mentioned mill with our neighbor, C. J. Coon, with oxen and sleds and twenty bushels of wheat each. It was in the month of January, and it was bitter cold. A severe northwest wind was blowing in our faces, and we were compelled to exercise ourselves by running and pounding each other and 'whaling' our oxen to keep from freez- ing. Finally we reached the foot of the lake, after an almost endless tramp on the ice.

"The whole day was consumed in reaching the mill, and you can imagine our disappointment, when we learned upon arriving there that the mill was frozen up and no grinding could be done. The next nearest mill was located at Green Bay. Feeling much chagrined over our painful disappointment, we put up for the night at Pete Pendleton's, a half breed darkey, who lived in the vicinity. Upon arising the next morning we summoned new courage and set off for Green Bay. We traveled all day, and at last, after experiencing much hardship, reached there. The mill at that place was located at what was known at that time as Devil River. We stopped here for the evening and in the morning we got our flour and started for home, which was reached upon the second day, just at nightfall.

"Sometimes in the late winter and early spring the supply of flour would get at low ebb in the settlement, and under the stress of circumstances it was amusing and interesting to notice the solution of our difficulties. Borrowing was often resorted

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to. I remember one time when no flour could be had on account of the mills being frozen up, and at last the whole visible sup- ply of flour in the settlement was consumed. We, however, in those days, never became discouraged, and in order to supply the necessary bread, resort was had to coffee mills, of which there was a goodly supply. Our own family made flour, grind- ing wheat in coffee mills for nearly a month before we could get a supply from the mill. I have spent many an evening turning the coffee mill to make flour for the morrow, and my wife would bolt it with a fine sieve. It was not quite as fine as our flour at the present day, but it made very good bread and bis- cuit, and served the purpose equally as well. In those days we were never troubled greatly with smut in the wheat, and the only way we could get rid of it was by washing and thoroughly drying it in the sun.

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History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People, Part 19

Author: Publius Virgilius Lawson Publication date: 1948 Publisher: Chicago : C.F. Cooper Number of Pages: 773

Author: Publius Virgilius Lawson
Publication date: 1948
Publisher: Chicago : C.F. Cooper
Number of Pages: 773