USA > Wisconsin > Brown County > History of Brown County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 14
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Judge Cotton declined reelection after serving a term of six years. llis successors, Edwin Wheeler and Garum W. Washburn, were neither of them Brown county men or identified with its interests. They were followed by Ezra Thompson Sprague who took his seat at the May term of 1870. Judge Sprague was a resident of De Pere, and a respected jurist. He was considered by the Brown county bar an able lawyer, and sound although slow in his deci- sions. In 1871, Eleazer Holmes Ellis of Green Bay was elected to the bench in the tenth judicial circuit. Judge Ellis, a son of Albert G. Ellis, one of the earliest and best known, of the first American settlers, was a native of Brown
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
county and thoroughly familiar with conditions and people throughout his cir- cuit. Ile served satisfactorily for eight years when he resigned his office to resume the practice of law.
Judge Ellis' retirement from the bench was much regretted. His satisfactory public service and high private character had won for him esteem throughout the state and county. His long and honorable career closed in December, 1906.
George Henry Meyers of Outagamie county was the successor of Judge Ellis in the tenth judicial circuit, holding office until 1883, when the legislature created the fourteenth judicial circuit out of the counties of Brown, Door, Marinette and Oconto. The election for judge was held on the first Tuesday in May, 1883. and resulted in the choice of Samuel Dexter Hastings, who by repeated reelections continues to be judge. The boundaries of Judge Hastings' circuit were changed in 1911, owing to the great increase in the amount of business coming before the court, Oconto was placed in another circuit, the fourteenth. now comprising the counties of Brown, Kewannee and Door.
His long service on the bench, the soundness of his decisions and the fact that his services on the supreme bench in Wisconsin have been desired, are suf- ficient comment on his ability, both as a lawyer and jurist.
On May 1, 1904, a municipal court was established in the county of Brown, of which Nicholas J. Monahan, a member of the Brown county bar and a resident of Green Bay, was elected judge. The business of the court has increased rapidly, a juvenile court having been added to the duties assumed by Judge Monahan, and in which he has done efficient service.
Judges of Brown county court: Matthew Irwin, John Biddle, Jacques Por- lier, John Lawe, Nicholas G. Bean, Joel S. Fisk, George Meredith, Charles C. P. Arndt, John P. Arndt, Charles Chapman, David Agry. John Last, John P. Arndt, David Agry, Morgan L. Martin, Howard J. Huntington, Carlton Mer- rill.
Judges of circuit court : James Duane Doty, David Irvin, William C. Frazer. Andrew G. Miller, Alexander W. Stowe, Timothy O. Howe, Stephen R. Cot- ton, Edwin Wheeler, Garum W. Washburn, Ezra T. Sprague, E. Holmes Ellis, George H. Myers, Samuel D. Hastings.
( References for Chapter X: Thompson, Political History of Wisconsin ; Berryman, Bench and Bar of Wisconsin ; Minute Book of Brown County Court ; Circuit Court Record Book ; Martin papers, MSS.)
CHAPTER XI
NEW YORK INDIANS AND ELEAZER WILLIAMS
The coming of the American troops in 1816, not only gave impetus to the growth of the newly acquired territory at the head of Green Bay, but also drew the attention of practical eastern men to the extensive tracts of land still owned by Indian tribes, in the west. The New York Land Company, whose chief incorporator was Thomas W. Ogden, in order to open for sale the fer- tile stretches of country in the Mohawk valley owned by the Oneida, Tuscarora, and other nations, conceived the plan of purchasing these lands and removing the several tribes of the six nations to lands about La Baye.
Negotiations for the transference of at least a part of these Indians to the west were begun in 1820 when on the 7th of July the United States cutter "Dallas" brought to Green Bay, Reverend Jedidiah Morse, D. D., of New Haven, who had been commissioned by President Monroe to make a report on the condition of the western tribes, in view of the proposed removal. He gave a favorable report of the tract lying along Fox river, and in 1821, Eleazer Wil- liams, belonging to the St. Regis tribe, and who had become deeply interested in the scheme, traveled westward to Green Bay with a delegation of Oneidas, Onondagas, Tuscaroras, and Stockbridges, their object being to treat with the Menominees and Winnebagoes for a cession of their territory.
Previous to 1821 and in that year especially, the government of the United States took active and efficient measures to facilitate the purchase of a tract of land in the Northwestern territory for the accommodation and future set- tlement of the eastern Indians. It was desired by the government that these friendly Indians, who had made considerable advances in civilization and improve- ment, might be placed in a distant outpost where they might serve to check or harmonize the disaffected or hostile savages of that region. The attachment shown by the New York tribes during the War of 1812 was also given as an additional reason for the extension to them of the fostering care of the govern- ment.
Dr. Jedidiah Morse was an eminent Congregational divine, the best Ameri- can geographer of his time, and the father of the inventor of the telegraph. He remained as the guest of Colonel Joseph Lee Smith, the commandant at Ford Howard, from July seventh to twenty-third, 1820, and received many pleas- ant courtesies from the government officials and residents of the place. In an interview with three chiefs of the Menominee nation, he laid before them the plan proposed by the government. With one of the chiefs, Sa-que-tack (Very Good-natured), he held a conference on the parade ground at Fort How- ard, stating to him the design of the government to teach the Indians "agri- culture and the arts and how to live and dress like the white people." The
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chief smiled. "It will look droll," said he, "to see Indians in such a situation. We are willing," he added. "to receive these blessings if others will." (Rpt. to Sec. of War, by Rev. J. Morse. )
Dr. Morse says that Sa-que-tack's village of only thirty-six souls was on Green Bay three miles below Fort Howard, their food being fish, wild fowl, wild rice and corn.
The questions were put to them whether they would be willing to collect together in one place large enough to accommodate each family with a farm ; to cultivate the earth ; have schools for their children, and live as white people live. They were informed that Mr. Williams and a number of the chiefs of the six nations were on their way to Green Bay, to look out for a place of set- tlement. "Should these delegates be pleased with the country." they were asked, "will you sell, or give them lands on which they may settle?" The Menominees hesitated. They were at the time very anxious over an unau- thorized treaty strongly opposed by the acknowledged chiefs of the nation, which had been concluded by Colonel Bowyer, the Green Bay Indian agent. for the purchase by government of a large tract of their most valued land on both sides of Fox river. This treaty was afterwards annulled: for Dr. Morse in his government report characterized it "an attempt of wicked speculators to defraud them of their valued lands" and represented the matter so forcibly to President Monroe that he assumed the responsibility of rejecting the treaty without even submitting it to the senate.
In the winter of 1819-20 Eleazer Williams, a missionary to the Oneidas in New York, obtained from the war department permission to visit during the following summer "the barbarous tribes living in the vicinity of Green Bay," but not until 1821 did the ambitions and zealous leader succeed in accomplish- ing the design of bringing west a delegation of eastern Indians.
On August 8, 1821, a rather vague treaty was made with the Wisconsin Indians for a strip of land five miles or less wide having the Little Kakalin as its center, and extending northwest and southeast as far as the Menominees and Winnebagoes held the land. These tribes at the time owned nearly all the region that is now Wisconsin.
By no means satisfied with this treaty, that part of the Oneidas opposed to the transference of their nation to the west openly repudiated this purchase. They sent an address to Bishop Hobart of New York denouncing Williams as one who was scheming to deprive them of their homes and who would in the end make them wanderers and vagabonds. Despite all opposition, however, the promoters of immigration rallied to the support of their pet project, and on September 1, 1822, the Reverend Eleazer Williams and his assistant, Albert G. Ellis, with a representation of Indians much larger than that of the preced- ing year, entered the mouth of Fox river in the staunch new schooner "Superior."
"The sun," wrote General Ellis many years after, "coming up in majestic splendor gilded the shores of the river and the hamlet of Green Bay with light and beauty. Both banks for five or six miles were dotted with the settlers' cabins which were uniformly whitewashed with lime and in the bright morn- ing sun at a mile's distance shone like balls of fire. The scene was a perfect enchantment."
Williams took possession of the agency house, formerly the residence of
ELEAZER WILLIAMS, LOST DAUPHIN
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THE NAVY} PUBLIC LIBRARY
AMICA, L-NOX TILDEN N'Y 1
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
Colonel Bowyer on the north bank of Dutchman's Creek, where it empties into Fox river. News of the arrival of the delegation having been sent to the dif- ferent tribes, the Winnebagoes and Menominees at once began to assemble, in order to receive from the New York Indians the fifteen hundred dollars' worth of goods promised them in the treaty of the preceding year. They gath- ered to the number of three or four thousand; the braves in their gay tog- gery of beaded buckskin with gaudy blankets hanging loosely from the waist ; the papooses and meager camp equipage packed on small ponies ; the squaws patiently trudging in the rear. A village of mat-covered lodges sprang up almost in a single night on the level plain north of the agency house where in the presence of Colonel Pinckney, and other officers from the garrison and French residents from the town, the council convened.
The Winnebagoes almost immediately repudiated the treaty, declaring that their land was already overrun with white men, and they had no mind to share with others the little that remained of their once wide territory. Before leav- ing the council, however, they consented to give a war dance for the diver- sion of the visitors, and a circle was formed, the hollow space in the center filled with dancers, drummers and singers. The drum made from an old keg or hollow log was beaten with ceaseless monotony, and in addition the players used a reed pipe of their own invention not unlike a flageolet, from which they drew a plaintive harmony touching beyond description. The little band of white men occupied the inner ring, while on the outside of the circle were massed hundreds of savages lying, leaning, standing, daubed with paint of every tint. and with one, two or as many as twenty eagle's quills stuck upright in the hair.
A score of stalwart young Winnebagoes without a thread of clothing save a breech eloth, painted in gorgeous colors with circles of red, green and blue around the eyes, and armed with spears and tomahawks, began at a given signal the pantomimic description of war. First, the crafty seizing of the tomahawk, then the discovery of the enemy, the shooting and scalping-all so well enacted that the spectators could easily understand the import of their wild and savage movements. The excitement gradually increased until all the par- ticipants were in motion, dancing, singing, shouting, yelling, dangling metal- lic rods; at one time humming a sort of chant in a low bass monotone, then suddenly passing after a wild disjointed interval into a sharp scream made tremulous by placing the fingers on the lips and repeated every two or three minutes. With their bodies naked except for the covering of paint and their feathered erowns they seemed as they darted back and forth brandishing their death weapons more like demons than men.
None could endure the sight unappalled, for the Winnebagoes were at that time the most warlike of Wisconsin tribes, quick to revenge fancied injury and requiring in recompense five lives for one. This was however a peaceful exhibition of their powers: with the last war whoop silently and swiftly they moved away, and while horror of the weird spectacle still thrilled the onlook- ers, the camp was struck and the Indians were off for the winter hunt.
The Menominees remained and after much parley were induced to give "the Stockbridge, Oneida, Tuscarora, St. Regis and Munsee nations. * * all right title, interest and claim" which they themselves had previously pos-
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sessed to an immense tract whose southern and eastern limits were the mouth of the Milwaukee river and the Bay de Noque. The northern boundary was the height of land between Lakes Michigan and Superior, the western indefi- nite. The consideration was "a thousand dollars in goods to be paid the next year," and a similar amount the year following. The Menominees reserved the right, "the free permission and privilege of occupying and residing upon the lands herein ceded."
In giving his approval. March 13, 1823, to this treaty President Monroe limited the rights of the eastern Indians to "that portion of the country therein described which lies between Sturgeon Bay, Green Bay, Fox river and that part of the former purchase made by the said tribes * which lies south of Fox river." All this land was at the time included in Brown county.
The Oneida delegates made their headquarters at the little Kakalin or Lit- tle Rapids, a beautiful and romantic situation on Fox river. Here in the fol- lowing summer or autumn a small party of their people under the leader- ship of Neddy Atsiquet formed a settlement. This increased until in 1825 it numbered as many as one hundred and fifty persons, who uniting with the largest company of the nation that had vet come on from New York, estab- lished the tribal home within the present Oneida reservation.
The Stockbridge and Brothertown Indians settled on the shores of Lake Winnebago, at that day a part of Brown county, but as Outagamie was set off in 1851, the later history of these Indians belongs to that county.
Eleazer Williams, whose claim to being a son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, developed under the fostering influence of Reverend John Han- son into a decided cult, was one of the most interesting and remarkable men who came here at an early day. A descendant of the New England captive, Eunice Williams, who was carried off by savages after the fatal massacre at Deerfield in 1704, there is enough mystery enshrouding Eleazer's early years to render him a fit subject for romance, and his story has been rehearsed in narrative, drama and historical writings. At the time of his advent into the little settlement on Fox river, he was something over thirty years old, and although characterized by the brisk New Englanders of Menomineeville as an idle, untrustworthy fellow, had during preceding years accomplished more and seen more of real life than had the majority of his critics. His father. Thomas Williams, was a protege of the English Tories in New York and later became the trusted friend of the Americans during the Revolution.
The mother of Thomas Williams, Eunice, who as a child of three with her brother, John, had been carried to the wilds of Canada by the Indians of that region, never returned to her New England family. Her brother was redeemed, and one after another the captives who had been driven like sheep from the little town of Deerfield on that terrible night in 1704. found their way back to their native country. but Eunice Williams through one delay after another remained with her adopted parents among the Indian tribes. They were kind to her and made much of her. She grew up in Indian fashion, in the free life of a Cana- dian forest, was baptized into the Roman Catholic church, and married finally a young chief of the St. Regis tribe. Her New England relatives never gave her up; they followed her fortunes with interest ; she was visited from time to time by different members of the family who urged her to return with them
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
to Massachusetts, but she could now choose for herself and she steadily refused to give up her church and her people. She did finally consent to make a visit in New England, and there the large Williams connection surrounded her and begged her not to return, but she had grown to love the Indian life; in fact, knew no other, and the narrow round of a small Puritan town was little to her liking. She was bound by marriage ties and by her children and was happy in her Caughnawaga home.
On the wide St. Lawrence lies the Indian town of St. Regis. It is on the extreme northern edge of the New York boundary. The river is very broad at this part and is dotted by beautiful wooded islands.
A scattered hamlet of Indian cabins clings to the stony, sparsely cultivated hillside which slopes to the blue majestic river. On the one straggling, rocky street stands the parish church and home of the resident priest, picturesque, irregular structures, and around the priest's house extends a fine well culti- vated garden. The parish register still holds many of the Williams name, for in this encampment of Mohawk Indians Thomas Williams lived in later life. The place was familiar to Eleazer during the years following the War of 1812, and at Hogansburg, six miles distant, he spent his last days.
All this portion of country was occupied by the St. Regis tribe when Thomas Williams lived among them. The little parish church at Caughnawaga, some miles farther down the St. Lawrence, holds the names of Thomas' children, who one after the other were brought to the priest to be baptized. Only one among these is missing; that of Eleazer or "Lazar," as he was called among his French and Indian associates. He was a handsome lad, and when at the age of fourteen his New England kinsmen wrote asking that Lazar and his brother John be sent them to be educated, the Indian mother gladly gave consent. The two boys were placed with Nathaniel Ely of Longmeadow and for a year lived together there, but at the end of that time John was eager to return home, and Eleazer was left alone under the tuition of Mr. Ely.
The boy was looked upon by his teacher and the Massachusetts relatives as promising in every way. His journal kept at this time shows no evidence of insincerity or double dealing ; just the daily record of a young fellow eager to see all he could of what there was of interest in the life about him. Because of his adaptability and keen observation he was selected by General Macomb during the War of 1812 to carry official messages for the army stationed around Plattsburg- an exciting and somewhat dangerous position, which he filled to the entire satisfaction of the general. Williams was at this time much with his father, who also was employed by the American troops.
Eleazer drifted at the close of the war into mission work among the Oneida Indians in New York. The "People of the Stone" were exceptionally intelligent and were well organized and orderly, although a warlike tribe. They were delighted with Williams who came among them as schoolmaster, cate- chist and lay reader in 1816.
The son of a chief of the Iroquois nation, he appealed to their national pride and gained moreover great influence through his familiarity with their language and customs. They were proud of this handsome, agreeable, talented young man of their own people, and even after long years of misunderstand- ings and misappropriation of funds it was said in Wisconsin that he could
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
"make the Indians believe that black was white" if so he chose. To him was entrusted the superintendence of republishing the translation of the scriptures in the Mohawk language made nearly a century before, and the task was per- formed so well that he received high commendation from Bishop Hobart of the New York diocese.
When the scheme was proposed of removing westward the Oneidas and other tribes of the Iroquois nation Williams undoubtedly hoped to form in this new and extended territory a confederation similar to that effected by the five nations in early New York, and of this powerful league he dreamed that he might become the head chief-the sachem. In this he was encouraged by the Ogden Land Company, eager to get possession of the rich tract belonging to the New York tribes. There was however a part of the Oneidas who were resolutely opposed to the plan of removal and these refused to accept the treaty of 1822.
While the Oneidas were still encamped at Little Rapids during the winter of 1822-23, Williams and his coadjutor, A. G. Ellis, lived in exceeding com- fort in the agency house in Ashwaubenon. Through the courtesy of Colonel Ninian Pinckney in command at Fort Howard, Williams was permitted to occupy this government building free of charge. The buildings were some- what extensive and very comfortable, with a large room suitable for school purposes, where for a brief time a school was conducted by Ellis, consisting for the most part of the children from the fort and a few of the French youngsters, none of the Indians, although the school was especially designed for them, being under the supervision of the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society. Williams at this time also conducted regular religious services at Fort Howard, for there was no resident chaplain there, and not a place of worship or priest in the whole settlement.
The school came abruptly to an end by the decision of Williams to marry one of his pupils, a young girl belonging to an early French family, Madeline Jourdain.
The home of the Jourdains was still standing in 1880, a low log structure pic- turesque in its odd proportions, and occupying lots 4, 5 and 6 on block 6. The Joseph Jourdain tract confirmed by Commissioner Lee in 1821, contained about two acres and fronted on Fox river. When the plat of Astor was made in 1835, the Astors had no title to this tract and it was not platted. It is now a part of Astor but in all land transfers is described by metes and bounds. Diag- onally across the river lived Judge Jacques Porlier, and from this house the magistrate was summoned on an evening in March, 1823, to perform the mar- riage ceremony for Eleazer Williams and Madeline Jourdain. The little bride was only fourteen, and it was said in the gossip of the time, not a willing party to the contract. Judge Porlier had known the Williams family long before in Canada, when Williams was a child and living at St. Regis with his father and mother.
Not long after the marriage of Madeline Jourdain the Menominee nation to which she belonged deeded to the handsome girl as a wedding dower a large tract of land on Fox river, including the first camping place of the Oneidas at Little Rapids. Here Williams built a comfortable log house and lived for many years. His connection with the Oneidas continued until about
THE OLD JOURDAIN HOUSE
NEAR THIS SPOT
STOOD THE CHAPEL OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER BUILT IN THE WINTER OF 1671-72 BY
FATHER CLAUDE ALLOUEZ SJ. AS THE CENTRE OF HIS WORK IN CHRISTIANISING THE INDIANS OF WISCONSIN. THIS MEMORIAL TABLET
WAS ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF DE PERE AND UNVEILED BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN SEPTEMBER 6. 1899.
TABLET TO FATIIER ALLOUEZ AND MISSION OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER
THE NEW TORF PUBLIC LIBRARY
AUTOR, LENAX 4M TILDEN FOLABATTONO.
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
1843. when it was definitely severed, the chiefs repudiating him finally as their representative in any negotiation. Yet the feeling toward him among his own people was quite different from the decidedly prejudiced view of his character taken by many of the white settlers at Green Bay. The old chief Skenandoah, the last great chief of the Oneidas, said that "Williams was a fine man, a very fine man, but his pocket had no bottom." He was simply a child in business dealings, with much of the Indian love of display and rather large talk, but he was absolutely temperate in an age when dissipation ran riot.
In appearance Williams was distinguished and dignified. Mrs. John Kin- zie, of Fort Dearborn, who met him in 1830, says he looked more like a Span- iard than an Indian, with the courtly manners of a born Frenchman. Rev- erend Franklin R. Haff, of Oshkosh, a prominent clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, though not liking Williams' shifty methods, remembered him as a mnost agreeable companion, and it is probable that had Prince de Join- ville never visited Green Bay and brought Williams into prominence through his attentions, the fine looking, easy going Creole would have passed his life peacefully and uneventfully in his home at Little Kakalin.
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