USA > Wisconsin > Brown County > History of Brown County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 43
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The first German sermon was preached in the old Presbyterian church, corner Crooks and Adams streets by Rev. Otto Tank. Later Rev. Fett preached in German in the then newly built Moravian church, facing Jackson square. The German Catholics worshiped in a small frame church on the site of Allouez cemetery. The building burned down after a Christmas midnight mass.
In 1850 The "British Queen," an English steamer on her first voyage, brought many Germans, happy in the thought of meeting their dear ones in Brown county. Storms delayed the voyage, so that after thirty-eight days on the ocean, the steamer found refuge on the coast of New Foundland, landing at New York a few days later. A smaller steamer carried the tired passengers up the beautiful Hudson river to Albany, then came an eleven day's journey on a canal-boat to Buffalo, New York, where a few days were passed awaiting the "Michigan," the only steamer plying between Buffalo and Green Bay and then but once a month. The landing of the steamer was always welcomed by crowds of villagers gathering on the shore. The voyage on the canal-boat was both uncomfortable and dangerous. Iron rails furnished beds and on previous voyages two lives were crushed out by "low bridge." Those who missed the steamer walked through forests, rode a stretch, then walked again, the walk being from Manitowoc to Green Bay through woods where Indians lurked. Baggage of feather-beds and clothing was left in a warehouse at Manitowoc, from whence it was hauled on sleds after creeks and marshes were frozen over.
In the loneliness of the woods and village these Christian people spent their lives, their enjoyment being a visit with friends, a book which some one had thoughtfully packed for the long voyage, the Bible and song-book.
Lured to a far-away land by exaggerated tales they toiled in garden and home, cleared away the forests or worked at a trade while the village grew into a city, the woods into farms. Their motto:
"Honest joy, honest sorrow,
Honest work for the day, honest hope for the morrow."
AUGUSTA MILLER.
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Among the well known old German-Americans of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is Gerhard Bong, fire insurance agent and notary public. He landed in New York on a small sail vessel, named "Alberta," from Antwerp seaport, on the 3d day of June, 1857, at the age of sixteen. The "Alberta" was one of the first boats that landed its passengers at the "Cassel Garden," which building had been erected by a German society of New York for the sole purpose of furnish- ing a safe "landing place" for German emigrants, and for their protection against the thieves and cutthroats, so numerous at emigrant landing places in New York at that time. In 1859 G. Bong came to Green Bay, and in the course of a few years' residence here, made the acquaintance of many of the earlier German-Americans, especially during the twelve years when he was public officer of the city and county, from 1874 to 1886. Among these Germans was Paul Fox, father of Bishop Fox. He came to Green Bay in 1841. Joseph Fohrmann, a merchant, came about 1847. Jacob July, father of Rev. N. July, came here in 1844. Philip Franks, a well-known citizen, worked for Uncle George Langton in his "One Muley" saw-mill in the town of Big Suamico, in 1838. Albert Weise, wagonmaker, came in 1842, and the Strau- bels about 1847. The Salscheider's family, John A. Salscheider, at one time city treasurer of Fort Howard, came in 1848. Mr. Mannebach, the great musician-fiddler with his family came also about 1848, he was the father-in- law of Bartoleme Salscheider, a brother of John A., former city treasurer of Fort Howard. Mrs. Theodore Kemnitz' father, John Simon, and a brother, came here in 1847. Mr. Anthony Basche's (the former shoe merchant) parents came here about 1847, and about the same year came Jacob Mueller ( Miller) and family, father of Mathew Miller, deceased, the housemover, and father of John and Nickolas Miller now of Green Bay. Mr. Mueller's residence was at the east end of Mason street bridge on the banks of the Fox river. Among other German-Americans that came during 1849, were Jacob Klaus, a shoemaker, and his five sons, Anton, Philip. Joseph, Charles and John Klaus. Philip is the father of H. P. Klaus, cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Green Bay. Anton Klaus was for many years one of Green Bay's foremost business men. Among the German-Americans that came here in 1852, was the late Mathias Holzknecht, a well-known citizen, and John Beth, a well-known retired merchant, and his brothers, Jacob, Joseph, and Frank, Joseph J. Leisch, father of Frank Leisch, the Main street baker. The well-known citizen, Judge J. II. Killian, and his uncle, Peter P. Buerschinger, came in 1852. Andreas Reis, father of present county treasurer, Andrew Reis, came about 1852 and started a hotel on or near the lot where the present Reis hotel is located .- Contributed.
SKETCH OF THE HUMBOLDT CONGREGATION
Early in the '50s a log church was built by Rev. Father Daems, at Sugarbush, a place settled by Walloons, most of them coming from Namur and Louvain, Belgium. The great fire of 1871 destroyed this church. People were not dis- couraged and soon a new frame church was built. In 1904 this church again made place for the handsome building which is the pride of the Sugarbush peo- ple. It was erected under the supervision of Rev. F. Van Nilstelroy. The church of Humboldt was built in 1872, upon a piece of land donated by J. B.
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Tasquin. It was attended by the priest from the Finger church, Preble, until 1878, when Rev. Pellegrin was appointed resident pastor of Humboldt. There is something remarkable about Rev. G. Pellegrin in connection with the Hum- boldt parish. "In the year 1860, Rev. Father Wilkins, pastor of Robinsonville, Champion, came to Humboldt and said Mass in the house of J. B. Tasquin. After Mass he blessed the churchground and the graveyard. Rev. G. Pelle- grin was then fourteen years of age and he served at the Mass and at the blessing of the graveyard and churchground." In 1904 Rev. F. Van Nilstelroy built a new residence for the priest and in 1908 the old church of Humboldt was torn down to make place for a new one, which is to be seen today.
Finger church received its name from Peter Faenger, the first German set- tler in the town of Preble, who about 1836 built a church and donated a large tract of land for its support. As there was no resident priest Faenger con- ducted a simple service himself unless a priest from St. John's at Green Bay could make a visitation .- Contributed.
WASHINGTON LODGE-GREEN BAY A paper read before the Masonic Lodge by Judge Carlton Merrell.
MASONRY
I have been requested by the committee of Washington Lodge, on this occasion to make a few remarks relative to the early rise and progress of Free Masonry in Green Bay. The matters being, as a matter of course, far beyond my personal knowledge or recollection, I can do no better than read to you extracts from an interesting address delivered by Hon. H. S. Baird before the members of this lodge on St. John's Day, December 27, 1854. His words will carry with them more of authority than anything I might possibly say and be of peculiar interest, coming as they do from the late master of old Menomonee, the first lodge established west of Detroit and the first master of Washington Lodge after its reorganization as Washington Lodge under the jurisdiction of the grand lodge of the state of Wisconsin.
Mr. Baird said (and remember that he is speaking in 1854, fifty-seven years ago) :
I regret that, from the lapse of time, the proceedings and records of the first lodge here are so imperfect as to require me to state from memory many facts which I had hoped to have found matter of record.
The first action had, with a view to organize a lodge of Masonry at Green Bay, are found in the proceedings of a meeting of members of the fraternity, held on the evening of December 27, 1823, at the home of a brother, now deceased, (George Johnson), who then resided on a farm on the west side of Fox river, now forming a part of the plat of Tank's addition to the town of Fort Howard. At that meeting were present the following members of the order: Majors Watson and Green, Captain Browning, Lieutenants Lewis and Dean, Surgeons Wheaton and Saterlee, all officers of the United States army, and George Johnson, S. Wliceler and D. Curtis, citizens. A committee was appointed to draft a petition to the grand lodge of the state of New York,
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praying for a dispensation to open a lodge of Free and Accepted Masons at Green Bay, then in the territory of Michigan. In due time the prayer of the petitioners was responded to, and a dispensation granted.
The light of Masonry which made its appearance at any point of the United States, north or west of Detroit, first shone at Green Bay ; it was the fore-run- ner of civilization and the introduction of the arts; the harbinger of peace and good will among men.
On the 2d day of September, A. D. 1824, the first regular lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was opened and organized at Fort Howard, directly opposite to the city, under a dispensation from the M. W. grand master of the grand lodge of the state of New York, that body being at the time the most accessible and one of the nearest grand lodges in the United States. The document, by virtue of which the lodge was opened, signed by Martin Hoffman as M. W. grand master and Ę. Hicks, W. G. secretary is now preserved in this lodge. The officers named in the dispensation for the new lodge were : Robert Irwin, sr. master ; Benjamin Watson, sr., and W. V. Wheaton, jr. war- dens. The name of the lodge was Menomonee. It derived its name from the tribe of Indians then inhabiting and owning a vast extent of territory, nearly co-extensive with the limits of the present state of Wisconsin-then a numer- ous and powerful band, but daily diminishing in strength and power and rap- idly approximating to that condition which seems to be the inevitable fate of the aboriginal races.
At the opening and organization, the following named members of the order were present: Robert Irwin, sr. master; W. V. Wheaton, sr. warden, pro tem; A. Lewis, jr. warden, pro tem; and Harrison, Curtis, Saterlec, Dean. McNeal, Green, and Johnson, master Masons. All of these members, except three, were officers of the Third Regiment, U. S. Infantry. four companies of that regiment being then stationed at Fort Howard, under the command of Colonel John McNeal, who was also a Mason, and a member of the Menomonee Lodge.
On the 3d of December, 1824, a regular charter was granted by the R. W. grand lodge of New York, to establish Menomonee Lodge. The document was signed by Martin Hoffman as grand master; Elisha W. King, deputy grand master; Richard Hotfield, senior grand warden; Watson Smith, junior grand warden, and E. Hicks, grand secretary; and in it Robert Irwin, Sr., was nom- inated as master ; Benjamin Watson, senior, and W. V. Wheaton, junior war- dens. This charter is still preserved in the archives of this lodge. Within a very short time of its organization the lodge received a very respectable acces- sion to its members, for we find by the records that on the anniversary of St. John, December 27, 1824. it numbered twenty-one members.
In December, 1824, Dr. W. V. Wheaton was elected master ; Dr. R. S. Sater- lee, senior warden, and Robert Irwin, Jr., junior warden; D. Curtis, secretary ; Lieutenant Hopson, treasurer; Lieutenants Morris and Dean, deacons, and Sergeant Gilman, tyler. From the organization of the lodge to the end of the year 1825 it was held in the upper room over the commissary's store at, or adjacent to. Fort Howard, and during this period it might be considered as in a great degree a military lodge, as it was held at a military post and a large majority of its members and officers were attached to the army. In the fall of
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1825, however, the officers expressed a desire that the lodge should be removed from the fort and that its future government should be placed in the hands of the citizen members of Green Bay. Accordingly in the fall of that year Menomonee Lodge was removed from the fort to a room prepared for that purpose in the old store, then and still owned by John P. Arndt in Astor, the south ward of the city, where it continued to meet for upwards of a year. In December, 1825, Robert Irwin, Jr., was elected master ; R. Irwin, Sr., senior war- den, and Geo. Johnson, junior warden ; Dickinson, secretary ; Benj. Wallace, treas- urer ; H. S. Baird. senior, and L. Rouse, junior deacons; Gilman, tyler.
In December, 1826, H. S. Baird was elected master ; Lieutenant Henry Smith, senior warden; William Dickinson, junior warden; A. J. Irwin, secre- tary; L. Rouse, treasurer; N. G. Bean and Samuel Irwin, deacons, and C. Mills, tyler. From the year 1827 to its close, no record exists of the proceedings or of the meetings of the Menomonee Lodge, and all that can be stated in relation to its action must be from the recollections of its surviving members. The officers last named. with one or two exceptions, continued to discharge the (luties of their respective stations until the lodge ceased to work, which it did in the year 1830. I had the honor to preside over the old lodge for the last four years of its existence; as also over the present one in the last four years of its infancy.
Menomonee Lodge continued its regular communications and exercised the functions of a lodge until some time in the year 1830, when it ceased to work. During the years 1826-27 the lodge was held in a small building then standing on the line of private claim No. 10, and just south of the present boundary of this city.
In the fall of 1827 it was removed to an upper room over the store of R. & A. J. Irwin, in what was called "Shanty Town," where it continued to meet until its close. The discontinuance of the meetings of the lodge was owing to several causes, but principally to the dispersion and separation of its members, many of them, as already remarked, were attached to the army, and these mem- bers, in obedience to the call of duty, were obliged to repair to other military posts. to form new associations ; they in effect dissolving Menomonee Lodge, and sev- ering the ties of friendship and fraternity which had so long existed between its members. That lodge was not afterwards convened. It had its existence under the patronage of the grand lodge of New York; from that body it derived its warrant of dispensation and its charter. During the period of its continu- ance it was amenable only to the R. Worshipful Body from whom it received its charter ; and never acknowledged the authority of any other superior, although a grand lodge had been organized in Detroit for the state of Michigan previous to its cessation. Thus terminated the labors of the oldest lodge ever established in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa or Minnesota.
But is it fair, brethren, to say that Menomonee Lodge no longer exists? It is true, the name appears not on the roll of the grand lodge of Wisconsin. It is equally true that her records are mutilated and destroyed, and that many of her worthy members have returned to their kindred earth. But in spirit and truth it still survives. The name has given way to that of the immortal and venerated Washington-a name revered by all good and worthy Masons. This lodge was organized on the application of the surviving members of the old one, and others
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who had become citizens here ; it will be found that at least half of the petition- ers for the formation of the new lodge had been members of the old one. Again, the jewels, now worn by the officers of Washington lodge, as well as a part of the furniture and implements, were the property of the old Menomonee-and above all, the same principles of brotherly love and fellowship actuate and govern us, which once united and harmonized our worthy predecessors.
Thus, then, in fact Washington lodge is but a revival or re-organization of the old pioneer : and although by our present charter, and the records of the grand lodge of this state this lodge is numbered 21 yet its members may justly be considered as representatives of the worthy brethren who first introduced Masonry into Wisconsin and gave to her a local habitation and a name.
FAUNA OF BROWN COUNTY-INTERESTING PAPERS BY BROWN COUNTY WRITERS
INSECT LIVES
By W. J. Parkes
In this little article my desire has been, not so much to impart knowledge to as to induce others to acquire it for themselves. I have endeavored to show that Brown county may be full of interest to all who care to make good use of their eyes. If I have failed, the fault rests with me for the way in which I have treated the subject. I am aware that I have occasionally used words and phrases which may puzzle young brains, but I hope that nearly all will be intelligi- ble to boys and girls with a little explanation from parents or teachers.
How shall we interest young people? How shall we most interest them? How shall we best interest them?
You give to your boy a glass ball. It is clear and beautiful. He can amuse himself with it. How? Not by studying it, but by rolling or catching it. Tell him to put the ball under a glass cover and watch it. Tell him to wait and look again and see what he will find. Nothing, he says, but a ball. He is right, man made it, and all the beauty it will ever have it has now. Give him a microscope. What does he see? A little coarser texture, perhaps a flaw, a bubble of compressed air, but only the same glass ball.
Go with him to the forest. Pick from an oak branch a plain brown ball. Is this only a ball? Put it under a glass. Look again and you will find it more than a ball. It is a home. The home of a gall fly, or cynipidae. The doors will soon open and the family disperse. Watch! There goes one in full dress out on an early promenade. With what ease and grace it walks up and down its prison of glass. Another follows. There is a large family for so small a house. Who built it? Was it cast in a mold by man ? Nature made it, and all the beauty it has is not seen at first. Take the microscope. No roughness is revealed, no flaw. but exquisite beauty and finish in every part of the house, in every part of each perfect inmate. Suppose a boy could buy a glass ball that would develop such wonderful secrets? What merchant could supply the market ?
Go into the woods in the spring of the year ; pluck off a walnut leaf. It is very small, no larger than a beechnut, and looking much like a green one. Is it a box ? Let us try the microscope. It is embroidered on the sides and back. There are small patterns in diamonds, in brown and drab. While you look it moves.
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Put it under a glass and watch. Is it a home? Put a bit of walnut leaf by it. What is that moving just under one of the pointed ends? It is a head. The leaf begins to disappear. The owner of the box, the himacodes scapha, is taking his morning meal.
This paper is written with the hope of getting this question answered in favor of living balls and boxes, of getting the key into the hand and getting the heart ready and anxious to unlock the many sources of beauty and interest which nature has placed about us.
There are many young persons who are interested in butterflies and moths especially and desire a further acquaintance with these attractive creatures, but they need instruction as to the beginning-how to capture and how to prepare and preserve them. Also, how to obtain perfect insects by rearing the caterpillars or larvae that produce them. The first and best lesson in the study of insects is the rearing of a butterfly from the egg. One learns more of entomology by this than by any other method. It induces boys and I hope girls to gather caterpillars and rear butterflies just for the novelty of the thing, while unconsciously they will be learning valuable lessons in observing natural objects.
What is more attractive than a fine collection of the exquisitely colored and infinitely varied butterflies and moths? And yet more than half the charm and interest in these winged beauties is lost to those who merely catch them in a net and pin them up in their cabinets. As I have said previously, they can only be obtained and preserved in all their beauty and purity by rearing them from the egg or the caterpillar through the chrysalis state to that of the perfect butterfly. This can be done with very little trouble with the aid of a few glass boxes, easily constructed, in which the captured caterpillars may be imprisoned and fed, where all their wonderful transformations may be watched-the change to the chrysalis state, the weaving of the curiously made cocoon, and after their long winter sleep the bursting of these with the birth of the butterfly, a fully developed thing of beauty.
Chrysalis and cocoon may be collected in the autumn, especially by those who are fortunate enough to have suburban or country homes, which can be preserved during their long winter sleep, so that early spring butterflies may be enjoyed along with the snow drops and early spring flowers and a store of enthusiasm laid in for the early collection of eggs and caterpillars in the spring, so that the whole process of cach transformation can be watched, whereby the ugly caterpillar is changed as by magic to the beautiful butterfly.
It would be better if the child of today would collect these beautiful objects of nature than read trashy story books of the day. Even grown-up people would find the study of nature a fit emblem of the soul.
Speaking of some of the most injurious pests of Brown county, the following may be included :
Orgyia leucostigma, commonly called the Tussock moth, is a regular summer visitor. Notice the shade trees, how they are frightfully riddled with the cater- pillars. Many cities have appropriated large sums yearly to counteract the ray- ages of the pests which destroy the leaves of the trees, especially the maple and elni. The male species of this one has four drab colored wings, while the female is wingless. Spraying the trees will do much to allay the ravages of this summer pest.
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Another insect which I have noticed in our county is the thick-legged Buprestis, or snapping beetle, the generic name of which is Chrysobothris femorata Fabricius. This is an apple tree borer. The parent insect deposits its eggs on the bark, from which a worm hatches, which passes through the bark and during the first periods of its life consumes the soft sap wood immediately under the bark. But when the worm approaches maturity and has become stronger and more robust, it gnaws into the more solid heart-wood, forming a flattish and not a cylindrical hole such as is formed by most other borers, the burrow which it excavates being twice as broad as it is high; the height measuring the tenth of an inch or slightly over.
It is in the latter part of summer that these worms thus sink themselves into the solid heart-wood of the tree, their burrow extending upwards from the spot under the bark where they had previously dwelt. On laying open one of these burrows you will find it is more than an inch in length and all its lower part is filled and blocked up with the fine sawdust-like castings of the worm. Thus, when the worm is destined to lay torpid and inactive during the long months of winter, it has the forethought to place itself in a safe and secure retreat, within the solid wood of the tree, with the hole leading to its cell plugged up so as effectually to prevent any enemy from gaining admission to it. Still this worm is not able to secure itself entirely from those parasitic insects which are the destroy- ers of so many other species of their race, and which, as is currently remarked. appear to have been created for the express purpose of preying upon those species in order to prevent their becoming excessively multiplied. We should expect that this and other borers, lying as they do beneath the bark or within the wood of trees, would be so securely shielded that it would be impossible for any insect enemy to discover and gain access to them to molest or destroy them. The larvae, or caterpillars, belong to the family of Chalcidiae, the female of which has the instinct to discover these borers, probably in the earlier periods of their life when they are lying directly beneath the bark, and piercing through the bark with her ovipositor and puncturing the skin of the borer, drops her eggs therein, which subsequently hatch and subsist upon the borer, eventually destroying it.
One of the most important of vegetables cultivated in Brown county is the cabbage and is subject to the attacks of quite a number of caterpillars and moths, some of which prey voraciously upon it. It has many enemies-among the worst being the common white butterfly. Pieris rapae by name. The eggs are laid on the under side of the cabbage leaf and the pale green caterpillars, which are about an inch long, bore into the hearts of cabbages and are very destructive. The adult butterflies are about two inches across the wings.
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