History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 44

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298

USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 44
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 44

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Hon. Simon Cameron, then United States senator from Pennsylvania, was a member of a commission many years since to make payments under treaty stipulations to the Win- nebagoes and their mixed bloods; and having received material assistance from the subject of this memoir, he took occasion to state subse- quently on the floor of the Senate, that in all

his long experience, a more truthful, energetic, fearless man he had never met, than Hercules Dousman, and that his talent, if possible, ex- ceeded his virtues. Seldom indeed, if ever, has it fallen to the lot of a man in private sta- tion to wield an influence so extensive, and at the same time so beneficent. The primitive peo- ple among whom he so long resided, were ac- customed to depend upon him for advice and assistance when trouble overtook them. lle acted as peacemaker in their disputes, often- times preventing litigation by his wise coun- sels, and he was withal ever ready to minister to the wants of the poor and the distressed without distinction of race.

Although not a politician in the ordinary ac- ceptation of the term, Col. Dousman was in sentiment a conservative democrat; but he was independent enough to condemn whatever he deemed wrong in the acts of his own party; and with equal candor he never withheld his tribute of praise from political opponents, when, in his judgment, the line of policy pursued by them was in accordance with the public welfare. So prominent was this trait in his character, and so convinced were the people at large of his un- swerving integrity, that if he had assented to the solicitations of his friends to become a candidate for high public position, he would unquestionably have received the votes of very many who differed from him in politics.

When the War of the Great Rebellion burst upon the country, the personal influence and the purse of Col. Dousman were east into the scale in support of the Lincoln administration; and few private citizens accomplished more than himself in arousing the people of his see- tion to the emergency of the peril, and in equipping regiments for the field. He fre- quently expressed to me his earnest conviction that it was the duty of every man in the com- munity to devote his means and his energies to maintain intact the integrity of the Federal Union,

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Col. Dousman was a firm friend of his own territory and State. Intimately acquainted as he was with the topography of the country and its vast capacity for production, he advocated its claims to consideration and predicted the brilliant future of Minnesota with all the en- thusiasm of an old settler. Next to his own State, to which he was ever loyal, his affections were bestowed upon the younger sister of Wis- consin, and his memory merits a warm place in the hearts of the people of Minnesota for the anxiety he manifested, and the efforts he made to advance their material interests. Northwestern Wisconsin has also good cause to cherish him in grateful remembrance. For many years an owner of steamers on the Upper Mississippi, he accomplished much in directing. immigration and business to her ports; and but for his unremitting exertions and the liberal ontlay from his own resources in aid of the en- terprise, the railway from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien, that great thoroughfare of travel and transportation, would long have remained un- constructed.

The strict business habits of the deceased, and the many opportunities afforded in a new and rapidly growing region for judicious in- vestments, enabled him to amass an ample for- tune.

While he was always liberal in his contribn- tions to religious and charitable objects, and noted for his hospitality, Col. Donsman was by no means given to extravagance, nor did he en_ courage it in those within the sphere of his in- fluence. Many men are yet living who are in- debted for their prosperity to the pecuniary aid and wise direction they received from him in time of need.

In 1844, Col. Dousman was united in mar- riage to the widow of his former partner in business, Joseph Rolette, Sr., who died some years previously. The issue of the union was a son, now twenty-three years of age, who bears the name and is possessed of many of the ehar- acteristics of the father. The estimable willow

resides with her son in a new and splendid resi- dence erected upon the site of the old homestead at Prairie du Chien.

Mr. President, I am well aware that I have very imperfectly discharged the duty devolved upon me by the society, of preparing a suitable memoir of my cherished friend. I might have entered into much greater detail, but in so doing I would have been compelled to transcend the limits allotted ordinarily to an obituary of any man however distinguished. On the other hand I could not have said less without doing violence to my feelings. I cannot but recall to mind with the keenest regret that the friend of my early and riper years, my associate in busi- ness for nearly a quarter of a century, who directed my steps for the first time to what is now Minnesota, and to whom I was fervently attached, has been gathered to his father's. Ile left behind no enemies to exult in his sudden departure from the earth, but many dear rela- tives and warm friends to lament the loss of one whose place can never be filled in their af- fections. All that was mortal of the imposing form and presence of the departed now lies mouldering in the cemetery he himself had do- nated to the Catholic Church in Prairie du Chien, and the magnificent marble monument erected by loving hands to commemorate his virtues will have become dim and tarnished by time, long ere the remembrance of his noble example shall cease to exercise an influence on the community of which he was an honored member.

"Alas for them but not for thee.

They cannot choose but weep the more. Deep for the dead their grief must be Who ne'er gave eause to mourn before."

JANE F. DOUSMAN,

widow of the late Col. Hercules L. Dousman, died at her residence, at Prairie du Chien, on the 13th of Jannary, 1882. Mrs. Dousman was born at Prairie du Chien, April 12, 180º, and with the exception of an occasional temporary absence, resided here until her death, She was

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the daughter of Capt. Henry Monroe Fisher (a near relative of President Monroe), and of Made- laine De Verville, a member of one of the most distinguished French families, connected with the early settlement of the west. She enjoyed the best educational advantages which her home afforded in the early days, and subsequently spent some years at a prominent school at Cineinnati. In 1819 she was married to Joseph Rolette, a man of superior education and intel- genee, who, at the time, was the agent of the American Fur Company, and principal mer- chant and trader at Prairie du Chien. By this union she had three children-Joseph, Virginia and Frederick Rolette, all of whom she out- lived many years. Mr. Rolette died in 1842, and two years later she was married to Col. Hereules L. Dousman, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Dousman died in September, 1868, and from that time until her death she continued to occupy her beautiful home which marks a historic spot on the banks of the great Father of Waters. She leaves one son, Hercules L. Dousman, her only surviving child, who succeeds to her large es- tate. She was buried beside the grave of her husband, the late Col. Dousman, in the beauti- ful cemetery which he had donated to the Ro- man Catholic Church. She had been a life-long and consistent member of this Church, and was buried with its most solemn and impressive ceremonies. Mrs. Donsman was in many re- speets a remarkable woman. Even in her old age, she might have been called beautiful ; and her light,elastie step, her graceful,stately bearing and her cheerful, pleasant face, gave ample proof of past and prepossessing beauty. Through her whole life she was a type of physical perfee- tion, and retained the full and perfect use of all her senses until the day she died. Her noble, generous soul was in harmony with its earthly tenement, essentially kind, affectionate, sympa- thetie and tender-hearted, she always sought to alleviate suffering and to assist the distressed. Her soul glowed with Christian charity, and

she never seemed so happy as when doing some work of love. In all the relations of life, as daughter, wife and mother, Mrs. Dousman gave an example worthy of imitation. Of the social eirele she was the life and soul. Sensitive by nature, and quick of perception, she seemed in- stinetively to know the feelings of others, and to guard them with special care. With those who have seen her at her beautiful home, and who have experienced her generous hospitality, her memory will ever live green and unfading.

Alfred Brunson was born in Danbury, Fair- field county, State of Connectieut, Feb. 9, 1793. His education was such as could be obtained in the common schools of those times. In 1800 his father n oved to Sing Sing, N. Y., on the Hudson river, where he was drowned in 1806, when his mother moved back to Danbury with seven children, of whom Alfred was the eldest, then thirteen years of age. He was then placed under the care of his unele to learn the shoe- making trade, were he remained for five years. He had a taste for reading, and an ambition to pursue some higher calling than his trade. Reading and hearing of Roger Sherman, the celebrated statesman, who was of the same trade, he felt an ambition to follow his steps, and leave the world the better for having lived in it. To accomplish this object, like Arndt, he planned to study and practice law, and if a war occurred, which the signs of the times strongly indicated,to share in its dangers, and, if possible, in its glories. In the fall of 1808, having a disa- greement with his unele, he started for Ohio, where he had another unele. He remained a while at Carlisle, Penn., and finding himself not perfect as a workman, received instrue- tions until he became very thorough in his trade He had been religiously inelined from the time of his father's death; and now, being in a Meth- odist family, he attended church with them, and was thoroughly awakened, and on Feb. 3, 1809, was converted to God. Soon after this, he felt called of God to preach, and joining that church, abandoned his former plans, and devoted his

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time in preparing for the ministry. In the fall of 1809 he returned to Connectient. He stop- ped at Bridgeport, and informed his mother and uncle of his whereabouts, and paid the lat- ter for the balance of his time, and continued to live here, where the way opened up for him to commence publie religious services as he was licensed to exhort. In 1811 he married, and opened a shop for business; but the War of 1812 so interfered, that he re-moved to Ohio, to work on a farm. Realizing his insecurity on the fron - ier, he entered the army under Gen. Harrison, in 1813, for a year. He was at the taking of Malden and the re-taking of Detroit. At the expi- ration of his term of service, he returned home, and in 1815 was licensed to preach. In 1818 he formed a new circuit in Huron Co., Ohio, where in six months, he established twenty-four ap- pointments, and gathered up 150 members. His next circuit was in the northwest part of Penn- sylvania; was 400 miles round, having forty-four appointments to fill in four weeks. He had a colleague, and they had 300 conver- sions as the fruit of their labor. In 1826 he joined the Ohio Annual Conference. The Pittsburg (Penn.) Conference was organized in 1825; with which he was connected. He trav- eled extensively through this region of coun- try, preaching with great success, and literally "contending for the faith that was once deliv- ered unto the saints." In the meantime, he form- ed a knowledge of jurisprudence necessary to a wise administration of discipline, and for four years read law, not anticipating admission to the bar. In 1831 the Meadville College was offered for the patronage of the Conference to which he belonged. The offer was accepted; and he was appointed on that district, in order that his val- uable services might be given for the benefit of the institution. In 1835 he learned of the sad condition of the Indians on the Upper Missis- sippi, and determined to press his way toward these and other poor sufferers. He entered Wisconsin on the 25th of October of the same year. He was then presiding elder of a district

extending from Rock Island to the head of the Mississippi, in elnding the Indian Mission. He coneluded, in looking for a place to locate his family, that, as Prairie du Chien seemed to be the outpost of civilization, it would not be wise to go beyond. Hle could not find a suitable house to rent; and material for building and labor costing such an enormous sum, he wrote home to his wife, who contract- ed for a boat, and material prepared and ready to be put together, to be moved with the fami- ly. Ile reached home the following February, to find that his faithful wife had made all nec- essary preparations. During this journey home, he encountered some serious difficulties in ford- ing streams, and among wolves, but was provi- dentially preserved from the violence of either. In June, 1836, he put the material for the house into the boat, with two families beside his own; descended French ercek and the Alleghany river to Pittsburg. There he tied to a steam- boat, and was towed to St. Louis. Then he tied to another steamer, and was towed to Prairie du Chien, 1,950 miles by water from Meadville. HIe reached his destination July 16, 1836. Owing to the pressing wants of the district, the house was not erected until the next spring. He was the first Methodist preacher who ever set foot on the soil north of the Wisconsin river. In 1839 he was compelled to resign his ministerial labors because of ill health. Being now without in- come he accepted several offices of low grade, and, being desirous to attend to matters in court he was admitted to the bar on the ground of his former law reading, and practiced for ten years. In 1840 he was elected to the territo- rial Legislature. In 1842 he was appointed In- dian agent at La Pointe in Lake Superior. In 1846 his wife, two daughters, and son-in-law died. In 1850 he was a candidate for the cir- cuit judgeship, but was defeated. He returned to the ministry, and was appointed at Mineral Point. In 1853 he was made presiding elder of Prairie du Chien district, which included an extensive territory. Under his administration,

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it was made to flourish and bear precious fruit, and, at the close of his term of service, was di- vided into two districts. In 1862 he was made chaplain in the army; went as far as Kentucky, where he was taken ill, and was compelled to resign his position. In 1867, having partially recovered, he was made effective in the minis- try, and was made presiding elder of a district, but was subsequently twice re-appointed to other districts. At the close of his four years' service he was compelled to retire on account of ill health.

During his ministry, he was sixteen years a presiding elder, and a delegate to the General Conference four times; he wrote much for both religious and secular journals; and assisted in building about thirty churches. He died in Prairie du Chien, Aug. 3, 1882.

Emma Brunson was born in Fairfield, near Bridgeport, Conn., Jan. 21, 1791. Her maiden name was Burr. She was distant relative of Aaron Burr. She was married to Alfred Brunson in August, 1811, and emigrated with

her husband to Trumbull Co., Ohio, in 1818. Her husband becoming a Methodist minister in 1813, she was made subject to frequent removals, and shared with him the toils and the privations of his life. During her married life, she resid- ed in Painsville, Youngstown and Hubbard, in Ohio; Detroit, in Michigan; Alleghany City and Mcadeville, Penn., and Prairie du Chien, Wis. In 1836 she removed to the last named place. She died in that village in 1846, at the age of fifty- five. She was the mother of eight children, all of whom attained their majority. Mrs. Brun- son was an intelligent, motherly woman, one who sympatized deeply with the afflicted. She often invited to her house young men who were sick, and away from their own home and nursed them with a mother's care. By her affectionate kindness and attention, she obtained the cogno- men of "Mother Brunson." She was univer- sally respected and beloved by all who were ac- quainted with her. One of her daughters, the wife of the late Thomas P. Burnett, died the same day that her husband died, and three weeks after her mother's death.

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

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CHAPTER XI.

PIONEER LIFE.

Records of pioneer times are interesting, and they are not without their lessons of in- struction. By the light of the past, we follow in the foot-prints of the adventurons and enter- prising pioneer. We see him, as it were, amid the labors and struggles necessary to convert the wilderness into a fruitful field. We sit by his cabin fire, partaking of his homely and cheerfully-granted fare, and listen to the ac- counts which he is pleased to give us of fron- tier life, and of the dangers, trials, hardships and sufferings of himself and others, in their efforts to make for themselves homes in regions remote from civilization. Through these pioneer records, we make our way along to the present. From small beginnings we come to the mighty achievements of industry, the com- plex results of daring enterprise, subduing and creative energy and untiring preseverance.

Following on in the path of progress and improvement, we see once waste places rejoic- ing under the kindly care of the husbandman; beautiful farms, with all the fixtures and appur- tenances necessary to make the tillers of the soil and their families contented and happy, are spread out before us; villages are built up as if by magic, and by hundreds human souls are congregated within their precincts; the marts of trade and traffic and the workshops of the artizans, are thronged; common schools, union schools and high schools have sprung up; young and ardent minds-children of the rich and the poor-may press forward together in the acquisition of science, literature and art; churches are built and a Christian ministry is

sustained for the inculcation of religious senti- ments and the promotion of piety, virtue and moral goodness; the press is established, whence floods of light may emanate for the instruction and benefit of all; railroads are built to bring the products of every clime, and the people from afar, to our doors; and the telegraph "upon the lightning's wing" carries messages far and near. Let the records of the pioneers be preserved; in after years our children and our children's children will look over them with pleasure and profit.

THE LOG CABIN.

The first important business of the pioneer settler, upon his arrival in Crawford county, was to build a house. Until this was done, some had to camp on the ground or live in their wagons-perhaps the only shelter they had known for weeks. So the prospects for a house which was also to be a home, was one that gave courage to the rough toil, and added a zest to the heavy labors. The style of the home entered very little into their thoughts-it was shelter they wanted, and protection from stress of weather and wearing exposures. The poor settler had neither the money nor the mechanical appliances for building himself a house. He was content, in most instances, to have a mere cabin or hut. This was made of round logs light enough for two or three men to lay up. The house would generally be about fourteen feet square-perhaps a little larger or smaller-roofed with bark or clapboard, and floored with puncheons(logs split once in two and the flat side laid up). For a fire-place, a wall

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of stones and earth was made in the best practi- cable shape for the purpose, in an opening in one end of the building, extending outward, and planked on the outside by bolts of wood notched together to stay it. Sometimes a fire- place of this kind was made so large as to oc- cupy nearly the whole width of the house. In cold weather, when a great deal of wood was needed to keep the proper warmth inside, large logs were piled in the fire-place. To protect the crumbling back wall against the effects of the fire and to throw forward the heat, two ; hack-logs, one on top of the other, were placed against it.

For a chimney, any contrivance that would carry up the smoke would do. They were . usually constructed of clay and sticks. Imagine a cold winter's night, when the storm of wind and snow was raging without, the huge fire blazing within, and the family sitting around! It might be cozy enough if the cold was not too intense; and, in reality, before those fire-places there was often something of cheer, as the farmer sat smoking-if he had any tobacco; and the wife knitting-if she had any yarn and needles.

For a door to his log cabin the most simple contrivance that would serve the purpose was brought into requisition. Before a door could be made, a blanket often did duty in guarding the entrance. But, as soon as convenient, some boards were split out and put together, hung upon wooden hinges, and held shut by a wooden pin inserted in an auger-hole.

PIONEER FURNITURE.

A bedstead was a very important item in the domestic comfort of the family; and the fashion of improvising them was as follows:

A forked stake was driven into the ground diagonally from the corner of the room, and at a proper distance, upon which poles reaching from each side of the cabin were laid. The wall ends of the poles were either driven into auger-holes or rested in the openings between the logs. Bark or boards were used as a sub- stitute for cords. Upon this, the wife spread her straw-tick; and if she had a home-made feather bed, she piled it up into a luxurious mound and covered it with her sheets and bed- quilts. Sometimes sheets were hung against the wall at the head and side of the bed, which added much to the coziness of this resting place -this pioneer-bed room. The sleeping arrange- ment was generally called a "prairie bedstead." PRIMITIVE COOKERY.

If the settler arrived in the early part of the season and had not time to plant, or had no fields prepared for that purpose, he could, at least have a truck-patch, where a little corn was planted, also a few potatoes and turnips, and some other vegetables were put in the ground. Of course this was only to make his small sup- ply, which he had brought with him, reach as far as possible. His meager stores consisted of flour, bacon, tea and coffee. But these sup- plies would frequently be exhausted before a regular crop of wheat or corn could be raised, and as game was plentiful, it helped to eke them out. But when the corn was raised, it was not easily prepared for the table. The mills for grinding were at such distances away, that every other device was resorted to for making meal.

In regard to the furniture of the pioneer's cabin, it may be said that it varied in propor- tion to the ingenuity of the occupants, unless it was where settlers brought with them their old Some grated it on an implement made by punching small holes through a piece of tin or sheet-iron, and fastening it upon a board in concave shape, with the rough side out. Upon this the ear was rubbed to produce the meal. But grating could not be done when the corn household supply, which, owing to the distance most of them had to come, was very seldom. It was easy enough to improvise tables and chairs; the former could be made of split logs; the latter were designed after the three-legged stool pattern, or benches served their purpose. I became so dry as to shell off when rubbed.

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Some used a coffee-mill for grinding it; and a very common substitute for bread was hominy, a palatable and wholesome diet, made by boil- ing eorn in a weak lye till the hull or bran peeled off, after which it was well washed to eleanse it of the lye. It was then boiled again to soften it, when it was ready for use, as occasion required, by frying and seasoning it to the taste. Another mode of preparing hominy was by pestling. A mortar was made by burning a bowl-shaped eavity in the end of an upright block of wood. After thoroughly eleaning it of the charcoal, the corn could be put in, hot water turned upon it, when it was subjected to a severe pestling by a elub of suffi- eient length and thickness, in the large end of which was inserted an iron wedge, banded to keep it there. The hot water would soften the corn and loosen the hull, while the pestle would crush it.

PRIMITIVE THRESIIING.

When breadstuffs were needed, they had to be obtained from long distances. Owing to the lack of proper means for threshing and elean- ing wheat, it was more or less mixed with for- eign substances, such as smut, dirt and oats. And as the time when the settlers' methods of threshing and cleaning may be forgotten, it may be well to preserve a brief account of them here. The plan was to clean off a space of ground of sufficient size, and, if the earth was dry, to dampen it, and beat it to render it samewhat compact. Then the sheaves were unbound and spread in a circle, so that the heads would be uppermost, leaving room in the center for the person whose business it was to turn and stir the straw in the process of thresh- ing. Then, as many horses or oxen were brought as could conveniently swing around the eirele, and these were kept moving until the wheat was well trodden out. After several "floorings" or layers were threshed, the straw was carefully raked off and the wheat shoveled into a heap to be cleaned. This cleaning was sometimes done by waving a sheet up and

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History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 44

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1298

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298