History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 103

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 103

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On the evening of the 1st day of April, 1838, one of those events which are so common, and made the occasion of great interest and ceremony in older communities-a wedding -- occurred, the first in Dane County.

The bridegroom was Jairus S. Potter, a long, lank, jack-knife carpenter, as the saying was, a term used to designate a mechanic who could do good work on a poor job, and he always used large words in small places. He was familiarly known as Long Potter, to designate him from a namesake known as Short Potter.

The bride was Miss Elizabeth Allen, a tall, angular young lady, who found her way West, and filled the position of maid of all work in the Peck House, where the ceremony was per- formed.

During the day the parties continued to work at their usual occupations, and when night came. supper being over, and the dishes cleared away, "time " was called, and the loving pair,

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matched but not mated, were soon in place. The room was decorated with the early flowers of spring, such as wild tulips and hyacinths, which were found in great abundance on Dead Lake Hill, and nothing was lacking to make it a first-class affair ; but because of certain peculiar characteristics of the day, it was unanimously voted that there should be no fooling on this solemn occasion.

The presents were not costly nor numerous, but they were unique and useful in a young family in a new country ; prominent among which might be mentioned a milking-stool, an empty champagne basket with rockers attached, and a fish-hook and line, labled, " To supply the family with suckers." The ceremony was performed in the most primitive style by Eben Peck, Esq., who had been appointed a Justice of the Peace a few weeks before, and this was his first official act.

Of the friends who gathered to grace the occasion, about nine or ten were called Ribs, while those not so designated numbered some twelve or fourteen. The ceremony over, the cry was " On with the dance !" and, inspired by the thrilling music of the violin in the hands of Luther Peck, a younger brother of the landlord, the dance went on, and "joy was unconfined," until the morrow's sun was well up to light home the retiring guests.

Such was the happy celebration of the first wedding in Madison. No cards.

Having erected a small building on Lot 6, Block 89, in which to house my little family, I set ont, on the 5th of April, 1838, in a small skiff, to go down the Catfish [Yahara], Rock River and the Mississippi to St. Louis, unless I could sooner find a boat that would take me to Ohio, where my wife then was. I expected to reach Janesville the first night, but the Catfish, for some unexplained reason, did not continue in one direction for any great length of time, and lengthened itself out so much beyond my calculations, that night was upon me, and darkness covered the face of the earth, before the little craft moved into the waters of Rock River.

Soon after entering the river, a light was discovered on its eastern bank, and, expecting to find the rude shelter of some new settler, I landed to claim entertainment. But I was mistaken; the light came from an encampment of Winnebago Indians. I had no difficulty in making them understand the situation, and they kindly offered me accommodations in one of the most pala- tial structures of the settlement.' The aristocratic proprietor of the princely establishment did not, however, offer me a chair or a seat on the sofa, but spread a piece of ragged mat on the ground, and, with a grunt, motioned me to double myself down to it. Anticipating that I was not full fed, he drew out from its concealment a large fish of the sucker family, which had been dried and cooked in the smoke over a slow fire, and my supper was spread before me. Hav- ing had but a scanty lunch for dinner, and hard work at the oar all day, the dried sucker was indeed palatable, in fact ; I do not remember to have ever tasted fish with keener relish. In the morning, I settled my bill with a half-dollar and proceeded to Janesville for breakfast.

Not far below the State line, I was overtaken by a severe storm of wind, which made it impossible to keep the channel, and I took refuge at the cabin of a pioneer on the bank, and remained a day and a half with no abatement of the wind. I exchanged my boat for my board, and started on foot across the country for Ottawa, on the Illinois River. Arriving there in proc- ess of time, I was fortunate, after one day's delay, in finding a steamboat that took me to St. Louis, and from there I took passage by river to Wellsville, then across the State to Ashtabula County, my former home.

With my wife and her sister-afterward well known in this city as Mrs. George P. Dela- plaine -- we returned by steamer around the lakes soon after the opening of navigation, and landed at Milwaukee early in June. Procuring a team to carry our scanty supply of house- hold goods and the female part of the family, we found our way to Janesville on the fifth day after leaving Milwaukee.

From Janesville to Madison was yet an uninhabited waste, with no roads or marks to guide our way except a few blazed trees and here and there a stake on the prairies, which had been stuck the fall before to indicate a route that it was supposed a team might pass over. We did not take the northern route from Milwaukee that Mr. Bird had marked out and passed over

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the year before, because it was then understood to be quite impassable, without very extensive repairs.

Leaving Janesville in the morning, we proceeded very well until about noon, when we missed the " blind guides " and found ourselves lost in the openings. Our teamster, while din- ing his horses on grass, gave them too much liberty, and the poor brutes, instigated by the devil, or, more likely, by an intolerable swarm of flies, took to their heels, and a half-day was lost in capturing and bringing the fugitives back from Janesville.

The weather was intensely hot, and the musquitoes as familiar as old acquaintances. The second night out, we camped about one mile north of a place since known as Oak Hall, in the town of Fitchburg. About 6 o'clock in the afternoon, we discovered unmistakable signs of an approaching storm, and immediately made the best preparation we could for protection against it. The storm was a terrific one, and lasted a great part of the night. It seemed to me I had never seen a more severe one, but perhaps that was in part owing to the fact that we took it out- doors, and there were but few to divide the enjoyment. My wife never forgot the injury done to her best patch-work quilts, which we used for tent cloths.

On the 18th of June, the third day from Janesville, as we passed over the ridge south west of the fair ground, I pointed out the Third Lake and assured my weary charge that our journey was nearly ended. My wife, stimulated, I suppose, by the impulse which always seems to be uppermost in the human breast, especially the female half of it, the desire to make a favorable impression at first sight, quietly informed me that we were hardly in proper plight for presenta- tion at court in a capital city, and half confidentially inquired if we could not enter the town through some back street and reach our house unobserved by the people. I quieted the doleful misgivings of the little helpmeet with the consoling assurance that we undoubtedly could, as our house would be the first we should reach, and was so hid away in the bushes as to be hardly vis- ible to its nearest neighbor.

Arriving at the house, judge of our surprise to find it already occupied by two families, which at once took all the romance out of that little back-street arrangement. My wife, how- ever, was equal to the occasion, and consoled herself with the side remark that one of the women, at least (human nature), made a more dowdyish appearance and looked the fright much worse than she possibly could, even in her then forlorn condition.

Our adventures were ended, and we were at home.

In the summer of 1838, Mr. John Catlin and myself, having rather outgrown our little log store, 14x16 feet on the ground, undertook the erection of a metropolitan building eighteen feet front, thirty-two feet deep and one and a half stories high, in which to open out our general assortment. We had so far progressed with the work as to have the building inclosed and the lower floor laid, but without doors and windows, when one Saturday was made notable by the arrival of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Kemper, the Rev. Mr. Cadle, later of Green Bay, and the Rev. Mr. Grier, of Galena, Ill.

It must not for one moment be imagined that such an arrival in our little community was not the event of the season, that must be duly noticed and improved. It could not be truthfully said that Mr. Catlin and myself opened our new store for religious services, for the front was already open, and, by the introduction of a few boards and blocks of wood for seats, and an empty flour barrel turned bottom end up and covered with a table spread for a desk, the First Episcopal Church of Madison, of sufficient capacity to accommodate the entire population, was complete and ready for dedication on the morrow by the Bishop of the Northwest.

The morning of the second Sunday of July, 1838, was bright and warm; and the open con- dition of our improvised church was no uncomfortable feature of the morning service. The people assembled, and service was commenced at the appropriate time, but "as it was in the beginning," when no man was found to till the ground, so it was now; when the hymn was given out, no man was found to "pitch the tune " and lead in singing. One of the reverend gentlemen and some others tried their hands and throats, and piped away awhile, but finally gave up in despair, when Mrs. Mills volunteered to lead the choir, and helped out that part of the service, as the

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Bishop was afterward pleased to express it, " with marked ability." The discourse was given by the Bishop, and was the third sermon ever preached in Dane County .*

Service being over, under the direction of Mrs. Mills, who always took the lead in the fam- ily in all religious matters, the reverend gentleman, Mr. Catlin and a few other friends were escorted to our house and a banquet spread of everything choice that the market and the house could afford, the Bishop meanwhile making himself and the little circle merry at the expense of a reverend brother by imitating his style and effort to pitch a tune and lead in singing, and advised the employment of the hostess to give him a few lessons in music.

It is just possible that at our little dinner the courses were not as numerous or the viands as costly or abundant as may have been set before the Bishop in after years, but it was our best, and at all events they were not sent away empty. It was an occasion never forgotten, and was the subject of a pleasant remark as we sometimes met in the downward journey of life.

Having given an accurate account of how the gospel was introduced into the county of Dane, I will now give a truthful statement of how it was "spread " by at least one effort, and made to take deep root in fallow ground and bear fruit more abundantly.

In the Eastern States, between the years 1830 and 1840, a great " revival season " had been wrought up and worked out, until the names of Revs. Finney, Birchard, Foote and Knapp became familiar household words.

At a later period, it was thought desirable to transfer the revival work to the Far West, and, by pursuing the old methods, gather the unconverted into the fold.

Our good people, who had long been sleeping in blissful ignorance, were startled from their slumber by the advent of Elder Raymond, a minister from the East, working on the protracted- revival plan. After he had wrought a few days in this unpromising vineyard, the city was elec- trified one Sunday morning to find the streets placarded with large-lettered posters announcing that Elder R. would preach a special discourse, at the court room in the capitol, at 7 o'clock, sharp, that evening, and that during the performance the " Devil would be made to howl, and sinners would be stirred up with a long pole. Front seats reserved for the ladies."

According to announcement in the bills, the reverend revivalist was on hand, and, when the preliminary exercises were over, he arose, and, picking up from the desk an anonymous let- ter, opened it and said : " In my last discourse in this place, I took occasion to say that the devil had acquired a strong foothold in Madison, and I now perceive that he has his private sec- retary here," and then read the letter to the audience, which was merely giving some plain hints that his methods were worn threadbare and would not evangelize this community. Laying the letter aside, he drew from his pocket one of the placards, and, after reading it, said : "I see that the devil has his printer here, also, but whether the devil's printer is the printer's devil, I am not at this moment advised," which latter remark brought down the whole audience with tremendous rounds of applause.

He then proceeded to make the devil howl, and to vigorously stir up sinners in the manner advertised in the bills. He even went so far as to insinuate that the poster itself was the work of printer's devils or devilish printers, and it mattered little which, as they would all land " where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched."

If it was really true, as he insisted, that the placard was the work of the devil, it was an unfortunate boomerang which returned to knock its owner over.

During his stay, the Rev. Mr. Raymond made a break in this " stronghold of the devil;" he added a goodly number, and did much toward building up the Baptist church in. Madison.

III .- BY J. G. KNAPP.

My first recollections of actually seeing Madison and its surroundings carry me back to the summer of 1838, when after a rapid reconnoitering for a canal from Waupun to the head of Duck Creek, I came to Madison as a delegate to a Territorial Congressional Convention. Our road

* The second sermon was preached by Rev. Salmon Stebbins, November 28, 1837 .- ED.

MADISON.

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then ran on the west side of the Fourth Lake (the lakes were numbered, and had no special names in those days), and over the high prairies in the western part of the towns of Westport and Vienna, coming in at the paper " City of the Four Lakes," through Mandamus and around the south end of the lake, so as to enter the present road near the stone quarry.

But two roads then led from the capitol out of Madison, the one west partly along State street and University avenue, until it parted, one running southwest, leading toward Green County ; the other continued west beyond the second railroad culvert, at which place it branched for Blue Mounds and Fort Winnebago. The Green County road branched again beyond the Dead Lake, for Hume's Ferry, over Rock River. Janesville was then scarcely begun. This then, and long after, was the road to Rock and Walworth Counties. The east road forded the Catfish River, nearly where the bridge now is, and, branching soon after, one led to Cottage Grove, where it again parted, one to Lake Mills, and the other to Fort Atkinson. The main track followed near the present road to Sun Prairie, and thence to Lake Mills by way of Marshall, then called " Bird's Ruins." It was by this line the first workmen arrived here from Milwaukee. Near the "'76" farm, an Indian trail ran by the Prairie House. Horace Lawrence lived there then, in a little house, keeping " bach." This was the only house between Madison and Rowan's. The trail crossed Token Creek a mile above the present village, and then ran over the prairies, striking the military road at Rowan's, now Poynette. By this trail I returned from Madison.

In 1837, A. A. Bird, the acting Building Commissioner, with a party of workmen, came from Milwaukee to Madison. for the purpose of putting up the capitol. They made their road as nearly due west as they could, through an almost unexplored and roadless country, and where they might be expected to meet with all kinds of obstacles to impede their march. Little more was done that year than to build houses for their workmen, some of which were not of the highest order of architecture, since little or no lumber could be procured, except such as was cut with the whip-saw.

But preparations were made for commencing the work in earnest the following year. The steam-mill was erected. Two scows for transporting stone from McBride's Point, with which the walls of the capitol were to be constructed, were built; the ground for the capitol was staked off, and the foundation partly laid. The act making Madison the capital also fixed the location of the building, as was supposed, on Sections 13, 14, 23 and 24, or on the exact center of the Public Square. But as the post of the section corners was found standing on the west edge of the level of the square, or where the ground begins to descend to the west, the ground for the foundation was so staked off that the corners should be under the west door and not in the center of the building. Moreover, the west wall was not placed upon section lines; conse- quently, both these causes operated to throw the walls away from a coincidence with all the streets of the city. This divergence became more apparent in the new and enlarged capitol than in the old one, since its location has been governed by the same lines.

The houses and cabins for the workmen were mostly built near the Third Lake, and in the vicinity of King street.

In the summer of 1838, the workmen, under the direction of A. A. Bird, the acting Com- missioner, and James Morrison, the contractor, were busy in putting up the walls of the capi- tol ; and when I saw them, they had just raised them to the window sills of the second story- Then the old steam-mill was busy in sawing up the oaks, which were freely cut from the land. around, without regard to ownership. I suppose it was difficult at all times to find the lines between different owners ; and the timber was wanted for public use. Yet I have many doubts about full compensation being made to the proprietors. At any rate, all went into the cons struction of the capitol which did not go somewhere else ; and as the difficulties of tracing- timber after it had been sawed, are greatly increased, so we are bound to believe that these, like all other early pioneers, respected the rights of absent proprietors. The scow was making its daily trips with loads of stone from Eagle (McBride's) Point to its wharf on the Madison side.

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The Winnebago calling himself a Pottawatomie (for Indians can practice deceit or tell lies when it is supposed to be for their advantage) returned from where he had been removed, and again shot his canoe across our waters, in pursuit of fish and ducks. Those were days when ducks did not run the gauntlet of shot-guns, as at present, but remained here during the sum- mer and reared their young. Others than Indians, also, sought food from the blue waters of the lakes. There were white men who often started out in the morning with full knowledge that their dinner depended upon fish to be caught. Fish from the lakes and game from the. land, with such pork as they could get from the State of Illinois, or from Milwaukee, constituted almost the entire food of the pioneers. As men had not then heard of the dreadful trichince, so they had no fears of those invisible monsters before their eyes. Then salted pork, smoked pork, pork fed on corn, pork fatted on acorns, pork built up with roots gathered in the woods and bogs, on the principle of " root, hog, or die," greased the staff of life, and they ate their pork and greased bread and lived.

Those old times tried the patience, the tempers, of men; but complaints could neither mend nor improve the irresistible laws of frontier life, and only tended to annoy the complainer. The walls of the capitol went up at the expense of " Uncle Sam," and there was great trade in town lots and wild lands. At the " Madison Hotel," on King street, the Birds served up such food as the lakes, woods and "prairie schooner " provided for the kitchen. R. L. Ream made the "Madison House," whose logs sustained a roof of boards, battened with slabs, the grand resort of the aristocracy of Wisconsin. That was the stage-house, too. At either of these places, two feet by six of floor could be had for the night, at two-pence a square foot, where the weary pass- enger might spread his own blanket, and use his saddle or portmanteau for a pillow, and rejoice that he had so good a bed.

Noonan had not then come here, though I think some of the printing materials had reached their destination, and the art preservative was not multiplying the pages of the Wisconsin En- quirer. That paper began its career in November, 1838, in a room over the " Commissioners' store " in King street. In one corner of that room we, the wise men of Wisconsin, met and decided upon the merits of George W. Jones and James D. Doty. The latter was nominated and succeeded before the people. That election may be said to have settled the question against dueling, as one of the institutions of Wisconsin, and placed the law abiding above the chivalry in this State. The next Legislature placed the present law against the sin of dueling upon the statute book.

The timbers of the " American " then lay scattered over the ground, though men were busy in preparing them for their future destiny.

In November, 1838, the Legislature of Wisconsin met in Madison. The capitol was still unfinished ; in fact, there was no room in which either branch could meet; so the members of the Council met in the little room, even smaller than at present, on the left-hand side of the hall as you entered the "American," and the House of Representatives in the basement, in which permanent organizations took place. A day or two later, two rooms in the south side of the capitol were pronounced in readiness for the reception of the wise men of the first Legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin, which then contained 18,130 inhabitants, embraced in eight dis- tricts, consisting of the following counties : Brown ; Crawford; Grant; Iowa; Milwaukee and Washington ; Racine ; Rock and Walworth ; and Green, Dane, Jefferson and Dodge. This last district was represented by Ebenezer Brigham in the Council.

Having organized the Legislature, the next question was for members, officers and lobby to find places to eat and sleep in. Though we paid metropolitan prices, it cannot be said we had ex- actly metropolitan fare. But men were remarkably accommodating in those early times, and without a grumble, could eat "hog and hominy," or "common doings," when " chicken fix- ings " could not be had ; and they could occupy a field bed, where they were forced to lie spoon- fashion. A frontier life is a mighty leveler ; much like poverty, making men acquainted with strange bed-fellows. The "school section " of the American, embracing most of the garret, was marked into lodging places by cracks in the floor; and its other rooms were equally crowded.

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At the " Madison " House, only six men were placed in a room sixteen feet square, and four others had a place at the fire during the day and evening. The floors of the " Madison Hotel " were also almost nightly covered with shake-downs, for travelers and transient visitors. Happy were those men who could find places in the few private houses, where four men might find two beds in a cold room, ten or twelve feet square.

Those were merry days, also. Mrs. Peck's fiddle rang out sweet and clear, while A. A. Bird and his wife led off in the " Virginia Reel," or " Hunt the Squirrel," and were followed through the mazes of the dance by the McDonalds, Smiths, and others whose names escape me. As wide-spread hoops were unknown, less space was needed for the dance, except when some ambitious dame or lassie extended her skirts with both hands, as she performed a " double shuffle," or some nimble yet zealous worshiper of Terpsichore, stimulated by the music of the Fisher's hornpipe, " cut a pigeon wing " over some ten feet of ground floor, and would have bounded higher and higher but for the rafters and walls of the house. What entanglements of hearts and clothes then took place among the things which were. All went in for a full measure of merriment and joy, and thought they found it. Those days are gone now. "Hunt the Squirrel," and the " Virginia Reel " are too galloping for these days of broad crinolines, and the "double sbuffle " and " pigeon wing " too violent for tight-laced pretty youngsters, who are scarcely able to endure the fatigues of the ten-stepped cotillion, or the gentle measures of the waltz.

Lake Mills and Mineral Point, then so near that the young men had sweethearts there, and neighbors went on friendly visits, are now far off. The roads have not lengthened a jot, but time has.

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 103

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304