USA > Wisconsin > Door County > History of Door county, Wisconsin, together with biographies of nearly seven hundred families, and mention of 4,000 persons > Part 3
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HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY.
of November, 1856, in "God's first Temples" at the county seat. The County Board consisting of A. G. Warren, Chairman; and W. H. Warren and John Garland, justices of the peace, appoint- ed Joseph Harris, Sr., clerk pro tem.
The business done at this meeting was very short and conclusive. It simply consisted of instructing the clerk to procure, at the expense of the county, books, stationery, and other things needed by himself and Register of Deeds. Real estate transfers had been, at that time, all recorded in Man- itowoc and Brown counties. New record books had to be procured, and these records ail copied at the expense of the new (Door) county. It is proper and just to remark here that Mr. Joseph Harris, Sr., was the mainspring that set all the machinery of the new organization in motion, and upon him devolved the greater part of the labor and responsibility.
The meeting adjourned to meet at Sturgeon Bay as soon as practicable. The next meeting was at Sturgeon Bay, Novem- ber 10th, 1857. At this meeting no members of the county Board were present, except H. Schuyler, chairman of the town of Otumba. The chairman of Washington (the only other town organized in the county) not being present, Mr. Schuyler and clerk Harris adjourned to Washington Island to meet the chairman of that town there. The Washington Island meet- ing met on the 5th day of December, '57. The Board organized by electing Henry Schuyler, of the town of Otumba, chairman of the County Board.
The first levy and equalization of taxes was made at this meeting, the value of lands being fixed at $3 per acre for improved lands; $2.50 for unimproved, and $6 for pine lands.
It was resolved that Chamber's Island, and Islands No. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Hat Island, and all the tiers of townships extend- iag north of the town line of Otumba, except Washington Island, be organized into one township under the name of Gibraltar. Forestville was also set off at this meeting, embracing also the territory now included in the town of Clay Banks; all the rest of the county being included in the town Otumba.
Henry Schuyler was appointed county surveyor to fill
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ORIGIN OF "DEATH'S DOOR."
vacancy-he having been elected to that office in the general election of 1856, but having failed to qualify in the time required by law.
A resolution was adopted that $2.50 per head be allowed as bounty for the destruction of wolves in Door county, Later the bounty was raised to $3. This law has never been rescinded in the county, though the scarcity of wolves in this section at the present day makes it a law of but little or no value.
At this meeting county orders were issued-probably the first in the county -- to amount of about $320.
The next meeting of the county board was held the following February, and the town of Brussels was set off, consisting of the present towns of Brussels, Gardner, and Union, and was organized the following spring.
The first meeting of the chairmen of the several town boards of Door county met in Otumba on the 30th day of August, 1858. The meeting was short, and the main work was the resolution appropriating $130 to be expended in opening and working the Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay State Road: the amount appropriated to be paid in county orders as soon as theChairman of the Board was satisfied that said work had been done in a proper manner.
As we have now given a brief sketch of the early government which gradually set the county upon its present basis of advancement, we will now turn our attention to the organiza- tion of the several towns, taking them in the order they were organized, and give a short biographical sketch of the men now living in these towns who have been in the county 10 or more years.
The town of Washington was the first organized town in the county, and in going there to gather facts for this history, we had occasion to cross that passage of water so widely known as "Death's Door," and right here is probably a suitable place to comment on the origin of
DEATH'S DOOR.
The name "Death's Door" or Port du mort has its origin in an Indian tradition, which is probably founded in fact. Some
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HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY.
two hundred years ago Washington Island , was the head- quarters of the Pottawattamie Indians. Here was their home, and about the harbors and bays of the islands, their fishing grounds. Just across, upon the main land, was their princi- pal hunting ground. Crossing from the island in their canoes, they secured plenty of deer for meat and moccasins; an intrusion upon these hunting grounds by any other Indian tribe was at once resisted, and many bloody battles were fought near the lower end of the peninsula. On the occasion to which the tradition refers, the Chippewas had been for some time killing game upon the peninsula, and every effort to drive them away had proved futile. Finally the Pottawat- tamies determined to make a final and bloody effort to drive the invaders off. They mustered every brave in the tribe able to draw a bow or throw a tomahawk; every canoe belonging to the tribe was brought into service to take them over. The flotilla of birch bark started on its expedition of death, one August afternoon, embarking at the westerly side of Detroit Island, and attempting to cross to the main land, preparatory to making an attack under the cover of the night upon the camp of the Chippewas. When about one half way across the "Door," a "white squall," such as is common in those regions, rushed down from the bluffs of the main land, struck the fleet and upset the canoes, drowning every able-bodied man of the Pottawattamie tribes. That passage of water was called in the Indian language the Door of Death. The missionaries rendered it in French " Port du mort" which, in English, gives us "Death's Door." The dead bodies of the drowned braves were driven ashore upon Detroit Island at the place of embarkation. A place was cleared at this point, and all were buried there; but the burial was very shallow probably owing to there being no able-bodied men left in the tribe to do the work. Several persons now living in Door county have visited this burying ground, and report that no longer than fifteen or twenty years ago many human bones could be seen sticking out of the grass and lying upon the surface of the ground. The Indians sup- posed the squall to be the breath of an evil spirit which resided in the bluff from whence the squall came; hence they called
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WASHINGTON-FIRST ORGANIZED TOWN.
it Skillagalee ( Evil Spirit) point. The remnant of the Potta- wattamies soon left the Island. The story soon became known among all the tribes in this region, and all believed that the "Evil Spirit" was disposed to take vengence upon all Indians coming upon the Islands. For this reason Indians are never or hardly ever found upon any of the Islands of the Door. The Island was called Pottawattamie Island until it became set- tled by the fishermen, who named it Washington Island.
WASHINGTON-FIRST ORGANIZED TOWN.
Washington (formerly called Pottawattamie) Island, was the first organized town in the present make-up known as Door county. Amos. Sanders got the Island called Washington townshlp, in 1849, and at that date Washington, and all the little islands skirting that vicinity, in Wisconsin, were a por- tion of Brown county. When Washington was organized into a town, Amos. Sanders was made the first Chairman; H. D. Miner, clerk; John A. Boon, justice. Though not densely pop- ulated, under the government of these gentlemen Washing- ton Island had a good, and, under the circumstances, a thrifty growth. It was Mr. Saunders that opened the first store in the settlement; the first keeper of the Pottawattamie (now Rock Island) light was David E. Corbin, in 1836; Miss Larson, at West Harbor, in 1853 taught the "young idea" (in a select school) how to shoot at an educational mark; while Dr. Wm. Ellis, now on the bleak prairies of Washington Territory, was in 1848 administering medicine to a very limited number of patients in the healthy locality of Washington Island.
The following is a short biography of the men now living on Washington Island, who have been in the county ten or more years:
1828 was the year Henry D. Miner came from Illinois to Rock Island, Door county. Mr. Miner was born in New York in the year 1821, and in 1828 came to Green Bay with his father, who was a missionary among the Indians of that vicinity. In 1829 his father died of Western fever, and Henry D. went back East, remaining until 1842, when he again came West to Illinois, thence to Rock Island as per date above given; and in '49 or '50 to Washington Island. In 1848 he married
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HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY.
Martha A. Lee, and is now father of a son-Jesse, who has grown to maturity. Concerning the early settlement of the county, Mr. Miner writes us as follows:
"WASHINGTON HARBOR, Wisconsin, September 17th, 1880.
H. D. Miner to C. 1. Martin:
Come to Rock Island, June, 1844. On the Island there were two families, viz: J. Boon and Mr. McMillan; three sihgle men-R. Graham, J. McGill, and A. Burr-all fishing. D. E. Corbin, was light-house keeper .... No one was on Washington Island, or within 30 miles North or South .... Two sail craft from Green Bay to Chicago, carrying from 80 to 120 barrels, took fish and brought nec- essaries of life .... Most of the few inhabitants were absent in winter. Letters were directed to Green Bay or Chicago; then per chance to the Islands .... The steamer Michigan, of Detroit, ran to Green Bay, occasionally. About IS51 steamboats began to buy fish here, and Chicago traffic died out .... The first preaching was in 1854, by Rev. W'in. B. Hamblin, who baptised 15 persons, and formed a Baptist church of 23 members, which had meetings three or four years after he left. In 1865 Capt. Kitwood, formed a church, and got a Bethel meeting house built-four or five residents giving $100 each; others less. In 1867 it had 56 members. Selling intoxicants was opposed, and no saloons have been licensed in the town since .. . About 1870, Danes settled back from the water, and a change from a fishing ground to a farming community has taken place. Five threshing machines, 25 horse teams, 13 cx teams, barns, wagons, etc., occupy the place of fish rigs."
[NOTE .- The date of 1828, given and printed as the time Mr Henry D. Miner came to Door county, was a typographical error. It should have read 1844.]
Sometime since a resident of Washington Island left that water surrounded land for other parts of the West. Evident- ly he was a "chum" of Mr. Miner's son Jesse, for Jesse at once composed a poem concerning the occasion. Though the pro- duction is not as finely finished as are many magazine poems, the home-spun verses are by no means without pith and merit notwithstanding Jesse was born and brought up on Wash- ington Island, receiving an education only such as has been cast upon the shores of that so-termed "out-of-the-way-place." We publish the poem in its crude state, without being "fixed- up," leaving the jewels to be dug out and polished by those in search of "prospecting ground." The poem is as follows:
Though "that confounded Island !" Is what you call my home. I think it is a place so grand- My own dear Island home !
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WASHINGTON-FIRST ORGANIZED TOWN.
Oh ! many charms it does possess, Which you'll not find, to roam ; And if good health you don't possess, Come to our Island Home.
Your pulse will soon be quick and strong- Your cheek begin to bloom; And you may hope your stay 'll be long On our dear Island Home.
Far from the vilest haunts of men, Where drunkards meet their doom, For now we have no gambling den On our dear Island Home.
And if for sport you wish to try, You need not look so glum;
But go and catch some fish to fry, Near our dear Island Home.
And though for cash, you have to serve So hard, you wish to roam,
I'm sure no one will have to starve On our dear Island Home.
But, if with friends you're happy now,
And do not wish to roam,
I hope with great respect you'll bow To our dear Island Home.
Though a mixed crowd we surely are- Of many nations some- Still of good folks we have a share, On our dear Island Home.
Though you may think we have our share Who'll never see God's Home, I hope there'll be a quota there From our dear Island Home.
-JESSE.
The party that left the Island, and for whom the above was composed, has since returned, and says it is now his intention to stay there the remainder of his days.
1851. The date Mr. John Cornell landed on Washington Island. He came from Illinois. Was born in 1845, State of New York; married Angeline Crowell in 1866; has three chil- dren. By occupation, is a laborer.
1852. Robert Severs; came to the Island from Chicago; born in England in the year 1826, came to America '51; mar- ried Mary J. Shoukmith 1847. 2d marriage 1865, to Emily A.
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HISTORY OF DOOR' COUNTY.
Boyce; has two children. His son Henry (now in England) married Mary Piercy in 1877, and has two children. Mr. Severs follows farming for a living
1852. Dennis McDonald; came direct from Ireland; born 1829; married Mary Mason 1854, and has six children. His daughter Mary, married Thomas Guinon 1875, and has three children. Adeline married Royal Baker in 1877, and has two children. For a living Mr. McD. follows farming.
1853. Volney S. Garrett; came from Illinois; born in New York 1836; married Rebeca Lee 1855; has five children. His daughter Henrietta married Axel Peterson 1874; has three children. Alice married Andrew Koyne 1877, and has one child. Mr. Garrett is a cooper.
1855. Joseph Cornell; came from Illinois; born in New York, 1830; married Rachel Steward 1856; has nine children, none of which are married. Mr. C. is a farmer.
1856. Goodlet Goodletson; came direct from Norway; born 1844; married Mary Gunderson 1865; has five children. By occupation, is a fisherman and sailor.
1858. Godfred Kalmbach; came from Pennsylvania; born in Germany 1810, and came to America 1846; married Christina Saeger 1835; has five children. His son, Michael F., now of Green Bay, Married Aeti Larson 1859, and has three children. Mary married Jacob Richetar 1858, and has eight chil- dren. Minnie married Holland W. Davis of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1862, and has five children. Albert married Dora Higgins 1878; has one child, and resides in Bailey's Harbor. The elder Kalmbach, is a farmer.
1860. Thomas Coffey; came from New York; born in Ireland 1835, and came to America 1850; married Katie Williams 1864, and has seven children. Is a laborer.
1864. Chas. Johnson; came from Green Bay; born in Nor- way 1840, and came to America 1854; married Jane Haines 1865. Second marriage Lena Bergh 1871; has five children. Is farming and coopering.
1865. Timothy Coffey; came direct from Ireland; born 1844; married Mary Sanford 1869; has five children. Is a laborer.
1866. Christian Jacobson; came from Pine Lake, Wisconsin; born in Norway 1833, and came to America 1863; married Jacobena Gunderson 1864, and has six children. Follows sail- ing for a living.
1866. Jacob Young; came from Oshkosh, Wisconsin; born Germany 1844, and came to America 1860; married Mary A. Walker 1869, and has four children. Is a laborer.
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WASHINGTON-FIRST: ORGANIZED TOWN.
1866. Victor Rohn; came from Washington county, this State; born Germany 1831, and came to America 1846; mar- ried Jane Dowland 1852; has fifteen children. His daughter Emily married Wmn. Betts 1870, and has three children. Rhoda married Thornwald Lund 1877, and has one child. Mr. Rohn follows farming for a livelihood.
1867. Clouse Zink; came from Racine, this State, to Egg Harbor, where he resided for three years, then settled on Wash- ington Island. Was born in Denmark 1826, and came to America 1865; married Mary Johnson 1848; has three children. Jennie married Ezra Graham, of Fish Creek, in 1870; has three children. Annie married Hans Johnson, of Rowley's Bay, in 1873, and has no children. Mr. Z. is a farmer.
1867. Demas Soucie; came from St. Martin's Island, Michi- gan; born Maine, 1829; married Sarah Crowell 1866, and has three children. Is a farmer.
1868. Hans P. Anderson; came from Chicago; born Den- mark 1826, and came to America 1866; married Fredericka M. Kolla 1856; has three children. His son Jens married Arhuey King 1879-she died in December, 1879, aged 18 years. Mr. Anderson is a farmer.
1868. Hans O. Saabye; came from Chicago; born Denmark 1831, and came to America 1867; married Inger K. Nelson, 1864-no children. Is a farmer.
1868. Christian Larson; came from Chicago; born Denmark 1840, came to America 1867; married Mary K. Grow 1865; has six children. Is a farmer.
1868. Louis P. Ottoson; came from Chicago; born Denmark 1842, and came to America 1864; married Mary Nelson 1867. Second marriage, Annie Peterson 1869; has four children. Is a farmer.
1868. Peter Nelson; came from Chicago; born Denmark 1848, and came to America 1867. He is a self-button sewer (a bachelor), and farms for a living.
1869. Louis Johnson; came from Chicago; born Norway; 1839; came to America 1867; married Karren Christenson 1876; has no children. Is a shoemaker by trade.
1869. Christian Olsen; came from Norway; born 1841; mar- ried Annie Berg 1868; has six children. Is a farmer.
1870. Carl Thompson; came from New Jersey; born Den- mark 1848; came to America 1867; married Amelia Koyen 1870; has four children. Is a farmer.
1870. Andrew Bommen; came from Chicago; born Norway 1816; came to America 1863; married Oliva Berg 1848; has five
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HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY.
children. His daughter Anna married Wm. Wickman 1876; has three children; Karren married Andrew Stephenson, of Chicago, in 1880. Mr. Bommen is a farmer.
1870. Knud O. Schelswick; came from Chicago; born Nor- way 1810; came to America 1861; married Mary Greenleaf 1836. Second marriage 1863, to Betsey Lee; has three chil- dren. His daughter Clara married Capt. Geo. Johnson in 1862; has five children, and resides in Norway. Mr. Schelswick was a sea Captain, but now follows farming for a living.
1870. Iver P. Hanson; born in Denmark 1845; came to America 1870; married Mary C. Peterson 1869; has three chil- dren. Is a farmer.
1870. Ole P. Olsen; came from Norway; born 1832; married Wilheminne Larson 1859; has ten children, one of which, Mary, married Godfreid Hanson 1879. Mr. Olsen farms for a living.
OTUMBA (STURGEON BAY)-SECOND ORGANIZED TOWN.
The name of that arm or bay off of Green Bay, now so well known as "Sturgeon Bay," originated among the Menominee Indians. They so named it because of its outline being about the shape of the fish sturgeon, and particularly on account of that specie of the finny tribe being so plentiful in these waters. By glancing at a large water chart or map, it will be seen that the outline of the bay, as a whole, does look very much like a huge sturgeon.
For some years the little town, (or rather the inhabitants erecting log cabins in close proximity on the East banks of the bay,) was only known as "the trading post at Sturgeon Bay." Consequently, as the cabins increased in number, and the population began to grow with the usual American thrift, "the trading post" began to look like an embryo city, and the little town (as the water on the banks of which it was situa- ted) was called "Sturgeon Bay." However, as time advanced, the name of the town was changed to "Otumba" the name of a city in Spain.
In the fall of 1856 Ezra B. Stevens was elected to the Assem- bly, and was the first representative at the State capital from Door county. Hon. D. A. Reed, then in public service at Madi- son, and Mr. Stevens, the assemblyman elect, drew up a bill,
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OTUMBA-SECOND ORGANIZED TOWN.
for the organization of the town, and in the winter of '57 Mr. Stevens got the bill passed for the organization of Otumba as a town. Several efforts was made to change the name, and, in fact, for a brief time many called the village "Graham," then the name "Tehama" was taken up; but neither became stan- dard. Otumba too, as a name, was sort of a stumbling block, and in 1860 a petition, headed by the name of C. Daniels, and signed by many others, was presented to the County Board, asking that the name might be changed from "Otumba" to "Sturgeon Bay." February 13th, 1860, the Board granted the request of the petitioners, and since that date the name of Otumba is entirely foreign to nine-tenths of even the local population, while the title Sturgeon Bay is scattered broadcast and known by more or less people in every State and Territory in America!
Probably the first white settler that located on the banks of Sturgeon Bay, was a Mr. P. Rowley, who settled on the point, on the west side of the bay in the year 1835. For 4 or 5 years he remained in that section-making a small clearing in the woods, and fishing. In about the year '40 he "pulled up stakes" and went to Two Creeks, Kewaunee county; since which date we can get no trace of his whereabouts.
Mr. Peter S. Sherwood settled on the point in 1836, near Mr. Rowley, and was the second white settler in this section. For several years Mr. Sherwood lived alone; cleared up land, and erected a comfortable house, and though the log walls long ago crumbled away and enriched the ground for a second growth of timber, a portion of the old fashioned chimney still stands. About the year 1840 Mr. Sherwood went East for a few weeks, and during his sojourn was married. His wife accompanied him on his return to his bachelor home in the wilderness, where they resided until one night in 1862, when Mr. S. quietly breathed his last, and passed on to the unknown. Though not in the best of health, Mr. Sherwood kept about attending to his duties, and ate heartily except for supper the night of his death. So easily did he die that his wife knew nothing of it until the next morning. At the time of his death Mr. Sherwood was about eighty years of age. By some means his remains were interred in the Potter field, and thus
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HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY.
ends the existence of the first permanent settler on Sturgeon Bay. For the hardships he endured in early pioneer times; as a reward for the light of civilization he lit and kept burning until death closed his eyes, his bones were buried in the potter field in the midst of civilization-not even a headboard above him to designate his grave from that of a pauper. Yet, while his bones rest among the unknown, his name lives on, and the beautiful peninsula on which he lived was named after him, and is widely known. It is on that peninsula or point that "Idlewild," (Hon. J. T. Wright's summer resort,) is erected; and it is there that natural scenery is not elsewhere surpassed on the continent. The land of dense forest which Mr. Sher- wood cleared up a score and ten years ago, has since grown up with deciduous and evergreen trees, and beneath the branches of the second growth timber many pleasure seekers enjoy and loll away the hot days of midsummer. The huge chimney which Mr. S. built more than a quarter of a century ago, now stands alone, white as marble, and is the only visible land mark or monument left to mark his eventful career. Years of exposure in the storm and weather have much defaced the old chimney, but in summer its appearance of sadnes is cheered by the mass of green vines that creep up its sides; wild flowers carpet the once cultivated garden, and native birds warble in freedom, while roll-grass tumbles around the old pioneer clear- ing. In summer the place is beautiful, wild, and interesting; in winter it is desolate and as silent as Mr. Sherwood's grave.
Mr. Neil McMullen was the first white settler on the east bank of Sturgeon Bay, locating in 1837. He was a penurious man, and seemed to enjoy himself best when leading a hermit's life. After some time, he married a daughter of Peter Row- ley's, and as the place began to settle up, he became restless, and moved to the vicinity of Two Creeks.
In the year 1849 or '50, Mr. Frank Sawyer located on the point, west side of the bay. He cleared up considerablo land, erected buildings, and made general improvements. He carried on quite a traffic with the Indians, and did considera- able trapping and hunting himself. As far as we have been able to gather facts, he sowed, cultivated, and harvested the
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OTUMBA-SECOND ORGANIZED TOWN.
first crop of wheat in Door county. The cove, at the mouth of the bay, well known as Sawyer's Harbor, was named after him. Some years ago he moved onto a large farm at Bay Settlement, Brown county, and now lives in that locality.
About the year 1850, immigration began to increas in this sec- tion, and since that date advancement has been general. The following is a short biography of the old settlers in Sturgeon Bay township, who have lived in the county ten or more years:
1842 is the year Chauncy Haskell first came to Door county. He trapped and hunted for many years, but is now a farmer by occupation. Hle landed on Rock Island, and remained in that vicinity most of the time until 1859, when he came to Sturgeon Bay, and located permanently. He came from Ohio to this county; first came West in 1 40; was born in Massa- chusetts 1813; married Alwilda Fuller 1839; has four children.
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