History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 125

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?]
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 125

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The first settlements made in the vicinity of the present village were those of John Harnes, who, it is believed, made his appearance there in 1835, and his brother Diederick, who followed John the succeeding spring. Soon after, William Cormack and Hardin Butler kept them com- pany, as also did Thomas Row, the latter opening up the first farm in this portion of the county, and to him and William Kay is the present village indebted for whatever of prosperity or devel- opment has since attended its history.

In 1836, Thomas Robinson, Stephen Lloyd, James Gillis, Henry French and George E. Cabanis passed through this section en route to the Blue River, and were entertained at the cabin of Hardin Butler. Upon their arrival at Blue River, they succeeded in securing a lease of lands upon which to prospect, and sunk a shaft. After laboring diligently for weeks in the pursuit of treasure without results, one by one gave up the undertaking and returned whence they came. Mr. Cabanis reached Big Patch, mentally confident that he had thrown away the oppor- tunity of his life for the acquisition of wealth, and while moodily reflecting upon the ancertain- ties of the future and the eccentricities of fortune, was nearly paralyzed at the announcement made by an arrival that " some Dutchmen had struck the biggest lead of the year at Blue River, in a shaft sunk by four - fools who had quit when they were within eight inches of a 2,000- pound nugget." Mr. Cabanis relates that he knew to whom the stranger referred in his remarks, and although he said nothing at the time, he has never since eeased condemning his hasty action of forty-seven years ago.

William Spencer settled near the village in 1847, Stephen Dinsdale in 1840, and many others whose nomadic instincts and unsettled ways of life led them to wander elsewhere instead of remaining to take the tide of fortune at its flood. In 1841, William Kay opened a store, the first in the neighborhood, built a mill, and engaged in smelting. Previous to this, however, the number of inhabitants had been increased by the arrivals of Dr. J. C. Campbell, John Spink, John Clayton, and some others, whose numbers had the effect of resolving the widely separated

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

neighbors into an ambitious corporation, as it were. In 1843, John Walker, T. M. Robinson, probably Thomas Booth, etc., settled near the village. In 1845, George E. Cabanis, who had immigrated into the vicinity ten years previous, and had returned to Illinois, came back with his family. John Wilkinson, too, settled in the present village, also William Fortney, and others. This year Thomas Brooks died, the first death in this portion of the township of which there is any authentic record.

The following years were not marked by the arrival of prominent citizens or large dele- gations, neither were improvements of a character to encourage the hope that a town would ever be built on the banks of the Branch. In 1846, Kay's store, mill and farmhouse, Row's farm- house, and Joshua Yeadon's blacksmith-shop, were the only buildings for miles around ; and it was not until 1849 that the first overture toward establishing a village on the present site was made. This was done by James Rawson and Charles Butler, who built a grocery and house of entertainment on the Platteville and Dubuque road. The house still stands, devoted to its original uses, upon the very spot of its origin.

Years before this a school had been established, churches had been organized, and some efforts to create a community of feeling if not of acquets and gams, had succeeded in manifesting their existence. These influences had a tendency to concentrate the number of inhabitants who desired to avail themselves of the advantages offered by the agencies cited, and as a consequence, houses were built up nearer together than upon farms separated by sections of land. Resi- dences attracted manufacturers to some extent, and shops of mechanics went up in the neighbor- hood. while a store was established to supply families with commodities it would otherwise have been impossible to procure nearer than Platteville. It should also be observed that a mill had been established at an early day by William Kay and added its influence to the surroundings. In short, a village was established almost before its residents became aware of this distinguished fact, but being without the mining district after its location, and the competition of surrounding villages more favorably situated, Big Patch has failed to improve with age, either in its personal appearance, if one may borrow a term, or in the number of its inhabitants. It is pleasantly situated, however, surrounded by a rich agricultural region, and as a quiet, unpretentious, cheerful place, for a quiet, unpretentious, cheerful citizen to locate, it offers superior induce- ments.

Educational .- The first school taught in Big Patch was in a log house located one quarter of a mile below the store, the product of a " building bee," in which George E. Cabanis, William Fortney, William Kay, Joshua Yeadon, William Spencer and John Wilkinson were the moving spirits. Joseph Thompson was the teacher, whose pupils were made up of the children of the above-named gentlemen, with others in the neighborhood.

This was in 1846, and the school was continued in the log edifice one year, when it was removed to a house near the mill-pond, used by George H. Frank as a blacksmith-shop. The next school was taught in a house erected by the Sons of Temperance on the Cabanis farm, where the village first began to draw public funds, which were used in part payment for the tuition of scholars, the balance being paid by the parents. In this school taught George Frank, H. B. Harvey and Linus Boscorn, and from school graduated students who have since been quoted among the most prominent and influential citizens in this portion of the county.

In 1860, the School Trustees purchased the old Methodist Church, and removed it to Section 2, about one and a quarter miles east of the village, where it was retained for a number of years, and finally succeeded by a new edifice, which has since been used.

At present, one teacher is employed to teach an average daily attendance of forty pupils ; the cost of supporting the school is $250 per annum, and the Board is composed of John Vine, Director ; Henry Kettler, Treasurer, and Simon Harker, Clerk.

Big Patch Methodist Episcopal Church .- The first Methodist Episcopal class organized in Big Patch was during the year 1856, and consisted of Mrs. George E. Cabanis, Mrs. John Wilkinson, Maj. M. M. Griffith and wife, John Wilkinson, Mrs. Hannah Buxton and George Thomas.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

The first services were conducted in the old schoolhouse, located on the Cabanis farm, which the congregation subsequently purchased, and, removing it to front the Platteville road, made the services more accessible to those who attended public worship.

In 1874, the old church was disposed of, and the present edifice erected. It is of frame, 28x36 feet, located on the edge of the village, with a seating capacity of 200, and cost $1,200, complete. The present congregation numbers 150, and the following Pastors have served since the organization : The Revs. John Triunby, William Sommersides, John Bean, Stephen Pike, Mr. Bunce, John Trezedar, William Cook, James Simons, William Howard, William Sheppard and T. J. Lewis.

The church property is estimated as worth $1,300.

The Primitive Church-Was organized in 1845, under the Rev. Mr. Hobson, and a large membership, including William Kay and wife, Isaiah Gill, Thomas Raw and wife, John Clayton and wife, Mrs. John Booth, Mrs. John Wilkinson, Mrs. G. E. Cabanis, Levi Eastman and wife, Mrs. John Walker and many others.

The first place of worship was the residence of Mr. Kay, which was so used for a number of years, or until about 1850. About that time, the congregation erected a plain frame building near the center of the village, which was used for sacred purposes until 1874, when it was sold to George Fox, and has since been utilized as a blacksmith-shop. Its absence was supplied the same year, however, by the handsome frame structure since employed, which occupies the old site, and is certainly one of the most attractive church edifices in this portion of the county. It is 30x40 feet, will comfortably accommodate an audience of 300, and cost a total of $1,600.

The present congregation numbers 125, and the ministers following have had charge at intervals: The Revs. Mr. Hodson, Joseph Hewett, James Alderson, Mr. Lasonby, George Wells, William Tompkins, T. A. Cliff, J. Dawson, Henry Lees, Christopher Hendry, Thomas Doly, John Harrington and J. Arnold.

The property is valued at $1,500.

Big Patch Mills-A short distance west of the village have been in service since 1846, when they were erected by William Kay and supplied with one run of buhrs, with which he did the mill work of the neighborhood for a period of ten years. In 1856 or 1857, Mr. Kay sold the investment to David Wilkinson, who enlarged its capacity, and, in 1868, further augmented its resources by the introduction of a steam engine.

The mill now contains two run of stone, one for flour and one for feed, possesses a capacity of turning out twenty-five barrels of flour daily, and does a business of $12,000 per annum.

The value of the property is stated at $8,000.

Big Patch Cemetery-Is adjacent to the Primitive Methodist Church edifice, and on lands donated for burial purposes by William Kay and Gen. Dennison, say in 1849, when a cemetery association was organized, of which William Kay, John Clayton, Levi Eastman and Thomas Raw were the Trustees.

The first burial, however, occurred four years previous, or in the spring of 1845, the mor- tal remains laid in this consecrated spot, at that time, being those of John Booth, an early settler, who resided on the edge of the village.

Subsequent to the organization of the association, the cemetery was surveyed and platted by Charles Doty, and laid out with tasteful regard to beauty and attraction. The grounds contain a large number of imposing and elaborately sculptured monuments, and is appropriately planted with flowers, shrubberies and forest trees.

The Post Office-Was first established in Big Patch during the year 1858. Anterior to that time, mail facilities were limited to Galena and Platteville. David Wilkinson was appointed Postmaster, when the office was located, and has since survived the efforts of rivals to supersede him.

In addition to the villages of Georgetown and Big Patch, the town of Smelser is the locum in tenens of three villages, namely, Elmo, St. Rose and Cuba City, the outgrowth of which are due to the building of the Galena & Southwestern Railroad, the route of which, from Galena to

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

Woodman, courses near the Eastern boundary line of Smelser. Though deriving their impor- tance almost entirely from the fact they are railroad stations and shipping-points for the country immediately tributary thereto, they manifest the presence among their inhabitants of no incon- siderable amount of enterprise. The improvements, though limited, are substantial, and schools of a superior order, with churches that bear the impress of congregational character, in their dimensions and finish, dot the prairie landscape with commendable frequency.

ELMO STATION.

Up to the year 1854, the present village site was farming lands, the arable acres of which, rich in the sunshine and shadow, teemed with abundant crops, causing the husbandman to rejoice when the harvest was laid by, and the tanned reapers, when the fields were lying brown and bare, to pause and inhale the dreamy air in the russet season of the year.

During that year, however, Emanuel Whitham, an enterprising cultivator, erected what was then, and still is known as the "Junction House," a huge frame structure at the crossing of the road to Galena and Mineral Point. It was used as a tavern, and furnished accommodations for man and beast when the highways of the country were crowded with the "prairie schooner " and other conveyances of emigrants on their journey to the far West. For three years this was the solitary domicile or improvement in the vicinity. It still stands, its uses unchanged, its accommodations yet accessible. This was the only building erected for three years next suc- ceeding in the vicinity. In 1857, Mr. Whitham built a residence opposite the present station building, that has also survived the rush of events and progress. No other improvements were either projected or completed, anterior to the survey and grading of the railroad.

When it became evident that a railroad was to be built, there was no inconsiderable excite- ment occasioned, and the prospect of. a village at this point influenced the conclusion that land owners thereabouts would be greatly profited as a consequent. In the summer of 1874, Mr. Whitham caused a survey of the village site, appropriating forty acres for that purpose, and laying the same off into 200 lots; the same year the depot grounds were donated by D. J. Weatherby, and in the summer of 1875, the station was built. The same year, J. S. White erected the store still occupied as such, opposite the depot, and the next season the post office was located in the depot with T. H. Leslie, who also carried a stock of goods there, as Post- master. These improvements were followed by the building of a harness-shop by James Welch ; a blacksmith-shop by Robert Whitham, and residences by Robert Whitham, T. L. Leslie, Ephraim Hough and Emanuel Whitham, Jr. Since this epoch in the history of Elmo, improve- ments have ceased to be things of beauty, or joys of even passing significance. They still con- stitute the village proper, and will so continue until a day when rapid increase of population necessitates a provision for its accommodation.

The post office is located in White's store ; churches are sought at other accessible points, and the school patronized is in the township of Elk Grove, La Fayette Co., a short distance from Elmo.

ST. ROSE STATION.

Equidistant between Cuba City and Elmo, and the eldest of the three, is St. Rose, so named by the Rev. Father Samuel Mozzuchelli, thirty-two years ago, when he purchased land and founded St. Rose Church. The first settlers in the vicinity were J. V. Donohoo, John O'Niell and Joseph Banfield. In 1853, Mark Lukey kept tavern in the brick house near the railroad crossing. The railroad was surveyed through here in 1870, graded in 1872, and its building commenced two years later. In December, 1874, J. V. Donohoo set apart ten acres of land on Section 25 for village purposes, and caused it to be laid out into lots upon the express under- standing that St. Rose should be the only station between Platteville and Benton, Mathew Mur- phy of the latter place acting as the surveyor. When the road was completed and the too con- fiding property owner realized the utter unreliability of railway capitalists, he vacated the premi- ses, not before he had sold one lot, however, Thomas Murry being the fortunate purchaser, for the consideration of $100.'

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

The improvements in the prospective village had all been completed before the same was laid, and consisted of a store, hotel, wagon and blacksmith shop, and these, with the station, the residence of Thomas Murry and that of J. V. Donohoo, erected in 1880, constitute all that have been made since 1849, except the church near by.

St. Rose Catholic Church-Located one-quarter of a mile west of the village, was first built in 1851, on land purchased of Levi Eastman, by Father Samuel Mazzuchelli in September, 1849. This church was of brick, 30x20, and cost $900. Father Mazzuchelli remained in charge until his removal to Benton, after which it came under the care of the Dominican Fathers at Sinsinawa Mound, and so continued until the surrender of the college at Sinsinawa by that or- ganization.

During the winter of 1856, St. Rose Church was irreparably injured by the severe frosts, and, in 1859, the edifice was torn down, when the present frame church, 30x60, was erected upon its site at a cost of $1,200, and blessed and dedicated in November, 1861.

The present membership is made up of thirty-nine families, and the following Pastors have served since the present church was built: The Rev. Fathers M. B. Fortune, -. Prendergast, P. Allbright, J. M. Cleary, T. O'Neill and W. Miller.

CUBA CITY.

The largest and most prosporous railroad station in Smelser is twelve miles south of Platteville, and a point at which a large business in shipping is annually transacted.

The first settler in the vicinity of whom there is any authentic record was " Jack " Debord, who came during 1846 and built his house on the identical spot now occupied by the depot. Isaac Nichols made his advent about the same year, and put up a residence half a mile south- east of the village. In 1851, or thereabouts, the Davis family emigrated to Smelser from the East, and building the Western Hotel, still standing, kept tavern until 1858. In that year a man named Blodgett succeeded to the proprietary interest, and after a year's experience trans- ferred his title to William Miller. In 1865, Robert Packard a "' sucker teamster," who was wont to drive a team of six horses with one line, resigned his role as equestrian director, and purchas- ing the hotel, divided his time between farming and duties incident to the life of Boniface.

Prior to this time, S. A. Craiglaw had bought out " Jack " Debord, and in 1870, Packard sold his property and appurtenances to William Stephens. Soon after this event the railroad was surveyed, the track laid, and in 1875 Stephens & Craiglaw ex-appropriated seventy acres of land and caused the same to be defined by metes and bounds for village purposes. This tract was accordingly divided into twenty-nine blocks, and subdivided into 422 lots. Space was designated for depot and park purposes, the latter in the square bounded by Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Clay streets, and other improvements were contemplated on paper.

Immediately succeeding these arrangements a sale of lots was had, at which 150 were dis- posed of, and two weeks later a second sale was the means of disposing of fifty additional lots.

About this time the village in futuro was known as Uba City, so described by M. Y. Johnston, of Galena, but since changed to avoid a conflict of post office names ; but it was not until a year later, when the railroad began its " daily wanderings," that the village began to be built up. To William and Thomas Mitchell belongs the honor of erecting the first building, it being a wagon-maker's shop. The same year Mrs. J. G. Schmole put up a store, the first in the village. These were followed by the building of the depot accommodations, residences, the church, the schoolhouse, and other improvements until to-day Cuba City is graced with two stores, one church, one schoolhouse, one blacksmith's and one wagon-maker's shop, a popula- tion of 120, and an active business interest. The annual shipments from this point are quoted at 200 car-loads each of grain and stock, and 25 car-loads of produce. The annual business is estimated at $40,000.

Educational .- Previous to 1878, pupils from Cuba City attended school at District No. 9. By that year, however, the increase in numbers required more accessible and convenient quar-

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

ters, to supply which the present school edifice to the south of the village was erected, at a cost of $1,200, and has since been used.

It is of frame, 28x48, two stories high, and though a graded school, but one teacher is employed at present. The average daily attendance is eighty scholars, and the cost of running the school is $700 per annum.

Free Methodist Church-Was built in 1877 to accommodate members of that sect who had theretofore been obliged to worship elsewhere. The building is of frame, 24x36, and cost $700. Services are conducted every alternate Sunday by the Rev. Mr. St. Clair, and alternate Sun- days by the Methodist Episcopal denomination, led by the Rev. T. J. Lewis.

The church is attached to the Platteville Circuit, and the congregation includes fifty com- municants.

Three-quarters of a mile south of the village the Methodist Episcopalians support a church, erected seven years ago. The congregation is stated at forty members, and the Rev. Mr. Simms preaches alternate Sundays.

The post office is located in the depot buildings, and John Stevens is Postmaster.

VILLAGE OF FAIR PLAY.

Fair Play, the remains of a village once promising, not to say prosperous, is located in the Southeastern portion of the town of Jamestown, contiguous to Dubuque, Galena, Platteville and other portions of the county, and easily accessible. As a business point the trade upon which was depended to build up and enrich the village departed materially with the miners when the latter removed to California. Since that hegira it has been diminishing steadily until to-day one store will more than amply supply the citizens and farmers in that vicinity, though in number there are two.

As, in other portions of the county, mining, which at one time existed as the principal feature of the inhabitants and source of wealth for all, is now almost totally abandoned. But few are engaged in its pursuit, and even these few are said to be conquering only a precarious victory. The village, however, is in the center of a rich agricultural region, near to St. Clara Academy, one of the most renowned, substantial and excellent institutions of learning in the West, and with these redeeming features to commend this portion of the county Fair Play must always occupy a position which, if spared from annihilation as a village, it will also be preserved from the cares and annoyances incident to overgrown and thickly inhabited municipalities.

The first settlement made in the village is said to have been that of John Roddam, who came in about 1838 and erected his cabin within the present metes and bounds of Fair Play. Others passed through this vicinity, it is believed, at a period anterior to 1838; indeed settle- ments had been made in that portion of the township by Gen. G. W. Jones at Sinsinawa Mound and others at other points. A fort had been erected during the Black Hawk war at the mound and two unwary and defenseless citizens had been killed and scalped by the wily savages immediately previous to the commencement of hostilities. But no settler had established him- self on the present village site, so far as can be ascertained, until the roving Roddam came with his family and described the architectural outlines of a cabin within the then comparatively trackless waste of wilderness.

How he employed his time, or what the extent of his improvements were, or whether dur- ing his almost exclusive occupation of the territory, he was the objective point of attack by Indians or the hoi polloi, who were then beginning to make their advent into the country, is not of record. All that seems to be known is the fact that he settled in Fair Play during 1838, and was living in his cabin two years later, when Charles Bainbridge, then living at Vinegar Hill, discovered Mr. Roddam's presence while prospecting in the vicinity in search of a place to enter his claim and begin farming. He succeeded in this object, and procuring a tract of land near the village, erected a cabin a short distance west of his present residence, where he has become a prosperous agriculturist. His house is now within the village limits. That fall, George Este erected a cabin on the present site of Allinson's Hotel, and there were a number of other build-

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ings put up, but they have disappeared or been succeeded by others until at this date they have departed from the minds and memories of those alone who, it would be supposed, were cull- versant with the facts.

About this time, miners who had exhausted other leads, or tired of other scenes, wandered into Fair Play and began to sound the depths of mother earth in their search for mineral. From their subsequent labors it is apparent that the initial efforts put forth in 1840 must have proved remunerative. At all events, with the dawn of 1841 there was a large influx of miners into the vicinity, and a mining town, with all that the term implies, sprang into existence. The hollow along which the village was afterward built represented the encampment of an army, relates one who was there at the time. The array of tents was continuous and the lives led therein peculiar to the checkered experiences everywhere in the lead mines to be observed. Drinking, gambling, quarrelling and bloodshed were scenes to be daily witnessed, and so uni- versal finally became the reputation of Fair Play as a "hard town" that to live in it or its vicinity peaceably was esteemed an accomplishment of wonderful power.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 125

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?] Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?]
Number of Pages: 1050