History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 87

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 87

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In August, 1822, the second number of "Clio" was issued from the press of his friend Con- verse, of New Haven. In November of the same year, the second part of Prometheus was pub- lished by A. H. Maltby, of New Haven. Spreaking of this poem, the poet Whittier said, in 1830, in the New England Weekly Review : "God pity the man who does not love the poetry of Percival. He is a genius of nature's making. * His Prometheus is a noble poem. There is no affectedness about it-all is grand and darkly majestic."

In February, 1823, Percival assumed the editorship of the Connecticut Herald, a weekly journal, which position he retained but for a short time. Through the earnest efforts of personal friends, Percival received the appointment early in 1824, of Post Surgeon at West Point, but, at his own request, was soon after transferred to Boston. His connection with the Government did not last long, and, until 1835, Percival was engaged in different literary undertakings. In May of the above year, Dr. Percival and Prof. Charles W. Sheppard were appointed by Gov. Edwards, of Connecticut, to make a geological survey of the State. It was during the progress of this survey, that the Doctor was mistaken by the keeper of a country inn for a vagrant, and accosted him sharply as such. "But as the Doctor was leaving his door, a distinguished citizen of a neighboring town drove up and grasped the Doctor's hand with all possible expressions of cordiality and respect. The astonished landlord seeing that he had made a ridiculous blunder, apologized and retired." This work occupied his attention until 1842, his report even in the abridged form in which it was finally published, far surpassing anything that had been attempted in other States.

The last volume of poems published by Percival was in 1843, when "The Dream of a Day " and other poems were issued. This was a 16mo of 270 pages; this was his last poetical venture. His last published poem singularly enough was in German, and written for and published in the Wisconsin Staats Zeitung. It was entitled " Der Deutsche Patriot."

Dr. Percival's love of geology had begun as early as 1815, and never abated. The attention which his report on the geological formations of Connecticut attracted, drew the public eye in his direction, and established him as an authority on this subject. "In 1853, he was engaged by the Hon. F. C. Phelps, President of the American Mining Company, to demonstrate the truth of certain theories concerning the lead mines in Illinois and Wisconsin. He succeeded in estab- lishing the very important fact that the mineral extended several hundred feet below the surface of the earth ; and it was thought that his investigations had added at least $1,000,000 to the value of that region. He also advised the use of machinery in the drainage of the mineral lands." In a letter written from Hazel Green in 1853, Dr. Percival gave the following example of the mining dialect of the time :

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" I was staked on a prospect, and, after prospecting several days, I struck a lead and raised a lot of bully mineral, but it was only a bunch in a chimney without any opening; so I petered out and a sucker jumped me."

After these explorations had been completed, Dr. Percival returned to the East. During the year 1853, a law had been passed by the Legislature providing for a geological survey of the State. Under this law, Mr. Edward Daniels, then a young man, had been appointed as State Geologist. But those interested in the mining interests of the State, desired that the survey should be conducted by Percival, feeling that the work if carried out by him would result in a much greater benefit to the State. Mr. Daniels also acquiesed in this opinion, and accordingly Gov. Barstow was requested to give the appointment to Percival, which was done.

It is needless to say that the result justified the expectations. Among the miners, Percival was regarded as an authority whose opinions were not only not to be disputed, but were absolutely perfect and unassailable. His commission was received August 12, 1854, and Percival imme- diately commenced his work. In the introduction to his first report published in 1855, he says of this work : "I have visited during this season all the considerable diggings, from the south line of the State. to a line drawn from east to west north of Cassville, Beetown, Potosi, Platteville, Mineral Point, Yellow Stone and Exeter, and from the Mississippi to the east part of Green County. Some of the least important diggings, within these limits, may have escaped my notice, but I have endeavored to make such an examination of those I have visited, as my limited time would allow."

The report which follows was (vide a letter from Mr. Edward Hunter) written entirely with- out notes or memoranda, in a little room fitted up for the geologist at the capital, a striking illus- tration of the marvelous memory possessed by this wonderful man. The next season the Doctor continued his explorations, but, upon his return to his home at Hazel Green in December, he was attacked by an illness which brought his eventful life to a close on the morning of Friday, May 22, 1856. He was buried according to his wish, at Hazel Green, the Rev. T. N. Benedict, of Galena, conducting the funeral services according to the form of the Episcopal worship.

Those who knew Percival during his residence in Wisconsin became warmly attached to him. Col. E. A. Calkins in an address delivered before the State Historical Society, thus speaks of his appearance at this time : "The most of us that knew Dr. Percival, did not know him till he came to the West. He was then far past his prime. He walked with his head bent, his eyes cast downward, and with slow and uncertain step. Those of our citizens who often saw him will not soon forget his aspect of poverty, almost of squalor-his tattered gray coat, his patched pants (the repairs the work of his own hand) and his weather-beaten, glazed cap with ear pieces of sheepskin, the wooly side in. The frontier inhabitants of the State knew him familiarly as ' old stone-breaker.'" Among those who knew him, however, and knowing could appreciate his great worth, Percival received every attention. Mr. Edward Hunter, Private Secretary to Gov. Barstow at that time, says: "I became comparatively intimate with him (Percival), and often when I was alone in the office he would enter in his quiet and subdued manner and stand by my desk by the hour-I very seldom could induce him to sit-and, from the rich stores of his mind, on whatever subject I could get him to speak, hold me a willing captive, perfectly enchanted, until some one would dissolve the spell by entering the room, when the Doctor would drop his head, become instantly silent, and glide away."

Dr. Percival's linguistic attainments were as remarkable as his other marvelous stores of knowledge. Besides reading and teaching most of the modern languages of Europe, he was a delver into Sclavonic lore, having an intimate acquaintance with no less than six of these tongues. In religious belief, the Doctor approached very near to the Unitarian standpoint.

His fondness for children is mentioned by Dr. Jenckes, with whom he resided at Hazel Green, in the following words :

" His affection for children, especially those he fancied, was frequently shown by his kind attention to their wants, and great solicitude for their welfare. Many a time he took them in his buggy and would ride two or three miles for their diversion, evidently enjoying himself as

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much as his little companions. His sincerity and child-like simplicity, caused their attachment to be mutual."

He died as he had lived, simple, unaffected and untouched by the busy, bustling cares of the great world to whose needs and artificial wants he had ever been a stranger. His loss was widely noticed by the press, and many societies of which he was a member, together with the Wisconsin State Historical Society, united in reverent testimonials to his worth. In person, Percival was somewhat below the medium height, and rather slight and frail. His countenance was indicative of his extreme sensitiveness and timidity ; pale and almost bloodless ; the eye blue, with an un- usually large iris, which, when kindled with animation, shone with an entrancing brilliancy. The nose rather prominent and finely chiseled, though inclined slightly to Roman in outline; while the forehead high, broad and swelling out grandly at the temples, marked the noble intellect there enthroned.

Although a linguist of the first rank as a botanist and geologist, standing foremost among those of his time, Percival's name will be borne down to future ages upon the car of the muses. As a poet Percival will always be best remembered.

MAJ. JOHN R. COONS. BY J. W. SEATON.

While the evidences of hopes deferred and visions ruptured were only too numerous during the early settlement of the new diggings, still all who came and went out from the mines were not failures. Many succeeded in business beyond their most sanguine expectations and others arose from the humble occupation of miners to fill the most responsible and exalted positions in the land. Many were in affluent circumstances and from the first ranks of society and came here for the purpose of extending their business and adding to their wealth.

A well preserved and fine example of the latter class who engaged my respect and admira- tion, thirty years ago, was Maj. John R. Coons-a man who derived his patent of nobility from the hand of nature. He hailed from the "Blue Grass State "-the land of Henry Clay, of Prentice, the Breckenridges, the Marshalls-those men of giant intellect and universal fame, the home of heroes and some of the fairest specimens of the " gentler sex " that ever came from the hand of a Divine Creator. Springing from such a source, the Major was no exception to his race, or disparagement to his kind. His gentlemanly bearing-his pleasing conversation- his generous nature and abiding friendship-bespoke the true Kentuckian-and the truer man. He was no adventurer or common fortune-hunter, but with good business qualification, a sound constitution, and a will to encounter and overcome all difficulties, he sought to win his way by true merit and probity alone. Coming to St. Louis in 1808 while yet a boy and while it was but a small French village, his chances for an education were limited, though he became an adept in penmanship, a good calculator, and stored his mind with useful miscellaneous reading. The French patois of the place he spoke with the glibness and familiarity of his mother tongue. At this time the old French habitues who were gathered in and around St. Louis and Caron- dolet, in their modes of living, habits, customs and social intercourse, were a peculiar people, and in all things a law unto themselves. Hunting and fishing was their chief employment in summer, and the winter season was one unbroken round of gayety and fun. The sound of the festive violin filled the air ; and the Creole girls, dressed in their gauzy robes of pink and white tarlatans, the sweet carnation of the rose glowing on their warm, olive cheeks, and love beaming from every nook and corner of their " soft, dark eyes," moved with angelic grace through the "mystic mazes of the dance " and led captive many a willing heart. The quaint gable roofs of their houses-their vine-covered balconies and jessamine wreathed windows that greeted the first glow of morning and around which tenderly lingered the last beam of the evening sun, reminded the elders of the sunnier skies of their once beloved France, and made the life of the younger float like an idyl set to the sweet, monotonous melody of whispering trees and the still music of the ceaseless flow of the mighty river. In heavenly scenes like these, what cared they for the grosser things of life? The earth, air and waters yielded the supplies of nature without.

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coaxing or cultivation; and Eden, before the fall, was not a happier place-" Mirth, with thee I mean to live " was their motto and they forgot it not. Little dreamed these light-hearted, fun- loving Frenchmen of the great change that was so soon to be wrought in their vine-covered gardens and primitive cabins. And yet many of them are still living, to look abroad upon a vast city, its streets surging with the ever restless throng of trade and the mighty river, on whose beautiful moon-lit banks they danced the gay quadrille, converted into the mart of a continent and the highway of a nation's commerce. Gigantic steamers now moor in the place of the frail bark canoe and rough bateaux, in which the hardy voyageurs of fifty years since. pursued their dangerous travels ; the lightning-winged train usurps the paths of the patient mule across the plain, instead of peltries and robes from the mountains, bringing the exhaustless treasures of a then unknown land, and teas, spices and the golden products of Far Cathay. Such has been the change witnessed by. a generation still living, and in place of the rude hamlet, a city has sprung up, rivaling in wealth, influence, potency and importance, many of the most renowned cities of the old world. While a young man dwelling here, Maj. Coons witnessed these gay scenes and the rapid changes taking place around him, and became imbued with the spirit and enterprise of its people. For a long period the American Fur Company made St. Louis one of the principal points of its extensive business ; and from here in the spring, annually went forth the long wagon trains of supplies, to the plains, the mountains, the head-waters of the majestic rivers that lave this inland city, to the remote trading-point of Santa Fe, and returned again in the fall, laden with fur, peltries, silver and the rich spoils their emissaries had gathered in.

Of this wealthy and widely influential company the Major became a trusted employe, and, in the year 1827, was sent to the Upper Lead Mines and assigned to a clerkship with Gratiot, Choteaux & Co., a branch of this famous house; located at Gratiot Grove, Wis. Their business was smelting, selling goods and trading with the Indians for furs and Uncle Sam's annuities, and no doubt, at this period of uncertain values, it was found a very profitable one.

Nothing occurred to interrupt their prosperous trade until the spring of 1832, when rumors of an advance of the warlike Sauk (or Sac) Indians, up the valley of the Rock River, became rife in the settlements, and soon culminated in the Black Hawk war. At this critical juncture, no one knowing the magnitude or proximity of the danger that surrounded them, the peaceful pursuits were neglected, and every precaution for safety and defense was taken. Block-houses were constructed, forts built and the women and children hustled into them, and the men organ- ized and armed, ready at a moment's warning to ward off or go in the pursuit of the wily foe. In all these preparations and forays, Maj. Coons took an active part, and, although his valorous deeds were not recorded in every bulletin from the field of battle, as were those of some others less worthy, his services were untiring and highly appreciated by his superiors. His family being removed to safer quarters, the house they occupied at Old Shullsburg-a strongly built log house one and a half stories high-was converted into a place of defense and garrisoned with soldiers. When peace was restored, the family returned, and his eldest son, Henry (the amiable and gentlemanly Town Clerk of Potosi), well remembers playing soldier when a boy and shoot- ing out of the port-holes from the chamber. He was braver then than he is now. Several guns were left by its heroic defenders, and, in handling them afterward, one was accidentally dis- charged, the contents going through the floor and lodging in the bed beneath, luckily unoccu- pied, or Henry might have become a " poor motherless boy " for his carelessness.

Maj. Coons was one of a detachment sent out by Col. Gratiot in search of the Hall girls, two beautiful young ladies who were spared at the dreadful massacre of their father's family and neighbors, on Rock River. They were taken captives by one of Black Hawk's roving bands. and a reward of $2,000 being offered for their rescue, by Gen. Atkinson, they were afterward brought in to the fort at Blue Mounds, by three Winnebago Indians, who received the reward, but being suspected as spies, were ordered from the fort and to proceed at once north of the Wisconsin. The girls were in a most destitute and forlorn condition, but received the warn sympathy of the ladies in the fort, by whom they were properly clothed and soon after restored to their friends.

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Peace being finally restored by the capture of Black Hawk and the destruction of his band at the bloody battle of Bad Ax, Maj. Coons was relieved from further duty and returned to private life. He soon after obtained what was called a "smelter's grant" from the Govern- ment and removed to Dubuque, which, though not open to settlement, was fast being filled up with miners, tradesmen and adventurers. He built his furnace on the Catfish, near the present site of the Rockdale Mills. Here he enjoyed the confidence of the miners, and did a lucrative business, though paying thousands of dollars to the Government in the shape of rent. His tax rule was afterward reversed and the money refunded, but unfortunately for the Major, he did not give the matter his prompt attention, and to the extent of his loss the Government profiteth.

Belmont, the once famous capital of Wisconsin, next attracted his attention, and here we find him running one of the largest dry goods stocks in the West. During his absence from home, on one occasion, his shrewd and far-sighted wife, took it into her head to visit the land office at Mineral Point, and when the Major returned he found himself the owner of some of the finest farming lands in this section of the country. The strangulation of the young city in its infancy, by the removal of the seat of government to Madison, blighted its future hopes, and determined the Major to find a place of brighter prospects and more commercial importance.

That place was Potosi. And thither he came, like Joseph of old, out of the land of Egypt, with his family and his fortune. Hooper, Peck & Scales were then heavily engaged in the mercan- tile business at Galena, and with them an alliance was formed and a branch house established, under the firm name of Coons, Wooley & Co., in that part of the village of Potosi then and still known as Lafayette. Here, in 1836, the Major erected the first frame store building in Potosi, shipping the material for its construction from Cincinnati by the way of the Ohio River. It stood immediately above the residence of the late James F. Chapman, though now reduced to the menial grade of horse stable on the farm of Nick Bonn. Its internal arrangements and finish were a marvel of beauty and elegance. Piles of valuable goods adorned its shelves and counters, and its capacious cellar and wareroom were plethoric with staple groceries and choice liquors. But, alas ! for things material as well as things spiritual ! The disease of debt was already fastened upon the vitals of the parent house, and the offspring was not exempt from its taint. The credit system predicated upon the inflated, worthless currency of the Illinois banks, had collapsed. Gen. Jackson had issued his famous specie circular, and down to this rock basis all must come. No man or firm in business could withstand the wild tempest of bank- ruptcy and disaster that swept through the length and breadth of the land. All toppled and many went down. Hooper, Peck & Scales tried to weather the storm, but it was of no use. The proud firm and its dependencies were taken from their anchored foundations, twirled in the air, and dropped in one common wreck. Some of the members emerged from the ruins with a few dislocated joints and bruised limbs, but poor Maj. Coons was a cripple for life, and almost a penniless man. He never overcame the shock or recovered from the deep injuries. Quietly and unostentatiously, he pursued the even tenor of his life, gaining, as best he could, a livelihood and an education for his little family-till, wearied at last with the unequal struggle, he bent his proud form and " slept with his fathers." Well do I remember the hour and the event ; and when they told me the old man had passed from his humble home to his heavenly rest, I said within myself, It is well-a true, a warm and generous heart hath ceased to beat ; a kind, a just and upright soul has burst the prison bars of death, overcome the rough and rugged storms of life, and found a shelter in a happier home.

"Methinks I hear the parting spirit say It is a dread, an awful thing to die."

Oh ! no, it cannot be. No vain regrets ; no sorrowing words e'er linger round the dying lips ; no tears bedew the eyelids of the dead. Affection, love, forgiveness, faith and hope the falter- ing voice and failing breadth alone imparts ; and on the marble cheek the smile of love and hope immortal reigns. And so he died. Twenty years-swift, fleeting, ever-hurrying years of time, have fled since then, and still in loving hearts his memory lives embalmed. Although he sleeps within a lonely dell, far from the busy walks and strife of men, the wild rose blooms around his

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grave; the feathered tribes of spring pour forth their sweetest notes, and come to build their nests amid the quiet trees ; the dews of Heaven fall gently o'er the springing grass and budding flowers; he hears, he heeds, he knows it not; yet, from this lonely bivouac of the dead comes forth the fragrance of a noble life, and sheds its hallowed influence around the name, the grave of John R. Coons.

M. DE TANTABARATZ AND THE DESERTED VILLAGE. BY J. W. SEATON.

Paris, not the brilliant metropolis of France-the city of prisons and palaces-renowne for its gay boulevards and dark Rues-the mistress of fashion and the mother of communism- but its namesake on the Platte, the little waif that perished in its infancy thirty years ago It was, and still remains, a strange, sequestered spot. Its site was a point where, through pine crowned hills and widening meadow bottoms, the Big Platte joins its main tributary of the same name with the diminutive prefix. Here, their confluent waters reflecting the dark foliage of the native trees which cover its green banks, and casting the shadows of the high, receding bluffs far up the slope on either side, mingle in silence, and in those days formed a channel sufficiently wide and deep to float the largest craft that ever came up from the Mississippi, the distance of five miles below.

This virgin purity is disturbed and the calm shadows broken by the sharp prow of a heavy boat that makes its way slowly up the placid waters of the united river. The squirrel with noisy chatter makes a scampering retreat to the safe security of a lofty tree, and from its tall tower scans with curious eye this unwonted presence. The birds flutter, astonished and amazed, to a neighboring thicket. This intrusion is unparalleled.

Tou Le Jon contemplates with a smile these retreats of the animal kingdom before his pres- ence, and moves on up the river till he comes to the place of its separation. Casting off a line and making it fast to a large cottonwood, the boat's crew go ashore, and while they are engaged in preparing their first meal in the wood, Tou Le Jon has surveyed the ground, mapped out the place, and commenced the work of founding a city. A few months pass, a clearing has been made, streets, public squares and grand avenues have been staked off and defined, a log shanty or two has been built and Paris on the Platte has become an historical fact.

From this date, 1828, we mark its rise, progress and decline, comprising a period of barely two decades. Tou Le Jon has money, and, under the quickening influence, Paris soon grows into respectable proportions and notoriety. A smelting furnace, a store, a two-story frame hotel, a public boarding-house, built from hewn logs, with a long porch in front, were among the few noticeable buildings first erected. If some ancient surrivor of the place should chance to read this sketch, and take exceptions to its topography, I beg leave to remind him here that all history is involved more or less in doubt or obscurity, and when it depends upon oral tradi- tions for facts, a few discrepancies and achronisms are unavoidable, however much the writer may aim at accuracy and truth. There are but few living now who have carried the early his- tory and events of the mines so freshly in their memory that they can relate them with any · degree of certainty, or without committing some serious mis-statements as to time, place and persons.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 87

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