History of Green County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 22

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1168

USA > Wisconsin > Green County > History of Green County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 22

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By an act of the Territorial legislature of Wisconsin, approved Dec. 8, 1836, Iowa county was, as already shown in this chapter, divided and re-organized. That portion lying west of the fourth principal meridian was set off as Grant county. All that part lying east of the range line between ranges 5 and 6 east was made a part of Green and Dane counties. The re- mining part of the old county of Iowa consti-

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

tuted a new county retaining the old name. By the same act the county seat was established at the town of Mineral Point.

By a treaty, concluded at Prairie du Chien, Ang. 1, 1829, the Winnebagoes ceded to the general government a tract of territory lying south of the Lower Wisconsin. This included the present county of Iowa, and opened the way to permanent settlements. Previous to this time a few had located here, being led hither by the reports of the lead diggings. The first actual settlement was made in the spring of 1828, by John Hood, who, with his wife and son, three years of age, came from Missouri, and settled at Mineral Point, camping at first in a cabin made of poles covered with bark, until a sod house could be built, in which to live more securely. This sod house was ten by twelve feet on the ground, and in it was born their second son, on the 29th day of November, 1829, being the first white child born in the county. This child was named John Theophilus Lawson Hood. Mr. Hood at first engaged in labor for others who soon opened mines there, and at times prospected for himself, until, finally, he struck a rich "lead," which he worked until his death, in 1844. Mrs Hood is still living at Min- eral Point, on the ground they first occupied. Hood's family were here during the Black Hawk War. Hood was a lieutenant under Gen. Dodge, His wife, who was a dead shot, carried a rifle on her shoulder every time she stepped out of doors during the entire war. By taking the log houses, a log fort, called Fort Jackson, was built at Mineral Point; a cannon (six pounder) was procured, and forty-two women, with very few men to protect them, remained in this fort three months. No battles were fought in this locality, and all escaped injury by the Indians. At the same time a fort called Fort Union, was built at Dodgeville, into which during the hostilities, the women and children of that region were collected for safety and de- fense.

In the spring of 1828, almost immediately after the family of Hood had settled in their bark house, Nat. Morris came to this point, and soon struck a rich vein of mineral, the first dis- covery at this place, owing to which circum- stance, the locality was called Mineral Point, which name it has retained to the present time. By the month of August of that year, J. W. Blackstone had associated himself with Mr. Morris, and, as they employed two men to dig in their mine, it made seven persons at the Point at that time. During the summer and fall of 1828, Messrs. Gayond & Wright opened a store in a small log house. They were the first merchants in the county. A Baptist min- ister by the name of Roberts settled here with his family in 1828, and was the first preacher in the county; he failed, after years of effort, to organize a church society. D. M. Parkison built a log house of good size, in the fall of 1828, which was kept as a hotel by John T. Sublet, and was the first hotel in the county. At this house the fifty-third anniversary of our national independence was celebrated in 1829. John B. Terry settled here in 1828 for the pur- pose of mining, and afterwards built a smelting furnace, the first operated in the county. In 1830 Mr. Terry farmed a little, two or three miles west of the Point. Dr. Manegan, from Missouri, settled here in 1828, and was the first physician in the county. The second physician was Dr. Jestine, who came in 1829. A Mr. Miller settled here in 1828, and afterwards built a mill a mile or two sonth of where the rail- road depot now stands. This was the first mill in the county. Miller ground grain into feed for animals, made corn meal, but no bolted flour. The grain ground at that time was hauled from Galena, as was flour and provisions. Before the winter of 1829, the settlement had swelled to considerable proportions, all, or nearly all, eager to plunge into the earth and bring up the wealth there buried.

In 1829, Frank Kilpatrick, Judge Monden and Daniel Moore settled in the southwestern part

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

of the present county and commenced farming; all had their families, but Moore being a little in advance, his wife was the first white woman in this part of the county.

In 1829, a Mr. Parish settled in the western section of the county with his family, consist- ing of his wife, five sons and two daughters. One daughter, America Parish, married Daniel Moore, and the other, Levi Sterling who was the first sheriff of the county. One of the sons, Thomas Parish, became a smelter, the other farmed; but it was not many years before the family became scattered. About this time, E. P. Goodsell found lead in this region and with others engaged in mining with good success. Soon after their labors commenced, Moses Meeker built a smelting furnace at this point. In the spring of 1832, Black Hawk with a party of Sacs and Foxes crossed the Mississippi from the other side and prepared to re-assert his claim to disputed territory. At the first war- whoop the miners and settlers from all this region hastened for some stockade or fort, and with them went the few inhabitants of this county; collecting at Mineral Point, Dodgeville, Blue Mounds, and other places of security. Al- though there were no "glorious victories," or "inglorious defeats" within the present limits of Iowa county, yet it was the scene of many a flying "Modoe," and pursuing "Jonathan." The Indians were soon vanquished, Black Hawk taken prisoner, and the war ended by the com- bined strategy and efforts of Gen. Henry Atchison and Col. Henry Dodge. As soon as hostilities were over, the settlers again looked up their scattered axes and picks and began anew tilling the soil and searching for lead.

Prior to 1836 all the mining was done in shallow diggings, which amounted to little more than picking up surface lead; at least, the most extensive mines were but a few feet deep. Al- though the first "l'ead" was discovered in the county at Mineral Point, by Nat. Morris, in 1828, still the mining was shallow, owing to the great abundance of

lead near the surface, and the want of facilities for deep mining. In 1836 three "leads" were discovered two and one half miles north of Mineral Point, by Holmes, Martin and Ben- nett, by whose names they were known. These mines were not deep, but their yield was abund- ant. From this deeper mining commenced in and around Mineral Point, and up to 1840, in addition to the mines already mentioned, there had been opened Bracken's mine two and a half miles south of the Point, Fragasca's mine a lit- tle to the east, and the Terrill mines, Mc- Knight's mine, and the Irish mine at Mineral Point. As, at that date, Green county had been organized two years, it is unnecessary to pursue further a consideration of the Iowa county mines, or the history of that county itself.

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.

The county of Lafayette was, from the time of its first settlement, a part of Crawford, until 1829, when Iowa county was formed. It was then a portion of lowa until it was set off as a separate county, with its present name and boundaries, by the Territorial legislature of Wisconsin, Feb. 4, 1847.

The project of separation by the formation of two counties out of Iowa, had been agitated for some years before it was effected. It was favored by the people at both extremities, north and south, but persistently opposed by those in the central portion, contiguous to the proposed line of division. It was put in motion in the fall of 1845, by a public meeting at New Diggings, at which a petition to the Legislature was prepared, and a committee appointed to circulate it for signatures. The Legislature re- sponded by the passage of. an act, Jan. 31, 1846, defining the boundaries of the proposed separate counties, and enabling the people to express their wish more fully upon the question of division in the manner defined, by voting either for or against the proposition at the an- nual election in September, the Legislature en- dowed it with legal force and effect by the act of Feb. 4, 1847.

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

Under provisions of the same act, taking effect May 1, 1847, the county of Lafayette was fully organized for county and judicial purposes. It was also provided that all officers heretofore elected for the county of Iowa, residing within Lafayette, should be officers of the latter until their terms expired, and that the remaining of- ficers to which it was entitled should be chosen at a special election, on the first Tuesday of April, 1847. The county was assigned to the first judicial district, and terms of court were directed to be held thereafter at the seat of justice, in September and April of each year.

So much for the political history of Lafayette county. We now proceed to give a sketch of its early history, to understand which is so nec- essary to a just comprehension of that of the connty of Green.

Upon the first advent of miners and settlers to this region, it was occupied by the Winne- bago Indians, who gave the intruders frequent trouble by their unfriendly disposition until 1828, when they threw open their territory to the United States, and the next year ceded all their land south of the Wisconsin and west of Sugar river to the general government by the treaty of Prairie du Chien, and withdrew to the northward and eastward

The United States began the survey of public lands in this section by running the base line, or line between Wisconsin and Illinois, from the fourth principal meridian castward to Lake Michigan, in 1833, and immediately thereafter proceeding with the sub-division into townships and sections of the territory embraced in this county, which was completed by 1835. In that year, the lands were brought into market at Mineral Point, but the mineral lands were re- served from sale, being worked under regula- tions elsewhere mentioned, until 1846, when they also were put upon the market.

The early settlement of Lafayette county, was induced by the discovery of lead ore. Ga- lena was the "hub" of the Lead Region, from which point explorations were made in all direc-

tions. Wherever a discovery of mineral was made, there a settlement sprung up, composed largely of fortune hunters, who generally made but a temporary stay, but a portion of whom became permanent and influential residents. All were engaged in mining, or in accessory opera- tions.

In 1824, the "new diggings" near Fever river, in the southwest part of the county, were dis- covered by a prospecting party from Galena, consisting of Duke L. Smith, George Ferguson, and five or six others, and were at once occupied. In 1856, Ferguson, and John and Cuyler Arm- strong, were the principal occupants of these mines, which proved to be immensely rich.

In the towns of New Diggings and White Oak Springs, mining was commenced in 1827 and 1823 by Amos Looney, Mr. Deering, J. W. Blackstone, Jantes Collins, Samuel Scales, R. H. Champion, and others.

The first white persons known to have made a permanent settlement in the county, were Henry and Beon Gratiot, two Frenchmen from St. Louis, Mo., who settled at what was called Gratiot's Grove, in the year 1826, and com- menced the business of mining and smelting lead. This point became famous as "Fort Gra- tiot" during the Black Hawk War in 1832, as a place of safety for families. It was about two miles south of the present village of Shullsburg. Henry Gratiot became Indian agent for the United States government, and had great influ- ence with the Winnebagoes, who inhabited this country. On the 15th day of February, 1827, James Woods, Johu Woods, William Chilton, Andrew Clarno, Thomas Chilton, Hugh Mc- Geary, and Angustus Chilton, left Springfield, Ill., on foot, with the view of settling or labor- ing in the "Lead Region" of Wisconsin. They traveled on foot, carrying their supplies on their backs, fording streams, wading through swamps, sleeping on the ground, with scant covering, and sometimes in the snow or rain, during a journey of twenty days, at the end of which they arrived at Gratiot's Grove, on the 7th day of March,

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

1827. From this point most of the party scat- tered to different points; some returned to Ga- lena and others to their homes in Illinois, but James and John Woods engaged to drive a team for the Gratiots, who wanted one man, and gave James Woods $12 a month with board, and his brother John, his board, so the two brothers became settlers at this point. Andrew Clarno afterward settled in what is now Green county. During the trip from Springfield to Galena, Clarno was taken sick, and it was neces- sary for his comrades to carry him, which they did faithfully until reaching Galena. Here they found James Kendall and family, also a Mr. Rendezbarger and family, whose son was an artist, and his son-in-law, a doctor, probably the first physician who ever saw this section of country. Rendezbarger and family were Swiss, highly cultured, and came here from the settle- ments of the Red river of the north. Those already mentioned, with a few laborers, consti- tuted the inhabitants of this region in the spring of 1827. George Skillinger, Anthony Miller and Crawford Million, with their families, came the same summer. Skillenger and Miller soon moved further east, and commenced farming in the present town of Wiota.

Jesse Shull settled near the Gratiots, and opened valuable mines. The village of Shulls- burg was named in his honor. Absalom and Elijah Townsend and James H. Earnest, were other early settlers in this part of the county.

Fortinetns Berry, from Sangamon Co., Ill., with his family, settled at Gratiot's Grove, in the fall of 1827, and the year following com- menced farming, a little south of the settle- ment. One of his daughters was the first wife of Charles Lamar.

William S. Hamilton, son of the celebrated Alexander Hamilton, settled in the present town of Wiota, in 1827, for the purpose of engaging in mining and smelting. He built the first fur- nace in the county, except Gratiot's; and did the first farming in his settlement. This settlement was known as "Hamilton's Fort," being a place

of resort for the settlers when Indians were troublesome, especially during the Black Hawk War. Hamilton platted a village near the northeast part of the present town of Wayne, in 1827, and gave it the Indian name of Wiota, hoping to induce sufficient settlement to be- come a village and hasten the improvement of that section, but as all who came to this region, at that time, thought only of making their for- tunes by mining, they settled where mineral had been found, and this early enterprise of Ham- ilton's failed, although the aboriginal name, Wiota, was retained for a village.

In 1828, two men by the names of Collins and Kemp, settled near Hamilton, in the present town of Wiota, and opened a mine. Two brothers, Robert and Samuel Paxton, and Eli Shook, soon followed and commenced mining. George Carrol, Ezra Lamb and James Mc- Knight, had settled and commenced farming here, by 1830.

Jameson Hamilton, from Indiana, settled on the banks of the Pecatonica, at the sight of Darlington, in 1827. He made a claim and farmed. He sold most of the present town site, or first town plat, in 1861.

James and Dennis Murphy commenced min- ing in the southwestern part of the present county, in what is now the town of Benton, where still exist some of the most valuable mines.

In 1828, a Mr. Eastman settled in the north- western part of the county, in the present town of Belmont, and commenced farming. The same year Col Moore settled further east, at the present town of Willow Springs, where in 1831, his son Alphonzo was born, who was the first white child born in the county. Col. Moore afterward settled at Belmont and en- gaged in hotel keeping at the old capital, near the center of the present town of Belmont. John Ames settled abont four miles south of Darlington, in 1828, and commenced mining, moving afterward to Iowa, in 1838, where he became quite a prominent public man.

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

Daniel M. Parkinson settled in the north part of the county in 1828, with his family. The settlement was called Willow Springs, and Mrs. Parkinson was the first white woman at this settlement. Parkinson was held in high esteem by the people of the county, who often elected him to offices of trust. He was repeatedly elected representative to the Territorial and State legislatures. John Ray and wife settled here in 1828, and Ray, with a Mr. Fretwell, engaged in keeping a hotel and grocery. Mrs. Ray was noted for her religious zeal.

James Collins, John W. Blackstone, Samuel Scales, Capt. Funk, Mr. Deering, and Amos Looney, settled in the south and southwestern parts of the county, in 1827 and 1828, all for the purpose of mining, in connection with which interest they became prominent. Blackstone was a lawyer, whose merits soon became known; although he did not at first engage in the prac- tice of his profession, he was chosen to fill places of trust, both legislative and judicial. James Neagle, an Irish lawyer, very eccentric and not a little audacious, settled here very early and commenced mining. He afterward engaged in his profession, however, and was noted for his quaint remarks in court, and a disposition to have the last word. At one time, he went so far in his peculiar style in Judge Dunn's court, at Mineral Point, that the judge, finding it im- possible to quiet him, imposed a sharp fine for contempt. This action brought temporary quiet to the odd son of Erin, but presently he rose and said in broad Irish brogue: "May it please the court, I may be permitted to say, your honor is much more impregnated with dignity, this morning, than usual."

The settlement of the present town of Fay- ette was commenced in 1828, by Mr. Duke, who opened the mine known as Duke's diggings, which for many years gave an abundant yield of lead ore.

James MeKnight and brother settled in the southeastern part of the county in 1829, and

commenced farming; and were soon followed by many others.

Daniel S. Hawley settled in the present town of Argyle, where he farmed, and afterwards built a mill and hotel, the first hotel and mill in this part of the county. In 1830 J. C. Sax- ton opened a store at the same place, and by 1833, Joseph Shook, William Brazzell, a Mr. Cunningham and others, had commenced farm- ing.

James Kendall, from Gratiot's, settled in the present town of Kendall, in 1829, and com- menced farming. He built a mill for grinding grain in 1833. This was the second mill built in the county, the first having been built in 1835, on the Pecatonica, at the site of the vil- lage of Gratiot (a place entirely distinct from Gratiot's Grove), by a Mr. Curtis. Mineral was found here, and Robert C. Hoard built a smelt- ing furnace in the year 1851.

Owing to the menaces of the Winnebago Indians, there was no rapid influx of population into this country for two or three years after the discovery of the lead mines. The unfriend- ly disposition of the savages culminated in the outbreak at Prairie du Chien in June, 1827. At the same time they threatened a murderous de- scent on all the frontier settlements, and con- sequently nearly all the miners located in this region precipitately abandoned these outposts and concentrated in Galena for safety. The troubles were quieted by the march of Gen. Atkinson's troops to the Wisconsin portage in August and September, when the miners re- sumed their occupation. At the same time the reports of the war and the return of the volun- teers under Atkinson to Illinois, had spread the fame of the lead mines far and wide, and men immediately flocked hither in great numbers. This and several succeeding years were noted as years of wild expectation and adventure, see- ond only to the gold excitement in California.

The Winnebagoes manifested great uneasi- ness from the first at the intrusion of the whites upon their mines, and the various difficulties

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

with them between 1823 and 1828 are attribut- ed to that canse. These were quieted, how- ever, in 1828, when by treaty they gave the gov- ernment permission to occupy the mineral region for a compensation of $20,000, but did not cede these lands until the next year. This was the end of the Winnebago trouble, but in 1832 a more serious danger threatened the destruction of the isolated settlements-the incursion of Black Hawk with his formidable band of Saes and Foxes from the Iowa country into the lower valley of Rock river. The concentration of United States forces and Illinois volunteers from the south and east upon the rear and flank of this enemy, forced him back upon the Lead Region, but the resistance here offered, added to the pursuit in his rear, compelled him to seek safety in the timber and swamps of Jefferson county. The more important incidents of this struggle in Lafayette county may be briefly summarized. In April, 1832, information of Black Hawk's crossing into Illinois having reached the Lead Regions, Daniel M. Parkison was dispatched to Dixon's ferry, to ascertain if his intentions were hostile. Returning with information confirming previous reports of dau- ger ahead, a volunteer force was organized, of which Col. Henry Dodge became commander. Defenses were constructed at Hamilton's place, Gratiot's Grove, White Oak Springs, Shullsburg, Diamond Grove, Elk Grove, at the residence of D. M. Parkison (Fort Defiance), and at Seel- horst's at the southwest extremity of Elk Grove, all in Lafayette county, and elsewhere. Dur- ing the early part of June, matters became still more serious, Dodge's volunteers visited Rock river, and after an interview between its com- mander and Gen. Atkinson, returned and were dismissed to their homes, with orders to be in readiness to re-assemble on a moment's notice. This occurred on the 14th. The same day the In- dians surprised a party of seven men at work in a corn field on Spafford's farm, near the mouth of the creek of the same name, a few miles southeast of Fort Hamilton, killing five, the

other two making their escape by extraordinary activity. The alarm was instantly spread, and a detachment from Fort Defiance proceeded to the scene of action and buried the dead. On the morning of the 16th, Col. Dodge arrived at Fort Hamilton, where the volunteers had been ordered to assemble. A few moments after his arrival, a German named Apple was fired upon within a short distance of the fort by the In- dians in ambush, and instantly killed. The men at the fort, twenty-nine in number, hastily mounted, under Dodge's orders, and galloped after the now retreating band of savages, who retired eastward toward the East Branch of the Pecatonica, about five miles distant, when, find- ing that they would be overtaken, they posted themselves within a horse-shoe bend of the stream under the banks of a small pond, and awaited the onset. After fording the river and approaching the position, the men were dis- mounted, and leaving four in charge of the horses, four others were detached in different directions to watch the movements of the ene- my. Twenty-one advanced to the attack in open order, with trailed arms, and when within a few yards of the concealed enemy they received their fire, which, however, was not well directed, and only three men fell. A charge was in- stantly made, and before the Indians could re- load they were all shot down, seventeen in number, not one of them escaping. The loss of the assailants was three killed and one wounded. The Indians made no further hostile demon- strations, and a few days later Posey's Illinois detachment and the miners' battalion united their forces at Fort Hamilton, and proceeded from thence by way of the four lakes to join Gen. Atkinson and the main army at the foot of Lake Koshkonong. During this time Hamilton made a trip to Prairie du Chien, in order to se- cure Winnebago allies against Black Hawk, in which he was only partly successful, returning with a number of that tribe with whom he ac- companied the expedition previously mentioned. The conclusion of the Black Hawk War was the end of all Indian disturbances in this region.

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

The people now began to employ themselves in various kinds of business at the settlements or villages, and agriculture soon claimed its le- gitimate place among the industries of the county.

In 1825 a superintendent was appointed for all the mines claimed by the United States in the upper Mississippi district, with authority to prescribe rules and regulations for the govern- ment of those engaged in working them. Under these regulations a lot 200 yards square was al- lowed to every two miners, and one in addition for every two hands employed. The miners staked off these lots at pleasure, on any unoccu- pied ground, and held them only during occu- pation; but, by giving a bond of $5,000, a miner's lease to a half section for three years could be obtained. They were allowed the free use of timber for building and fuel, and smelters were allowed sufficient to carry on their works; but no permission was given to nse timber in any other manner. Miners were restricted to the sale of their ore to licensed smelters, but could obtain a smelter's license in the same manner as other persons, by entering into $10,- 000 bonds to pay the government a tenth of all the lead manufactured. Farming was permitted free of rent wherever it did not interfere with the timber required for mining purposes. These regulations passed away when the lands were brought into market, and mining became the business of private individuals, companies or corporations, under the same general laws and regulations prescribed to other business.

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History of Green County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 22

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1168