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 23

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 23

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Among the first to give prominence to this industry in Lafayette county were J. W. Black- stone, Col. James Collins, Jesse Shull, Henry Gratiot, Samuel Scales, Amos Looney, Beon Gratiot, Buck Deering, Absalom and Elijah Townsend, James Earnest, James and Dennis Murphy, Robert and Samuel Paxton, M. Duke, a Mr. Kemp, and William S. Hamilton. After many years of varying success the mines in the eastern part of the county were measurably abandoned.

Ilaving thus considered the condition of the pioneers in Wisconsin while the latter was a Territory, and having sketched briefly the early history of Iowa and Lafayette counties, let us now proceed to examine the canse which first led adventurers to what is now the county of Green. The object of their coming was the newly discovered El Dorado-

THE LEAD MINES.

Undoubtedly the first miners in Green county were Indians of the Sac tribe; at least, it is not known that any mineral was taken out of the earth here before they came in possession of this part of the country-they and their kin- dred, the Foxes. There is no positive record left behind them of their having been visited in the region round about here by white men while engaged in mining; but local traditions among the Winnebagoes, who followed them, fixed the sites, in at least two places, within the limits of the present county of Green, as "Old Sac Dig- gings." One of these, it is quite certain, was on what was afterward (and still is) known as the south line of the southeast quarter of section 27, in township 4 north, of range 8 east, in the town of Exeter; the other was, probably, what was subsequently known as "Skinner's Dig- gings," on the present section 3, in township 2 north, of range 7 east, near the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of that section (in what is now the town of Monroe).

Helen M. Bingham, in her excellent little work-"History of Green County" -- says:

"In the beginning were the lead mines. The Sank, or Sugar River, Diggings, were situated a little over a mile southwest of the present vil- lage of Exeter."

This, without explanation might convey the idea that the mines, when first discovered by the whites, were worked by the Sacs; but the Winnebagoes had been in possession of this re- gion a number of years before the existence of the "Sugar River Diggings" became known to civilized miners, and had worked them in their crude minner-though known to them and to

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

the first white miners as the "Old Sac Dig- gings."*

"The squaws," says Miss Bingham, in her history before referred to, "were the first miners, but they had neither the knowledge nor the tools to make their labor very profitable. With such instruments as they could make, they pieked out the surface or float mineral; and when their excavations became too deep to step into, threw in a dead tree, on which they climbed up and down. When a vein ran under the rock, they dug it out as far as they could reach, built a fire in the hole thus made, and, when the rock was heated, cracked it by pour- ing on water."

The author in the book just quoted from very truthfully and aptly describes the excitement in 1826 and 1827 as to the lead mines. She says: "In 1826 there began to be a great deal of talk about the lead mines of south western Wis- consin. In 1827 the interest in them was as general as the interest in the California gold mines in 1849; and there was such a rush to them from all parts of the country that some- times the boats that came up the Mississippi fron St. Louis could not carry half of those who wanted to come."

GETTING KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

The difficulty of correctly obtaining the facts concerning the first coming of settlers to this county is very happily described by Miss Bing. ham in the preface to her history:

"Before the days of newspapers in a new county, the county and family records are al- most the only means by which the dates of im- portant occurrences are preserved. Neverthe- less, when a country has been settled fifty years, each man, by reference to the dates set down in his family Bible, and to the year in which he came, is able to fix a great many other dates thus: 'Barber and Newcomb had been here a year when I came, in 1837. Ilolland came the

next spring. Smith came the year our baby died, and that was 1838. Brown must have come in 1837, for it was the description of the country, in his letters, that induced the Smiths to leave Illinois. Jones came the 10th of Sep- tember, 1839. That was the day Tom was born, and I remember Jones was camped right in front of my house, because some of his cattle had given out.'

"Alas, that the good mother of the house must shake our faith in her husband's chro- nology in this way! 'No, Pa, that was the day Mary was born. I know, because Mrs. Jones said 'twas a pity she wasn't a boy, she had such a good head.' There is always a possibility that dates arrived at by the course just illustrated may be wrong; but usually there is also a great probability that they are right, and when the same dates are obtained in two or more families, the probability becomes almost a certainty. In proportion to their number, their correctness is disputed not nearly so often as the correctness of later dates which are verified by the news- papers of their time."

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

. The first settlement within the limits of what is now Green county, was in the year 1827. The first settlers were Messrs. Boner and McNutt. They located at what was afterward known as the "Sugar River Diggings," in the present town of Exeter-on the east line of the northeast quar- ter of section 34, of the government survey. Here they erected a log cabin.

The sole object of these venturers was to trade with the Indians, and to that end they were provided with some goods, such as were prized by the savages, and with that necessary companion, an interpreter, whose name was Van Sickle. Here the Indians had mined for lead.

It would be a reasonable supposition, that, where so few had penetrated the wilderness, with no opposing interests, a feeling of mutual friendship would prevail, to the extent that each individual would extend to each and every mem- ber of their little community all the protection

*They were also called, at au carly day, "McNutt Dig- gines, " by the whites. They are so named on some of the early maps of the Green county region, But the named ' 'Sugar River Diggings"' soon took the plate of the offers.

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

in his power; for such has been the experience of so many primitive, frontier settlements. But in this case there was a tragical departure from this rule. McNutt, in 1828, maddened with whisky, entered his trading cabin, and without any known provocation, deliberately murdered his partner, Boner, with an ax; literally chop- ping him to pieces. Van Sickle, their interpret- er, paralyzed with fear, ran for his life, and while fleeing, was shot at repeatedly by MeNutt, with a rifle. Van Sickle made his way to Blue Monnd, a settlement about eighteen miles to the northwest, and gave information of what had occurred. Hardly had he arrived there, when MeNutt made his appearance, on horseback, and delivered himself up, confessing the murder. The territory now constituting Green county, being at that time a part of the county of Craw- ford, with the county seat at Prairie du Chien, McNutt was taken to that place, tried, and ac- quitted. This was the first white man killed, so far as is known, in this county. Soon after, the few settlers assembled at the trading-house, and gave the mangled corpse of Boner as decent a burial as circumstances would permit. The grave was the first dug for a white settler in the county.

The exact date of the killing of Boner, by McNutt, is unknown though it must have been in 1828 and before the 7th of July of that year; as is seen by the following extract from the records of the supervisors of the county of Crawford, Wisconsin:

"TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, } SS.

"COUNTY OF CRAWFORD. S

"At a session of the supervisors of the county of Crawford, and township of St. Anthony, held on the 7th day of July, 1828, present, John Marsh, John Simpson and Dennis Courtois, su- pervisors of said township, was presented the account of Pierre Lembert of $1.50, which was allowed; and Dennis Courtois, account of $1; John Simpson, of $1; John Marsh, of $1, and Joseph Brisbois, of $2, which was allowed.

"Upon the representation of the sheriff that the prison is insufficient for the safe keeping of D. MeNutt, a prisoner confined on the charge of murder, a request was made to the command- ing officer of Fort Crawford to take the pris- oner into his custody for safe keeping. The conrt adjourned until the first Monday in Sep- tember next, at 10 o'clock A. M."

In 1829 William Deviese built a smelting fur- . nace near the Sugar River Diggings, which was afterwards held and used for some years by two men named Kemp and Collins. Deviese must be considered the first permanent settler in Green county. The date of his first arrival was Ang. 12, 1828.

In 1830 Andrew Clarno took up a claim in the southwestern part of the county, about six miles from what is now the city of Monroe, but did not settle there until the spring of 1832.

Around his pioneer home cluster many im- portant incidents. Joseph Payne and. William Wallace became Clarno's neighbors, by erecting a cabin near by, and making their home therein. Thus a pleasant neighborhood had commenced to grow, when, in 1832, the Black Hawk War brought consternation to the little settlement. On the 5th of May, 1832, they all left their homes in great haste before the approaching In- dians. Hardly had they reached a safe distance when the smoke of their burning homes arose in curling volumes above the tree tops. A few hours later and they would have fallen a prey to the remorseless hate of the followers of Black Hawk. The first sad, dreary night they spent on the ground now occupied by the county seat, often startled by the whoop of the savage, in hourly expectation of falling victims to the prowling foc. Fortunately they were not de- tected. In the dim, gray light of morning they hastened away, and arrived at "Hamilton's Fort," now Wiota, where they tarried the sec- ond night. They then made their way west- ward to "Fort Gratiot," where they remained in safety until the close of the war. When the troubles had ceased they returned to their

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

ruined homes, rebuilt their houses, and com- menced to lay the foundations of that prosperity which afterwards was the reward of their trials and industry. Clarno's home became the rest- ing place of many subsequent adventurers, who sought and obtained homes in that vicinity, and helped to swell the population of the settlement. As is the case in all new settlements, each vied with the other in making every new comer wel- come, and in rendering all needed aid to the seekers of new homes. Clarno lived to a good old age, and was a leading man in the county until his death, and left a worthy family to en- joy the fruits of his enterprise. His son, O. H. P. Clarno, now (1884) owns valuable estates at the old settlement. Some of these early settlers have left the State, while the descendants of others are scattered through the county, engaged in varied pursuits.

It should be borne in mind that it was over four years after the Black Hawk War before the county of Green was created; and that im- migration, which, immediately after that con- flict of arms ended, began to increase, was, dur- ing those four years, to Iowa county-of which the present Green county formed a part. In her "History of Green County," Miss Bingham, in speaking of the Black Hawk War, says:

"To the new comers, as to the earliest set- tlers, those who had participated in the war ever appeared as heroes. For years the one unfail- ing subject of conversation, the subject which never grew old and never was out of place, was the [Black Hawk] war. Every incident was told over and over again. There was a man named Bennett Million, who used to play the fiddle at the dances in Monroe. He, with a number of others, had been surprised by the Indians, somewhere near the Pecatonica, and chased by them. The fright made one of his companions insane, and several others were killed. Mr. Million saved himself by rolling in the mud until so covered by it that he could hide on the ground. His experience was inter- esting and exciting, and many a time, in later

years, the gay company for whom he played bade him lay by the fiddle and the bow and tell them his story of the war."

In the year 1834 Nicholas Cornelius, of Illi- nois, and Hiram Rust and Leonard Ross, from the State of New York, came to this county. Ross finally settled at Exeter, in the northern part of the county, and Rust took land in the vicinity of the present city of Monroe, where he lived engaged in agricultural pursuits until his deatlı.

The same year John W. Deniston and Abner Van Sant came to this county, and settled about three miles southwest from Monroe, where they built cabins, and erected the first flouring mill ever operated in the county. About this time settlers began to arrive in greater numbers, and farms were opened up in many parts of the county. Many who had been led here with the hope of gaining speedy wealth by mining operations found their labors amply rewarded in the fruits of well-tilled soil.

In 1834 George W. Lot, a Pennsylvanian by birth, came from the lead mines to the west- ward and made a settlement in the southwest corner of what is now the town of Cadiz.

In the spring of 1834 James Biggs and wife moved from Union Co., Ohio, to Wiota, in what was then Iowa county (now Lafayette). They staid there one year and then moved to what is now the town of Adams, Green county. This was the middle of June, 1835. They set- tled on section 8. They had not a neighbor at that time within ten miles. The first one who followed Mr. Biggs was William Brazel. Mr. Biggs was the first settler in Adams; and Mr. Brazel, the second.

The town of Jefferson as now constituted had its first settler-Jonathan E. Clark-on section 32, in 1835. In the autumn of the next year he was followed by David C. Bridge, who built on section 20.

What is now the town of Sylvester was first settled by Allen and William Woodle. This was in the spring of 1836. In the fall they were

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

joined by another brother-Joseph. William and Joseph brought families with them.

An Englishman, John Mitchel by name, was the first to locate in what is now the town of Mount Pleasant. The exact date of his coming is unknown, although it must have been before 1837.

It was probably in the early part of 1837 that Daniel Baxter settled in what is now the town of Spring Grove. Then followed, the same year, Eli Kline; these two were the first settlers there.

The year 1837 saw settled in what is now the town of Jordan, Robert Brazel; and 1839, John Trotter and Joshua Chilton.

During the month of November, 1837, Josiah Pierce moved into a cabin in what is now the town of Washington, and was the first settler within its limits.

There was a claim made by John Moore, from Ohio, in 1839, on section 20-the first in what was afterwards (and still is) the town of Deca- tur. Thomas Chambers, his son-in-law, fol- lowed him the following year; also John J. Dawson and Samuel Rowe.

It was as late as 1840 before the present town of York rejoiced in any settlement. John Stewart was the first to locate there.

It was in the year 1841 that the first location was made in the present town of Albany, by James Campbell. The next comers there were Hiram Brown and Samuel Mitchell.

The year 1842 was the one in which, for the first time, a settler made his home in what is now the town of Brooklyn. The name of this first comer was W. W. Mclaughlin.

New Glarus was settled before 1845 by James Parkins and Daniel Morley, but these were not permanent settlers. As is well known, the first to settle there permanently were emigrants from Glarus, Switzerland.

We have seen that between 1827 and 1845 was the period of the first settlement of Green county-less than a score of years. By the time the Swiss had got a foot-hold in the coun-

ty, every surveyed township had occupants and the county at large a considerable population. Says Miss Bingham:

"Iowa county was partially surveyed before the war, much earlier than would have been necessary had not the lead mines brought it into notice. In 1835 the land was brought into market, and many settlers came to the county in 1835-6. Probably nine-tenths of those who came now or any time before 1840 came from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania or Vir- ginia. It is difficult to ascertain the States of. their nativity. A very large proportion of them came from Illinois, but they had gone there a few years before, when ' Eelinoise ' was the boundary of the civilized world. The In- diana immigrants were, many of them, born in Ohio, and many who came from Ohio had spent their earlier years in Pennsylvania or Virginia. At this time hardly any one came directly from New England, but some who were by birth the children of New England came from New York State. The settlers of 1835-6-7 endured priva- tions of all kinds. The nearest markets were Mineral Point, Galena and Fort Winnebago. The difficulties of going to market were in- creased by the fact that the streams, which a few years later were shallow enough to be forded, were now so deep that teams were obliged to swim aeross them, and the banks were so steep that travelers carried shovels with which to cut them down. One might travel days at a time in southern Wisconsin without seeing a house, and dismal prophets had foretold that this state of things must con- tinue."

The same writer records, in her interesting history, the following laughable incident of early times: .

"By 1844 one-third of the land in the county was entered. Soon after the land came into market, a great number of aeres, including much timber land, were bought by New Eng- land speculators-a proceeding that the settlers regarded as iniquitous. All non-residents who

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

owned land were called speculators, and oppo- sition to speculators was held to be an essential element of loyalty to the county. The usual form of opposition was stripping the timber from the land of the obnoxious class. To a great extent it was the speculators' timber that fenced the farms, and kept the cooking stoves and saw-mills running. Ordinarily, wood cut from any speculator's land was good enough; but a speculator owning land east of Monroe died, and (as though his death was an addition to his former indignity to the settlers), from that time until the timber was all used, his land, known as "dead man's land," was the favorite place of supply in this part of the county. Un- til 1844 the speculators made no effort to defend themselves, but in that year a number of them engaged J. A. Bingham to prosecute every one found cutting their timber, and for a time the old hatred of speculators was forgotten in the new de- sire to resist a citizen who dared to become a rep- resentative and defender of the obnoxious class. For a year or two it seemed as though the more the timber cutters were prosecuted, the more they developed a martyr-like persistency and a very un-martyr-like aggressiveness. These qualities might have reached the heroic, had not the courage of the choppers wasted away so rapidly that their conduct became the laugh- ing stock of the connty.

"A brother of Thomas W. Thompson once came from New York to visit him. At Mil- waukee he hired horses and a covered carriage for the remainder of the journey. Before his visit in Sylvester was over, he wanted to see the county town. He started, but lost his way. Presently he saw three men and three loads of rails standing in the road before him. Before he was near enough to ask for information, they all started. Two of the men had horse teams, and they soon disappeared. Mr. Thompson then called loudly to the man with the ox team to stop, but the more he called, the more the man pounded his oxen. Psychologists may well tell of the strange influence which, under

favorable circumstances, a man who concen- trates his mind on one thing is capable of wielding, even if he does not utter a word. In this case the circumstances were favorable, and the concentration was perfect; and, in an in- credibly short time, both oxen and rails seemed to have been inspired with the belief that only a speculator would ride in such a fine carriage as that which was coming behind him. The oxen galloped, and the rails flew off at the sides, and the last Mr. Thompson saw of the driver he was clinging with both hands to the wagon, from which the last rail was gone, while the oxen were making time to which Mr. Thomp- son, in his amazed and bewildered condition, was entirely unable to bring his high-spirited horses."

Many of the early settlers have passed away, but they have left a posterity who honor their names, and are doing their share toward build- ing up and sustaining the social fabric of the county. The pioneers who remain in "the land of the living" feel a commendable pride in the advancement and prosperity of their county, which, though less rapid in growth than some of its neighbors, has, nevertheless, moved for- ward to the goal of success with certainty. They can look back to the time when miles intervened between neighbors; and, following the widen- ing path to the present, can see that the popula- tion of that day has increased and multiplied many hundred times. They can rejoice that they are surrounded by a thrifty, upright, law- abiding people.

GREEN COUNTY ON EARLY MAPS.

There is no better way to bring before the mind's eye the general facts as to the history of any country, or portion of country, than to study old maps of the region under consideration. We give the result of such a study in so far as Green county is concerned, beginning with the first map ever published of this immediate local- ity, known as a "Map of the United States Lead Mines, on the Upper Mississippi River, 1829."

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HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

On the map just mentioned, of course Green county is not laid down, as the county was not in existence for seven years thereafter. But within what are now its boundaries, are desig- nated two localities where there are lead mines -only one being named. That one is called "MeNutt Diggings." There is a road leading off in a southeasterly direction from these "Dig- gings," called the "Chicago Trace." It crosses Rock river in the State of Illinois, where there is represented a Winnebago Indian Village. There are two Indian villages located within what are now the limits of Green county-both Winnebago. One is called "Spotted-arm's vil- lage;" one is on the east side of Sugar river, some distance above the State line ;* the other (Spotted-arm's village) is on the west side and farther up the stream on the trace leading from "Hamilton's" in what is now Iowa county, to Green Bay. There is a trace running up the east side of Sugar river through the whole ex- tent of the present county. The Pecatonica is given as "Peek-a-ton-oke."

The next map examined is the one known as "Peck and Messenger's Map of Illinois, and Part of the Wisconsin Territory, 1835." On this map, all south of what is now Green county, Wisconsin is "Jo Daviess county," Illinois. The range lines in the Wisconsin Land District are given and also the township lines. The Peca- tonica is marked "Peekatonokee."

The second map containing matters of inter- est, is that denominated the "Map of the Terri- tories of Michigan and Ouisconsin." By John Farmer, 1830. On this map, two "diggings" within the limits of the present Green county, are denominated the "Old Sac Diggings."

In 1835, "Sugar river" appears for the first time on any published map. There were two maps printed in the year just mentioned repre- senting what is now the county of Green along

with the residue of the surveyed part of "Wis- consin Territory," although, at that time, there was, in fact, no such "Territory." From the Indian village on the east side of Sugar river on one of these maps, there runs a road north- easterly to Lake "Kushkanong;" another north- westerly to "Blue Mounds;" and a third west to "Shullsburg.' The Pecatonica is named "Peekatonokee."

Burr's "Map of the Territory of Wisconsin" 1836, is interesting as containing a line of a "Proposed Rail Road from Wisconsin City to Mineral Point," running along from Rock river to Mineral Point near the northern boundary of the present Green county.

There are several printed maps of 1838 hav- ing "Green County" noted thereon. In each of these, the Indian village on the east side of Sugar river ("White Breast's Village") gives place to "Centreville;"" and "New Mexico" stands prominently forth as the county seat of the county. From "Centreville" one road leads southeast to Beloit; one northwest through "Livingston" to "Blue Mounds;" one west to "Ilamilton" in Iowa county; and one south- westerly to "New Mexico,"-where it branches, the north branch running through "Peekatono- kee" to "Wiota" in Iowa county, and the south branch to "Avon," and thence west to "Gra- tiot's Grove."

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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 23

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