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 32

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 32

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

C'apt. Gilbert Knapp had some men at work in Racine, and I think he had a log cabin built, or partly built, at the time I first saw the place

where the city now stands. I selected a situa- tion for a farm on a branch of a stream, to which I gave the name of Hoosier creek; and so far as I know, it retains the name yet. I landed on my claim with my family about the first of May, and went to work in good earnest. On the 1st day of August, 1835, my son, J. W. Janes, was born, and was the first white child born in Racine county; he is now grown, and is a hale and active young man.

At that time there were no surveys of the land by the United States surveyors, and we all had to run the risk of the lines cutting us to advantage or disadvantage. Some time that fall the lines were run-that is, the town and range lines, and I ascertained that all my claim and improvements were on the 16th or school section This caused me to look around for a new location. By this time most of the choice claims were taken, or supposed to be taken; and I concluded to make a trip to Rock river, and started late in October in company with Levi Harness, a young man that I took to the country with me. We had little or no knowledge of the country, and started on foot as adventurers.

We reached Prairie village,* on Fox river, the first day; and there learned that a companyt

*Sinee Wankesha .- ED.

Instead of late in October, it was probably in November, when Mr. Janes started on this trip; for the company referred to, who had just before passed from Milwaukee, consisting of John Inmun, John Holmes, Thomas Holmes, William Holmes, George Follmer and Milo Jones, started from Milwaukee Nov. 15, 1835, with an ox team and wagon, with provisions and farming tools; and on the 18th of the same month, arrived at what was sub-equently known as the town of Rock, at a point on Rock river opposite the "Big Rock;" where they camped in their wagon until they built a log e bin, This was the first settlement in Rock county. See Guernsey's History of Rock County, pages 30 and 144; while on page 156, October is given as the time of this migration .-- ED.

*Elam Beardsley settled in Caledonia, Racine county, in January, 1835 .- ED.

213

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

had gone out from Milwaukee but a short time before, and were still not far ahead; so we pushed on in good spirits, and camped between Mukwanago and where Troy now stands. Hav- ing been misinformed about the distance to Rock river at Prairie village, we supposed that we were not more than ten miles from the river. We started with light hearts as soon as we could see the Indian trail, (for there were no other roads in the country at that time,) one carrying our bed, consisting of a buffalo skin and blanket, and the other the gun, and knapsack with our grub. Wo ate no breakfast, expecting to be at the camp of our predecessors in two or three hours at the most. We had not got out of sight of our camp fire, when it commenced rain- ing, and by the time we arrived at the place where Troy now stands, every thing, including ourselves, was completely thatched over with sleet. In this condition we trudged on, expeet- ing, on seeing each hill, that we would be sure to see the camp of our friends, but we were doomed to disappointment.

At length, cold, wet and fatigued, we reached the Rock Prairie, and seeing the trail struck into it, and concluded to camp, having eaten nothing all day. We tried to strike a fire and found that all our fire apparatus, like ourselves, was wet; even the powder in the horn would not ignite. In this dilemma we concluded to make one more effort to find the camp or river. Accordingly we started on the trail, and took a kind of dog trot, and kept it up till it got so dark that we lost the trail, and finally my man declared that he could go no further. I got him on his feet, and told him we must get to the brush for shelter, or we would perish with cold and hunger. We then' took the wind for our guide, and after some time reached the brush, where we sat down on the wet ground, and spread our blanket and buffalo skin over ns. In this way I spent the first night I ever spent in Rock county. Our camp, if such it may be termed, was some eight or ten miles east of Janesville, and near where D. A. Richardson

lived when I left the city. The next morning found us in a bad fix-cold and wet-the ground frozen hard enough to bear a horse, and snow- ing beautifully. After holding a council, we concluded to retrace our steps to Rock river. We started, and in the afternoon reached Turtle lake, where after some three hours hard work, we succeeded in getting a fire and dried ourselves, and camped for the night.

We reached home without accomplishing our object, and remained till some time in December of the same year. I started again in company with a Mr. Glen from Racine, and a man by the name of J. C. Kapp .* This time I took a horse, and we got through without any acci- dent worth noting, and found Samuel St. Johnt and W. A. Holmes, living in a log cabin on Rock river, one mile below Janes- ville. The ground was covered with snow some inches deep, and we could get nothing for our horses to eat; we therefore left them here, and explored the country on foot up to Fort Atkin- son and around Lake Koshkonong, and con- cluded to purchase the land at the outlet of the lake on the west side of the river, and marked out claims on the east side with a view of set- tling there. We accordingly returned, and in a few days I started in company with Alfred Cary, of Racine, for Green Bay. At that time there was not a house between Call's Grove and Rock river, and but one between Milwaukee and Green Bay, and that was Farnsworth's mill, on the Sheboygan river.

On the first day out from Milwaukee, we were overtaken by a young man of the name of Roark, who informed us that Dr. B. B. Cary had been shot the night previous, and wanted his brother

*Perhaps Knapp. - ED.

+Mr. St. John emigrated from Vermont with his wife and three children, and became the first residents of what became Janesville, in November, 1835. Mrs. St. John was the first to lind a grave in the new settlement, in June. 1836, caused by a decline of some months' continuance, indueed by the want of medical attendance the previous winter, and the shelter and care so necessary to the mother of an infant babe. Her grave is marked hy a tombstone npon an eminence near the road leading to Beloit. Mr. St. John survived her several years, and died while on a visit to his brother's, near town, and his remains were deposited on the eminence beside those of his wife .- ED.

214

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

to return. Ile accordingly returned, and Roark and myself went on. In four or five days we reached our destination without any accident worth relating. We had plenty of snow to make a soft bed to sleep in, and wolves enough to howl us to sleep at all times of night.

We found the members of the first legislature of Wisconsin, or the last Territorial legislature of Michigan, at Green Bay, waiting for Gov. Horner to put them in motion; but that digni- tary was among the missing, and the whole matter ended in smoke. I found on examining the books at the town office, that all the land we had selected was sold, and I had my trip for my pay. So after looking at the town of Navarino, Fort Howard, and the sights we thought worth seeing, we laid in a stock of crackers, cheese, ham and tobacco, not forgetting some of the "critter," made our adieu to Green Bay, and in dne time landed safe at home. Having made two trips to Rock river, and one to Green Bay, for nothing, and thinking perhaps the third one the charm; so I accordingly started the third time for Rock river in company with John Janes, a cousin of mine, who now lives in Bad Ax, now Vernon Co., Wis., and crossed Rock river somewhere near where Rochester now stands, and continued on and explored the coun- try north of Janesville, to near the mouth of Whitewater; then turned down to St. John's and replenished our provisions; then explored the west side of Rock river up to the month of the Catfish, and up that to or near the First Lako; we then directed our course for Camp & Collins' Diggings, on Sugar creek, and made Mitchell's Grove in our route. We were some days traveling and exploring, and having run out of provisions, we concluded to repair to Camp & Collins' Diggings for supplies. Just at night we found the section, and quarter see- tion, that we were informed they were on; but they were not there.

It had become dark, and very cold, and we were tired and hungry; so we concluded to make to some timber and build up a fire, and do the best

we could. After we reached the timber, and commenced dragging some limbs out of the snow, we saw a spark of fire rise, and after some circles in the air disappear. Soon after we saw others ascend in the same manner, and concluded it was Indians, and that we would go and camp with them, rather than build a fire and lie in the snow all night, hungry and tired as we were. But judge of our surprise on reaching the place, to find it occupied by a white man, Michael Welch, who received us with all the hospitality with which a Wisconsin miner could receive a stranger; and any attempt on my part to de- scribe that, would be but a failure to do justice to that noble hearted class of the citizens of Wisconsin. We were now snugly ensconced in a warm cabin, by a roaring fire, and soon had a stool placed between us, on which was a pyra- mid of potatoes, and a dish of pork swimming in a minature lake of gravy, and each a tin cup of coffee. Ye upper tens! How does your non- sense sink into utter insignificance when con- trasted with the pure, gennine hospitality. of the frontier adventurer. Nearly twenty years have passed since the time of which I am now speaking, I do not know whether Mr. Welch is yet alive or not; but whenever I think of his kindness, it makes my heart throb with grateful pleasure.

We then went over to where New Mexico was afterward laid out, explored there two or three days, and then to Hamilton's Diggings, and finally back again to Rock river. I then selected the claim that Janesville is built on, and marked it as my claim, on the 15th day of February, 1836. By this time I had become snow-blind, and had to lay by some ten days be- fore I could see to travel. My friend went to work for Mr. St. John, and as soon as I could see to travel I started for home. I took the line at the south end of Janesville and followed clear through to Call's Grove," without seeing the face of a human being, or any trace of one. except the marks of the surveyors that had run the line that I was following.

"Since changed to Ives' Grove .- ED.

215

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

Previous to leaving Rock river, I employed Mr. St. John to put me up a cabin, and on the 19th day of May, 1836, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I threaded my way to my cabin along an Indian trail that passed up the river through the present city of Janesville. My family now made about the fourth family in the county. It may, and doubtless will, appear rather strange to some of the citizens of Janes- · ville, that nineteen years and a half ago the whole city consisted of one family, and one log cabin, eighteen feet square, with the bark on the logs, and no floor in it, or shutter to the door-way. I had at this time not the least idea of ever building up a town; but in moving to Janesville I opened a track, and all the travel followed that route to Rock river. At that time, Wisconsin City, Rockport, and I know not how many more paper towns, were in exist- ence along Rock river.

Sometime in the fall of 1836 I went to Camp & Collins' mines, and purchased two wagon loads of lead, and that completed a communica- tion from Racine to the Lead Mines by my house, and there was a constant throng of travel on it, and no way to eross the river only to swim the horses alongside of a canoe, and cross wagons in the same way. The traveling com- munity were constantly besetting me to build a ferry-boat, and I at length concluded to do so; and built one at no small expense. After I got it done, I went to Belmont while the legislature was in session, to get a charter; and not dream- ing of any opposition, I took no pains to get a petition largely signed; and the proprietors of Rockport, Wisconsin City and Humes' Ferry united in a remonstrance. This then begun a war between the three points. I, by this time, coneluded to lay out a town, and according did so. The next summer two of the other places found it was "no go" with them, and they com- promised as far as Janesville was concerned, and dropped their towns, and took up a place they called St. George's Rapids, about half way between the other towns, and made common

cause against me in general, and Janesville in particular. I attended the legislature at Bur- lington, Iowa, and at Madison, for some three or four years, got al! the roads, mail routes, and all the legislation I asked for. But in getting the county seat located at Janesville, the county took a pre-emption on that, and swept it from under me .* And having expended all my means in trying to build up the place, and all my improvements with it; to use a California phrase, I was completely strapped, and on the 24th day of Angust, 1839, I left the town to its fate. On the 15th day of May, 1888, my son Jasper was born in Janesville, the first male child born in the place.t

II .-- BY SAMUEL F. CHIPMAN, 1856.

The winter of 1842-3 was extremely severe. The first snow fell on the night of the 8th of November, and continued until the 7th of April, a period of five months with interrupted good sleighing. Much of the time was severely cold, with strong winds and drifting snow; which continued to increase until it had attained to a depth of nearly two feet. Road tracks across the Prairie [in Rock Co., Wis.] would catch the drifting snow until they attained to an elevation of two to four feet, which very much endan- gered the safety of meeting teams, as in turning out the horse stepping from the path would often sink and plunge so deep that the mate would fall on to, or over him, and both be floun- dering for life in the deep snow, with more or less icy crusts to cut and maim them. Freeport lay some forty miles southwest of us, to which place

*It may be seen in Guernsey's History of Rock County that the county seat was est iblished upon Mr. Janes' location; and that much praise was awarded to nim for his diplomatie tact in overcoming the obstacles which other local interests had cust in his way.

By a law of Congress the county could seeure a pre- emption to the quarter seetion upon which the county seat would be located. Mr. Janes was ignorant of this, and found him-elf a tenant upon lands belonging to the county. A compromise was etfected by which the county, for a nominal sum, agreed to deed back portions of the land to the original claimants and settlers .- ED.

+It is stated by the Rev. H. Foote, in Guernsey's History of Rock County, that in January, 1836, there was an infant son added to the family of samuel St. Sobn, who is supposed to be the first white child born in the Upper Rock River Val- ley. His vame was Seth B. st. Jolin, and was living a few years since at Columbus, in this State. -- ED.

216

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

we used to go to get our corn and oats to feed, plant and sow. In a snow storm it was rather a hazardous route to travel. I may as well speak here of one of the many little incidents of that winter.

On one clear, cold, frosty morning I started [from Rock county] for Freeport for a load of corn. On reaching the summit of the ridge of prairie above Bachelor's grove, that divides the waters of Bass creek and Sugar river, near what was then called the lone tree, I discovered a team and sleigh, loaded with men, driving in a direction to cross my track some distance ahead. We soon met. They anxiously enquired for the nearest house. I directed them to the house of John Call, a distance of some two miles. They had started from Monroe for Janes- ville, two days before, had missed their way and wandered over the trackless prairie for two days and nights without food for man or beast, and had (as they said to me at that time) just concluded, should they not find some other re- Jief, to kill one of their horses and roast the flesh or eat it raw. In such a dilemma one would be led to suppose they were not very much displeased to discover a team ahead. There were four gentlemen I think in the sleigh. If I mistake not, three of them were brothers by the name of Hart; half brothers of Daniel A. Richardson, who was then trading in Janesville. The name of the other gentle- man I do not remember. Long will they re- member their cruise on the prairie.

As an evidence of the severity of that winter, I will here state a fact with which most of the settlers of that day were familiar, which was, that coons were so emaciated that when on a pleasant day they ventured from their holes in the trees, in quest of food on the ground, they were unable to return for want of strength, and were frequently found by the hunters, fro- zen to death at the foot of the tree in which they had lived, thereby betraying the where- abouts of those who had been more cautious, or unable to get out. In the fall of 1841, while

looking for a piece of land that I might be sup- plied with fencing timber and firewood, I acci- dently run upon a dilapidated set of bogus tools in a small grove near the head of the south branch of Bass creek, southwest of my farm some three miles. There was a casting press weighing some eighty pounds, an iron bar, nsed, perhaps, as a lever with which to turn the screw to make the impression in coining. Also a small hand-vice, a steel spring, and steel punch with which to ' cut the pieces to be stamped; and German-silver plates cut into strips the width of half collars, a small box containing a meal bag and a buck- skin mitten, in which was found in an unfin- ished state thirty-nine half dollars. The effort was evidently a failure, owing either to inex- perience in the operators or the imperfection of their tools. The press I still have in my pos- session. It serves as an anvil when I am dis- posed to do my own smithing. I have also the hand-vice, punch and spring, which I intend to preserve as pioneer mementoes. The lynching of black-legs at Rockford, Ill., and vicinity, was going on while I was on the road through Indi- ana and Illinois from Michigan to this place. The Driscols were shot and the gang dispersed. Perhaps the camp that I found was connected with the Rockford gang, and routed by the lynching league. I gave the grove in which their tools were found the name of bogus, by which cognomen it is known to this day.

III .- BY J. W. STEWART, 1857.

The region of country embracing the county of Green, as it is now bounded, was not peopled by white men, and no tradition relating to it has come to my knowledge, prior to the year 1827. At that time we were attached to, or rather formed a part of, the county of Crawford, in the Territory of Michigan ; the county seat being at Prairie du Chien. The first white set- tlement in our limits, was at Sugar River Dig- gings, near the present village of Exeter. Two men by the name of Boner and MeNutt, erected shanties for the purpose of trading with the Indians, at or about the plice where William

J. F. Nescott

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

219

Davies' [Deviese's] furnace was afterwards erected-the same furnace which was after- wards held and used by Kemp & Collins, about one mile southwest of Exeter. This was in 1828 [1827]. Soon after, during the same year, J. R. Blackmore, William Wallace and William Deviese came to Sugar River Diggings, and commenced operations in mining for lead ore .*

The Indians had been engaged for many years, judging from the heaps of dirt, over- grown with grass, weeds and brush, in raising this valuable mineral ; and their discoveries led the whites to that particular locality, where the first settlement in the county commenced. The persons above named, together with a Frenchman [Dutchman] by the name of Van Sickle, who acted as interpreter for the traders, Boner and MeNutt, and two men who settled further south, in the fall of the year, by the names of [John B.] Skinner and [Thomas] Neal, formed the entire population of the county in the fall of 1828. We would at once think, that with that little population of white men, sur- rounded by the savages, and separated by several miles from other white settlements, peace and order would be in the ascendency. All provis- ions, that were obtained, were purchased at great cost and trouble at Galena. All shared and felt as one family. And the malicious hand of homicide, we would suppose, would never be raised to reduce that little number. But un- happily, the same cause which produces so niany cases now, operated then to accomplish the same result. [Here follows an account of the killing of Boner by McNutt, as given in Chapter XII, of this history].

About the same time, and indeed some say the year before, 1827, Mr. John [B.] Skinner and [Thomas] Neal came to Skinner's creek, about five miles northwest of Monroe, and commenced mining, and erected a log smelting furnace, the first one in the county .* These men, together with those referred to at Sugar River Diggings, constituted the entire white population of the connty for two or three years, and until the ag- ricultural settlement was commenced, by An- drew Clarno and others, in the south part of the county.t

In 1829 William Davies [Deviese] built a furnace near the old trading house of Boner & McNutt, and the remains of this furnace, which are but a heap of ashes and cinders, overgrown with grass, in an open uncultivated prairie, form the only monument to mark the place of the tragedy we have narrated. The only Indian settlement in this county, at that time, was lo- cated near the present village of Dayton. There the Indians raised corn, and had an ex- tensive encampment in the summer season.

In 1830} Andrew Clarno made a settlement on the old farm where his widow now resides, and which was the first agricultural improve- ment in the county. His name is perpetuated in the name of the town where he settled, and in which he continued to reside till his death, which occurred some four or five years since. He was a man of a warm and a generous heart, in whose company the writer has spent many pleasant hours, listening to his rude history of the times of the Black Hawk War. This war broke out in 1832, at which time Joseph Payne, whose name is familiar to all in this vicinity, had just erected and moved into a cabin, to- gether with William Wallace, in the same neighborhood with Mr. Clarno, and at the first out-break of hostilities, on the 5th of May, they fled from their cabins with their families, and

* "It must not be supposed that [Ebenezer] Brigham was the first white man-the first American-at the [Bine] Mounds ; but, although this was not the fact, yet he was the first permanent settler. Before him, as already explained, the diggings had been worked. William Deviese went there in the spring just before Brigham's arrival [the arrival of the last mentioned was in the spring of 1828], where he found two men named Moore, who were trading a little, in whisky at least, and one John Duncan, a very large and powerful man. But on the 12th of August [1828] Deviese moved to Sugar River Diggings, leaving James Hawthorn to continne the work there. So, it seems certain that Brigham, upon his arrival, found miners at work at the [Blue] Mounds, but none of them made a permanent stay. John B. Skinner bad at one time a furnace there."-From C. W. Butterfield's History of Dane County, Wisconsin, 1880, p. 347 .- En.

* 'This is undoubtedly a mistake as to the time of the com- ing of Skinner and Neal .. It was in 1830 .- ED.

+ This "agricultural settlement" began in 1832 .- ED.

* This date should be 1832. He took a elaim in 1830, but did not move on to it until two years after .- En.

220

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

the same day their deserted houses were fired by the Indians. These fugitives camped the first night on the ground where Monroe now stands. Here they spent a restless night, oc- casionally hearing the savage whoop of the blood thirsty Indians, but were lucky enough to get off undiscovered, with a quick and light tread, in the morning, in the direction of IIam- ilton's settlement, where they staid the next night,and thence to Fort Gratiot, where they re- mained till the close of the war.

About the year 1834, several new settlers came into our confines, and among them Leon- ard Ross, late of Exeter, and Hiram Rust, of Monroe; also, John W. Dennison and Abner Van Sant, who located about three miles south- west of Monroe. These last named gentlemen erected the first flouring-mill in the limits of this county. During the year 1835 the lands of this county first came into market, and the set- tlers were enabled to procure undisputed titles to their farms. The privations and hardships of the first settlers can only be understood and appreciated, from the lips of those who pre- ceded ns. Provisions bore an almost incredible price, and could not be obtained nearer than Galena, some fifty to seventy-five miles dis- tance.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 32

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