USA > Wisconsin > Green County > History of Green County, Wisconsin > Part 15
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Jeremiah Brewer, 2.40
A. S. Holmes, - - 200
Aaron Broughton, - 160
Moses Ingram, 160
*John Broughton, 560
J. D. Jenks, - 224
F. J. Burt, - 200
Aaron Jones, - 160
J. W. Carver,
200
Edward Jones, - 164
John Carodine, 214
Wm. Jones, - 200
John B. Chase, 201
Ole Kettleson, -
160
Mrs. Asa Comstock, 171
John F. Lacy, -
160
Lewis Comstock, 165
Ole Leverson, 200
Edward Davis, 290
Edward Lloyd, - - 240
S. L. Eldred,
400
Hosea Ludington, 160
S. R. Eldred,
160
Christopher Minert, - Thos. Mitchell, 242
254
John Flint,
160
Joshua Flint,
220
Mary Meredith, 171
*Thos. Flint, -
280
Geo. Moore, - 280
Wm. Francis,
160
N. B. Murray, - 160
Ole Gilbertson, - 220
Mrs. S. F. Nichols, 277
-
*Largest stock growers.
.
240
History of Green County.
Names.
No. of Acres.
Names.
No. of Acres.
W. S. Peckham,
421 Daniel Smiley,
200
*Israel Phillips,
340
Benj. Swancutt,
- 173
Evan Pryce, - 320
John Trow, 220
J. M. Purinton,
160
John H. Watkins,
164
H. D. Putnam,
200
Joshua Whitcomb,
240
Wm. Reese,Sen.,
I82
John Williams,
220
John Shafer, -
176
John Wood, - 160
C. B. Smiley,
400
.
TOWN OFFICERS OF ALBANY FROM 1849 TO '77 INCLUSIVE. CHAIRMEN.
AARON BROUGHTON.
DANIEL SMILEY,
JULIUS HULBURT.
JOHN BROUGHTON.
JOHN BROUGHTON, 2 years.
DANIEL SMILEY, 5 years.
W. B. WELTON.
ISRAEL PHILLIPS, 2 years.
JOHN BROUGHTON.
E. F. WARREN, 6 years.
DANIEL SMILEY, 2 years.
J. M. PURINTON.
JOHN BROUGHTON.
E. F. WARREN.
JOHN WOOD.
ISRAEL PHILLIPS, 2 years.
CLERKS.
GILBERT McNAUGHT. Z. WARREN.
A. R. BURGOR, 3 years.
JACOB G. SHOEMAKER. HIRAM BROWN.
S. A. POND.
J. B. PERRY, 2 years. HIRAM BROWN, Jr.
HIRAM BROWN.
IRA S. DEXTER.
JOHN B. PERRY.
RICHARD GLENNAN.
HIRAM BROWN.
M. T. GLEASON. HIRAM BROWN. HIRAM B. JOBES, 3 years (C. S. Tibbitts appointed).
H. B. JOBES. J. H. LUDINGTON.
J. B. PERRY, 5 years.
*Largest stock growers.
.
BROOKLYN.
Of at least five of the sixteen townships in Green County, the first settlers were by birth the children of Ohio. The first of the Buckeyes in Brooklyn was J. W. Haseltine, who, though he did not begin to make a home there until 1845, bought, in December, 1839, the land on which he is living now. At Mr. Haseltine's solicitation, another Buckeye, W. W. Mclaughlin, the first settler in Brooklyn, went to the township in the autumn of 1842, taking with him a flock of sheep and thirty-four head of cattle. He completed his first cabin and moved into it the first day of November, just five days before "the hard winter" began. His house was on the line of travel from the southern part of the county to the pineries, whither a large part of the pro- duce of the county was hauled; and, though Mrs. Mc Laughlin was the only woman the family saw for three months, men stopped at the house several times every week, and whatever supplies the family needed were ob- tained from them. The stock was not so easily provided for. Mr. McLaughlin hauled straw fifteen miles, but, in
21*
242
History of Green County.
spite of all he could do, all the sheep and most of the cattle died before spring.
Among the next settlers were Chas. Sutherland, A. D. Kirkpatrick, Henry Montgomery (whose death the next year is thought to have been the first in the town- ship), and his sons Tracy and Cyrus A., who all came in 1844. Prominent among the settlers of 1845 were Jas. F. Eggleston, Stephen H. Ludlow, Jeremiah An- derson and his son Amos, Wm. R. Smith, sen., Wm. R. Smith., jun., Leroy Hudson, John Sawin, Monroe Carpenter, and Martin Flood. Most of these settlers were in the northern and eastern parts of the town. They went to mill and to market in Dane and Rock Counties much oftener than in Green, and when they were sick their hopes centered in Dr. Fox in Dane
County. Many of them lived on Jug Prairie, a fertile prairie in Rock County and the eastern half of Brook- lyn, which derives its name from a remark of one of the first settlers who went one day to Rock County to trade. So many of his neighbors had sent by him for vinegar and molasses that by the time he reached his destination he had nearly a dozen jugs in his wagon. To a joke of the bystanders, as he drove up to the store, he replied, oh, yes, I come from jug prairie; and in spite of the effort of the good people on the prairie to change the name to temperance, the name jug has stuck ever since.
While the prairie in the eastern part was filling up, another settlement was growing in the south-east cor- ner of the town, where in 1843, Major Downer (so
243
History of Green County.
generally called Major that his Christian name is for- gotten) built a saw mill on Sugar river. One or two log houses were built there about the same time. In November, '44, Chester Witter removed from Monti- cello to Downer's saw mill, as the place was called, and a few months later he and John S. Litchfield, of Exeter, built the first grist mill in Brooklyn. At the raising Mr. Geo. Durgin climbed to the ridge pole, and made a speech, in the course of which he gave the place the name of Winnesheek-a name rendered familiar to the earliest settlers of the county by an Indian village where Freeport is now, and by a Winnebago chief. Nearly ten years later, Connecticut people with more love of home than good taste changed the name to Mil- ford. This name not proving satisfactory, but two or three years passed before the village was dubbed Attica. Before IS45 - Dustin had a distillery and D. D. & W. W. Day had a store in Attica. At the present time the principle points of interest in Attica are Joseph Bartlett's saw and grist mills, J. Crampton's carding machine, a cheese factory, owned by a company, the stores of C. D. W. Leonard and Wm. Young, and a hotel. The southern part of Attica was originally in- cluded in the township of Albany, but was transferred to Brooklyn in answer to petitions from the village, the first of which was presented to the County Commis- sioners in November, 1851.
Across the town, diagonally from Attica, on land entered by Chas. Sutherland, is Brooklyn, the youngest village in the county. The necessity for this village
244
History of Green County.
began with the building of the Madison division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway in 1864, and the first house was built that year by H. Capwell. Beginning in the corner of the county, on the east side of the rail- road, the village was afterwards extended on the west side by Alonzo Melvin, whose farm, lying in the three counties of Dane, Rock, and Green, bounds it on the south and west. The village has also spread over into Dane. The leading business interests of the village are repre- sented by E. G. Andrews and Son, produce merchants, whose elevator is the largest between Madison and Beloit; Melvin, Blair & Co., manufacturers of 140,000 pounds of American cheese per annum; Johnson & Gliddin, proprietors of a feed and planing mill and cheese box factory; L. J. Wilder, B. S. Axtell, Mar- vin Bros., merchants; Lovejoy and Richards, lumber dealers, and D. H. Glidden, proprietor of the hotel. One of the largest granges in the county is that which has a store in the village of Brooklyn. It numbers about a hundred members, and its weekly meetings, which are varied by debates, essays, and dramatic representations, are largely attended. Its members carry home books from their circulating library, and feel repaid for their long rides by the recreation, the general information, and the ability to conduct public meetings gained at the regular gatherings of the association. .
Town meetings in Brooklyn are held sometimes in Attica, sometimes in the village of Brooklyn. The first meeting was held at the house of Nelson J. Patter- son, April 7, 1849. The number of votes cast was
245.
History of Green County.
eighty-two. J. W. Haseltine acted as clerk of the meeting and made the first returns to the county. The county clerk hesitated about receiving the returns be- cause the clerk elected for the year had not brought them, but finally took them because they were "in better shape than those from half the towns." At a town meeting held at Attica, April 7, 1874, it was found that twenty-three men were present who had voted at the first meeting twenty-five years before. By order of the meeting the clerk recorded their names as follows:
Davis Fenton.
Jonathan Smith.
Cyrus A. Montgomery. O. P. Stowell.
*William Kirkpatrick.
Otis Thompson.
Franklin Patterson.
*W. W. Mclaughlin. J. F. Eggleston.
N. J. Patterson.
*Sylvester Gray. Joel Smith.
*Powell Shell.
J. W. Haseltine.
David Heathman.
Jeremiah Anderson.
John Pace, Sen.
Wm. R. Smith, Jun.
D. N. Shaw.
Chas. S. Gray.
Ezra Doolittle.
LARGEST FARMERS IN BROOKLYN IN IS76.
Names. No. of Acres.
Names.
No. of Acres ..
Jerry Anderson, 160
Stephen Lewis, - 160
A. Bennett, - 220
T. Lewis, 160
John Dalrymple, - 3,50
A. Melvin, 353
Peter Derimer,
2So
Jas. McCov, - 280
Ezra Doolittle 200
J. F. Eggleston,
254
Wm. Gill,
179
W.W. McLaughlin est. 238 Thos. O. Patrick Nevil, 160 John Pace, 160
J. W. Haseltine
261
Geo. Hollerbush,
240
Frank Patterson, - 220
Daniel Johnson, 3IS
J. N. Patterson, I SO
S. D. Kirkpatrick, 279
Alonzo Purington, 200
Wm. Layton, 219
James Root, 160
Wm. Lee, -
IS2
A. J. Sawin, - 160
C. D. W. Leonard,
220
E. C. Smith, - 160
John McClairinon, 160
*Messrs. Shell, S. Gray, Kirkpatrick, and Mclaughlin have since died.
C. D. W. Leonard.
Alonzo Purington.
246
History of Green County.
Names. No. of Acres. Names. No. of Acres.
Joel Smith, -
220 A. H. Waldo, 240
Stephen Swan, -
280 John Weaver, - 200
WV. M. Tallnian, - 320
W. W. Young, 220
TOWN OFFICERS OF BROOKLYN FROM 1849 TO '77 INCLUSIVE.
CHAIRMEN.
A. D. KIRKPATRICK.
W. W. MCLAUGHLIN, 6 y'rs.
CHESTER WITTER, 2 years.
J. A. SAWIN.
H. M. ALLEN.
D. N. SHAW.
MARTIN FLOOD.
HENRY R. ALLEN, 3 years.
W. W. MCLAUGHLIN.
MARTIN FLOOD.
W. W. MCLAUGHLIN, 3 y'rs. C. D. W. LEONARD.
A. D. KIRKPATRICK.
JAMES ROOT.
H. L. HYDE.
C. D. W. LEONARD).
W. W. MCLAUGHLIN.
F. R. MELVIN.
LEVI CRAWFORD.
CLERKS.
O. P. STOWELL, 3 years.
EDMUND HILL, 2 years.
W. B. PATTERSON.
H. M. ALLEN.
J. W. HASELTINE.
JAMES McCOY, 2 years.
M. F. Ross, 3 years.
TRACY MONTGOMERY. JAS. McCOY, 9 years.
E. J. ANDREW.
EDWIN NETHER WOOD, 3 y'rs. M. F. Ross.
B. S. AXTELL.
David Watkins' estate, 240
NEW GLARUS.
In July, 1845, four men, Armstrong, Greenwood, Slater, and Jackson by name, had claims in what is now called New Glarus. There was not a single inhabitant there who owned the place on which he lived; but the time had come when the long waiting of the unoccupied township was to be rewarded. Here was to be shown, as it was to be shown in no other township in the county, how the superfluous. and poverty-stricken children of the old word are transformed in the United States into prosperous and useful citizens. Early in 1845 the Emigration Association of Glarus determined to re- lieve the crowded population of that canton by send- ing a colony to the United States, and Fridolin Streiff and Nicholas Duerst were delegated to come in advance of the colony and select a place for the settlement. They left Switzerland March 8, 1845. At the conclu- sion of a long voyage they were met in New York by friends of the society, and on the 11th of May they started with Joshua Frey of Pennsylvania, on their search for a home for the colony. They arrived at Chicago the morning of the 19th of May, and here the
248
History of Green County.
search began. They traveled over Illinois and a large part of Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Their aim was to find a place with a healthful climate, convenient mar- kets, good soil and water, and plenty of timber. They selected the township named by them New Glarus, and on the 25th of July they purchased twelve hundred acres in sections fourteen, fifteen, twenty-two, twenty- three, and twenty-seven of that township. The pur- chase was made at Mineral Point, where Mr. Streiff took the first step towards becoming a citizen of the United States. Not being sufficiently acquainted with the language to take the usual oath, the ceremony, so far as he understood it, consisted in kissing the bible.
The first work of the commissioners was to lay out a road from Green's Prairie to the prospective village, after which, on the 6th of August, Mr. Frey left them to return home. Meanwhile, Messrs. Duerst and Streiff had hastily erected a few shanties for the colonists who were daily expected. The society had not wished to "send the colony so soon, but the emigrants became so impatient that it was impossible to restrain them, and they were permitted to start the 16th of April. Some communities paid the traveling expenses of those of their emigrants who could not pay for themselves, and during the night of the 15th and 16th of April, charitably dis- posed persons raised the money to pay for the passage of a number of families that wished to come but for whom no provision had been made. The colonists went to St. Louis and thence to New Glarus, where they arrived August 12. Their progress had been delayed
History of Green County. 249
by some misunderstanding, on account of which the commissioners were looking for them in Chicago while they were waiting in St. Louis for instructions from the commissioners. At first they were crowded together in a few shanties. Then, as they were able, they built log houses; and whenever a house was built, a shanty was taken down and the lumber used to make the floor and the door of the new house. Few of the houses had two windows, none had more than two. The doors had wooden hinges that Mr. Streiff made himself. Two months after the land was bought, Mr. Duerst, who had never intended to remain in this country, returned to Switzerland, shaking as he went with the ague. The whole care of the colony now devolved on Mr. Streiff. Some of the colonists had a little money, but most of them were so poor that, as one of them expressed it, " if they had to pay six cents for a cat, they couldn't buy it." A few went to Thompson's settlement to work, and a few others spent the winter in Galena; but as a whole the colony was so helpless that Mr. Streiff was compelled to ask for help. The Association sent him $1,000, with which he bought provisions, oxen, seed, agricultural implements, and whatever else was indis- pensable before the people could take care of themselves. Provisions were bought by the quantity, and sold to families at the lowest possible price. There was little in the houses, and little room for anything besides the folks and the beds. One stove and a few chairs were bought. Bedding had been brought from Switzerland, and beds were made on the floor so close to each other
22
250
History of Green County.
that a housekeeper who confesses to many tears because the men stuck their dirty boots against them, says that while she made her bed she always stood on some other woman's bed. In the mountainous land of their birth, the people had never known such winds as swept through their cabins that long, first winter; and some- times when they crept shivering to bed they had to take their few umbrellas with them. Fearful of being de- ceived by the harmless appearance of the Indians who visited them occasionally, timid men and women told till they trembled with terror the stories they had heard of Indian perfidy and cruelty. No wonder that where- ever Mr. Streiff turned he found a woman in tears; no wonder that his incessant labors excited little gratitude, and that he wrote home, "I shall remember the year IS45." The wonder is that on a thousand dollars he could keep nearly a hundred persons from fall to spring in such a way that they should be grateful to him in after years. He did this, but, though often urged, he has never consented to take charge of another colony from Switzerland. Through the winter, the men were busy cutting wood and splitting rails. In the spring, the work of breaking prairie began. The Association sold each man twenty acres at three florins an acre, on ten years' time without interest. Some men bought more land, and some claimed land adjoining them, and paid for it in 1855, when the deeds were given by the Association. The commissioners divided the land so that the shares were as nearly as possible alike in their advantages in wood and water, and then, when all had
251
History of Green County.
promised to abide by the result, the shares were drawn by lot. Rules for the government of the colony pro- vided that no one should cut wood from another's land, but all might cut from the road. During the first year, two families at least should live in one house, and colo- nists should help each other in building houses and barns. Until their land was paid for, they were not to dig for mineral. After it was paid for, they might dig; but if lead was found, the land was to be given up to the so- ciety, in which case the owner was to be paid the origi- nal cost of the land and the value of his improvements in cultivation and buildings, but nothing for the lead.
The reports that went back from the colony were so encouraging that several times in the summer of 1846 recruits came from the mother country. One of them was J. Jacob Tschudy, who was sent to assist in the care of the colony. A report of the condition of the colony dated November 20, '46, and printed for cir- culation in Switzerland, contains the following: The owners of lots were Fridolin Hoesli, John' Kun- dert, Paulus Kundert, Henry Hoesli, Leonard Ham- merli, Mathias Smith, George Legler, Mrs. Barbara Hoesli, Abraham Schindler, Balthasar Dürst, Niklaus Dürst, David Schindler, Markus Hoesli, Mathias Duerst, Fridolin Hefti, Fridolin Legler father, Fri- dolin Legler son, John Caspar Legler, Oswald Bäbler, Fridolin Bäbler, Henry Aebli, Hilarius Wild, Mathias Hoesli, Jost Trumpi, Jost Becker, Fridolin Streiff, Gabriel Baumgartner, Caspar Zwicki, Fridolin Oertli. Six men with their families had gone away,
252
History of Green County.
and three men, J. Jacob Tschudi, Peter Hoesli, and Jacob Ernst had not yet drawn their lots. There had been two births and seven deaths, and the colony num- bered at that time 125 persons. There were twenty houses, of which thirteen were in the village. One hun- dred and nine acres had been broken, seven hundred bushels of corn and " more than enough potatoes " had been raised. The live stock owned by individuals con- sisted of two horses, ninety-seven head of cattle inclu- ding eighteen oxen, one hundred and ninety-nine pigs, and nine sheep. Fowls were still owned in common. A few orchards had been set out. A few garden vege- tables, "as peas, chiccory, cabbages and tobacco, also pumpkins were planted by way of trial." Fortunately, the experiment succeeded, especially in peas and pump- kins. The ground was thought to be too new for wheat, and there was complaint that the potatoes were not so good as in Switzerland. There were as yet but few fences, and the crops were much injured by the swine as well as by field mice. The prairie fires de- stroyed hay stacks and fences, and some of the colonists lost their hair in saving their hay-covered houses. Published extracts from Mr. Streiff's letters show that the people were well, but, on account of the hard work they had done, very ragged, also that there was a gen- eral desire for a minister and a school. After Mr. Tschudy's arrival, he was, until the people were able to pay for all services rendered, overseer, minister, phy- sician, and teacher. In the summer of '46, the first Swiss school was taught. The next school was Eng-
·
253
History of Green County.
lish. The first frame house in the colony was a school house, though previous to its erection some of the log houses had been boarded over. The people showed no great anxiety to learn the English language, but the children learned it at school, and it gradually made its way in the colony. More efficacious than the schools in Americanizing the people was the habit of the young men and women of going out to service. For years all the hired girls in Monroe were from the col- ony, and with the language they also acquired in their various homes many of the ideas and customs of the country. Married women sometimes left their families, walked to Monroe, washed three or four days, took their pay in flour, old clothes, or whatever they could get and carried it home on their backs. The men were naturalized very soon. Usually before an election each party had an agent at the colony who offered to pay the naturalization fees of all who would vote for his candidate. The second or third year after the arrival of the colony, Conrad Ott opened a store in the village. Mr. Frederick Egger, who succeeded Mr. Tschudy as agent of the Emigration Society, was the second mer- chant. The third store was that of Mr. Tschudy, who soon sold it to Mr. Gus. Alder. About the time of its appearance, Dr. Samuel Blumer, the first physician, and the Rev. Wm. Streisgood, the first cler- gyman, came from Switzerland. In 1855, a stone church was built. For five or six years there was no black- smith in the colony, and for ten years the people went to Winnesheek to mill. Mark Luchsinger was the
2 2*
254
History of Green County.
first blacksmith, and David Klassy built the first mill.
One of the colonists has had the curiosity to search the county records to see how early and how often the names of New Glarus and her citizens appeared. The result is as follows : April, 1847, New Glarus school district was credited with forty children and school three months. Frederick Streiff was appointed road super- visor. January, '48, said supervisor made his report and was paid. A road was laid out from Exeter by way of New Glarus and Green's Prairie to the Mineral Point road. July, '48, J. Jacob Tschudy was allowed an account for bringing witnesses to United States Court. February, '49, J. Jacob Tschudy was petit juror. November 16, '49, a petition from township 4 north, range 7 east, asking to be set off from the town of York as the town of New Glarus was granted, and it was ordered that the first town meeting should be held at the school house in the village of New Glarus the first Tuesday in April, 1850. January, 1850, J. Caspar Legler was paid $2 for a wolf scalp. November, 1850, the result of the first assessment of the town was re- corded, to which is added by way of contrast the assess- ment of '76:
1850.
1876.
Value of taxable property .
$8,915 00
$323,996 00
Amount of state tax.
17 83
744 32
County tax
57 95
826 II
School tax.
13 37
173 02
Blind asylum
00 60
. .
Total tax.
S9 75
1,743 45
The village of New Glarus, apart from its interest as a piece of Switzerland in America, is an important one.
255
History of Green County.
The hotels of S. Luchsinger and H. Marty, the cheese. factory of the New Glarus Cheese Manufacturing Co., the saw and flour mills of F. Kundert, the brewery of Hefty and Elmer, the stores of F. E. Legler, F. Tschudy, and A. Kundert, with their various minor accompaniments, enable the village to meet all ordinary wants of the township. At the cheese factory in the vil- lage of New Glarus, Mr. Wilder made in 1876, 136,000. pounds of American cheese. For several years cheese has been shipped directly from this factory to England .. In their old home the Swiss were accustomed to the care of herds and the making of cheese, and as soon as. they saw the uneven surface and innumerable springs. and brooks of New Glarus, they rejoiced over the adaptation of their new home to the industry learned in the old. From the very first they made cheese to use at home and sell in the county, but its manufacture in large quantities was delayed until some five or six years. ago when Mr. Nicholas Gerber started two factories in southern New Glarus and one in Washington. At first only Swiss cheese was made, but of the two lines. of industry the manufacture of Limburger cheese is- now the more important. Besides the factory of Amer- ican cheese already mentioned, there is one other, that of Hoesly & Lenherr.
The following table shows about the amount of Swiss and Limburger cheese made in 1876 by the largest manufacturers in New Glarus and Washington :
256
History of Green County.
(TABLE REFERRED TO ON PRECEDING PAGE.)
No. of Factories.
Lbs. of Swiss.
Lbs. of Limburger.
G. Babler,
-
I
. . . .
22,000
Jacob Boss,
I
....
24,000
Jacob Freitag,
I
5,000
·
The Swiss are among the best farmers in the county.
LARGEST FARMERS IN NEW GLARUS IN IS76.
Names. No. of Acres.
Names.
No. of Acres.
Albrecht Baebler, , 270
Balthasar Kundert, - 265
Christopher Baebler, 160
Fridolin Kundert, - 490
Fridolin Baebler, IS5
Oswald Kundert, 160
Fridolin Becker, ISO
Paul Kundert,
530
Jacob Burgy, ISO
Thos. Kundert, -
300
Adam Duerst, 160
Fridolin Legler, Sen.,
215
Balthasar Duerst,
180
Geo Legler, Sen., -
4.00
Jacob Duerst,
210
Friedrich Luchsinger,
196
Jacob Duerst, Jun.,
210
John Luchsinger, - 200
J. Henry Duerst, -
300
Fridolin Marty's est.,
160
Samuel Duerst, 240
M. North, -
300
Thos. Duerst,
170
Anton Ott,
190
Julius Eichelkraut,
270
Jacob Rueggy, -
165
Elmer Bros., - 4.00
Adam Smith, 420
Mathias Figy,
240
Frid. & Abe. Schindler, 220
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