History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Part 94

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 958

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HION. ELINIU B. GOODSELL.

Mr. Goodsell is of Irish descent and was born in Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vt. His grandfather, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, fell at the battle of Bennington. The maiden name

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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

of his mother was Ann Atherton, and though born at Greenfield, Mass., removed to Vermont at an early day. The subject of this sketch was born May 11, 1806; received an academic education and removed to Quincy, Ill., in April, 1832, subsequently visiting Dubuque, accom- panying La Claire, the French interpreter, thither, also a Government agent, for the purpose of effecting a removal of the Indians from that locality. When the party arrived, there was neither a habitation nor a white person on the site of the present city. From there he journeyed to Mineral Point and attended the first court which ever sat in that vicinity, finally removing to the town of Highland, and settling among the Winnebago Indians, whom he always found hos- pitable, kind and well-disposed. On May 4, 1846, he was married to Miss Isabella Oakes, and the same year was elected a member of the convention from the county of Iowa, serving in that body as a member on eminent domain and property of the State, taking a thoughtful. conserva- tive and sagacious part in the deliberations of that body. Subsequent to this period, he filled the position of Postmaster and numerous town offices, and, in 1865, was elected a member of the Legislature. In 1845, he laid out the village of Highland for the convenience of lead miners, since when it has become the thriving center of a flourishing farming country.

GEN. CHARLES BRACKEN.

One of the distinguished dead of this portion of the State was the subject of this sketch, Gen. Charles Bracken, who was born at Pittsburgh, Penn., April 6, 1797. and died at Walnut Grove, La Fayette Co., on the 16th of April, 1861. after a long and painful illness. Exposed from his earliest infancy to the toils and privations of a frontier life, the General was the embodi- ment of tho stern and unflinching virtues born of such an age and experience. A surveyor by profession, he removed to Cynthiana, Ky., in 1816, when he became engaged in teaching, and also upon the survey of the boundary lines between the States of Kentucky. Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. In 1814, he volunteered as a member of the Pittsburgh Blues, of which he was elected Orderly Sergeant, and marched to Baltimore, expecting to participate in the defense of that city, arriving, however, after the engagement. In March, 1820, he was united in marriage to Miss Ann Jones, a resident of Harrison County, Ky., and eight years later removed to Galena, where he entered the service of Clopton & Van Matre. He established what has since been known as the " Van Matre survey." In September, 1830, he was joined by his family. consisting of a wife and three children, and settled in Wisconsin near the county line, between La Fayette and Iowa, where he resided up to the day of his death. During the Black Hawk war, he was an officer stationed at Fort Defiance and participated in the leading battles of that memorable contest, resuming mining and smelting in Rock Branch, in Willow Springs Town- ship, La Fayette County, at its close, which he continued until 1835, when he became a specu- lator. In 1840, he began the manufacture of copper on Otter Creek, Willow Springs Township. and carried on extensive operations, hauling his product to Milwaukee by teams. In 1838, he became a member of the Legislature, serving in his capacity of Representative with distinguished success, and was re-elected in 1856 or 1857. In 1848, his wife died at the family homestead, located on a farm about half a mile south of the place first occupied by the family after their settlement in Wisconsin. During the latter portion of his life, Gen. Bracken was engaged in farming, and so remained up to the time of his death. He was a prominent member of the community in which he resided, and a leading spirit in all works of public improvement, and in his several capacities of pioneer, soldier, surveyor and legislator he was brave, self-sacrificing and capable, esteemed as a friend and citizen not more than for his many noble qualities as a man

GEN. JOHN B. TERRY,

one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Iowa County and a man universally respected for his unswerving integrity, died at his residence in the city of Mineral Point on Sunday morning. January 11, 1874. He was born at Coxsackie, N. Y., January 18, 1796, and was consequent- ly within one week of his 78th birthday. In his youth he was apprenticed to the hardware bus- iness, at Troy, N. Y., in which he subsequently engaged at St. Charles, Mo., whence he moved

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to Sangamon, Ill., and thence to the lead mines in 1829, where he became a merchant and smelter. He early identified himself with Territorial interests, and was a member of the first Legislature which convened at Belmont. During the war with Black Hawk, he revived his rec- olleetions of active service experienced in the war of 1812, receiving a Captain's commission for meritorious services in former contest, and later appointed Brigadier General of the State Militia by Gov. Dodge. His subsequent career was amid the bustle of trade and business, and in every department of life with which he was identified be honored and sustained. His home, from its first establishment in the wilderness, was a haven of rest for the foot-sore and weary; no one ever left his door needy, and no good work lacked for his sympathy and assistance. As an up- right, generous-hearted man, he was was known the State over, and in his death Wisconsin, of which he may be justly regarded as prominent among the early defenders and law-givers, sus- tained a loss not easily repaired.

JOHN FALLS O'NEILL.

Capt. O'Neill was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, coming to America when only sixteen years of age. He located at Baltimore, Md., for a short time, where he had some relatives ; but possessed of an adventurous spirit, the chances in the Far West induced him to try his fortune there, and he moved to St. Louis, Mo., where he entered one of the merchandising establishments . as a clerk. He went from St. Louis to Santa Fe with one of the first overland trains that crossed the plains, probably in the year 1826, and on coming back moved to Galena, Ill., where he en- gaged largely in lead mining and smelting. He was married at that place on the 16th of Sep- tember, 1827, to Miss Mary A. Sublette, and the result of the union was thirteen children, seven of whom are dead. Mr. O'Neill was in many of the Indian wars of the time of the first settle- ment of Illinois and Wisconsin, took an active part in the Black Hawk war, in 1832, and there gained his title of Captain, by which he has since been known. He had a host of interesting recollections of the life among the pioneers. He was among the first who located the land on which the beautiful capital city of Wisconsin, Madison, now stands, and at one time had valuable interests there. Ilis name will be found frequently mentioned among those who organized the territorial government of Wisconsin, and during those stirring times he occupied many promi- nent positions and acquired considerable wealth. In 1849, when the gold fever broke out in Cali- fornia, he joined the tide across the plains, his eldest son accompanying him. He tried his fortunes in the southern mines, and for awhile resided at Stockton. Returning to the East in 1851) he started across the plains in the spring of 1852, with his family, arriving in American Valley, Cali- fornia, in the fall, where he engaged quite extensively in merchandising and packing, at one time owning a pack-train of 100 mules. He removed his family to Marysville in 1856, but returned to American Valley in 1859, and made his permanent home there until the date of his death, which occurred on May 9, 1880.

Capt. O'Neill was one of the school of old-time gentlemen, now rapidly passing away. His cordial greeting, the polite military salute which was invariably tendered to his friends on meet- ing them, will long be remembered. His life proved to be a striving, active one, and but few men have had more thrilling and varied experiences.

COL. DANIEL M. PARKINSON.

This distinguished Western pioneer was the sixth son of Peter Parkinson, an enterprising Scotchman who emigrated to America at a date unknown to his family, and settled in East Tennessee. His mother was Mary Morgan, the sister of Gen. Daniel Morgan, of Revolutionary fame. Col. Parkinson was born in Carter County, East Tennessee. October 20, 1790, and his father dying when the subject of this sketeh was but two years old, he grew to manhood in a wilderness inhabited by roving bands of hostile and friendly Indians. In 1822, he settled in Sangamon County, Ill., having previously resided a brief period in Madison County the same State, and White County, Tenn., where he engaged in farming, and was in all respects a pru- dent husbandman. In October, 1827, he removed to New Diggings, La Fayette Co., Wis., where he remained two years, when he again removed to Mineral Point, where he built the

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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

third house erected in that place and conducted a tavern and billiard-room. Previous to his settlement in the Territory, he won and married Miss Elizabeth Hyder, a native of Tennessee, and one of the most accomplished ladies of her time (in whose veins flowed the blood of the Hampton family, she being first cousin to Gen. Wade Hampton, during the war commander of " Hampton's Legion " in the Confederate service, and at present United States Senator from the State of South Carolina), who bore him all his children, but two of whom survive Peter Parkinson, Jr., a prominent and universally esteemed resident of La Fayette, and William Parkinson, of Iowa.

Col. Parkinson was Captain, Major and Colonel successively of Territorial militia and Lieutenant in the Winnebago war, also commanding the fifth volunteer company under Gen. Dodge in the Black Hawk war. Under the Territorial form of government, he was a Repre- sentative from the district embracing what is now Iowa, La Fayette, Grant and. Richland Counties in the Legislature convened at Belmont in October, 1836; of that which convened at Burlington in 1838, and was also a member of the first and second sessions of the third Legis- lative House of Representatives of 1840, 1841 and 1842, in addition having often served as a member of the Board of Supervisors. In 1846, he was elected to represent the county of Iowa in the Constitutional Convention, in which body he served on the Committee on Militia, and was a member of the State Legislature of 1849.

Mr. Parkinson passed through all phases of pioneer life in Tennessee, Illinois and Wiscon- sin. When he settled in Illinois in 1822, the country was still new, houses were built, corn picked and husked, quiltings, harvestings and threshings, etc., all done at meetings of settlers. These meetings were interspersed with rude music, dancing, wrestling, horse-racing, and it may be supposed without offense to the imagination that they had their bowls of whisky punch as well. though Mr. Parkinson was a temperance man, and taught temperance in his family with such success that his three sons never knew the taste of liquors. Limited in education, but possessed of a mind disciplined by reflection and keen observation, he quoted no authorities to sustain his position in debate, relying upon his own convictions for correctness. Physically, he was a per- feet Hercules, over six feet six inches in height, and built in proportion. As friend, neighbor and citizen, none could be better ; his kindness and hospitality were proverbial and bounded only by his ability to extend them. He lived to see the fruition of success attending the under- takings commeneed when the West was a wilderness, and on the 1st day of October, 1868, at his residence in La Fayette County where he was attended by his son Peter Parkinson, Jr., he joined his comrades who had preceded him to their final rest across the Beautiful River. He lived in the companionship of such men as Gen. Henry Dodge, Col. John Moore, Col. Ebenezer Brigham, Col. William S. Hamilton, Gen. Charles Bracken, Judge J. W. Blackstone, Col. Abner Nichols, Col. James Morrison, Col. Levi Sterling, Maj. James P. Cox and Maj. J. B. Terry, all now deceased, but who in their lifetime laid the foundation of Empire in South- western Wisconsin. In influence, weight of character and sincerity of purpose, Daniel M. Parkinson was the peer of any man, and unborn generations will rise up in coming years to bless the memory and do honor to the name of him who is the subject of this brief sketch.

HON. THOMAS JENKINS.

Thomas Jenkins was born in South Carolina in March, 1801, where he secured an educa- tion in the elementary branches obtained when not providing for the cultivation of his planta- tion. After residing for some years in the States of South Carolina, Alabama and Missouri, he removed to Wisconsin, in 1827, and settled at Dodgeville. During the Black Hawk war, he served under Gen. Dodge, and was wounded at the battle of the Pecatonica. In 1833, he was married to Minerva Young ; and, as a member of the Committee on Powers, Duties and Restric - tions of the Legislature in the Constitutional Convention, he exerted a marked influence, and honored the position he was appointed to fill. In 1849, he removed to California, accompanied by his family, where his wife died the following year, and whence he removed to New Mexico, in 1864, with his two sons. He died in 1866.

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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

HON. LEVI STERLING.

Hon. Levi Sterling was born in Woodford County, Ky., January 2, 1804. He came to Galena in March, 1828, and in May following located in the neighborhood of Mineral Point. He was, in 1830, appointed Deputy Clerk of the United States District Court, and County Court of Iowa County ; and during the Indian war of 1832, served as a Lieutenant in Capt. Francis Gehon's company, under Col. Dodge. In 1833, he was appointed by Gov. Porter, of Michigan Territory, Sheriff of Iowa County, and at the same time discharged the duties of Marshal of the United States District Court for the counties of Crawford and Iowa, a district of country then embracing the whole of the present limits of Wisconsin, excepting the old county of Brown.

In 1834, he enumerated the inhabitants of his district, which then contained 3,443, Craw- ford County having 810, and Iowa 2,633, while Brown contained 1,957, making but 5,400 white inhabitants in that part of Michigan Territory now comprising Wisconsin.

In 1836, Mr. Sterling resigned the Shrievalty, and was the same year elected Sergeant at Arms of the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory, which met at Green Bay in January ; and when, the same year, Wisconsin Territory was organized, he was appointed Auctioneer of Iowa County. He was elected Transcribing Clerk of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, at the session held at Burlington in June, 1838, and was the same year appointed one of the Commissioners to relocate the half-breed Indian lands, reserved by the Winnebagoes under the treaty of 1829. He was also, in 1838, chosen a member of the Legislative Council from the county of Iowa for the term of four years. He took his seat at the first session held in Madi- son in November of that year. He served in the Council five sessions, including two extra sessions, and resigned in 1841. Ile was in that year appointed by the President Receiver of Public Moneys of the Mineral Point Land District.

He was elected Sheriff of Iowa County in 1846, and re-elected to the same office in 1848. In 1850-51, he served a term in the State Senate ; in 1851, he was appointed a Deputy Sur- veyor of the United States Lands by the Surveyor General of Iowa and Wisconsin; and in 1852, he was again chosen for a term of two years in the State Senate. He was again elected Sheriff of Iowa County in 1854; and, in 1857, he was appointed by Gov. Bashford a Com- missioner, in conjunction with ex-Gov. L. J. Farwell and Hon. John P. McGregor, for the location and erection of the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane.

Col. Sterling served creditably in the late war. This long list of public services attest the worth and popularity of the man, whose ambition, with his natural modesty, probity and indus- try, seems to have been directed to serving faithfully those who confided important trusts to him ; and to have done this for so long a series of years, is in itself high praise, and must carry with it ample satisfaction. Col. Sterling died October 16, 1868, leaving three daughters and one son.

CAPT. WILLIAM HENRY.

Mr. Henry was born in Colchester, Conn., April 10, 1784. He was a son of John Henry, a native of Ireland, and Nancy Gordon, a native of Connecticut. He received a com- mon-school education in the State of New York, and when quite young began life as a clerk in a mercantile establishment. Upon the breaking-out of the war of 1812, he enlisted, and, on the 12th of March of that year, received his commission as Second Lieutenant of Artillery in the army of the United States. At the close of the war he resigned his commission, and shortly after started for the West. He left Cherry Valley, N. Y., in October, 1817, and located at Vincennes, Ind., where he remained about two years, engaging in the mercantile business. In 1819, he left Vincennes and went to St. Genevieve, Mo., where he remained until early in 1821, when he removed to St. Louis, and, in February of that year, purchased a steam saw mill. Here he did a good business until the mill was burned in the winter of 1823. In 1822, Mr. Henry returned to New York and married Miss Rachiel McQuigg, at Oswego, in that State, bringing his bride to St. Louis. In the spring of 1824, he, with his wife and son, William T.

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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

Henry, then one year old, started for the lead region, arriving in Galena, Ill., early in May. Here he engaged in the mercantile and lead-smelting business with M. C. Comstock, then a prominent citizen of Galena. After retiring from this business a short time after, he was employed as elerk in the office of Thomas C. Legate, Superintendent of the United States Lead Mines, and was subsequently under Lieut. Martin Thomas in the same capacity. At the breaking-out of the Winnebago war in 1827, there being no courts of justice, nor military forces, it became necessary for the people to organize for personal protection. Forthwith a meeting of the citizens of Galena was held and a committee of safety appointed, of which Capt. Henry was chosen Chairman. He gave his whole time gratuitously from the 4th of July, 1827, until October 30, often making trips to Prairie du Chien and Fort Winnebago, now Portage City. In 1832, at the beginning of the Black Hawk war, he was appointed Sutler to the forces under Gen. Scott, continuing in this capacity through the war, and afterward with the rangers. who patroled the Indian country until 1833. In the fall of this year, he located at Dodgeville and opened a small store; and August 27. 1834, he was appointed the first Postmaster of the village. In the fall of 1833, he fitted out Isaac Tower with a stock of goods, and sent him from Galena to Lake Koshkonong with four four-horse teams to trade with the Indians. This proved a most successful venture, as in the spring the expedition returned laden with valuable furs which, being sold in New York City, brought the magnificent sum of $10,000. In Octo- ber, 1834, Mr. Henry removed to Mineral Point and opened a large stock of goods in a building located near Jerusalem Spring, and August 9, 1836, he was appointed Postmaster of Mineral Point, serving in this capacity until 1841, when he was succeeded by I. T. Lathrop. He retired from the mercantile business in 1837, and for many years served his numerous friends as Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Register of Deeds, etc. He died at Mineral Point Feb- ruary 12, 1853. He left four sons-William T. Henry (lawyer and banker, Mineral Point), Francis Henry (now Judge of Probate, Olympia, W. T.), Rufus W. (died at Olympia in May. 1870, aged forty years), George Henry (now at Oakwood, D. T.). Capt. Henry was person- ally known to almost every one in Iowa County, and it may be safely said no man had more friends or fewer enemies than he. There was something in his nature that attracted men and women to him with an irresistible force, and bound them to him in friendship as with bands of steel. He was a man of great perseverance, genial, whole-souled, hospitable, generous to a fault and kind to the last degree.

JOHN MESSERSMITH.

of Messer Grove, Iowa County, died at his residence on the 1st day of October, 1855, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was born in Franklin County, Penn., one of the frontier counties of that State, in the year 1788. Mr. Smith may thus be said to have been a pioneer from his very birth. He eventually married and removed to Ohio, where he remained until he came to Wisconsin in 1827, and located at Mineral Point. Here he built himself a house, and for several years was engaged in mining, then the principal pursuit of the inhabitants of the Territory. He was not intended for a miner, however, and as soon as circumstances would permit, being bred a farmer, he selected a beautiful farm in one of the rich valleys of Iowa County, and from that time busied himself principally in the cultivation of the fertile soil. But Messersmith, as well as all the settlers on the frontier at that early period, suffered much from the Indian wars, until the defeat and capture of Black Hawk in the year 1832. Much improve- ment, therefore, in the cultivation of the soil or the raising of farm-stock was rendered almost impossible, nevertheless the Messersmith farm steadily improved, and is to-day one of the finest homesteads in Iowa County. During the Black Hawk war, he and his sons fought with bravery. He was a practical farmer, and having a good English education, and being possessed of sound judgment, he became a most useful citizen, and for many years was called upon to serve his fellow-citizens in the various capacities of civil magistrate and dispenser of justice, as well as the official superintendent of the financal affairs of the county. The death of so popular a citizen was deeply mourned by his many friends and relatives. He raised a large family of children, and had the pleasure of seeing his sons fill responsible positions among his

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fellow-men .. In every position, publie or private, his career has been without stain or reproach ; his honesty and integrity ever being far above either calumny or suspicion, his record in all senses having been honorable, useful, and worthy of commemoration as an example to the future.

ROBERT S. BLACK.

One of the noted pioneers of Iowa County was Robert S. Black, who was born in the city of Londonderry, Ireland, and died at his home in Dodgeville on the 23d of October, 1872, aged ninety-three years. He came to America when quite young, the first years of his life in this country being spent in Philadelphia and Charlestown. He came to Mineral Point, Wis., more than fifty years ago, when the Territory was a vast wilderness containing but few settlements. He rendered valuable service in the Black Hawk war, being noted for his nerve and bravery, and more than once he was the only man willing to risk his life in carrying important dis- patches through a country infested by savage Indians and wild beasts, with no other path or guide than his faithful compass. He participated in the battle of the Bad Ax, when the celebrated chief, Black Hawk, was taken prisoner, and his followers routed. After the termination of the Indian war, Mr. Black was engaged in commercial pursuits at Mineral Point, where, owing to his genial disposition and business talent, he met with flattering success. He eventually mar- ried a Mrs. McArthur, a half-sister of Gov. Henry Dodge, and is remembered as being the hostess of the first hotel at old Belmont, the first capital of Wisconsin. Mr. Black subsequently removed to Dodgeville, where he engaged in merchandising until his death. He is universally remembered as a fine humorist and great story-teller. It is said he could keep an audience convulsed with laughter for hours, with his well-told anecdotes and reminiscences of his early frontier life. Mr. Black was known through life as a warm-hearted, whole-souled, honest man. Hle may be truly regarded as an example of bravery and generosity, always ready to sacrifice not only his own interests, but even his life for the preservation of his friends. In early times, he carried messages through an nninhabited and wild region filled with innumerable dangers and privations, and let it be said in his favor that he has accomplished as many brave deeds as almost any other man in Wisconsin. On a beautiful day in October, of 1872, as the autumn leaves were falling thick and fast. the spirit of Robert S. Black shook off its mortal coil and winged its flight to eternity. Thus passed away from earthly cares a man who was ever a val- ned member of society, honored and respected by all who knew him.

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History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Part 94

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 958

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 958