USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 10
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Byron Kilbourn was born in Connecticut in 1801, but when a young lad his parents moved to Ohio. Ilis father was a member of Congress in 1812 and again in 1814. Having received a good education young Kilbourn, at the age of twenty-two, entered the service of the state as an engineer for the great system of internal improvements then being carried on by Ohio. In 1832, he journeyed to the far-off country beyond the western shores of Lake Michigan. lle landed in Green Bay May 8, 1834, and soon found employment as a sur- veyor of public lands. In the course of his travels he was attracted by the advantages offered by the region around the month of the Milwaukee River. Here he found Solomon Juneau who had been settled here many years in the fur trade with the Indians.
"Juneau was one of Nature's noblemen," says a writer in a history of Milwaukee published in 1881, "and was the very soul and embodiment of hospitality and good cheer. Among his pleasantest recollections Mr. Kil- bourn often adverted to the cheerful fireside scenes in Mr. Juneau's wildwood home after days of travel, toil and privation."
Ilere Kilbourn determined to settle and purchased a tract of land on the west side of the Milwaukee River at the same time that Junean purchased a tract on the east side. Both of these traets were in the same seetion and were divided from each other by the river. These two tracts extending along the river for one mile constituted the nucleus of the present City of Mil- waukee.
"The east side was platted in the summer of 1835," it is stated in the article on Milwaukee, in the Eneyelopaedia Britannica, "and very soon after- ward the plat of a settlement on the west side was also recorded, Byron Kilbourn being the chief projector and proprietor of the latter." These two settlements bore the popular names of Juneantown and Kilbourntown respec- tively. A third settlement, begun on the south side by George H. Walker, and known as "Walker's Point," was subsequently platted. The rivalry between the east and west sides of the river became intense, the plats were so surveyed that the streets did not meet at the river, and there were bitter quarrels over the building of bridges. On one occasion a force of armed men was assembled on the east side "to defend their rights, " and a cannon was leveled at Mr. Kilbourn's house on the opposite bank of the river. After some further complications the "bridge war" was amicably settled, and since that time bridge building has gone forward in an orderly manner.
"When the publie mind began to comprehend the importance of railroad
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communication with the interior, " says a writer in a history of Milwaukee. published in 1881. "Mr. Kilbourn was by common consont designated as the most suitable person to lead the first enterprise of that description. Ile was accordingly elected president of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company.' This company was organized in the early part of 1849, and Mr. Kilbonen continued to occupy the position of president of the company until 1852."
In 1846, the City of Milwaukee was chartered, and Mr. Kilbourn was chosen a member of the first board of aldermen. In the next year Mr. Kil- bourn was chosen a delegate to the state constitutional convention, and in that body he drew up and reported the "Declaration of Rights" and some other important articles. In 1848, he was elected mayor of Milwaukee, which had then become a city of about fifteen thousand inhabitants. Mr. Kilbourn was again elected mayor in 1854.
"It has been said that no man in Wisconsin has made so many railroad speeches," says the writer above quoted. "or has so often presided over state and district conventions and other public meetings as Byron Kilbourn. Mr. Kilbourn was a zealous Free Mason and left the use of a beautiful hall to the lodge and chapter named after him. Ile was a member of this lodge and chapter, and also of Wisconsin Commandery, K. T.
"Owing to exposure in early life Mr. Kilbourn was afflicted with rheuma- tism, and in the fall of 1868 he made a tour of the South for the benefit of his health. Ile spent several months at Hot Springs, Ark., but received no especial benefit. Finding the climate of the extreme South most agreeable to his exhausted system he located at Jacksonville, Florida, where on December 16. 1870. he died suddenly and painlessly of apoplexy, in the seventieth year of his age. He passed away full of years, an honor to his family name, and a benefactor to his race.
George H. Walker .- In 1834, George II. Walker came to MIwaukee from Virginia, where he was born October 22. 1811, and located on the south side of the river. He was then twenty-three years of age. Here he erected a log house, "the first, " says J. S. Buek in his "Pioneer History." "ever built by a white man upon that side of the river." The spot is known to this day in common parlance as "Walker's Point." He carried on the business of an Indian trader and was identified thereafter with the growth of Milwaukee in many and various ways throughout his life.
In 1842, he was elected to the territorial legislature and was made speaker of that body, and two years later was re-elected to the same office. In 1551. Walker was elected mayor of Milwaukee and again in 1853. He was a demo- erat in politics but at the breaking out of the Civil war he took a decisive stand in favor of the preservation of the Union.
"The city was largely indebted to him." writes J. A. Watrons in his "Memoirs of Milwaukee County." "for the building of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad. He was at one time president of this railroad company. and long a member of the board of directors. He built the first street rail- way in Milwaukee at a considerable loss to himself which was the foundation of the present splendid system. One of the last publie acts of his useful life
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was to aid in securing the location here of the National Soldiers' Home." Ile died at his home on Biddle Street, September 20, 1866.
George H. Walker engaged in many building enterprises and promoted varions corporations of a semi-publie or public nature. He built a large four- story brick bloek bearing his name, which stood on the corner of South Water and Clinton streets, and was. at one time, the center of the largest trade upon the South Side. This brick building is undoubtedly the most substantial brick building ever built in the City of Milwaukee.
In a pamphlet issned by the Milwaukee Times in June, 1921, the leading events of his life are described. From this pamphlet much information has been derived for this work, as for example the following paragraph :
"Colonel Walker was a very active, energetic and pushing citizen. Ile was a large and portly man, with a genial manner, betokening hearty good will to all whom he met, with genuine kindliness beaming from every feature of his face. He had a magnetic presence, and a most hearty greeting for all whom he knew. He was selected to fill many offices of responsibility by his fellow citizens, and among them we find he was made supervisor, twice elected a member of the Territorial Legislature, in 1842 and 1844, and on each occasion was made speaker of the lower honse, was appointed register of the Milwaukee Land office, elected alderman, and twice elected mayor of Mil- wankee, once in 1851 and subsequently in 1853. At that time the mayors held office for but one year. As register of the Land office one of the strong char- arteristies of the man became especially prominent, and that was his most perfect honesty. In this position as register he had abundant opportunity for making himself very wealthy, but he wonhl neither permit himself nor any of his subordinates to take advantage of the knowledge which the office afforded them to enrich themselves. This characteristic was always a prominent one throughout his life. His integrity was unquestionable.
"From 1835 to 1849 he was continually pestered by men who tried to .jump his elaim' to his quarter section, and who insisted that the pre-emption laws of that day did not permit the location of a 'float' claim upon so valn- able a piece of land."
Colonel Walker's Picturesque Home .- The writer of the pamphlet re- ferred to describes the location of Colonel Walker's home with some interest- ing details. He says that it was located upon a high hill fronting upon Han- over Street in the center of the double block lying between South Pierce and Virginia streets. The house was built in the style of an old Virginia mansion, with broad doors and windows, spacious rooms with a wide hall running through from front to rear, into which might be driven a horse hauling logs for the fire places.
The house had a beautiful ontlook over the city and a complete view of Milwaukee Bay dotted over with the white-winged messengers of commerce. Hanover Street in front of the residence had been graded down some twenty- five or thirty feet leaving a steep bank in which many deep cavities had been left. These cavities formed convenient nesting places for hundreds npon hundreds of swallows in which to brood and rear their young. The whole front and perpendicular face of this block of land was a curiosity to passersby
A
GEORGE H. WALKER Founder of Walker's Point, now known as the South Side
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upon the street below, and they often stopped to view the myriads of birds flitting in and out from these holes in the elay bank, busy with their domestic duties. In consequence of this deep eut of the street in front of his resi- dence, Colonel Walker's only means of access to his home was by way of Greenbush Street, upon the west front of this tract of land. As the colonel was a very ponderous man, it was difficult for him to do much walking, and at a regular hour each morning he could be seen getting into his buggy, which he filled to its full capacity, to drive down to his place of business, returning with the same regularity at noon and in the evening. His horse and buggy and his corpulent figure and benignant face were known all over Mil- waukee, and nothing seemed to please him more than to be greeted with the familiar appellation of "George," omitting all titles whatsoever.
Pioneer Railroad Construction .- It was through the active and persistent work of Colonel Walker and other prominent citizens that the City of Mil- waukee was at this time induced to loan its credit to the first railway enter- prise by issuing its bonds to the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Company for the sum of $234,000, and it further aided this enterprise, which was then urgently in need of funds, by subscribing in cash for $16,000 worth of the railroad company's stock.
In addition to his many other enterprises for the development of the city, Colonel Walker undertook the construction of a street railway, which was opened to the public in May, 1860. It began at the foot of East Water Street. north to Wisconsin Street, east on Wisconsin to Jefferson, on Jefferson to Biddle, on Biddle to Van Buren, north on Van Buren to Juneau Avenne, thence up Prospect Avenue to Albion. The ears ran on a single track with turn- outs at intervals. The cars were entered by a single step and door at the rear and drawn by mules. The fare-box was at the front of the car where passengers deposited their fares. This was the beginning of the present splendid system of street railways in Milwaukee.
Activities in the Civil War .- At the breaking out of the Civil war no man living north of Mason and Dixon's line could have been more ardent in his loyalty and more active in his efforts for the preservation of the Union than Col. George H. Walker. Though a Virginian by birth and a democrat in his political allegiance he joined the party of the Union and aided in the most conspicuous manner in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. He made it his daily and nightly occupation to attend meetings in every part of the city and lent his voice and great influence toward arousing his fellow citizens to the necessity of prompt action for the preservation of the Union.
He was seen at these meetings with Hon. Matt. Carpenter, Judges Me- Arthur and Ilubbell, engaged in awakening the loyalty of the people. Being a corpulent and heavy man as heretofore noted, he would often find difficulty is ascending the steps of the platforms used for the speakers, and it was necessary for his friends at such times to assist him in the operation. But ready hands pulled and pushed him up amid the cheers and laughter of his audiences. He worked most faithfully and loyally until there was no longer necessity for such patriotie labors.
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And at the conclusion of the war. he was among the foremost in securing From the Government the location and purchase of grounds near this city for the establishment of a comfortable and adequate Soldiers' and Sailors' llome, for the wounded, maimed and worn-out veterans who had helped pre- serve our common country. lle was appointed one of the Board of Soldiers' Home Commissioners by the secretary of war, and held this office at the time of his death. It is said that his trip to Washington, D. C., on behalf of the Soldiers ' Home eaused his death, as he never recovered from a cold contracted at that time.
Col. George II. Walker died September 20, 1866, at the early age of lifty- four years and eleven months, after an active life spent in hardships, trials and labors in behalf of his fellow men, mourned by a loving wife and by every one who knew him. Truly may it be said of him as was said by the poet Homer, "He was a friend to man and lived in a house beside the road."
A. C. Wheeler's "Chronicles of Milwaukee."-Concerning this excellent history it may be remarked that a vein of humor pervades its pages through- ont. Writing of the difficulties he encountered in gathering the facts about early history the author, in his introduction, says: "So bitterly opposed were some even to open their mouths that the author was at first fain to believe that the early hisory of Milwaukee had formerly been the witness of a mon- strous iniquity in which all the first inhabitants were implicated."
The reluctance hinted at above gradually disappeared and the author acknowledges the assistance of many of the old settlers in the preparation of his history, which was published in 1861. "To such men as Colonel Walker. Byron Kilbourn. Elisha Starr, II. Kirke White, Jonathan E. Arnold, Joshua llathaway, William Brown and a host of others, the anthor is indebted for all that is of any material valne in these pages."
CHAPTER X
LIFE AND LABORS OF ANDREW J. VIEAU
After stating that he was born in Green Bay in 1818, Andrew J. Vieau, in his narrative, says that he went to the French school kept by John B. Jacobs in 1826 or 1827. Mr. Jacobs abandoned the school a year or two after and J. B. Dupre beeame his successor. After some time with Dupre yonng Vieau received instruction at home from his father's old clerk, Petteel. "Father Fanvel was also my teacher for a time. Rev. R. F. Cadle, the Episcopalian missionary, came in 1830. He was a very fine gentleman, and I went to his excellent mission school in company with my brothers, Nicholas and Peter." It is thus seen that the elder Vieau had an exalted idea of The value of education for the younger generation.
"There I remained until 1833, when I went to clerk for R. & A. J. Irwin at their general store and post office in Shanty Town. Robert Irwin was the postmaster and I served as his deputy. This was during the Black Hawk war, and I well remember the soldiers coming down the Fox River with Black llawk in 1833 on his tour to the East. The Irwins failed in 1834, and I went to Milwaukee to clerk for my brother-in-law. Solomon. Junean, who was agent for the American Fur Company." It is stated in the narrative that Juneau was doing a fine business in those days. "I think, " says the narrator. "that the company allowed him one-half the profits as a commission."
Young Viean remained in the employ of Juneau seven months and then went to Chicago to clerk Tor Medore Beaubien a merchant there. "} sule- ceeded in this new position, " he continues, "to a Mr. Saxton, who had gone to Racine to do business there. There were several elerks in Beanbien's store and I was at the head of them. I stayed in Chicago until September, 1836," when the payments to the Indians were made in that year. In the course of the narrative young Vieau enters upon a brief description of what he saw in Chicago which we will quote in this place.
"Chicago was very small then," he says. "The principal store was kopt by Oliver Newberry and George W. Dole, on South Water Street, corner of Dearborn. Beanbien's store occupied the opposite corner. Maj. John Greene was commandant at Fort Dearborn, with perhaps one company of soldiers. J. B. Beaubien, father of my employer, lived in the old American Fur Com- pany's post, south of Fort Dearborn on the lake shore. There were, perhaps, from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty buildings in Chi- cago, shops and all, at the time of which I speak. They were mostly un-
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painted and there was certainly no promise of the place ever amounting to anything. On the streets mud was knee deep, and wagons had often to be lifted out of the mire with handspikes. I am sure that nearly every inhabitant of the place would have smiled incredulously if any one had prophesied that here was to be the great city of the west."
Milwaukee in 1836 .- In December, 1836, Andrew J. Vieau (whose narra- tive has been so freely drawn upon) returned from Chicago to Inneau's post in Milwaukee and served him for a time as his bookkeeper. Soon after he bought out the Juneau establishment, "lock, stock and barrel," and con- tinued the business on the west side of the river, a half block north of Spring Street. There had been a big rush to Milwaukee while he was in Chicago, and it continued unabated during that fall. In the following February he was married at Green Bay to Rebecca R. Lawe. "Our bridal trip, " he says, "was made across the country to Milwaukee on what was called a .French train.' The sleigh was a deep box, 6 feet long by 35 inches broad, which slipped easily on the surface of the snow. when drawn by two horses hitched tandem. There were, of course, no wagon roads in those days, but there were two regularly traveled trails to Milwaukee.
"The one we took led first on a short ent southeast from Green Bay to Manitowoc. At Manitowoc rapids, 212 miles from the lake shore. the path turned almost due sonth, striking the mouth of the Sheboygan River. Thenee we would proceed south along the lake shore, sometimes on the beach and aga'n on the high land, for fifteen or sixteen miles; thence west southwest to Sankville ; thence directly southeast to Milwaukee. This path between Green Bay and Milwaukee was originally an Indian trail, and very crooked; but the whites would straighten it by entting across lots each winter with their jumpers, wearing bare streaks through the thin covering, to be followed in the summer by foot and horseback travel along the shortened path.
"The other trail was by way of Fond du Lac, taking advantage of the military road along the cast shore of Lake Winnebago; thence south-south- west to Watertown : thence east to Wankesha, and coming into Milwaukee on the Kilbourn Road. The time ocenpied in traveling from Green Bay to Mil- waukee was four days, either by foot or by . French train.' the distance being estimated at 125 miles."
Having returned to Milwaukee from his wedding trip in the picturesque manner described. Vieau soon afterward sold out his establishment to Solomon Junean, his brother-in-law, not being satisfied to lead the humdrum life of an Indian trader, these two men buying and selling out to each other on fre- quent occasions.
In the fall of 1837, he removed to Port Washington with a small stock of goods and was appointed postmaster at that place. "A little settlement had been established here," he relates, "by Wooster Harrison and other Michigan City speculators. but the place had been starved out and practically abandoned." It is interesting to note in this connection that AAbraham Lin- coln about this time contemplated making Port Washington his home, having traveled all the way from his place of residence at New Salem, Illinois, to make the necessary arrangements. An article in the Wisconsin Magazine of
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History for September, 1920, deseribes this episode in the life of the great Emancipator, and mentions the man whom he met on that journey.
Abraham Lincoln in Quest of a New Home .- In a history of Port Wash- ington it is stated that the first dwelling house built in the village was ereeted by "Gen." Harrison, as Wooster Harrison, above mentioned, was familiarly termed by the old settlers. This first dwelling house was erected in 1835. "It is still standing," so a writer states in the history mentioned which was published in 1881. "It is a little story-and-a-half frame building with gable ends, the sills resting on the ground. A partition divides the first floor into two apartments, and also the upper or half story. It was at this house that the first votes of the town were polled.
"This old and time-worn structure has become one of the sacred relies of the past, commanding a prominent place in the history of the town of Port Washington, not only on account of the relation it bears to the first white settler of the village, but because it once served as a shelter to one of Amer- ica's greatest statesmen. It may be of interest to mention the fact that the great and martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, during his days of 'rough- ing it,' once walked from Milwaukee to Sheboygan, and stopped a night or two in this old house."
Lincoln's Purpose in making the Visit .- Professor Julius E. Olson of the University of Wisconsin contributed the article printed in the Wisconsin Magazine of History referred to above, and in the article he elucidates some particulars of this historie visit, which does not appear to be mentioned either in Nicolay and Hay's or Miss Ida Tarbell's works. Mr. Lincoln's purpose in making the journey was to find a location where he might establish himself in the practice of the law, as he was just then completing his preparation for that profession. Professor Olson says that in an interview furnished by Harry W. Bolens to the Milwaukee Daily News, sometime during the Lincoln centennial year (1909), Mr. Bolens, who had formerly been mayor of Port Washington, stated that the Lincoln visit was made at some period between 1835 and 1840, the exact year not being known. Mr. Lincoln was returmng from Sheboygan having concluded after his visit to that place that "it had no future before it."
Mr. Lincoln remained at Port Washington two days during which time he arranged with General Harrison for the rent of quarters for his law office. This was in the fall of the year (probably 1835), and the arrangement was that Mr. Lincoln should return in the spring and take possession of his quar- ters. "In the spring, however, the floods put a quietus on all travel, the West was fairly afloat in the freshet, and the heavy rain storms kept up until late in the summer. Under these conditions Mr. Lincoln decided to locate else- where and later sent his regrets to General Harrison." From this it would appear that Lincoln's presence in Milwaukee in 1835 (at least about that time), while going to Sheboygan and Port Washington, considerably ante- dates the visit he made in 1859 to Milwaukee when he addressed the Wiseon- sin State Agricultural Society giving his views on agriculture; though in Conard's excellent work it is stated that this latter visit was his "only visit."
What had induced Mr. Lincoln to direet his attention to the lake shore
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region north of Milwaukee and to look here for a location for his new home ? Professor Olson answers the question. Mr. Lincoln had seen considerable of Southern Wisconsin during his brief service in the Black Hawk war and know the country had many attractions. In fact the Black Hawk war was Wiscon- sin's introduction to the American people, just as it proved to be the start to emigration from the eastern states to Ilinois. "There was an immediate and rapid increase of immigration. not only in the mining region, but in vari- ous parts of what is now Wisconsin, more especially in that portion bordering on Lake Michigan." using the quotation from the history of Washington and Ozankee counties found in Professor Olson's article. "Lincoln knew of this strong trend of immigration." adds Professor Olson. "Then he may have wanted to see Lake Michigan, particularly as the eastern part of the state was the most accessible."
Lincoln in Milwaukee .- Lineoln visited Milwaukee, October 1, 1859, and made an address at the State Fair being held there at the time. He attended the performance of a so-called "strong man" which greatly interested him. The performer went through the usual antics,-tossing iron balls and letting them roll down his arms, lifting heavy weights, etc. Apparently Lincoln had never seen such a combination of strength and agility before, and every now and then gave vent to the ejaculation, "By George! By George!" After making his speech Governor Hoyt introdneed him to the athlete: and as Lin- voln stood looking down at him from his great height. evidently pondering that one so small could be so strong, he suddenly gave utterance to one of his quaint speeches. "Why," he said, "I could lick salt off the top of your hat !**
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