USA > Wisconsin > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Wisconsin, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 18
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122
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
The trials of the pioneer were innumerable, and the cases of actual suffering might fill a volume of no ordinary size. Timid women became brave through combats with real dangers, and patient mothers grew sick at heart | ing means of life itself.
with the sight of beloved children failing in in health from lack of commonest necessaries of life. The struggle was not for ease or luxury, but was a constant one for the sustain-
CHAPTER X.
FIRST THINGS.
John McCullough was the first settler in what is now Vernon county. Where he located was then (1844) in Crawford county.
The first couple married in Vernon county were George P. Taylor and Martha J. De Frees, April 8, 1847.
The first white child born, of American par- ents, in the county was Electa S. De Frees, May 10, 1847.
The first death was Mrs. Samuel Rice in the fall of 1847.
The first school was opened in the spring and summer of 1849, taught by Jennie Clark, now Mrs. Messerssmith.
The first school house was erected on the ridge between Viroqua and Brookville, built by George Swain, Abram Stiles and T. J. De Frees. It was intended also as a church.
The first Church organized was a Methodist, at the house of T. J. De Frees, in 1848; the services were monthly.
John Graham commenced, in 1846, the erec- tion of the first grist mill, at Springville.
The first professional lawyer in the county was William F. Terhume, in 1851.
The first newspaper was the Western Times, started in June, 1856.
The first term of circuit court was held at Viroqua by Judge Wiram Knowlton, commenc- ing on the third Monday of May, 1851.
The first county officers chosen in the county were: Thomas J. De Frees, county judge; Orrin Wisel, clerk of the court and county board of supervisors; James A. Cooke, county treasurer; Jacob Higgins, register of deeds; and Samuel McMichael, county surveyor.
The first frame dwelling in the county was erected in Viroqua by Messrs. Terhume and Bullard.
Orrin Wisel was the first blacksmith in the county; located at Liberty Pole in 1848.
John Graham erected the first mill in the county at Springville in 1847.
The first actual settlement in the county was near Liberty Pole, in the present town of Franklin.
The first postoffice in the county was at Liberty Pole.
The first person who held family worship in the county was Mrs. Samuel Rice.
The first camp-meeting was held in the sum- mer of 1849 in the valley near the place where afterward resided Rev. J. A. Cooke. The only minister (Methodist) present was Jesse Per- dunn.
The first child born, of Norwegian parents, in the conuty was Brown Olson, in the now town of Christiana on the southwest quarter of section 35. His birth was March 30, 1850.
123
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
The first Methodist class-meeting in the county was led by J. A. Cooke, who afterward became a Methodist preacher. This was in the year 1849.
FIRST PREACHING IN THE COUNTY.
Among the first settlers of the county there was a distant, yet distinet form of religion, ac- knowledged by a few; but the power thereof was weak. The first settlers had left their old homes in other States and emigrated hither for the purpose of improving their worldly condi- tion; and, as they located at that time in, as it were, an isolated country, away from settle- ments to the distance of fifty miles, on wild and never before occupied prairies except by the ab- originees, their minds would, very naturally, seem to partake of the wilderness and the indif- ference which characterize the first settler of every new country. The support of their families must of necessity be the first desidera- tum, and when this is done, there was but little time remaining for worship, especially where the toils and difficulties of a pioneer life had unnerved the ine'ination; and the spirit of what is sometimes called luke-warmness prevailed to some extent.
However, near the close of the first year's set- tlement, the modern pilgrims in the inchoate county of Bad Ax, had become somewhat or- ganized; and as there were but few of them, a spirit of warm friendship and congeniality very naturally arose between them; which sympathy and kindred feelings stole unobtrusively over the mind and heart, inspiring a higher devotion and sense of obligation to a higher Being.
In the summer of the year 1847, a Mr. Lee, from Illinois, visited the settlement, and preached the first sermon ever delivered in the connty. It was at the dwelling of Samuel Riee. There were on this occasion not to exceed twelve hearers, mostly men. During the delivery of this introductory sermon a huge black bear passed by the assembly, wherenpon mostly all the male portion of the congregation immedi- ately dismissed themselves and went in pursuit |
of the animal, leaving the minister to finish his serinon in the presence of the few remaining females. Mr. Lee preached occasionally during the summer of 1847 to the people at their dwell- ings, took a claim of land near the head of the braneb afterward familiarly known as "Lee's Branch," about three miles northeast of where the village of Viroqua now stands.
"The first religious service in the county," writes Flora D. Weeden, "was conducted by a wandering miner, (Mr. Lee), who was prospect- ing through the county, stopped over Sabbath at the house of Samuel Rice. The entire set- tlement assembled to hear him preach. About the time the service had fairly commenced a black bear passed through the yard. All the men took their rifles and followed the bear, leaving the women and children to listen to the sermon. I was then twelve years old, but I re- member the incident. This ocenrred in the summer of 1847."
FIRST CHURCHI ORGANIZED.
The first Church organized in what is now Vernon county was by the Methodists. It was called the Bad Ax Church, and embraced the whole of the county in its district. In 1847 Elder Wood, of Prairie dn Chien, left an ap- pointment to preach at the dwelling of T. J. De Frees, which appointment was filled by Mr. Thomas, formerly of Philadelphia, but at that time from Prairie du Chien. Among the set- tlers of the county that are remembered at that date, were John MeCullough, Samuel and Ili- ram Rice, Henry Seifert, Mr. Pike, John Gra- ham, T. J. De Frees, Jacob Johnson, John Har- rison, Abram Stiles, Solomon Deeker, James Foster, Thomas Gillett, J. A. Cooke, G. A. Swain, E. P. Kelly and Robert Foster and their families.
Mr. Thomas formed a society of Church members during his labors among the people of the settlement. He warmed the hearts of the luke-warm Christians, and inspired into them new life and higher hopes, enconraged their zeal, and placed their feet upon the high-
124 ยท
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
way whither many of them continued to travel so long as they lived. The first who joined this new-born band of Christians .in the wilder- ness, were J. A. Cook and wife, G. A. Swain and wife, Henry Seifert and his mother, and the wife of Samuel Rice; the last mentioned being the first person in the county to hold family worship. All who knew her testify to her deep and inward piety, her true devotion to her Savior, and her love for everything of a sacred character. Mr. Thomas continued preach- ing oeeasionally in the settlement during the remainder of the year 1847, and often in the following year.
During the summer of 1849, the number of inhabitants had so increased in the settlements, that it became convenient to have schools as well as meetings for religious worship; so the people of the thinly settled district, united and put up a eabin in the grove through which the road passed, from Virginia to Liberty Pole, then ealled Bad Ax. It was both a school house and a church. In the fall of that year (1849), Jesse Perdunn, from Grant county, vis- ited the settlement, and, as a matter of course, the eabin school house was his appointed place to preach.
Religion and a general spirit of piety at this time, began to pervade the minds of the settlers and prayer and class meetings were held fre-
quently, at the dwellings of the people. J. A. Cooke led the first class-meeting that was held in the county, and from that time others began to work more zealously in the eause. A spirit of Christian freedom began to rest upon the minds of the community.
In the summer of 1849, the first camp-meet- ing was held in the county. It was near the place where Rev. J. A. Cooke afterward re- sided. Mr. Perdunn was the only minister present. Many were converted and a large number were added to the Church, which, at this time, had assumed an active power, and wielded a strong influence throughout the eom- munity; but there also were many back-sliders.
The Church continued to progress, and grad- nally inereased in numbers during the year fol- lowing (1850); when, in the month of August, a large number met at the place occupied the previous year and held another eamp-meeting. At this meeting Elder Hobart was present, Mr. Perdunn, James Bishop and other ministering brethren. Eller Hobart was the first elder to visit the Church, and his district comprised the entire State of Wisconsin, north of the Wiscon- sin river. Mr. Perdunn's labors here closed for a few years, but he had the satisfaction of know- ing that he had been instrumental in building up the first religious denomination in the county.
CHAPTER XI.
-
FORMATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
The territory now ineluded within the limits of Vernon county was first a part of Crawford county. The last mentioned county was formed by proclamation of Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan territory, Oet. 26, 1818, An east
and west line passing near the northern limits of what is now Barron county, separated Craw- ford from the county of Michilimackinac on the north ; a line drawn due north from the northern boundary of Illinois, through the mid-
125
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
dle of the portage of Fox and Wisconsin rivers, | " The People of the State of Wisconsin, repre- sented in the Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
was the boundary line between it and Brown county on the east., It was bounded on the south by Illinois, and on the west by the Mis- sissippi river, the western limit of the territory.
In 1829 Iowa county was formed, embracing all that part of Crawford county south of the Wisconsin river, and including the islands therein. In 1834 Brown county was extended westward to the Wisconsin river above the portage, leaving that stream the boundary of Crawford county on the east, as well as south. These are all the changes of boundary that were made while the county remained within the jurisdiction of Michigan territory. Wis- consin territory was formed in 1836. The northern portion of it had previously been embraced in the counties of Michilimackinac and Chippewa. The dividing line between the State of Michigan and the territory of Wiscon- sin left the organization of those counties within the former, and extinguished them so far as they lay within the limits of the latter ; and, in 1838, the district of country thus vacated, lying east of the Mississippi and Grand Fork rivers and north of the original county of Crawford, was attached to and made a part of that county for judicial purposes. Thus it was that Crawford county had its limits virtually extended to Lake Superior and the British, dominions, on the north. Afterward, conrties were formed at different times out of its terri- tory until, in 1851, it was reduced to its present limits by the erection of La Crosse county, and also of
BAD AX COUNTY.
The acts by which this county was designated by boundaries and named, and by virtue of which it was fully organized, were as follows :
[I.]
"An act to divide the county of Crawford and organize the counties of Bad Ax and La Crosse.
"SEC. 1. All that portion of the county of Crawford lying between sections 19, 20, 21, 22, 93 and24 in township 11 and township 15 north, of ranges 2, 3, 4,5, 6 and 7 west, be, and hereby is organized into a separate county, to be known and called by the name of Bad Ax ; and all that portion of Crawford county lying north of township number 14 north, of ranges 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 be, and hereby is organized into a separate county, to be known and called by the name of La Crosse.
"SEC. 2. On the first Tuesday in the month of April next, the electors of said counties of Bad Ax and La Crosse shall, in addition to electing their town officers, vote for and elect all officers necessary for a complete county or- ganization, and the county officers so elected shall qualify by bond and oath as prescribed by law, and enter upon the duties of their re- spective offices upon the third Monday of May, and continue in office until the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty- two, and until their successors are elected and qualified. It is hereby made the duty of the clerk of the board of supervisors of the county of Crawford to make out notices of such elec- tions to be posted in the respective counties upon the publication of this act; and the sheriff of Crawford county shall cause the said notices to be duly posted as in other general elections.
"SEC. 3. The county of Bad Ax shall remain one town until the board of town supervisors shall divide the same into three or more towns, and the supervisors, town clerk and town treas- urer may act as and be county officers for such offices respectively.
"SEC 4. (This section refers wholly to La Crosse county and is, therefore, not given).
"SEC. 5. (This section has reference entirely to Crawford county; hence it, also, is omitted). "SEC. 6. From and after the third Monday of May next, the said counties of Bad Ax and La
126
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
Crosse shall be organized for judicial (and) county purposes, and for all purposes and mat- ters whatever, and the county of Chippewa shall be attached to the county of La Crosse for judicial purposes. The circuit court shall be holden in the county of Bad Ax on the third Monday of May and fourth Monday of November of each year, and in the county of La Crosse on the fourth Monday of February and the fourth Monday of August of each year.
"SEC. 7. All writs, process, appeals, suits, re- cognizanees, or other proceedings whatever already commenced, or that may hereafter be commeneed, previous to the third Monday of May next, in the county or circuit court of Crawford county, shall be prosecuted to a final judgment, order or decree, and execution may issue thereon and judgment, order or decree may be carried into execution in like manner, and the sheriff of said county shall execute all process therein, in like manner as if this aet had not passed, anything in this act to the con- trary notwithstanding.
"SEC. 8. The returns of all elections provided for in this act shall be made for the county of Bad Ax to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the present town of Bad Ax, who shall issue certificates, within ten days from the time of holding such election, to the persons elected to the respective offices. The returns for the county of La Crosse, shall, so far as county officers are concerned, be made to the clerk of the board of town supervisors for the town of Albion, and said clerk shall issue like certifi- cates of election within fifteen days after said election, to the persons duly elected.
"SEC. 9. The county seat of the county of Bad Ax shall be at such place as the board of supervisors shall designate, until a place shall be permanently located by election upon that subject, and the qualified eleetors may vote at any election for the permanent location, and the place (designated by ballot) that shall have a majority of all the votes cast upon that
subject, shall be the permanent county seat for said county.
"SEC. 10. The location of the county seat of La Crosse county, is provided for by this section.
GEORGE HI. WALKER, Speaker of the Assembly, pro tempore. SAMUEL W. BEALL,
Lt .- Gov. and President of the Senate. Approved March 1, 1851. NELSON DEWEY." II.
"An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to divide the county of Crawford and organize the counties of Bad Ax and La Crosse."
The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
"SEC. 1. All that portion of the county of Crawford included within the following bound- aries, shall form and constitute, and is hereby organized into a separate county to be known and called by the name of Bad Ax, viz: Begin- ning at the northwest corner of the county of Richland, thence running south on the range line between ranges 2 and 3 west, to the north- east corner of section 24, of township 11, north of range 3 west, thenee west on the section line to the boundary line of this State, in the main channel of the Mississippi river, thence northerly on the boundary line of this State in the said river, to the point of intersection of said bound- ary line and the township line between town- ships 14 and 15 north, thence east on said township line to the northeast corner of town- ship 14 north, of range 1 east, thence south on the range line between ranges 1 and 2 east, to the southeast corner of township 13, of range 1 east, thenee west on the township line between 12 and 13 to the place of beginning. And all of that portion of the county of Crawford lying north and northwest of the said county of Bad Ax be, and hereby is organized into a separate county to be known and called by the name of La Crosse.
127
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
"SEC. 2. Section 1 of the act to which this is amendatory is hereby repealed.
FREDERICK W. IlORN, Speaker of the Assembly. DUNCAN C. REED,
President, pro tempore, of the Senate. Approved March 1, 1851.
NELSON DEWEY."
Upon the passage of these acts, the proper steps were taken to organize the county as pro- vided therein. An election was held on the first Tuesday of April, 1851, to choose all the county officers necessary for a complete county organization (a list of which is given in a subse- quent chapter); and the officers so elected were qualified by bond and oath as prescribed by the the law then in force, on the third Monday of May following, and on that day they entered upon the duties of their respective offices. At the same date, the first circuit court was holden, as will hereafter be more fully explained; so that then the wheels of the county organization were all set in motion. Vernon county, there- fore, as to its eivil organization, dates from the third Monday of May, 1851.
As provided in the organic acts of the county, a county seat was designated by the board of supervisors, until a place should be permanently located by an election by the qual- ified voters of the county. The place desig- nated by them was the village of Viroqua; and it was here, therefore, that the various officers entered upon their duties and the circuit court held its first session.
It was provided in the act of March 1, 1851, that "the qualified electors might vote at any election for the permanent location" of the county seat; and the place (designated by ballot) that should have a majority of all the votes cast upon that subject, should be the per- manent county seat for the county. Some thought the election, when called, ought to be by the county board of supervisors. Looking to the calling of such an election, the following
petition was handed to the clerk of the board and filed Nov. 1, 1851 :
"We, the undersigned, citizens of the county of Bad Ax, request the supervisors of Bad Ax county to call an election on the 10th day of January, 1852, * for locating the county seat.
R. Dunlap, Rufus Gillet,
George S. MeCormick, L. A. Pierce,
T. J. De Frees, Eldad Inman,
Cyrus F. Gillett, James M. Bailey,
Moses Decker,
J. A. Cooke,
A. Latshaw, Isaac S. Decker."
But this petition, either because the board thought the day set was too soon, or that they doubted their authority to call an election, was not acted upon by the supervisors.
To remove all difficulties and doubts concern- ing the calling of the election and fixing upon a day when it should be held, the Legislature passed as an act, which was approved by the governor on the 14th of April, 1852, in these words:
"An act to permanently locate the county seat of Bad Ax county.
"The people of the State of Wisconsin, repre- sented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as fol- lowos :
"SEC. 1. The qualified electors of the county of Bad Ax shall be and are hereby authorized to vote for the permanent location of the county seat of said county, at an election hereby au- thorized to be held therein on Tuesday, the 25th day of May, 1852, and polls shall be opened at the usual places of holding elections, which shall be conducted in the same manner as is provided by law for conducting general elec- tions.
SEC. 2. The sheriff of said county shall give at least ten day's notice of said election by post- ing or causing to be posted three written or printed notices, in public places in the vicinity of each place where the polls are to be held, which notice shall state the object and the time and place of holding the same; and the affidavit
128
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
of the person or persons posting the same sball be filed with the clerk of the board of supervi- sors previous to the canvass by the board of county canvassers.
"SEC. 3. It shall be competent and lawful for each qualified elector, as specified in the first section of this act, to vote at said election for such place as he may think proper to designate, for the permanent county seat of said county; each ballot to contain the words written or printed or partly written and partly printed: "For permanent county seat (naming the place)" and no vote shall be thrown out by the in- spectors for any irregularity, if the intention of the elector is clearly specified.
"SEC. 4. The votes given at such election shall be canvassed by the inspectors, and re- turned as provided by law to the clerk of the board of supervisors, within one week from the time of holding said election.
"SEC. 5. On the Tuesday next succeeding the election, the board of county canvassers, as chosen under the provisions of law, shall meet at the office of the clerk of the board of super- visors of said county, and proceed to make an estimate and statement of the votes cast, as follows: They shall make duplicate statements, written out in words at length, of the whole number of votes given at said election, and the names of the places voted for for county seat, and the number of votes each said place re- ceived, which said statement shall be certified ax correct, and attested by the signatures of the said county canvassers, one of which statements shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the board of supervisors and recorded in a suitable book provided for that purpose, and the other shall forthwith be forwarded to the secretary of State, to be by him filed in his office, and the said secretary shall forthwith publish in the newspaper in which the laws of the State are officially published, a certified copy of such statement. If it shall appear from the state- ment so made, that any one place has received a majority of all the votes cast at such election,
then such place shall be deemed and declared to be the permanent county seat of said county. "SEC. 6. If, upon, canvassing the votes as provided for in the preceding section of this act, it shall appear that no place has received a majority of all the votes cast, then a new elec- tion for choosing a location for permanent county seat, shall be held on Tuesday, the 29th day of June, A. D. 1852; and the sheriff shall cause like notice to be given of the election so ordered, and proof of the posting up of such notices shall be made as is provided in section 2 of this act; which notices shall also contain the further statement of the names of the two places having the highest number of votes for permanent county seat at the preceding elec- tion, and no vote cast at such second election shall be counted unless it designate the name of one of the two places having the highest number of votes at the previous election.
"SEC. 7. The votes cast at such second elec- tion shall be canvassed by the inspectors and returned to the clerk of the board of supervi- sors within one week after such election, and on the Tuesday next succeeding such election, they shall be opened by the county canvassers, and duplicate statements thereof made, and a certified copy of such statements shall be pub- lished by the Secretary of State, as provided in section 5, and the place having the highest number of votes at such election, shall be deemed and declared to be the permanent county seat of said county.
"SEC. 8. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.
J. MCM. SHAFTER, Speaker of the Assembly. E. B. DEAN, JR., President pro tem. of the Senate. Approved April 14, 1852.
LEONARD J. FARWELL. [Published May 12, 1852.]
In accordance with the provisions of the act just given, an election was held on Tuesday, the 25th day of May, 1852, to determine where
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