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 19
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
the permanent county seat of Bad Ax county should be located. There were but two places competing for the prize-Viroqua and Spring- ville. Viroqua won; and the county seat has. ever since remained there.
ORIGIN OF "BAD AX" UNKNOWN.
The name given to the county by the Legis- lature when it passed the bill for its for- mation was suggested by Thomas J. DeFrees. Although it proved to be an unfortunate sug- gestion, it was one very natural to be made ; as this part of the county of Crawford previous to the formation of Vernon, formed a part of the town of Bad Ax; besides the principal river which rises within its limits was known by the same name. It was because this stream was so called, that gave name to the battle fought below its month between the Americans and the Indians under Black Hawk-"Battle of Bad Ax"-as explained in a previous chapter. And it, too, gave name to the town of Bad Ax. It may be said, therefore, that the county was named from the Bad Ax river, a description of which has already been given.
We now come to the origin of the name; and here we are met (or confronted) by three differ- ent traditions, or, more properly speaking, the- ories.
(1.) It has been claimed that the term "Bad Ax," is derived from the Indian word Minne- sheik, the Indian name of the river. But, while it is true, that the Indians called what is now known as the Bad Ax, by the name Minnesheik, it is not true that the meaning of the latter is Bad Ar. It has no such signification in the lan- guage of any of the tribes who have for the last 200 years, inhabited this region of country.
Mississippi, or any of its branches. This tradi- tion, therefore, must fall to the ground, for the reason that the name was never applied to the river until the Winnebagoes took possession of the county, as will hereafter be fully shown. But there is another reason why the theory is an absurd one, and that is, the pres- ent raee of red men do not make stone axes. It is the work of a forgotten people.
(3.) Ithas often been stated that the term bud a, as applied to the river, is a corruption of the French bateaux, the story being, that a French trader once anchored his bateaux at the mouth of the stream, and the Indians ever af- ter applied the term they heard him pronounce frequently, to the river. But, this theory has evidently been started by some one who had no knowledge how bateaux is pronounced. No French trader would give the sound of ks to the a' in the word, but would pronounce it but-oze; and this certainly, could never have suggested bad u.r. And to make the matter still more ab- surd, it is said the Indians could not pronounce buteuur at all, but gave the word as near as they could, which sounded to English ears as bad a.c. Now, any one who has heard a Sac or Fox In- dian or Winnebago speak French, will testify that the word buteaux can be pronounced by an Indian perfectly, and with ease. It may be stated, therefore, with certainty, that the ori- gin of the name, as applied to the Bad Ax river, i- wholly unknown.
Nearly all the early maps of the upper Mis- sissippi river have the Bad Ax noted on them, but by a different name. It is always called "R. au Canot," that is, "Canoe river." It is so marked on Senex, 1715; De Fer, 1718; Bowen, 1752; Popple, 1773. On the following maps, it is noted as "Canoe River;" Kitchen, 1773; Faden, 1777; Pownal, 1779; Jeffrey, 1779; Lewis, 1795; Map United States, 1804. It first appears as "Bad Ax river," on Farmer's "Map of vuis- consin," 1830. It is also seen on Burr, 1836; on Mitehell, 1838; and on Hinman, same date. It
(2.) It has been stated that the origin of the name was because of the failure of the Indians who lived at the mouth of the river, to make good axes out of the stone to be found there. on account of their softness. But the Sacs and Foxes and the Winnebagoes were furnished with steel implements by the fur-traders long before either of these tribes lived upon the | is evident, therefore, that the first name given
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
to the river was Canoe, and that the name Bad Ax, is a modern one, one that was not applied to it until after the Winnebagoes took posses- sion of this portion of the State.
UNPOPULARITY OF "BAD AX."
The name Bad Ax proved to be an unpopular one and the project of changing it had been impressed on the minds of some of the promi- nent citizens of the county, for a length of time. The word seemed, and in truth, did sound " Bad"-ly at home and abroad; and, it was thought, it served to discourage emigration. The papers abroad took it up and advocated a change. The follow is from the Chicago Trib- une of 1861 :
"The general impression gained of Bad Ax county is an unfavorable one. It is looked upon as a back woods country, out of the way and out of the world. It is also looked upon as a rough, hilly country, of rather poor soil, and destitute of prairies and water-in fact a country where a man must dig out an existence by hard labor, and get a poor living at that. Such I am warranted in saying is the general impression, for, having been somewhat of a traveler on the Mississippi, I have heard its character freely commented upon by travelers, as they were passing by its western border. There has been much misapprehension on this point, and I think it has all arisen from the 'Bad' in its name.
"Without going into the history of the name, or why it was given to this county, and the river which runs through it, I will say that "Minne- sheik" is said to be the Indian word for "Bad Ax," and the probability ix, that another year will not elapse before the name of Bad Ax will be changed for that of the pretty sounding In- dian name-"Minnesheik." The people of this county feel that there is something repulsive in the name "Bad Ax," and inasmuch as they have just as fine and as rich soil as there is in Wisconsin, they propose to have bereafter, as a good name. They believe there is really something in a name, and they want a good one."
Exactly when the first proposition was made to have the name of the county (Bad Ax, changed is unknown ; and it would be of little importance if it could be determined. It is cer- tain, however, that as early as 1856, it had commenced to be agitated in a public way. A lady correspondent of the Western Times, in a communication appearing in the issue of Oct. 25, 1856, says :
"In a July number of the Times (not found), I noticed a proposition to change the name of our county. As the subject has been broached allow me to 'agitate' the matter a little further. I expected to see the name of Fremont or Day- ton, or some other hero proposed for a substi- tute. It is all right and proper that those men should receive all the honor their friends would confer upon them. Indeed, I hope Fre- mont will be elected to the Presidential ehair, and I would vote for him myself if you men would let me. But while I would give him dne credit for his valor, there are heroines, or one at least, in your village (of Viroqua) that has displayed courage equal to that which would .explore the Rocky Mountains or face a cannon's mouth.
"A woman who would be the first to settle in the wilderness, among savages and barbarians, without a female companion, deserves the respect and honor that would be acceded to a man that had been 'through the wars.' As a tribute of our respect, I motion that the name of our county be changed to that of Ellen. I think it would be a pretty name ; at the same time it would show to the woman that we appreciate her services in commencing a set- tlement in this rich and beautiful county.
"The name as it now is, is ridiculed by 'Yankees,' only that they think it should be 'Bad Acts' instead of 'Bad Ax.' Give us a name that we need not be ashamed of."
"We have always been in favor," says the Northwestern Times, of Nov. 7, 1860, "of chang- ing the name of this county-its present name is without any good origin and without mean
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
ing. We have used all the means in our power to find out the origin or cause of its present name, and we think Judge Knowlton the best authority.
"He says that when this whole region was populated by Indians, a French trader came up to the month of the stream known as Bad Ax, in a bateaux loaded with goods, anchored his craft there, and opened trade with the redmen. The Indians could not pronounce the name bateau.c, and the nearest they could come to it was to utter a sound which degenerated into Bad Ax. After this, the stream which the Indians called Minneskeik, was called Bad Ax*, and when the county was erected it was called Bad Ax county; and now we have Bad Ax "county, Bad Ax city, Bad Ax village, North and South Bad Ax rivers-Bad Ax enough to chop all humanity to piecest.
"If the name," continues the editor, "of our county must correspond with tradition, let us change it at once back to Bateaux, and give it a name that has some meaning. But we are in favor of giving it a good one while we are about it; and we have no particular objection to calling it Minnesheik, after its principal river, though we could select a name that we like bet- ter than this. But let us have a name that strangers will not pronounce with a thrill of horror as they do the name of Bad Ax."
In November, 1860, the Milwaukee Sentinel published the following from a La Crosse cor- respondent :
"A few days since, having received an invi- tation from a friend to accompany him on a speech-making trip, I turned my horses heads towards the county now known as Bad Ax. 1 had been here once before and was then agree- ably surprised at the nature and character of the country that was opened to my - vision. Judging from the name, Bad Ax, I had been led to believe that the county was bad-de-
*We have just shown the fallaey of this supposed origin of the term.
$At this time (1883) there is but one "Bad Ax" left in the county, and that one is the original-Bad Ax river.
-
cidedly so. I had supposed that it was not only rough, but all timbered, and of a rather thin and poor soil. As to my suppositions and conjectures, erroneous as they have been, 1 believed they were the same as entertained by the community generally. I have traveled not a little on the Mississippi and have heard tray- elers express their opinions, and then most always given with a shrug of the shoulders, as though there was something repulsive in the name, Bad Ax.
"The people of this most flourishing county feel that there is something in a name ; and they feel justly that they have been entirely lost sight of; that they are regarded as in the back woods and of not much account ; and they are inclined to think it is on account of the 'Bad' there is in the name of their county ; for, certainly, there is nothing bad in its soil. "Minnesheik is said to be an Indian word for Bad Ax ; * and in all probability, application will be made at the next session of the Legis- lature for a change of name; and, if granted, Bad Ax county will follow the example set in other portions of the State, of adopting and retaining the more euphonious and prettier sounding Indian name, and of discarding such a senseless, jaw-breaking appellation as 'Bad Ax.'"
CHANGING THE NAME TO "VERNON."
Finally, when Jeremiah M. Rusk was in the Legislature, in 1862, W. F. Terhune prepared petitions and circulated them throughout the county for signatures, asking the Legislature to change the name, but without designating a substitute. And here we introduce a letter of Gov. Rusk, addressed to the editor, explanatory of what followed :
"EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
MADISON, WIS., October 29, 1883. "Dear Sir :
"Many of the leading citizens of the county believed that the name Bad Ax was a detri- *This is an error ; it has previously been discussed in this chapter.
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
ment to the future prosperity of the county. The Hon. William F. Terhune went east about 1859, and when he returned he was thoroughly convinced that the name of the county was a great detriment to it, and from that time he strongly urged the change. An effort was made to change the name in 1860. In 1861 I was elected to the Assembly, and a very strong petition was signed and presented to me, urging the change to something else, but not designa- ting what. At that time I was not very favora- ble to the change ; but when the Legislature convened I became thoroughly convinced that the name was a detriment to the county. When- _ever I rose and addressed the chair, and the speaker recognized "the gentlemen from Bad Ax," every body in the chamber turned to look at the member to see if he looked like the rest of the members. I immediately wrote Judge Terhune to seleet a name and I would do what I could to make the change. Judge Terhune sent me the name "Vernon," and the bill was presented and passed that Legislature.
Yours very truly, J. M. RUSK."
Mr. Terbune found much trouble in selecting a new name that was pleasing to the people. Some thought it should be Wheatland ; others suggested Minnesheik, as already noticed ; and other names had advocates. Finally, Mr. Ter- hune hit upon the name of Vernon as a kind of compromise. The reason for its suggestion was that the root of the word (greenness) was appli- cable not to the people but to the general appearance of the county, covered as it was in many places with green wheat fields. Besides this, the word was euphonic and carried with it a pleasing association with Mt. Vernon the home (as is well known) of the Father of his Country, during his lifetime. These considera- tions induced Mr. Terhune to believe that the word would be, as it proved, generally aecepta- ble to the inhabitants of the county ; and he sent it forward as Gov. Rusk states in his letter just given.
The bill introdued by Hou. J. M. Rusk and which passed the Legislature was as follows : ("Published March 28, 1862).
"An Act to change the name of Bad Ax county to that of Vernon.
"The people of the State of Wisconsin, repre- sented in the Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
"SEC. 1. The name of Bad Ax county, in this State, is hereby changed to Vernon county, and by this latter name the said county shall be called and known in popular nomencla- ture and in law, in all places and for all pur- poses ; and whenever, in any law of this State, and in all deeds, mortgages and public records, the words "Bad An" oeeur, having reference to said county of Bad Ax, (now county of Vernon) said words shall be construed and understood in the same manner as if the word "Vernon" were printed or written in lien thereof.
"SEC. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the 1st day of May, A. D. 1862.
" Approved March 22, 1862."
A correspondent of the Vernon County Cen- sor, in writing to that paper, March 10, 1869, thinks the change of name worked a great change in the prospects of the county. Ile says :
"For many years, the county, of which Vi- roqua is the county seat, labored under a great disadvantage in consequence of her taking to herself a name that had neither meaning nor sense. Why the settlers of the county suffered the name of Bad Ax to be fastened on them cannot now be ascertained. That the name blasted the county so long as it was retained, is a fact patent to all. As soon as the name was changed to Vernon, the whole county began to flourish, and now Vernon county has no small influence in the State. She has quite an array of public men, too, whose names are well known throughout Wisconsin ; such as Rusk, Priest, Purday, Graham, Terhune, Butt, Newell and others."
TH PURLICHT DARY
ARTO- LEN K ANO TIDEN FUNDA 1.
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
EFFORTS TO FORM A NEW COUNTY.
About the year 1859 there began a county seat war of a mill form in Crawford county. The southern portion of that county wanted it to remain at Prairie du Chien while the north- erners desired to have it removed to Dagget's Knob. The result was a "secession movement" at the village of De Soto which lies in both Crawford and Vernon (then Bad Ax) counties. The denizens of this village and the country round about took it into their heads to form a new county out of the northern part of Craw- ford and southern part of Vernon. Could this be accomplished, then De Soto would be just the place for the county seat, of course.
Pursuant to notice, then, the citizens of the towns of Wheatland, Sterling and Franklin, in Bad Ax county, and of Freeman and Utica in Crawford county, held a meeting at the school house in Sterling, on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 1861, "to consider the propricty of certain changes in the dividing line of said counties," but in reality to promote a new county movement. The meet- ing was called to order by Dr. Bean, of Ster- ling, in the chair, and J. C. Kurtz, of Wheat- land, secretary. The chairman, in some appro- priate remarks, stated the object of the meet- ing. lle was followed by Messrs. Crittenden, Carlyle, Ferguson, Sterling, MeMinn, Cate and others; when, on motion, a committee of three, consisting of A. Carlyle, C. G. Allen and A. Crittenden, was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the wishes of the meeting. The committee submitted the following resolutions, which were adopted:
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meet- ing, the present line dividing the counties of Crawford and Bad Ax-dividing township 11 -is detrimental to the best interests of the inhabitants of the south half of said township 11, now situated in the limits of Crawford county and that the said county line should be removed to the line between townships 10 and 11.
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of the meet- ing, the pecuniary interests of a portion of Bad
Ax and Crawford counties would be materially promoted by the establishment and organiza- tion of a new county, with the county seat lo- cated on the Mississippi river."
A committee of three, consisting of J. C. Beny, of Wheatland; C. B. Whiting & Co. and D. A. Bean, of Sterling, was then appointed to draft a map designating the boundary lines of the proposed new county and to a meeting when practicable "to determine on the same." But this ended the new county movement in that region.
By the year 1866, so great was felt to be the inconvenience of being so far from the county seat as were the inhabitants of the six eastern towns of the county, that they made a protracted effort to have the county divided, so that Hills- borough, Greenwood, Forest, Union, Whites- town and Stark, with adjoining towns, either on the north, east or south, as they might be able to obtain them as companions, would form a new county. Petitions were sent in to the Legislature in favor of a division. But it was soon found that nothing could be got from ad- joining counties to help on the movement- nothing could be got from the north; nothing from the south; and finally the two towns to the east which had been confidently counted upon, could not be had.
But the friends of the new county were not disheartened, and at once concluded that they would form a county out of Hillsborough, Greenwood, Forest, Union, Whitestown and Stark -six towns-proposing, however, to re- main attached to Vernon county for judicial purposes, so as to avoid the expense of erecting county buildings, and a bill was introduced in the Assembly at Madison for that purpose. But the principal argument against the new meas- ure was that, if the towns remained attached to Vernon for judicial purposes, they would derive little or no benefit from a separation, as the principal necessity for it was the inconvenience of attending court so far away as Viroqua; so
9
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
the measure was strangled in its infancy, and has never since been seriously agitated.
A bill, supported by numerous petitions, was, in 1870, introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Bennett, for the erection of a new county to be called Sheridan, and to embrace the towns of Hillsborough, Greenwood, Union, Forest, Whitestown and Stark, in Vernon county; the towns of Wellington, Glendale, Clifton and Wilton, in Monroe county; the town of Wone- woc, in Juneau county, and the town of Wood- land, in Sank county. Petitions circulated in some portions of the proposed new county also called for the town of Sheldon, in Monroe county, but these received a limited circulation.
Had the bill passed, four counties would vote on the question, as all those named came within the constitutional provision. "No county with an area of 900 square miles or less,
shall be divided or have any part stricken therefrom, withont submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same." Vernon, Monroe, Juneau and Sauk all contain areas which make this constitutional provision apply to them.
In the eastern part of Vernon county the people were quite generally in favor of the measure; and it is probable, that had the scheme reached a vote, the six towns in Vernon county would have been in favor of the new county of Sheridan. But the bill did not pass even the Assembly; so the movement was strangled in its early infancy; and Vernon county of to-day (1883), is exactly, in extent, the Vernon county formed by the act of March 1, 1851; but in all else, how changed!
CHAPTER XII.
TERRITORIAL, STATE AND CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATION.
The settlers who had located in what is now Vernon county, before Wisconsin became a State, were represented of course, as citizens of Crawford county, in the territorial council and house of representatives. We commence the record of this representation with the first year of the settlement of what afterward became Vernon county.
1 .- TERRITORIAL REPRESENTATION.
Council .- Wiram Knowlton, 1845-46; Benja- min F. Manahan, 1847-48.
Representatives. - James Fisher, 1845-46; Joseph W. Furber, 1847; Henry Jackson, 1847- 48.
11 .- STATE REPRESENTATION. Constitutional Conventions.
The first constitutional convention assembled at Madison on the 5th day of October, 1846, and
adjourned on the 16th day of December, 1846, having framed a constitution, which was sub- mitted to a vote of the people on the first Tues- day in April, 1847, and the same was rejected. The member of this convention from Craw- ford county, was Peter A. R. Brace.
The second convention assembled at Madison, on the 15th day of December, 1847, and ad- journed on the Ist of February, 1848, having framed a constitution which was submitted to a vote of the people on the second Monday in March following, and the same was adopted. The convention was constituted as follows: Messrs. Samuel W. Beall, Warren Chase, Stod- dard Judd, Theodore Prentiss, Garret M. Fitz- gerald and Frederick S. Lovell, being the only members of the first convention who were
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
elected to the second; the members of the first, in almost every county, declining a re-election. The member of the second convention, Daniel G. Fenton, represented the counties of Chip- pewa and Crawford.
Legislatures.
(1.) Senate .- Third district, D. G. Fenton, 1848; James Fisher, 1849; James Fisher, 1850; Hiram A. Wright, 1851; Hiram . A. Wright, 1852. Nineteenth district, Benjamin Allen, 1853; Benjamin Allen, 1854; William J. Gibson, 1855; William J. Gibson, 1856. Thirtieth dis- trict, William T. Price, 1857; William HI. Tucker, 1858; William H. Tucker, 1859; B. E. Hutchinson, 1860; B. E. Hutchinson, 1861; N. S. Cate, 1862; William S. Purdy, 1863; William Ketcham, 1864; William Ketcham, 1865; Benja- min Bull, 1866. Thirty-first district, J. W. Ranney, 1867; J. W. Ranney, 1868; C. M. Butt, 1869; C. M. Butt, 1870; Angus Cameron, 1871. Fourth district, William Nelson, 1872; William Nelson, 1873; A. E. Bleekman, 1874; A. E. Bleckman, 1875; J. Henry Tate, 1876; J. Henry Tate, 1877; George W. Swain, 1878; George W. Swain, 1879; O. B. Thomas, 1880; O. B. Thomas, 1881; Van S Bennett, 1882; Van S. Bennett, 1883.
(2.) Assembly .- William T. Sterling, 1848; James O'Neill, 1849; William T. Sterling, 1850; William F. Price, 1851; Andrew Briggs, 1852; Hiram A. Wright, 1853; William F. Terhune, 1854; James Fisher, 1855; Andrew Briggs, 1856; Buel E. Hutchinson, 1857; James R. Sav- age, 1858; Thomas W. Tower, 1859; William C. McMichael, 1860; Daniel H. Johnson, 1861; Ole Jolinson, and Jeremiah M. Rusk, 1862; James H. Layne and Daniel B. Priest, 1863; William 1I. Officer and Albert Bliss, 1864; William H. Officer and James Berry, 1865; Newton F. Carpenter and Alexander Woods, 1866; John W. Greenman and Albert Bliss, 1867; Henry Chase and Daniel B. Priest, 1868; John M. McLeez and Van S. Bennett, 1869; Reuben May and Van S. Bennett, 1870; Joseph W. Hoyt and Henry A. Chase, 1871; Reuben
May and Henry A. Chase, 1872; Peter Jerman and J. Henry Tate, 1873; William Frazier and Edgar Eno, 1874; Ole Anderson and James E. Newell, 1875; John Stevenson and Timothy S. Jordan, 1876; Peter J. Dale and Henry H. Wyatt, 1877; Christian Ellefson and Allen Rusk, 1878; Jacob Eckhardt, Jr., and Roger Williams, 1879; Jacob Eckhardt, Jr., and David C. Yakey, 1880; T. O. Juve and Allen Rusk, 1881; T. O. Juve and Thomas J. Shear, 1882; Christian Ellefson and Marshall C. Nichols, 1883.
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