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 32

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Union
Number of Pages: 814

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 32

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unfortunately, but "into the flood of things that are past"-at least so far as applicable to the county. But there was even then too much bad ax in the county ; there was Bad Ax City (now Genoa), Bad Ax postoffice (now Liberty Pole), and the Bax Ax river. All have passed away but the river, and let that remain, it is a roman- tic remembrancer of the past.

In 1853 the population of the county was small and scattering. To the north of the vil- lage [Viroqua] I believe no house was visible until the hollow near what is, or used to be, known as the Mead school house. In this hol- low were two small log cabins occupied by Nor- wegians. What became of the Norwegians I do not know. The next house was occupied by Oli- ver Langdon. It was on the farm owned by the late merchant Goodell. Langdon moved to the southern part of Crawford county many years ago. Ile was one of the justices of the county in the early days. In the extreme north of Coon prairie Peter La Mois and George Smith had opened farms. These two old pioneers left the county many years ago, Smith going to Kan- sas and La Mois moving down into Crawford county. Then ten miles north from Viroqua, was the hospitable cabin of the late Ingebregt Homestead. On cold, blustering wintry eve- nings, any belated traveler that came near his humble home would see a bright light of wel- come shining in all the windows. Homestead was, in every sense of the word, a model pio- neer. Six miles further north, and just in the edge of Monroe county, although there was no Monroe county then, Jonathan Hazen had es- tablished himself. Hazen's father was one of the pioneers of Crawford county, and when the country between Viroqua and Sparta became too thickly settled to suit Jonathan's tastes, with true pioneer instincts,he pulled up his stakes and moved farther west. East of Viroqua one half mile was the farm of Thomas Gillett, Sr., familiarly called "Father Gillett." There was no other settler in that direction except James Foster and William Reed, until the woods bor-

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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.

dering the west Kickapoo was reached. Old father Gillett was a marked character. West of the village Ananias Smith was laying the foundations for those large farming operations he afterwards carried on so successfully.

There were no other settlers in that direction until the immediate vicinity of Springville was reached. Here the late John Graham, an imi- grant from Indiana, had located and built a flouring mill, and the late Hon. James A. Savage was keeping a dry goods store. South of Viro- qua were Nicholas Vought, Ashley Ensign, Judge De Frees and Henry Seifert. Beside these I think there were no other settlers until Liberty Pole was reached.

Almost all pioneers, in whatever direction their lot may be cast, whether north or south, east or west, are marked characters. It will be difficult to do full justice to such old pioneers as Father Gillett, who for years saw the sun rise, circle over and set beyond Round Prairie when it lay in primeval beauty, waiting for other hardy pioneers to come and take posses- sion of it; to the Rev. James A. Cooke, whose great sympathizing heart went out in the full- ness of love to everybody; to the saintly Dea- con Patterson, who, in the purity of his life, made the whole valley of the Bad Ax lovely be- cause his home was in it; to the venerable Father Nichols, whose pilgrimage extended over four score years; whose hands dispensed bless- ings; whose voice spoke continual benedictions; whom none knew but to love and none loved but to praise; to Samuel McMichael, of Spring- ville, a bold, out-spoken, uncompromising pat- riot, who was among the first of the Vernon county hosts to enlist, and who went into the bloody battle of Shiloh, unflinchingly, only to be taken prisoner by the rebels and to languish and die a patriot's death in a rebel prison. But I cannot name-I wish I could -nor even allude to all the pioneers of much maligned Bad Ax county, but now glorious old Vernon county. A large proportion of them have fought life's battle, laid off the armor and fallen

"asleep with the fathers." Many died and are buried in the county whose foundations of future prosperity they helped to lay; many moved away and died in other counties and States and some still live either in Vernon or elsewhere.

In 1853 there were but three towns in the county-Viroqua, then known as the town of Farwell, in honor of Gov. Farwell; Jefferson and the town of Franklin, then called the town of Bad Ax. From these three all the other towns that now compose the county have been . organized. There were at that early day many prominent men in the county. There were Griggs, Lawrence and Higgins in the southern part; W. S. Purdy in the southwestern part; Berry and Ira Stevens at Victory; Savage, Sud- derth, Spencer and Cale in Springville and vi- cinity: Homestead and Ole A. Running in the northern part and H. C. Sayres on the Missis- sippi, in what is now the town of Genoa. At Readstown there were Orrin Wisel and William HI. Austin.

The late Hon. Andrew Briggs was supervisor of the town of Bad Ax; Edmond Strang of the town of Jefferson, and, I think, Oliver Langdon was the supervisor for the town of Viroqua, or Farwell, rather,as it was then called. Those three gentlemen constituted the county board of supervisors, and the late Hon. William C. Mc- Michael was the clerk.

None of these men are now alive, unless it be Strang and Langdon; but, living or dead, this may be said of that county board and of its , clerk, in all their official acts: They worked for the best interests of the county; they all had faith in the future, that the county had a pros- perous and influential future before it, and they shaped their legislation accordingly. Indeed, it was one of the strong arguments of the men who opposed the changing of the name of the county, that it was so favored with rich soil, fine prairies, splendid timber lands, wholesome waters and quarries of stone, that let the name of the county be what it might, it was destined to be a

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IIISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.

populous, rich, intelligent, influential and strong county in the State in the near future. And the faith of the old pioneers was well founded. Vernon was somewhat late, perhaps, in coming to the front, but when she came, she came to stay. Like every other newly settled portion of the country, she has had at various times within her borders some exceedingly hard cases. Her soil has been stained with blood shed by murderous hands, and private property has been at times at the mercy of thieves and robbers. But, undoubtedly, during all the years of her existence, she has maintained as healthy a tone of public and private morals as any other county or community of the same age. Surely, considering her years, she can boast as many churches and schools, as many pleasant hearthstones and strong young men and lovable young women as any of her sister counties in northwestern Wisconsin.

In 1855-6 I was assessor and collector of taxes for the town of Viroqua, with the excep- tion of the new town of Hillsboro, which embraced the two townships east of the meri- dian line. The town of Viroqua embraced all the territory of the northeastern part of the county, including the present town of Chris- tiana. In the winter when I was collecting taxes, it was hard to tell which were most proprietors, white people, Indians, or bear and deer. I certainly had many dreary walks through the forests, where are now the towns of Webster, Whitestown, Clinton, For- est, etc. The humble log cabins of the early settlers were very few and very far between, and considered myself very fortunate in being near some pioneer cabin when night overtook me. It will not be amiss, perhaps, for me to relate one little incident that transpired while I was per- forming the duties of assessor and collector. I was assessing the property of an honest Nor- wegian farmer, in the north part of what is now Christiana, and in assessing his personal property he told me, as I understood him, that he had eighty head of sheep. I won-

dered where in creation he could keep so many sheep, and I asked him several times about them, but I understood him every time to give the number as eighty. So I assessed him eighty sheep. In the winter when I went to him to col- lect his tax,he thought it was very high,so he sent for a neighbor who could talk good English to come in and see how it happened that his tax was so high. The neighbor came, and wanted me to read over the man's assessment, and I read it over, and everything was satisfactory until I came to the sheep, then I learned that it was eight sheep he had instead of eighty.

For eighteen years I watched the growth and development of the county, from its chry- salis state in 1853, until it had broadened out into an influental county in 1877, commanding the respect of the other counties in the State. It will be well to notice a few things that trans- pired during that period of time, and that materially aided the county in its social, moral and intellectual development.

And the first that I will notice is a great debate that occurred in the winter of 1854, that not only called out all the home talent, but called in several speakers from outside the county. The subject of debate was the teach- ings of the Bible on the question of human slavery. I cannot tell now how the debate origi- nated, further than that it grew out of a sermon preached, or a lecture delivered, by the Rev Ira Wilcox, who, I believe, still lives, enjoying a venerable old age. He was in active service there as a Wesleyan minister, and was a strong anti-slavery man. Who it was that first took the position that the Bible justified African slavery as it existed in the southern States, and maintained it in a public address in reply to Mr. Wilcox, I do not now remember; but it was done by some one. This called out a reply, either from Mr. Wilcox or his son-in-law, the Rev. Aaron Cooley, and the result was a debate that extended through several weeks. I recol- lect very well of Judge Terhune, Cyrus F. Gil- lett, R. P. Gillett, Rev. Daniel Parkinson,

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George McCormick, H. W. McAuley, Revs. Ira Wilcox and Aaron Cooley, of the county, speak- ing in the debate, and I remember that I spoke once myself. There was also a gentleman who came down from Monroe county by the name of Rathburn, and who was, I believe, at that time the county judge of Monroe county, to speak in the debate, and one or two other gentlemen whose names I have forgotten, likewise where they came from, participated in the discussion. The debate was held in the old log court house, which was filled night after night to its utmost capacity with eager listeners, who came from . far and near. Probably such a debate would not create much excitement in Vernon county now, but then it was something new to have such a debate there; it was the topic of conversation by the fireside, in the workshop and on the streets. People came from Springville, from Liberty Pole, and from the Kickapoo woods to listen. It was the first time that a subject had arisen that called out such a univer- sal expression of opinion, and it made the peo- ple acquainted with the scope of home talent in debate. In this respect it set the people for- ward. I shall be pardoned for relating one in- cident that transpired during the progress of the discussion.

Capt. O. C. Smith, then a resident of the county, but now a citizen of Dodgeville, was at the first a strong anti-slavery man. He was raised in southern Ohio, and so near the line of the "underground railroad" that every fibre was imbued with hatred of slavery. But in the course of the discussion he became converted to the doctrine that the Bible justified slavery, and he proposed to maintain his views with a speech. So he came in one evening with a large Bible under his arm, and when the meeting was called to order, he ascended the platform that was "desk" for the school teacher, "pulpit" for the clergyman and "bench" for the court, and pre- faced his argument by reading this extract from Job: "I am young, and ye are very old; where- fore I was afraid, and durst not show you my

opinion. I said, days should speak, and multi- tude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Al- mighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged under- stand judgment; therefore, I said, hearken to me; I also will show my opinion. Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your rea- sons, whilst ye searched ont what to say. Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that consid- ered his words." And applying the quotation from the Bible to those who had maintained in debate that the Bible did not sanction human slavery, he went on and made a strong argu- ment that it did. Whether the captain was really convinced as he pretended to be, or not, I cannot say.

Another thing I will mention was the estab- lishment of a newspaper in the county. Al- though the Western Times did not do much towards leading public opinion, and did less towards forming it, still the columns of the Times afforded the people an opportunity to ex- press publicly their opinion on the current topics of the day, if they desired to do so, and it gave local tradesmen and mechanics a chance to advertise their wares and their trades. By means of the exchanges in the printing office, Bad Ax county was brought into connection with the rest of the world. The editor, as a general thing, made a judicious selection from other papers of articles for his, and the Western Times became quite a factor in the work of ed- ucating, bringing together and assimilating the pioneers of the county. It had a tendency to make the settlers one people. When they be- gan to assimilate they began to improve, morally, socially and intellectually.

Another event that greatly aided in the de- velopment of the county was the organization of the county agricultural society. I look upon the county agricultural society as one of the great educators of the day. It gives the farm- ers and mechanics and tradesmen, their wives,

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sons and daughters, an opportunity to come to- gether and exhibit with just pride, the products of their fields, warchonses and shops, their gar- dens, looms and spinning wheels and needles. It is not easy to measure the extent of the in- finence tor good that the winning of a premium at such an exhibition has. We may not feel that influence, but it is potent in some breast. To the honor of Vernon county be it said that she has not failed to hold an exhibition every year since the society was organized. For a few years when the society was weak, it was a burden to some to carry it along. But the right men had hold of it and clung to it, and knowing the great advantage to the county it would ultimately prove to be, when of sufficient age and vigor to go alone, they never faltered. Charles Waters, Capt. Cade, Ananias Smith, J. A. Somerby, Ralph Hall, F. K. Van Wagoner, Alson Keeler and others whose names might be mentioned, carried it along till the time came around when it did not have to struggle for existence.

Another event that put Vernon county a long step forward was the elevation of George Gale to the bench as judge of the sixth circuit. There were dignity, sobriety, legal knowledge and learning all combined in the judge.

The old lawyers who had been admitted to the bar by courtesy, because they had been or were justices of the peace, gradually disap- peared. The people knew full well that the public safety-the protection of life, of prop erty, and all the rights that grow out of the domestie relations-rests securely only in the prompt, impartial, yet stern administration of the laws of the land, and universal satisfaction followed the election of George Gale. Since his time the sixth circuit has had a superior class of judges in the persons of Flint, Bunn and Newman.

But Vernon county lifted itself up to a very high position in the sight of the world when she gave her stalwart men so freely to the Nation in defense of its unity against the

assaults of rebels and traitors. The county was intensely radical in its devotion to the Union. She had been for some years growing up to a very high standard. There are some yet living in Viroqna who will recall the time and place, and remember with what zeal a large majority of the people united one night in burning in effigy Stephen A. Douglas, on the repeal of the Missouri compromise. Staid, sober men became fairly wild with enthusiasm as the effigy, which had been carefully prepared by Thomas Craw- ford and others, lit up the whole heavens as it hung burning from the high limb of a stately oak-one of hundreds that shadowed all the ground on the west side of Main street. Equal zeal was manifested when a mass meeting was called to organize the republican party out of the ruins of the old whig party, with the help of such democrats, who, foreseeing the storm that was sure to come, arraigned themselves distinctively with the party whose fundamental principle was: "no further extension of slavery." But I would not by any means intimate that the democrats of Vernon county were less loyal to the government than the republicans were. The county, at the time of its organization, was democratie, and remained so until 1856. And while during the war the democratie party in that county barely maintained its existence, yet some of the best men of the county were demo- crats all the time. They were staunch but loyal in their democracy, and they never voted under any other name. It was no copperhead democracy ; it was the democracy of Jefferson and Jackson. It was their political religion and they lived true to their faith.

The people of Vernon county watched with anxiety the clouds that flitted athwart the polit- ical horizon from 1854 up to 1861 ; and when Sumter was fired on, all the patriotism of the people was aroused. In June and July, 1861, company I of the immortal 6th regiment was recruited principally in Vernon county. It was the first opportunity the county had of

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showing in a tangible way her readiness to throw herself

"I' the imminent, deadly breach."

And her young men came thickly forward, "_forming in the ranks of war."

While I do not suppose Vernon county out- ran her sister counties in her devotion to the Union, and while I suppose her sons did not display any greater readiness to volunteer than did the men of other counties ; yet she was not behind in any respect. She kept her quotas so well filled under every call for volunteers, that few, very few, had to be drafted. The county was represented in almost every regiment that went out of the State, and it may be said of her, changing somewhat the language of Web- ster: "The bones of her sons falling in the great struggle of the Union with the armed hosts of rebels, now lie mingled with the soil of every State from Virginia to Texas, and there they will lie forever."

Il BY MRS. CYRUS D. TURNER.

Three young men, llartwell, Cyrus and Jerry Turner left Stykeesville and Sheldon, Wyom- ing Co., N. Y., about the Ist of May, 1854, and came west, making explorations for government lands, intending to go into the Bad Ax river valley; but, way-worn and weary from many miles of travel, they stopped for a time at Mr. Wilson's, at Kickapoo Center, to rest. Mr. Wilson told the boys there was government land up the Kickapoo three or four miles. So here they came, and after looking over the valley as best they could, they concluded to enter lands here. Hartwell took lands on Camp ereek and some in Vernon county. Cyrus took lands in Richland and some in Vernon. Jerry took a tract in Vernon, where Mr. Gill's resi- dence now is, which he afterwards traded for the farm of Mr. Richards near the town plat of Viola.

These men returned to New York, where Cyrus and Jerry remained until September. While they were here they located a site for a

mill and town. The mill now owned by A. C. Cushman stands where they located the town plat across and higher up the river, and in Richland instead of Vernon.

A short time after they had returned home, llartwell again came back and entered more lands, and with him came Lyman Jackson. Mr. Jackson entered lands where Mr. Sommers' residence now is, and Hartwell and Jackson both built log buildings, Jackson on said premises and Hartwell near the mouth of Camp creek. Then Ilartwell again returned to New York, Mr. Jackson remained here expecting his family to come on in company with the Tur- ners. The 1st of September five families came: William Turner and wife; Hartwell, wife and two children; Cyrus Turner and wife and two boys; Salma Rogers and wife and two children; Lyman Jackson's wife and two children; Jerry Turner, John Fuller and Asa Petten. Asa Petten soon returned to New York. Boxes were con- structed for household goods and merchandise and labeled Viola, Wis., of which place we all had about as much real knowledge as we have of the "man in the moon."

We came around the lakes to Milwaukee, and from there with our own teams. Our journey was altogether a pleasant one until we left Richland Center, then a town invisable, and entered the woods, with sometimes a road and sometimes not. Crying children, tipped over wagons and camping out, sitting up on chairs for fear of snakes, helped fill the pro- gramme of our journey; many walked as long as strength lasted rather than peril the lives of the little ones which they carried in their arms and on their shoulders.

Well we did, after spending two nights in the woods, arrive at a jumping off place, which proved to be Kickapoo Center; poles had to be placed in the upper hill wheels of the wagons to prevent the wagons from turning summer- sault, and going down, down, down, we did not know where to, but in due time the roof of a small low log building greeted our view. Here

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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.

Cyrus Turner left his family for a few days, for his youngest son, Winett C. Turner, was quite sick. The rest of the colony moved on up the river to establish themselves in the log man- sions prepared for them, which Mr. Jackson and Hartwell had built; in the intervening time of absence Laal Clift and family from Illinois, formerly [of New York, moved into the pioneer mansion of Camp creek until he had built one for himself, where his residence is now.

Cyrus Turner looked over his land entries and proceeded to lay out a town line, his first survey did not please him, and he again made another plat which is now a part of the city property, although some of the streets have been fenced up for many year. The first thing to be done was to excavate a log for a canoe with which to transfer travelers from shore to shore of the Kickapoo, which was fordable where the Waggoner's mill now stands. The next, a double log building, was erected just in front of the horseshoe bend on the east- ern bank of the river fronting the river, and the maple trees now there mark the spot in front of the house, and where all the road there was then.

Into this double log house he moved bis family and merchandise about the middle of December; with John Fuller's help he built stables, and thus was made as comfortable for winter as circumstances would admit.

Part of the pioneer building was used for a store, and in the store the next summer a school was taught-this being the first school - by IIelen Jackson. The winter of 1854-5 was mostly spent in hauling provision, mak- ing roads, and trying to get enough timber cleared away to enable the sun to shine in upon 18.

House building was yet in its infancy here. The Gothic, Ionic, Dorie orders of architecture are but little known; the style of which all the principal buildings here are composed may be termed "Kickapooric," for several sprang into

existence about this time, which consisted of rol- ling logs up on to each other so as to enclose a square pen until the required height was obtained when the structure was covered with split boards, called shakes in western vernacular, which are nailed on by placing poles across them, thus making a very picturesque roof and a well ventilated attic. The space usually in- closed is about 18x20 feet or about the size of your dining-room. This is the house of the pioneer, this little room is the kitchen, dining- room, pantry, bed-room, nursery, and frequently the up-stairs and down cellar for a family of about a dozen members; into this are stowed beds, chests, dishes, boxes, babies, pots, kettles, and all the trumpery and paraphernalia, and you can easily imagine what a paradise of commo- tion it is, there cannot be much of coveting for all are on an equality even in taking pleasure rides after ox teams and faring sumptuously upon wild game or mush and milk, or the most dainty dish of all, batter, warm griddle slap, pan cakes with pumpkin butter or wild honey. Our first religious sermon was preached in this pioneer building by Mr. Neher, of Forest, and in the summer of 1855 a little log school house was erected near the county line, and in a re- mote part of the town plat. ITere our Sabbath school was organized, a library from the America Sunday School Union was procured, and we did well, notwithstanding all our difficulties; trees were chopped down, corn and potatoes planted, if disposed to indolence the melodious music of the mosquito or the silent aches of our limbs reminded us of action, by fighting mosqui- toes or rubbing our rhneumatic limbs, or pass the time in shaking our superfluous flesh off.

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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 32

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Union Number of Pages: 814

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Union
Number of Pages: 814