History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Part 49

Author: Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 998

USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth County, Wisconsin > Part 49

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Geneva embraced the southeast quarter of the county, being Towns 1 and 2, in Ranges 17 and 18 east-now Linn, Bloomfield, Lyons, Geneva-and the southeast seetion of the village of Elkhorn.

Spring Prairie embraced two townships, described as Towns 3, in Ranges 17 and 18-now r ng Prairie, La Fayette-and the northeast section of the village of Elkhorn.

Troy embraced the two adjoining townships in the northeastern corner of the county, de- d as Towns 4, in Ranges 17 and 18-now Troy and East Troy.

FURTHER SUBDIVISIONS.

Further subdivisions were subsequently made, which, although chronologically are out of place, are, for the convenience of the reader, given here. showing the various changes that have brought the several towns of the county to their present geographical limits.

J. F. Phoenix ( DECEASED )

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

The subdivisions of the original town of Delavan have been as follows: Walworth, Towns 1, Ranges 15 and 16 east, set off into a separate town in 1839. Sharon, Town 1, Range 15 east, set off from Walworth March 21, 1843. Darien, Town 2, Range 15 east, set off from Delavan January 6, 1840, leaving the limits of Delavan as they now are, embracing Town 2, Range 16, less Section 1, which was set off to form a part of the present town of Elkhorn February 2, 1846.

The subdivisions of the original town of Elkhorn have been as follows: Whitewater, Towns 3 and 4, Range 15 east, was set off into a town August 13, 1840. Richmond, Town 3, Range 15 east, was set off from Whitewater January 12, 1841. La Grange, Town 4, Range 16 east, was detached from Elkhorn March 21, 1843. Sugar Creek was incorporated from what remained of the original town of Elkhorn February 2, 1846, being Town 3, Range 16 east, with the excep- tion of Section 36. which was reserved as a part of the present town of Elkhorn, which was formed at the date last named.

The subdivisions of the original town of Geneva have been as follows: Hudson (now Lyons), Town 2, Range 18 east: Bloomfield, Town 1, Range 18; and Linn, Town 1, Range 17, were all set off by act of the Territorial Legislature January 23. 1844, with the exception of five acres, a part of the Geneva Village plat, which was reserved from the Hudson Township, and remained attached to Geneva. February 2, 1846. Section 6 was detached from Geneva, and be- came a part of Elkhorn.

The original town of Spring Prairie was divided March 21, 1843. La Fayette, Town 3, Range 17 east, being at that date set off into a separate town. February 2, 1846, Section 31 was detached frow La Fayette, and became a part of the present town of Elkhorn.

The original town of Troy was divided April 10, 1843. at which date the town of Meacham (now Troy), Town 4, Range 17 east, was set off. Subsequently, the name of Meacham was changed to Troy. and Town 4, Range 18, took the name of East Troy.

The town and village of Elkhorn was incorporated. and its present limits defined, by act of the Legislature, February 2, 1846. It consists of four sections. cornering at the geographical center of the county, detached from the adjoining towns as follows: Section 36, from Sugar Creek; Section 31, from La Fayette; Section 6, from Geneva: Section 1, from Delavan. It con- tains an area of four square miles, and is the seat of justice of the county.

From 1838, when the original towns were incorporated, up to the time that they had been generally subdivided say 1842 or 1843 -- they were little more than election precincts. No rec- ords of town meetings for the election of town officers are found of any of the original towns ear- lier than 1842. The voting-places, designated in the incorporating act of 1838, were as follows: Troy, at the house of Othni Beardsley; Spring Prairie, at the house of Dr. Hemenway; Elkhorn, at the house of Asa Blood: Delavan, at the house of Col. Sammuel F. Phoenix; Geneva, at the house of Andrew Ferguson.

EARLY SURVEYS.

The Government surveys began in 1835. At that time, the range and town lines were run. The survey was completed in 1836 and 1837, and township limits and section lines run as appears below:

Sharon .- Contract made January 7, 1836; completed July 13, 1836. Orson Lyon, Deputy Surveyor; John H. Diamond and Oliver Ragiot. Chainmen: John Guest, Marker.

Darian, Richmond and Sugar Creek .- Completed July 13, 1836, by the same party as Sharon.

Whitewater .- Contract dated December 26, 1835: completed June 15, 1836. H. Burnham, Deputy Surveyor; Jonathan Hicks and A. Stout, Chainmen.

Walworth, Delaran, Linn and Genera .- Contract dated January 26, 1836; completed July 20, 1836. Sylvester Sybley. Deputy Surveyor; John Newman and Samuel Hubble. Chainmen: Christopher Bate, Marker.

La Grange .- No date of contract: done in summer of 1836. Noah Brookfield and Robert Clark, Jr .. Deputy Surveyors; Franklin Emerson, Thomas Barker, E. Stewart, S. Holmes, John S. Gallup and William R. Thompson, Chainmen and Markers.

La Fayette .- Date of contract, January 19, 1836; begun survey April 7, 1836; finished April 14, 1836. Robert Clark, Jr., Deputy Surveyor; Franklin Emerson and Ephraim Stewart, Chainmen: Thomas Barker, Marker.

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

Troy .- No date of contract. Robert Clark, Jr., Deputy Surveyor; Noah Brookfield, S. Holmes, J. S. Gallup and William R. Thompson, Chainmen; Thomas Barker, Axman.

Bloomfield .- Contract, January 26, 1836; work begun April 25; finished May 4. Sylvester Sybley, Deputy Surveyor; Samuel Hubble and John Newman, Chainmen; Chris Babe, Marker. Lyons and Spring Prairie .- By same corps, in month of May, 1836.

East Troy .- In spring of 1836. Names of surveyors not recorded.

Of the settlers of 1836, except the children, of whom there are many still living, the fol- lowing are still alive: Daniel Salisbury, living at Elkhorn; Luke Taylor, Milwaukee Soldiers' Home; Palmer Gardner, Burlington, Wis .; Rufus Billings and wife, Burlington, Wis .; William J. Bentley, Iowa; Mrs. David Pratt, Minnesota; Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Harvey, Iowa; Mr. Aus- tin L. Merrick, Spring Prairie; Mr. Samuel Britton, Spring Prairie; Mr. Gilman Hoyt, in the northern part of Wisconsin; Mrs. Sylvanus Spoor, in East Troy; Urban D. Meacham, Freeport, Ill .; Dr. A. A. Hemenway, Oregon; Mrs. Daniel Adams, California; Samuel Britton, Spring Prairie; George Gillispie, Spring Prairie; Mrs. Susan Phoenix, wife of William Phoenix, Utter's Corners, Richmond, Wis .; Andrew Ferguson, Geneva; Gaylord Graves, Iowa.

Perhaps others, but the above are all the adults of 1836 known to be still alive.

CHAPTER II.

INCIDENTS AND REMINISCENCES, 1836 TO 1842-FIRST THOROUGHFARES -- FIRST VOYAGERS --- EARLY MAIL FACILITIES-THEIR HOUSES-ANNOYANCES -- HARDSHIPS-FIRST CONFLAGRATION- CLAIM ASSOCIATIONS-LEGAL LORE THE FIRST JUDGE-THE FIRST INFLUX OF SWINE-RECREATION -THE PIE STORY (FIRST VERSION IN PRINT.)-THE PIE STORY (MANUSCRIPT VERSION.) -- MORAL AND RELIGIOUS GERMS-MORAL AGITATION-WALWORTH COUNTY BRANCH UNDERGROUND RAILROAD- THE BEGINNING OF HUSBANDRY.

INCIDENTS AND REMINISOENCES, 1836 TO 1842.

TT will not be attempted to give a connected or chronological account of events transpiring during the six years succeeding the first settlement, so much as to present to the reader a varied picture of the experiences, trials and pleasures of pioneer life in Walworth County forty years ago. From it each reader may gain information as to the ethical development of refined society from these crude elements; or he may. it is hoped, derive the more wholesome and natural pleasure of reading the traditionary tales of his fathers, unsickened by the pale cast of philosophic thought.

It will be seen that as early as 1837, there were at least seven well-defined centers of popu- lation or neighborhoods within the limits of the county, at each of which was a tavern, or, at least, a place of entertainment for all who might come. Spring Prairie was often known as Franklin, a name given the post office at the four corners where Dr. Hemenway lived. The doc- tor utilized his house to its fullest possibilities. It was his home, office, store, a boarding-house and a tavern, and, among the early settlers, "Hemenway's" meant Spring Prairie, as that was where they could get lodged and fed.

Maj. Meacham kept the tavern at what is now Troy, so that " Meacham's " meant Troy. He was not only the first tavern-keeper, but the Postmaster in that town, being appointed some time in 1838. The neighborhood two and one-half miles east of Meacham's, now the village of East Troy, was known as " McCracken's," while the whole Troy region when the first settlements were made, was known as Honey Creek. "Bradley's" tavern at Elkhorn designated that lo- cality, while " Phoenix's" and "Turtle Creek" designated Delavan, at the foot of Swan Lake, where Col. Phoenix first designed to have his village; and the present site of the village, where Allen Perkins, in 1836, and William Phoenix, a cousin of the Colonel, subsequently kept tavern. Whitewater was somewhat " off the trails," and seemed, from its geographical position, to be for some years but a distant, relative of the Walworth County family, though she always comforted herself with cordiality, and was held in warm regard by the other neighborhoods.

At Geneva, the Widow Warren and her two sons, kept open house from their arrival in the summer of 1836. In 1837, R. W. Warren built a log-house near the present site of the St. Dennis Hotel in that village, and opened a regular tavern.

Outside localities were known by names still familiar to old settlers, but conveying no very definite idea of locality to modern visitors or strangers. Big Foot Prairie designated the present town of Walworth, called " Big Foot" for short. East Delavan was for a long time called Shat- takee.

THE FIRST THOROUGHFARES.

The first stage route was established through the county in 1836 or 1837 by John Inman and · his associates, who had made a settlement on Rock River, at what he termed the " head of navi- gation," near- the present city of Janesville. There they had laid out a city on paper, and named it Wisconsin City. The city went out of sight in the financial crash of 1837, which ruined the hopes of thousands who had become infected with the speculative mania that raged for the two preceding years. It never existed except in name and in the visionary brain of its

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

sanguine founder. Its name and mythical existence, however, resulted in benefit to the settlers of Walworth County, as Inman's stage route from Racine to Wisconsin City passed through the county from east to west, by way of Hemenway's and Turtle Creek. The stage made but a few trips before the project was abandoned. but the road, rough as it was, remained as a passable thoroughfare for the inhabitants.

In 1838. through the efforts of Jesse Meacham and other settlers in the northern range of towns, a mail route was established from Milwaukee to Janesville, and a Government road laid ont. It was on the direct route from Milwaukee to Madison, and, for many years, was a much traveled thoroughfare. It is notable that, after the lapse of forty-four years, stages are still running essentially over the same route. carrying the mail to East Troy, Mayhew (in Troy), Millard (in Sugar Creek) and Richmond. Two railroads now run on either side the entire length of the route. and the whistle of the locomotives, that long ago superseded the stages on the other old roads, can be heard on one hand or the other the whole way. It is a remarkable instance of the survival of a time-honored institution against the pressure of modern improve- mont. It is now the oldest stage line in the State, if not in the Northwest. The mail was at first carried once a week, on horseback. It is now carried tri-weekly west from East Troy, and daily by two routes from Milwaukee. on alternate days to that point.

Another quite important road was laid out early from Southport (now Kenosha) to Beloit. It was an important thoroughfare. It extended through the southern tier of towns, passing through the Geneva settlement. Much of the grain and produce from Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, as far west as Rock River, found its way to market by teams over this road. and Geneva became the favorite half-way stopping-place for the teamsters. It was also the out- let to the civilized world for the earlier settlers of Sharon and Walworth.

The present means of railway transportation which are now accessible to nearly every town- ship in the county. did not enter into the prophetie dreams of the most far-seeing. Those who saw clearly that the land was destined to teem with an industrious and productive population, looked, not to the railroads, but to water navigation as the future means of transportation. In- crease A. Lapham, then a young surveyor, who had come out in the employ of Byron Kilborn, the projector of the Rock River Canal, in 1842, spoke of the advantages of the locality. He said: "The position of Walworth County, midway between Lake Michigan and Rock River (which will ultimately be made navigable) must render it important. by having a chance for two markets for the surplus products." The Rock River was never made navigable sufficiently to become an important factor in the development of the interior counties. The only water navi- gation of which any mention is made in the history of Walworth County, has been confined to the pleasure craft on her lakes and two commercial voyages. made at an early day, of which the following accounts have been preserved.

FIRST VOYAGERS.

Early chroniclers state that Christopher Payne made the first voyage, on his return from his first visit to Geneva. One account states that. "having cut down trees, made piles of brush and marked the trees on the border of the lake as evidence of his claim and of its extent, he made himself a log canoe out of a black walnut tree, and in it floated down the outlet to Fox River, and down that stream to the big woods in Illinois, and then went home." Other accounts of Payne's return are silent as to the voyage down White River, but it is certain, if he floated down. he did not return by the same route.

A more successful voyage was made from Spring Prairie, of which the following account is furnished by Daniel Salisbury. then living at that place:

" If Geneva claims to be the head-waters of navigation in Walworth County, because of having shipped the first boat-load, in 1836, her claim should be closely contested, as Spring Prairie shipped three loads to her one in 1837, the boats arriving well loaded on their return voyage, and we have never heard of the return of the boat which sailed from Geneva-only the living freight."

The energetic men of Spring Prairie, in the spring of 1837, wishing to sow and plant all the grain possible, and being short of seed, and finding it impossible to drive a wagon, owing the wet and soft condition of the soil, after due deliberation, agreed that the only way to pro- eure it was by means of water navigation to some point in Illinois accessible by way of Fox

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY. .

River. Accordingly, three companies went into the woods, near Sugar Creek, cut three of the largest trees they could find suited to the purpose, and from them made three canoes. They launched them in Sugar Creek, and started on their voyage down Honey Creek into White River, thence into Fox River to the " big woods " in Illinois. There they purchased grain and potatoes sufficient to load their boats to within three inches of the water's edge, and started on the return voyage. which was, as may be easily discerned, not an easy one to make against the current, with no "prosperous gales," but only the propelling power of muscle exerted with the paddle and setting-pole. The boats did not return in company, but were several days' voyage apart. No misfortune occurred on the return voyage till one of the boats entered a lake where, the water being high, the navigators could not keep in the current, and the boat foundered. The unfortunate craft was in the command of Daniel Campbell, assisted by David Patten. In attempting to extricate their boat from its perilous position, they broke one of their setting poles, and, for some time, absolute shipwreck stared them in the face. By dint of much hard labor, and with the exercise of cool judgment, they were at last relieved of their difficulty, with only a little grain wet, Mr. Patten's coat well soaked from having fallen into the river, together with some books which he had borrowed to read, to while away the passing hours as they floated down the stream. One of the books is kept in remembrance by the writer, and shows the stains from the soaking it received during that memorable voyage of forty-four years ago. This fleet, with its return cargo, arrived in Spring Prairie in the latter part of May, 1837." The only names of these old Walworth navigators that are remembered are Campbell and Patten before mentioned, and Sylvanus Langdon and Solomon Harvey, who were in another boat. The crew of the third boat has faded from the remembrance of the few survivers of that time.

EARLY MAIL FACILITIES.

The mail facilities were somewhat restricted. In 1836, when the first settlers came in, there was no post office nearer than Racine, where all letters were sent for residents of the county, and all letters mailed, written by them. The difficulties and delays attending the re- ceiving and transmission of intelligence to and from the outer world, was one of the annoyances if not hardships, of pioneer life. Some time iu 1837, a post office was established at Burlington, and the mail matter for Walworth County distributed from that place. In 1838, several post offices were established in the county. Among the first was that at Spring Prairie, named Frank- lin Post Office: Dr. Hemenway was appointed Postmaster. The Geneva Post Office was estab- lished soon after and Andrew Ferguson appointed Postmaster. For two years after its establish- ment the mail was carried to and from Spring Prairie weekly, in the pockets and hat of a man named Harvey, who made his trips on horseback or on foot .. Another was established at Troy. Maj. Jesse Meacham being appointed the first Postmaster. The exact date of his commission is not known. Mr. Dwinnell, in a biographical sketch, says: "Upon the establishment of a mail route from Milwaukee to Janesville and the Mississippi River, in 1838, Maj. Meacham was appointed Postmaster at Troy, which office he held many years." Mr. Solden Powers, still living in Troy, came in May, 1837, from Milwaukee. He states that on his way he met Maj. Meach- am on horseback, who, having been-appointed Postmaster, was going to Milwaukee after his mail. The statement of Mr. Powers leads to the belief that Mr. Meacham was the first, Post- master appointed in the county, and that he brought in his own mail from Milwaukee, before the mail route was established. The same year, a post office was established at Delavan, and William Phoenix appointed Postmaster. The first mails were carried over this route by a man named Douns, on horseback. He sowed white clover all along the trail which grew luxuriantly. This was the first white elover-seed sown in the county. During the succeeding two years, post offices were established at or near every considerable settlement in the county, but the periods of arrival were not oftener than once a week, and the mail service so imperfect that the miscar riage or losing of letters was as nearly the rule as the exception. These annoyances did not cease for many years, and did not entirely disappear till good roads and well appointed stage and mail lines threaded the entire county. Mr. S. A. Dwinnell, in one of the historical sketeli- es, portrays his trials, which were common to all the early settlers, as follows:

"During my first six months in Wisconsin, I was almost entirely shut out from the civilized world. I knew but little of what was going on ontside the range of my own vision. During

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

that winter there was no emigration or travel. The spring of 1837 was very late, and emigra- tion did not reach us until some of the last days of May.

"For this entire period I think I saw no newspaper, except two or three numbers of the Milwaukee Advertiser, then recently established and containing but little news. It was the only paper published north of Chicago and south of Green Bay.

"After this long seclusion, word was sent me that the Worcester Spy. from my native State, had been regularly forwarded to my address from my paternal home, to Racine, the nearest post office. thirty-five miles elistant. I had several times sent for my mail and received letters only. Upon going to the post office myself, about the middle of June, I found all my papers. They had been kept in a separate place from letters and had been overlooked when my mail was called for. During most of those lonely months my reading had, from necessity, been limited to Good. rich's history of the United States and the Bible. Could I have received the Spy and have thus

obtained a glimpse of the outside world occasionally, it would have been a source of pleasure and instruction which none can fully appreciate but those who have been similarly situated.

"A few years subsequent to the establishment of a post office at Spring Prairie, and during the period when we received only a weekly horseback mail from the East, we were informed that a letter had come to the office for us. Letters from Eastern relatives were then esteemed of great value and were filled, usually, with information eagerly sought for. As postage was then charged by the piece and not by weight, as at present, large sheets of paper were used, and often those of mammoth size. After the paper was once written over, it was generally written cross- wise, with red ink; so that each letter contained a large fund of information and was regarded as no small treasure. At that time postage was 25 cents on all letters carried over 300 miles. Cash was not plenty and letters of not every day occurrence.

" As we had been looking for one for some tim . I hastened to the office, on foot, four miles away. eager to obtain it. You can judge of my disappointment when no letter could be found for us. The Postmaster said that the mail brought one, but he could give no further account of it. It seems that he carelessly put it into the mail-bag again and it was carried west. It re- turned about a year afterward. How far it had traveled we never knew; but as Wisconsin Ter- ritory embraced what is now Iowa and Minnesota. it had a chance for an extended circuit, which it probably made.

"In the year 1844, a letter was forwarded to us, from New Hampshire, containing the news of the sudden death, with all particulars of the funeral, of a very dear relative, which did not reach us. Other letters eame, containing allusions to the sad bereavement. We waited in suspense for the facts, some three months, when the letter was forwarded to us from an office ten miles away, from which we never received our mail. It had been illegally detained. These are specimens of the trials and annoyances experienced by the pioneers, from incompetent men in public positions." The post offices in the county in 1840 are given in the United States census report of that year as follows: Big Foot, Darien, Delavan, Elkhorn, Fairfield, Franklin, Heart Prairie, Lyonsdale, Round Prairie, Sugar Creek, Troy, Whitewater-twelve in all.

THEIR ROUSES.

A few of the pioneers who came in with abundant means erected houses having all the re- quirements for comfort and convenience that could be brought or supplied in a new and un- settled country. But, at the best, these dwellings lacked most of the modern conveniences. With no stores within fifty miles, and no roads over the intervening distance, no lumber except as it stood in the trees, no saw-mills, no tools, except what they brought, no brick, no lime, till it was quarried and burned, and no carpenters, builders or laborers except themselves, the eir- cumstances were not favorable for architectural display.

Most of the houses. were of rude construction, made to keep out the cold and wet, and to furnish a place to live. Many of them were made without the use of any tools save an ax and a hammer. Four tools wore considered a full " kit" with which to build a comfortable house-an ax. a saw, a hammer and an auger; happy he who came thus well equipped. Rev. S. A. Dwinnell. who came in 1836. describes the dwellings of the inhabitants at that time:

"In 1836, there were two frame houses, one of Benjamin C. Pearce. covered with siding rived from the trees standing on the banks of the White River, on the eastern line of the county,

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

near Burlington, the other being built by Luke Taylor a little west of it; neither of them were finished and were more uncomfortable than the rudest log cabins. There were thirty-five dwell- ings constructed of logs-generally of one story, covered with clapboards rived from the oaks called shakes, fastened to their place with small logs laid upon them; the doors of the same ma- terial were pinned to upright posts at the sides, hung upon wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch the string of which always "hung out." Some of these cabins had the natural earth for a floor; others had floors made of puncheons, or planks, howed from the trees, and laid npon sleepers and kept in their places by their own weight: a few had board floors. Meacham and Spoor sawed theirs by hand with a whipsaw. Some were without chimneys, as were those at Geneva. the smoke and sparks making their way through an opening left in the roof for that purpose; others had chimneys made of sticks covered with mud mingled with grass. The chim- neys were usually large and were often the best and sometimes the only window to light the apartment. Very few of these cabins had more than six panes of 8x10 glass, to let the sunlight in upon their inmates. Many of them were made without a nail in any part, not even in the door. Some of them were furnished with two or three old kitchen chairs; others had only three- legged stools to sit upon. The tables were usually made from the trees. the top fastened upon four legs which crossed each other in the manner of those of a cot bed. The bedsteads were made in the same rnde manner as the other furniture, illustrating the truth of the old adage that "necessity is the mother of invention." Each bedstead was made to stand upon one leg- the other ends of the rails being inserted in the logs which composed the walls of the building. The bed, which was made of dried grass called " prairie feathers," was laid upon shakes in the place of cords. The bedstead thus constructed was called by the strange and unaccountable name of " catamount." The covering to the bed was generally so light as to require the clothing of the sleepers to be added to it to make them comfortable.

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History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Part 49

Author: Western Historical Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 998

Author: Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 998