History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest, Part 22

Author: Harney, Richard J
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [s.l. : s.n.]
Number of Pages: 462

USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 22

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HE next settlers in the county were Chester Ford and his son Milan, who arrived in the fall of 1837. Mr. Ford soon assumed prominence in public affairs, and was a leading member of the Board of Supervisors, and one of the chief business men of Oshkosh. His son, Milan, has risen to the dignity of an "Hon.," and is now serving his second term as a mem- ber of the Legislature.

The next settlers in this county were Jason Wilkins, who arrived in the fall of 1837, and took up a claim on the lake shore, north of Miller's point, and Ira Aiken., who settled on the lake shore, near the site of the asylum.

Joseph Jackson, after his marriage, returned to Green Bay. He moved to Oshksoh from that place in 1839,and built a log house on the pres- ent site of Kahler's brewery. In 1844 he built the first frame house in Oshkosh; it occupied the present site of the Beckwith. In 1846, in con- nection with W. W. Wright, he surveyed and platted a tract into village lots, now the west side of Main street. He contributed liberally toward the growth of the city; was elected the second mayor; re-elected, and has held many other offices of trust and honor.

Mr. C. J. Coon arrived in 1839, and pur- chased land from Robert Grignon. It is the site of the Sawyer and Paine property. He built his house near the site of the Paine mill. Mr. Coon was looked upon as a substantial addition to to the infant settlement, and was a man of much influence.

Joseph L. Schooley made a claim the same year in what is now the town of Oshkosh. He worked, at times, as a printer on the Green Bay Intelligencer, the first newspaper printed in Wisconsin.

Stephen Brooks and family came in 1839, and took up land near the site of the asylum.

Samuel Brooks came in 1842, and subse- quently settled at what is now called Brooks' Corners. He was a surveyor, and run out the first roads which were opened in the country, and was the first County Surveyor.

W. C. Isbell came next, and took a very prominent part in public affairs, and was a

member of the first Board of Supervisors, the members of which were Chester Ford, W. C. . Isbell and L. B. Porlier.

William A. Boyd, son-in-law of Chester Ford, settled on what is now the Roe farm, about a mile from the city limits, in June, 1840. He brought with him twenty-one sheep, the first ever brought into this county. He shipped them by water from Cleveland to Green Bay, and drove them from that place, on an Indian trail. He also brought in the first stock of leather, and manufactured the first boots and shoes ever made in this county, and was one of the first mail carriers. His route was semi-monthly, on an Indian trail, from Green Bay to Stanley's Ferry.

When Mr. Boyd was moving into the country he met, at Green Bay, Mr. Clark Dickenson, who was intimately acquainted with Mr. Boyd's friends, at the mouth of the Fox; and that gentleman kindly proffered to Mrs. Boyd the loan of his saddle horse as a means of convey- ance, which offer was thankfully accepted; and, seated on the horse with an infant in her arms, she made the trip from the Bay to this place, Mr. Boyd on foot driving the sheep.

Doctor Christian Linde, now a resident of the city of Oshkosh, emigrated from Denmark to this country in 1842. He was accompanied by his brother Carl, and, on the seventeenth of July they purchased from Col. Tullar two hun- dred and eighty acres of land, now occupied by the Northern Insane Asylum, on which they built a log house, very nearly where the Asylum now stands, into which they imme- diately moved. In 1843 the doctor married a daughter of Clark Dickinson.

In November, 1844, Carl Linde, under the necessity of obtaining flour, crossed the lake to the mill at Stockbridge (the only accessible mill then in operation) in a small boat with a grist. Arriving at the mill, he was unable to obtain his grist in time to return the same day, and as it was very cold, with every prospect of the lake freezing over, he left his boat, and, procuring a canoe, started for home. After leaving the Stockbridge shore, he was not seen again until his body was found by Col- onel Tullar and some Indians, near Grand Chute, the following spring; but the day after his departure from Stockbridge, his canoe could be seen from that shore, and, sufficient ice having formed during the night to enable the neighbors to walk out to it, they found it had not been upset, but judged from appear- 'ances that he had endeavored to convert his blanket into a sail, and in the attempt had lost his balance, and fallen overboard. The sides of the canoe gave ample evidence that he had

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[1843-50.

clung to it until exhausted with cold, and in his efforts had cut his hands with the ice, the gunwales being covered with blood.

Doctor Linde remaining on the farm until 1846, removed to Green Bay, where he prac- ticed his profession for about one year, during which time his son, Doctor Fred Linde, was born, March twenty-ninth, 1847, the only child of the first marriage.

Returning to Oshkosh, he traded his farm to Colonel L. M. Miller, for one and a half acres where the First National bank now stands.

In 1850, he moved to Fond du Lac, practic- ing his profession for some two years. In

1853, tired of his profession, and longing for a "life in the woods," he, in partnership with Colonel L. M. Miller, Edward Eastman, Nel- son Davis, and Caleb Hubbard, purchased a site and laid out a town at Mukwa, on Wolf River, where he built a comfortable frame house, and for six years dispensed a generous hospitality to his numerous friends, particu- larly to those who, like himself, derived great pleasure from the use of the rod and the gun. Here he was assisted by the embryo physician and surgeon Fred. (we never called him doc- tor in those days), who did the honor of the house in his father's absence, and acted as pur- veyor general.

Mr. Jefferson Eaton migrated to Wisconsin in 1843. Arriving at the Fond du Lac settle- ment, he left his family at that place, and took the trail for Oshkosh, where he duly arrived. In the fall he moved his family on to the tract of land, in the town of Oshkosh, where he has since resided - two hundred and twenty acres, one hundred of which he has since sold to the Northern Insane Asylum. He acted as one of the commissioners in laying out the first roads in the county.

Mr. George H. Mansur and family settled at Neenah in 1843-the first white family per- manently settled at that place. For particu- lars, see "History of Neenah," in this work.

Harrison Reed, in 1844, purchased from the government the five hundred and sixty-two and forty-four-one hundredths acres of land, which constituted the agency ground at Win- nebago Rapids, with the buildings on the same, tools and implements, moved his family there that year, and commenced laying the foundations of the future city of Neenah. (See history of that city on subsequent pages.)

traveled through the great lakes, the Fox and Wisconsin, and ascended to the sources of the Mississippi in birch bark canoes. In 1823 he was appointed United States District Judge for the northern district of Michigan, which included the northern part of the present State of Michigan, all of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. This year he was married, and moved, with his wife, to Prairie du Chien, traveling from Green Bay to that place in a birch bark canoe. The next year he moved to Green Bay. In 1836 he donated the land for the site of a State Capitol. In 1841 he was appointed Governor of the territory of Wisconsin, which position he held three years.

It seems that in all his travels, he found no place more attractive to him than the beautiful island at the foot of the lake, called after him, for he continued to reside there from 1845 till he was appointed, in 1861, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Utah. He died at Salt Lake City, in 1865. His cosy looking cottage on the island is in a good state of preservation, and one of the attractive features of John Rob- erts' Summer Resort, being a historical relic of the early times.

Curtis Reed, associated with Governor Doty in theownership ofthe water power at Menasha and of the adjoining land, went to that place in June, 1848, for the purpose of improv- ing the water power and starting the future city of Menasha. He built a log house at the head of the canal which was used as a tavern and boarding house. At this time the site of the present city of Menasha was a wilderness, untouched by the hand of man. He next erected another log building which he occu- pied as a store, and then commenced the con- struction of the present dam. Before the close of the year some eight or ten families had set- tled in Menasha, so called by Mrs. Governor Doty.

L. M. Parsons, still a resident of the town of Rushford, made the first settlement in that town March 7th, 1846, erecting at that time a house ten by twelve, in which he afterwards accommodated the travelling public to the extent of its capacity.

The same year J. R. and Uriah Hall, the Stones, Deyoes, John Johnson, J. Mallory and the Palfreys settled in the vicinity. Mr. Par- sons erected a saw-mill the same fall, and in 1850 completed a grist mill which was very popular in its day. The present fine mill of Bean & Palfrey, celebrated for the superiority of its flour, now occupies the site.

Governor Doty, in 1845, built his log house on the island, and took up his residence in the same. Governor Doty was a man who acted a very conspicuous part in the history of Wis- The first settlers in the Town of Winneconne, after the old French settlers, were Samuel consin. In 1820, he was secretary to the expedition of Governor Cass, and with him | Champion andhis son John, Samuel Lobb and

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.

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George Bell and family, who located here in the spring of 1846.

Mrs. Bell was the first white woman in the town, and in the fall when the fever and ague prevailed to such an extent that she was the only well person in the settlement, she har- rowed in a field of winter wheat. The same fall, having lived for some time on boiled wheat, she yoked the oxen, and loading a grist on the wagon started for Neenah, twelve miles dis- tant, with no road but an Indian trail. Return- ing in the night with her grist she was enter- tained with the howling of the wolves, and arrived home about midnight.

About a month after the advent of the Bell's. Mr. Greenbury Wright accompanied by Dr. A. B. Wright, now of this city, located on the present site of Buttes des Morts, and now enjoys the distinction of being the oldest resi- dent family in town.

In that year the settlement received acces- sions in the arrival of George Cross, J. Ashby, 1 .. McConifer, Stephen Allen, William Caulk- ins. Edwin Boulden and George Snider.

Mr. George Cross was engaged at a very carly day in Western explorations, having vis- ited Wisconsin in 1835, and was engaged in running the line of the Fourth Principal Merid- ian; he also accompanied Governor Doty in his explorations.

(See history of Winneconne.) Joseph H. Osborn and John Smith built houses on their present farms in the now Town of Algoma in 1846. Mr. Osborn took a prominent part in the carly affairs of the County, for which see history.

C. L. Rich migrated to this County in 1845. On reaching Ceresco, he took the Indian trail for Stanley's ferry, and reaching his destination, was ferried across and put up at Stanley's tavern, which, with Amos Dodge's little store and a few log houses, comprised all of the beginning of the future City of Oshkosh. About two hundred Indians were encamped on the river shore at the time. In that year he selected his present fine farm in the Town of Oshkosh. The country was almost an unset- tled wilderness, there being only three or four log houses between his place and the Neenah settlement.

The Town of Utica had its first settler in the person of Erwin Heath, afterwards post- master of the City of Oshkosh.

In February, 1846, Mr. Heath selected a claim in the now town of Utica, and built a log house on the same. On the first of April, of that year, he started from Jefferson County, Wisconsin, where he had been living, for his new home in Winnebago. He took with him four yoke of oxen, hitched to a wagon, loaded

with household goods, farming tools, feed and provisions; and also, drove a lot of live stock, composed of neat cattle, sheep and hogs. He was compelled to ford the streams, there being no bridges this side of Beaver Dam, and in fact, no road cut for a long portion of the distance.

Arriving at his place on the tenth of April, he found himself monarch of all he sur- veyed; the nearest house being at Ceresco, the Fourierite settlement, eight miles distant. The next, were the settlers near the mouth of the Fox, Oshkosh. On the night of his arrival. a heavy snow storm set in, and snow fell to the depth of fourteen inches. In the morning, Mr. Heath set two men, who were with him, to work chinking and mudding up the house, and then started with an ox teani and sled for Daikens, near Green Lake, twelve miles distant, to procure a load of hay. A heavy crust had formed that would hold a man, but the cattle broke through at every step, which made very painful and tedious traveling. He arrived at Daikens that night, got his load of hay, and reached home with it the next night. While he was gone the men had fed all the feed they had to the stock, and when Mr. Heath approached his place, all the stock came running to meet him, bellowing a wel- come, and commenced to help themselves, cating as he moved it along. Leaving it over night on the sled where they could feed at their pleasure, he found it all gone in the morning. The snow disappeared as suddenly as it came, and the stock found abundant feed on the Rush Lake marshes, from that time on.

E. B. Fisk was the next settler in Utica, locating on the beautiful place now known as Fisk's Corners, where he dispensed a bountiful hospitality in the carly day.

Armine Pickett and David H. Nash arrived in May, 1846, with their families, and settled on places which they had selected the previous fall.

George Ransom and family were also among the very earliest settlers in this town, having settled on the beautiful farm near Fisk's Cor- ners, now occupied by one of his sons, E. B. Ransom, in the same month of Heath's and Pickett's settlement, viz: April, 1846.

These were soon followed by C. W. Thrall, T. J. Bowles, H. Styles and others.

The first settlement in the Town of Nepeuskun was made by Jonathan Foote and family, in March 1846. The Footes, after living in their wagon some weeks, finished a shanty. thirteen by sixteen feet, in which they entertained new comers.

In May, of that year, Lucius Townsend and

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[1846-50.

brother arrived and took up claims. On the day of their arrival, they took a plow from their wagon and turned the first furrow ever plowed in the soil of Nepeuskun. Before the elose of the year they received as accessions to the settlement A. B. and J. H. Foster, Samuel Clough, Jerome Betry, S. Van Kirk, J. Nash, D. Barnum, T. F. Lathrop, George Walbridge, W. C. Dickerson, L. B. Johnson, H. F. Grant, John Van Kirk, Solomon Andrews, H, Stratton, and Alonzo J. Lewis.

The first settlement made in the Town of Vinland was in the spring of 1846, by N. P. Tuttle, followed immediately by Horace Clem- ans, who settled on Section twenty-five, now Clemansville, and Jeremiah Vosburg on Sec- tion fifteen. The same year came W. W. Libby, Charles Scott, W. Partridge, Silas M. Allen, Samuel Pratt, Jacob and Walter Weed, William Gumaer, and Thomas Knott, Jr. In 1849 came A. T. Cronkhite, L. Beemis, Chas. Libby, Henry Robinson, and others.

The first settlers in the Town of Clayton were D. C. Darrow and William Berry, who came in 1846. They were followed by Alexander Murray, John Axtell, William Robinson, Ben- jamin Strong. L. H. Brown, William M. Stew- art, George W. Giddings, W. H. Scott, L. Hinman, J. F. Roblee, and others as early set- tlers.

The Town of Omro was first organized under the name of Buttes des Morts; it had for its first permanent residents, Edward West, A. Quick and Hezekiah Gifford, who settled there in the spring of 1846. The town filled up so rapidly after this that it is difficult to determine the respective priority in settlement of the next new comers.

At the town election held the following year, April sixth, 1847, Edward West, John Mon- roe and Frederick Tice were elected Supervis- ors; Nelson Olin, Clerk, John M. Perry, Treas- urer, Barna Haskell Assessor, and Isaac Ger- main, Justice. Among the earliest settlers were John R. Paddleford, M. C. Bushnell and S. D. Paddleford.

The plat of the Village of Omro was recorded September fifth, 1849, Dean, Beekwith, and others, proprietors.

The first settler within the limits of the Town of Nekimi was A. M. Howard, who located on Section two, in the summer of 1846. A large number followed so soon after that it is difficult, at this day, to fix their respective pri- ority of settlement. Among the early settlers were Hiram B. Cook, who moved on his farm in 1847; Wm. Abrams and his brothers, in the same year. John Joyce, John Ross, the

Lords and Powells were among the early settlers.

The first settlers in the Town of Algoma were Chester Ford and his son-in-law, W. A. Boyd, and Milan Ford. J. H. Osborn next followed in the spring of 1846. During the same spring came J. Botsford, E. S. Durfee, John Smith, Noah and Clark Miles, Elisha Hall and Doctor James Whipple. By 1848 the land in this town was very generally taken up.

The first permanent resident of the Town of Black Wolf was Clark Dickenson, who built his house and moved into the same in 1841. He was soon followed by C. B. Luce, Ira Aikens, Wm. Armstrong, Charles Gay, T. Hicks, Henry Hicks, Frank Weyerhorst and others. Armstrong and Gay settled there in 1845.

The first settlement in the Town of Win- chester was made by Jerome Hopkins in the winter of 1847-8, followed in the spring by Samuel Rogers and family, and James H. Jones. This town was organized in 1852.

The first settlers in the Town of Poygan were Jerry Caulkins, George Rowson and brother, Thomas Robbins, Thomas Mettam, Thomas Brogden, Henry Cole, Richard Bar- ron, the Maxons and Reed Case. The first settler came in the spring of 1849, and most of the rest mentioned came during that year.

The first white settler within the limits of the Town of Wolf River was Andrew Merton, who settled on what has been known since as Merton's Landing, Wolf River, in the fall of 1849, and was immediately joined by Albert Neuschaefer and Herman Page.

These few persons, for several years, con- stituted the only white inhabitants in that town. The population is now almost exclu- sively German.

The foregoing shows the progress of settle- ment in the various localities of the county, at the dates mentioned .*

" NOTE .- For full details of the history of the several towns, cities, and villages of this county, see their respective histories in subsequent pages of this work.

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.

1839-43. ]

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The only White Settlers in the County, in 1842, were Those Located in the Vicinity of Oshkosh - Products of the County in 1839 - Naming the Place - Post Office Estab- lished - The County Organized-Population- First Births and First Death of White Persons - Fourth of July Cele- bration - Religious Services - School - Ferry Established - First Roads - First Stores - First Village Plat of Osh- kosh -Large Migration from 1846 to '50 - The Villages of Neenah, Menasha, Waukau, Omro and Winneconne, in 1848-50.

S will be seen from the preceding pages, the only white settlers within the present limits of Winnebago County in 1842, were those located in the immediate vicinity of Oshkosh; which, at that date was merely a little settle- ment of a few log houses on the farms of their respective owners.

From among the letters written from here in the years, 1838 and 1839, one writer, a lady, says: "We have little of the world's goods, but the promise of a hereafter shines brightly here." Another says: "We are working hard, with but few enjoyments, but the progress of the settlement, the rich soil promising food in abundance, the good health enjoyed by all, and the care of our families, keep us from repining, and fill us with hope for the future." One writer says: "I have two heifers worth fifty dollars a piece, and two pigs, and shall get a yoke of oxen, if they can be found, as they are scarce and dear." Another says he "has raised one acre of spring wheat, yielding twenty-eight bush- els, and three acres of winter wheat, produc- ing thirty bushels to the acre, and one aere of buckwheat. Flour here is $12; mess pork $30; potatocs 25 cents; beans $3; corn $1.50; wheat $2."

The products of Winnebago County in 1839; were 362 bushels of wheat; 446 bushels of oats; 21 bushels of buckwheat; 1,000 bushels of corn; 1,960 bushels of potatoes; 200 tons of hay; 4,400 pounds of maple sugar; 2 barrels of fish, and $9,000 worth of furs.

About this time a meeting was held at the house of George Wright, for the purpose of voting a name. The names proposed were Athens, Fairview, Oceola, Stanford, and Osh- kosh; but Robert Grignon and associates from the river at Buttes des Morts, were the strong party, and formed a majority in favor of the name of Oskosh, in honor of the Menominee chief. The orthography of the original word was, by some mischance, changed to its present form, Oshkosh. The original was pronounced without the "h" in the first syllable, and was accented on the last, Os- kosh. There is a difference of opinion about

the signification of the word, many claiming that it means brave.

In 1840, a post office was established, and J. P. Gallup appointed postmaster. The first mail from this county was made up by J. P. Gallup, done up in a piece of brown paper, and carried by Chester Ford, mail contractor, in his vest pocket, whose route was semi- monthly, from Wrightstown to Fond du Lac, on an Indian trail.

In 1842, the County of Winnebago was organized. An idea of the publie economy of the time may be formed from the fact of the first Board of Supervisors voting to raise a tax of fifty dollars for County expenses. The num- ber of inhabitants at this time was 135, and in 1845, the population of the whole County was but 500.

The first birth of a white child in the county was that of George W. Stanley, on the 26th of August, of 1838. The first female white child born in the County was Elizabeth, daughter of Chester Ford.

In 1840, the first Fourth of July celebration was held. The entire population assembled in grand array on the lake shore, at the foot of Merritt street. A procession was formed in which a number of Indians joined, who seemed to enjoy this outburst of enthusiasm as fully as their white neighbors. John P. Gallup delivered the oration, and Joseph H. Osborn read the Declaration.

In 1841, a religious meeting was held at Mr. Stanley's house, at which a sermon was preached by Jesse Halstead, of Brothertown. Religious services were frequently held in the settlement, at which Clark Dickenson exhorted.

Miss. Emeline Cook, a sister-in-law of Jason Wilkins, taught a school for some time; but Henry A Gallup, regardless of the educational interests of the community, married the school ma'am, and selfishly appropriated her services to his education in the science of domestic life.

In 1842, Webster Stanley was authorized, by act of the Legislature, to maintain a pub- lie ferry. It was located at the present site of the gang mill.

In 1843, the town of Winnebago was organized, comprising the whole county, and the Legislature passed an act requiring that "all elections shall be held at the house of Webster Stanley."

In 1843, Jefferson Eaton, with Amos Gallup, and Stephen Brooks as commissioners, and Samuel Brooks as surveyor, laid out the first road in the County, the same being from Stanley's Ferry to Neenah.

In 1844, the second road in the County was

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[1843-50.

laid out on the town line, between townships eighteen and nineteen, from Lake Winnebago to Lake Buttes des Morts.

The lack of a grist mill was a want severely felt by the earliest settlers, and large coffee- mills were frequently brought into requisition for grinding wheat. The nearest available mill for a long time was the one at Manchester (Stockbridge), across the lake; and, as there were no sail crafts or large boats, the grist had to be carried in canoes, in the summer time. In the winter the ice afforded a good road. Until roads were cut out, the settlers had to pack in on their backs groceries, flour and such other necessaries as they needed from Green Bay; and many a load of sixty to eighty pounds of flour or pork has Doctor Linde and others, packed on their backs over an Indian trail from Green Bay to this place. The doctor's muscle was pretty good then, and if any one were to question its tension now, he would feel a little indignant.

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History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest, Part 22

Author: Harney, Richard J Publication date: 1880 Publisher: [s.l. : s.n.] Number of Pages: 462

Author: Harney, Richard J
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [s.l. : s.n.]
Number of Pages: 462