USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 51
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Mr. E. B. Thrall, born in St. Lawrence County, New York, in 1825, removed to Crawford, Pennylsvania, where he remained about eighteen months, and from there to the present Town of Utica, where he arrived June 9, 1846, selecting a location adjoining Armine Pickett's, who had arrived a short time previ- ously. The journey was made from Pennsyl- vania to Wisconsin in wagons, the family con- sisting of nine persons, the father, John Thrall, five brothers and three sisters. Taking the covers from their wagons, they set them against the log house of Mr. Nash, and, going to the woods for the logs, they built a house; hewing logs (puncheons) for floors, splitting oak shakes for the roof; and, unable to procure lumber for door or window, they occupied the domicile until fall without, when they obtained a small amount of oak lumber, at Dartford, some twenty miles away. March 21, 1866, Mr. Thrall, having sold his farm, purchased the one he now occupies, in Rushford, and moved into the log house erected at an early day, and which Mr. Thrall has replaced with a handsome, modern residence, and has added commodious and substantial barns, out-build- ings, and all conveniences of a prosperous farmer.
John G. Palfrey, of the firm of Bean & Pal- frey, proprietors of the Waukau flouring-mills, is one of the well known early settlers of the town. Mr. Palfrey, with his brothers, Richard and Thomas, and their parents, moved from the State of New York, and settled in Waukau, in the fall of 1846, and took an active part in pioneer life, and in reclaiming the county from a wilderness, into the abodes of civilization.
252
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
[1846-79.
George Hawkes, station agent at Waukan, is an early western settler, although not an early resident of this county. His life has been a varied and eventful one; and a large experi- ence in the wider channels of social life and extensive travel, has given him a fund of interesting information. Mrs. Geo. Hawkes moved, when a child, with her parents, from New York City to Rockford, Illinois, in 1840, where they settled on a farm. The country, at the time, was so unsettled, that the nearest house, in a western direction, was twenty miles distant. She remembers seeing the remains of Big Thunder on an elevated scaffold, at Belvidere.
Warren Leach settled in Waukau, in 1849, and opened the first tavern in that place. Mrs. Lucy L. Leach, the pioneer landlady, will be held in kindly remembrance by the old settlers. Her house was a home for the weary way-farer, where he was sure to find a hearty welcome and the kindest treatment.
D. W. Safford, miller in Waukau Mills for the last twelve years, moved from Vermont, and first settled in the now Town of Poygun, in 1852.
Alson Wood, chairman of the Town Board, moved to Waukau, in 1858, and is now with V. H. Wood and R. M. Lincoln, the proprietors of the Empire Flouring Mills. This mill was constructed in 1857, by Bean & Becker, and has a capacity of one hundred barrels of flour per day.
WAUKAU FLOURING MILLS.
Among the illustrations in this work will be found that of the Waukau Flouring Mill, Bean & Palfrey, proprietors. The mill occupies the site of the old Waukau Mill, built by L. M. Parsons, in 1848, and which was the first grist- mill in the county, except the old Government mill at Neenah. Its construction was hailed as a happy event, for it supplied a need which had been keenly felt.
In 1874, the present Waukau mill was built. Its capacity is one hundred and twenty-five barrels per day, and its flour takes high rank in the market.
HON. D. R. BEAN.
D. R. Bean moved from Vermont to Wau- kau, in 1856, and purchased an interest in the water-power. He immediately commenced improvements, and, in the following year, built the Empire Mills, and, in 1874, as above stated, built the Waukau Mills.
Mr. Bean is one of those energetic enter- prising men, who infuse business vigor and activity into a community, and has proved a valuable accession to Waukau. He is very
popular, and is widely known as a man of ability and of kind hearted, generous impulses. He was elected to represent his district in the State Legislature in 1861, and re-elected in 1862, and has been again elected this fall. He is one of those who will make his influence felt wherever he is, and will follow his convic- tions of right without fear or favor.
TOWN OF UTICA.
CHAPTER LXIII.
Situation - Topographical Description - Lovely Face of the Country-The Young Growth of Timber which has Sprung up since the settlement of the Country - Soil and Water - Farms and Buildings- Railroad Stations, Pickett's and Fisk's - Social and Educational Advantages - First Set- tlements in the Town - Early Settlers - Erection of the First Houses - Organization of Town Government - First Town Officers - First Birth-First Marriage-First Death - Recollections of the Early Day in Utica, by James G. Pickett - Illustrations and Personal Notices.
HE Town of Utica, situated on the southern boundary of the county, and one township east of the west line of the county, is one of the most beau- tiful and picturesque tracts of country to be found in the State. Its surface is high and rolling - not broken; but rising and falling in graceful undulations. It was originally what is called rolling prairie, skirted with openings. In a state of nature it was a scene over which the eye could sweep for miles -its vision only intercepted, in some directions, by the encircling horizon; while prairie and grove, and scattering trees, formed a landscape of indescribable loveliness.
Since the settlement of the town, the annual fires, that used to sweep over the country, des- troying the incipient undergrowth, have been checked; and the consequence is, a luxuriant growth of forest trees have sprung up in many places, forming, in some instances, large groves, in which many of the trees have attained a large size. The country, therefore, does not present so open and prairie-like an appearance as in the day of its early settle- ment. The old settlers of Utica can now point out tracts of dense forest, where, in the early day, they could drive a wagon without meeting any obstruction.
The soil is a deep, rich loam, with a clay subsoil, mixed with lime-stone gravel. Its base is lime-stone, which in places crops out at the surface; and occasionally gravel-beds and lime-stone knolls are found. These fur- nish the best of material for making roads, and
HOMESTEAD
ERI CHEESE FACTORY DRY GOODS & GROCERY
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1846-79.]
are largely utilized. The town is traversed by a small stream called Fisk's Creek; and in many places copious springs are found. Excel- lent water is obtained at various depths, by digging; and, in some localities, by drilling through the rock.
The farms in this town are generally on a large scale, and in a highi state of cultivation, with fine dwellings, barns and out-buildings, as the several views of Utica places in this work give evidence.
The population of this town is composed principally of people from the Eastern States, and their descendants. In the southeastern part of the town the inhabitants are chiefly Welsh, and the location forms a part of what is called the Welsh Settlement, which also embraces a large part of the western portion of the Town of Nekimi. These are also thrifty and fore-handed farmers, and very gen- erally with fine dwellings and large barns. This town, in fact, presents in every direction an appearance of thrift and prosperity, in its handsome, well-painted dwellings, barns and well-cultivated fields.
The Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad trav- erses the town. There are two railroad sta- tions - one at Fisk's Corners, and one called Pickett's Station, at both of which places depots are established, that make large ship- ments of wheat and other farm produce.
Pickett's Station is quite a business center, with a store well-stocked with mixed merchan- dise, and which does a large business. It is also the location of Pickett's cheese-factory, and has a feed-mill.
The town has good social and educational facilities - its several localities being from six to nine miles distant, respectively, from the cities of Ripon and Oshkosh; while good school-houses are found at convenient dis- tances.
At Utica Center is a very «eat church edifice and fine parsonage, of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. The resident pastor is the Rev. Mr. Wanless; a gentleman of much ability and of liberal education. He was for some years in the missionary service in Turkey, and is very zealous, devoted and energetic in promoting the interests of the church.
Here is also a store, post-office, town hall and mechanic shops.
There are four post-offices in the town, viz: Elo, at Utica Center, Pickett's Station, Fisk's Corners, and Ring.
There are seven school-houses, and three hundred and seventy-one children between the ages of four and twenty years.
The population of the town was given in the State census of 1875, as 1,078.
The present town officers are as follows: T. J. Bowles, chairman; Albert Sanders and O. R. Jones, supervisors; F. L. Newell, clerk; James Walker, treasurer; L. J. Miller, assessor; James G. Pickett and T. J. Bowles, justices.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The first settlers in the town were Erwin Heath, Armine Pickett, David H. Nash, Seth Harris, and their families, who located near what is now Pickett's Station, April, 1846; and E. B. Fisk and George Ransom, and their families, who settled in the same month, near Fisk's Corners.
In February, 1846, Mr. Heath selected a claim and built a log house on the same, and, on the first of April, following, started from Jefferson County, where he had been living, for his new home, with four yoke of oxen and a wagon loaded with household goods, provis- ions, farming tools, etė .; and, also, drove a lot of live-stock. He was compelled to ford streams, there being no bridges this side of Beaver Dam, and no road cut out for a long portion of the distance.
Arriving at his place on the tenth day of April, he found himself monarch of all he sur- veyed; there being no house nearer than Ceresco, eight miles distant.
On the night of his arrival, snow fell to the depth of ten inches, but in less than two days it all disappeared, and the cattle found feed on the Rush Lake marshes.
Messrs. Pickett, Nash and Harris, with their families, immediately joined Mr. Heath, who was Mr. Nash's son-in-law. The log houses of Mr. Heath and Mr. Harris were the first com- pleted, and these were soon followed by the erection of the dwellings of Mr. Pickett and Mr. Nash.
While this little colony was getting fixed in their new homes, another settlement was being made in the northeastern part of the town by E. B. Fisk, who commenced the erection of a log house in the same month.
He was soon followed Mr. Geo. Ransom, and family, who settled near Mr. Fisk.
The Rev. Hiram McKee, John Thrall and others, settled here the same season. Mr. McKee was the first settled minister in the town, and was quite noted for his energetic style of preaching.
C. W. Thrall, L. Hawley, T. J. Bowles, L. J. Miller, George Miller, Henry Styles, J. M. Little, Wm. Hunter, Philo Rogers, W. S. Catlin, James Adams and Walter Houston are among early settlers; and, prominent among the later comers, as substantial thrifty farmers,
254
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN
[1846-47.
are D. R. Lawrence, Wm. Parks, James R. Williams, Ira Walker, W. H. Clark, A. B. McFarland, J. H. Maxwell, Wm. Griffith, Jas, Robinson, A. Stone and F. J. Bean.
GROWTH OF THE TOWN.
Within two years after the arrival of the first settlers, the land in this town was nearly all occupied, and was dotted in every direction with the primitive log structures of the early settlers. The land was so productive and eas- ily cultivated, that the settlers soon became fore-handed; and good frame barns and dwell- ings rapidly superseded the original log-cab- ins; and in almost every portion of Winne- bago County may now be found many elegant farm-residences, that equal the finest city mansions, and provided with all the luxuries, conveniences and comforts of modern social life.
INDIAN SCARE.
During the fall of 1847, the settlements in this vicinity were thrown into great excite- ment by the arrival of some four or five hun- dred Indians, who encamped near the bank of Fox River, on the north side, nearly opposite LaBorde's trading post, (Delhi), decked out in war-paint and feathers, and all the para- phernalia of war, well armed with gleaming muskets, tomahawks and war-clubs. Here they proceeded to hold a series of councils, a sort of 'protracted meeting," from which every one, not strictly belonging to the brotherhood, was excluded. Rumors became rife that the Indians were preparing for a general massacre, and a general alarm pervaded the little com- munities. At last an appeal was made to Mr. LaBorde, the great mediator and pacificator, who informed the chiefs that he must know the meaning of all these secret councils; that the whites were. preparing for an attack on the Indians. In the mean time, those of the settlers who possessed horse teams, had, with their families, fled for safety to Fond du Lac, Ceresco, and other places, while those remain- ing, for want of transportation, met together in the best houses, for mutual protection. Mr. LaBorde was informed they were only settling some difficulties between themselves; but, fear- ing in turn that the whites were about to con- mence hostilities, left with greater precipitancy and less ceremony than the whites. And, of such is pioneer life.
THE EARLY DAY IN UTICA, BY JAMES G. PICKETT.
In June, 1845, Mr. David H. Nash, then a resident of Jefferson County, this state, contracted with Samuel Brooks to transport his family and household goods from Milwaukee, to what is now the Town of Vinland.
The road from Milwaukee to Watertown passed through Rock River woods, then an almost unbroken wilderness for fifty miles, and usually consumed a week in making the dis- tance.
Mr. Nash and his load of emigrants, found no settlers north of Watertown until they reached Oshkosh, excepting at Waupun and Fond du Lac, where a few families had recently located. At Oshkosh they found the families of Webster Stanley, and the half dozen families who had joined him there. The immigrants were ferried across the river by Mr. Stanley, in a frail ferry-boat, assisted by his Indian helpers, the team and wagon making two loads. Eleven days had been con- sumed in coming from Milwaukee, and on the following day Mr. Nash set the Brooks family down on their claim ; this being the first settlement in the Town of Vinland.
Mr. Stanley had been through on the Indian trail to Fort Winnebago, and gave a glowing description of the country southwest of Oshkosh; and as he had not settled permanently, Mr. Nash determined to return to Oshkosh, at an early day, and explore the country.
Mr. Armine Pickett had immigrated to the territory in 1840, and was a neighbor of Mr. Nash, in Jefferson County. Not being entirely satisfied with his location, he concluded to accompany Mr. Nash on his exploring trip to Winnebago County. Accordingly, about the middle of August, 1845, accompanied by their wives, and taking with them the con- veniences for camping-out, when necessary, they started for Oshkosh, where they arrived with out anything of note occur- ing on the way. Stopping with Mr. Stanley over night, they engaged him to pilot them over the country to Cereseo, ( now Ripon.)
It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful and pic- turesque country, than that lying southwest of Oshkosh, at that time. Following the Indian trail, leading to Fort Win- nebago, the party for eight miles, passed through oak open- ings, entirely destitude of underbrush, and reminding them of the bold orchards they had left at the East. Eight miles from Fox River they crossed the first stream of any note, shown on the map as Eight Mile Creek; but known after the settlement of the country, as Fisk's Creek. The stream divided the oak openings, and as beautiful prairie country as ever was created ; and is the most northern limit of the great prairies of the state. Four miles further, the party halted by a spring brook for dinner. They were charmed by their surroundings. There was not a sign to indicate that civilized man had ever traveled over this route, and the country was, in fact, just as it came from the hands of the Creator. They could not wish for any- thing nearer their ideal of a perfect country, and Mr. Nash decided to locate on the spring creek, upon which they halted, which was in a strip of openings a mile wide, separating the two prairies. While dinner was being prepared, Mr. Pickett went back half a mile, and a few rods from the trail found another spring, on the edge of the prairie, and there drove his stake for his future farm.
At Ceresco they found a colony of four hundred, who had lately arrived, and were operating under the co-operating plan of labor and capital. At Ceresco the party took the line of Government survey and followed it back to their claims in Utica, and thus established the boundaries of their future farms. Mr. Pickett entered four hundred and eighty acres, and Mr. Nash one hundred and sixty acres of land. Mr. Pickett's being the first entry in town, and the first between what is now Ripon and Oshkosh.
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1846-79. ]
On the following October, Mr. Pickett returned to his new purchase with a half dozen of his neighbors, hoping they would locate farms, and thus continue the old associations. The party arrived on the ground on the evening of a beautiful October day, and built a camp, by felling a large burr oak tree aud building a camp-fire against the hody.
The railroad depot at Pickett's Station now occupies the ground upon which the little party had encamped. It would have required a stretch of the widest imagination for that party of land-lookers, to see in the distant future, long trains of heavily loaded cars freighted with the grain grown upon the thousands of acres which was then lying in a state of nature. There were then no railroads in operation West of Buffalo; but on the ISth day of October, 1871, exactly twenty-six years from the evening that camp-fire was built, the construction train of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, rolled up to the spot and sounded a whistle, which was indeed music to the ears of the large concourse of citizens who had met to welcome the visitors, whose coming had been so long and anxiously looked for. It may be worthy of note to say that it is believed that the cutting down of that burr oak tree, was the first stroke of civilization in the settlement of the town, and to Hon. H. W. Barnes-then a young man, and now a judge of the circuit court of the State of Kansas, belongs the honor of wielding the axe which felled the first tree. To the visitors at the station is shown the stump of the first tree cut, which several years ago was taken up and carefully preserved, as a relic of the early settlement of the town. The settlement of the town really began the following spring.
In March, 1846, A. Pickett, Seth Harris, D. H. Nash and his son in law, Erwin Heath, arrived in town and began its settlement. During the previous winter they had brought portions of their goods, including a years supply of pork, etc., and left them by the side of the trail, with no protection but a covering of boards, until their arrival in the spring.
The depot had been daily passed by scores of Indians, but remained unmolested. It is now a rare sight to see an Indian, but the civilization of the times would hardly warrant such an exposure of property.
The log dwellings of Mr. Heath and Harris were the first erected, but as they were in process of erection at the same time, neither could claim priority. There was during the spring, probably a dozen families resided temporarily in these dwellings, until their own was completed. Mr. Pickett and Mr. Nash finished their dwellings in April. At the raising of Mr. Nash's house, after the last round of logs had been placed in position, the Rev. H. McKee, who had arrived at the settle ment the day before, mounted the building and proposed then and there, that the town be given a name. The names of several settlers were proposed, but as each declined the honor. Utica was proposed and adopted. The name Liberty Prairie was also given, to that portion of the prairie included in the town limits. By midsummer the population of the town had increased to about twelve families, and from that time forward immigration poured in rapidly, and within two years there was but little Government land to be had.
The first law-suit occurred in the spring of 1846 - an assault and battery case between S. Harris and A. M. Darling ; but there being no officers in town, the suit was held before Justice A. H. Howard, in his premption shanty, three miles southeast of Oshkosh. Every male citizen of the town attended court, either as witnesses or as advisory committee. The plaintiff was assisted by A. Pickett, and the defence by " Jed, " ( after- wards Judge) Smalley, of Oskhosh. The court, after patiently
listening all day to the evidence and arguments of the learned counsel, decided that it appeared to him that the parties were equally to blame, and that in the set-to they were equally used up, and he would fine them each one dollar, and divide the costs equally between the parties, which seemed to give entire satisfaction. This is believed to have been the first law suit in the county, south of the river.
Hiram McKee was the first settled minister. A man of indomitable energy, both as a minister and an advocate of anti- slavery principles, for which he battled both in and outside the pulpit His eloquence though not always refined, was of that power, that he became known far and near as the sledge- bammer preacher. During the infancy of the Free Soil Party, he received the nomination of congressman in opposition to Governor Doty, who was elected.
T. J. Bowles settled in the town in 1849, and none of its citizens have taken a more active part in the affairs of the town. He has for more than twenty years, been an acting magistrate, and has repeatedly represented the town in the County Board of Supervisors, and has nearly always held other important trusts of honor conferred by his townsmen.
During the early settlement of the town, the nearest post- office was Ceresco, which was supplied by a weekly mail. In 1847, a mail-route was established from Oshkosh to Ceresco, and three post-offices located in this town; at which D. H. Nash was postmaster at Welaunee; L. Hawley, at Hawley's Corners ; E. B. Fisk, at Fisk's Corners.
The history of the town would be incomplete, were we to omit mentioning an incident connected with its early settlement, and which at the time created quite a sensation : The propri- etors of the mill-power at Waukau, three miles below Rush Lake, on its outlet, in the fall of 1846, erected a dam across the stream, a few rods below the lake, for the purpose of mak- ing a reservoir of the lake. While the dam was in process of construction, a deputation of the settlers waited upon the proprietors, and made a protest against the raising of the water in the lake, fearing that not only the health of the town would be imperilled, but that a great deal of valuable meadow land, bordering on the lake, would be overflowed. The proprietors, however, gave assurance that the lake should only be raised one foot, and that only in the fall and winter months. This agreement, however, was not respected, and in the Spring of 1847, the settlers found a dam of five feet in height erected, and the lake gradually encroaching npon the low lands, until in June, the lake had grown to nearly double its original size, and daily spreading out.
The dam having been erected without legal interference, it was claimed by the proprietors that they had a legal right to maintain it. A public meeting was called, at which it was resolved: First-That the dam was a nuisance; second - That the nuisance should be abated ; third-It should be done immediately. Accordingly, on the night of June 15, there was standing on the bank of the outlet of Rush Lake, about forty men, which included nearly all the men in town, with the minister. A large bon-fire was built at one end of the dam, which threw a lurid glare into the forest, bringing into relief about one hundred Indians, who had come out of their camps a few rods distant, and standing as spectators of the unusual proceedings, and awaiting further developements. The elder having taken off his coat, mounted a large maple stump, and made a short address, recounting the history of the dam aud justifying the resolutions adopted by the meeting. His closing words were: "Friends-the exercises of the evening will
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
[1846-79.
begin by making a hole in the dam." But the hole was not so easily made, the structure being what is called a log and brush dam, covered with dirt and gravel. Going out to the middle of the dam, a crow-bar was worked down through the cover- ing and between the logs, until an opening was made the size of a man's arm, when the water found an opening, and after a deal of labor, a log was loosened and the water poured through. The logs on each side of the opening were pried out, and the flood which momentarily grew into a torrent, poured through. Logs, drift-wood and floating islands, drifted down from the lake, and passed down stream with the flood. The destruction of the dam was complete, and although the lake has at times been temporarily damned since, yet no particular damage has resulted from it.
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