History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc., Part 175

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052

USA > Wisconsin > History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc. > Part 175

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M. STEFFEN, dealer in general merchandise, Peshtigo. Is a native of Luxemberg, Germany. Came to Peshtigo in 1871, worked at the blacksmith trade about five years. This business was started soon after the fire with a small stock, and is now doing the largest trade in Peshtigo, except the company's store.

JOHN STUART, proprietor of Stuart House, Peshtigo. Is a native of Canada ; he first came to Peshtigo in 1862, where he remained one year, then returned to Canada, and has been a resident here since 1865; first carried on the boot and shoe trade about three years, when in Can- ada he had carried on the grocery and bakery business; since 1868 he has carried on the hotel business.

HENRY TROUTWINE, farmer, Sec. II, P. O. Peshtigo; he has 160 acres. Was born in the northern part of Germany ; came to America in 1856, and located in Vermont for two years, then came to New York State ; enlisted Dec. 28, 1861, in Co. D, 92d Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and served three years. Came to Peshtigo and commenced to improve his farm. Was married in Vermont, to Lena E. Vandyne, she was born in Canada ; they have four children-Lucinda, Mary J., Frederic and Littie.

HENRY L. WEED, lumber, Peshtigo. Is a native of Wayne Co., Pa .; at the age of about twelve years he came to Delaware County ; there he learned the carpenter trade ; in 1853 he came to Illinois, worked at his trade till 1857, when he returned to Delaware County ; remained there till 1863, when he came to Peshtigo and has worked at his trade here till about 1873, since then he has followed the lumber business. He has just completed his residence, which is one of the most complete and best constructed houses in town,

CHARLES WENZEL, blacksmith, in the employ of the Peshtigo Co. He is a native of Prussia, and came to America when quite young with his parents, learned his trade with his father; he is also a member of the Peshtigo band; his father. John Wenzel, is foreman in the black- smith shop for the Peshtigo Co., and has been since IS76, and has been in their employ since the Spring of 1869, being the year he landed in America.

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HISTORY OF MARINETTE COUNTY.

DR. WM. WINDROSS, physician, Peshtigo. Is a native of En- gland, came with his parents to Utica, N. Y., in 1833; in 1837, the family came to Green Bay, there he commenced the study of medicine, and has been practicing the past twenty-five years ; he has lived in Oconto County from 1852 to 1877, since then he has been a resident of Peshtigo. His father, Jno. Windross, Sr., died April 28, 1859, aged seventy years ; his mother died May 17, 1868, aged seventy-seven years.

REV. LYMAN W. WINSLOW, pastor of the Congregational Church, Peshtigo, is a native of New York State. Came to Wisconsin with his parents when quite young. Took his preparatory at Han- over, N. Y., and graduated at Beloit, and also graduated at the Theo- logical Seminary at Andover, Mass., in 1867. Was ordained August, 1869, at Hidesville, California, where he went, after completing his ed- ucation, for his health. He crossed the plains, partly by team and the rest horseback. He remained there a few years, and when the war broke out, after his return, he enlisted, in 1864, in Co. B, 40th Regt., Wis. V. I., the term of his enlistment being one hundred days. He came to Peshtigo. in 1872, and took his present charge. In the Fall of 1877 he was elected Superintendent of Public Schools for the county, which was Oconto at that time, but soon after the county was divided, and Marinette taken off. He then resigned, and was appointed by the Governor to serve out the balance of the term in the new county, and, in 1879, was elected to the same office.

S. D. WOODWARD, firm of Oakes & Woodward, general mer- chandise, Peshtigo, is a native of La Crosse. Wis. When about two years old, he came, with his parents, to Peshtigo. After attending school, he was employed as clerk for R. O. Philbrook, and afterward for the Peshtigo Company. September, 1880, he, with Mr. Oakes, formed a partnership, which they have since continued.

C. F. YEATON, teacher district school No. 7, P. O. Peshtigo, is a native of Lowell, Mass. In 1860, he came with his parents to Pensau- kee, Wis. He has been teaching in the town of Peshtigo for the past three years.

MENOMINEE, MICHIGAN.

LOCATION.

Menominee is situated at the southern extremity of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, just across the river from Marinette, Wis. But for its intimate connection with the iron region of Lake Superior, it might for all practical pur- poses be considered in all its interests a city of Northern Wisconsin. To treat of Marinette, and neglect Menomi- nee, would be like cutting open a remarkably plump apple and throwing half away. Menominee lies between the mouth of the river and Green Bay, and on the western bank, similarly situated, is Marinette.

THE HARBOR.

Some time previous to 1871, surveys were made for the improvement of Menominee harbor, Michigan and Wiscon- sin, in charge of Maj. H. M. Roberts, U. S. A. In that year, the south pile pier was commenced and 1,150 feet com- pleted before the close of 1871-2. Work continued for the next three years on the north and south sides, and dredging commenced, to deepen the channel of the river and remove the bar across its mouth. Although the extension of the piers and superstructure has been carried on more or less since 1871, the improvements are not completed. Up to the close of the fiscal year 1880, $163,000 had been appro- priated for the work. The estimated cost of extending piers to sixteen-foot curve in Green Bay, with dredging a channel fourteen feet deep between the piers, is $212,000. Nearly 200,000 yards of material have been dredged from the channel already. The continuation of the pier exten- sion for the season of 1881-2 is under the charge of Col. Bradley, and is progressing satisfactorily. The present pro- ject for the improvement of the harbor was adopted in 1871, and was modified in 1874, the object being to afford a chan-

nel of navigable width and not less than twelve feet deep. The natural channel was narrow, not more than four feet deep in its shoalest part.

Although Menominee has a brisk population of 3,500 people, it has never been incorporated, even as a village. It evidently does not long for municipal honors and taxes.

FIRST PLATS.

John Quimby, one of the fathers of Menominee, and who owned much of the land on which it now stands, had his lots platted near the river, in the vicinity of Kirby and Guy streets, in February, 1862. This is the first plat and is recorded on the 24th of that month, as " John Quimby's Lots," by which it is now known from among the additions since made. Main street cut the plat in two, and First, Second and Third streets intersected it into eight blocks. It is transcribed from the Marquette Register Office, Bleek- er County, of which Menominee was a part, and of which it remained two years, as long as the county lived. Menom- inee County was organized in the Winter of 1863, the pas- sage of the act being due to the late Hon. E. S. Ingalls. Although Anson Bangs, of Marinette, had lobbied Bleeker County through the Legislature in 1861, expecting to make some money out of his lands on this side, as he did not consult Menominee, Menominee refused to organize under that name, which left his financial schemes high and dry from the tide-line of success. When Menominee County was created and organized in 1863, the township and set- tlement of Menominee became cheerfully a part of it.

By the provisions of the act, the county seat was to be fixed in Town 31 north, Range 27 west, and John Quimby, Sr., Nicholas Gewehr and E. S. Ingalls, appointed for the purpose, located it, in the Spring of 1863, opposite the Quimby Hotel, afterward the Kirby House. In 1874, the location was changed to the present one on Ogden avenne, chosen. A court-house, two stories and basement, built of red brick, with stone trimmings, was constructed at a cost of $32,000, and is a decided credit to Menominee.

EARLY HISTORY.

The early settlements near Menominee and Marinette are so linked together that it is useless to draw any distinct line and say, "This man belongs to Menominee," or " This woman first located in Marinette." Before Marinette gave the settlement on the Wisconsin side of the river its name, the region was all known as the Menominee. The first white man to really establish himself was the Indian trader and agent of the American Fur Company, Chappieu, who built his post on the Wisconsin side, in 1798. As his ex- perience is so closely connected with Farnsworth, the hus- band of Marinette, his life here is depicted somewhat in detail in the sketch of the Wisconsin town. Many of the descendants of John G. Kittson, who came to Menominee in 1826, four years after Farnsworth located on the opposite side of the river, are still living in this place. Mr. Kittson was a clerk of the Fur Company, opened the first farm in the county, at Wausaukee Bend, above Grand Rapids, was all his life an energetic business man, and died in 1872.

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

Though he escaped instant death in the great fire of 1871, it is believed the shock which his system then sustained hastened his death. Next, in the same year, came Joseph Duncan, a packer of the company. Then followed Baptiste Premeau and Charles McLeod, in 1832, the latter still living on the Menominee side, the husband of Marinette's daughter, Elizabeth Jacobs. Mr. McLeod built the first frame house in the county, and still resides in it. Andrew Eveland located in 1842, and built the first frame house within the

numbers thirteen members, has also a hook and ladder, and very complete headquarters in the lower part of the Town Hall, on Main street. The building, a substantial one of red brick, was erected by the township of Menominee, in 1874, at a cost of $8,000. The upper part contains the town hall and office, and a library room, stocked with books.

As far back as 1857, " school was kept " in Henry Na- son's house, near the shore of the bay, and in the same year Mr. Nason, E. N. Davis, Andreas Eveland and W. G. Bos-

MOSS EN NY

MENOMINEE, MICH.

present limits of the village. John Quimby settled here in 1845, and may be called the pioneer landlord, the scene of this busy life being the site of the present Kirby House and the hotel itself. This virtually closes the list of early settlers.

Although Menominee is unincorporated, it has all the facilities, comforts and appearance of a city. Its hotel accommodations are good. It has an efficient fire depart- ment. Educational advantages are within the reach of all, through the district system. It has a well-conducted news- paper, a number of flourishing churches and societies, and its full share of the business and trade of this section.

In 1872, a hand engine, the first one, was bought, and George Harter became foreman. About the same time, the Kirby Carpenter Company purchased another. In 1874, an Amoskeag steam engine was bought. The company, which

well built the first school-house in the county, on what is now Ogden avenue. School District No. 1, which embraces Menominee, was organized in 1863, the year the county was created. Various buildings were used for school purposes, as the population of Menominee increased, two wooden buildings having been erected by the town and one house rented, between 1864 and 1880. During that year and 1881, a fine edifice, of red brick, two stories and basement, with lofty tower, was erected at a cost of $17,000. The property is valued, in all, at $20,000. The attendance is 250, the school having a grammar department, where the higher branches are taught.

The Herald was established September 10, 1863, by E. S. Ingalls, as a Republican paper. Andrew R. Bradbury took charge of the paper in 1866, and conducted it until 1871, when James A. Crozier bought it. In 1874, he sold

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HISTORY OF MARINETTE COUNTY.

out to Dudley S. Crandall, who, after publishing the journal one year, disposed of it to Mr. Crozier, its former proprietor. That gentleman, in June, 1881, sold the Herald to H. O. Fifield, an old and experienced editor. The paper is Re- publican in politics, a nine-column folio, issued weekly, and has the field in Menominee to itself.

Churches .- St. John's (Catholic). This Church was organ- ized in the Fall of 1872, under the late Father M. A. Fox, and the edifice erected in 1872-73. A parsonage was built in 1878. The value of the property is $10,000. Father Hilliare, present pastor, has in his keeping, 600 families, or 3,000 souls. The Catholic Knights of America, an insurance society of a benevolent nature, is connected with the Church.

The First Presbyterian Church is the oldest religious organization in the county. The society was formed by Rev. John Fairchild, of Marinette, a home missionary. It was through the enthusiastic determination of Henry Loomis, a young theological student of Auburn, N. Y., that the church building was erected. The Kirby Carpenter Company donated the lot. The building committee con- sisted of Samuel M. Stephenson, E. S. Ingalls, and William P. Newberry, the church being) dedicated July 18, 1869. The property is valued at $6,000. Rev. A. W. Bill, the present pastor, has charge of the most flourishing Protestant congregation in the city, numbering seventy-two members.

The Episcopal Church .- The society worships in the Temple of Honor Hall. Rev. William Dafler is the pastor.

German Evangelical Lutheran Church .- The society was organized in June, 1873, and the church building com- pleted the next year. The value of the property is $3,000, and the Church membership forty. Rev. Henry Hilleman, of Peshtigo, is pastor.

German Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in the Fall of 1880, and a building completed during the past Autumn. The site was donated by Isaac Stephenson. A parsonage adjoining it was also erected. The property is valued at $2,000. Rev Michael Entzininger is pastor of a congregation of forty members.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, also, has had an or- ganization and church since 1874, but has at present no settled pastor.

Societies .- Menominee Lodge ·No. 269, F. & A. M. Its dispensation was received Aug. 9, 1869, William Somerville, W. M. Its present membership is sixty, Andrew Gram, W. M.

Menominee Lodge No. 131, I. O. O. F. Instituted Oct. 15, 1869. Its first N. G. elected in 1870, was George Hartner. Present membership, thirty-seven ; Joseph Bernheim, N. G.

Societe St. Louis de Secours Mutnels de Menominee .- This society, composed of Frenchmen, and a member of the union of the French Societe of the United States, was incor- porated September 13, 1874, and became a part of the national organization on the 21st of that month. Its objects are purely benevolent. Theodolph Trudel was its first

president. Present membership of the society, eighty. President Joseph Bonin.

The Turnverein was formed in 1877, and a large hall, 58x100 feet, built in 1880, at a cost with furnishings of $6,000. Present membership fifty ; president, Jacob Leiser. The hall is on Ogden avenue, near Main street.

Stephenson Company's Branch Bank .- For the conven- ience of the people of Menominee, the Stephenson Banking Company, of Marinette, established a branch here, in March, 1875. The certificate was filed as "The German Bank," in the name of Jacob Muth, cashier, who conducts the busi- ness. Two banking institutions, Hunt & Fraser's "Men- ominee Bank " and " The Exchange Bank," established in 1873, have since discontinued.

MANUFACTURES.

The situation of Menominee and the education of its people fix it, for some years to come, as a prosperous manu- facturing center. By common consent, the Kirby Carpenter Lumber Company is accorded the first place in the list of its richest and most flourishing establishments.

In 1856, Abner Kirby, of Milwaukee, commenced a saw- mill, and completed it the next year. The locality was then a sand bar, near the mouth of the river, just opposite Me- nominee. The land has since been filled up by the refuse from the Kirby Carpenter mills, and is now solid ground. The original Kirby mill, however, is still standing. In 1859, S. M. Stevenson took entire charge of the business, becom- ing a partner in it. Since then, he has continued its active manager. In 1861, Augustus A. Carpenter, and, soon after, William O. Carpenter, entered into partnership, and the Kirby Carpenter Company was incorporated April 29, 1872. Its first officers were : President, Angustus A. Carpenter ; Vice-President, S. M. Stephenson ; Secretary, S. P. Gibbs. The new mill, further down the river, was built in 1868, and has a capacity of 200,000 feet per day ; the old one, 130,- ooo feet. During the same year in which the new mill was erected, a large boarding-house for the accommodation of employes was built, and in the Fall of 1870 a general store was put in operation. Its transactions amount to $125,000 annually. The Kirby Carpenter Company, whose capital stock is $500,000, owns 110,000 acres of land, located in Michigan and Wisconsin. It has, for the transportation of the product of its mills, a magnificent fleet of six barges, two vessels, one propeller, the " Favorite," and a ing. A third interest is also owned in a dredge. A new vessel is abont to be built in Manitowoc, which will materially increase the carrying capacity of the fleet. This season's sawing will amount to 70,000,000 feet, of which the mills in Menominee turned out 55,000,000. Besides the supply from its own lands, it bought, last year, 175,000,000 feet. Between 600,- 000,000 and 700,000,000 feet of lumber are growing on its own lands. The company is, without doubt, one of the wealthiest and strongest in the Northwest. Its present offi- cers are the same as those serving when the company was incorporated, in 1872.

R. Stephenson & Co .- In 1863, when the first mill of

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

the now Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick Company was built in Menominee, a copartnership was formed by Daniel Wells, Jr., Harrison Ludington, Isaac and Robert Stephen- son. The mill was known here as the R. Stephenson & Company's mill, and was the best on the river. It was burned in 1864, and two years later Isaac Stephenson sold his interest to Anthony G. Van Schaick, of Chicago. In 1871, the "Gilmore Mill," on the point, was purchased, and shortly afterward burned in the great fire. In 1873, another and a better one was completed, and the firm was incorporated as a company the next year (1874), July 1. Its officers were : Harrison Ludington, president ; Daniel Wells, vice-presi- dent ; Anthony G. Van Schaick, secretary and treasurer, and Robert Stephenson, superintendent. The officers are at present the same, except that C. S. Burdsal is secretary. The capacity of the Bay Shore mill is 160,000 feet, and of the River mill 120,000 feet of lumber, daily. At the for- mer, 150 men are employed, and at the latter, seventy-five. The season's sawing will aggregate 45,000. The company own extensive tracts of land on the Menominee and Oconto rivers.

Ramsey & Jones's mill .- Simon Strauss, who had for- merly been a successful general merchant, erected the mill in 1860. During the next year, he got it in running order, but it did not make any money for him. After operating the concern two years he closed out his business. Next came William McCartney, who, after a brief season of en- deavor, sold out to John L. Buell, who made many improve- ments, but still failed to make the enterprise a success. It has since passed through many hands, until it came into possession of David H. Jones & Co., who went into bank- ruptcy. Charles H. Jones bought an interest in 1877, and commenced running the mill the next year. It is now oper- ated by Ramsey & Jones-B. Ramsey and Charles H. Jones. It has a capacity of from 90,000 to 100,000 feet per day, and sixty-five men are employed. Improvements have been made, both within and without, until now it is one of the flourishing mills on the river.

Two saw-mills, of small capacity, operated by Messrs. Hall & Crozier and Spies & Martin, have just started oper- ations, and must be given time to make history and Inmber.

The Menominee Iron Company was incorporated in 1872, and the construction of the furnace commenced in October of that year. It went into blast in August, 1873, being erected at a cost of $140,000, under the superintend- ence of James White. It was incorporated as the Menomi- nee Furnace Company, in 1876, and run for three years, under a lease, by Culbert, Spring & Co. A. B. Meeker, first president of the iron company, is at the head of the present corporation ; W. L. Brown is secretary and treasurer, and J. A. Wagg, superintendent. The capacity of the furnace is forty tons of pig iron per day. About seventy men are employed. The company is pushed and crowded with busi- ness, and will turn out 12,000 tons this season. The works are situated on the bay shore, in North Menominee.

The first buildings of the Menominee Bay Brewery on a small scale, were erected in the Fall of 1872. Additions

were afterward made, but in May, 1878, fire swept away the property. A three-story structure, the present one, was then erected, which, with subsequent improvements, is now valued at $15,000. The capacity of the brewery, which is the only one in the place, is 8,000 barrels of beer per year. Its pro- duct is sent all over the northern part of the State. Pro- prietors, Messrs. Jacob Leisen and John Henes.

In the Winter of 1880-81, the machine shop on Ogden avenue, which had been for so long idle, was put in working order by Matthew Horrocks, of Muskegon, Mich. It was getting fairly started in business, when it was leveled to the ground by fire, in August, 1881.

COMMUNICATION.

The building up of Menominee's business interests, of which the above sketches give an index, is due to her good commercial situation and transportation facilities, as much as to the energetic character of her people-rather it is due entirely to both circumstances combined. In 1871, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was extended from Green Bay to Menominee, and the next year continued, by way of Escanaba, into the rich mineral regions of Lake Superior. From the time that the "New York " stopped at Menomi- nee in 1836, with Daniel Wells, Jr., aboard, up to 1869, when the Goodrich Transportation Company commenced making regular trips with its boats, the point has been looked upon as one destined to grow and supply life for the transporta- tion business in this section. The dock of the company is in Menominee, but the free and friendly communication be- tween this place and Marinette, draws the traffic of the two places there, as if like conveniences had been provided for the Wisconsin side. The bridge which connects the two cities, was built in 1867, by the N. Ludington Company, and repaired by the Hamilton & Merryman Company in 1874-5, each county bearing one-half the expense. The railroad bridge was constructed in 1872. Thus are Menomi- nee and Marinette riveted together in every possible way, short of being in one State, and being incorporated as one city.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

S. W. ABBOTT, agent American Express Company, Menominee, born in 1820, in Steuben Co., N. Y. In 1830 came to Calhoun Co., Mich., with his parents ; here his father kept a tavern and ran a farm, and he assisted his father in the business; in 1842 returned to New York and worked on the Erie Canal five years ; he then came to Joliet ; in the Spring of 1848, came to Sheboygan Co., Wis. ; ran an ashery and farm till 1856, when he came to Menominee; when the post-office was established here he was appointed Postmaster, which position he held till April, 1881. He has been the agent of the Express Company since it was established ; he was the first County Treasurer of Menominee County ; held the office about fourteen years ; has also held the office of Coroner.

A. P. ANDERSON, assistant engineer at Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick Co.'s Shore Mill, Menominee. Born Feb. 28, 1842 in Sweden. In 1867, came to Menominee, Mich., and has since then been in the em- ploy of this company ; he first worked at various kinds of labor about this mill, and in 1874 he was appointed assistant engineer under the supervision of Mr. Gram, still continuing in this capacity. Before com- ing to America he had served two years in the Swedish army. He is a member of the Lutheran Church.

JOHN ASCHEN, blacksmith, at Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick Company's Mills. Born July 18, 1837, in Prussia. Came to Menom- inee in 1866, and has since been in the employ of this company: first worked in the mill a few months, then came into the blacksmith shop as helper, and for the past twelve years he has lad full charge of

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HISTORY OF MARINETTE COUNTY

this department. Married, 1876, to Miss Seamon ; she is a native of Mecklenburg, Germany.

WILLIAM BENTHOUSE, boarding-house keeper for Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick Co., Menominee. Mr. Benthouse is a native of Ger- many. Born July 9, 1847 ; he came to America with his parents, in 1849, and settled in Milwaukee. In 1869, came to Menominee, Mich., and worked in saw-mill for Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick Co., till 1873, when he took charge of the Realy House for the same company, which position he held for three years and seven months. He was then assigned the position of keeper of their large boarding house on the bay shore, where the employes of the mill are well cared for under his'management. Mr. Benthouse married, in 1873, Miss Mary Soko, of Bohemia ; has one daughter, Hanna, a bright little girl, six years old.

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Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1052

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052