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 20

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 20

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" There were quite a number of very respectable French families residing at the Bay when I arrived there : Judge Lawe, Judge Porlier, and seven brothers and two sisters, named Grignon. *

* They were all engaged in the * Indian trade, under the American Fur Company, each cul- tivating a small quantity of land. Their manners and cus- toms were of the most primitive character. They never used the yoke for their oxen, but instead, fastened sticks across the oxen's horns to draw by, and mostly used for tugs, rope made out of bark. Their plows were very un- couth, the plowshares being about as large as smoothing- irons, while the beam was about twelve feet long, with a pair of wheels near the fore end to keep it sufficiently ele- vated from the ground. They could not plow within fif- teen feet of their fences. I made the first ox yoke that was ever seen at the Bay. Their principal food was wild game, fish and hulled corn. They caught large quantities of sturgeon and trout, and they made immense quantities of maple sugar. At the proper season in the Spring, the en- tire settlement would remove to their sugar camps, often remain two months, each family making eight or ten hun- dred pounds of the finest sugar I ever saw.

" In the Winter of 1820, the President sent out a com- missioner to examine the land claims of the French settlers at Green Bay. Under the ancient French regime, they had guaranteed to them as much land as they would cultivate. In examining these claims, it was found that while they varied in extent, they were very narrow on the river, run- ning back three miles. * * *

" The present State of Wisconsin, although formerly a part of the Territory of Michigan, was for many years rather an appendage than a component part of that Terri- tory. Michigan had a Supreme Court, consisting of three Judges ; its sessions were held but semi-annually, at De- troit, and this part of the Territory derived no advantages from that august and learned body. Criminals had to be conveyed thence for trial, and controversies, involving large

amounts, were there adjudicated. The judiciary of this por- tion of the Territory, at that period, was composed of County Courts and Justices of the Peace. The Courts consisted of three Judges, none of whom were lawyers ; their jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, was limited. The Justices of the Peace were such as could be selected from among those who were capable of reading and writing. In the year 1823, Congress passed an act establishing what was called 'The Additional Judicial District,' com- prising the counties of Brown, Michilimackinac and Craw- ford, and the Hon. James Duane Doty was appointed Judge by President Monroe, and held the office for about nine years. *

* * The inhabitants of the settlement, exclusive of the native Indians, were mostly Canadian- French, and those of mixed blood. There were in 1824, at Green Bay, but six or eight resident American families, and the families of the officers stationed at Fort Howard, in number about the same. The character of the people was a compound of civilization and primitive simplicity - exhibiting the polite and lively characteristics of the French and the thoughtlessness and improvidence of the abori- gines. Possessing the virtues of hospitality and the warmth of heart unknown to the residents of cities, un- trammeled by the etiquette and conventional rules of mod- ern high life, they were ever ready to receive and entertain their friends, and more intent upon the enjoyment of the present than to lay up store or make provision for the future. With few wants and contented and happy hearts, they found enjoyment in the merry dance, the sleigh ride and the exciting horse-race, and doubtless experienced more true happiness and contentment than the plodding, calculating and money-seeking people of the present day. This was the character of the settlers who occupied this country before the arrival of the Yankees - a class now entirely extinct or lost sight of by the present population ; but it is one which unites the present with the past, and for whom the settlers entertain feelings of veneration and respect. They deserve to be remembered, and placed on the pages of history as the first real pioneers of Wisconsin."

Albert G. Ellis arrived in Green Bay in 1822. His recollection of early events is clear, and his narrative interesting :

" The Captain of the ' Superior' dropped anchor abreast Fort Howard, at that time [1822] unoccupied, and in a state of dilapidation; the troops having been removed two years before by the colonel commanding - one Colonel Smith - two and one-half miles up the river, to an emi- nence on the right bank, which he named Camp Smith, and where he had built a stockade, and indifferent barracks. But the location being half a mile from the river, which it failed of commanding, was decided against by his superiors, as an unfit site for the garrison. Smith was superseded in the command, and the troops moved back to Fort How- ard that Fall, under command of Colonel Pinkney. The fort was fully repaired, and thence forward made the ren- dezvous for all the troops and army operations of the upper country. During the two years that Colonel Smith had held the troops at Camp Smith, all the followers of the army of the Bay country amounting to some hundreds, had ensconced themselves along the river bank, just below and in front of the stockades, where they had erected numer- ous sheds, many of them half in and half out of the bank, and in which they had gathered their various articles of commerce and trade. This little nondescript village had obtained the sobriquet of 'Shanty Town.' The rum of Camp Smith, although greatly injuring 'Shanty Town,' did not quite destroy it, business had so strong a hold there. It it had three of the principal traders, with their stocks of

HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY.

goods, and was fast being known as the business point for the whole vicinage. Robert Irwin, Jr., had built him a good residence, had his young wife, his father and mother, brothers and sisters with him, and was engaged in trade. Daniel Whitney, the most enterprising trader in the North- west, had erected a good store, and filled it with merchan- dise. William Dickinson, another pushing trader, was building a store and dwelling-house. Soon after, H. S. Baird, built a house there, and occupied it with his young wife; and in another year, Judge Doty, having arrived from Prairie du Chien, built a fine dwelling, just above the vil- lage, and procured the establishment of the seat of justice for Brown County, at this same 'Shanty Town,' the name of which he ineffectually attempted to change to Menomo- neeville. A court-house and jail, the first west of Lake Michigan, were erected here ; and here the seat of justice continued, and courts were held, until some years after- wards. William Dickinson, Ebenezer Childs, and others, also, had established themselves, under the name of the Depere Manufacturing Company, procured, through act of the Michigan Legislature, and a vote of the people, its re- moval to Depere. Many other parties besides those named had, as early as 1824, established themselves at this ' Shanty Town;' and soon thereafter, the Episcopal Mis- sion School, under the superintendence of Rev. Richard F. Cadle, with extensive buildings, was there located, followed next year by fixing the Indian Agency at that point also, under Major Brevoort. The erection of a respectable church edifice and school buildings, by the Catholics, soon followed. The place went on increasing in strength and population till 1832, when the platting of Navarino below it, opposite Fort Howard, and of Depere above it, at Rapid des Peres, began to draw away its people and business, when it slowly declined, Navarino and Astor absorbing most of its trade and inhabitants.

"In 1822, not a shingle had been put up at that part of the town of Green Bay first called Navarino - there were only three buildings on the east side of the Fox River, below Lawe's Point, and those the houses which had been vacated by the Langlades - one occupied by Pierre Grignon : and a house but just put up by some of Langlade's grandchildren, I think Augustin Grignon; and these Grignons were the leading families of the French inhabitants. There were some half dozen houses along the river, below Lawe's Point, occupied by the Grignon family, and a new one just finished, which after- ward fell into Judge Arndt's hands; and an old one, much dilapidated, just at the mouth of the little slough below. Arndt's house, only a part of which was still remaining, was said to have been the building occupied by Charles de Langlade, and in which he died. Pierre Grignon, the oldest of the Grignon brothers, was living in a house a few rods above Arndt's old place.

"On the west side was the old fort ; not a building of any kind above, below, or near it for a mile. The residents on the river, except some half a dozen Americans, were retired French voyageurs and half-breed French and Menomonees; they had, without let or hindrance, taken up the whole shore of the river above the fort for six miles, divided it off into little strips of one or two French arpents in width, which they called their farms; they claimed back at right angles from the river eighty arpents, about two and three- fourths miles in depth. They had reduced most of the fronts for an acre, or two, or three, some more, some less, deep, to a state of cultivation, and had growing at the time of our arrival, the ist of September, very fair crops of po- tatoes, maize, oats, peas, Spring wheat, pumpkins, melons, * * cabbages, onions and other common vegetables. *

"On my first arrival in the country, I found at the Bay, of

American citizens, the following persons : Robert Irwin, Jr., Daniel Whitney, Alexander J. Irwin, Samuel Irwin, Eben- ezer Childs, William Dickinson, Mr. Holton, the school-mas- ter ; William Farnsworth, George Johnson, Mr. Brown from Ohio, to which he returned with his family next year ; Mr. Wheeler, Benjamin Smith, David Kelso, Moses Hardwick, Major Matthew Irwin, United States factor; A. G. Bean; these in 1822. Other Americans came in soon after : H. S. Baird, J. D. Doty, H. B. Brevoort, Indian agent; Lewis Rouse, Linus Thompson, Charles Tullar, John P. Arndt and family, in 1824-5 ; and still later, John Y. Smith. Of persons dismissed from the army : Captain Curtis, Lieu- tenant John McCarty, and Lieutenant Morgan. The officers of the army, as near as is recollected, in 1823 were : Colonel Pinkney, commanding; Captains Wm. Whistler, Browning and Hunt ; Lieutenants Dean, Loring, Cowan, J. W. Cotton and Lowe ; Majors Heron and Whiting, sutlers to the post ; Dr. Wheaton, surgeon ; and Frank Wheaton, brother of the surgeon.

"Of the French inhabitants and Canadians resident, the following were among the most prominent : John Lawe, Pierre Grignon, Augustin Grignon, Amable Grignon, Louis Grignon, Charles Grignon, Perrish Grignon, James Porlier, and Joseph Jourdain.

"From 1816 to 1824, a period of eight years, although Wisconsin and a part of Michigan Territory were nominally under the protection of the flag of the Union, yet but little of parental care was bestowed upon her citizens in civil life by the General Government. The rule that bore sway was essentially military. No courts were organized, and offend- ers against the laws were either sent from remote parts of the settlement to Detroit for trial, or perhaps more usually suffered to escape punishment. The civil code was limited, and but sparingly administered. But the military code, such as it was, more than supplied the deficiencies of the civil. While this state of things continued, it occasionally hap- pened that some military genius, possessed of more tinsel than discretion, became the commanding officer, and to mark the era of his reign, would exercise his 'little brief authority' in an arbitrary manner, and thus contrive to render the condition of the citizen as uncomfortable as possible. Instances of high-handed oppression and in- justice were, in the early days of our history, frequently committed by some military martinet upon the persons, lib- erty or property of those whom they were sent to protect.

" It happened that some thirty years ago a gentlemen still living in this State, being then engaged in the Indian trade near Green Bay, became obnoxious to a Government agent who had the authority to grant licenses to the traders. On applying for a license, as usual, the trader was refused. on the alleged ground that he had on some former occasion violated the laws of trade and intercourse with the Indians. The trader, therefore, hired two Indians and their canoes, and started for a distant agency, intending there to obtain his license and return for his goods. After proceeding some miles, the trader was overtaken by another canoe, strongly manned and armed, having on board the United States In- dian interpreter and eight or nine Indians. The interpreter stopped the trader, and ordered him to go on board of the armed canoe, together with his Indian comrades. This he refused to do, when he and his companions were seized and forcibly carried back to the place whence they started a few hours previously. They were all landed on a beach near the agency house, and the trader and Indians ordered into the building. The trader, of course, refused to obey, and went his way unmolested. But the poor innocent Indians fared much worse. They were marched as prisoners to the garrison, accompanied by the interpreter, with a polite note from the agent, requesting the commanding officer to give

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

each a dozen lashes, and confine them in the guard house until further orders. This request was promptly complied with, before the civil authori y could interpose to prevent it. I need hardly say that great excitement prevailed, and much indignation was manifested at this cruel and arbitrary exercise of unlawful authority. As soon as a writ of habeas corpus could be obtained, the poor maltreated Indians were re- leased. But unable to comprehend why they were thus punished, they fled as soon as they were set at liberty, and were not seen at the place of their suffering for a long time afterwards. Civil authority being then fully established, the persons who so grossly violated the law and outraged every feeling of humanity, were immediately arrested, and required to give bail for their appearance to answer the complaint at the next term of the court; but before the time for trial, the guilty parties were very willing to settle the matter by making reparation, and paying the Indians handsome smart money.

" A more recent affair of a similar character occurred at Green Bay, when two citizens were arrested by the sentinel in open day, and marched by the guard to the fort, a dis- tance of half a mile, charged with having dared to land on the fort side of Fox River without permission from the com- manding officer. In this instance the military was obliged to succumb to the civil authority. The officer by whose orders the parties were arrested was prosecuted for the out- rage, and considered himself fortunate to escape with a fine. " Many other instances of usurpation of authority, al- though not on record, are fresh in the recollection of the early settlers of Wisconsin-such as demolishing houses, firing into vessels or boats attempting to pass the fort with- out stopping to report to the commandant, etc. "

A lady who ascended Fox River in 1825, gives an interesting account of Green Bay and its vicinity, in that year.

"We took [she says] passage on board the steamer ' Walk-in-the-Water,' at Buffalo, on the tenth day of July, 1825, and after a tedious voyage around the lakes, we ar- rived at Green Bay on the twentieth of the same month. We stopped a day at Detroit, and another at Mackinac [Mackinaw]. At the head of Green Bay we entered the Fox River. Near the mouth of this river is situated Fort Howard, where there are stationed three companies of United States troops under the command of Major Meigs.

" The buildings are all inclosed within a high board fence, whitewashed or painted, and the whole structure looks neat and trim. A sentry was posted and kept guard in front of the entrance. The stars and stripes floated from the flag-staff, and the surrounding country seemed a dense forest. Not a house or inhabitant was visible. When we came abreast of the fort, our steamer saluted the national flag and stopped. A boat with four soldiers and a lieutenant soon left the shore, and the latter came on board and talked with the captain and looked over the passengers and cargo, and being satisfied that we had nothing on board hostile to the peace or security of the country, he left, and we again proceeded on our way. The river here is broad and apparently very deep ; on either side the land is a dense forest down to the water's edge, skirted in many places with a rank growth of wild rice and reeds, among which are innumerable flocks of ducks and other wild fowl. Three miles further up the river we arrived at our destina- tion, 'the settlement ' known here as Shanty Town. The old fort, originally built by the English, was located near here; it has now nearly all disappeared. The new fort now ·occupied, and which I have described as being near the mouth of the river, has been now in use over three years, and as no settlers or traders will be allowed near the new

fort, the soldiers often come up here, and indulge them- selves too often in intoxicating liquors.

"The uncouth name 'Shanty Town' was given to the place by the soldiers of the old fort. There are only three or four American families here: the Whitneys, the Ir- wins, and the Lawrences; also, two or three English fami- lies who came here many years ago, when the English held the old fort.

" All the rest of the inhabitants are French Canadians and their descendants, many of whom married Indian wives. The language generally spoken is French, inter- spersed with a good deal of Menomonee Indian, and some English. The houses do not exceed one hundred in num- ber. They are mostly situated along the bank of the river, and are some distance apart from each other. They are all built of logs, one story high excepting the tavern or public house, which is two stories high. This house is kept by Col. Irwin, and is used at times for all kinds of gatherings, as well as for court-house and election purposes. We stopped here several days and fared comfortably. The table was rough, but well supplied with game and fish, which is very abundant. There is hardly any business going on here, and there is little or no money in circulation. All is barter with the Indians, for peltries and skins, for which they get in exchange, guns and ammunition, blankets and flannels and trinkets for female adornment. John Jacob Astor, of New York, has a large store-house here and at several other trading posts in the interior of the country ; and here in the Spring are gathered the fruits of the Winter's hunting and shipped to New York.

" The Indians come from great distances to trade. They bring with them their ponies and squaws and pa- pooses. The poor squaws haul as heavy burdens as the ponies, and build the wigwams while their husbands lie around in idleness, and get drunk as often as they can get whisky. They are very peaceable and quiet. I went among them, and it was very amusing the astonishment with which they regarded me. Many of the mothers had their babies bandaged on to a piece of board so tightly that the poor little things could not stir body or limb, and yet there was no crying. It was a funny sight to see the dear little things laid away against a tree or something else, their bright eyes set in swarthy complexions of dimpled innocence, forming a picture to love. I yearned to let them loose and hug them, but did not dare to. There is no post- office here yet. The officers of the fort and some others have a man to carry the mail to and from Fort Dearborn at the head of Lake Michigan, two hundred miles away. This trip is made about once in every two or three months during the Winter. In Summer we fare a little better, as then the mail comes by boat. There is no church or pub- lic school here, and Sunday differs but little from the other days of the week.

"There is a Catholic mission and church about six miles up the river, at a place called De Pere, and a Protest- ant Episcopal mission some miles above that, where the Oneida, or New York Indians are located. We leave here for our destination, Fort Crawford, which is over two hun- dred miles from here. We are to make the journey in a bark canoe. There is not a white resident on the whole route, and, although at times I fear for our lives, yet my duty and attachment to my husband will embolden me to meet all dangers without fear or trembling."

At the June term of the United States Court for the year 1826, a tavern license was granted to J. P. Arndt, and ferry licenses to Arndt and Louis Grignon. From 1824 to 1828, there were annual sessions of this Court in Green Bay ; also of County Courts, with but little

HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY.

business. Captain W. G. Belknap was indicted in 1825, for false imprisonment of Isaac Rouse, and fined fifty dollars. In 1827, Solomon Juneau deelared his inten- tion to become a citizen ; and in 1827 M. L. Martin was admitted to practice as an attorney.

During the year 1828, a remarkable case of attempt to murder occurred at Fort Howard. William Prestige, a soldier, entered the quarters of Major D. E. Twiggs, then commander of the post, while he was taking his after-dinner nap. Prestige was armed with a musket, the muzzle of which he put to Twiggs's ear, and pulled the trigger ; but the gun missed fire. The click of the lock waked the officer, who sprang up and seized the gun. He struck his assailant over the head with it, inflicting a terrible wound, fracturing the skull and laying him senseless upon the floor. Prestige had about six months more to serve out his enlistment, and Twiggs, instead of turning him over to the civil authori- ties to be tried and punished for the offense, kept him a prisoner under his own control, subjecting him to terrible abuse and suffering. In the following year, his term of service as a soldier having expired, he was indicted, tried, and on conviction, sentenced to five years' imprisonment. But President Adams, upon rep- resentation of the brutal treatment the prisoner had received at the command of Twiggs, immediately par- doned him. As one of the acts of Twiggs's cruelty to this unfortunate soldier, it may be mentioned that while Twiggs was at the Portage establishing Fort Winne- bago, he kept Prestige chained to a tree, with no shel- ter or bedding, and without comfortable clothing.

During the year 1830, a delegation of the New York Indians and Menomonees went to Washington to have a difficulty settled between these nations as to the boundaries of their lands. This year the population of Brown County as shown by the Federal census, was 1,500.

In the Spring of 1835, the Legislative Council of Michigan passed an act authorizing the people of the Territory to form a State constitution, looking to its ad- mission into the Union as one of the sisterhood of States ; that is to say all that portion including the upper and lower peninsulas. This of course left the part west of Lake Michigan still Michigan Territory, but without organization, though measures were being taken in Congress for its erection into Wisconsin Territory. On the 9th of November of that year, John S. Horner, Sec- retary of Michigan Territory, issued, as acting Gov- ernor, a proclamation convening the Legislative Coun- cil of that Territory at Green Bay, January 1, 1836. The Council, consisting of twelve members from the re- gion west of Lake Michigan, was duly organized ; but owing to the absence of the acting Governor and a doubt as to tlie legality of the body, no laws were attempted to be enacted. A memorial to Congress asking the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin was adopt- ed and one other of small importance. An appropria- tion was then made to defray the expenses of the ses- sion, and the Council of Michigan Territory (if such it iras) adjourned without date.

BROWN COUNTY OF THE PRESENT.

Brown County is in a latitude little higher than the south of France, yet its atmosphere is cool and

invigorating, dry and healthy. Its location is at the head of Green Bay, a mighty arm of Lake Michigan, which seems to refresh and shelter without chilling it. Thus about seventy-five miles in the northeast corner are laved by this cool body of pure water, while the body of the land is cut by the Fox and East rivers, Duck Creek, Suamico River, and numerous smaller streams. The first two are navigable. Springs abound throughout the county ; drinking water is consequently good and easily obtained. The Fox and East rivers run northeast into the head of the bay ; the north- western portions of the county are drained by the Suam- ico River. while the Indian Reservation is watered by Duck Creek. A marked ridge, plainly seen in the south of Green Bay, crosses the county from south- west to northeast, its eastern slope being drained into Lake Michigan and its western into Green Bay. The land is generally undulating and well watered. As is usual, the soil is sandy along the water courses, but its chief characteristics are a dark loam with a red clay subsoil. It therefore makes good, strong land for wheat, while as regards root crops Brown County has no superior in the State for natural advantages. As to the geological feature of the county, blue or buff limestone abounds. It is most valuable for building purposes and in the manufacture of quicklime. In the lower strata the stone is rich in fossils. In the higher formations traces of iron are found. Bog iron is also abundant in many swamps. Drift copper pre- vails to some extent. But for the most part the land is free from stone, and easily worked. And it is most fortunate for the county that such is the case, for the early days of her settlement, when the surface of the country was covered with a rich growth of pine, oak, basswood, maple, beech and walnut, are passed, and she will, in future, rely more upon the products of the farm, the garden and the dairy. Lumber and fur trading were formerly almost her entire sources of wealth. The necessities of life were then easily met by the game which filled hier woods and the fish which stocked every river and stream. These are now, slowly but surely, giving place to manufacturing industries and farming pursuits. As has been detailed before, all the natural advantages possessed by Brown County insure success in this change from the easy, simple life of the long-ago to the more artificial but more intense work of to-day.

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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