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 213

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 213

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Charles Fox, quartermaster-sergeant of the Seventh Regiment, died at Ripon, February 26, 1864, twenty- six years of age.

The Eighth Wisconsin Battery was at home on a leave of absence earned by re-enlisting, and on the 6th of April were welcomed by a cotillion party and sup- per. Gen. A. G. Ellis made the welcome address which was responded to by Lieut. MeNair. The whole affair was arranged and carried out by the ladies. Mrs. A. Eaton, Mrs. William Walton, Mrs. Green, Mrs. Stout, Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. MeCulloch, and many others assisted in the entertain- ment.

Another party was inaugurated ,in behalf of the soldiers at home on furlough, on the 3d of June at Central Hall. It was a pleasant affair, revealing the interest and earnestness of the ladies in the success of our cause.

A public meeting was held August 4, 1864, to raise a bounty fund to prevent a draft to fill the President's call for " 500,000 more."

At this meeting $200 was added to the Government offer, as an inducement to enlist.

September 2, 1865, Capt. Van Myers left for Mad- ison with ninety-one men ; Capt. G. L. Park having re- turned, was supported for the State Senate.

In February, 1865, the quota of the county was filled without a resort to the draft.

Several companies were organized at Stevens Point, as already alluded to, but the county had representatives in almost every regiment from the State, as many men coming from other parts of the State, or some other State, would return to their former home, to enlist among their old friends.

There were members or companies in the Third Cav- alry, in the Third Battery, and in the Fifth, Seventh, Eleventh, Twelfth, Fourteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth, the colonel of this Regiment, James S. Alban, being from Plover, Portage County.

The several local and general re-nuions, have devel- oped numbers of the brave boys, pursuing the peaceful

vocations of civil life, and those who still live, ean speak for themselves.

An alphabetical list of the commissioned officers who went from the county, is here presented, commencing with the lamented colonel of the Eighteenth Regiment, who fell at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862: James S. Alban, Stevens Point ; John Baker, Stevens Point ; Joseph H. Baker, Plover ; William Bremmer, Stevens Point ; William J. Baker, Plover ; De Witt C. Brown, Stockton ; William W. Campbell, Plover ; L. N. Car- penter, Plover ; Sidney B. Carpenter, Plover ; Stephen J. Carpenter, Stevens Point ; Orin Clough, Plover, Walter W. Clough, Plover ; John T. Consaul, Stevens Point ; John T. Cooper, Stevens Point ; Henry Curran, Plover ; Homer Drake, Linwood; Samuel Drake, Plover ; Irwin Eckels, Plover; Hugh Evans, Stevens Point ; Henry T. Fowler, Sharon ; Aug. H. Guernsey, Almond ; John W. Hutchinson, Stevens Point ; John O. Johnson, Stevens Point ; Leonidas Lombard, Lan- ark ; John D. MeLean, Stevens Point ; Thomas B. Mc- Nair, Stevens Point; Jerome Nelson, Amherst; John H. Horrick, Stevens Point; Gilbert A. Park, Stevens Point ; Franklin Philips, Stockton ; Orrin A. Phillips, Stockton ; Royal L. Patten, Stockton ; Jackson L. Prentice, Stevens Point ; James O. Raymond, Plover ; C. D. Richmond, Stockton ; Jere. D. Rogers, Plover ; Oneisme Rondeau, Buena Vista; Louis Schuetze, Stevens Point ; Nathan L. Stont, Stevens Point ; Henry E. Stiles, Stevens Point ; John Stumph, Plover ; Edwin Turner, Amherst ; Andrew J. Welton, Stevens Point ; Henry L. Wheeler, Stevens Point ; John W. Van- Myers, Eau Plaine ; George R. Walbridge, Plover.

There are now living in the county quite a number of men, who served in regiments from other States. Among these may be mentioned : William Welton, Forty-fourth, New York ; William B. White, Fifth Battery, New York ; Cyrus Dopp, Nineteenth, Michi- gan ; Capt. H. B. Moore, Twenty-seventh, Michigan ; who now resides in Plover, and S. J. Dolb of the regu- lar army at Stevens Point.

It is believed that Plover sent the largest propor- tion of her men to the front.

STEVENS POINT.

This is a city of 4,500 people, located on the left bank of the Wisconsin River, which, at this point, is on the northeast side. It is the capital of Portage County, and is laid out in long blocks, without alleys, in part rectangular, and partly lozenged form. Some of the streets coincide with the cardinal points of the compass, and some do not, so that a stranger has considerable trouble in preserving his bearings. The spot is rather level, and is ten or twelve feet above the river, when in ordinary stages. In the case of a rise, a part of the water goes around the city, on the south, a natural depression, called Rocky Run, affording this facility. At the freshet in June, 1880, a part of the city was submerged. A bay makes up into the city several squares from the river, in the northwestern part, which, as the city increases in population, will have to be filled for sanitary reasons. The city is healthy, and the pine still stands on the north side, away from the river. The streets

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

are named and the buildings numbered. The streets are, as yet, unpaved, but most of the sidewalks have wood for their material. The buildings are substantially built, most- ly of wood. Some of the public and other buildings are of stone or brick.

Stevens Point is in Town 24 north, and in Range 8 east, of the public survey. It is 164 miles northwest of Milwau- kee, 87 miles west of Green Bay, and 162 east of St. Paul, and near the center of the county.

The city is at the foot of the line of slack water, extending up to Mosinee, where the Little Bull Falls are located ; and it is at the head of Conant's Rapids, the first of a great chain, extending down to Pointe Bas, some sixty miles.

Opposite the city is Shaurette Rapids. Formerly the fall was three and one-half feet, but it now has a dam which gives eight feet fall, furnishing an excellent water- power, which is utilized by saw and grist mills.

The city is a base of supplies for lumbermen and rafts- men, as well as for the neighboring farmers. Every class of goods required in the pineries, or anywhere in the vicin- ity, can be found in the stores and warehouses, which are being constantly added to as business increases. The le- gal, medical and clerical professions are well represented, and in the biographical sketches, the personnel of many of the most prominent of these will be found.

The history of the county is inseparable from that of the city. Some points, however, of special interest to the residents of the city, will be presented in this connection.

The building of a city at the point was not the result of a deliberate plan or scheme, no one contemplated such a thing ; but being at the end of a road past the rapids, and at the foot of a long stretch of smooth water, it naturally became a depot and an entrepot for supplies, and so the town grew.

In 1857, Gen. Ellis published "A hand-book of Stevens Point and the Upper Wisconsin." Thousands of copies were circulated in the East, and it probably had more to do with the settlement of the pineries than the citizens would be willing to admit. The first man to come up the river with a load of goods, to be relayed over here, was George Stevens, from whom the place is named. He came up with an ox-team, loaded with goods, for Big Bull Falls, unload- ed them at the foot of the present main street, covering them up. He went back down the river for another load, and, on his return, loaded the whole upon a "dug-out," and went up the river. And the place was soon called Stevens Point. A "dug-out" in those was often quite a large boat. One of the biggest clear logs would be taken, and with ax and adze skillfully converted into a vessel of no mean proportions, or carrying capacity. Business be- gan in this small way, warehouses were built, one after an- other, and a tavern started. The raftsmen from above had to get outfits to enable them to run the great chain of rap- ids beginning here. In a few years a few lots were laid out for building purposes, which were soon occupied, and so a village unconsciously sprang up.

As to the first house or building at Stevens Point, there

is conflicting testimony. It is asserted that Abraham Braw- ley built a log house just above the Falls, that Mathias Mitchell built a shanty at the foot of Main street, that Charles Maddy and Henry Mularky built a warehouse at that point, and that Mathias Mitchell built a tavern as the first building. Whichever is entitled to priority as to loca- tion here, it may safely be recorded that these men were the pioneer residents.

Richard Gardiner next erected a house, and in 1845 Richard Johnson built a log house near Shawrette Rapids, and began building the dam, which was not completed un- til 1847.

Mr. Kingsbury built a tavern on the south side of Main street in the Winter of 1845-6, which, not long afterward, was burned.

The first stock of general merchandise remembered was that of Robert Bloomer. The first saloons were the "Star " and " Ocean Wave," which did a lively business, it being soon understood that there were "no mixed drinks during a rush." About 1847, there were some semblances of civil- ization-women began to dawn upon the scene. Miss Amandina Hale (afterward Mrs. N. F. Bliss) opened a school in a building where the Mansion House now stands. Dr. Bristol, a highly respectable physician and surgeon, came in 1846, and died in 1848. He was buried in what was then the outskirts of the town, nearly in front of the new post-office. As to lawyers, Wm. L. De Witt, Thomas Morman and John Delaney were the first. John Willard was the first banker and broker.

The first civil engineer and surveyor was the above men- tioned DeWitt, a son of the surveyor-general of that name in New York, and was employed by the State to make a survey of the Wisconsin River from Big Bull Falls to Pointe Bas. This work was done in an admirable manner in 1850, and the result published in 1851, and was a valuable con- tribution to the knowledge of the river.

Abraham Brawley was the first magistrate to perform the marriage ceremony, which he did in the case of Henry Blancker and Mrs. Rome. Mr. Brawley was an energetic and versatile individual. He was a lumberman, was in the county government, was the first representative in Madison, and planted corn and potatoes near the location of the present court-house, and the crop of garden truck was an astonishment. It was in 1845 that farming thus began in the city.

In those early days Stevens Point had a floating popula- tion, swelling into huge proportions when the ice went out in the Spring, for then the " suckers" as they were called, would begin to run ; they came up in immense shoals, fill ing every nook and corner. The streets were alive with them, but they soon dispersed to work in the mills or run the rafts. When the river went down they would make a dive for the Point to the imminent risk of a whisky famine, if the dry time was prolonged. They were not a bad lot of boys, an occasional row of a harmless character would vary the monotony of frontier life, but they were laborious and useful citizens, whose characters did not warrant the

737

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

reputation given the place by the staid people of Plover and other refined localities, which might profit by the com- parison.

These loggers and raftsmen were the foundation upon which the prosperity of the river towns are built, and they are borne in grateful remembrance by the early settlers, who insist that they were not the fearful roughs that de- luded imagination may have pictured them.

The County Commissioners, in April, 1847, created a school district in the town, constituting the village. It was District No. 2. The school election wat held at the house of A. H. Bancroft. In the first division of the county into towns, three were instituted ; the center one embraced Stevens Point, and was called Middletown.

thirty girls. The teacher was Miss B. McLaughlin, who re- ceived $20 a month for her services.

In the Fall of 1850, the population of the village was estimated at 200, and it was at that time the jumping off place for teams, as there was no practical wagon road be- yond here. Mills had sprung up, above, as far up as Wau- sau, but at the Point, every thing had to take to the river

That the extent of the settlement at that time may be fully realized, we here present a complete business directo- ry of Stevens Point in 1850 :

Hotels-Mitchell House, Joseph Phelps; City Hotel, Brown & Granger ; Star Saloon, Walton & Wadsworth; The Ocean Wave, Sailor Jack & Watts. Hardware-Matt and

STEVENS POINT.

In 1850, Stevens Point was recognized as a political di- vision, and the election was ordered at the house of Hinton S. Phelps. The result of this election was a regular set of town officers, who took command of this fragmentary ship ship of State.

N. F. Bliss was Justice of the Peace ; Abraham Brawley, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors ; Orrin Maybee was also a Supervisor; J. S. Young, Town Clerk ; Lea Vaughn, Assessor and Collector ; Mr. Holden, Superintendent of Schools.

William Griffin was the Postmaster, and he had to manage some way to get the mail from Plover, as there was no post route to this place.

A school-house was erected in 1849, at a cost of $300 ; it was reported in September, 1850, that there were sixty-six children in attendance upon the school ; thirty-six boys and

John Campbell, successors to Robert Bloomer. General Merchandise-John Strong. Lumber Dealer and Owner of the Town Site-Mathias Mitchell. Lumber Dealers-Young & Maybee, Thomas Hinton, B. Finch, Campbell & Bro., also merchandise. River Pilots-Valentine Brown, Horace Judd, Azro Mann and Angus McCauley. Boarding House Keep- ers-Francis Lamere and James Crandall, Boot and Shoe . Maker-Seneca Harris. Builder and Merchant-Anson Rood. Hotel Keepers-J. Young and O. Wiswald. Money Lender and Broker-John Weland.

In the Summer of 1853, a new land office was created, with Stevens Point as the location. Abraham Brawley was appointed Register, and A. G. Ellis, Receiver.

The tide of prosperity was now on the flood, and it kept rising higher and higher, until the sudden ebb of the tide in the Fall of 1857, which left everything stranded high and

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN

dry. Some of the methods and results of that wild specu- lating era are elsewhere recorded.

In 1858, a disastrous fire occurred, which swept away one-half the business part of the town, and the vacant houses in the outskirts of the village, which had been aban- doned after the collapse of the year before, became valuable to the occupants of the burnt district.

The city charter was granted in 1858, embracing nearly two and one-half miles square, with 4,200 acres of land.

The first city election was held in June, on the twenty- sixth day, 1858.

The City Government was organized July 1, 1858. Will- iam Schofield was the first Mayor, serving two years. The first members of the Council were : A. Rood, President ; V. Brown, H. Ferguson, M. Perkins, S. W. Homsted and A. G. Hamacker ; J. J. Pine, Clerk. The Mayor ex officio is chairman of the board. G. L. Park was City Attorney ; H. B. Martin, Treasurer ; C. B. Jackson, Police Justice; Will- iam B. Agnew, Surveyor ; John Phillips, School Superin- tendent ; A. J. Aldrich, City Marshal ; J. J. Cone, Asses- sor.

The following gentlemen have served as mayors: W. W. Schofield, A. G. Ellis, many years ; D. D. Long, B. L. Shop- ston, A. Eaton, Matt. Waddeigh, Owen Clark, J. D. McLean, W. W. Spraggon, and John O. Johnsen, the present Mayor.

The city officers for 1881 are : John O. Johnsen, Mayor ; John Stumpf, Treasurer ; James F. Houston, City Clerk ; H. W. Lee, City Attorney ; Count S. Bielski, Marshal ; John Stumpf, Police Justice.

There is an efficient fire department; E. M. Copfar is chief engineer. There is one steam fire engine ; N. M. Tomle is engineer. Steam is constantly kept up by modern appli- ances, and the horses are trained to the gong. The com- pany is a volunteer one. The engine-house is of stone, and serves as a city hall. On the south side, is " Fire King, No. 1," a hand engine with a volunteer company.

The county seat remained at Plover long after Stevens Point was the business center of the county. The agitation of the question of removal of the shire town finally resulted in an act, passed by the Legislature in 1867, submitting the question to a vote of the people. This vote designated Stevens Point, and so in 1879 it was removed, and a stone court-house and jail erected, at a cost of $32,000.

CHURCHES.

Episcopal Church-Church of the Intercession. - In De- cember, 1852, A. G. Ellis started a subscription to build a church, and soon obtained $350, some of it in lumber and other material. Martin Perkins contracted to build it, and it was ready for service in 1853. In the meantime, Mr. El- lis conducted lay service at his house, and had choir meet- ings to develop the singing capacity. Before the edifice was completed, Bishop Kemper kindly came and rendered effi- cient assistance in setting the society on its feet. Rev. Thomas Greene was the first rector, assisted by his brother, Rev. William Greene. Since that time, the following rec- tors have been in charge here : Revs. Joseph Adderly, Ste- phen C. Millett, J. B. Peddupe, A. P. Crouch, William

Charles, William Hammann, C. J. Hendley, J. A. Daven- port, Ebenezer Thompson and William Henry Watts, the present incumbent. Bishops Armitage and Hobart have also visited the parish. By great exertions, a very fine or- gan was procured, and the church has since been enlarged.

St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church, under the Bishop of Green Bay. Rev. Father Nicholas July is the priest, as- sisted by Rev. Father A. J. Aleb. There are 180 families worshiping here. The church was built about 1863, and is commodious and the interior properly embellished. The school is conducted by the Sisters of Notre Dame, at Mil- waukee, the Mother Cardive being the Lady Superior. Five Sisters are detailed for the work here.

St. Peter's Church, Polish .-- Rev. J. Wolun is pastor. There are connected with their church 150 families. Their church edifice large and convenient, but although occupied, is still incomplete.

The several churches of this denomination, in the town, will be here described :

Sharon .- St. Martin's, about twenty-five families. The service is supplied from Stevens Point, and is in German.

Stockton .- St. Patrick's. Their supply is from St. Ste- phen's, and is in English. Forty families commune here.

Buena Vista .- St. Peter's. Service from Stevens Point. About seventeen families attend.

Lanark .- A mission attended from Stevens Point ; there are about thirty-two families.

Hull .- St. Casimere's has a resident pastor, Rev. J. Cyo- noski. There are 150 families who attend this church.

Polonia .- Church of the Sacred Heart. Rev. Joseph Dambrowski, with 300 families depending upon the minis- trations of their church. The Sisters of St. Felix have a school at Polonia, with 125 children.

The first mass said in the county, since the settlement by the whites, was by Rev. Father Sale, at the house of Owen Feely, about seven miles from Stevens Point.

The First Baptist Church .- On the twenty-second day of May, 1858, a meeting was held in the hall over N. P. Clem- ent's store, and a regular Baptist Church was organized. The declaration of faith embraced XVIII articles, and the covenant, thirty lines of the journal. The following per- sons subscribed to the document: Cortland Livingston, Eslie W. Vaughn, Peleg A. Dawley, Ira Vaughn, John B. Spaulding, Eliphalet H. Vaughn, Mercy C. Martin, Mary H. Vaughn. Rev. A. J. Ellis was the pastor ; C. Living- ston, clerk. At the end of 1858, there were twenty mem- bers; thirteen were added in 1859; in 1861, one by letter ; 1867, four were added; in 1868, four; 1870, four ; 1871, five; 1872, six; 1873, three. In 1874, as the result of union protracted meetings, twenty-two members were added to the church. In 1875, one; 1876, eleven ; 1877, ten; 1878, two; 1879, two; 1880, two. In 1881, to Octo- ber, one member was received. The church edifice was built some years before.

Evangelical Lutheran German Church .- Organized in 1871, with eighteen members. Rev. F. Lehe, of Grand Rapids, supplied until 1873, when the present pastor was

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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

called to the work, Rev. W. C. Schilling. There are now twenty-two members. The church was built in 1872-3, at a cost of $800. It is 24x44, and is jointly owned by this church and the Norwegian Church. Rev. Mr. Schilling has a mission at Almont, organized eighteen years ago. Also at Amherst, where there is a building, and a society organ- ized twenty years ago.

The Norwegian Lutheran Church -Was organized in 1872 ; the Rev. N. Berge was the first pastor, and he was succeeded by Rev. N. Foerde. This society owns an un- divided half of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, where it worships.

Methodist Episcopal Church .- This society has a good building, with 340 sittings, having been enlarged in 1876. It was originally built by J. Slowthomer, and donated to the Church. The Rev. Mr. Hurlburt preached here as early as 1847. Among the early workers were Mrs. Sarah West, Mrs. Julia Vaughn, Mrs. Mary Park, Mrs. Sarah Bean, Mr. A. B. Vaughn, C. Hungerford. A. S. Gottery is a prominent class leader. The following is a partial list of those who have been stationed here : Holt, Little, Bancroft, D. Rider, W. D. Ames, J. D. Cole, Thomas Peep, T. W. Smith, M. Evans and Joseph Anderson. Rev. S. N. Grif- fith is the present pastor.

Church of the Seventh Day Adventists .- In 1878, Rev. H. W. Decker came to Stevens Point with a tent, which he pitched near the public square, and held services, lasting five weeks, which resulted in the organization of a society. A building was commenced, and so far finished as to be oc- cupied, in 1879. It was completed in the Summer of 1881. Revs. N. M. Jordan, S. S. Smith, G. C. Tenney and J. J. Smith have supplied the pulpit since that time.

Revs. Messrs. Cooley, Phillips, Sherman and Watts have been pastors of the Church. At present there is a tempo- rary supply for the pulpit.

First Presbyterian Church .- A meeting was held in the church on the 25th of January, 1865, for the purpose of or- ganizing. Several clergymen were present : Rev. S. H. Ashman, of Rural; Rev. James Bassett, of Neenah-mem- bers of a committee by the Presbytery of Fox River; also Rev. H. H. Kellogg, of Chicago, district secretary of home missions; Rev. G. B. Riley, synodical agent for home mis- sions for the Synod of Wisconsin, and Rev. Edward F. Fish, minister of the congregation. Rev. Mr. Ashman preached a sermon from ist Peter, i. I. The following per- sons having presented satisfactory letters, were duly organ- ized into a Church : Mr. Orrin Rood and his wife, MIs. A. Rood, Mr. David Dunlap and his wife, Mrs. Jessie Dunlap, Mr. George Gill, Mrs. Ellen E. Phillips, Mrs. Anna H. Fish. Rev. H. H. Kellogg also preached a sermon. At the evening session the Confession of Faith, embracing ten articles, and the Covenant, were read and subscribed. Fol- lowing Mr. Fish were the following reverend gentlemen : J. Patch, Charles S. Wood, A. A. Joss, S. E. Vance and the present pastor, Cornelius Van Oostenbruzze. Since the organization of the Church, eighty members have been ad- mitted. The society has a good edifice, recently repaired,

with a large seating capacity, originally built for the Con- gregationalists, but transferred, as above recorded, in 1865.

Schools .- The city schools are well up to the modern standards. They are well supplied with school-houses, the High School being particularly well provided, in this regard, with a commodious house with modern appliances. The City Superintendent of Schools is the principal of the High School-Prof. Frank L. Green. Miss Sarah E. Beach is first assistant in that department, with Miss Jennie Ferris and Miss Jessie M. Meyer in the grammar department.

Second Ward Intermediate, Miss Mary McPeck.

Third Ward Intermediate, Miss Lillian Arnott.

Fourth Ward Intermediate, Miss Emma L. Richmond.

First Ward Primary, Miss Florence Sanborn.

Second Ward Primary, Miss Olive R. Jones and Teresa Quinn.

Third Ward Primary, Miss Martha Maddy.

Fourth Ward Primary, Mrs. M. C. Sherwood, assisted by Miss Abbie F. Wheelock.

Mrs. M. Bliss, who was the first teacher in town, is still living.

THE PRESS.

The first newspaper started in the county was The Wis- consin Pinery. A young printer, N. V. Chandler, came along, and A. G. Ellis sent him with his team to Oshkosh, to pro- cure a press and type of Mr. Dinsmore, who had some old material for sale. The outfit was brought, and the first number was issued on the 14th of January, 1853. Chandler was put down as publisher, and Ellis editor. Strong & Ayers were afterward the printers. Tracy & Swaze subse- quently became the publishers, with Mr. Ellis as editor. Finally, Mr. Swaze bought the paper, and still runs it. Gen. Ellis was long the editor, and a writer on the paper after his interest was extinguished.

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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