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 215

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 215

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General Trade .- There are few cities the size of this, which are no older, that do not have the different kinds of business more generally separated than here. For there is hardly a grocery that does not have dry goods, and even the apothecaries have general merchandise, or at least two or three lines of goods besides drugs. So that it is difficult to give the number of business men in any special depart- ment of trade. An approximation, however, will be pre- sented, that the reader may have a fair idea of the extent of trade in the city. There are at least twenty-five stores where groceries are sold, none of them being confined to groceries alone. There are four drug stores in with other business. Twenty places sell dry goods, with other things. In hardware, there are three stores, confined quite closely

to that branch of trade. Their sales may be from $40,000 to $50,000 a year. There are five tailor shops. Of watch- makers and jewelers there are five. Several confectionery stores. Tobacco stores are common in the saloons and other stores. In stationery and fancy goods, two or three places. One book store, with drugs, etc. Two furniture establishments. In the line of milliners, there are at least nine. To supply meat, there are seven butcher shops. There is now but one photographer. Scattered over town are half a dozen barber shops. Five or six shoemaker shops. Blacksmith shops may be found in the usual num- ber, in such a community, with wheelwrights and other me- chanics. Agents for sewing machines, representing the most popular machines, are to be found here, and in fact, all the various kinds of business required by such a com- munity, including musical instruments and other things in- dicating an advanced state of civilization.

In the city there are twenty-eight retail licensed liquor saloons, two of them with wholesale privileges. The fees for a retail saloon are $100, and $40 for a wholesale house.

Besides this, one of the druggists has a license at a cost of $25. There is a public square across Main street and First avenue, which is a common market place where numerous country teams will be found with hay and other productions in their season. Those drawn by oxen predominating.

The city is well supplied with. hostlery accommodations. The leading houses are the Curran House and the Man- sion House, with the Adams House and the Lutz House near the depot, and Jacobs House, the Cabill House and others. All the public houses are kept well filled, and constant additions are being required.

There are two regular omnibuses conveying passengers between the station and the hotels and residences, besides other carriages.

Livery stables .- Of these necessary adjuncts to a thriv- ing town, there are several very well appointed, at fair rates for hire.

Book-bindery .- One of these institutions flourishes here.

Stage routes .- There are two stage lines to Plover with a double daily service. The railroad, now grading, will soon supersede them. There is also a mail route still running as a reminder of the past. It goes to Alban via Ellis, Polonia and Boyington. J. Ellingson is the pro- prietor.

Post-office .- A new building is erecting on the north side of Main street to be occupied by the post-office. The present Postmaster is J. O. Raymond, with Don R. Chamberlain as assistant. Six thousand postal cards go off in a quarter, and between four and five hundred dollars' worth of stamps.

There are three cemeteries, which do no discredit to the city, but on account of the comparative youthfulness of the town and its exceptional healthfulness, are more noted for their future rather than their past usefulness. The officers of the Union Cemetery Association are : H. B. Martin,

746

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

president ; J. R. Kingsbury, secretary ; L. D. Connery, treasurer.

INDIAN BIOGRAPHIES.

There have been several noted Indians who have hov- ered around Stevens Point since its occupation by the white race.

Wau-he-ke-nish, a few years ago was a most ancient speci- men of aboriginal senility. Formerly he was large and plump and had the reputation of being overbearing and insolent, and one day, having made an assault on a white man, he was most unmercifully pounded, and, although he lived many years afterward, he never did quite re- cover. His hair was bleached and he was shriveled and wrinkled, and his form so doubled up that his appearance give little suggestion that he was ever "big Ingun me," as was his former boast. He claimed in the most earn- est way to be 140 years of age, but this must have been an exaggeration, although he had a son who was called "Big Papoose" who was an old man. They are both dead now. The old man would surround a large ration up to the day of his death. His skull was secured and it meas- ures but twenty inches around, and only twelve and one- half over the top from ear to ear.

Jake Batise, a Winnebago, was another character. He once got some kind of work, and went to a white woman to get her to bake some bread for him to live on while doing the job. She said, "No, Jake, you are a bad Indian ; I once loaned you two dollars, and you have never paid me as you promised. I shall tell everybody that you are not honest, and no one will trust you after this."

"Ah," says Jake, "I never see it that way. Don't tell it that way, and I pay you." Which he did and got his bread baked.

It seems that it had never occurred to him that wrong doing would injure his reputation. He was quite a good Indian afterward.

A representative of the Winnebago tribe of much more than ordinary intelligence is Julia Mayrond, a daughter of Aug. Grignon, an early resident at Fort Winnebago, where Julia was born, in 1808, her mother being the sister of the chief De Kaury. She was a young woman when the Winne- bago fort was built in 1828, under the command of Maj. Twiggs. She has a son, now in Minnesota, named David Twiggs. She lives at Stevens Point, and is the interpreter for H. W. Lee, the attorney for the tribe. She is a widow and looks much younger than she is. Her husband was John Mayrond, a son of John B. Mayrond, a celebrated In- dian trader, who was formerly with the Hudson Bay Fur Company, and went into the employ of the American Com- pany, when it succeeded to the rights of that ancient mo- nopoly in this region, being the chief clerk and confidential agent of the company.

The celebrated De Kaury line of Winnebago chiefs were the descendants of that charming young queen, who enter- tained Jonathan Carver, near Green Bay, more than a cen- tury ago, Ho-po-ko-e-kaw.

Hole-in-the-day was the most celebrated chief of the

Chippewas since the white settlement of the country. His courage was undaunted, and he was of commanding form, but his treachery was only limited by his skill. He was killed while crossing Flat River in 1847. His son suc- ceeded him and was called Young Hole-in-the-day. While yet young, he controlled the tribe, managing the treaties and receiving the lion's share. He lived in great style near Crow Wing, Minn., at the reservation, with a white wife, for whom he had discarded several squaws. He was waylaid and murdered near home by three Pillager or Leech Lake Indians, June 27, 1868. His name in the Chippewa lan- guage was Po-go-ne-shik.

ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD.

JOHN B. DUBAY. This remarkable man was born in Green Bay, July 10, 1810. In 1823, when fifteen years of age, he went to Detroit and to work for the sutler of the fort, where he rapidly developed a capac- ity for usefulness. He was afterward employed by the fur company, going to Saginaw in that interest. Being familiar with the Indian dialect, he was the private interpreter for Gen. Cass, the Terri- torial Governor. While an agent of the fur company, he built the first house ever erected on the Kalamazoo River, just below the pres- ent town. In 1829, for some cause he "bolted" the fur company, and set up an opposition establishment on his own account at Sag- inaw. This was conducted in such a lively way that in 1831 the com- pany made overtures to buy him out of the business entirely. This offer was accepted, the company paying him $600 a year for six years not to be engaged in trade any more. He went right up to the Sault Ste. Marie and started a trading post, chartering a schooner to carry up his supplies, and remaining there. He made a tour of the lakes on a trading expedition among the British Possessions, and had many thrilling adventures, but finally got around all right. In 1834 he again engaged with the fur company, and for five years had charge of what was called the Flambeau district at a salary of $1, 100 a year and expenses for himself and family. The headquarters were near the head waters of the Chippewa, where there had been a post for 100 years or' more. He was interpreter for Gov. Dodge at the treaty of Ft. Snellinge July 29, 1837, with Hole-in-the-day and other Chippewas. In 1839 ha left the fur company, and the next year bought the trading post of thl fur company at Ft. Winnebago and remained in business there unin 1851. Louis DuBay, his father, was a full-blooded Frenchman ; born ie Montreal and came to Wisconsin as a fur trader and spent a singl, Winter on the Wisconsin at what is still called DuBay's trading post and where John B. still lives. John B. DuBay assisted Dousman and Burnett in procuring from the Chippewa Indians the privilege of build- ing a mill at the Chippewa Falls, which arrangement was superseded by the treaty of 1837, in which he took a prominent part. At one of the councils with the Chippewas where DuBay was interpreter, all the chiefs acquiesced in the arrangement except Hole-in-the-day, who being impertinent to the interpreter, he was slapped across the mouth by DuBay when he quietly sat down and submitted to the majority. He was a great hunter, and always had fine dogs and splendid hunting outfits. It was said of him in his prime, only the celebrated Capt. Scott, of the regular army, could beat him with pistol or gun. Some time after he re- tired from business at Ft. Winnebago, a party undertook to jump his claim on the place where he lived. He offered to sell at a reasonable rate, but his offer was rejected, and one day when he was out hunting with a party of Milwaukee gentlemen, he found on his return that the frame of a mill was already erected within his inclosure and partially boarded in. After supper he proceeded to cut it down, and a moment after it fell, a mob of about thirty men headed by Reynolds, one of the proprietors of the mill, appeared with axes, etc., to level his house to the ground ; he stood in the door with his double-barreled shot-gun. He pushed Reynolds away several times, but he at last seized a weapon and at the point of striking, DuBay fired, killing him instantly. He at once gave himself up to the Sheriff and was conveyed to jail. The mob gathered to lynch him. Judge Guppy harangued the crowd, and Sheriff Lewis told them he had armed DuBay and they better keep away from his cell, which they did. He was tried at Madison. Har- low S. Orton and Moses M. Strong defended him, and three men who had been Governors of the State volunteered to testify in his behalf- Gov. Dodge. Gov. Dewey and Gov. Doty. He was acquitted. In the early history of the county he was prominent, particularly on road mat- ters, and was one of the Commissioners to lay out a road from Madison to Wausau. During the Black Hawk war, in 1832, he was commis- sioned as lieutenant-colonel by the Governor, hut was so engaged he could only send forward half-breeds and other recruits.

747

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

CAPT. WILLIAM BREMMER, of the 18th Wis. Reg., died sud- denly near his residence in Plover, in December, 1873. He formerly lived in Stockton, and was well and favorably known.

HON. SATTERLEE CLARK. Mr. Clark came to what was afterward Portage County, but now Columbia County, at a very early day, with his father, whose Christain name he bore. They arrived in Wis- consin, at Green Bay, on the fourteenth day of April, 1828. Young Clark went with the troops to Fort Winnebago that same season, and was ap- pointed sutler of the fort, by Gen. Jackson, President of the United States, although he was not yet quite of age. His career as a Democratic office holder, was thus early commenced. Since that time, among numerous other positions, he was employed by Gov. Dodge, to go with the Winne- bago chiefs to Washington in 1837. And he was ten years State Senator. He was a most genial, man of boundless hospitality, and closely identified with the whole history of Wisconsin, from soon after its first settlement at Green Bay. At the time of his death, he was employed in the attor- ney's department of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Com- pany. He fell dead as he was leaving the Union depot in St. Paul, Sept. 20, 1881. He was born in the District of Columbia, in 1816.

ABRAHAM BRAWLEY, was one of the early settlers, he was born in Meadville, Pa., in 1810. In 1839, he buit a mill on the creek, which is south of Stevens Point. In 1842, he built another mill on the Big Eau Claire. It is supposed that he built the first house at Stevens Point, in 1844, and removed his family from Mill Creek. He was in the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the war of 1861. Was a prisoner of war, and died in Richmond, February, 1865. He was long a member of the County Board and its Chairman, was Register of the Land Office, and held other offices.

SAMUEL R. MERRILL, died Dec. 16, 1880, at Juneau, Dodge Co., aged seventy-five years. He was among the oldest lumbermen on the river, and was well and favorably known among all the old residents.

GEORGE STRONGER, an old citizen of Stevens Point, was a prominent member of the singing bund, and a member of the fire com- pany. He was universally respected by a wide circle of friends. His death was on the 25th of September, 1873.

ORANGE R. ELLIS, son of Gen. A. G. Ellis, was born at Green Bay in 1840, and came to Stevens Point with his father's family. He filled various positions of trust and honor, and being a large-hearted man, he rapidly won the confidence and esteem of the people. In 1864. he removed to Stillwater, Minn., he there married Miss Sarah V. Noyes, April 30, 1860. From Stillwater he moved to Muscatine, Iowa, where his health failed, and he finally went to Milwaukee, where he died, Feb. 3. 1874. His death was a severe loss to the whole community.

WILLIAM SYLVESTER was a veteran of the war of 1812, hav- ing been born in Hanover, Plymouth Co., Mass., in 1792. He died in Ripon, Wis., Nov. 30, 1875. He came West as far as Mackinaw in 1814. In 1835, he came to Wisconsin, locating in Green Bay. His name appears as a charter member of Ft. Winnebago Masonic Lodge. On his removal to Stevens Point, he became identified with the interests of the place. He was a man of high character and great moral worth.

W. S. PATRICK. Mr. Patrick was a native of New York State, forty- six years of age at the time of his death, which took place on the 28th of January, 1877. He started the Central Bank in 1873, while a resident of Detroit, Mich. He was a large dealer in timber lands. In 1875, he removed here, having previously lived in Flint, Mich., where he was at one time Mayor. Not long before his death, he removed to Minneapo- lis, where an accident terminated his life. In a bank, he opened the wrong door, and fell to the basement.

DR. L. S. McCULLOCH, born in New York State, Lima, Living- ston Co., July 29, 1827. Spent his early boyhood in Rockport. By his own exertions, qualified himself for college, and at seventeeen entered Hamilton College. A severe hemorrhage from the lungs stopped his academic course. He first practiced dentistry in Castile, N. Y .; then at Wellington, and finally his health permitted his completing his regu- lar medical studies in Cincinnati. He was married to Mrs. Mary Elli- ott, in August, 1853, in Ohio. He was with his brother, H. D., here, and led a quiet, but useful, life. His death was on Dec. 1, 1878, at the age of fifty-one. He was public spirited, and did more than any one else to establish the Public Library.

HERBERT WOOD was in Portage County twenty-five years, hav- ing arrived in 1852. For eight years, he carried on the tailoring busi- ness here, but failing health sent him on to a farm. He was well and favorably known.

CEPHAS SHEKELLS was in his eighty-fifth year when he died, on the 15th of May, 1877. He had lived in Stevens Point twenty-five years. He was born in Bladensburg, in 1772; went with his father's family to Geneva, N. Y., and in 1848 came to Milwaukee, having been married, in 1817, to Matilda J. Warner, who died in 1846, leaving five children. He was closely connected with the Episcopal Church, and was a fine and venerable old gentleman.

MRS. D. P. BROWN was an early settler, appearing with her hus- band in 1847. They kept the Phillips House. Mr. Brown died in Ga- lena, in 1850. of cholera. She was seventy-seven years of age at the time of her death, June 30, 1877. She was the mother of Mr. D. C. Brown and of Mrs. Judge Cate.

NATHANIEL F. BLISS was born June 5, 1809, in Pownal, Vt. Came to Stevens Point in 1846. He was a carpenter, and assisted in building many of the first houses in town. He married Miss Mundana Hale, of Smithfield, Pa:, who was the first school teacher in town. They had nine children. Mr. Bliss was a prominent citizen, a Justice of the Peace and Police Justice, and was in the mercantile business. He died Oct. 5, 1876, aged sixty-nine.

W. C. DAVENPORT was one of the early settlers, having come to the Point in 1850. He was engaged in lumbering, and afterward started the currier and tanning business. His establishment has burned since his death, which was on the 10th of April, 1872, while away from home at Wausau, aged forty-eight years. He was married, April 10, 1855, to Julia Darrow. He was a native of Ohio.

JOHN WHITE, born in England in 1820, came to America with his parents, and located in New York City, and afterward lived in White Plains, N.Y., and came to Wisconsin in 1855, remaining in Fond du Lac about one year, when he came to Stevens Point, going at first on to a farm, but soon entered into the hardware business, which he continued to follow. He returned to England in 1840, and was married to Eliz- abeth Snook. They had five children. He was a good, enterprising citizen, highly respected by the community. His death was on the 30th of November, 1865.

DR. ALFRED EARLL, was one of the earliest doctors locating here. He was born in New York State, in 1821. He studied medicine with Dr. Mann, of Mannville, N.Y., and married Miss Lorana Earll, on the 17th of September, 1846. In 1851, removed to Madison, remaining one year, when he came to Stevens Point. They had six children. At one time he was in mercantile business, and was Postmaster at the time of his death, which was on the 6th of May, 1871, while he was near Mil- waukee on business. He was an active, public-spirited citizen.

DR. WILLIAM SCHOFIELD was a native of Ohio, having been born in that State, in 1809. On arriving at a proper age, he qualified himself for a professional life by studying medicine and surgery. He first located in Joliet, in 1836, where he made hosts of friends. In 1847. he removed to Shullsburgh, and the next year came to Portage County. He selected a beautiful spot on the Eau Claire, in Marathon County. and began lumbering. Fortune favored him. In 1856, this mill was burned, but it was soon reconstructed and running again. About this time he had taken up his residence at Stevens Point, with his family. He was a remarkably popular man, and was unanimously elected the first Mayor of the city, serving two terms. Few men were more patri- otic and self sacrificing than Dr. Schofield, whose loss was deeply felt. His death was on the 16th of December, 1863.

HOMER DRAKE was a native of Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. When young. he went with his parents to Iowa, and afterward removed to the Wisconsin pinery. During the war he was captain of a company in the Seventh Regiment. Ile died in Plover, on the 18th of March, IS71, aged fifty-six years, leaving a wife, two sons and a daughter.

WILLIAM WYATT came to Stevens Point in 1857. He was noted for his uprightness, affability and kindness, which gained the con- fidence and respect of all. He was born in West Point, N.Y., in 1802, and, before coming to Wisconsin, lived some time in Erie, Pa. He left a large and interesting family at the time of his death, March 8, 1864, and was buried with Masonic honors.

JUDGE MINER STROPE. Was born in Luzerne Co., Pa., in 1806. Was admitted to the Bar after studying in Albany, N. Y .. and practiced in the western part of the State. Married Mary A. Morton, of Erie, by whom he had three children. She died in 1846. In 1848, he married Ursula Wilmott. They came to Wisconsin and located in Plo- ver, in June, 1850. He was a well-known lawyer, with a wide practice in this and adjoining countics. For several terms he was District At- torney, and also for years County Judge. Three children were the re- sult of the last marriage. His death was on the 31st of August, 1880.

MISS LAURA V. ALBAN. Born Dec. 23. 1846, in Ohio. The daughter of W. R. and Rachel Alban, who soon after moved to Plover. Miss Alban was a very remarkable woman; a natural leader and teacher of children. Part of her education was at the Oshkosh Normal School, but she was largely self-educated. The extent of her reading among the best authors, and her familiarity with them, was marvelous. She was for six years the successful and honored principal of the Green Bay Grammar School. She could manage the most refractory boy without trouble; her simple honesty of purpose won all hearts. Iler devotion to her parents was most unselfish, and her death, which was on Jan. 19. 1880, was indeed a sad event to a wide circle.

REV, J. EDWARDS, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Plover. He was a man of sterling integrity, with urbanity, and always main-

748

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

tained a Christian deportment, with zeal and unremitting labors in the cause he loved so well. His death was on Feb. 6, 1866, at the age of forty-seven.

THEODORE C. ELLIS, son of Gen. A. G. Ellis. Was a promis- ing and genial young man, who had been well educated and had a spe- cial talent for music. He died Jan. 23, IS71, aged twenty one years.

COL. JAMES S. ALBAN. A lawyer and a Judge; the colonel of the ISth Wis. V. I. Ile was an early settler. It was a public calamity when he fell, at the battle of Pittsburg Landing, in April, 1862. His re- mains were brought to Plover on the 26th of April, and sadly the peo- ple laid them away on the 28th. He was born in Jefferson Co., Ohio: was twenty-five years in the State and eighteen years in the county. His age was fifty-one.

E. L. PIKE. One of the early settlers. Died June 11, 1877. He was here as early as IS48, and engaged in the fur business. He left a wife and three children.

DANIEL MCAULIFF, of Co. G, 7th Wis. V. I. Served two years. Died Aug. 18, 1867.

HON. LUTHER HANCHETT, M. D. Died in Stanton, Nov. 24. aged thirty-eight years, while a member of Congress. He was a re- markably able man.

CHARLES CALLAHAN. Was born in the county of Meath, Ire- land, on the fifteenth day of January, 1830, and died on the 25th of Sep- tember, ISSI. With his parents, he came to this country when a lad, and in 1855 to Stevens Point, and has been connected with the lumber interest till near the time of his death, some of the time for himself. He was a kind-hearted, good natured man, well known in the county.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

DAVID A. AGNEW, JR., watch repairer and jeweler, Stevens Point. Mr. Agnew first settled in Stevens Point, with his parents, in the Spring of 1856. At a suitable age he attended the public school, at the above city, until he was sixteen years old, at which time he began and learned his trade as noted above, and has followed the same since. He was born in Butler, Butler Co., Pa., June IS, IS53. He was married, in In- dianapolis, Ind., June 18, 1873. His wife's maiden name was Sarah L. Hoover ; she was born in La Fayette, Ind., Aug. 8, 1853. They have one girl, named Mary L. Agnew.

THOMAS ADAMS, general blacksmith, wagon making, etc., Stevens Point. Mr. Adams first settled in Stevens Point in September, 1879, and began his present business as ahove stated. He went to Dakota in 1879, and took a homestead and pre-emption, which he still holds. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Dec. 19. IS49. He was married in Montreal, Canada, June 30, 1875 ; his wife's maiden name was Flora A. Kyle ; she was born in Montreal, Canada, April 3, 1855. They have three children, named Mary L., Janet A., and Florence K. Adam.

G. F. ANDRAE, merchant, Stevens Point, was born in Germany, Dec. 11. 1849; came to Mayville, Wis., in 1866; lived there until he came to Stevens Point, in 1869. He was engaged in mercantile busi- ness here from 1870 to 1874. in partnership with Henry Hoeffler ; since then, he has carried on business alone ; he employs five clerks, and some years his sales have amounted to $$5,000. This year (1881) he estimates his business at $70,000. Mr. A. was married, in Stevens Point, April 14, 1875, to Ada F. Anderson. She was born in the town of Stockton, in this county.

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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