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 260

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 260

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

IO71

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY.

was married in 1879 to Miss Mary Kuudtson, of Pigeon Falls ; they have one daughter.

THOMAS THOMPSON, furniture and cabinet-maker, and dealer in paints, oils, ete., Blair, is a native of Norway, and was born in June, 1843. Came to America in 1871, first settling in Blair, Trempealeau Co., Wis., where he worked on a farm and at carpentering and building, having learned the trade in Norway ; after the big fire in Chicago, he went there and commenced work at his trade, which he followed until 1873, at which time he went to Manitowoc, Wis., and was there engaged in the employ of the Government on the light-house; here he remained until 1876, when he returned to Blair and started in his present business ; Mr. Thompson was elected to the office of Town Clerk in 1879, and still acts in that capacity, being also Notary Public, having been appointed to that office by Gov. Smith, in 1880.

ALFRED THORBUS, proprietor of Blair Wagon Works, was born in La Crosse, Feb. 25, 1857. Worked in Sparta, Wis., for his father and uncle until 1879, when he came to Blair and started in his present business, his being the first wagon mannfae- tory established in that village; he is a member of the Minnesota Relief Association ; he was married in January, 1880, to Miss M. P. Nelson, of Blair : they have one danghter, Martha T.

HENRY THORSGARD. proprietor of Blair Flouring Mills ; was born in Norway, Dec. 10, 1844, and came with his parents to America in 1855 ; he came to Blair in the year 1873, and in company with a Mr. Vaness, bought the mill where he now is, it being the first mill in the town of Preston. They continued to run it in partnership until 1876, when Mr. Thorsgard bought ont his partner and has since continued the business alone. His mill has a capacity of 40 barrels of flour per day, and has a barley hul- ler in connection with it, being the only one in Trempealeau, Jackson or Buffalo Counties.

WILLIAM H. WELCH, retired farmer, Blair ; was born in Skaneateles, N. Y., July 16, 1826. In 1832, moved to Michi- gan with his parents, his father buying a farm in Washtenaw County, which consisted of 80 acres; lived there with his parents until twenty years of age, when he was married to Eliza O. Arm- strong, who was a native of New York. After the marriage, him- self and wife went to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he bought a farm and remained until December, 1856; he removed to Trem- pealean County, first going to Galesville, where he stayed during the winter, and in the spring of 1857, bought a farm of 120 acres in the Trempealeau Valley, said farm being within three miles of Blair. From the time Mr. Welch moved here, until 1873, which was the time that the Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad was con- structed, he marketed his grain, either at Black River Falls, Sparta, Trempealeau or La Crosse; lived here until 1875, when he moved to the village of Blair, which has since been Lis home. Ife enlisted in Co. 1, 36th W.V. I., in 1864, and served uutil the close of the war, having the thumb of his right hand shot off in the battle of Petersburg. He has held the office of Town Super- visor for one year. He has a family of ten children-Laroy H .; Alice D., now Mrs. F. J. Kuni, of Minnesota; Janette C., now Mrs. J. O. Overson, of Blair ; Emma E., now Mrs. R. Bliss, of Minnesota ; Elvira M., Hiram L., William E., Cora A., Berton J. and Amanda M.

HENRY A. YOUNG, agent for Wakefield, Trow & Co., dealers in lumber, grain, farm machinery, etc., Blair ; is a native of New York, having been born in Erie County, in 1850; eame to Winnebago Co., Wis., with his parents, in 1856, where he re-

mained until 1875, when he came to Blair and engaged with the above firm. The firm of Wakefield. Gilbert, Trow & Co. was or- ganized in the fall of 1878; they ship about 20.000 bushels of grain and 700 tons of hay per annum, having a hay-press at Blair. The subject of this sketch married Miss Mary McKivergan, who is a native of Wisconsin. They have one son-Alvin H. He is a member of Rushford Lodge, No. 121, I. O. O. F., at Eureka, Winnebago Co.

ETTRICK.

The post village of Ettrick is situated on Section 31, in the town of that name. Its local industries are represented in the following :

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

IVER KNUDTSON, furniture dealer and undertaker, Et- trick, was born in Norway Mareh 13, 1831 ; was married to Miss Giorgne Iverson. They came to the United States in 1855, and first stopped with his brother on a farm in Trempealeau Co. In 1864 he came to Ettrick and worked at carpentering until 1874, at which time he started his present furniture store. Mr. Knudt- son now holds the office of Town and School Treasurer in the town of Ettrick ; has a family of nine children-Charley. Alford, Annie, Ida, Josephine, Peter, Katie, Clara and Arthur.

PETER J. HUFF, merchant and blacksmith, Ettrick, was born in Norway April 23, 1840. He came with his parents to the United States in 1863 and located with them in Dane Co., where he lived for three years. He then went to Vernon Co., where he remained until 1869, at which time he went to Ettriek, where he started a blacksmith shop, which business he has run ever since. In 1879 he started a store, which he manages in con- nection with his other business. He enlisted in Co. D, 14th W. V. I., in December, 1863, and served until the close of the war ; bas been Town Trustee of Ettrick for six years and Side Super- visor for one year.

CHESTER N. ASHLEY, miller at the Ettrick Flouring Mills and proprietor of the Ettrick Hotel, was born in New York Jan. 27, 1848. In 1852 he came with his parents to Wisconsin, settling in Columbia Co., where he remained with them until 1867 ; then going to Green Lake Co., he commenced learning the miller's trade with his brother, J. W. Ashley. In 1879 he came to Ettrick and took charge of the Ettrick Flouring Mills, which were built by Orin Vaness in 1870, but were then owned by Mr. Pederson. They have a run of three buhrs and a capacity of making forty barrels of flour per day.

IVER PETERSON, Postmaster and dealer in general mer- chandise, hardware, etc., live stock, Ettrick, was born in Norway March 13, 1842. He immigrated to the United States in 1862, and located in Vernon Co., Wis. He enlisted in Co. K, 25th W. V. I., serving until the close of the war. He then returned to Vernon Co., remaining two years, working on a farm summers and in the woods at lumbering winters. In 1868 he came to Trempealeau Co. and started a small general merchandise store at Frenchville, but after staying there two years he moved his stock to Ettrick, which has been his home ever since, and has gradually increased his stock until he now does a business of $35,000 per annum, being also proprietor of the grist-mill at Ettrick. He was mar- ried in 1870, to Miss Mary Netson, who is a native of Norway. They have two children-Albert and Emma.

1072

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

WAUPACA COUNTY.

GEOLOGICAL NATURE.

In the northern part of the county the formations are azoic and metamorphic ; the Potsdam sandstone is the pre- vailing formation in the south ; the southeast has a small deposit of magnesian limestone, the general slope of the land being toward the southeast.

EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES.

Waupaca County comprises twenty-one townships, each six miles square, and twenty organized towns, viz .: Bear Creek, Caledonia, Dayton, Dupont, Farmington, Fremont, Helvetia, Iola, Larrabee, Lebanon, Lind, Little Wolf, Mat- teson, Mukwa, Royalton, St. Lawrence, Scandinavia, Union. Waupaca and Weyauwega. It contains 756 square miles and 483,840 acres; is thirty miles in length from north to south, and twenty-four in width from east to west, except in the north tier of towns where the addition of Mat- teson 'makes it six miles wider. It is bounded north by Shawano County ; east by Shawano and Outagamie ; south by Winnebago and Waushara ; west by Portage. In the northwestern part of the county the soil is rather hard and stony, the country being quite hilly. In the rest of the county the surface of the country is generally undulating, the soil inelining to a sandy texture. The eastern and northeastern portions are heavily timbered, consisting of hard and soft maple, oak, birch, cherry, butternut, hickory, ash, elm, basswood, ironwood, pine, tamaraek, spruce, pop- lar, and in some places beech and hemlock. The rest of the county is mainly oak openings. About three-fifths is timbered land, and some of its best farms are found in these oak openings. The chief crops raised are corn, wheat-the spring doing remarkably well-oats, buckwheat, red clover, which is extensively cultivated, and the wild grasses. Corn, buckwheat, beans and potatoes favor the light soil, while oats, wheat, peas and the grasses thrive in clay or heavy loam. Stock-raising is becoming more and more a source of wealth to the county, and much superior butter and cheese are already produced. The country is well suited for sheep-raising, but the prices brought by the wool in the market do not invite investment in this line. The severe winters of 1873 and 1874 discouraged apple-raising, but many growers seem to be again taking heart, and Wau- paca County will yet regain and exceed her former stand- ing. Grapes grow admirably, and the berries-strawber- ries, blackberries, raspberries and huckleberries-flourish in profusion. Cranberries are found wild in all of the tamarack swamps, but are not yet cultivated. The county abounds in small lakes, and wild game of the smaller varie- ties ; also in rivers, stocked with fish of the largest size- pickerel, pike, black and white bass, perch, catfish, stur- geon. Especially do anglers favor the haunts around the beautiful little lakes near Waupaca. The county is there- fore becoming quite a resort for tourists in search of cheap and good living, and whose health requires the pure, dry

atmosphere of an interior county. Neither miasmatic dis- eases nor pulmonary complaints thrive at all. The water is good, and, as a general thing, can be obtained by digging from ten to twenty-five feet. In many parts of the county, artesian wells are reached at a depth of from seventy to one hundred feet

THE LUMBER INTERESTS.

Waupaca County lies within the southern limits of the pine region, the timber being mainly from the northern portion, with belts of more or less magnitude in the eastern and northeastern sections. For this leading source of wealth, New London, at the head of navigation of the Wolf River, is the central point. On the north and north- west the surface is broken and soil stony. The east is un- dulating, the southeast marshy. The country is well watered in every direction, the Wolf which passes through the southeastern part being the main navigable stream. This, with its numerous tributaries, is the main outlet and water highway for the four hundred million feet of logs which are annually taken from the still thickly wooded lands of the north and northeast. These portions of Wau- paca County are also watered by the Little Wolf, Embar- rass, Pigeon Rivers, Bear Creek, ete., while in the south and west flow the Waupaca, Pearl, Crystal, and their branches. The lumbering interests are of course nothing in extent to what they were years ago, when the county depended almost entirely upon this source of revenue. But that is by no means exhausted is shown by the saw mills an1 lumber manufactories scat. ed throughout the county in nearly every village or township of importance and wealth. Statistics, however, dry as they are, mean more than any outburst of general statement. Following, then, are the number of acres of timber growing in the several townships at the time of making the general assessment for 1880: Iola, the extreme northwestern township, 30.000; Dupont, the middle northern. 22,000; Union, north of cen- tral, 8,000; Royalton, south of eentral, 8,000 ; Farming- ton, 6,600; Lebanon, 5,533; Dayton, 4,567 ; Matteson, 3,928; Waupaca, town, 3,773; Caledonia, 3,736 ; Fre- mont, 3,000; Larrabee, 2,846; Lind, 2,170; Weyauwega, 2,000; Mukwa, 1,514; Ilelvetia, 1,310; Bear Creek, 1,000 ; Scandinavia, 979 ; Little Wolf. 776; St. Lawrence, 300; city of New London, 32; city of Waupaca, 5. Total, 112.069 aeres of growing timber. These figures mean, if they mean anything, that the lumbering interests will be alive for many years to come. Many water privileges on the rivers which wet the county have not been improved, but as it settles up more thickly and the wooded lands are cleared away, they will be utilized by the grist and flour mills. Notwithstanding that so many new springs of wealth have been reached many old settlers sigh for the times when the Wolf River was blocked for miles and miles with giants of the forest, and when it was the gateway for such a rush of travel and traffic from the great Northwest-

1073

HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.

ern regions. Then it was that the villages situated on nav- igable streams enjoyed an unrivaled season of prosperity. Since the building of the Wisconsin Central, however, which enters the county near the southeast corner, passing through it in a northwesterly direction, and the connections made by the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western and Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroads, some of the villages have fallen from their most brisk state of prosperity, while the agricultural community-the townships generally-have been materially benefited. It is but a question of time, so argue the most observing residents of the county, when the townships will grow up to the wealth and prosperity of the villages, and then they will both advance together. At present the logs cut are mostly floated down the streams to the Wolf River and the "boom," and then rafted and towed to their destinations by steam tugs. Oshkosh, at the mouth of the Upper Fox, consumes most of the yield.

AGRICULTURAL.

The principal farm products of Waupaca County, have already been mentioned in a general way. The production for 1880, was as follows : Wheat, 20,359 bushels ; corn, 13,- 078 bushels ; oats, 12,631 bushels; grasses. 13,818 tons. Potatoes are a good erop, particularly in the vicinity of Farmington, Lind, Dayton, Scandinavia and Rovalton. Rye flourishes the best, or is most cultivated, in Dayton, Lind, Caledonia, Farmington, Iola, Mukwa, Royalton, Wey- auwega and Waupaca. It is estimated that a general average per acre, throughout the county, is wheat, 12 bushels; corn, 40; oats, 35; potatoes, 150. The Waupaca County Agricultural Society, centers at Weyauwega, and includes many of its most wealthy and substantial farmers.

Dairy Products .- A line of farming industry which is assuming importance, and, in the judgment of many, will become a magnitude, is that devoted to dairy products. During 1879, the last year for which an estimate has been made, the county produced 262,036 pounds of butter and 101,995 of cheese, the prize towns being Lind, Royalton, Weyauwega and Waupaca. In the entire county, are, in round numbers, 6,100 mileh cows, valued at $66,000.

Horticulture .- In certain sections of the county the cultivation of fruits is being brought to a good state of per- fection and financial success. Apples, especially, seem to flourish. Nearly 500 acres are devoted to the raising of this latter fruit, there being 15,000 bearing trees.

The Waupaca County Horticultural Society was organized July 11, 1874. It now consists of about fifty members, the present officers being : President, O. A. Rich, Weyau- wega ; Vice President, I. C. Alden; Secretary, J. Wake- field, Fremont; Treasurer, J. A. Mathews, Weyanwega ; Executive Committee, W. A. Springer, Chairman, E. W. Wrightman, A. V. Balch. W. A. Springer is the delegate to the State Society.

PROPERTY AND TAXATION.

The property of the county is valued as follows : Per- sonal, $778,472; realty, $2.011,416; city and village lots, 8825,693. The total of these three sums, $3,615,581, rep- resents the entire valuation of all county property.

On the valuation of 84,199,215, made by the State Board in 1880, the tax was $6,239.32, 1.4858 per cent., which, with special taxes, brings the total amount up to $10,138.89. There is no general county indebtedness what-

ever. The towns, cities and villages have debts amounting to $157,521.45, of which sum $130,199.98 has been incurred by voting aid to the Wisconsin Central in its grand plan of extension through Central and Northern Wisconsin.

POPULATION.

Speaking in general terms, the northwestern and west- ern parts of Waupaca County have been mainly settled by Norwegians, the northeastern and southeastern portions by the Germans, the Irish predominating in the central towns. This statement has, of course, reference to the foreign ele- ment, the population, as a whole, being about three quarters American. According to the last census (1880), the popu- lation by townships was as follows : Bear Creek, 984; Cale- donia, 902; Dayton, 801; Dupont, 654; Farmington, 764; Fremont, 878; Helvetia, 243; Iola, 979; Larrabee, 1,385; Lebanon, 843; Lind, 978; Little Wolf, 1,342; Matteson, 520; Mukwa, 1,022; New London City, * (in Wau- paca County) 1,552; Royalton, 1,086; St. Lawrence, 874; Scandinavia, 987 ; Union, 684; Waupaca Town, 841; Wau- paea City, 1,392; Weyanwaga, 1,243. Total, 20,711. A comparative statement covering the part twenty-five years is given ; 1855, 4,437 ; 1860, 8,851; 1865, 11,208; 1870, 15,533; 1875, 19,646; 1880, 20,711. The characteristics of Waupaca's population are industry, sobriety and intel- ligence. (And speaking of sobriety, it is a fact of which few even of her best informed citizens are aware, that in 1853 a majority of 154 voters carried the county for prohi- bition).

THE SCHOOLS.

For a comparatively new county, the schools of Wau- paca are well conducted, under the energetic management of L. L. Wright, Superintendent, from whom much of the in- formation here presented is derived. The last report of Superintendent Wright, for the year ending August 31, 1880, indicated the encouraging condition of the cause of education in the county. It contained 108 organized school districts at that time, an increase of two over last year. Of the 7,804 children of school age, 4,053 are males and 3,751 females. Of this number 5,358 children attended school. In the county were eleven graded schools, enploying 31 teach- ers, the average salary of the males being $36.05 per month, and of the females $23.13. The value of school property is $57.327, while for the purposes of education $9,057.82 was collected. Three new houses were erected. One free high school-the Union, of Waupaca City-is maintained. The teachers of the county have an association, with which are connected two libraries, one located at Waupaca, and the other at New London.

PRE HISTORIC AND HISTORIC.

Having presented a general view of the natural features of the county, and its sources of wealth and intelligence, it is in order to show the gradual steps which have been made to reach her present standing. Numbers of marked clear- ings and scores of mounds, found in the islands of White Lake, and the beautiful chain west of Waupaca point to these localities as the burial grounds of tribes who even pre- ceded the red men, who, in turn, finding the beauties of nature here attractive, established flourishing villages among the graves of their ancestors. Many evidences go to prove that some of the first tribes named by the Jesuit mission-

*In Waupaca aud Oulagamie Counties, New London has a population of 1,808.

1074

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN

aries, had their homes in and around Waupaca County. So it is that many Indian names have fastened themselves upon the county. In his native tongue the red man called the land now included in Waupaca County, " Waubnek Seba" -" To-morrow River," or " Pale Water." When the very first settlers met him. he seemed to have fixed the belief that the pale-face was to possess the future-the to-morrow of his land : therefore the general testimony is that he gave them little trouble. And this, notwithstanding it has be- come an established fact that Waupaca County was for years the permanent home of one of the powerful Menomonee tribes. Several of the settlers of 1849 have ascertained this from conversations with remnants of the tribes which they found when they came upon the rough field of pioneer life. Wey- auwega also derives its name from a venerable patriarch, " Wey-au-we-ga," who was alive at a time within their mem- ory. The old man was a great favorite, and through the efforts of his white friends his skull was obtained, and now reposes in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution.

In October, 1848, negotiations were actively begun for the cession of the lands now embraced in the limits of the county. Their title to the territory east of the Wolf had been extinguished several years before. But it was not un- til June 1, 1852, that the Indians surrendered all claims.

FIRST SETTLERS.

In the meantime, although not according to the letter of the law perhaps, a strong tide of immigration set in toward Waupaca Co. and settled over the land.

In the year 1843, Alpheus Hicks, father of Stephen Ilieks, of New London, made an exploring tour up the river from Oshkosh, and is recorded as the first white settler in the present limits of Waupaca County. Landing near the pres- ent site of Fremont, he went further up the river to Shaw- ano Lake, returning to Oshkosh, but finally settled at Fre- mont. The first white woman who ever set foot in Waupaca County is. therefore, Mrs. Elizabeth Hicks, the step-mother of Alpheus. So far as can be ascertained, Mr. Hicks was the only permanent settler previous to 1848. In the treaty of that year, Robert Grignon was granted a quarter-section of land, near the mouth of the Little Wolf, to build a saw-mill. The building was erected previous to the date of the treaty, Ilon. Philetus Sawyer working here as a common laborer during the winter of 1848.

In the spring of 1849, several mill enterprises were un- dertaken within the limits of Waupaca County, and, as stated above, many new settlers pitched their huts, although this advance civilization was growing up in violation of the law, the Indians having not yet surrendered their lands. The Indian Agent of the Menomonees worked himself into a hot state of excitement, but his threats availed but little. The country was fated to be civilized, and within the next year the tide increased. In the middle of July, 1849, J. M. Vaughn, Alonzo Vaughn, W. B. Cooper, John Taylor. of Plymonth, Sheboygan County, and a " Dr." from Erie County, New York, appeared at Winneconne. Two or three weeks before, W. B. and Joseph Hibbard and E. C. Sessions, had journeyed northward from Plymouth, up Lake Winnebago, crossed Wolf River, above Mukwa, and dis- covered the magnificent water-power and site of Waupaca. These gentlemen, or a portion of them, returned to Plym- outh, and reported the fine appearance of the country, through which they had just passed. A party, headed by Gen. Taylor, were in search of the " Vermonter's Camp,"

as Waupaca was then called, the country about it being known as the " To-morrow River Country." Mr. Mum- brue joined this party, and, with two Indian guides, started for the future city of Waupaca. Up the Wolf River they paddled and embarked at Gill's Landing, soon reaching the site of Weyauwega. They also found Simon C. Dow's and J. W. Chandler's camp or cabin, which these gentlemen had occupied about ten days. This became the site of the town of Lind. Here the party met W. B. Hibbard, who had come down from the " Vermonter's camp " for a quantity of flour, and returned with him to the future county seat of Waupaca. But all which then greeted them was an awning of bushes, supported by four poles. Before the close of the season of 1849, many more settlements were made in the southern part of the county. Messrs. Billington, Tibbetts, Van Ostrand, and others, had settled near Weyauwega; S. C. Dow, Col. Chandler and J. M. Vaughn, between Wey- auwega and Waupaca ; E. C. Sessions, J. and W. B. Hib- bard, Dana Dewey. Capt. Scott, Judge Ware, W. B. Cooper and others, at Waupaca; Columbus Caldwell and Jason Rice on the Walla Walla, at Lind Center ; Mr. Nordman, at or near New London ; R. Eastman at Springer's Point ; Mr. Wilcox, near the mouth of the Waupaca. and Charles Edwards at Little River.

The early settlers were taking time by the forelock. They knew the lands would be ceded, and that the spirit of the law supported them. There was one kind of lawless- ness, however, which they would not tolerate. They, in common with all honest pioneers, abominated " squatters," and by 1849 they were coming thick and meaning to stay. In August, of that year, William B. Mumbrue was employed to run a line from the east bank of the Wolf River. through the principal settlements, to the north and west. This line was to be used as a basis for the laying of claims when the lands were afterward surveyed. But the squatters continued their tricks, and claim-jumping went on. The settlers, therefore, formed a league to protect their pre-emption rights. A committee of three was chosen, to whom all complaints were to be made, and the differences adjusted by the league, peaceably, if possible, but decisively at all events. It consisted of Benjamin Birdsell, Claudius F. Eaton, and Alonzo Rudd. Some amusing anecdotes are related to illustrate the persuasive force upon a "jumper " of a dozen brawny muscles straining upon the roof of his shanty, or a huge log converted into a "battering-ram," and brought to bear by a score of hardy pioneers upon the door of his log hut. The labors of this league, though per- haps not strictly legal, deserve an honorable place in the history of Waupaca County, as it enabled many of the carly settlers to enforce, by a posse comatatus, claims which were threatened by dishonest adventurers.

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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