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 273

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 273

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SELDEN MINER, M. D., physician and surgeon, also dealer in drugs and medicines, Hancock; settled in Oshkosh in 1850, and lived there fourteen years and practiced his profession ; from there be moved to Hancock, where he has sinee resided, in the practice of medicine. He was born in Bloomfield, Outario Co., N. Y., April 26, 1814. He was married in Batavia, Gen- esee Co., N. Y., 1839, to Melvina Rogers, who was also born in Genesee Co., N. Y., 1821. They have one son named Henry WV. Miner, now married and living at Mosinee. Mrs. Selden Miner died in 1855. He was again married Nov. 12, 1862, to Catie Hales, who was born in England Feb. 28, 1841.

EDWIN MONTGOMERY, farmer, Hancock; went to Farmington, Jefferson Co., Wis., in 1848, and from there to Iowa; he was elected a member of the Legislature of the latter State in 1850, serving two years; in the fall of 1853 he returned

to his former place of residence in Wisconsin, and followed farm- ing; in the spring of 1865 he moved to Hancook and kept hotel three years in what was known as the Hancock House, after which he moved into his present home; he was elected to the State Senate in fall 1860, and served one term, the Legislature being in session nearly continually during the war. He was born in Ashtabula Co., Ohio, May 27. 1817. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Brown, Dec. 22, 1855, at Farmington ; she was born in Monroe Co., Ohio, Oct. 13, 1833. They have three children- Arthur, living in Jefferson County; Cora M., a school teacher ; Nellie E., at home.

AURORA.

This is a village of 150 people situated in the south - eastern part of the county, sixteen miles from Wautoma. It contains one grist-mill, a saw-mill, cheese factory, two general stores and two hotels. Its early settlement dates back about thirty years, and among its pioneers may be mentioned E. W. Daniels, A. Strang and Chester Clark. The village is not incorporated.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

FRANK H. CLARK. farmer, town of Aurora, was born in Ireland in 1822, but of Seotch aneestry, and came to America with his parents in 1829, and located near Philadelphia, where his father followed his trade, that of mason, and where Mr. Clark was apprenticed to learn the trade of cotton manufacturing, which he followed until 1852 ; he purchased a farm near Philadelphia in 1850, which he sold in 1854 and came to this State, purchasing a farm in Waushara County, where he has lived and followed the occupation of farming ever since ; some six years ago he sold his first farm and bought the farm of eighty acres upon which he now lives ; he has been Treasurer of the town of Aurora for two years. In 1845 he was married to Miss Eliza Dillon, who was a native of Maryland. Mr. Clark has accumulated a competence by honest, persevering industry.

OTHER VILLAGES.

Besides the above is Coloma, situated on the line of the Wisconsin Central ; Mt. Morris in the northeastern part of the county, in the town by that name; Pine River, at one time quite a flourishing village, in the town of Leon; and Poysippiville, in the town by that name, in the western part of the county.

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

WINNEBAGO COUNTY.

NATURAL FEATURES.

Winnebago County is the central gem of the rich Fox River Valley, bounded north by Waupaca and Outagamie Counties, east by Lake Winnebago, south by Fond du Lac, and west by Green Lake and Waushara. It contains an area of 270,000 acres-about 450 square miles-and is the most important section in that great highway, along which flows the lumber wealth of the north to golden grain fields of the south and southwest. Its soil is varied and fertile, all the grains and fruits of the West flourishing. The sub- soil is clay, upon which rests every variety, from a rich loam to clay and sand. By the decomposition of the lime rock, which prevails in the geological formation, the sub- soil is made strong and enduring. Sandstone also is found, and in the northeastern portion of the county good brick clay abounds. Originally, about forty per cent of its sur- face was covered with timber, the oak openings being found on the north side of the Fox River and the prairie land to the south. Winnebago County lies in the natural water- course between the Great Lakes and the Father of waters, and, for 200 years before the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the noted French and English traders, military leaders, and Jesuit missionaries and explorers made that highway and its vicinity historical ground. The arti- ficial improvement during the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury was but the natural outgrowth of natural advantages, which had been patent to the pioneers of Northwestern civ- ilization for over two hundred years. Lake Winnebago, which forms so important a link in this grand, natural water- course from Green Bay to Portage, is the largest body of fresh water in the State, and hems in the entire county from the east. It is twenty-eight miles in length from north to south, and its greatest width from east to west is ten miles-area 212 square miles. It is navigable in most parts. Along its eastern border a wall of rocks extends some fifteen miles, dipping, in some places, hundreds of feet below the surface. Before the advent of railroads, Lake Winnebago was the binding power between all the settle- ments which were grouping themselves around its shores, and was a great reservoir of wealth, in which was sometimes gathered the product of thousands of acres of the pine lands of the north. The Wolf River, which flows from the north through Shawano and Waupaca Counties, is the means of bringing Winnebago County into communication with the lumber districts of the north. Lake Poygan, on this river, in the northwestern part of the county, and Grand Butte des Morts in the central portion on the Fox, and Rush Lake, its outlet in the southwest, with the streams which flow into these rivers and lakes, form a complete water com- munication, not only with all sections of the State, but with every portion of the county. It was on the shores of these lakes that the Indians had their clearings, planting grounds and villages, and on them now are located the cities and villages with their good harbors, net-work of railroads, and enterprising population, which have given to the county its

rank of second in importance among the manufacturing dis- tricts of Wisconsin.

The greatest altitude of Winnebago County is 117 feet above the level of the Fox River. From the prevalence of lakes and streams, water is easily obtained. The county presents three geological features, blue and lower magnesian limestone, and a superficial Potsdam sandstone. The lime- stone mostly prevails in the southeast, southwest and north- east. The surface of the country is generally rolling.

GENERAL HISTORY.

Winnebago County contains sixteen townships (four fractional), Algoma, Black Wolf, Clayton, Menasha, Neenah, Nekimi, Nepeuskun, Oshkosh, Omro, Poygan, Rushford, Utica, Vinland, Wolf River and Winchester. Its popula- tion has been as follows: 1850, 10,167; 1860, 23,770; 1870, 37,325; 1880, 43,041.

According to the State Board of Assessment, the value of real estate and personal property in the county, for 1880, amounted to $14,749,848; the total indebtedness of its towns, cities and villages being $161,285.21, of which sum $82,000 was for railroad aid.

The schools of the county are conducted under the gen- eral district system, the number of houses in the county being over one hundred. For their maintenance, $30,000 is re- quired annually. Excluding Oshkosh, Neenah and Menasha, there were 7,010 persons in the county of school age, in August, 1880, 5,013 being in attendance. The condition of the public schools in the cities named, will be set forth in the history to be hereafter given.

Winnebago County is comprised in the Eastern District of the United States Court, and situated in the Third Cir- cuit. It is a portion of the Sixth Congressional District, and forms the Nineteenth Senatorial. Both as a business and a political power, Winnebago County wields an influ- ence which is felt all over the State.

INDIAN HISTORY.

In writing the history of Winnebago County, it is not necessary to trace in detail the various changes in location of the tribes who were shifted around the Northwest by the fortunes or calamities of war for one hundred and fifty years. This portion of history, full of interest and thrilling in parts as it is, partakes more of a broad and general char- acter, and has thus been treated. When Father Claude Allouez and other early missionaries or military leaders came among the fierce Foxes and Sacs, to the region near Winnebago Lake, the Winnebagoes country lay to the north around Green Bay, and on the southern shore of the Upper Fox was the Nation of the Mascoutins. The Foxes were scattered along the streams of the Wolf River, and were occupying the whole Fox River Valley. To the northeast of the Winnebagoes were the peaceable and friendly Menomonees, but who were to prove true and pow- erful allies of the whites in driving the wild and bloody

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.

Foxes from the beautiful valley which they would neither improve nor allow civilization to inhabit. With the excep- tion of the Winnebagoes, all of these tribes were members of the great Eastern nation-the Algonquins. The Win- nebagoes were a branch of the Dakotas. The Algonquins called them Wennibegouk, or "Men of the Salt Sea." They formed the Eastern van of the Dakota migration, and ruled for a time over all the neighboring Algonquin tribes. In the early part of the seventeenth century, by an alliance of subject tribes, however, and a second war with the Illinois, who had previously befriended them and been deceived, the Winnebagoes were almost exterminated, and never gained their former power. But, though weak, they always retained a haughty and defiant spirit, as if ever having present before their eyes a remembrance of former great- ness. Their manners and language were different from the Eastern tribes. The early French explorations, by way of the Fox River Valley and consequent contact with the Winnebagoes, seemed to confirm the travelers in their belief that this tribe, who had wandered from the Far West, were in communication with the Celestials of the East. Thus it was that religious fervor, worldly ambition and greed com- bined to bring this beautiful valley of the Foxes into notice and favor. This powerful tribe, in accordance with the usual belief of savages, claimed all the land they could hunt over or fish in, and continued to levy tribute upon all traders or travelers who passed through their valley, until punished by the French with such dire results at Little and Grand Butte des Morts, and other battle-fields. They deserted their villages and camping-grounds at these places, at Grand Kaukalin, the Chute, and Sauk-eer (Oshkosh), and finally, by the middle of the eighteenth century, find- ing the French and nearly all the Canadian tribes allied against them, deserted the valley altogether. Moving to- ward the mouth of the Wisconsin, the Winnebagoes took their places, crowding them, within the next forty years, further to the South and West. The Menomonees, in the meantime, had occupied the country abandoned by the Winnebagoes north of the Fox River. These two tribes were, as a rule, not only friendly to each other, but to the whites, whether French or English. When Capt. Jonathan Carver, an English traveler, stopped at Doty Island in 1766, he found Ho-po-ko-e-kaw (Glory of the Morning), the young widow of a French trader, not disinclined to an alli- ance with an English gentleman. Later, the English traders were received with favor by the Winnebagoes and Menomonees, and the English Army was assisted in the siege of Mackinaw in 1812. During this campaign against the American forces, the Menomonces were led by the war chief Tomah, who had in his charge the young but intrepid boy who there earned the title of "Osh-kosh "- "brave." Fifteen years thereafter, when Cha-kau-cho-ka- ma, their old chief, had breathed his last, and left no male issue upon which the honor might descend, there was great commotion and threatened anarchy. But through the Gov- ernment commissioners and the wishes of a majority of the tribe, the choice fell upon the brave and friendly Oshkosh, and the medal was hung around his neck as the last Chief of the Menomonees.

The treaties made by the Winnebagoes in 1832, and by the Menomonees in 1836, brought all the land of this county within the jurisdiction of the United States. The Winnebagoes were given a reservation on the Mississippi above the Upper Iowa. After several removals, to Dakota,

Minnesota and Nebraska, finally, in 1866, most of them were located in the latter State. Those left in Juneau, Adams and Wood Counties-nearly 1,000-are mostly self-supporting. In 1854, the Menomonees accepted their reservation in Shawano County, and most of them removed from the Chippewa Reservation on the Mississippi.

EARLY HISTORY.

Charles de Langlade, the first settler of Wisconsin, who planned the ambuscade at Fort Du Quesne which defeated Gen. Braddock and young Washington in 1755, and who is a historical character fully sketched in the chapters de- voted to Green Bay and Brown County, had a grandson named Augustus Grignon. He, with James Porlier, of Green Bay, established a branch trading-post at Butte des Morts. Mr. Grignon was then a resident of Kaukauna, now in Outagamie County. The buildings were located on Overton's Creek, which flowed into the upper end of the lake, two miles below the Indian village. In a few years Robert, the nephew of Augustin Grignon, became the agent at Grand Butte, but in 1830 established a post at Algoma. Soon after Louis B. Porlier, then a smart lad of fifteen, was sent from Green Bay to take charge of a post, operated by the firm Porlier & Grignon. This was situated a few miles above the Oshkosh cemetery, and here for many years Porlier did an extensive and profitable business. A mail route be- tween Forts Winnebago (Portage City) and Howard had been established in 1826, and the next year came Peter Powell, a trader, who built a log hut on the lake shore, a little nearer the present site of Oshkosh. Mr. Powell made this his summer home and spent his winters at his trading post on the Upper Mississippi. He died in 1837 at his eabin on the shores of Butte des Morts. The trading-post had been, in the meantime, moved further up the Wolf. and quite imposing and artistic buildings erected. In 1841, Mr. Porlier, the agent, married a daughter of his employer, Angustus Grignon. It may be remarked here, incidently, that Peter Powell, Augustin Grignon and James B. Porlier took part in 1812 in the English expedition against the American fort at Prairie du Chien-Fort Crawford. With his father came William Powell, who, in partnership with Robert Grignon, bought the tavern and ferry of George Johnson. In accordance with the treaty of 1831, made with the Menomonees, the Government contractors were now at work in Winnebago Rapids (Neenah) erecting the saw and grist-mill, and houses for the official farmers and for Indian occupancy. As far as the Menomonees were concerned, the scheme was a failure, as will be seen further on in the history of Neenah and Menasha, but it was the means of drawing to the spot such brisk workers as Harrison Reed and Harvey Jones, and of eventually laying the foundations of two im- portant and flourishing manufacturing cities. Among the twenty-five workmen who were given employment in the erection of the buildings for this paternal Indian agency was Webster Stanley, regarded as the founder of the

"CITY OF ATHENS."

In July, 1836, his engagement having expired, Mr. Stanley loaded a Durham boat with a year's supplies, and with his family, and a small crew to assist him for a short time, set ont on his voyage of exploration. After being capsized, undergoing other hardships which pioneers expect, and passing through a short season of indecision as to choice of location between the point on the south side of the Fox

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

River and Coon's Point, they finally decided upon the latter location, the shanty was erected and the crew took their departure and left the founder of Oshkosh to found his city. Across the river was James Knaggs, a half-breed, who had purchased the tavern and ferry from Messrs. Powell & Grignon. In a few days Messrs. Knaggs and Stanley had entered into a partnership, and together were running the two establishments, which were on the new trail between Forts Winnebago and Green Bay. Chester P. Gallup and family. whosc eldest daughter Mr. Stanley had married, fol- lowed him to Green Bay from Medina, Ohio. About the middle of August Henry and Amos Gallup, Webster Stan- ley's brothers-in-law, arrived at his little log hut, having taken the journey on foot from Navarino (Green Bay). Returning, the remainder of the Gallup family were on the ground in a few days, and while the erection of a new cabin went on, the Stanley hut was occupied in common. In Sep- tember of this year (1836), Gov. Dodge concluded his treaties with the Menomonees at Cedar Rapids, and on his return was ferried over the river by the Gallup brothers, who learned from him the welcome news that the land north of the Fox River now belonged to the Government. Web- ster Stanley and the Gallups at once staked off their claims, which comprised the land between Main street and Lake Winnebago, and Merritt Street and the Fox River-properly the Second Ward of the city of Oshkosh. It was then called " Sauk-eer," and later Merton's Point. The settle- ment on both sides of the river became known under the former name. The lands were bid in at public sale in 1838. The Gallups soon had a new shanty erected on the north side of what would now be River street. This life at home, however, was not quite to the restless taste of the boys- Henry and Amos-so in November they journeyed around Lake Winnebago, the first time that trip had been made by white men. Later they crossed the lake on the ice to the Brothertown settlement, and there met George Wright, a New Yorker, and another carpenter named Webster, who had been at work building the agency saw-mill at that point. They were carried away by the stories brought to them of Sauk-eer, and the adjoining country, so that in the following spring they both entered tracts of land near the claims of Stanley's and Gallup's. George Wright brought his family with him, and purchased the 154 acres now bounded by Algoma and Main streets, the Fox River and Wisconsin street (First Ward). Webster did not settle but sold his land, embraced now in the Sawyer and Paine property, to C. J. Coon in 1839. The same year, David and Thomas Evans settled on land adjoining. Chester Ford, whose starting-point, like all the others, was Green Bay, arrived at the Sauk-eer settlement, with his son Milan, in the fall of 1837. He had been a partner with J. P. Arndt, H. F. Stringham and A. G. Ellis, of Green Bay, and operated a saw-mill at Neshotah, Manitowoc County. He sold out his interest and located on what afterward became known as Wright's Point, south of the river. During March of the next spring Joseph Jackson, a stirring young Irishman who had come from Detroit to Green Bay, and there met George Wright's daughter Emeline, before the family had removed to Brothertown, appeared at the Sauk-eer settlement and the house of his prospective father-in-law. On the 8th day of that month the nuptials were celebrated at Stanley's house, all of the pioneer families being present. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Stephen Peet, of Green Bay, who had inserted in the Democrat of that village a notice there-

of, locating the marriage of the happy couple at " Athens." This was the first marriage which occurred in Winnebago County between two white persons, and when, on August 26, 1838, the small settlement was increased by the advent of G. W. Stanley, son of the founder of Oshkosh, the first birth had become an event of the past. When, during the year, George Wright was appointed Justice of the Peace for "all of Brown County west of Lake Winnebago," the god- dess first balanced her scales in this region, and brought them into use in November. when Knaggs, the trader, sued a half-breed for $14.25 worth of goods. Ile recovered his suit and Mr. Jackson, the pioneer husband, was authorized to enforce the collection, but the difficulty was settled and stern justice hid her head for a time. C. J. Coon arrived in 1839 and purchased the Sawyer-Paine property, several localities were made a few miles north of the present city, and by the beginning of the next year " Sauk-eer " settle- ment, " Athens," etc., began to have quite a flourishing ap- pearance.

In March, 1839, the town of Butte des Morts was or- ganized, but the county of Winnebago was not created from Brown until January 6, 1840. Nathaniel Perry, Robert Grignon and Morgan L. Martin were appointed Commis- sioners to locate the county seat, but as the county was en- tirely unorganized for judicial purposes little attention was given to this doubtful duty. On February 18, 1842, Win- nebago and Calumet were organized and attached to Brown County for judicial purposes after the first Monday of April, 1843. Under the act of organization the town of Butte des Morts was changed to Winnebago, which embraced the county. The town officers were, therefore, the county offi- cers, and the Board elected in April at Webster Stanley's house. where all elections occurred, performed the duties of Supervisors. William C. Isbell was chosen Chairman ; L. B. Porlier and Chester Ford, Supervisors : George F. Wright, Clerk ; W. W. Wright, Treasurer. The two lat- ter were sons of George Wright, who had died the previous year. This is the first regular election. Under a misun- derstanding, an election for town officers had been held in April of the previous year, and the result legalized by the Legislature in March, 1843. At this irregular election Chester Ford was chosen Chairman of the Town Board ; Chester Gallup and William C. Isbell, Supervisors; John Gallup, Clerk; Webster Stanley, Treasurer. In Septem- ber, 1844, occurred the first election of regular county offi- cers, which resulted: George F. Wright, County Clerk ; W. W. Wright, Treasurer: W. C. Isbell, Register of Deeds; Samuel L. Brooks, District Attorney ; Ira F. Aiken, Coroner; W. C. Isbell, C. Lnce and Harrison Reed, members of the County Board. A majority of nineteen was polled against the State Constitution, and T. J. Town- send elected Probate Judge. During the winter of 1844-45, an act was passed providing for the election of three Com- missioners at the town meeting in April, who should locate the county seat, now that Winnebago was assuming polit- ical and judicial shape. After several meetings had been held, and a close contest between Joseph Jackson and Har- rison Reed, the latter, with Charles Dickinson and Robert Grignon, were chosen Commissioners. The latter cham- pioned his uncle's claims to locate the county seat upon Augustin Grignon's land at Grand Butte des Morts; Clark Dickinson presented and urged the advantages of Chester Ford's land at the mouth of the Fox : Harrison Reed, who was deep in his speculations at Winnebago Rapids (Nee-

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.

nah), spoke for that locality and himself. Finally the Grig- non site was selected, Mr. Dickinson voting "nay." On July 31, S. S. Brooks, the County Surveyor, in the pres- ence of the three Commissioners, staked out a park of 90,000 square feet, the gift of Augustin Grignon, and situated in Section 24, Township 19, Range 16, near the center of the county. Oshkosh and other populous and growing sections to the cast were so indignant at the de- cision that the Board never met there, but gathered at the house of H. L. Blood and there continued to hold their meetings until the county seat was changed by law to its present site. In February, 1847, the county was organized for judicial purposes, and after January 1, 1848, the county seat was to be located in Section 24, Township 18, Range 16, for the next three years, if the proprietors of the town would furnish site and buildings free of cost. Several prop- ositions were received from the enterprising and delighted villagers of Oshkosh, but in April, 1847, the ten lots in Block 19, offered by L. M. Miller, S. A. Wolcott and S. M. Farnsworth, were accepted. In August of the next year, Alex W. Stow, Circuit Judge, held the first ses- sion of court in the village schoolhouse, and in April, 1849, two years from the time the site was accepted, the court convened in the building erected by popular subscription. In September of this year Jedidiah Brown was elected County Judge. In April, 1850, the voters of the county decided not to remove the seat to Butte des Morts, and Oshkosh was left in undisputed possession of its honors. In 1853, the question of erecting suitable county buildings was agitated, and the next year a small brick building, at a cost of $1,800, was built. The court house was not built until 1859, when the county was authorized to issue bonds for that purpose. The building presents a fine appearance, is three stories in height, with stone foundation and Mansard roof. The square, containing two acres, is situated in the Second Ward, on Otter street, corner of Court. The offi- cers for 1881, now occupying the building, are: O. F. Chase, County Clerk ; J. W. Ladd, Treasurer ; T. E. Loope, Register of Deeds; George Gary, County Judge; W. D. Harshaw, Sheriff; T. D. Grimmer, Clerk of Court; George W. Burnell, District Attorney; C. R. Hamlin, Coroner ; C. Palmer, Surveyor; W. W. Kimball, Superintendent of Schools.

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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