USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 20
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David Merrill was born in Maine, 1793, and married Eunice Lord, who was also of New England ancestry. Leaving New York state in 1835, his intention was to come as far West as Milwaukee at that time, but reaching the conclusion that the place was then too near the border line of civilization to be anything approaching a comfortable place of residence for his family, he stopped in Cleveland, Ohio, and remained there two years. In the fall of 1837 he determined to make the contemplated settlement in Milwaukee, and loading his goods and wares, together with his family into wagons, he made the long trip overland, arriving here late in the season. A log house on the Me- nomonee river, which had been vacated by a more fortunate pioneer, was the only house he could find available as a place of residence, and in this the family was domiciled-with blankets hung at the openings cut for doors and windows-during the first six months of its resi- dence in Milwaukee. At the end of that time more comfortable quar- ters were secured, and the following spring Mr. Merrill became the proprietor of a log hotel, where for a time he dispensed old-fashioned hospitality, at old-fashioned prices. About 1840 or 1841, however, he engaged in a new enterprise. In company with another gentleman he built and put into the carrying trade on Lake Michigan, the schooner "Marvin", which was one of the first vessels launched at Milwaukee. He next built "The Michael Dousman", and later built for himself and others numerous vessels employed in the lake traffic. He died in Mil- waukee on March 12, 1872.
The spring and summer of 1835 brought, as settlers, to the town, Joel S. Wilcox, Elijah S. Estes, Alexander Stewart, Enoch Chase, a Mr. Carlton, Barzillai Douglass, Zebedee Packard, William Piper, Hezekiah Brennon, William Bunnell, John Ogden, James McFadden, Jacob Mahany, George H. Wentworth, H. Bigelow, John Davis, Mr. Shaft, Andrew Douglass, Israel Porter, and no doubt quite a number of others, whose names we have not obtained.
Morgan L. Burdick, who accompanied Horace Chase to Milwau- kee, and a native of Jefferson county, N. Y., was born in 1813. He came West as far as Dayton, Ohio, in 1833, and two years later trav- eled on foot from that city to Chicago. While in Chicago he helped build the first frame dwelling erected in that city, and after he came here in 1834, he also helped build the first frame dwelling erected in Milwaukee. He settled on land in the town of Lake in 1834, returned to Ohio in 1837, and married Olive S. Patterson, a native of St. Law- rence county, N. Y., and lived during the remainder of his life on the farm which he claimed from the public domain and brought under cultivation.
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The tide of immigration increased in 1836, and the town received its full share of "squatters", and among the arrivals of 1835 and 1836 will be noticed several men of mark in the early history of the county. The year 1836 brought Horatio Nelson, Noah Prevost, Uriel B. Smith, Russell Bennett, Joseph Williams, James C. Howard, John Ogden, Samuel Dexter, and doubtless many others, some of whom invested nearly "their all" in land claims, so as to secure what were deemed the most eligible sites, and in not a few instances the amount paid for the claim rendered them unable to purchase at ten shillings per acre when the land came into market.
Uriel B. Smith, notable as one of the earliest settlers of Milwau- kee, was born at Tully, Onondaga county, N. Y., Feb 18, 1812. He resided in the county in which he was born until he attained his majority, during which time he served an apprenticeship to the tailor's trade. He then moved to Shelbourn Falls, Mass., where, in 1834, he was united in marriage to Miss Lucy C. Corse, of Leyden, Mass. The following year they moved to Wisconsin and arrived in Milwau- kee on July 17, 1835. Mr. Smith immediately sought out Solomon Juneau and counseled with him as to the advisability of locating here and opening a tailoring establishment. There had been a saw-mill established four miles up the river that spring and Mr. Juneau suggested that he go to this mill, state his case and make his arrange- ments for lumber for his storeroom and home. Mr. Smith immedi- ately acted upon this advice and a few days later with the help of a boy rafted the lumber down the river to the bank opposite the site of the new store, which was built on East Water street, between Wis- consin and Michigan streets, and became the first tailor's shop in the town. His business steadily increased, and having followed the advice of his friend Juneau to "do as nearly as possible a cash busi- ness," he accumulated money fast and in 1838 moved to the South side and located on George H. Walker's "claim," which at that time was in litigation. There he built his shop and home and continued merchant tailoring for some twelve years, gradually turning his atten- tion, however, to the real estate business, which finally occupied his entire attention. He made a trip to California in 1850, leaving Mil- waukce in February of that year and going to Independence, Mo., where he fitted out with teams, and in company with six other fami- lies started in March and arrived at his destination in August. He remained in California about one year, and then returned to Milwau- kee by the way of the "Panama route." In politics he was a Repub- lican and he was an active member of both the Old Settlers' and Pioneer clubs of the city from the time of their organization. He
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is certainly well entitled to prominence among the pioneers, as he was not only one of the first settlers, but was the father of the first Anglo-Saxon child born here-a daughter named Milwaukee Smith. Mr. Smith died on Nov. 30, 1902.
Joseph Williams came to Bay View in 1836 and settled on a claim. He was born in Amsterdam, N. Y., in 1795, and he died in May, 1877.
James Corydon Howard was born at Brattleboro, Windham coun- ty, Vt., Sept. 25, 1804, and was the third son in a family of eleven children born to James and Eleanor (Church) Howard, who were natives respectively of New Hampshire and Vermont. The father was in every respect a representative pioneer citizen and moved with his wife and five children to the then wilderness of St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in 1813, and there his services were engaged by David. Parish-the owner at that time of nearly the entire county-to super- intend the construction of a furnace and other works at Rossie, in said county. He built and owned several mills in St. Lawrence county, and James C. remained there and worked on the farm and in the mills until his removal with his family to Milwaukee in 1836. Soon after he came to this county he "claimed" and settled on a tract of land which afterward became known as a part of section twenty in the town of Lake, on which he continued to reside until his death, which oc- curred on Oct. 18, 1880. A year before Mr. Howard came to Wis- consin-then Michigan territory-his father-in-law, Israel Porter, ac- companied by his eldest son, had come to Milwaukee and made a num- ber of claims near what was called Prairieville-now Waukesha-and bought one also near Milwaukee, after which they returned to New York to prepare for removal to the west shore of Lake Michigan the following spring. Upon his return to the East Mr. Porter told Mr. Howard of the new country, of the claims he had taken and of the advantages of soil, climate, etc., and offered him his choice of any of the claims-excepting one which had a mill privilege on it and was located near Prairieville-if he would accompany them to the new country in which they proposed to settle. Mr. Howard accepted the proposition, and after looking the ground carefully over selected the . claim on which he made his home, on account of its location and close proximity to Milwaukee, which place his foresight and judgment led him to believe would some day become a thriving metropolis. In August, 1836, he settled on this claim, in the unbroken forest, and began the work necessary to bring it under cultivation, while Mr. Porter and his three sons pushed on to Waukesha and settled in what was called one of the "openings." At the organization of the town of Lake, Mr. Howard was elected town clerk, which office together
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with other public positions of trust and honor he creditably and con- scientiously filled. He was opposed to all secret societies, and in politics was a strong and consistent Whig during the life of that party, and a Republican after that organization was formed.
Provisions were very high when navigation closed in 1836. Corn meal poured loosely into the measure was worth $2.50 per bushel, eggs six shillings per dozen, and butter the same per pound. Rough lumber was also worth seventy-five dollars per thousand.
The first town meeting of which there is any record extant, was held at the house of William Bunnell, in April. 1842, Solon Johnson acting as moderator, and James C. Howard, clerk. Of course there were prior meetings and much town business transacted. At the meet- ing of 1842, it was resolved to elect three assessors, three constables, and that the supervisors should receive seventy-five cents per day while doing township business, and that the clerk should receive six cents per folio for records, and six cents each for filing a paper or adminis- tering an oath. And it was also voted that the treasurer should receive one per cent. of all moneys received and paid out. Jared Thompson was elected chairman, and Samuel Dexter and Spencer Burlingame members of the board of supervisors, and James C. Howard, clerk; assessors : John Douglass, Joseph Williams and Daniel W. Patterson ; treasurer, Daniel W. Patterson; collector, Lucius P. Packard; com- missioners of highways : John Ogden. George McCready and Samuel Dexter ; commissioners of schools : John Douglass. George McCready and Samuel Dexter; constables : Lucius B. Packard, Jacob Mahany and Sylvester Brown. A resolution to levy one-fourth of one per cent. tax for support of schools, offered by D. Chase, was negatived.
Jared Thompson was a native of Mansfield, Conn., who was car- ried west with the tide of stalwart and adventurous manhood, which flowed into Milwaukee in 1837 and laid the foundation of her commer- cial greatness. He opened a tin store on East Water street and for many years was prominent in business, social and church circles. He was a member of the territorial legislature, which met in 1843, and was for many years a member of the county board of supervisors, a justice of the peace and a local Methodist minister, filling the pulpit with more than ordinary ability. He lived many years in the town of Lake, where he died on Feb. 22, 1890, revered and beloved by all the early settlers.
At a general election held on Sept. 26, 1842, the entire vote cast was forty-seven, and the highest number given to any candidate, thirty- seven. Ten votes were for, and thirty-three against, forming a state government.
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At a subsequent meeting in the same year, a committe estimated that the contingent expenses of the town would be $55.50; the meeting adopted the report and ordered that amount raised by taxation.
At a meeting held in 1844, it was shown that the collector re- ceived $2.23 for his arduous services, and that the treasurer's percen- tage netted him the princely sum of eighty-nine cents. The collector was allowed seventy-five cents per day, and his modest bill indicates that he lacked about one hour of spending three days in the service of the town. These facts demonstrate clearly that the day of small things had not passed away in 1844.
The people were doubtless as hard pressed to raise the few dollars of tax required in 1844, as the larger tax of to-day. There was per- haps not a man in the town then who paid as much as five dollars in taxes, and few that paid half of that. But it is said to be just as easy to pay $1,000 when you have the money as one dollar when you do not have it.
A considerable portion of the soil in this town is not so valuable for farming purposes as in some other parts of the county, and yet the high state of improvements, together with its proximity to the city, etc., have conspired to fix upon its farm lands the highest value of any in the county. The population of the town, including the village of Cudahy, is 9.785, or about 466 per square mile.
Cudahy is the principal village in the town of Lake, and it was organized about fifteen years ago. The census tells a story of prog- ress in its returns of the population of the village: 1900, thirteen hun- dred and sixty-six; 1905, twenty-five hundred and fifty-six. Since the taking of the last census, however, it has had a good growth, but as no enumeration has been taken, the population can only be estimated. Cudahy Bros.' meat packing firm started the village in 1892.
TOWN OF MILWAUKEE.
This is one of the two towns that were created when the county . was first divided, and prior to the organization of the towns of Gran- ville and Wauwatosa, it included all the territory now embraced by them and the major portion of the city of Milwaukee. When origin- ally organized, the town of Milwaukee was described as follows: Be- ginning on the shore of Lake Michigan, at the southeast corner of township seven north, of range twenty-two east; thence west to the southwest corner of town seven north, of range twenty-one east ; thence north to the northwest corner of town eight north, of range twenty-one east; thence east to Lake Michigan; thence southerly
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along the shore of said lake to the place of beginning. The town of Granville was created on Jan. 13, 1840, and the town of Wauwa- tosa on April 30, of the same year, the town of Milwaukee being thus reduced in size. It then comprised Congressional townships seven and eight north of range twenty-two east, being twelve miles in length from north to south, with an average breadth of about three miles. In 1846, when a city government was established, the town and city were separated, and two miles off the north end of township seven, and all of township eight retained the name of the town of Milwaukee. About ten years ago another strip, one-half mile wide, was annexed to the city. The present area of the town is seven and one-half miles in length, and nearly three in average width, being about four miles wide at the south end, with a shore line along Lake Michigan of fully eleven miles. This extends to the county line on the north, with the lake for its eastern boundary, the city for its southern limit, and Wauwatosa and Granville on the west.
The town of Milwaukee was created on Jan. 2, 1838, but the names of the officers who were then elected to administer civil affairs are no longer remembered. The earliest records at present to be found in the town run back no further than 1846, at which time the town was separated from the city. The first meeting was held at the house of G. Mathias on April 7, 1846, Jasper Vliet, acting clerk. It was or- dered at this meeting that $200 be raised for building and repairing roads, $50 for the town poor, $100 for common schools, and $150 for town officers and contingent expenses. An election was had, at which forty votes were cast. The following were the officers elected : Supervisors : Garrett Vliet, chairman, James W. Jones and Buel Brown; clerk, John B. Vliet; treasurer, Samuel Brown ; col- lector, Jasper Vliet ; commissioners of highways : Samuel Brown, Reu- ben M. Keene and Robert Lane; commissioners of schools : Reuben M. Keene, Samuel Brown and Isaac Williams ; constables, Charles H. Dill and Martin D. Webster ; fence viewers, David Mathias and Martin D. Webster; justice of the peace, James W. Jones. The total amount of taxes imposed upon the town for that year was $670.43. Three years later Anson W. Buttles was elected town clerk, which position he con- tinued to fill for a period of about fifty years, with the exception of about three years when he was railroading, and a portion of the time he also filled the position of justice of the peace.
Garret Vliet, descended from Daniel Van Vliet-who emigrated with his brother, William, from Holland to New Brunswick, N. J., shortly before the Revolutionary war-was born on Jan. 10, 1790. Some time after his birth the family moved into Pennsylvania, near
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Wilkesbarre. A few enterprising men were venturing into that coun- try to convert its magnificent pine timber into merchandise and money, but few or none dreamed of the immense wealth that lay em- bowelled in its mountains, and under these circumstances Garret Vliet grew to manhood with but the few privileges of frontier life, in a rugged, heavily timbered country. He early became a hunter, and many were the stories of hunter's life which he recounted in after years. He was for a short time a soldier in the last war with Great Britain, serving with a company of sharpshooters. Notwithstanding the poverty of his advantages he acquired a moderate education, and learned the theory and practice of land surveying, in which he after- ward became an adept, being employed for a time in the survey of the Holland purchase in the state of New York. About the year 1818 he left his old home and pushed west, stopping the first winter in Eastern Ohio. The next year he went down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi to St. Louis. Spending only a few months in that region, and being detained at Cape Girardeau several weeks by severe illness, he returned to Miami county, Ohio, where he subsequently married Rebecca Frazey. Soon after his return to Ohio the canal improve- ments of that state were inaugurated and he was employed in the construction of the Miami canal. After the completion of the canal he took charge of the four locks at Lockland, ten miles from Cincin- nati, and afterward was elected and re-elected surveyor of Hamilton county. In the spring of 1835 he came with Byron Kilbourn to that part of the Northwest territory now known as Wisconsin, and pro- ceeded with him to Green Bay, where they attended the land sales. Mr. Kilbourn having acquired a considerable quantity of land on the west side of the river at Milwaukee, Mr. Vliet came from Green Bay and laid out a portion of it into town lots, afterward returning to Green Bay and making a careful examination of the water power along the Fox river, with the view of purchasing same part of it. In the fall he returned with Mr. Kilbourn to Cincinnati, and soon entered into a contract with the surveyor-general to survey for the government towns 7, 8 and 9 of ranges 18, 19 and 20, and town 7, range 21, being the towns of Delafield, Pewaukee, Brookfield, Wauwatosa, Merton, Lisbon, Menomonee, Erin, Richfield and Germantown, in the present counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington. In January, 1836, he started with his party to execute the contract. In the spring of 1837 he went to Dubuque, and began the laying-out of that town- site, for which, together with four other towns on the Mississippi and in Wisconsin, he had taken a contract from the government. Return- ing to Cincinnati. he closed up his affairs there, and on Aug. 23, 1837,
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started with his family for their new home in Milwaukee. For many years he lived in this city, respected and loved, but avoiding any act which would tend to bring him into public life, though he was a mem- ber of the first Constitutional convention, in 1846. He died a quiet and painless death on Aug. 5, 1877.
The surface of the town of Milwaukee is quite undulating in some parts and quite level in others, and it contains, perhaps, more broken land, in proportion to area, than any other portion of the county. The bluff along the lake is generally 100 feet or more in height, and perhaps the general surface of the township will average near that. Landslides into the lake or onto the beach are of frequent occurrence and considerable dimensions. The greater part of the northern por- tion of the town was heavily timbered, and contains, naturally, the strongest and readiest soil for agricultural purposes. A great deal of the town is what, in common parlance, is called "openings," or "open lands," a designation or qualification as applied to the character of the land, the origin of which is somewhat difficult to determine. There is comparatively little waste land in the town, and the condition of the farms, buildings, and surroundings are indicative of thrift and pros- perity. The natural drainage of the town consists of the Milwaukee river and its tributaries. The Milwaukee river enters the town near its northwestern corner, and runs in a general direction a little east of south the length of the town, nearly parallel with the lake shore, and frequently only about a mile distant. The valley is probably from fifty to 100 feet below the high lands of the town, and serves, by its meandering, to greatly diversify the landscape. While much of the soil in the town is very fertile, other considerable tracts are of poor quality. The principal varieties of timber were black walnut, sugar maple, elm, ash, oak, beech and hickory. Some of the choicest timber was used for buildings, making rails, and sawing into lumber, but much of it which would now be very valuable was burned in clearing the land. The soil is especially adapted to diversified farming, fruit growing and truck gardening, in which pursuits, combined with stock-raising, the intelligent and industrious farmers have met with phenomenal suc- cess. The pleasant homes and thrifty surroundings are abundant proof of this, while an occasional stately mansion, with modern improvements and appliances, affirms the conclusion that even in this favored land, some have been more successful than their worthy rivals. And thus it will ever be, so long as accumulated wealth is the measure of success.
This town was surveyed during the summer of 1835, at the same time as the lands within the present city limits, and no less than thirty- one tracts in the north end of town seven were sold at Green Bay
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on Sept. 4, of that year. Among those purchasing at this time were John and Andrew Douglass, Amos and James Biglow, Eshorn Day, Peter Cure, Goulding Amet, Daniel Wells, Henry Penoyer, Thomas H. and Nelson Olin, David Morgan, William Underwood, Charles Vale, John Bowen, William Lafferty, James B. Clements, Hiram Burdick, Rodney B. Cumer, James Woods, Henry M. Hubbard, Lucius I. Bar- ber, Alfred Orendorf, Luther Childs and John McLane. These all bought lands in sections numbered from three to ten in town seven, and supposing each to have entered a quarter section, must have taken every available acre in the upper, or north end of the town, in which the city of Milwaukee lies.
The following historical letter was written for a previous publi- cation by Nelson Olin, one of the above-named first settlers, and it is of interest at this time as a description of the experiences of the early pioneers of Milwaukee county :
"I was born May 22, 1809, in the town of Canton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where I lived until April 25, 1835. I then came to the conclusion to take Horace Greeley's advice, 'Go West.' I therefore shipped at Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence river, ran up through rivers and lakes to Cleveland. From there I was accompanied by my brother, Thomas H. Olin, who had come from the land of his birth in the spring of 1834, and had been engaged in school teaching near Cleveland. Together we went to Detroit. There we fell in with B. E. Wheelock, whose destination was the same as ours, Green Bay, which at that time was said to be very near the North Pole. We shipped at Detroit, on board the schooner 'Jacob Barker,' bound for Chicago. We encountered high and low winds, fogs and calms, before reaching Mackinaw. We lay in sight of Mackinaw twenty-four hours in a calm, the fog so thick we could not see four rods from the vessel. The cap- tain said if we would help the boys (sailors) pull the vessel into Mack- inaw, we could see all the sights gratis. We did so, but it was at the expense of blistered hands, and very tired arms. Before we reached Mackinaw the Indians came on board with fish. The captain pur- chased one weighing nearly eighty pounds for one dollar. It was a Mackinaw trout nearly six feet long and well proportioned. Arriving at Mackinaw, we bade good-bye to the 'Jacob Barker,' as she was bound for Chicago, and we for Green Bay. At Mackinaw we first heard the name, from the Indians, Mil-li-wau-kee, accent on the last syllable. There we became acquainted with the Dousmans, who were afterward some of our best friends in Wilwaukee. We staid in Mackinaw two weeks waiting impatiently for some way of conveyance to Green Bay. On the 24th day of May a small fifty-ton vessel hove in sight, from
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