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 22
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Reuben Strong was born in Tully, Onondaga county, N. Y., in 1814, and there was reared on a farm. He came to Wisconsin in 1836, and purchased a "claim" to ninety acres of land on the Janesville road, in what is now the town of Greenfield, the land having previously been "located" by Albert Fuller. He afterward bought a claim filed on 160 acres near by, which he improved, and on which he lived and died. Mr. Strong married Miss Pamelia Fuller, in New York state, in 1835, and seven children were born to them after they came to Wisconsin. Mrs. Strong belonged to the noted New England family of Fullers, of which the present chief justice of the United States Supreme Court is a dis- tinguished representative. Albert Fuller, a brother of Mrs. Strong, was one of the earliest settlers in the town of Greenfield, and the first township election was held at his house. Mr. Strong died on Sept. I, 1889. He was a Republican, and both he and his wife were members of the Baptist church.
The record of the first election in the town of Greenfield has been lost or improperly kept, but it is known that it was held at the resi- dence of Albert Fuller, in April. 1839. The notice of the election named as judges persons not then within the town, and when the voters assembled they selected the officers to suit themselves. Eben Corn- wall, Stephen Sargent and Reuben Strong were made judges. and Francis D. Weld and Peter Marlatt, clerks. The settlers were detained till after dark and took supper at Mr. Fuller's. Coffee being scarce in
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that early day they were compelled to make out with milk punch. Of- fices were not sought then as they are now, and an office now abolished, and which it was difficult to get anyone to fill, was that of fence viewer.
Eben Cornwall came of good Connecticut stock, in which state he was born in 1790, and from whence he removed to Williamson, Wayne county, N. Y., when he was twenty-five years old. He was a good mechanic as well as farmer and followed those occupations all his life. He was married in Wayne county, N. Y., to Miss Cynthia Sheffield, in 1814, and shortly after the marriage removed to Macedon, where he lived until 1838. In that year he came direct to Milwaukee by lake, on the steamer "Madison." Seeking a home in the country, he and his wife went to the town of Greenfield and settled on a quarter section of land, on which he died in 1879, his wife having died in 1873.
The earliest attainable records go back only to April, 1842, when an election was held. George S. West was elected chairman of the first town board, and John Marsh and C. S. Elsworth members; clerk, Hiram Dayton ; assessors, H. Moore and William Hale; treasurer, Wil- liam Cobb; collector, F. D. Weld; commissioners of highways : George S. West, John Cooper and Albert Fuller ; commissioners of schools : Charles F. Elsworth, F. D. Weld and Peter Marlatt. At a subsequent meeting it was shown that $100 had been raised by taxation, and all the officers fully paid, except the clerk, whose bill, $44.121/2 was pro- nounced too high, and it was recommended that it be reduced to thirty- five dollars. The total disbursements for the year were ninety-six dol- lars, and the supervisors were of the opinion that $100 would be a sufficient sum for the coming year. This is quite a contrast with the present day, when the cost of assessing alone is a number of times as great as the entire revenues in 1842. The population of the town is entirely rural, and numbers 6,348, or about 176 per square mile.
The first white child born at Hale's Corners, and it may be the first in the town of Greenfield, was to William Hale and wife, Feb. 27, 1838. The infant then ushered into the world was Napoleon B. Hale, who after reaching manhood removed to San Bernardino, Cal.
The Methodists were the leaders in religious efforts in the town of Greenfield, the first meetings being held in the settlers' cabins. After continuing the services in the houses of the members for several years, school houses were used, and later, houses for worship were erected. The first religious services remembered in the town were conducted by Rev. James Ash, in January, 1837. In 1841, the Greenfield Baptist church was organized at the residence of Eben Cornwall. In April, 1842, a Methodist Episcopal class of five members was formed by Rev. Mr. Ash, and Rev. William W. Jolinson was appointed leader, a posi-
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tion he held for more than fifty years. In 1870, the members here united with those at Wauwatosa and helped build the Methodist Epis- copal church of that place. At the present time the town has nine houses of public worship located as follows: Three at or near North Greenfield Station, one each on sections 7, 14, 17, and 29, and two on section 22. Nearly all the early churches provided a place for the in- terment of their dead, but these were gradually abandoned, and Pil- grim's Rest Cemetery and Forest Home Cemetery in the city of Mil- waukee contain the remains of many of the early pioneers.
The first tavern in the town of Greenfield was opened by William Hale at Hale's Corners and was called the South Side Hotel. He kept a little tea and tobacco for sale, and on Sunday always had preaching in his house, so his was a dwelling, tavern, store and church. This was really the first beginning of business at Hale's Corners.
TOWN OF FRANKLIN.
Franklin was one of the two towns formed out of the original town of Kinnickinnic. The date of its formation by the territorial legislature was Dec. 20, 1839. Franklin is the southwestern corner town of Milwaukee county, and it was christened at the time of its erection as a civil division. The name was doubtless given in honor of that distinguished statesman, diplomat and philosopher, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. The town is a full one, its area being of the regulation Con- gressional size, thirty-six square miles. The town of Greenfield lies to the north of it, and Oak Creek to the east, while Racine and Waukesha counties bound it on the south and west. The surface of the country is somewhat varied, but the major portion of it is generally level, par- taking somewhat of the character of the land in the towns of Greenfield and Lake. The soil is referable entirely to the drift deposits, and would be classified as drift clays. A large portion of the land is of excellent quality, while another portion is rough, with immense quantities of boulders thickly strewn everywhere. Root river, with its numerous small tributaries, furnishes nearly the entire drainage of the town, passing as it does nearly centrally through it.
Franklin was originally covered with heavy timber, mostly of the hard wood varieties, as walnut, butternut, hickory, the various kinds of oak, beech, maple, yellow poplar, whitewood, white ash, elm, etc. These were abundant, while the buckeye, sycamore, wild cherry, iron wood and dog wood were less generally distributed. The shrubs were the hazel, blackberry, huckleberry, Juneberry, hackberry and spice. Most of the varieties of timber and shrubs are still represented. though
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the best has long since found its way to the mills and markets, if not the pioneer "log heaps."
The town was noted in early times for its abundance of wild ani- mals, and was a favorite hunting ground for the Indians for many years after the cession of the land to the whites. By general consent, they were permitted to make annual visits, which they seemed to greatly enjoy. There were bears, panthers, wolves and wild-cats in great numbers, while deer and wild turkeys furnished the principal meat foods to the early settlers. The larger wild animals were of course for many years a source of annoyance and danger.
The town of Franklin was settled nearly as early as any of the towns in Milwaukee county. The earliest sale of land was in the latter part of the year 1838. Among the purchasers at that time were Hor- ace Flint Smith, Rufus Cheney, Eleazer Wales, John W. Howard, Wil- liam Shields, John White, Herman Veeder, and Aaron Whitcomb.
Rev. Rufus Cheney was one of the earliest, best known and widely respected pioneer settlers of Milwaukee county. In 1833 he moved from Western New York to Erie county, Pa., and in the spring of 1835 came West and settled on a farm in Milwaukee county He attended the first government land sale held that year at Green Bay, and pur- chased some tracts of timbered lands. At the first land sale held in Milwaukee, in 1838, he entered about 2,000 acres of farming lands for himself, his sons and relatives, and soon afterward they followed him to the new land he had spied out, all becoming heads of families and leading citizens of the embryo state. Elder Cheney. as he was familiar- ly called, was in many respects a remarkable man. He was an ordained preacher of the Free Will Baptist denomination, and preached the Gos- pel for over sixty years, and during all that long period never received a salary for his laborers, choosing rather, having the zeal and faith of the Apostles, to look as did they to the great Master above, whom he so faithfully served, for his eternal reward. All through his life he kept his worldly affairs subservient to the greater ministerial work to which he early dedicated himself, and carried his religion into his prac- tical life, as few have the strength given them to do. He died in New Berlin, Waukesha county, at the residence of his son John, at the ripe age of ninety years. He was a man of remarkable physical as well as mental strength and energy, and was eminently practical in his re- ligious teachings, as is shown by the following anecdote: During the war of 1812. while he was preaching at Alexandria, N. Y., news was brought to the church that the British were burning Buffalo, and that a call for volunteers was made. He immediately brought his sermon to a close, saying : "By the grace of God I will go. Who else?" Thirty-
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two of the congregation rose, and under his lead went to the defense of the city without delay. He was the first preacher of his denomina- tion in the state, and founded many of the early churches in this vicinity, among them those at New Berlin, Pike's Grove and Honey Creek, Wis.
William Shields was born in New York, Sept. 6, 1813. He came to Wisconsin in the year 1836; entered a claim for a homestead and re- turned to New York, where he was married on July 19, 1838, to Miss Mary Ann Evans. He then returned to Wisconsin, settled in the town of Franklin, on his homestead, where he remained up to the time of his death, which occurred on Nov. 12, 1879, aged sixty-six years. There were but three settlers in the town before him, viz: William Shehan, who came in 1834; Thomas Hogan and Mrs. McAnany, settlers of 1835. The first settler was undoubtedly William Shehan, who made his claim in 1834 and not long thereafter moved into the town. It is found that he built a cabin on his claim and made his home there for many years. He was a very prominent man with the first pioneers, and was very influential in all the affairs of the town. He was pros- perous in all his business ventures and bore well the hardships incident to early life in a new country, his home being an asylum for the dis- tressed and unfortunate. He was an active man and performed his full share of labor in the development of the town in its very primitive days, holding the plow to break the first piece of land, and building the first cabin of which there is any record.
On March 13, 1839, 112 persons purchased tracts of land in the town of Franklin, which was truly a wonderful day's transaction. Of these we have room for the names of only a few-John Everts. Edgar Managan, Cyrus Curtis, Patrick Casper, Timothy Ryan, Elisha S. White, John Lane, Seneca Harris, Dennis Cornell, Israel Smith, John Kavanaugh, Lewis G. Higby, Thomas Dyer, Thomas Hogan, James Mills, Laurence Rooney, and many others. It would seem that nearly all the lands in the north part of the town were purchased in March, 1839, and nearly all the remainder of the town by the close of the year. Many persons, not intending to become residents of the town, pur- chased one or more tracts, and among them were George Smith, Mar- tin O. Walker, Byron Kilbourn, and others. The whole number of tracts taken up during the year was 204, and these, if only eighty-acre tracts, would aggregate more than 16,000 acres, or more than two- thirds of the town. Among those who came to the county before the land sale and later became honored citizens of the town of Franklin, were the following: William Shehan, from Ireland, in 1834; Thomas Hogan and Mrs. McAnany, Ireland. 1835 : William Shields, New York.
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1836; William Stephan, Germany, 1836; Mrs. T. McCarty, England, 1836; George Kalın, France, 1836; George Carman, England, 1837; E. Managan, Ireland, 1837; William Cobb, of Connecticut, Fred Schwartz, of Germany, and William Stahr, of Prussia, in 1838. Of course, there were many others whose names have not been obtained, or the date of their arrival.
The earliest obtainable records of this town only date back to 1842, when the first town meeting was held under the law passed in 1841. At this meeting the following persons, thirty-seven in all, were recorded as voters : Thomas Hay, J. N. Loomis, John Lane, Eleazer Wales, Garrett M. Fitzgerald, Loan Deny, Hiram L. Connett, Elias Burr, John Lynch, John T. Veeder, Robert P. Norton, John Kava- naugh, Harry B. Howard, Joel Rogers, Edward B. Hart, John Grant, Thomas McNinny, Charles S. Postal, Marion A. Storms, James Shields, Samuel Wales, Winslow P. Storms, George W. Beckwith, Henry Moore, Nelson F. Beckwith, Garrett Fitzgerald, Douglas D. Jennings, Samuel Heath, John Everts, William Shields, H. W. Vand- erin, Patrick Healey, John W. Howard, Horace F. Smith, James Colby, J. C. Loomis and Jonathan Loomis. This meeting, as well as the suc- ceeding one, was held at the residence of J. C. Loomis, the date of the first being April 5, 1842. H. W. Vanderin and Jonathan J. Loomis acted as clerks of this meeting. It was voted that the town officers should be allowed seventy-five cents per day, except the clerk, who was allowed pay by the 100 words. It was also voted that all fences should be four and one-half feet high, "and of such material as are mentioned in the statutes," whatever that may have been. It was also voted to raise by taxation twenty-five dollars for the support of paupers, and $100 for the town officers and incidental expenses. The following ticket was then elected: Supervisors : J. A. Jennings, chairman. Elias Burr, and Garrett Fitzgerald ; clerk, John Lane ; treasurer, John Everts ; assessors, Jonathan Loomis and Robert P. Norton; commissioners of highways, Samuel Wales and E. B. Hart ; commissioners of schools : Junia A. Jennings, G. W. Beckwith, and Jonathan J. Loomis. Two years later, but seventy-nine votes were cast. which, considering the proportion of single men and newly-married couples that go to new countries, would indicate that there were probably not over 400 per- sons in the town.
The town of Franklin has always been a favorite resort for the na- tives of the Emerald Isle, who formerly were in a majority in the town. A large number of Germans during the more recent years have been finding homes there, and to-day they probably outnumber those of Irish descent.
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The population is almost exclusively rural, there being but one small hamlet, that of St. Martin, or Franklin, which contains but a few houses. It is located in the western part of the town, and of course is in the southwestern part of the county. The hamlet is pleasantly lo- cated on elevated and comparatively level ground. In 1835, there were but one or two small clearings in the forest, but each year thereafter new settlers were attracted to it. While Franklin had no phenomenal growth, its progress for a time was steady and substantial. The popu- lation has been nearly stationery for the last twenty years, increase in that direction being retarded to some extent by the advent of railroads in near-by towns. The place boasts of an excellent school, in which the patrons take great interest, taught by excellent instructors.
The experiences of the early settlers were similar, regardless of locality, and, to some extent, without regard to wealth. Necessaries of life, as we of later generations class them, were not to be procured, by reason of the great distance to be traveled, and hazards encountered in reaching the older settlements. The forest supplied the meats, for the most part, as it did, also, the fruits and sugar. Coffee and tea were luxuries seldom used. This is mentioned to show the simple fare that satisfied the demands of the times. A dinner of corn bread alone, or of meat without bread, was a common repast. Often the corn was pounded on a stone, or in a mortar, and thus prepared for the cooking before the open fire-place, and no doubt there are those living today who remember the relish with which they devoured grandmother's "pone." Potatoes were early raised, but had not become a household necessity as now. Maple sugar and syrup were among the old-time luxuries easily obtained. The cabins usually had a "shake" roof, fas- tened on by weight poles, with a clay or puncheon floor and a door made of boards split from native timber, and fastened together with . wooden pins, or, in the absence of this, a blanket hung in the opening ; if a window was provided, the aperture was sometimes covered with greased paper instead of glass. The dimensions of the cabin were usually limited to the smallest size which would accommodate the fam- ily, the walls of rough logs, cracks "chinked" with split sticks or stones, and plastered with clay, with sometimes a little cut straw mixed in the "mortar" to prevent its falling out. The chimney was usually the most liberal arrangement on the premises, and often filled nearly the entire end of the cabin. It was generally built of split sticks liberally plastered with mud to prevent their taking fire from the heat of the tremendous "log-heap" beneath. In those days there was no scarcity of fuel, as the timber had to be removed before the land could be culti- vated, and the logs which could not be utilized in making rails, or con-
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structing buildings, were rolled together in great heaps and consumed on the ground. With the advent of the saw-mills and various other appliances for manufacturing lumber, as devised by the ingenious pioneers, the best of the timber was usually worked into lumber.
A "full-dress" suit in those days consisted of buckskins, over a flax shirt, and moccasins for the feet, the latter sometimes "reinforced" by a sole of stiff leather fastened on with buckskin thongs. These were all the product of home industry, even to the raising, heckling, scutching, spinning, weaving and making, of the flaxen garments.
The pioneer shoemaker, gunsmith and blacksmith were welcome adjuncts to the early settlements, as were also the back-woods school- masters and preachers. The first schools were conducted on the sub- scription plan, and usually embraced only the rudiments of the "three R's." The "master" taught twenty-two days for a month at a salary of about eight dollars per month, and "boarded around." He was oft- ener selected because of his muscular development than on account of his scholastic attainments, though both were considered essential to complete success. The unruly boys of pioneer days were prone to mis- chief, and happy, indeed, was the schoolmaster who escaped "barring out," for a treat, on holidays. Should the master arrive in the morning before a sufficient number of the belligerents reached the scene of hos- tilities, they would smoke him out by placing boards over the chimney. The school "furniture" was in keeping with that which adorned the homes of the pupils, entirely home made, and of the variety created for utility rather than beauty. The desks were puncheons, or at best planks resting on wooden pins driven into auger holes in the logs of the walls. These were bored at an agle of about thirty degrees. Fronting the desks were stationery seats made of slabs of puncheons, with flaring legs of wooden pins, and these were made high enough to accommodate the larger pupils, while the smaller ones sat with their feet dangling in mid-air. Globes and outline maps were unknown to the pupils, and a mystery to the masters. The "text books" comprised Dabol's arith- metic and Webster's elementary spelling book. These covered the cur- riculm of reading and spelling, mathematics, language and literature, history and science. The ancient "pot-hooks," more difficult to form than any letter in the alphabet, comprised the first lessons in writing, but were never heard of afterward. There was no system by which these characters were made, hence each "master" had a "system" of his own. Sundry boxing of ears and other barbarous punishment often followed the pupil's futile efforts at imitating these useless hieroglyphics. And yet we must credit the pioneer schools with producing a class of plain and neat writers, a feature very noticeable, and often commented
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upon, in the reading of ancient documents. It is equally true that most of the students of those early days were excellent spellers according to the rules then in vogue. But the primitive schools of pioneer days have long since been succeeded by the excellent school system so nicely provided for, in part at least, by the reservation of a portion of the public domain for that purpose.
For many years after the settlement of the town of Franklin, re- ligious exercises were conducted by the traveling ministers of various denominations, usually at private houses or in the school houses of the town. Perhaps fully one-half of the population are members of the Catholic church, to accommodate which there are two substantial build- ings at the village of St. Martin. In the year 1848, Very Reverend M. Kundig, vicar-general of the diocese of Milwaukee, founded a congre- gation of German and Irish Catholics, building a frame church and lay- ing out the village of St. Martin, better known as Franklin. In a short time the Germans had largely increased in numbers and a church to themselves was determined upon, and the corner stone was laid in the year 1858, by Rev. F. X. Winehardt, who became the first pastor. The building was of stone, 40 by 100 feet in size, and was dedicated by Archbishop John M. Henni, in 1859, when Rev. H. Tansen was pastor. The Rev. William Boneacamp became the pastor in 1865, and had the pleasure of seeing his flock increase to more than 150 families. For some time the Rev. Boneacamp lived in a genuine loghouse, like his ancestors, but his energy and zeal gave his flock courage to build a priest house in 1866, and a school house the next year, at an expense of $4,300, and another school house about five miles from the hamlet. The church, which bears the title of the "Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary," is one of the best furnished country churches, having a good organ, bells and a beautiful altar. The old frame church of the Irish Catholics was burned down in 1866, and was soon replaced by a nice brick building, 40 by 80 feet. A new priest house was also built.
Franklin is one of the most wealthy and prosperous towns in Mil- waukee county. The farms are larger upon an average than in any other part of the county, the population being about fifty per square mile, a much smaller number than are found in any other town. There are but few persons engaged in manufacturing or merchandising in the town, while there are more acres in oats, corn, rye and wheat in propor- tion to population than any other division of the county. It is regarded as a very pleasant town, where many well-to-do farmers have happy homes. Agriculture being the principal industry, and in fact almost the exclusive occupation of the people, it has received careful and thoughtful attention, and the farmers are equipped for the varied
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branches of agricultural pursuits, including extensive stock-raising and fruit-growing. Early attention was given to the introduction of improved strains of domestic animals, and this has proved a source of pleasure and profit. The well tilled farms, with their substantial resi- dences of modern design, or the old and well built mansions of more ancient days, together with an occasional log house or unpretentious cabin, all evince the varying degrees of prosperity attained by their owners, and emphasize the fact that "there is no place like home." The inhabitants are a class of intelligent, public-spirited people, who in sev- eral instances trace their lineage, with just pride, to the founders of our great Republic.
TOWN OF GRANVILLE.
The territory embraced within this town is known as Congres- sional township No. 8 north of range 21 east, and lies in the north- west corner of Milwaukee county. It is bounded on the north and west respectively by Waukesha and Washington counties, while the town of Milwaukee lies on the east, and the town of Wauwatosa on the south. This is also a full Congressional township. The organization of Granville dates from Jan. 13, 1840. It is not only one of the most fertile and naturally wealthy towns of the county, but it is also one of the most prosperous in its material development. It is a beautiful, rolling and generally very fertile part of the county. Its lands are not rated as high for the purpose of taxation as in some other parts of the county, but it is doubtful whether there is another so large a tract of land of equal value for agricultural purposes. Not being joined up to the city of Milwaukee, the prices of lands are, perhaps, not so much effected by the price of city lots as some of the others. The Milwaukee river passes through the northeast corner of the town, and flowing south only a little way from the town line, with its small tributaries, furnishes good drainage for the castern half of the town, while the north branch of the Menomonee river with small adjuncts effectually drains the western part of the town. The water power afforded by these streams was utilized in a very early day, when the primitive mills were hailed with delight by the industrious pioneers.
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