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 23
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The first permanent improvement which was made in the town of Granville is accredited to W. W. Woodward and C. M. Woodward, who came in 1835. It is an impossibility to find out the names of all the parties who came into the town during the first three or four years of its settlement. In addition to the gentlemen named, a Mr. Barber, a Mr. Hazleton, and John McLane settled in the southeast corner in 1835 or 1836, and quite a number of single men "shantied out" during
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these two years. In 1837 the settlement of the town proceeded with greater rapidity. M. Bourgardt came from Germany in 1837; S. C. Enos, New York, 1837; A. S. Hawks, New York, 1837. Thomas Falkner came from Scotland, arriving in Granville in September, 1837. He reports that there were no settlers to the north or northwest of him. He bought his claim of a gentleman named Archibald Don Carlos, who was just about leaving the country. There were none living near him at first, but a Mr. Brazleton, Mr. Griffin and a Mr. Everts. In 1838, Mr. Falkner thinks he had every man in the town to help him raise a log barn. These numbered just twenty-six. The earliest sale of lands in this town took place in 1838, when three tracts were sold to William Worth, Jesse Scholl, and Jonas Barndt. In the year 1839, however, thirty-four tracts were sold. A large proportion of the lands of the town were kept out of the market by the Rock River Canal com- plications, and it was not until 1849 that these impediments were re- moved, and on Sept. 28, 1849, they were offered at auction and several thousand acres were sold in a day ; the entire number of tracts sold in the latter part of that year being about fifty. Noah Leister and Isaac Leister came from Pennsylvania in 1839; while Joseph R. Thomas and Amos and Benjamin Thomas came from Illinois in the same year. Joseph R. Thomas followed the trade of carder and fuller for some years at Georgetown, Ill., and in October, 1839, moved to Milwaukee county, settling on a heavily timbered farm of 160 acres in the town of Granville, purchasing the land from the government at $1.25 per acre. Daniel Newland was among the early settlers. There was some trouble brewing out of the Indians killing stock belonging to some of the first settlers in the town, and Mr, Newland and some others went to see Mr. Juneau about it, when he told them that he would do what he could -- that he once had a good deal of influence with the Indians, but of late other white men and whisky had more influence than he had.
The first election of which we have any record occurred on April 10, 1842, and the names of the fortunate ones-who were called from obscurity and compelled to withstand the trying ordeal of having po- litical honors, thrust upon them-are as follows : Supervisors : Leon- ard Brown, Solomon C. Enos and Lyman Wheeler ; clerk, C. W. Mid- dick; commissioners of highways: Squire Sacket, Edward S. Earles and Justin Eastman ; treasurer, Jonas T. Barndt; constables : Harvey Custer, B. C. Brazleton and Benjamin S. Stinson; commissioners of schools : C. W. Middick, Joseph R. Thomas and Leonard Brown. The number of votes cast at the first election is not given, but the whole population five years after the first settlement was but 225. The town
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when organized as a civil division was christened Granville, at the re- quest of Jonathan Brown, Hosea Crippen, Charles and Truman Everts, Hiram Lake, and several other pioneers, who had removed from Gran- ville, N. Y. At the election mentioned above, it was resolved to pay the town officers one dollar per day, and the clerks one shilling per 100 words, to raise seventy-five dollars for the payment of officers, and fifty dollars for incidentals.
Nearly the entire population of the town is engaged in agricultural pursuits. North Milwaukee, an incorporated village, has the greater portion of its limits in the town of Granville, and is situated five miles north of the city of Milwaukee. It had a precarious existence for the first years of its life, but gradually assumed the proportions of a thrifty village. Prior to the construction of the Wisconsin Central and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railways, which pass through the vil- lage, it was scarcely a business center and had a small population, though there were successful business enterprises located in the village. But with the building of the railroads and the establishment of stations there, the village began to take on life, and about fifteen years ago was incorporated. It is supported by a rich agricultural district and its business men are a class of progressive and enterprising people. who command ample capital and first-class facilities for the transaction of the large volume of business. Though it has not made rapid strides in growth, its population is mainly of that solid, permanent character which adds financial strength and stability. According to the state census of 1905, the population is twelve hundred and thirty-six. The village has well built residences and business blocks and good educa- tional advantages and church facilities.
The population of the town in 1840 was 225; in 1850, 1.713; in 1860, 2, 663 ; in 1870, 2,401 ; in 1880, 2,370; 1890, 2,272 ; 1900, 2,267 ; and in 1905, 2,114. The figures for 1900 and 1905 are exclusive of the village of North Milwaukee. It will be noticed that the population of the town increased during the decade 1840 to 1850 nearly 800 per cent., and but about 150 per cent. from 1850 to 1860, and that it has been on the decrease from 1860 to the present time. The increase of manufacturing establishments at Milwaukee, increasing the demand for artisans and laborers, has doubtless had much to do with this. The population of the town to-day is a little more than sixty per square mile, exclusive of the village of North Milwaukee. Four railroads and several fine gravel roads intersect the town.
Granville is well supplied with district schools now, in striking contrast with the log houses and antiquated methods of instruction of former days. There are ten places of religious worship in the town,
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the denominations represented being Lutheran, Methodist, Presby- terian, and Catholic.
The soil of the town of Granville is generally fertile and well adapted to the raising of all kinds of grain, grasses and fruits. The valleys of the small streams are rich and productive, and as a whole the soil of the town is of excellent quality. It was originally covered with a fine growth of timber, in which the hardwood varieties predomi- nated.
TOWN OF WAUWATOSA.
Previous to April 30, 1840, the territory of the town of Wauwatosa was attached to the town of Milwaukee for the convenience of the peo- ple in the adjustment of local affairs. On the date above written, the town of Wauwatosa was created by taking from the town of Milwau- kee township seven north, range twenty-one east, but the first town meeting of which any record is preserved was held on April 5, 1842.
The town of Wauwatosa originally included in its domain all of the above named Congressional township, but the encroachments of the city of Milwaukee have taken from it several sections of land on the east ; and the last change in boundary, which reduced Wauwatosa to its present size, was made under the provisions of an act which took effect on Sept. 4, 1900, said act giving to the city an area of land con- taining a population of 3.608. The adjoining towns to Wauwatosa are Granville on the north and Greenfield on the south, while the city of Milwaukee and the town of Milwaukee lie on the east and Waukesha county on the west.
The topographical features of the town are not very striking, if to be so comprehends a great variety of natural scenery. The broad and fertile fields, rich and productive, are the principal sources of agricul- tural wealth. Wauwatosa as a whole is a very fine body of land. It is a town where nearly all is good, and some of it the finest in the county. It seems to have been so esteemed from the first, and was perhaps more largely taken up in advance of the land sale than any other town, and has taken the lead in population throughout the greater part of its history. The Menomonee river is the principal water course in the town, and with its tributaries furnishes ample drainage and a beauti- fully diversified surface. There are a very large number of small, well tilled farms, many of them largely devoted to market-gardening, dairy purposes, etc., and a person riding out on any of the principal thor- oughfares radiating from the city will be struck with the village-like aspect of the whole town. In the valley of the Menomonee are a num- ber of the most valuable and extensive stone quarries in the county,
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where the finest flagging and building stone can be had in inexhaust- ible quantities, while such as is suitable for burning into lime or for rough work can be had almost for the picking up. These quarries are practically inexhaustible for hundreds of years to come.
The first settlers of the town were of the class of the heroic pio- neers who were identified with the settlement of all of this portion of Wisconsin. They were seeking homes on productive soil, and hence the lands of the town of Wauwatosa were very generally occupied by actual settlers at an early day in the history of the present limits of the county. The following are the names and places of nativity of a few of those who settled in the town in the early pioneer days: Charles Hart, Connecticut, 1835; John Bowen, New York city, came in 1835; George D. Dousman, Mackinac, Mich., 1835; Charles James, England, 1835; G. D. Watson, New York, 1836; J. H. White, Vermont, 1836; Thomas B. Hart, Connecticut, 1836; William and F. A. Hobbs, Con- necticut, 1836; Jeremiah Hobbs and E. G. Fowler, Mass., 1836; Emery, S. B., A. H. and N. J. Swan, 1837; W. S. Wells, Maine, and John Daily, of Ireland, both in 1838. Besides these were a Mr. Gregg and family, Mr. Underwood and family, Mr. Foley and family, Mr. Longstreet, Mr. Tobin, Martin Curtis, T. G. Osborn, B. Barber, and a Mr. Johnson.
Charles James was born in the parish of St. Minvern, Cornwall county, England, March 31, 1812, and was the son of George and Christiana (Roberts) James. His father, appreciating the opportuni- ties awaiting honest, industrious men in the new world, and having only limited means, determined to seek his fortune in America, sailing from England with his family on March 27, 1830, and arriving in New York on May 5 of the same year. Soon after his arrival in this country the elder James settled at Horse Heads, N. Y., and both he and his son entered the employ of Mr. Jay, a contractor on the Chemung canal. Young James labored all the first summer on the canal and in common with his fellow laborers lost the greater share of his wages through the dishonesty of one of the contractors, who ran away with the money of the firm. Being left practically penniless he went to Painted Post and entered the employ of a Mr. Fish, a farmer, from whom he was to receive as wages eight dollars per month. In that employ he also acquired a knowledge of the carpenter's and joiner's trade, and after losing a year's wages by the death of his employer, who left an insol- vent estate, he worked for a time at that trade to discharge some in- (lebtedness which he had contracted. In the spring of 1835 he left New York state and sought the more promising field of the West, ar- riving in Milwaukee on June 25 of that year. Here he found the wil-
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derness scarcely touched by the hand of civilized man, but the lands yielded kindly and generously to the touch of the husbandman. He encountered upon his native heath the Winnebago Indian, at that time the owner of the lands and master of the whole situation. In company with Emanuel Cawker, a fellow Englishman, Mr. James blazed the first line of civilization and carried the first surveyor's chain around section thirteen, township seven north, range twenty-one east, later in the town of Wauwatosa, and now included in the Ninth and Tenth wards of the city of Milwaukee. Daniel Brown "located" the southeast quar- ter. Emanuel Cawker, the northeast quarter, Samuel Brown the north- west quarter and Charles James the southwest quarter of this section of land. The Indian title to the land upon which he settled was extin- guished the following year, and after some delay growing out of the canal land-grant complications he purchased the land at the minimum government price-$1.25 per acre. In 1836 his father joined him in the West and took up his residence with the son, with whom he lived, labored and enjoyed the fruits of his arduous and early toil during his declining years, and at whose home he died in 1846. His body rests in Forest Home cemetery. Mr. James was one of the builders of the first frame store building in Milwaukee, of which A. O. T. Breed was owner, and also worked as a carpenter on Solomon Juneau's first frame dwelling house, which stood on the land now occupied by the Marine National Bank. He was employed by Samuel Brown, father of ex-Mayor Thomas H. Brown, who built the historic "store" of Solomon Juneau, which stood on the land now occupied by the Pabst building, at the corner of Wisconsin and East Water streets. Mr. James died in 1900.
George D. Watson was a native of Wayne county, N. Y., where he lived until 1836, when he came to Wisconsin territory to find a home. He settled on a quarter section of land on the Granville and Wauwatosa township line, where he erected a small log house and be- gan to clear the land. He lived there in a humble way for several years, carrying all his supplies from the village of Milwaukee on his back until he raised a crop. He prospered in later years and none of the pioneers in this portion of the county were more highly esteemed by his neighbors. He lived a useful life and died in Wauwatosa vil- lage.
Emanuel Cawker was a native of Devonshire, England, who im- migrated to the United States in 1836 and settled in the town of Wau- watosa, on land now included in the Ninth and Tenth wards of the city of Milwaukee. His claim to this land was filed in advance of the United States survey, and as the claim was located within the limits of
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the grant of canal lands, the price paid when it came into market was $2.50 per acre. In 1837, soon after securing his claim, Mr. Cawker located in Fulton, Rock county, Wis., where he purchased a tract of 320 acres of land, surveyed a portion into village lots and established the village of Fulton. He also built a flouring mill, saw-mill and card- ing factory at that place, and was engaged in business there until his death, in July, 1850.
The first sale of land in the town of Wauwatosa took place on Oct. 10, 1839, and the whole number of tracts disposed of during that year numbered but twenty-eight. The blight of the Rock River Canal grant rested heavily upon the town, and although large numbers of persons flocked to the town in 1836-7, for ten years after the settlement of Milwaukee much of the lands of this town rested in a state of uncer- tainty, and we find that in 1849 there were fifty per cent. more tracts disposed of than in 1839. The following are the names of parties pur- chasing lands in 1839: William W. Brown, Alanson Sweet, Richard Hackett, Oliver P. Root, Joseph Nichols, David Morgan, George F. Austin, Ezra C. Sage, Thomas M. Biddle, Albert Fowler, William Hunt, Morris D. Cutler, Samuel Melundy. J. H. Leavenworth, Andrew G. Miller, Abel L. Barber, E. G. Fowler and William D. Haight.
Emory Swan was born in Ontario county, N. Y .. Oct. 22, 1801, and was reared in the Empire state. In 1837 he decided to come West, and arrived in Milwaukee during the spring months of that year. When he arrived in Milwaukee with his family he first settled on a claim west of what was known as the "Cold Springs," in the town of Wau- watosa. In February, 1838, he settled on a tract of land in section seventeen, where there was not a white settler near him nor any roads in the country other than Indian trails. He "blazed" the trees and thus marked the way to the Menomonee river and to the village of Milwau- kee. The claim on which he settled was one which had been forfeited by a former squatter, who had left the country, and contained 160 acres. Mr. Swan lived in the "squatter's" shanty for two years and then built a block house. The first year be cut the timber from five acres of land and planted the land in corn and potatoes. After digging up every foot of the ground, working by moonlight, he would cut down the larger timber on his claim, and his three sons, Nathaniel J., A. H., and S. D., who were very young, would "limb" the trees and burn them in two by piling dry logs and brush across the large green trunks. During the day Mr. Swan worked wherever he could find employment. to carn bread for his family. He also shot deer and carried the ven- ison to Milwaukee, selling it for twelve and one-half cents a pound. fre- quently paying from fifteen to twenty-five cents for pork, which sup-
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plied a necessary change of diet. Often it would be midnight before he could get home from the village with his supplies and now and then he would get lost in the woods, getting his bearings at such times by firing his gun, to which there was always a response if he was within hearing distance of his home. When Mr. Swan first landed in Mil- waukee there was but one house on the South side, and that was a log "tavern," at which accommodations were limited and rates high. He lived to see this portion of the city thickly populated and the surround- ing country splendidly improved. He died in 1887.
Thomas M. Biddle started a log cabin hotel near Wauwatosa, about 1836. Jefferson Gregg is reported as the first white child born in the town. A Mr. Orn, of Massachusetts, Joseph Higgins, of New York, Daniel Proudfit, New York, Jonathan Warren, of Massachu- setts, and L. L. Gridley, were all very early settlers.
Leander L. Gridley was born in Vernon, Oneida county, N. Y., March 8, 1817, and was the son of Lot and Dorcas (Lindsley) Gridley. His early education was obtained in the common schools at the place of his birth. At the age of twenty-two he decided to come West to visit a brother who had preceded him, and arrived in Milwaukee- coming by way of the lakes-in September of 1839. Not long after his arrival here he and his brother "claimed" 320 acres of land in the town of Wauwatosa in section 28, the tract being that which after- ward became known as the Ludington farm. After the land was thrown on the market by the government Mr. Gridley bought 180 acres, on which he erected a small frame house, one of the first in the town. He and his brother also leased a saw-mill be- longing to Thomas B. Hart, with a grist-mill attached, and op- erated it for four years. It was located in the village of Wau- watosa, and was the first mill erected for the grinding of grain in the county. This grist-mill was erected by Mr. Hart in 1837, and it is said that a Mr. Fellows got the first half bushel of corn cracked on it, after which he went home shouting with joy. Parties went from Milwaukee to this mill for grinding. Mr. Gridley died in 1899.
The first election in the town of Wauwatosa of which any record is preserved was held at Samuel Putnay's Inn on April 5. 1842, with A. L. Monroe, moderator, and Jonathan Warren and C. C. Savage, clerks. It was determined to raise twenty-five dollars for contingent expenses, and that the elections should be by ballot. The following officers were elected : Supervisors : Charles Hart, chairman, William O. Underwood and Albert Fowler ; clerk. Jonathan Warren : treasurer. Allen O. T. Breed; assessors: Sanford Wheeler, Biglow Case and
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C. A. Hastings ; commissioners of highways: Richard Gilbert, John Crawford and Hendrick Gregg; commissioners of schools: Albert Fowler, Levi B. Potter and Enoch D. Underwood; constables, Silas H. Brown and Thomas D. Hoyt; collector, Silas H. Brown. The highest vote cast was sixty-seven, and at the general election in the September following seventy votes were cast, with three votes for and fifty-one against forming a state government.
Allen O. T. Breed, the first merchant to engage regularly in business in Milwaukee, was born in the township of Manlius, Onon- daga county, N. Y., Feb. 21, 1804. He received a thorough education at Hamilton college, New York, and at an early age became a clerk and bookkeeper in the store of Reuben Bangs, a successful merchant, con- tractor, and business man of Fayetteville, N. Y., and whose son, Anson Bangs, was a noted civil engineer. From Fayetteville he went to Buffalo and was engaged as clerk in a bank for two years. Leaving Buffalo at the end of that time he went to Monroe, Mich., and pur- chased a farm. This he left in the hands of a neighbor-who later sold it and kept the proceeds-and located in Chicago, Ill., where he entered into partnership with a Mr. Kimball, under the name and style of Kimball & Breed, general merchants. Later he disposed of his inter- est in this business to his partner and in September, 1835, he settled in Milwaukee. Here he built the first frame store, and engaged in business on East Water street, between Michigan and Wisconsin streets, being the first dealer in general merchandise to establish him- self in the infant city. Mr. Breed conducted the mercantile business successfully for four years, when he disposed of his property and stock of goods and purchased a pre-emption claim, known as the southeast quarter of section twenty-three in the town of Wauwatosa, for a con- sideration of fifteen dollars, which claim he later improved and upon which he resided until his decease, Sept. 27, 1875. His remains rest with those of other pioneers in beautiful Forest Home cemetery. A Republican in politics and a Baptist in religious views, he was a suc- cessful man of affairs, and a much esteemed citizen. Mr. Breed was one of the carly supervisors of Milwaukee county, and was for several years also a justice of the peace in Wauwatosa.
Among the earliest pioneers of Milwaukee county there were none of higher character or more worthy of a place in its history than Thomas D. Hoyt. He was born in Tuftonborough, N. H., Aug. 5, 1815, and obtained his education at the public schools of his native town. With his parents he emigrated from New Hampshire and located in Chicago, Ill., in 1830. In 1835 young Hoyt came to Mil- waukee county and located 160 acres of land in the town of Wauwa-
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tosa. He returned to Chicago, and after a time came back to Wiscon- sin, accompanied by his father, and located on the farm. In the year that Mr. Hoyt located on his farm, and for several years thereafter, the United States mail from Chicago to Milwaukee and to Green Bay, Wis., was carried on horseback in winter and by water during the summer. Mr. Hoyt built a dwelling on his newly-acquired farm, and in 1841 married Miss Katherine Smith, of Milwaukee. Mr. Hoyt died on the farm on May 5, 1850, respected and honored by all who knew him.
In 1843 the contingent expenses of the town of Wauwatosa were estimated at $100. For support of schools, $100; support of poor, $25. The town clerk was allowed twenty dollars. The tax roll of 1842 shows that there was levied : county tax, $394.46; town tax, $193.65; delinquent school, $29.75; road tax, $15.88 ; total, $633.74.
Wauwatosa does not differ materially from the other towns of the county in regard to early industries. The pioneer mills, churches and schools had their existence, and with the exception of the latter have mostly passed away, with the increasing prominence of Milwaukee and the city of Wauwatosa as marketing and trading points, coupled with the superior advantages of those cities in a religious and educa- tional way. The principal grain crops are wheat and corn, for the production of which the soil is admirably adapted. There are twelve school districts in the town, exclusive of the public schools of the city of Wauwatosa. With a carefully graded course of study, these give the persisting students the advantages of a good common school education, and fit their graduates for the ordinary business of life. The work of the common schools should not be passed without mentioning Rev. Enoch D. Underwood, who in 1839, taught the first school in the first school house erected in the town, in section nineteen. He left his impress on the youth of those days.
The city off Wauwatosa is romantically situated on the Menom- onee river, and on the sides of the small hills that slope upward from its banks. From Milwaukee it is reached by an electric railway, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad also passes through the city. With an honorable record of more than twenty-five years, since it was first incorporated as a village, Wauwatosa well sustains her es- tablished reputation for solidity and the merited compliment of being a thriving city. The men who established the little hamlet years ago founded that reputation. and their descendants and successors have well maintained it. The religious and educational affairs of the city also received early attention and liberal support. Merchants were aggressive and public-spirited, their stocks often rivalling in value
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