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 26
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the narrator of what little gossip there is about it may be told, as Ma- caulay was about his "History of England", that it is his story, and not history. Still, within the succeeding months and years the foundations were laid for the city as it exists to-day, and it does not do for cities, anymore than individuals, to despise the day of small beginnings. It was for years prior to the first Anglo-Saxon arrival prominent as a trading post ; it has always, too, kept pace with the growth of the great West, and has always had reason to congratulate itself that its founders had some conception, even if an inadequate one, of the great prospect before it.
Nothing more than a trading post could have been claimed for the place prior to 1834, and in fact the maps of the Northwest Territory of that date indicated a trading post at the mouth of the Mahn-a-wau- kee-Milwaukee-river. But Solomon Juneau was here, and his broth- er, Peter Juneau, had also settled near him, while members of the Vieau family and other French Canadians were occasional visitors to the post. The vanguard of "settlers", using that word in contra-dis- tinction to "Indian traders", came in the fall of 1833, when Albert Fowler, Rodney J. Currier, Andrew J. Lansing, and Quartus G. Car- ley took possession of an abandoned cabin, which had probably been built by Vieau or Le Claire. 'These pioneers had journeyed hither from Chicago, and had been six days making the trip, traveling with a team of horses and a wagon through a country which bore no evidence of
having been previously traversed by vehicles of any description. They had been attracted to the West by reports concerning its wonderful resources, which had traveled back to the Eastern states immediately after the close of the Black Hawk war, and they had stopped for a time at Chicago. But when they learned that fine lands lying on the Milwaukee river had been ceded by the Indians to the United States government at the Chicago treaty of 1833, they concluded to move to this point, and with their coming the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Mil- waukee began. They lived during the winter of 1833-34 in the trader's cabin mentioned above, and which they found ready for occupancy, doing their own cooking and living in much the same manner as the traders and adventurers who had preceded them. But their plans and purposes were of an entirely different character-they were home- seekers, and came for the purpose of becoming permanent residents. Currier, Lansing, and Carley drifted away from Milwaukee within a few years. never having become identified very prominently with af- fairs, but Fowler remained for more than twenty years and was a con- spicuous figure among the pioneers. He was born in Monterey, Berk- shire county, Mass., Sept. 8, 1802, and was reared in New York, to
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which state his father's family removed soon after the close of the war of 1812. He remained in that state until he came to Chicago in 1832. Soon after he came to Milwaukee he entered the employ of Solomon Juneau as a clerk, accompanied him on his trading expeditions among the Indians, and when Juneau was appointed postmaster of Milwaukee, in 1835, assisted him in the postoffice, making out the first quarterly report ever made from that office. He opened the first real-estate office in Milwaukee in 1834, and in 1835 was commissioned first justice of the peace and clerk of the court in and for Milwaukee county, his com- mission being issued by Stevens T. Mason, then governor of Michigan territory. He removed to Rockford, Ill., in 1853, and for many years thereafter was a prominent resident of that city.
In the spring of 1834, "the ancient trading station at the mouth of the Milwaukee river," which for years had been the meeting place of the traders with their customers, the Menomonees, Winnebagoes, Pot- tawattomies, Chippewas, and Ottawas had developed into a white set- tlement with a total population of seven men. Three of these men- Solomon Juneau, Peter Juneau, and Paul Vieau-had families, and Mrs. Carley, who had remained in New York state when her husband started on his exploring expedition with Albert Fowler, joined him here in the summer of 1834, and has passed into history as the first female resident of Milwaukee who was not of mixed French and Indian ex- traction. George H. Walker, who had visited the place the previous year and had spent the winter of 1833-34 at Skunk Grove, came back to stay when the spring opened, and two new settlers, one of whom was named White and the other Evans, formed a partnership and opened a store on the lake shore, at what is now the foot of Huron street. Morris D. Cutler, Alonzo R. Cutler, and Henry Luther arrived here about the first of May, but remained only a short time before making their way back into the interior and "locating claims" on which a por- tion of the city of Waukesha has since been built. Besides those men- tioned, a considerable number of travelers, land-seekers, and ad- venturers, visited and passed through Milwaukee during the sum- mer, but if one may judge from the few who became actual settlers, a comparatively small number of those who saw the place were favorably impressed with it. In addition to those whose names are given above, Horace Chase, Skidmore E. Lefferts, Mor- gan L. Burdick, D. W. Patterson, Samuel Brown, George F. Knapp, Dr. Amasa Bigelow, Otis K. Hubbard, and George W. Hay. became actual settlers before the close of the year 1834. Bigelow and Hubbard began the construction of saw-mills, from which was obtained, a little later, building material for many of the dwellings,
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stores, shops and offices erected by early settlers. In this way they paved the way for improvements of a more substantial character than any that had been made up to that time.
Next to Byron Kilbourn and George H. Walker, Horace Chase was perhaps the most interesting character among the pioneer arrivals of 1834, and he continued to reside in Milwaukee from the date of his first settlement there until the time of his death. He is given a more extended mention in another chapter, so it is sufficient to say at this place that from the time of his arrival he was conspicuously identified with the upbuilding of the village and city, and in the advancement of Wisconsin as a commonwealth. The following account of his first journey, in company with "Deacon" Samuel Brown and Morgan L. Burdick, to Milwaukee, is also inserted here as an illustration of the hardships endured by the early pioneers, in order to reach this land of promise :
We started, in substance wrote Mr. Chase a short time before his death, from Chicago on Dec. 4, 1834, in the morning; Messrs. Brown and Burdick having a one-horse wagon, in which our tent and baggage were placed, and in which they rode, while I was mounted upon an Indian pony, or mustang. We made twenty-four miles the first day, and then camped on the edge of a beautiful grove of timber. The night was clear and fine, but we were prevented from sleeping by the wolves, who kept up an incessant howling throughout the night. This camp was about equi-distant between Chicago and Waukegan (then called Little Fort) and had the appearance of having been at some time a favorite resort of the Indians, the ground being strewn with the debris of their dismantled lodges. With the dawn, however, we were up and away, reaching Hickory Grove, west of Kenosha, which place was then called Southport, at dark, the distance traveled being thirty-four miles. No sooner had we made camp than it commenced to snow and blow from the southeast, making the night a very unpleasant one. We pushed on in the morning and at night reached Vieau's trading house at Skunk Grove, west of Racine. This was on Dec. 6, and we remained there until Monday, the 8th, when we again set forward and reached Milwaukee that night. This last day's journey was a very severe one on account of the snow and wet. The country was well watered, as we found to our cost, being compelled to cross twenty-four streams, big and little, and getting mired in most of them. In those cases we would carry our baggage ashore and pull the wagon out by hand, the horse having all he could do to extricate himself. Our route was the old Indian trail, which came out at the present cattle yards, and there Paul Vieau had a few goods in the old trading house which was built by his father in 1795. From there the trail led along the bluffs to the point,
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where we found Walker, in the log store built the previous summer. We found at Milwaukee, besides Solomon Juneau, his brother Peter, White and Evans, Dr. Amasa Bigelow and Albert Fowler. Solomon Juneau's claim was the present Seventh ward, and Peter Juneau's the present Third ward. Albert Fowler's claim was upon the west side, the frame of his cabin standing a little north of Spring street, on West Water. in the present Fourth ward. John Baptiste LeTontee had claimed what is now Milwaukee proper. This was bid off at the land sale in October, 1838, by Isaac P. Walker, who sold it to Capt. James Sanderson for $1,000. The latter afterward sold an undivided one- half interest to Alanson Sweet. The way this came to be called Mil- waukee proper was in this wise: Sanderson and Sweet were sure the town would be there, or ought to be, and therefore, when the plat was recorded, insisted on recording it as "Milwaukee Proper", meaning that here was where Milwaukee ought properly to be.
Continuing his narrative, Mr. Chase says that Juneau sold, while at the treaty meeting held in Chicago in October, 1833, one-half of his claim, which comprised what is now the Seventh ward, to Morgan L. Martin for $500, in which purchase Michael Dousman was an equal partner. This, though a verbal agreement, was faithfully kept by Mr. Juneau, notwithstanding the land had increased in value a thousand- fold before a title was perfected ; and had he wished he could have sold the interest in the claim for a much larger amount at any time, as no writings were ever made between himself and Mr. Martin. Resuming the narrative in the first person. Mr. Chase says: As our business here was to secure claims, we of course lost no time in making them. Mine was made upon the southwest quarter of section 4, town 6, range 22, upon which I built a log cabin .. This cabin stood where the present Minerva Furnace does. "Deacon" Samuel Brown's was where the Sixth ward school house now stands-southeast quarter of section 20. This claim was subsequently floated, however, and the Deacon made a new one in the present Ninth ward, where he lived and died. Burdick's claim was upon the east side where the present German market stands, southwest quarter of section 21. Having secured our claims, we all started on our return to Chicago on the 14th, reaching there on the 17th, after which I spent the time until the middle of February in ex- ploring the country south and west of Chicago. But finding nothing that suited me any better. I returned to Chicago, closed up my business, and, in company with Joseph Porthier (alias Purky ) left that place for Milwaukee on Feb. 27, 1835, reaching there on March 8. Then, wish- ing to secure the lands at the mouth of the river, I made a new claim upon the southwest quarter of section 4, my log house standing where the foundry of George L. Graves now does-southwest corner of
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Stewart and Kenesaw streets-after which I returned to Chicago for means with which to erect a warehouse. I left there again on the 21st, reached Milwaukee on the 23d, and commenced a final and permanent settlement. Joseph Porthier's claim was a part of the northeast quar- ter of section 5, town 6, range 22, his house being built with the logs from my first one, which was taken down and put up again on his claim.
Dr. Bigelow erected a saw-mill where Humboldt now is. This mill was commenced in 1834, but was not completed until 1835. It was a small concern, the dam being shaped as the letter A. The mill dis- appeared long ago, but the ruins of some of the log shanties built near it were to be seen as late as 1870. There was also a mill built by Otis K. Hubbard and J. K. Bottsford in 1835, but all traces of it have long since disappeared. The work upon it was done by Messrs. Currier and Carley, who accompanied Albert Fowler to Milwaukee. Of Otis K. Hubbard, one of the proprietors of this mill, James S. Buck, the pio- neer historian has this to say: "This man was noted for his profanity, in which vice he certainly surpassed all the men I ever knew. He was a very smart man and could, when he would, be a perfect gentleman ; but when his passion was roused he would go through the streets for hours pouring forth such a torrent of blasphemy as was awful to hear. The boys would stand in silence until he had passed; even the dogs gave him the sidewalk, and men who made no pretensions to godliness would flee his presence. These fits of passion would sometimes last for a week. Many thought him insane. He has been dead for many years."
Daniel W. Patterson, who was also one of the pioneers of 1834, appears to have been one of the first blacksmiths in Milwaukee, his shop having been opened early in the spring of 1835, in a cabin which he had built on his "land claim", comprising what became Sherman's addition to the city at a later date.
There were numerous evidences that the place was becoming known to the outside world to some extent as early as 1834, notwith- standing the fact that the settlement showed but slight growth, and in 1835 the foundation of Milwaukee as a place of importance was actu- ally laid. In that year began the subdivision of lands into small par- cels, the laying out of streets and the grouping of buildings, which are distinctive features of an urban settlement.
"KILBOURNTOWN."
Contemporaneous with the early settlement on the east side of the Milwaukee river, where Solomon Juneau and his partners in the owner-
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ship of a "squatters" claim were contemplating the founding of a town, the lands on the west side of the river had attracted the attention of another man who was destined to play an important part in the early industrial and political life of the future city. That man was Byron Kilbourn, a native of New England, who had been brought up in Ohio, where he began his business career under favorable auspices and be- came identified with some of the great public improvements made in the Buckeye state. He was born at Granby, Conn., Sept. 8, 1801, and few native Americans have sprung from a more ancient and honorable lineage. He was carefully educated and devoted much time to the study of mathematics, history and the law, giving considerable atten- tion also to music, for which he had a natural fondness. Having ac- quired some knowledge of surveying, in the year 1823, when the sur- veys were commenced by the state of Ohio for the stupendous system of internal improvements, which was subsequently carried out, he en- tered the service of the state as an engineer. In that important ca- pacity he was identified with the public works of Ohio until the com- pletion of the Ohio canal, from Lake Erie to the Ohio river, and of the Miami canal, from Dayton to Cincinnati, in 1832. In the spring of 1834, having obtained an appointment as surveyor of the public lands, he started on an exploring expedition through the Northwest, and landed at Green Bay on May 8 of that year. A portion of the spring and summer he spent in the region adjacent to Green Bay, and in the Manitowoc and Sheboygan country, making government surveys, and the remainder of the season in exploring the lake shore.
Finally deciding to locate on Milwaukee river, Kilbourn made his selection of a tract of land lying west of the river, above the Menomo- nee, in 1834, with a view to purchase when the land should come into market, his purpose and intent being. from the start, to lay out a town there. His associations had been with men of large ideas and broad capacity, his educational attainments were of a superior character, and having traveled extensively, he came to the Northwest admirably fitted to pave the way for the rapid advancement of civilization. He had familiarized himself, to a greater extent perhaps than any other man, with the conditions existing in that portion of Michigan territory ly- ing west of Lake Michigan, and his keen perceptions made him fully alive to the wonderful possibilities of development which its resources and advantages offered. At the land sale at Green Bay in July and August, 1835, he purchased the southeast quarter of section 29, in town 7, range 22, and by exchange of a portion of his tract for a por- tion of Juneau's tract, acquired a mile of river frontage. He subse- quently added to the original tract by purchases extending westwardly
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and northerly toward the interior, his entire purchase embracing in the aggregate 300 acres, which constituted his plat of "Milwaukee on the west side of the river," or "Kilbourntown," as it was commonly called. He engaged actively in making improvements, and in 1837 or- ganized a town government, of which he became first president, this village being entirely independent of the village of the same name on the opposite side of the river. In 1840 Kilbourn was a candidate for delegate to Congress, but his opponent, Governor Doty, was elected by a small majority. In 1845 he was elected to represent the county of Milwaukee in the territorial legislature, and rendered valuable services to the county and territory in that capacity. In 1846, the city of Mil- waukee was chartered and Mr. Kilbourn was chosen a member of the first board of aldermen. In 1847 he was re-elected to the office of alderman, and was also chosen a delegate to the convention which met at Madison on Dec. 15 of that year and formed the present state con- stitution. In that body he was chairman of the committee on the gen- eral provisions of the constitution, and as such drew up the present preamble and declaration of rights, the articles on Boundaries, the arti- cles on Banks and Banking and the articles on Amendments. In 1848 and again in 1854, he was elected mayor of the city of Milwaukee. In the former year he was also elected a delegate to and one of the vice- presidents of the Free Soil Democratic national convention, which met at Buffalo. When the public mind began to comprehend the import- ance of railroad communication with the interior, Mr. Kilbourn was by common consent designated as the most suitable person to head the first enterprise of that description, and was accordingly elected pres- ident of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Company, by unainmous vote of the board of directors. He afterward engaged with zeal in promoting, as director and chief engineer, another work of equal merit, the La Crosse & Milwaukee railroad. Mr. Kilbourn died on Dec. 16, 1870, at Jacksonville, Fla., leaving a large estate as the result of his investments and extensive business operations.
"WALKER'S POINT."
While Juneau and Kilbourn were the original proprietors of two of the natural divisions of Milwaukee, George H. Walker, who made his first visit to this locality in the fall of 1833 as an Indian trader, be- came the owner of the third division which was afterward included in the limits of Wisconsin's metropolis. A biographical sketch of Mr. Walker is given in the chapter devoted to "Territorial Era" in this work, so it is only necessary to give in this connection an account of his
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services as one of the three founders of the city of Milwaukee. His first visit to the site of the present metropolis impressed him so favor- ably that he returned to the place in 1834 with the intention of locat- ing here permanently. He accordingly selected a tract of land lying south of that portion of Milwaukee river which runs eastward to the lake, and there established a trading post, laying claim to the land as first settler and "squatter", as no survey of the land had been made at that time. The first improvement which he made on the land to which he hoped to acquire title in due time, was to build a small cabin, not unlike that which Juneau was occupying at that time, at what is now the intersection of South Water and Ferry streets, the site being that at present occupied by the Ricketson House. For more than fifty years thereafter, and long after his first claim was merged into the munici- pality of the present city, "Walker's Point" had an identity of its own in the minds of all the settlers who came here in territorial times. The pre-emption law of that time, what there was of it, was dependent for its interpretation and application upon the treaties with the Indians, and was so carelessly drawn that claimants never felt secure in their possessions, and it was not until 1849, after Wisconsin had been ad- mitted into the Union as a state, that Walker finally obtained a patent from the Federal government for 160 acres of land, which cleared the title of all clouds. The first plat of "Walker's Point", as it appears on the county records, was filed in August, 1836, but was not finally recorded until March 7, 1854, although other plats of the same land were filed and recorded in the interval between these two dates. The story of the struggle for the possession of his "Walker's Point" claim, and the different though unsuccessful attempts to dispossess him, would read like a romance, but as a matter of history is not important.
Mr. Walker was a man of the strictest integrity and in all his ac- tions lived up to the high standard of moral ethics which he believed it every man's duty to adopt. One of the notable features of his admin- istration of the affairs of the local land office, to which he was ap- pointed as Register in 1845, was that he neither allowed himself nor any of his subordinates to make use of their positions to advance their private interests in the way of land speculation. The same strict probity characterized his conduct through life, coupled with broad lib- erality, which was an equally conspicuous trait of his character. His personal appearance was very much to his advantage, and in any public assemblage of men the spectator would have selected him as a man of mark. It is said that his great personal popularity would easily have made him governor of the state if his ambition had been in that direc- tion. He had, however, a supreme contempt for the deceit, intrigue.
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and double-dealing of professional politicians, and preferred social life and leisure to the excitement and turmoil of public life. He was al- ways active in every movement calculated to advance the material pros- perity of the city and state, and his influence was freely given to the early railway projects.
RIVAL VILLAGES.
Solomon Juneau. Byron Kilbourn, and George H. Walker, each of whom in his own way contributed vastly to the upbuilding and develop- ment of Milwaukee, were unquestionably the three most conspicuous names connected with the early settlement of the place. They laid the foundations of the present metropolis, and although they were in one sense rivals, they were never personal enemies, and at last they all worked together in perfect accord for the common good. They were all large, fine looking men, but owing to the difference in their early environment there was a marked inequality in their educational acquire- ments. Kilbourn had been well trained in early life, and his long ex- perience as a civil engineer was of great advantage to him, while both Walker and Juneau were uneducated men. In the location of the land which he platted as a town site, Juneau had the advantage of the other founders, as between the river and the lake the land was well adapted to general building purposes, and its residence sites were numerous and attractive. Access to it from the river was easy, and it also overlooked the bay, which, with other advantages of location which were fully comprehended by Juneau caused him to contemplate the efforts of Kil- bourn and Walker to build up rival settlements without a feeling of jealousy. His complacency in the matter, however, was no doubt in part due to his generous nature, and also in part to the fact that his environments had been such that he knew little of the manner in which great cities are brought into existence and comparatively little of the agencies that build them. While he came to fully realize the fact that in all probability Milwaukee was destined to become a great city, yet he thought there was room enough on the east side of the river to ac- commodate the future metropolis, and in view of its natural advantages he had little or no fear that "Kilbourntown" and "Walker's Point" would become more than outlying settlements, suburbs, as it were, to the city built upon the site selected by him.
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