USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Official record of the Old Settlers Society of Racine County, Wisconsin : with the historical address of Charles E. Dyer, delivered at Burlington, Wis., February 22, 1871 > Part 4
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In January, 1835, Wm. Smith, now of Pike Grove, made a trip from Chicago to Milwaukee. George Smith, in later years the eminent banker, accompanied him, and they came through to Milwaukee upon an Indian trail via. Grose Point, Skunk Grove an'l the Rapils. Mr. Smith tells me, that at that time See was the only white man living between Grose Point and Milwaukee on the route which they traveled. In this connection it may not be uninteresting to mention that on the 13th of May, 1836, Mr. Wm. Smith sold eighty acres of land which he owned or claimed in Milwaukee, for ten thousand dollars, and re-purchased it in 1838, for one thousand dollars.
In April, 1835, James Walker came to Racine on a vessel, with Capt. Knapp. He was just starting in life, made a claim in Mt. Pleasant, built a cabin, purchased at the land sales in '39 the lands to which he had previously made a claim, and has ever since resided on the same. After Mr Walker'sarrival, Car- penter, whose cabin was on the north side of the river, died, and was buried on the bank of Duck creek, in the depths of the forest. Mr. Walker made the coffin in which Carpenter was buried, and this was the first burial of a white man within the limits of Mt. Pleasant or Racine.
During the same year, Wm. See built a saw mill at the Rapids, and Mr. Walker established a turning lathe at the same place. Mr. Walker also laid the original foundation for the dam, in the river at the Rapids.
The Pottawotomie Indians were then abundant in the neigh- borhood. The principal Indian trading post was at Skunk Grove, on what is now the farm of Benjamin Reynolds .--
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Another saw mill was also erected at the Rapids, and a stock of goods brought in by James Kinzie. James Walker was a member of the jury convened at the first term of court held by Judge Frazier in Racine county.
In July 1835, Thomas Place settled in Mt. Pleasant. He was accompanied by his father, Andrew Place, and by Alva and Zadock Newman. They came with ox teams from Chicago to Skunk Grove, overtaking Daniel B. Rorke at Grose Point, who became their companion the remainder of the journey. Andrew Place, Alva and Zadock Newman, had been here in June before, and made their claims, upon which they now permanently located, and which comprise the farms ever since respectively occupied by the families. During the first season Mr. Andrew Place and the Newmans had to go to St. Joseph, Michigan, for flour. They went in the winter, with ox teams, and were gone two months. In 1836, they were obliged to go to mill at a point sixty miles distant, on Fox River, and in subsequent years they had their grinding done at Geneva.
Mr. Thomas Place lived six months with Jambeau and was employed as his clerk. Twice a year the Indians had their great corn dance, when prayers were vehemently offered for a good crop of corn.
Mound Cemetery was an Indian burying ground, and filled with large mounds.
Mr. Place remembers the burial of an Indian chief. A pen was constructed large enough for the reception of the body, and chinked up with moistened earth and other material ; the Indians then placed their dead chief within it, in a sitting posture, surrounded by some of the relics of his race. For a considerable time thereafter, the survivors habitually visited the grave, where they moaned and wept, pouring whisky on the body of the dead as their offering to the Great Spirit.
In November 1835, Mr. Alanson Filer made a claim in Mt. Pleasant of a fractional half section, and subsequently pur- chased at the land sales. His premises were the same now
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known as the homestead of Judge Doolittle. Mr. Filer came first to the west in the spring of 1833, and settled in Chicago. It was also in the year 1835, that Samuel N. Basye, Mr. Hague, Silas Lloyd, Orville W. Barnes, and Mr. Cleveland set- tled in Mt. Pleasant.
In September 1837, William Bull and Daniel Slauson came together by their own conveyance from Detroit. They had previously met Jonathan M. Snow, at Grand Haven, who had there told them of the "promised land" on the west side of lake Michigan. Upon their arrival here, they stopped at a log tavern kept by Lewis G. Dole, where now Orville W. Barnes resides. They then learned that Mr. Snow held a claim near Dole's tavarn, upon which there was a frame house. Mr. Bull immediately located in Caledonia, and Mr. Slauson purchased a claim from a sister of the wife of Samuel Mars, upon which he planted fruit trees, in '37, and which, ultimately became the noble farm upon which he lived to a ripe old age, and where he died after a career of usefulness and prosperity unexcelled by that of any of the early settlers who preceded or followed him, in the journey to their last home.
In the spring of 1839, Mr. Bull removed from Caledonia, and having purchased the claim of Jonathan M. Snow, settled in Mt. Pleasant and has ever since occupied the farm upon which, nearly thirty years ago, he began his career as a suc- cessful Racine county farmer.
E. D. Filer, June 27th, 1837, bought a claim in Mt. Pleasant, upon which there was a poorly constructed log house. Mr. Filer could not buy a cook stove at that time in Racine, and the cooking had to be done in the yard by the side of a log. Mr. F. assisted Morris and Waterman in build- ing the court house at Racine, and was also for a considerable period, engaged in the construction of Racine harbor. One cold, blustering Sunday, Mr. Filer, with his rifle on his shoulder, while in pursuit of a wolf, encountered an elder of the church, and after considerable discussion, permission
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to pursue the hunt was granted, on condition that he proved himself a good shot, and gave the elder a good dinner.
Nathan Joy was one of the early settlers in Mt. Pleasant. He came in June, 1836, by the lakes, from Buffalo to Chicago. He sailed in the first three master that made a voyage around the lakes. At Chicago he took passage on a little schooner called the Llewellyn, for Racine. He bought the claim which in late years, was the farm of Albert DeGroat. Wallace My- gatt was then at the corners named for him. Mygatt had a little square frame house on the heights at the corners, which on a clear day could be seen miles away, and which the set- tlers called the light house. Soon after his arrival, Mr. Joy and his brother Orsamus made a trip on foot to Fox river.
They took with them a piece of pork for food and a compass for their guidance. They followed Indian trails, going by the way of Rochester. Returning, they traveled by night as well as by day. As the shadows of evening began to fall, and they on a wild, untrodden prairie, they set their compass by the stars, and far into the night they journeyed on alone, until they were worn and weary. Pausing to rest for a moment, they heard in the distance the murmuring tinkle of a cowbell-indicative, surely, of a human habitation. They listened again, then turned their course in the direction from which the sound of the bell seemed to come. Pushing on in the same direction, dismiss- ing compass and stars from their thoughts, they soon found themselves in Alva Newman's house, where, thanks to the music of a cowbell on that lonely prairie, they rested until morning.
In 1838, as the expected land sales were approaching, the settlers found themselves without means to make their pur- chases. It was a critical time. Many had made valuable improvements, and there was danger, in consequence of the expected sales in November of that year, that many would lose all, which, through many hardships, struggles and priva- tions, they had hoped to secure. . A plan was, therefore,
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inaugurated to raise money at the east. A public meeting was held and it was determined that the settlers of the county should execute their agreement to mortgage all their lands after get- ting title at the land sale, and that Nathan Joy and Michael Myers, should go as their delegates to eastern cities to make a loan of $50,000. The bond was executed, giving Messrs. Joy and Myers full authority, and promising to make their mortg- ages as mentioned. Schedules of the names of the subscribers to the bond, and of the lands claimed by each, with the im- provements they had made upon the lands, and stating the amount of money each settler required, were also prepared. Messrs. Joy and Myers proceeded to the east upon their great enterprise, and after months of absence, returned, and made the disheartening report, that not a dollar could be borrowed upon any or all the lands in the county of Racine! Fortu- nately, however, the postponement of the land sales until the spring of 1839, relieved the settlers of the extremity appre- hended, and banished the cloud that appeared to be darkening their fortunes.
Among the other early settlers in Mt. Pleasant whose names I now recall, are two who are members of your society, Au- gustus B. Crane who came into the town May 15, 1839, and Seth P. Phelps who arrived during the same year. Joseph Nixon and John R. Bassett should also be numbered among the earliest settlers.
CALEDONIA.
I have the word of Mr. Elam Beardsley, for saying, that he was the first actual white settler in Caledonia. It has been said that John Davis preceded him, but though Mr. Davis may have first asserted a claim in the town, I think that Mr. Beardsley established the first actual settlement, and that Mrs. Beardsley was the first white woman who came into the county for a permanent home. He came from Michigan, bring- ing with him his family, and on the third night after he set out on his perilous journey, he and his household jewels slept in a shanty on his claim in Caledonia.
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In February, 1835, Levi Blake and his three sons, C. H. Blake, E. S. Blake and Lucius S. Blake, set out from their home near Niles, Michican, for- some place they scarcely knew where. They arrived at Chicago on the 10th of Feb., where they provided themselves with supplies, and. a. Mackin- ac blanket. They left Chicago, and at night, arrived at Grose Point, 18 miles north, and were hospitably entertained by the French traders. The next morning they set out for the next point of prominence, which was Skunk Grove. It was a cold, winter's day. The snow obscured the trail on which they were traveling, and they had a long, long, weary day, with apprehensions of a still more dreary night. Night found them in a grove about three miles west of the present site of Waukegan. The cold was intense; they kindled a fire with the last match that was left them. They spent the night standing around the fire and constructing a sled. In the morn- ing, leaving behind them their wagon, they proceeded on their journey. At noon their eyes were delighted with the sight of a human being leading a pony.
On his approach, he informed them, that he and that pony were the United States Route Agents on the way from Chica- go to Green Bay with the mail. He gave them directions and informed them of the land marks that would guide them to Skunk Grove, which they reached after the darkness of night had fallen upon them, and after much suffering from the severity of the weather. Arrived at a trading post at Skunk Grove, they were the recipients of the hospitality of Jok Jambeau and his squaw, and remained over night. On the next morning they began explorations for a place to locate. At a point on the river three miles northwesterly from Jam- beau's they found John Davis, who had entered a claim and was residing upon it. They remained with him several days, and looked over the country. The representations of the country which they had heard from others, proved truthful. They took exception only to the climate, but Mr. L. S. Blake thinks the winter of 1835-36, the coldest he ever experi- enced in Wisconsin.'
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On the fifteenth day of February, they made their claim. They staked out as they supposed, enough land for four; but when the survey was made, it was found that they had only secured a sufficient quantity of land for two claims. They then visited the Rapids, and found there, Mr, See, who was building his mill. Upon returning to their claim, they built a log shanty without a window in it. They soon returned to Michigan and removed to Chicago where the family lived two years. Meanwhile, Lucius S. Blake and his brother, A. H. Blake, came back to the claim and resided in their cabin two seasons. They ploughed a portion of the land, made some fencing, and held the claim by actual occupancy until Mr. Levi Blake removed to it with his family in the fall of 1837. Capt. Blake's capacious log house, which he built on his prem- ises, was a land mark in the country. It was always open to the settlers, and the hospitality of its proprietor gave it the appropriate name of "Our House." The farm now owned by James Wilson, constituted part of the Blake claim. Early in 1835, Edward Bradley and his brother made claims in Cale- donia, and during the summer of 1835 and spring of '36, other settlers arrived with their families ; among them were Simeon Butler, Isaac Butler, Thomas Butler, Joseph Adams, and Shintafer, whom Mr. Blake describes as a daring specimen of a borderer. I think at about the same time Ezra Beardsley, the father of Elam Beardsley, and Ira Hurlbut, also, settled in the town. Ezra Beardsley was known as a sturdy pioneer of great heart and noble hospitality.
About the 22d of Sept. 1835, Walter Cooley and his family came to Caledonia, accompanied by Eldad Smith and Mr. Elisha Raymond, sen. and family. Mr. Cooley came first to Racine alone, in May, 1835. He settled on a claim south- west of the Rapids, but afterwards located about one mile north, on or near a line of blazed trees which at that point, marked the route from Chicago to Milwaukee. In the spring of 1836, Mr. Cooley removed to the premises which until a late day he continued to own as his homestead, and as his
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country resort after he became a resident of Racine. His removal in 1836 was occasioned by the fact that he one day discovered, that he had located on the southeast corner of another man's claim.
Eldad Smith was one of the early settlers in Caledonia. He arrived in Racine on the 22d day of September, 1835, and remaining there a short time, went into Caledonia and pur- chased the claim of John Davis. It was a claim covering two hundred and forty acres. He built a log house and went there to live, on the 1st day of November, 1835, remaining until the winter of 1841, when he removed to Racine. He says that in the fall of 1835, in addition to those already named, Trystam Davis, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Stillman, Hugh Ben- nett, and Hiram Bennett were settled in Caledonia.
Mr. Smith built his house by rolling up logs and putting on a roof made of shingles of about the size of staves, split out of white oak logs. He and his family did not suffer for want of provisions in their new home. He had in the fall of 1835, bought two barrels of flour at Chicago, and enough other sup- plies to last them through the winter. In January or Feb., 1836, James Kinzie brought in a drove of hogs called "prairie racers," and the settlers supplied themselves with pork.
Prairie wolves and Pottawotomie Indians were equally abundant. During the winter there were three encampments of Indians uncomfortably near Mr. Smith's house. In 1837 or 38, the Indians were removed west of the Mississippi.
Mr. Smith says that in those days they had neither rats, beggars nor thieves !
As early as December, 1835, Sheridan Kimball settled in Caledonia. During the summer of that year, Mr. Kimball, while living in Chicago, heard of a settlement on Root river in Wisconsin, and in the month of December, in company with Sandford Blake, Stephen Sandford and a man whose name he cannot now recall, he set out for the Root River settlement. In the evening of their first day's journey, the party arrived at
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Patterson's tavern, about eight miles from Chicago, where they spent the night. On the next morning, they resumed their journey upon a new wagon road through the woods, which had been previously an Indian trail, one of the eviden- ces of which. was a dead Indian child, deposited in a rude coffin and lodged in a tree which stood by the wayside. On the second night of their journey, they arrived at Sunder- land's tavern. In the evening of their third day's journey, Mr. Kimball and his comrades arrived at a log tavern in the edge of the woods, and were rejoiced to learn that they had reached the Root River country. Some of the settlers called at the cabin that night and talked cheeringly of the richness of the land, the future prospects of the town of Racine, and the general developement of the country.
The proprietor of the tavern was a Mr. Strong who died long ago, and was buried near his cabin, two miles north of Mygatt's corners, and the crumbling walls of which, yet stand. Leaving Mr. Strong's cabin, Mr. Kimball and his companions traveled on until they reached the cabin of John Davis, where they breakfasted.
At the crossing of Skunk Creek. where Mr. Hood now resides, men were building the first bridge across the stream. Among them was Symmes Butler who had located near what is now called Caledonia Center. Resuming their travels, Mr Kimball and party soon reached the house of C H Blake. who was living in a log cabin on the claim which was afterwards the home of Capt. Levi Blake. Resting there until toward evening, they continued their tramp until, at night, they arrived at the residence of Symmes Butler. He was living on what was called Hoosier creek. Several families were liv- ing in the neighborhood, among them Mr. Janes, the founder of Janesville. They were cordially welcomed. The next morning, as they were preparing to depart, Mrs. Butler remarked : "When you get out in the woods, you will know the reason why my husband is so ragged ; he has been run- ng through the woods so much he has left a rag on every
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bush." With Mr. Butler as their guide, they rambled through groves of timber and openings, and crossed beautiful prairies and meadows, with only here and there a claim, and greatly exhilarated by the thought that all this goodly land could be bought for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre! Mr. Kimball made a claim at that time, and settled on it. In the latter part of February, 1836. he returned to Chicago, and immediately made preparations for removing to Root river, with his aged parents. His brother, Leonard Kimball, pre- ceded them to make preparations for their arrival. About the middle of March they started with three yoke of oxen and a wagon, and were two weeks making their journey. Arrived at their destination, they found an unfinished cabin on the premises, which was soon completed with its shake roof, rude stone chimney and elm bark floors.
During the first four or five years of his adventurous life in his new home, Mr. Kimball was compelled to struggle against hardships and destitution. He had in store a small quantity of provisions and nine dollars in money. Bereave- ment soon followed in the death of his brother, which oc- curred about the 16th of May, 1836.
In the begining of '36, Mr. Kimball went to Chicago, and delivered stone for Chicago harbor, continuing through the summer and part of the fall. In the summer of 1837, Mr. Kimball conceived the idea, also, of getting wheat from a brother, who lived west of Chicago, and taking it to a mill on Fox river to be ground into flour and then hauling it to Wisconsin to be sold for twelve dollars a barrel. He began hauling soon after harvest, and made three trips, often times supplying on his journeys, the necessities of settlers whom he met and who were without bread or money.
At the land sale in 1839, Mr. Kimball secured the land which he had claimed, and continued to reside upon it, until he removed to Racine which has since been his home.
In 1836, Wm. Sears, Luther R. Sears, Jas. Bussey, Joel
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Horner, Emanuel Horner, Daniel Wooster and his sons, and Alexander Logan and Thomas Spencer made their settlements.
Deniel Wooster and his son Adney, on the 1st day of Janu- ary, 1835, started from the town of Derby, Connecticut, with his team for the west, in search of a location where he could settle and make a home for himself and family. Traveling through the states of New York, Mich., Indiana and Illinois, he reached Wisconsin, in the month of March of the same year, and located in the town of Caledonia. The spring following, Mr. Daniel Wooster's son, Julius Wooster, with the family came to Caledonia by way of Buffalo, around the lakes. Mr. Wooster remained on the farm where he first located until his death, which occurred about four years since. John Wheeler and Joseph Cannon were also among the early settlers, but the years of their arrival are unknown to me. Esek Sears came in 1838.
1836 is remembered as the year in Caledonia, and even else- where, when the settlers received from Michigan, an importa- tion of flour' which nearly cost some of them their lives. It was called in those days "sick flour," and nobody but Shintafer could eat it.
Samuel Hood located in Caledonia, May 24th, 1838; Geo. F. Roberts and Henry B. Roberts in 1837, and John Trum- bull in August. 1839. Timothy D. Morris came in October, 1838, and made a claim, which he sold in 1840. In 1839, he and his brother, who owned land adjoining, broke up twenty acres, which was the first land plowed on the north side of the prairie. During the following winter and spring. Mr. Morris made rails and fenced the breaking. He procured his timber for rails on the adjoining section. belonging to the government. Isaac Place thought he would make rails from the same timber. Each tried to get in advance of the other by claim-marking Uncle Sam's best trees with all the speed of men running a foot race. A few years later, Mr. Morris sold his original eighty acres and bought the tract where he
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and Isaac Place had cut the timber without leave of Uncle Sam, and now owns and resides upon it.
Dan'l B. Rork, settled where he now lives, in Caledonia, in June 1837. He bought the claim of Jok Jambeau. Jam- beau asked him $2,000 for it, but finally sold it for $525 .- It was fenced in 1834, and was probably the first claim fenced east of Rock river. Mr. Rork came to the county in 1835, and in that year made a claim at Burlington. Other parties jumped it, but he succeeded in maintaining it, and afterwards sold it to Silas Peck for $200. Mr. Rork knew all the settlers east of Rock river, and assisted in the erection of the first frame house built in Milwaukee.
Rev. Cyrus Nichols settled in Caledonia in the fall of 1836. He bought a claim and built a log house, about forty rods from his present residence. He was a missionary, and traversed the country preaching to the settlers. On one occasion, when he held religious services at the trading post at Skunk Grove, the settlers attended, among them, Mr. Lucius S. Blake, armed with guns, and he administered to them a sharp rebuke for carrying fire arms to church.
Mr. Nichols and family, were victims to the "sick flour " that came from Michigan, although it cost him $22 a barrel. He says that, although the settlers had but one apartment in their houses, there was always room for all who came. He had previously lived in Missouri, and there had but one room in his house and that the kitchen. On coming to Wis- consin he resolved he would have a parlor. He kept his resolution, and had a parlor, and lived in it; but that was the only room in the house!
The first white child born in Caledonia was Mrs. Maria Bacon, daughter of the late Joseph Adams. She was born on the 2d day of Soptember, 1835, and it is an unsettled question whether she, or Helen Mars, daughter of Samuel Mars, who was also born in 1835, in Mt. Pleasant, was the first white person born in the county.
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OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY,
BURLINGTON.
About the fifteenth day of December, 1835, Moses Smith and Wm. Whiting made the first mark at Burlington; Whiting claiming on the east side of the river, and Smith on the west side, near the spot where the Perkins mill now stands. They made what was called a " jack knife" claim, by putting names and dates on a tree.
On the 27th of December 1835, Moses Smith, Wm. Whiting, B. C. Perce, and Lemuel Smith built a shanty in the little grove in the river bend on the east side of Fox river. They cut a large white oak tree near where Muth's brewery now stands, built a rude log hut on the present farm of David Bush- nell, spent three days prospecting and surveying on both sides of the river, and finally constructed a cabin on the west side.
In January, 1836, Enoch D. Woodbridge built the body of a log house on the east side, which afterwards formed part of the tavern kept by Ruel Nims.
In February, 1836, Nathan H. Darling made a claim for Nelson R. Norton, on what has since been, and is yet known as the Rooker farm.
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