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 5
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In April, 1836, Moses Smith took up his residence in a shanty on the west side of the river, and in May built a log house near where the Perkins mill is situated.
In the latter part of May, 1836, James Nelson built a log house and blacksmith shop near what is now the south end of Durgin's bridge.
In June of the same year, B. C. Perce erected a building for a store, which is now, or was recently, standing on the bank of the mill pond, just outside the present fair grounds.
In July, 1836, Daniel B. Rork came, and claimed the frac- tion of land upon which the greater part of the present village stands.
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In July of the same year David Bushnell located on his present farm, and reconstructed the cabin which had been put up in 1835, by Whiting and others. He acquired his interest in the claim from Whiting, all other parties having, I suppose, abandoned it. The same property was purchased at the land sales in 1839, by Stephen Bushnell who came to Burlington in March 1837. George Bushnell had been here in March, '36. At this time Burlington was known as "the Lower Forks."
In August 1836, Origen Perkins made his claim in Burling- ton. In September of the same year, Heman Loomis made a claim to the land which was afterwards his homestead, and is known as the "Loomis farm," southeast of the village.
In 1836, also, Silas Peck and family arrived, and built a house adjoining the store building previously erected by Benj. C. Perce. Later in 1836, George Newman made a claim and built upon what is known as the " Ayer's farm." Jared and and Chas Fox came during the same year.
In February, 1838, Nelson R. Norton located on the claim which had been made for him by Nathan R. Darling, and con- structed a frame house with lumber which he brought from Chicago. Mr. Norton had previously resided at Chicago, and built the first bridge that ever spanned Chicago river.
Early in 1837, Origen Perkins and family permanently located at Burlington, and began their residence in a log house which he had built in the preceding year near the brick yard. Wm. F. Lyon came, also about the same time, with his family, but remained only a few months, and finally settled at Lyons, in Walworth county.
Ruel Nims and family arrived in Burlington, (which was then known as Foxville,) on the 10th day of January, 1837, and went into occupation of a log house on the east side of the river, built by Woodbridge, and which during its occupation by Nims, was the first established public house for travel- ers in Burlington.
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In May. 1837, Pliny M. Perkins came to Burlington from Joliet, Illinois, with a drove of hogs and cattle, but did not remain.
From the best information I have, I think Samuel C. Vaughan came in 1837, and that during that year, he and Moses Smith built the first mill, which was known as the "up and down saw mill." It is said, also, that the mill house built by Mr. Vaughan was the first frame building erected in the village.
On the 1st of September, 1837, Lewis Royce, Esq .. settled in Burlington and built a house west of the present Burlington railroad depot. He came by way of Racine, and there met Ephraim Perkins and family and having a team and convey- ance, conveyed them to Burlington, bringing also with him a barrel of flour. He found at Foxville, Origen Perkins, occupy- ing his new homestead: Ruel Nims, on the east side of the river : a small board shanty had also been put up to maintain a claim on the N. W. { of Sec. 33. and was occupied by one Putnam, as a trading shop. Silas Peck had just finished a log house which still stands near the village mill. There was also an unenclosed frame for a building, on the premises after- ward occupied by Origen Perkins. The log house built by Moses Smith. near the mill, was also standing, and these con- stituted at this time the improvements on the present site of Burlington village. Soon after his settlement in Burlington, Mr. Royce established a lime kiln, and burnt about three hundred bushels of lime, during the first year of its operation.
Pliny M. Perkins permanently settled in Burlington in 1838: Richard Brown settled in the town in 1839: Liberty Fisk. in 1838: Ephraim S. Sawyer on the 14th of May 1838, making a claim where he now resides, and buying two hundred and seventy-five acres at the land sale ; Henry Ed- monds also came in '38. and was the first blacksmith in the village. His shop was in a little log house near the present site of the mill.
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Clark K. Norton, Thomas Toombs, George Batchelor and L. O. Eastman settled in Burlington in 1839; Ephraim Per. kins, father of Origen and Pliny M. Perkins, Joseph Rooker and James Thompson settled in 1840. I am pained to hear, that on yesterday, [21st of Feb., 1871,] Mrs. Ruth Thomp- son, widow of James Thompson, was carried to her tomb. Respected and honored by friends of thirty one years acquaint- ance, a good and noble woman, whose long residence in Bur- lington is associated with my earliest recollections, has passed away. I take this occasion to cast a little leaf upon her grave, in tribute to her sterling worth of character, and to those noble, womanly virtues that adorned her life, and will long be cherished by mourning friends.
In 1840, John W. Edmonds settled in the town and was the first wagon maker who located in the place.
The first physician who settled in Burlington, was Doctor Edward G. Dyer, who came with his family, in 1839. He had visited the place of his future home in 1836, and had on the night of his first arrival, slept on the bank of Fox river in a shanty 10x12, on a puncheon floor, with seven other inmates. He walked most of the distance from Chicago, follow- ing Indian trails, guided occasionally, by a stray settler, whose hospitality he sought and received, and thus journey- ing on by the dim traces of obscure foot paths in the woods and on the prairies, he crossed a stream and sat down, in his weariness, beneath a great oak that was a landmark on his journey, and smoked his pipe! At sundown of that day he arrived at Foxville. At this time Origen Perkins and his hired man, Moses Smith, Silas Peck, Bostwick Beardsley and Wm. F. Lyon were the inhabitants of what is now the village of Burlington.
Later in 1839, when he and his family arrived they took up their abode, and for a considerable time continued to live in the log house built in 1836, by Origen Perkins, near the brick yard, Mr. Perkins having removed to the claim he had made
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on the west side of the river. One whom I have long known, recalls to-day with vivid distinctness, the early years spent in that humble cabin. He remembers the rude fire place by the light of which he read his testament at evening; the Indians peering darkly into the windows; and the wild forests to the northward, the little events that childhood magnifies into epocs, the foot bridge across the river, the log house and saw mill on the west side of the pond, and the luxuriant wild grass that flourished on the bottom land west of the stream. It has passed away like a dream and I will not pause to recall it.
In 1840, Francis and Joseph Wackerman came to Burling- ton from New York. They were the first German family who settled in the town, but were soon followed by others in con- siderable numbers.
Mr. Pliny M. Perkins purchased the saw mill that was built by Smith & Vaughan, and subsequently built a grist mill in which was ground the first flour shipped from Wisconsin to New York. He opened the first store, in 1839, in a log house built by Moses Smith, and continued the business there about a year. He then, with Hugh Mclaughlin erected the frame structure which constitutes the present "Burlington Hotel." The west half of the building was used for a store and the balance for a hotel, which was for several years kept by Mr. McLaughlin. The completion of the house, in 1840, was signalized by a grand New Year's ball.
In the earliest days of trading at Burlington, much of it was done with the Indians encampcd in Milwaukee woods.
In the days of the settlement of Mr. Norton, fish and game were the staple meat. The settlers sold muskrat skins to buy butter, and ammunition with which to shoot prairie chickens.
They ground grain in coffee mills, and Mr. Norton has yet the mill in which he once ground grain for samp.
In 1840, however, times were improved. In April of that year, David Bushnell planted a crop of corn; on the third day after planting, the rows were visible, and on the 4th day of July it was ripe and ready to harvest.
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Game was abundant. Long-billed snipe and sand-hill cranes were marks for every hunter. On frosty mornings in the fall, the cranes were accustomed to gather in great numbers, and hold what David Bushnell calls "regular camp-meetings," preparatory to their long flights. Prairie wolves and deer were also, numerous.
In the winter of 1839, one hundred and five deer, in a single drove, by actual count, were seen to ford Fox river near the claim of Mr. Bushnell.
The first crop of grain in the town was raised by Moses Smith, and harvested in 1837, on the east end of the present fair grounds.
The first election was held at the house of Moses Smith, in the fall of 1836, for member of territorial legislature. This was the election at which Capt. KNAPP was the candidate and elected.
The first town meeting was held in the spring of 1838.
The Foxville post office was established early in 1837 ; Moses Smith, postmaster. There was a weekly mail from Racine to Mineral Point.
The first school house was built in 1839. The first school was taught in the summer of 1838, by Sarah Bacon. The first bridge across Fox river was covered with hewed logs, in the fall of 1837.
Origen Perkins was the first justice of the peace in Burling- ton. On one occasion a man called upon him for a warrant with which to make an arrest. He found Mr. Perkins digging a ditch. The complaint must be made then and there, but the justice had neither paper, pen nor ink. Perhaps, Mr. P. did not deem the offense a very grave one, but in the emer- gency of the case, he pulled off one of his boots, took from his pocket a piece of chalk, wrote the complainant's statement on the boot leg, made him hold up his hand and swear to it, and then told him he would issue a warrant as soon as he went to the house !
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OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY,
The first 4th of July celebration was held in the grove on the east side of the river in 1839. Dinner furnished by Stephen Bushnell; address by Elder Lothrop, of Southport.
The first death in the town was that of Miss Amanda Hayes, who died in July, 1836. The first birth, was that of a son of George Newman, born in May or June, 1837.
The first woolen mill established in the county, was built in Burlington, by Ephraim and Pliny M. Perkins in 1843.
In the summer of the same year the "Burlington Academy " was established, and was in operation with R. D. Turner as principal, in December, 1843.
I must draw to a close what I have to say of Burlington. Let me add that one of its present citizens, Capt. Francis McCumber, as commander of vessels on the great lakes, brought to Wisconsin, many of its settlers in 1836-'37-'38-'39 and '40. In July, 1833, he sailed up lake Michigan in the vessel Thos. Hart, without meeting another craft between lake St. Clair and Chicago.
The original plat of Burlington constitutes the N. E. fr Į of Sec. 32, comprising 144 acres, or 160 acres including the river. It was purchased at the land sales in March, 1839, by Silas Peck, and was surveyed and platted May 21st, 1839, by A. W. Doolittle.
ROCHESTER.
Levi Godfrey was the first white settler in the town of Rochester. He came into the country on foot, accompanied by John B. Wade, and arrived in the fall of 1835. He was looking for a water power, and upon finding it at the present site of Rochester village, he made a claim on the west side of Fox river. He built a shanty sixteen feet square, the first struc- ture erected for human habitation in the town, and brought out his family to their future western home, in 1836. Mrs. Godfrey did not see a white woman during the first six weeks she spent in her new residence. Her nearest female neighbor
.
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at that time, was Mrs Betsey Call, at Call's Grove. G. W. Gamble, Gilman Hoyt, Martin C. Whitman, L. O. Whitman, and Mary Skinner came into Rochester in 1836, but general emigration to the town did not begin until 1837. Philo Bel- den came in June of that year but remained only a short time, returning to Rochester, however, in June, 1839, when he made it a permanent home.
The settlers of 1837, were George E. Duncan, George Stebbins, James H. Gipson, Benj. Flanders, Alonzo Snow Philander Bartlett, Benj. Bartlett, Thaddeus Earl, G. W Hoyt, John Freelove, David M. Fowler, Philander Cole, Wm. Creirston, Sela Whitman, Joseph Clark, Horace Frost, Pat- rick Laughrin, Seth Warner, Royal Flanders, and Trystam C. Hoyt.
The settlers of 1838, were Horace Andrews, William G. Lewis, H. S. Hulburd, I. O. Parker, Calvin Earl, Hilliard Hely, and Mrs. Robert Adams, who was one of the pioneer women in the western part of the county.
In '39 Obed Hurlbut, Eleazer Everit, Jacob L. Myers, Jed- ediah Healy, J. H. Hickox, Abial Whitman, Pinkston Wade, Luther Whitman, G. M. Hely, Richard E. Ela and Henry Cady made their settlements in the town. William S. Hoyt, and F. E. Hoyt made permanent settlement in 1840. William S. Hoyt was in Rochester in '37, but returned to Vermont where he remained three years before coming west to remain permanently.
Mr. Eleazer Everit purchased two hundred and forty acres of land at the land sales. There was a saw mill at Rochester, and preparatory to the erection of a dwelling on his farm, he hauled two saw logs to mill and got them sawed into lum- ber. He hauled the lumber back to his farm, cut down some trees for corner posts, and with this material. he built his shanty, which constituted the first place of shelter and abode for himself, his wife and two children, in the wild interior region where he was destined to build up a fine estate.
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The first season that Mr. Everit was on his farm, he broke up six acres upon which he sowed his first wheat, which pro- duced a good crop. He sold his first load at Southport for $13, and was paid for it in the currency of a bank, which he afterwards discovered had failed two years before !
Levi Godfrey kept the first hotel in Rochester which was opened in 1837. It was at his log house, in October 1836, that the celebrated " God-fry " convention was held. Dele- gates came from a great distance on horseback, and staid with him two nights, though it is said to this day that some of those who left their homes got lost in the wilderness and never found Godfry's cabin. The convention was evidently antic- ipated as a great event, for preparatory to it, Mr. Godfry went to Skunk Grove and bought an ox for beef with which to feed the delegates. Dr. Cary was president of the conven- tion; its members slept in their blankets on the floor at night, and dreamed over democratic resolutions, as sweetly as if Pottowatomie Indians were not slumbering in an adjoining camp.
In the fall of 1837, Martin Whitman began the improve- ment of a water power on Muskego creek.
The present Rochester water power, was located and estab- lished by Philo Belden, Timothy S. Green and Jeremiah Ford in 1842.
The first bridge over Fox river, at Rochester, was built in 1836, by Ira A. Rice and John T. Palmer.
In the winter of 1836, Wm. H Waterman, of Racine, made a claim in behalf of himself, Elias Smith, Henry F. Cox, Amaziah Stebbins and John M. Myers to the lands in Roch- ester village east of Fox river, and north of Main street ; and, in 1839 and 40, they operated a mill on Muskego creek.
On the 26th of October, 1839, Martin C. Whitman, Levi Godfry, Obed Hurlbut, Hiland Hurlbut and Philo Belden, as proprietors, caused to be platted, all the village property in
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Rochester, on the west side of Fox river and that portion also on the east side of the river south of Main street.
On the 9th day of May, 1840, Elias Smith, Consider Heath, David Anderson and Margaret A. Cox, as proprietors, caused to be platted that portion of the village tract situated east of the river and north of Main street. The village was first called the "Upper Forks."
In the earliest years of the settlement, the settlers ex- perienced the usual hardships of a new country. The storms. would beat into their cabins; the deep snows of long winters put an embargo upon travel, and fish and game were at times the chief means of subsistance.
In the summer season, women walked four miles following Indian trails, and carrying their babies in a basket, to visit their neighbors. Mrs. Adams tells me that the women of those days made light of jaunts like these, and that a pan of johnny cake and a good supply of Old Hyson made a feast for many a tea party in those wild times. The country was singularly free from underbrush, and travel through the wood- land was therefore free from obstruction or difficulty. As new settlers came in, they were welcomed to the cabins of the earlier inhabitants, and when night came on they would take their resting places on the floor, in rows, and sleep as sweetly as if reposing on pillows of down, with angels expressly com- missioned to watch over them.
Richard E. Ela established, in Rochester in 1839, the first fanning mill establishment in the county. He built his first mills in the cellar under his house.
Rev. C. C. Cadwell was the first resident minister in Rochester. He settled there in 1839.
The first church building erected in the town, was built in 1844, by the Congregational Society.
I ought not to omit to mention that Emily Hoyt, daughter of T. C Hoyt, and now the wife of Allen Stetson, when a girl but
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thirteen years of age, came to Rochester with her father and brother, in 1837. She was their housekeeper, while they were making improvements preparatory to the removal of the re- maining members of the family to their western home.
During the mornings of the summer of 1837 she was in the habit of rising early, to prepare breakfast for her father and brother. The morning meal over, and while the oxen were being placed before the plow, she would hastily finish her work, fasten the door of their rude cabin, go with the team in company with her father and brother to the breaking field, and there from morning until night, she followed the plow in wear- isome rounds, rather than remain alone in the cabin, exposed to dangers from the Indians who were prowling about in great numbers.
Philo Belden built the first brick chimney in Rochester and went to the mouth of Root River for the brick.
Mr. Oren Wright settled in Rochester on the 2d of January, 1840. He established a turning lathe, and manufactured the first chairs and bedsteads that were made at any place within a distance of sixty miles west.
The first death in Rochester was that of Mrs. Wade, which occurred on the 1st day of January 1837; and the first white child born in the town, was Henry Warner, son of Seth Warner.
Mr. Cole and Miss Fowler were the first persons married in the place. In those days a license was required, and Mr. Cole journeyed to Racine, on foot, for his license, which cost him $4.00.
The first Justice of the Peace in Rochester was Seth Warner, the first doctor, Solomon Blood, and the first religious society, Baptists, organized in 1837.
In 1839, the principal Indian trail run west from Rochester to Spring Prairie. In that year and in 1840, there was a great contest among the people, concerning the establishment
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of roads, and the lines upon which they should run, and there were not wanting many persons, who believed and urged, that the Indian trails would and should be adopted, as the lines for highways and thoroughfares of travel.
I think the most marked Indian trail to be now found in the county, crosses the Rochester & Burlington road, southwest of Rochester village, and winds along the crest of the bank of Fox River for a considerable distance, among forest trees that stood where they now stand, before Levi Godfrey's adventur- ous spirit had guided him to his early home in Wisconsin.
WATERFORD.
The settlement of what is now the township and village of Waterford began in 1836. The settlers of that year who yet survive and retain their original residences, are P. R. Mygatt, Samuel E. Chapman, Ira A. Rice, Archibald Cooper and Hiram Page. The first family settled in the town was that of P. R. Mygatt.
A list of the settlers of 1836 may be stated as follows : Ira A. Rice, Samuel E. Chapman and their wives, May, 1836 ; Archibald Cooper, September 1836; Hiram Page, August, 1836 ; Levi and Hiram Barnes, summer of 1836; Benoni Buttles, June, 1S36 ; John T. Palmer, May, 1836; Arad Wells, May 1836 ; Alpheus Barnes, Samuel C. Russ, Adney Sampson, Philip R. Mygatt, Henry and Austin Mygatt, Elisha Elms and Osborne L. Elms all during the season of 1836. Among the settlers of 1837, were Louis D. Merrills, Harvey Weage and Frederick A. Weage, 'Sautell Whitman, Israel Markham, Orrin Barry, J. S. Cooper, Dyer Buskirk, Wm. Wade, Mr. Burbank, John Cooper, James Cooper and Lorenzo Ward.
Nelson H. Palmer and Elijah K. Bent, were among the settlers of 1838.
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OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY,
In the spring of 1836, Joseph and Tyler Caldwell settled in the town of Waterford, made their claims and built a shanty on the prairie since known as "Caldwell's prairie."
In July, 1836, Abram Ressigue, Wm. A. Cheney and Cal- vin Gault located at the same place, with their families. They lived in their wagons until they could build a log house. In the same year, Charles Dewitt, Paul W. Todd and Wesley Munger made their settlements on the prairie.
In the fall of 1837, V. M. Willard and T. W. Gault came. In 1838 Jefferson Brown and D. Wood and families, Ira Cole- man and N. Van Aerman and their families also settled on the prairie.
In 1839, Lorenzo Ward, John Larkin and Edmund Flagg made their settlements.
The first frame house built on "Caldwell's Prairie," was that of Joseph Caldwell, in the fall of 1837. T. W. Gault and Mrs. O. Van Valin are now the oldest surviving residents on the prairie.
I imagine that the first settlers of 1836, when they arrived on the bank of Fox River, at the place which was destined speedily to become a prosperous settlement and village, were at once attracted by the picturesqueness of the scenery which broke upon their view in its native beauty, and by the high promise of future prosperity and happiness, which the land to which they had come, seemed to afford.
On the spot where the dwelling of Samuel E. Chapman stands, was an Indian council house, called " Cadney's Castle," and all around it were Indian cornfields. The river offered unusual facilities for the establishment of a waterpower, and it was soon determined to found a village, taking its name from Waterford in the state of New York. The Indians had also, for a long time selected the place as their ford across the stream, which gave the name adopted, additional appropriate- ness.
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The founders of Waterford village were Samuel E. Chap- man, Levi Barnes and Samuel C. Russ. O. W. Barnes and a Mr. Beebe had first made the claim, but Levi Barnes and Mr. Chapman bought them out. At the land sales in 1839, Eliphalet Cramer purchased the lands for Chapman and Barnes, and conveyed to them.
Mr. Ira A. Rice made a claim on section No. 27, where he now lives.
The hardships of these pioneers, during the first seasons of their settlement, were often severe. They had not only to contend against thieving Indians, but were obliged to trans- port their provisions and seed with ox teams, from Racine, Southport and Chicago. There were no roads in the country; streams had to be forded, marshes traversed, and all the diffi- culties of travel which prevail in an unsettled region, encoun- tered. At some seasons, hunting and fishing afforded the chief means of subsistence. The men worked days, and hunt- ed game and speared fish by torch-light at night.
But amid all their privations, the settlers were very happy, for they enjoyed the freedom and independence of their rug- ged life. New comers were always welcome to their humble hospitality ; every cabin and shake-roofed house was open ; friendship and brotherly love prevailed. There were no drones in those days. Every man and woman had work to do, and did it, and when one of the settlers had a job on his hands that he could not manage alone, all his neighbors gave him their gratuitous assistance.
When Mr. Merrills came into the town in 1837, he was obliged to pay $20 for his first barrel of flour, and had to split rails to pay for it.
During his journey to the west, in 1837, Mr. Merrills was one day wandering in the woods on the Nippersink, and came upon a log pen about three feet high and four feet square,
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