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 6
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covered and closely chinked Curiosity prompted him and his companion to investigate the newly discovered structure. Through a crevice in the roof they beheld a solitary Indian, sitting in the corner, painted and feathered, and well armed with rifle, tomahawk and knife. A hasty and inglorious retreat to the depths of the forest was immediately made, in momentary expectation of a farewell shot from the Pottawoto- mie "redskin," whose dominion was thus invaded.
Samuel E. Chapman and Levi Barnes built the first log house in the village of Waterford, in 1836. It was regarded "headquarters," and with its shake roof, still stands, slowly going to decay, but in its speechless old age, reviving in the minds of the old settlers interesting memories of the past.
In the fall of 1837, Messrs Barnes & Chapman, assisted by L. D. Merrills, Archibald Cooper, Ira A. Rice, Wm. Jones, John T. Palmer, Osborn L. Elms, Elisha Elms, and John Fisher, built the first dam across the river. The first saw mill was built in the fall of the same year, and the first grist mill in 1840 by Mr. Chapman.
The first mill stone used in the grist mill was 22 inches in diameter, and is yet preserved by Mr. Chapman.
Archibald Cooper scored the first timber, and Lewis D. Merrills hewed it for the saw mill.
The first crops raised in Waterford, were potatoes and ruta- bagas. Rutabagas became a regular farm crop. Mr. Coop- er says that at one time he lived on them alone, fourteen days. Mr. Chapman brought with him the first rutabaga seed sown in the town.
For the first johnny cake Archibald Cooper ever ate, he ground the corn in a coffee mill at the house of Osborn L. Elms. They had with it molasses made from watermelons.
Among the settlers of 1839, was George Eaves; and I judge him to have been a pretty sharp character from the fol- lowing circumstance. A traveler from Milwaukee stopped,
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with his team, over night at the hotel of Mr. Russ. He had in his wagon what appeared to be a bag of oats. Eaves want- ed oats for his own horses, and so he appropriated the bag and contents ; but upon giving his horses a liberal supply, he con- cluded that the defrauded traveler was an honest shoemaker, since the contents of his bag proved to be shoe pegs !
In the spring of 1836, Arad Wells plowed seven or eight acres on what is now the farm of Ira A. Rice: this was the first plowing done in the town, and upon the land plowed was raised the first crop of red clover grown in Waterford.
In the midst of all their hard work and struggle, the settlers indulged in many amusements. The wolf hunt of 1838 was one, when the settlers armed themselves with guns, clubs, scythes, dinner horns and pitchforks and went in pursuit of wolves and wolf scalps. It is said that the hunters, under competent officers, endeavored to close in on an entire township. Concen- trating their forces, however, they finally surrounded a tract of forest, every man watching for his game, and finally all gathering in the center of the wood, without encountering a solitary wolf. As a wolf hunt it was, therefore, not a success; bnt returning home over the " big marsh," they overhauled a wayfarer with his horses and wagon, journeying to Elkhorn, with a cargo of whisky aboard. This was game the hunters could appreciate ! The driver had turned his horses loose, and was reposing. The party, under the direction of their officers, formed a hollow square around the wagon. Details of further proceedings are unnecessary. Weariness overcame many of the hunters, and the sequel gave celebrity to the wolf hunt of 1838 !
It is said that there were scolding wives in Waterford, for a considerable time thereafter, and that the traveler who had been thus defrauded, successfully obtained the redress for his wrongs to which in equity and sober conscience he was justly entitled !
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Samuel C. Russ built the first hotel in Waterford. Levi Barnes was the settlers' first preacher. He was accustomed to gather his flock beneath the roof of Mr. Chapman's rude cabin. Some of the settlers were fond of Sunday fishing, and in one of his sermons he administered reproof for this profane practice, by saying : "Pioneers and sinners ! I come to call "you to repentance; and as one so called, I declare to you "that unless you repent of your sins, you are gone, hook and " line, bob and sinker ! "
The first district school, and the first Sunday school, were taught by Harriet Caldwell in 1840.
The first justice of the peace in Waterford, was Samuel E. Chapman, who was appointed by Gov. Dodge.
Ira A. Rice was the first Captain of the Waterford militia. Archibald Cooper was first lieutenant. Mr. Chapman had been a captain of light infantry at some time in his life, and had a wooden sword six feet long, but Capt. Rice reduced him to the ranks.
One time, when Mr. Rice was a magistrate, a man was brought before him, charged with stealing sheep. He was tried, and convicted. For want of a statute sufficiently penal, justice Rice sentenced the offender to twenty days hard labor on the highway, and he had to help build a bridge across Muskego creek.
The first bridge across the river was built by all the settlers.
The first white female child born in Waterford was Louisa Markham, born in 1837. John T. Rice, son of Ira A. Rice, is the oldest of the present residents born in the town.
Mr. Merrills made the first cradle and with it, in July 1837, cradled the first winter wheat that grew in Waterford. He bought five bushels of the wheat, which was threshed on the ground with oxen, and cleaned with a hand fan made from boards split out of an oak log. He paid $3 per bushel for the
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wheat, and fifty cents a bushel for carrying it to mill, at Root river. He got from the grinding a little bran, a little fine flour, and a good deal of shorts, but he says it all made good bread !
The first physician who came into Waterford, was Doctor Blanchard, but Dr. G. F. Newell, in May 1844, first made it a permanent location and home.
In May, 1844, a writer in the Racine Advocate, says of the village of Waterford, that it contains one hundred and fifty inhabitants, two saw mills, two grocery stores, one public house and business enough for another; that it has a good school, a good state of society, moral and religious, and now and then an abolitionst.
RAYMOND.
Among the very first settlers in Raymond, were Nathaniel Rogers and his son Joel Rogers. They were living there, on the arrival of Elisha Raymond, Sen., and his son, Alvin Ray- mond, who made their settlements in the town, on the 22d of September, 1835. Mr. Raymond, Sen., and his son Alvin, came on the vessel " Agnes Barton," to Chicago, and from Chicago to Racine, on a little schooner manned by a French- man and two Indians. Upon their first tour into Raymond, they found the branch of Root River, which extends into the town, a full, clear stream, with a gravelly bottom, pleasant banks and unbroken current. Mr. Alvin Raymond in the fol- lowing October, went to the Rapids and labored a year for Wm. See. Mr. Elisha Raymond bought a claim already made, covering a quarter section, for $25. He immediately rolled up some logs in cabin shape, put on some shakes for a roof, and lived there through the winter of 1835-36.
On the 20th of June, 1836, Seneca Raymond, son of Elisha Raymond Sen., landed at Racine. He came on a vessel from
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Oswego, with his own and his father's family, and at once joined his father.
Nelson Bentley also arrived and settled in Raymond, in June, 1836. He drove a double team and wagon all the way from Manlius, N. Y. He and Seneca Raymond left Manlius on the same day, and both arrived at Racine on the same day, one coming by water from Oswego, and the other by his own conveyance, each making the journey in precisely six weeks.
In the summer of 1836, Mr. Raymond, Sr., built a capac- cious two story log house on his claim. A stone chimney was built in the house from the ground floor, and it gives one a happy feeling to know of such comfort in a wilderness, as was afforded in that house by the great old fashioned fire place with which it was provided.
Timothy Sands, Orson Bump, Reuben Rogers, John Rog- ers, Joseph Drake and John Brewer settled in Raymond in 1836; Caleb J. True, Niles Bentley, Wm. O. Mills John Jones and Zachariah Sands in'37; Walter Shumway and Leonard Upham, in 1838, and Thomas E. Parmalee and Daniel Mc. Pherson in 1839.
On the 12th of May, 1838, Mr. Loring Weber came into Raymond. He and his family remained at the house of Mr. Raymond six weeks after their arrival. When I saw Mr. Weber he could recall none of the settlers yet remaining in Raymond who were there when he came, except Mr. Nelson Bentley and Mr. Timothy Sands.
Mr. Weber made his claim in May, 1838, and continued to occupy it as his homestead, until he recently left the county. He built the first frame house in the town with oak lumber which he procured at the Rapids.
Among the other early settlers, were Philetus Crandall, who settled in 1840; and Christian, Frederick and William Schwartz, who settled in 1837.
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Reynolds Scofield, George Scofield, Charles Scofield and Dr. John E. Scofield also settled in Raymond in 1837. Dr. John E. Scofield was the first physician who located in the town.
In September, 1839, James T. Elliot settled in Raymond, Peter Reynolds in '38, and William Elliot in 1840.
Like the early settlers in other parts of the county, those of Raymond were subjected to dangers and inconveniences. They had to grind corn in their pepper mills, for their bread, and suckers, rice and codfish were staple commodities. Some, however, brought. supplies with them to meet emergences. Seneca Raymond brought twenty bushels of potatoes with him, planted them on the 4th of July, 1836, and had a good crop of one hundred and fifty bushels. At one time, also, Mr. Weber and Elisha Raymond, Sr., went south and bronght into the settlement thirty head of cattle and fifteen hogs. Later in 1841, Mr. Raymond raised three thousand bushels of grain on one hundred acres of land.
The Indians were troublesome. The Raymond settlement was not far distant from Jambeau's trading post, and the Indians with their thieving propensities and meddlesome dis- positions, annoyed the settlers.
On one occasion, Mr. Alvin Raymond fell asleep in the field where he had been cutting grass. He had his rifle by his side and was suddenly awakened. Thirteen ponies with two or three Indians astride of each pony, was the sight which met his eyes as he awoke. He grasped his rifle, and upon their inquiring if he had a squaw and a wigwam, they all went directly to Mr. Elisha Raymond's house. Charles Raymond, son of Alvin Raymond at the age of three years could speak the Indian language.
The first religious society in Raymond was the Congrega- tionalist. Mr. Loring Weber assisted in building the first meeting house.
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The first marriage in Raymond was that of Miss Eliza Raymond to Willard Flint, which was celebrated on the 27th day of May, 1838.
The town of Raymond was first called "Black Hawk." by act of the legislature in 1846, but at the same session an act was subsequently passed, reorganizing the town, and giving it the name of Raymond, for the pioneer who had so sturdily established and maintained his settlement in the town.
YORKVILLE.
Joseph Call was the first settler in Yorkville. He located at what is now known as Ives Grove, in the summer of 1835. He built a log house which he afterwards kept as a tavern.
In the fall of 1835, Nelson A Walker bought a quarter sec- tion claim, from Call, at the Grove, immediately went upon it and worked it from March, 1836 until the fall of that year, when his family joined him. Mr. Walker says that when he bought his claim, the only white woman in Yorkville was Mrs. Betsey Call, and there was no house between the Grove and Rochester. He found at the Grove, in addition to Call, Sam- uel Kerr, Daniel Whitmore and Samuel Daniels, who each had a claim, but lived together.
Mr. Walker lived on his claim until 1838, wheh he removed to Mt. Pleasant, where he has since resided. It is worthy of mention that when Mr. W. came into the conntry, he walked from Toledo, Ohio, to Wisconsin.
George Nichols and Charles Nobles were among the earli- est settlers in the town, coming in, in 1836. Early in 1837 or late in 1836, Marshall M. Strong and Stephen N. Ives purchased Joseph Call's claim, upon which his tavern was situated, and in May, 1837, sold it to Roland Ives, who then located upon it, his family arriving in May 1838. The grove has ever since been known as "Ives Grove." John Nobles settled at the same place in the spring of 1837.
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In 1837, L. S. Blake made a claim of 160 acres in another part of Yorkville, and sold it to Cornelius Brezee, who set- tled on it with his family in June 1837, and there lived until his death.
Charles C. Wait and Alexander Gray, accompanied by Geo. Nichols came to Yorkville, in 1837. Mr. Wait and Mr. Nichols had made their claims in November, 1836, and located with their families in March, 1837. Mr. Wait, in 1835, came from Vermont, to Troy, N. Y., via the Champlain and Troy canal, thence to Buffalo by canal, from Buffalo to Detroit on the steamer North America, from Detroit to Niles, Michigan, traveling upon foot, from Niles to St. Joseph, and thence across the lake on a vessel to Chicago; thus, in his own experience, realizing the difficulties and vicissitudes of a journey to the remote west in that early time.
Mr. Wait is yet the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land in Yorkville, for which he received a patent from the government, and which he has never removed from, conveyed or incumbered.
Reaben Wait, father of Charles C. Wait, settled in York- ville on the 8th of April, 1838. The first school in the town was taught in Reuben Wait's house, in the winter of 1839 and 40, by Levantia Barnum. There were eight scholars in attendance, and the teacher was employed by Mr. Wait at his personal expense,
Among the other early settlers should also be named Edward Buchan, Robert Bell and Col. F. F. Lincoln who came in 1837. He made his claim in June, '36, then went away, and returned in September, '37. Mr. Lincoln is remembered to have traveled through the settlements in the early days thresh- with a flail.
Mr: Collar and the Northways came in 1836, and were among the earliest settlers.
Abram Gilmore, in September, 1840, also settled in York- ville where he has ever since resided.
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In 1838, Arba B. Terrell located at Ives Grove. He was a carpenter by trade, and a great mimic, when amusement among the settlers was desired. He built Elisha Raymond's first barn in Raymond.
In September, 1838, Owen Campbell bought the claim of Nelson A. Walker, paid $1.000 for it, and purchased the land at the land sales. He came out first with Roland Ives, in 1837, and in the subsequent year settled on his claim as the future home of himself, his wife and ten children, who were thus early in years introduced to the hardy experience of pioneer life. Forty aeres of his claim was improved land.
The settlers in this locality were particularly exposed to prairie fires. The grove standing like an island in the prairie, all around it the fires were accustomed to sweep, by night and by day, exposing property and sometimes life to danger.
Dr. Homer Campbell, a son of Owen Campbell, tells me, that although exposed to some privations and dangers, the settlers were contented and happy. For meat they depended chiefly upon game, in the summer season, which was every: where abundant. They ate their meals from pewter plates, end submitted cheerfully to the inconveniences of their situa- tion.
Religious services on Sunday, were held at the houses of the settlers, when a passing missionary came, or opportunity was otherwise afforded.
Mr. Campbell was a justice of the peace, in his town, seven years, and was familiarly known as Esquire Campbell far beyond his neighborhood.
Ebenezer Heald settled at Ives Grove, in June, 1837. He occupied the claim of Samuel Daniels, until May, 1838, when he made a claim in Dover, where he built a log house, which was burned This misfortune pushed him further west, and he made a claim and permanently settled in Burlington, where, in 1840, his daughter, now the wife of Mr. John Wil- son, of Racine, taught school.
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The first white child born in Yorkville, was Mrs. Mary Jane George, daughter of Nelson A. Walker, born May 13th 1838.
DOVER.
Capt. John T. Trowbridge settled in Dover, in '36, made his claim, which was long a landmark in the county, and was the first settler. His wife, Mrs Mary Trowbridge, who lived to a ripe old age, and died but a few years since, and his two sons, Stewart and Henry, came with him. He had been a sea captain for twenty-five years, had gone on whaling voyages and been a prisoner at Calcutta and Dartmoor, and after buffeting the storms of ocean from early manhood, he sought a quiet refuge in the wilderness of the west. His two-story log house was a point in the travelers journey, and I scarcely re- member the time in boyhood, when "Capt. Trowbridge's place" was not a familiar expression.
He was the first postmaster in the town. He gave to his town the name of Brighton, from the place whence he had come, but in the re-organization of towns, it received the name of Dover.
He was a justice of the peace, and distinguished himself in his office as employing it to promote peace rather than litiga- tion. I believe that he also represented his district in the territorial legislature. The second settler iu Dover was Mr. Samuel Ormiston, who came in August, 1836. The first child born in the town was Mr. Ormiston's daughter, Eliza- beth, who was born on the 12th of November, 1838.
J. Sellers accompanied Mr. Ormiston in his settlement in Dover, and settled on a claim which is now the farm of Mr. Walter Bryce.
An incident in the experience of Mr. Sellers is worthy of notice. He started one morning to go to Pike Grove, and on his journey called at the house of George Nichols,, in York-
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ville. He tarried a few moments, and bidding his friend "good morning," set out on his travels. He journeyed to the end of the day, and at evening found himself again at the house of Mr. Nichols ; nor could he be made to believe that he had not arrived at Pike Grove, until he was introduced to the hospitalities of Mr. Nichols' cabin, and was told that on a prairie without roads, guiding posts, or human habitations, a bewildered traveler sometimes made a circuitous journey, arriving at the precise place from which he departed !
Among the other early settlers were Geo. and Rob't McKey, James Ballock, James Graham, William Cruikshank, Aaron Putnam and Joseph Scott, all of whom made their settlements in 1839. Samuel Stenhouse located in the town in 1840.
In the fall of 1838, John Duffus, Archibald Brown and Peter Manny made adjoining claims. In the same year, Robert Beatty ond Thomas Green also made claims in Dover.
Mr. Duffus built a shanty on hls claim, 10x12. In March, 1839 his daughter, now the wife of Nicholas D. Fratt, and his son, joined him. Mr. Duffus, his son, and Mr. Brown and Mr. Manny lived together in Mr. Duffus' cabin, and Mrs. Fratt kept house for them. She describes the shanty in which they lived as without a floor, and with a roof of boards that was slight protection against the storms. It was like the house that was builded upon the sand ; for one day when she was making bread and had placed it in the kettle over the fire, in the corner, for baking, a thunder storm came up, and at the first flash of lightning, followed by a clap of thunder and a gust of wind, the roof of her father's cabin was swept away, " and the rain descended and the floods came," and there was no bread to be eaten in the house that day !
The first marriage celebrated in Dover, was that of Peter Manny to Margaret Duffus.
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NORWAY.
The first settler in the town of Norway was Thomas Drought, who came from Lower Canada, with oxen and wagon, and in September, 1838, made a claim of 160 acres in section No. 12, in the northeast part of the town, where he has ever since resided. He was accompanied in his settle- ment by a sister, and was afterward followed by other mem- bers of the family, and the section of the town where he located has ever since been known as the " Drought Settle- ment." James Ash came into Norway, in the autumn of '38, and Alfred Thompson and George Drought in '39.
In the summer of 1839, a vessel arrived at Milwaukee, laden with a party of sturdy emigrants, about forty in number, fresh from their homes among the Norway mountains.
They were destined for Illinois, but were prevailed upon to delay their journey, Mr. George Walker, whom good health had made ruddy and corpulent, urging them to settle in Wis- consin, and another person, from Illinois, whose countenance fever and ague had sadly blighted, urging them to carry out their original intention. The healthfulness of climate, as then judged of by the appearance of the representatives of the two states, decided the question with the rugged Norwegian pioneers, and they chose Wisconsin as their future home .- They had listened with wonder to descriptions of the great land beyond the ocean, the strong attachments that bind dwellers among beautiful mountain scenes to their native huts, had losttheir power of restraint, and now with brave hearts and determined purpose, they were ready for hard ship, adventure and work !
A few days after landing at Milwaukee, they lost their faithful interpreter. who was accidentally drowned in the river; but furnished with guides, a party of the emigrants set out upon explorations, and soon found themselves within the
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vicinity of Muskego lake. It was a dry season, and the marshes resembled prairies in their appearance, surrounded by forests. Cabins soon sprung up on the hill sides around the marshes, but the bright hopes of the settlers were quenched when the spring floods came and converted the promising prairie land into lakes and morasses. This caused a removal of the colony further south and west. Mr. Halver Thompson settled on the banks of Wind lake; John Nelson, another of the party, settled on an adjoining claim, which he improved considerably, and from which he subsequently removed to Kos Kenong prairie. An American, by the name of Flether also located in the vicinity of these settlementse
In the spring of 1840, Soren Backe and Johannes Johansen, men of intelligence and means, who had come from Norway, the preceding fall, and spent the winter in Illinois, visited this region. They were looking for a place to establish a colony. The cluster of beautiful lakes, the clear streams of living water swarming with fish, and the forests abounding with game, which they found in the town of Norway, satisfied their desires. A cabin was built on the bank of one of the lakes ; reports of the country were sent to their friends across the sea, and in the fall of 1840, Even Hansen, known also as Evan Hansen Heg, arrived with a large company of emigrants and settled around the lakes. Backe having con- siderable capital which he invested in a large tract of land, sold parcels to the poorer colonists upon favorable terms, In a short time the colony increased in numbers, and became the center of Scandinavian emigration to the state, and Johannes Johansen, Soren Backe and Evan Hansen were regarded the founders of the first permanent Scandinavian colony in Wis- consin. Among the other colonists were Sivert Ingerbretsen, Knud Arslarksen, Johannes Evensen, Ole Hogensen, Gurder Gurtesen, Niels H. Narum, John Larsen, Hans Jacobsen, Peter Jacobsen and Ole Andersen.
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A trading point was established on Mr. Heg's farm. An excavation was made in a large Indian mound, and roofed over and fitted up into commodious apartments for families. Johannes Johansen received the appellation of "King," and here the colonists recieved their supplies and mail, and the first Scandinavian newspaper in the country was published, called, "Nord Lyset," -Northern Light-and edited by J. D. Raymert. This was also the birthplace of John P. Jacobsen, to whom I am indebted for information concerning the establishment of the first Scandinavian settlement in Norway.
Evan Hansen was the father of Hans C. and Ole Heg. His name as inscribed on his gravestone, is Evan Hansen Heg, and I am told that the name Heg was derived from the place where the family lived in Norway, or the farm which they possessed, and which was known as "Headquarters."
A log church was built at the central point of settlement, by the colonists, in 1845. The settlers were a religious people, and of the Lutheran belief. In the church yard, where the log church was built, many of the original founders of the colony were buried, and here, rest the remains of HANS C. HEG, a gallant soldier, who fell fighting the battles of his adopted country.
The town of Norway was created by an act of the territorial legislature, on the 11th of February, 1847, and the people who gave to the town its name, and who have so successfully built up the colony originally projected by those I have named, have distinguished themselves, as among the most prudent, industrious, and thrifty citizens of the county.
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CONCLUSION.
And here my fragmentary and imperfect narrative closes, and I hasten to a conclusion.
But little more than thirty years ago, the first wave of civilization broke upon the borders of Wisconsin. It was then a trackless wilderness. Now, flourishing cities, towns and villages are sprinkled over her surface, and what was once her wildest prairies, the returning summer covers with ripe and yellow harvests.
The migration and settlement of the borderers, whose experiences you this day recall, reminds one of the history of ancient times, when "Abram went up out of Egypt, he "and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into "the south. And Abram said unto Lot; 'Is not the whole " land before thee? Seperate thyself, I pray thee, from "me.' And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain "of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. Then "Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan."
So these borderers seem once to have lifted up their eyes and looked abroad upon this new world, and chosen for their home, "the wilderness, which has been made to blossom like a rose."
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