USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine > Racine, belle city of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 9
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Townships in the United States are of two classes - con- gressional and civil. The congressional township forms the basis of land descriptions and records. Theoretically, it is six miles square, bounded by township and range lines, and divided into thirty-six sections, each one mile square and containing 640 acres. But sometimes the converging meridians of longitude, or an error on the part of the surveyor, results in a township of this class being slightly larger or smaller than six miles square, thus causing "fractional sections" to appear in the records. The civil town- ship is a political subdivision and, while it frequently corresponds in extent to a congressional township, its boundaries are not con- fined to the lines of the government survey. Natural features, such as rivers and creeks, often form the boundaries of a civil township. Another difference is that the civil township is dis- tinguished by a name, while the congressional township is always described by the number of township and range lines.
The civil township is the older of the two. Soon after the Pilgrim Fathers settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. they began to develop a system of local government, modeled after that of the Anglo-Saxon "tunseipe," which had been copied after the Teutonie "mark." In both the mark and the tunscipe the people constituted the source of all political power, so far as local questions were concerned. The "tunmoot," or town meeting, of the Anglo-Saxon gave every citizen of the tunseipe an opportunity to express his views, and the "tunreeve," or headman, was bound to carry out the wishes of the people. The tunmoot was trans- planted to New England soon after the first settlements were founded in that section. The first town meetings in this country
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were held in the settlements of Plymouth, Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. Other settlements copied the system and during the colonial period of American history the town meeting, or "folkmoot," as it was sometimes called, was a distinguishing feature of New England. Fiske says that the form of local gov- ernment adopted by the New England colonies was the nearest approach to a pure democracy ever known.
In the beginning the township meant "merely a traet of land granted to persons who intended there to settle a town and gather a church." After the settlement was started it was called the "town" and the outlying or unsettled portions of the grant were called the "township," but after a time the two terms came to be used synonymously. These grants or townships were incor- porated by the colonial authorities and given well defined powers. In the town meeting the people were empowered to elect officers, called selectmen, to manage the affairs of the township; a field reeve, whose duty it was to impound stray animals until the owner could be found; the hog reeve, who was charged with the task of seeing that every hog rimning at large had a ring in its nose; and a constable, who was to enforce the mandates of the selectmen. In some settlements the selectmen made it the duty of the constable to "tickle the noses of those who were inclined to go to sleep during church services, and keep them awake for the good of their souls." The town meeting also levied taxes, made appropriations for the support of schools and the building of roads, etc. The famous military organization known as the "Minute Men" had its origin in the town meeting. Some of the resolutions adopted by the town meetings of the New England colonies contained the germs of liberty which afterward found expression in the Declaration of Independence. As an example of the influence wielded by the town meeting, note what Thomas Jefferson said of it in 1807: "How powerfully did we feel the energy of this organization in the case of the Embargo. I felt the foundations of government shaken under my feet by the New England townships. There was not an individual in their states whose body was not thrown with all its momentum into action, and although the whole of the other states were known to be in favor of the measure, yet the organization of this selfish com- munity enabled it to overrule the Union."
Notwithstanding this defeat of the purposes of the Embargo
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THE ISLAND, BROWN'S LAKE, BURLINGTON
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THE ANTLER'S PAVILION, BROWN'S LAKE, BURLINGTON
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Act, and in the end of the act itself, Jefferson says of the town meetings: "They have proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self- government and for its preservation."
In establishing the township system in New England, town meetings were at first held frequently. Some of the settlers, who were busily engaged in the work of developing the resources of the new country, complained that this took up too much of their time and an annual meeting was ordered, with the provision that special meetings could be called whenever necessary to decide some important question. Boston did not abandon this form of local government until 1820, when the seven thousand voters of the city made the town meeting such an unwieldy institution that representative government was introduced. The principle of representative township, county and municipal government was first worked out and applied in the State of New York. From that state it worked its way westward and southward. In the Southern States the county is the unit of local government and the township is practically unknown. In the states of the Mis- sissippi Valley the township system is a combination of the New England and New York ideas. As the New England town meet- ing elected delegates to the General Court, or Assembly, so each civil township in the State of Wisconsin elects a supervisor, who becomes a member of the county board. This county board cor- responds in many of its essentials to the General Court of New England. Racine County is divided into nine civil townships (called towns), to wit: Burlington, Caledonia, Dover, Mount Pleasant. Norway, Raymond, Rochester, Waterford and York- ville.
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP
This township occupies the southwest corner of the county. On the north it is bounded by the Town of Rochester; on the east by Dover Township and Kenosha County; on the south by Kenosha County, and on the west by the County of Walworth. It is six miles wide from east to west and seven miles in extent from north to south, having an area of forty-two squares miles. The surface is pleasantly diversified, the Fox River flowing from north to south through the central portion, and in this township are three pretty lakes - Long, Brown's and Bonner's.
The settlement of the township began about the middle of
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December, 1835, when Moses Smith and William Whiting located claims near the present City of Burlington, Whiting selecting his claim on the east side of the Fox River and Smith on the west side, near the place where the Perkins mill was afterward erected. Their claims were what the pioneers called "jack-knife" claims. the boundaries being marked by cutting their names in the bark of trees, with the date when the claim was made. Such a title would hardly have been respected some years later, but in 1835 land was plentiful and new comers had no diffienlty in locating claims without infringing upon the possessions of their neighbors.
Smith and Whiting were soon afterward joined by B. C. Perce and Lemuel Smith. Judge Charles E. Dyer, in an address deliv- ered before the Old Settlers' Society at Burlington, February 22. 1871, says: "On the 27th of December, 1835, Moses Smith, Wil- liam Whiting, B. C. Peree and Lemuel Smith built a shanty in a little grove in the river bend on the east side of the Fox River. They ent a large white oak tree near where Muth's Brewery now stands, built a rude log hut on the present farm of David Bushnell, spent three days prospecting and surveying on both sides of the river, and finally constructed a cabin on the west side."
The following month Enoch D. Woodbridge settled on the east side of the river and built the body of a log house, which was afterward completed and became part of the tavern kept by Rnel Nims. In February, 1836, Nathan H. Darling made a claim on what was afterward known as the Rooker farm. He was acting as the agent of Nelson R. Norton, who perfected the title and improved the claim. Other settlers of 1836 were: James Nelson, David Bushnell, Origen Perkins, Heman Loomis, Silas Peck, George Newman, Charles and Jared Fox.
James Nelson came in May and built a log house and a black- smith shop on the east side of the river, near where Durgin's bridge was afterward thrown across the stream. He was the first blacksmith to ply his trade in that part of Racine County. David Bushnell came in July and his first residence was the log hut which had been built by Whiting, Perce and the Smiths the previous winter. This he reconstructed and lived in it until he could erect a better house. It seems that all the parties inter- ested in building this hut had abandoned their claim except Whit- ing, whose interest was purchased by Mr. Bushnell, and at the
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land sales in 1839 the land was bought by Stephen Bushnell. Origen Perkins located his claim in August and built a log house, to which he brought his family carly the following year. Heman Loomis came in September and located a claim southeast of the present City of Burlington, which claim afterward became known as the Loomis farm. Silas Peck arrived with his family a little later and built his cabin on the claim adjoining that of B. C. Porce. George Newman and the Foxes came later in the year.
Among those who came to Burlington in 1838 were: William F. Lyon, Ruel Nims. Stephen Bushnell, Pliny M. Perkins, Sam- nel C. Vanghan and Lewis Royce. Mr. Lyon remained but a few months, at the end of which time he removed to Walworth County. Ruel Nums acquired the log honse that had been started by Mr. Woodbridge two years before, occupying it for the first time on January 10, 1837. He subsequently opened a tavern - the first established house for the entertainment of travelers in Burlington. Stephen Bushnell came in March and afterward purchased the land claimed by David Bushnell, as above stated. Pliny M. Perkins first came in May, bringing a drove of hogs and cattle from JJoliet, Ilinois, but did not become a resident at that time. He returned the following year, however, and took a claim. Samuel C. Vanghan formed a partnership with Moses Smith and they built the first mill, which was known as the "up and down saw-mill." The mill building is said to have been the first frame structure in Burlington. Lewis Royce was a New Eng- lander. He arrived in Burlington on the first day of September and soon afterward established a lime kiln, burning about three hundred bushels before the close of the year. Mr. Royce was the first lawyer to locate in Burlington, but there were few lawsuits in those days and he found his line kiln more productive than the practice of his profession, though he was learned in the law.
The year 1838 witnessed the arrival of Liberty Fisk, Ephrain S. Sawyer, Henry Edmonds, Nelson R. Norton and a few others. Mr. Norton came in February and took possession of his claim that had been made for him two years before by Nathan H. Dar- ling. In the spring following he built a frame house, bringing the Inmber from Chicago, where he had formerly lived. It is said that he built the first bridge over the Chicago River. Mr. Sawyer bought 275 acres of land at the land sale and lived upon his farm for many years. Henry Edmonds built a small log black-
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smith shop near the mill. The first school in the town of Bur- lington was taught in the summer of 1838 by Sarah Bacon.
The first towns (townships) in Racine County were estab- lished by the act of January 2, 1838. Under the provisions of this act the territory now comprising the Town of Burlington was included in the Town of Rochester. On March 9, 1839, Gov- ernor Henry Dodge approved "An act to establish certain towns in the Counties of Milwaukee, Brown, Racine and Walworth, and to provide for the election of officers therein."
Section 21 of this act provided: "That the country bounded on the north by the Towns of Rochester, on the east by the Towns of Raeine (Mount Pleasant) and Southport, on the south by the Town of Salem, and on the west by Walworth County, be, and the same is hereby set off into a separate town by the name of Burlington; and the polls of election shall be opened at the house of S. Nims."
As originally created, the Town of Burlington included all the present Town of Dover, in Racine County, and a large part of the present Town of Brighton, in Kenosha County. The re- turns of the election held at the house of Mr. Nims cannot be found, but it is known that Origen Perkins was the first justice of the peace. The following incident, illustrating "Squire" Per- kins' methods of transacting legal business, was told by Judge Dyer in his address to the Old Settlers' Society: "On one ocea- sion 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 emergency of the case he pulled off one of his boots, took from his pocket a piece of chalk, wrote the com- plainant's statement on the boot leg, made him hold up his hand and swear to it, and then told him he would issne a warrant as soon as he went to the house."
The first white child born in the town was a son of George Newman, who was born in May or June, 1837. The first marriage was that of William MeLaughlin and Amanda (or Alvira) Hayes. Mrs. MeLaughlin died a few months after her marriage and was the first white person to die in the township. The first crop of grain was harvested by Moses Smith, in 1837, and in the fall of that year the first bridge was built over the Fox River. It was
INES
PINE STREET, BURLINGTON
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, BURLINGTON
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HISTORY OF RACINE COUNTY
floored with hewn logs. The first school house was built in 1839.
For several years the growth of Burlington was "slow but sure," but with the completion of the Racine, Janesville & Mississippi (now the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul) Railroad to the Village of Burlington in 1855 the development was more rapid. Burlington is now one of the most populous and wealthy townships in the county. In 1910 the population, exclusive of the City of Burlington, was 1,129, and in 1915 the property (not including the city) was valued for tax purposes at $2,871,043. A history of the City of Burlington will be found in Chapter VIII.
CALEDONIA TOWNSHIP
The Town of Caledonia is situated in the northeast corner of the county. On the north it is bounded by Milwaukee County; on the east by Lake Michigan; on the south by the Town of Mount Pleasant, and on the west by the Town of Raymond. It includes all of Congressional Township No. 4, Range 22, and fractional Township No. 4, Range 23, having an area of about fifty square miles. The Root River flows in a southeastwardly direction through Caledonia, and with its tributaries affords good natural drainage to the township.
Elam Beardsley always claimed to have been the first settler in the town, though it is quite probable that John Davis was the first to "stake ont" a claim. Mr. Beardsley came to the county in January, 1835, and his wife was the first white woman to be- come a resident of the county. He and John Davis both settled in Caledonia early in that year. Not far behind them came Levi Blake and his three sons- C. H., E. S. and Lucius S. Blake. Judge Dyer relates the following adventures of the Blakes in looking for a home in Wisconsin:
"They set out from their home near Niles, Michigan, for - some place, they scarcely knew where. They arrived at Chicago on the 10th of February, where they provided themselves with supplies, and a Mackinac blanket. They left Chicago and at night arrived at Grosse Point, eighteen 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
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them in a grove about three miles west of the present City 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 morning, 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 the pony were the United States route agents, on the way from Chicago to Green Bay with the mail. He gave them directions and informed of the landmarks that would guide them to Skunk Grove, which they reached after the darkness of night had fallen on them, and after much suffering from the severity of the weather.
"Arriving at the trading post at Skunk Grove, they were the recipients of the hospitality of Jacques Jambean 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 Jambean'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 exceptions only to the cli- mate, but Mr. L. S. Blake thinks the winter of 1835-36 the coldest he ever experienced in Wisconsin.
"On the 15th 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 for two years. Meanwhile, Lucins S. Blake and his brother, A. H. Blake, came back to the claim and resided in their cabin two seasons. They plowed a portion of the land, made some fencing, and held the claim by actual occupancy until Levi Blake removed to it with his family in the fall of 1837. Captain Blake's capacions log house, which he built on his prem- ises, was a landmark in the country. It was always open to the settlers and the hospitality of its proprietor gave it the appro-
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priate name of 'Our House' The farm now owned by James Wilson constituted a part of the Blake claim."
Early in 1835 Edward Bradley and his brother located claims in Caledonia. Walter Cooley came to Racine in May, 1835, and the following September located in Caledonia, accompanied by Eldad Smith and Elisha Raymond. Sr., and his family. Early in 1836 Mr. Cooley discovered that he had located on another man's claim and removed to another tract, which he occupied for a num- ber of years and after removing to the city of Racine called it his country home.
Eldad Smith built a peculiar looking house by rolling some logs together and putting on a roof made of white oak boards. While it was not an architectural masterpiece, it served to pro- teet the inmates from the cold winds that came from Lake Michi- gan. Mr. Smith brought two barrels of flour from Chicago that fall. and enough other provisions to last the family through the winter. He occupied this house for the first time on November 1, 1835, and lived there until 1841, when he removed to the Village of Racine. During the winter of 1835-36, three bands of Potawat- omi Indians encamped near his house and the wolves caused hin some annoyance. But to offset these undesirable neighbors, Mr. Smith said that in those days they had neither rats, beggars nor thieves in the new settlement.
Other settlers who came to Caledonia in 1835, or early in the voar 1836, were: Hugh and Hiram Bennett, Tristam Davis, Simeon, Isaac and Thomas Butler, Sheridan Kimball, Daniel Wooster and his son Adney, Joseph Adams. John Wheeler. Joseph Cannon, Ezra Beardsley (father of Elam), Ira Hurlbut. the Fowler and Stillman families, and a few others.
In the summer of 1835, Sheridan Kimball, then living in Chicago, heard of a settlement on the Root River that offered splendid opportunities to those seeking homes in Wisconsin. The following December, accompanied by Stephen Sandford, Sanford Blake and another man, he set out for the Root River country. The first night out from Chicago they stayed at Petterson's tav- ern, having made only about eight miles, and the next morning resumed their journey upon a new wagon road through the woods. This road had previously been an Indian trail, and as they jour- neved along they noted the coffin of a dead Indian child among the branches of a tree by the roadside. That night they reached
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Sunderland's tavern and late on the afternoon of the next day arrived in the Root River settlement. Taking breakfast the next morning with John Davis, they went on to the house of C. H. Blake, where they rested awhile, and then pushed on to the house of Symmes (or Simeon) Butler, on a small stream called Hoosier Creek. There they passed the night and when they were pre- paring to leave the next morning Mrs. Butler said: "When you get out in the woods, you will know the reason why my husband is so ragged; he has been running through the woods so much he has left a rag on every bush." Mr. Butler may have been ragged, but he was hospitable, and that morning guided the party to a district where they could locate claims.
Mr. Kimball selected a claim and in February, 1836, went to Chicago to bring his parents to the Root River. Leonard Kim- ball, a brother of Sheridan, came in advance to make preparations. About the middle of March the family left Chicago with a wagon drawn by three yoke of oxen and were two weeks on the road. Mr. Kimball's first house in Racine County was a rude cabin, with shake roof, stone chimney and a floor of elm bark. At the land sale in 1839 he acquired a perfect title to his land, built a better house and lived there for several years, when he removed to the City of Racine.
Daniel Wooster and his son, previously mentioned, left the Town of Derby, Connecticut, on New Year's Day, 1835, to seek a location somewhere in the West, where he could make a home for himself and family. Traveling with a team and wagon through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, he reached the Root River settlement in March and located in what is now the Town of Caledonia. A little later his son Julius and the other members of the family came via Buffalo and around the lakes. Daniel Wooster lived in Caledonia until his death, which occurred in 1867.
Among those who settled in Caledonia in 1836 were: William and Luther R. Sears, James Bussey, Joel and Emanuel Horner, Alexander Logan, Thomas Spencer and Rev. Cyrus Nichols. Judge Dyer says that Mr. Nichols "had previously lived in Mis- souri, and there had but one room in his house and that the kitchen. On coming to Wisconsin he resolved to have a parlor. He kept his resolution and had a parlor, and lived in it; but that was the only room in the house." Onee, while conducting relig-
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ious services at Skunk Grove, he rebuked a number of the pio- neers, who brought their rifles with them to church, but the settlers felt that it was always well to be prepared for emergencies in a country where the Indians were likely to give trouble at any time and accepted the rebuke of the minister in a friendly spirit.
In June, 1837, Daniel B. Rork came to Caledonia and bought the claim of Jacques Jambeau, the trader. Jambeau asked $2,000 for it, but finally accepted $525. Mr. Rork had come to the Town of Burlington about a year before and made a claim, where the City of Burlington now stands. Other parties "jumped his claim," but he succeeded in holding it and before removing to Caledonia sold it to Silas Peck for $200. Jambeau had fenced his claim in 1834 - the first claim, so it is believed, to be fenced east of the Rock River.
The first white child born in this township was Maria, a daughter of Joseph Adams, her birth occurring on September 2, 1835. She grew to womanhood in the county and married a man named Bacon. William See's saw-mill at the Rapids was the first saw-mill in Racine County. The first drove of hogs brought to the town was brought by James Kinzie in January or February, 1836. They were of the species known as "prairie racers," but they afforded the settlers an opportunity to supply themselves with pork.
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