USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. I > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
On June 1, 1907, Mr. Skavlem and the writer made a survey of this group-that is, Mr. Skavlem did most of the surveying, and the writer spent the greater part of the time in admiring the mounds, cheering Skavlem in his labor, and hunting mush- rooms. This did not arise from any lack of enthusiasm on the writer's part, or any desire to shirk work, but it arose solely from a somewhat acrimonious discussion as to whether Skav- lem's four-foot stride or the writer's regulation twenty-eight- inch step afforded the best standard of measurement. Our main dependence, however, was upon the surveyor's chain.
There are twenty-two mounds in this group, five of them be- ing circular tumuli, three oblong tumuli, nine linear and five effigies. They lie close together in a bunch in the northeast corner of the twenty-acre tract. The most beautiful of the ef- figies is that of an eagle, very symmetrical, and measuring sev- enty-five feet from wing tip to wing tip. Three of the linear mounds are each seventeen rods long, and the longest of the effigies is sixteen rods ; and two of the linears are parallel, lying three rods apart. The group lies upon a side hill facing the southeast, looking towards the river, and the axis of each ob- long, linear and effigy mound is from northwest to southeast. Viewed as they were when we last saw them, late in the afternoon of a perfect June day, facing the shining water and with the shadow of the old oak trees falling upon them, these forgotten places, these works of the ancient people, produced upon us an impression of interest and even of veneration that will never be effaced.
The implements of the Indians who once peopled Rock county, their work in stone and in copper, do not differ in any particular from those found in other localities in this part of the country. The material in the stone implements is that usually found in
63
THE FORGOTTEN PLACES
this vicinity, and the workmanship is equal to that of any other part of the United States. Many implements and weapons of copper are found, and also of brass and of iron procured from the early traders and settlers. The most interesting finds, how- ever, are those made by the aborigines of stone. These, as stated, are usually of the material peculiar to this vicinity, but finds have been made of obsidian, agates and hematites, that could only have come from a great distance, either in the rough block or in the finished implement, ornament or weapon. These ob- jects are usually found in the greatest quantities near Rock river, the Catfish river and Bass and Turtle creeks; but many have been found away from the streams, and frequently in lo- calities where they would least be looked for. Thousands have been picked up, idly looked at, and then thrown away or de- stroyed; and other thousands have gone to enrich the collec- tions of museums and of private individuals; and as new land is cleared and broken to the plow other thousands will yet come to light. The supply seems to be inexhaustible; the land is lit- erally sown with them. And whatever may be the contribution of Rock county in the future to the interests of archaeology, here, as all over the world, there will always be hidden somewhere in the soil these implements of peace and weapons of war fashioned by man in the age of stone. The corrosions of time will never change them, while in the alchemy of nature all our implements of toil and our weapons of warfare will be destroyed.
V.
THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY.
By
A. A. Jackson.
The history of the territory, of which Rock county is a por- tion, begins with that of the western hemisphere. It is full of interest not only for those who have found homes on its fertile prairies and in its thriving villages and cities, but for all who are interested in the growth and development of the Mississippi valley. The discovery of this hemisphere is claimed by at least four European nations, while three have elaimed, by reason of such discovery, some title to or interest in large portions thereof.
Norse Period.
The Norsemen claim that the earliest discovery of the west- ern continent, of which there is a credible record, was by Bjarni Herjulfson, the son of Herjulf Bardson, in 985 or 986. The home of Herjulf and Bjarni was in Iceland. They were Vikings. In 985, while Bjarni was absent, Herjulf sailed to Greenland. Bjarni, on his return, attempted to follow his father. He was, however, driven from his course by severe north winds, but continued his voyage until he sighted what is believed to be the coast of New England. It is not known how far south Bjarni sailed, but it is conjectured that he reached the latitude of Boston.
About the year 1000, Leif, the son of Eric the Red, and known as Leif Erieson, a hardy and adventurous Viking, who had learned of the discovery of Bjarni, with a crew of thirty-five Norsemen sailed southwesterly from Greenland to find the land that Bjarni had discovered. They sailed far enough south to find a country where grapes grew, which they called Vinland and where they spent the winter. The precise location of this place is unknown, but it is believed to have been on the New England coast and possibly at or near Fall River, Mass.
64
香
M
65
HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
In the absence of Leif, his father, Eric the Red, had died and Leif became his successor.
In the spring of the next year after the return of Leif from his voyage of discovery, Thorwald, his brother, made a voyage to the country that Leif had discovered. He reached Vinland and remained there three years. While there a party of nine of the aborigines were captured by the Norsemen and eight of them put to death. The other, making his escape, informed his tribe of the massaere. The Indians thereupon attacked the Norse- men while asleep and mortally wounded Thorwald. He died and was buried in the land discovered by him, in pursuance of his request, and a cross was erected at the head and foot of his grave. Longfellow's "Skeleton in Armor" is supposed to have been suggested by the burial of Thorwald on the New England coast.
Another distinguished explorer was Thorfin Karlsefne (i. e., Thorfin the Hopeful, or Manly), from Norway. He possessed large means and an illustrious ancestry, being related to the most famous families of the North, while several of his ancestors were kings. In 1006 he visited Greenland on a trading voyage and passed the winter at the home of Leif Erieson. He there met Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein, another brother of Leif, and, with the consent of Leif, they were married. They fitted out a vessel and made a voyage to Vinland and located at what is now called Buzzards bay. In the following spring Karlsefne loaded his vessel and returned to Greenland, wholly abandoning the settlements in Vinland. The Norsemen made no claim to any portion of the North American continent by reason of their discoveries.
Nearly five centuries later the navigators of other nations, seeking a shorter route to the Indies, came to the western shores of the Atlantic and by reason of their discoveries made extrava- gant claims to large portions of the continent. Such claims were made by Spain, by France and by England.
Spanish Period.
The claim of Spain was founded, primarily, on the discoveries of Christopher Columbus in 1492, and his later voyages, and the discovery of Ponce de Leon. Columbus did not, at any time, discover the main land of the northern hemisphere. On October
66
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
12, 1492, he landed on an island of the Bahama group, which he called San Salvador. After discovering and exploring other islands of the group, he returned to Spain. He afterwards made three voyages, but on none of them did he discover the main land of what is now the United States.
Columbus was a native of Genoa, where he was born about 1440. He began to follow the sea at an early age and was en- gaged in many enterprises on the Mediterranean. He removed to Lisbon about 1470, where he remained until 1482, when he went to Spain. From his observations he had reached the con- elusion that by sailing west from Spain he could reach the Indies. After arriving in Spain he induced Queen Isabella to furnish him with two small vessels with which to attempt the discovery of a new route to the Indies. A third vessel was sup- plied by himself and friends. With these three small vessels he made his first voyage, which was successful, and was followed by three others. He died in Valladolid in 1506.
On the return of Columbus from his first voyage, Ferdinand and Isabella informed Pope Alexander VI. of the great discovery made by Columbus. King John of Portugal claimed jurisdiction and authority over Guinea and the islands westerly thereof un- der a grant from the pope, and, on learning of the discoveries of islands by Columbus, insisted that such islands were within his domain and belonged to him, as king of Portugal, by virtue of such grant. As this claim was likely to create a conflict be- tween Spain and Portugal, both of which were under the domin- ion of the pope, he was appealed to by Ferdinand to declare the rights of Spain. The pope thereupon, and on May 2, 1493, issued a papal bull, ceding to Spain the same rights and privileges on the coast of Guinea as those granted to Portugal and dividing the unknown dominion, lying west of Spain and Portugal, into two parts by a line drawn from the north pole to the south pole through a point seventy leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde islands.
All of the American continent lay west of this line, and by the bull issued by the pope, he assumed the right to grant to Spain all that portion of the continent west of the line fixed which, of course, included the territory now embraced in the state of Wisconsin.
The claim of Spain to Florida was founded on the discovery
67
HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
by Ponce de Leon, an carly Spanish navigator, on April 2, 1512.
Ponce de Leon was born in the city of Leon in the province of Leon, in the northwesterly portion of Spain, about 1460. He won distinction as a soldier in the conflicts with the Moors, and was with Columbus on his second voyage to the West Indies in 1493. He was appointed governor of Porto Rico in 1509 by Fer- dinand, king of Spain, and is said to have amassed great wealth. He was removed from the office of governor in 1512. He had been told of a wonderful country that possessed a river of such marvelous virtue that those who, in advanced age, bathed in it, were restored to youth and strength. He believed this idle tale and resolved to find the river that would renew his youth. With three ships, he left the port of St. Germain, on the 3d of March, 1512, and sailed northwesterly, landing on the islands that he passed, making search for the river of youth without success. On Sunday, the 27th of March, he saw what he believed to be an island. Adverse weather prevented his landing until the 2d of April, when he found a most delightful country covered with beautiful flowers. Having first seen it on Palm Sunday he called it, Pascua Florida, and took possession of it for the king of Spain.
Among the Spanish navigators who crossed the Atlantic were Francisco Gordillo, who landed on the Atlantic coast in what is now South Carolina, in 1520, and Stephen Gomez, who reached the New England coast in 1524 or 1525.
The name Florida was given to all of the region now em- braced in the United States and Canada. Spain held the actual possession of only a small portion of the territory that it claimed. Its occupation of the territory east of the Mississippi river was confined to that portion lying along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and what is now the state of Florida. The claim of Spain covered the territory northwest of the Ohio and what is now embraced in Rock county, as a part of Florida.
In the spring of 1764, France ceded to Spain all of its interest in the territory west of the Mississippi known as Louisiana.
In pursuance of this cession the Spanish occupied St. Louis. On the 2d of January, 1781, a company of Spanish and French, under the command of Don Eugenio Pourri, as captain, marched from St. Louis to St. Joseph in Michigan, where there was a small fort, occupied by a small force of English soldiers, who were compelled to surrender. The Spanish took possession of
68
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
this fort in the name of the king of Spain. By virtue of the cap- ture of this small fort the Spanish king also laid claim to all of the territory west of the Alleghenies and east of the Mississippi.
A treaty of peace and friendship was entered into between the United States and Spain on October 27, 1795, to prevent all disputes on the subject of boundaries.
By the second article of this treaty, the boundary line be- tween the United States and the Spanish colonies, known as the East and West Floridas, was the same as that of the present state of Florida. This cession extinguished all claims of Spain to the territory northwest of the Ohio and vested in the United States all of her claim, title and interest in such territory.
By another treaty between Spain and the United States, con- cluded February 22, 1819, Spain ceded to the United States all of the lands claimed by it east of the west bank of the Mississippi river. This cession extinguished all claims of Spain to the terri- tory east of the Mississippi.
The rulers of Spain, who claimed dominion over the territory embraced in Rock county, from the discovery of Columbus in 1492, to the treaty of 1795, when the claim of Spain to the terri- tory northwest of the Ohio was terminated, were as follows :
Ferdinand V-Isabella
1479 to 1504
Ferdinand V.
1504 to 1516
Charles I of Spain
1516 to 1555
Philip II. .1555 to 1598
Philip III. 1598 to 1621
Philip IV 1621 to 1665
Charles II.
1665 to 1700
Philip V 1700 to 1746
Ferdinand VI. 1746 to 1759
Charles III.
1759 to 1788
French Period.
The claim of France was founded on the discoveries of Captain John Verrazano in 1524, and Jacques Cartier in 1534.
Verrazano, who sailed under the orders of Francis I, king of France, left the Madeiras in January, 1524, with three ships, two of which were disabled by a severe storm. With the remaining vessel he sailed northwesterly and in March sighted land, sup-
69
HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
posed to the coast of North Carolina. After discovering land he took a northeasterly course and sailed along the coast as far as Maine and then returned home. IIe called the new land dis- covered by him New France.
Verrazano was born near Florence about 1485. He went to France and entered the service of Francis I, king of France, and while engaged in such service, sailed to the American coast. His life after this voyage is involved in much obseurity and little, if anything, is now definitely known of his later years.
Jacques Cartier sailed from St. Malo in France on the 20th of April, 1534, with two ships. He reached the coast of Newfound- land in July and passed through the straits of Belle Isle into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. After spending several weeks exploring the coast of the gulf, he returned to France. Cartier made three voyages to Canada. On his third voyage he sailed on the River St. Lawrence and on October 2, 1585, reached an Indian settlement called Hochelaga, which, because of a high point of land in the vicinity, he called Mount Royal, from which comes the present name of Montreal. On this voyage he raised a cross and took possession of the country for the king of France.
Cartier was born in St. Malo in Brittany in 1494. His early years were passed on the sea. After his voyages across the At- lantic he was created seigneur of the village of Lemoilon, near St. Malo, and spent the remainder of his life there or at St. Malo. The date of his death is unknown.
Other French navigators came to Canada, Roberval in 1541, De la Roche in 1598, Pontgrave in 1600 and 1603, with whom was Samuel de Champlain, De Monts in 1604, with whom, as his pilot, was Champlain.
In 1604, Henry IV of France made De Monts lieutenant gen- eral of Acadia, which embraced the territory between the fortieth and the forty-sixth degrees of north latitude, and granted him free exercise of his religion, and by letters-patent to a company of merchants of Rouen and Rochelle, the exclusive trade in furs and fish between the fortieth and fifty-fourth degrees of north latitude. This grant embraced about the northerly half of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and all of Michigan and Wisconsin. It was revoked, however, in 1609.
One of the most persistent, untiring and successful of the French explorers was Samuel de Champlain. He was born at
70
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
Brauage on the west coast of France in 1567. His father being a sea captain, he became a skillful pilot. His life was almost wholly spent in explorations in the new world. He was lieutenant under De Monts, and under Count de Soissons, the successor of De Monts, and also under the Prince de Conde. He discovered and named, for himself, Lake Champlain in the state of New York. He was appointed governor of Canada in 1620 and in 1629, while governor and in command of Quebec, was compelled to surrender to an English fleet under the command of David Kirk.
By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye between England and France, in 1632, Canada was restored to France. On May 23, 1633, Champlain was again appointed governor of Canada. He continued to hold the office until his death on Christmas, 1635. He published several volumes relating to his explorations and travels in North America and prepared many maps and charts of the coasts and rivers explored by him.
While Champlain did not reach Lake Michigan, nor come into Wisconsin, yet before his decease one of his agents, Jean Nicolet, a brave and hardy explorer, discovered the territory now embraced in this state.
Nicolet was sent by Champlain, then governor of Canada, to visit the Winnebagoes. He left Quebec July 1, 1634, and reached Green bay before the end of that year. He went up the Fox river as far as the village of the Mascoutins in Green Lake county, near the city of Berlin. It is probable that he then went to the Illinois country. If so, he may have descended Rock river and passed through Rock county. The next year Nicolet re- turned to Quebec. Seven years later, while in Quebec, he was informed that the Algonquins had captured a New England In- dian and were threatening to put him to death. He immediately started to rescue the unfortunate Abenaquis and while on his way up the St. Lawrence was overtaken by a severe storm that swamped his boat and, being unable to swim, was drowned.
Nicolet was the first white man to visit the territory now embraced in Wisconsin. But little is known of his early life. It is said that he was born in or near Cherbourg, France; that he was the son of a mail carrier. He arrived in Quebec in 1618, when about twenty years of age. Soon after his arrival at Que- bee, he was sent to reside with the Island Algonquins, a tribe of Indians living on the Allumette islands in the Ottawa river,
71
ILISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
about 100 miles westerly from Ottawa, to learn the Indian lan- guages. He remained there about two years and then went to the Nipissing Indians and remained with them for a considerable time, when he was recalled to Quebec by Champlain and acted as clerk and interpreter until July 1, 1634. He was then sent to Green bay to visit the Winnebagoes. It is probable that no other white man visited this territory until 1654, when Radisson and Groseilliers, two French explorers and traders, visited the coun- try south of Lake Superior.
In 1660 Pere Menard, a Jesuit priest, established a mission at the head of Chequamegon bay, on the southerly side of Lake Superior, near the present city of Ashland. This was the first mission established in the territory northwest of the Ohio.
Menard was born in Paris in 1604. He became a follower of Loyola and joined the order of Jesuits in 1624. He went to Mon- treal in 1640 and soon after went to the Nipissings and labored among them and other Algonquin tribes. In 1656 he was sent to the Cayugas and later to the Oneidas, where he met with suc- cess. In 1660 he went to the Ottawas, on or near Keweenaw bay on the south shore of Lake Superior, and then to Chequamegon bay. In 1661 there came an appeal to him to go to the Hurons on the Black river in Wisconsin, and while endeavoring to reach them, he probably strayed from the path around the Bill Cross rapids in the Wisconsin river and perished.
Father Claude Jean Allouez was one of the most zealous and active of the Jesuit missionaries who labored among the Indians in the Northwest. It is probable that he was born in France about 1620, although the place of his birth is not known with certainty. He came to Quebec in 1658, and was for some years connected with the Algonquin missions on the St. Lawrence. In 1665 he was sent to the head waters of the Chippewa to take the place left vacant by the death of Menard. The Hurons and Ottawas .having removed to Chequamegon bay, he followed them there and selected a site for a mission near where Ashland is now located. Here he built a chapel of bark and established the first Jesuit mission in Wisconsin, which he called La Pointe de Esprit. He remained here for four years and then removed to Green bay, where he founded the mission of St. Francis Xavier which, after two years, was removed to the rapids in the Fox river above Green bay, known as Rapides des Peres, or Rapids of the Fathers,
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
afterwards shortened to Depere. He also founded the mission of St. James on the upper Fox river, and began the mission of St. Michael among the Menomonees on the eastern shore of Green bay. He labored with other tribes in Wisconsin and Illinois and has been called the "Father of Wisconsin Missions." In 1676 he permanently established the mission at Kaskaskia that had been commenced by Marquette. It is said that over 2,000 Indians were converted to Christianity through his labors. He died in 1690, having spent a quarter of a century among the tribes of the Northwest.
The first formal declaration of the sovereignty of France over the Northwest territory was made by Simon Francis Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson, commissioner of Jean Talon, intendant of New France. St. Lusson, in 1670, was directed by Talon to search for copper mines on Lake Superior and also to take, for the king of France, the possession of the whole interior of the Northwest. He proceeded to carry out his instructions and summoned a num- ber of the Indian tribes to meet him at the falls of the St. Mary on the 14th day of June, 1671. When they were gathered he erected a cross and near it a cedar post, to which he affixed the arms of France, and then, three times, in a loud voice made the following declaration and proclamation :
"In the name of the most high, most worthy, and most re- doubtable monarch, Louis the XIVth, of the Christian name, king of France and Navarre, we take possession of the said places of St. Mary of the Falls as well as of Lakes Huron and Superior, the Island of Caientolon, and all other countries, rivers, lakes and tributaries, contiguous and adjacent thereunto, as well discov- ered as to be discovered, which are bounded on the one side by the northern and western seas, and on the other by the south sea, including all its length and breadth."
At each of the three times, in making this proclamation, he raised a sod of earth and cried, "Vive le Roi!" He also attached to the back of the arms of France a statement of his taking such possession, signed by him and the French officers and priests present.
The description contained in this proclamation was very broad and, if sufficiently definite to describe any territory, em- braced all of the territory northwest of the Ohio river as well as that west of the Mississippi. What effect this proclamation
73
HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
had and what rights, if any, it gave France as against Spain and England, is somewhat uncertain.
France did not promptly follow the announcement of her proclamation by taking actual possession of the country claimed by her. More than a quarter of a century elapsed before she as- serted her claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio but, in the last days of the seventeenth and in the early years of the eighteenth centuries, various missions and posts were established by the French in such territory. They were located on or near the water courses and largely along the eastern bank of the Mississippi. Around some of these missions and posts villages grew. Among the larger of these villages were Cahokia (1699), Kaskaskia (1700), Fort Chartres (1720), St. Phillippi (1723), and Prairie du Rocher (1733).
The original Kaskaskia was a small village of the Kaskaskia Indians, situated on the Illinois river near the present village of Utica, in La Salle county, Illinois. After the mission was estab- lished. and in 1700, the tribe removed to the land lying between the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers near their junction. Kas- kaskia was the most important of this group of French villages. Its settlers came largely from New Orleans. It was for many years the seat of government of the Illinois country. In 1721 it became a parisli and a college and monastery were established there.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.