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. II > Part 13
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Mr. William C. Banks came here in 1853, bought grain, and returned in 1855 for Mrs. Banks. They built the house which she has lived in ever since that time. Certainly she is one of a few who have lived here for forty-eight consecutive years.
Mr. William Hall, who was the first postmaster as well as the first photographer, came to Fulton Depot, now Edgerton, in 1853. He built the building now owned and occupied by Mrs. Edwards. William Hall had the postoffice in the front, a little store in the back rooms, and the family lived in the rooms over. There Frank Hall was born, with the distinction of being the first child born in the village. Many came the winter of 1853-54, among them James Hill, a carpenter, whose wife and three daughters were prominent in society in later years.
James Corduer, a contractor and builder, O. D. Peck, the first depot agent, who lived with his wife and son in the rooms over the depot. Mr. John Ash came from Palmyra with Mr. Peck and bought grain in partnership with him. I have been told that Mr. Ash was the first baggage master, and I have also been told that Mr. Welch was. Both these came when the railroad did. Mr. and Mrs. Ash were English people, the parents of two of our business men of that name.
Mr. and Mrs. James Finney came here from Janesville and bought of Mr. Nelson Coon the hostelry on the south side of the track and called it the Exchange Hotel. There many a weary traveler was warmed and fed during the lifetime of Mr. and Mrs. Finney. A daughter resides here, Mrs. Walter Crandell, also five grandchildren. Mrs. Mortimer Carrier of the Culture Club is one of these. Mr. and Mrs. Finney were English people, as were Mr. and Mrs. Hutson, who moved to Edgerton from Indian Ford in 1854 and built the red brick part of the building we have known so long as the U. S. House. Mr. Hutson did not expect to keep a hotel, but the pressing need of accommodations in that line was the reason of his entering that business, which he followed until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Hutson's family were grown young
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people when they came to Edgerton. The Railroad House, as their hotel was called, was built the same year that Gilbert Ran- dolph built the American House. He was from New Jersey, an unele of our citizen Z. II. Bowen. Gilbert Randolph came in February, 1854, built the American House in the following sum- mer and fall, sold it to Samuel Coon, who was the first occupant, and returned to his native state, New Jersey.
Mr. H. S. Swift, of Wait's River, Vt., came to Edgerton in the spring of 1854 with his wife and children. They had lived in New York city just previous to the move to Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Swift thought it was not a good place to bring up a family of boys, so they came to this new country. In all, they had four- teen children; seven are living today. Nine of Mr. Swift's ehil- dren attended Albion Academy. Henry graduated from that school, then went to Albany, N. Y., where he took a course in law. On his return home in June he was asked to give an oration on the Fourth of July, which he did. In a few weeks he went south as first lieutenant to engage in the Civil War. In his very first engagement, while acting as captain (his captain being absent), he was shot through the heart, dying in about twenty minutes. His remains were laid in Fassett's cemetery and a monument erected to his memory. Our Grand Army post is named for him. This family were bright, witty, genial, musical, good-hearted and enterprising.
In the spring of 1854 the village blacksmith, Stiles Hakes, of Fulton, moved to Fulton Depot. His wife, a fine cultured woman, was a daughter of Deacon West. There were two sons. David, the elder, had a fine tenor voice, composed musie, and gave instructions in voice culture. Oscar, the younger, was in later years a prominent attorney on the Pacific coast, where he became circuit judge.
Mr. Hakes kept the first general store here, and for his clerk hired the pioneer German, Christian Guishart by name. This store has often been referred to by the pioneers. An old lady told me she paid Mr. Hakes fifty cents a yard for unbleached sheeting a yard wide, and as much for calico. But often this was thought good enough for a Sunday gown. As to style, they were so plain that they were never out of style. An old lady whom I called upon in the morning arose from her chair so that I could see the cut of her gown, and said: "This is the way they were
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made then, in 1855, and I have made mine that way ever since." She told me of the first lamp bought; it was at Mr. Croft's store. He said, "Take one of these new lights home and try it." She did so, but, fearing to put the glass chimney on the blaze, she did not think the new light much of an improvement over the candle. But that was long after our pioneers had used a rag in a saucer of grease for a light, after which came the candle and little fluid lamp in which they burned camphine. When kerosene came into market it sold for a dollar and twenty cents per gallon. This year Dr. Slocum, the first resident physician, came with his wife. He was a good doctor, but returned to the East after a few years' residence here. Previous to his coming the people had called Dr. Head from Albion, of Dr. Landers, of Fulton, when in need of a physician.
There were many whom I have not time to so much as men- tion, but there was a young boy who attended the village schools, clerked in his father's store, and conducted himself in such a manner that the people were proud of him, and prouder now that he is a man. I refer to Albert Robinson, the son of Mrs. Alva Child. When a young man he studied civil engineering, went west with a surveying party for the Santa Fe railroad, was elected third vice-president, then second and first, finally general man- ager of the road, which position he resigned a few years ago to take the presidency of the Mexican Central railroad, which position he holds today.
I am indebted to Mr. C. H. Dickinson for an account of his interesting journey from Lowville, N. Y., to Wisconsin. Time does not permit me to give you but a sketch.
Mr. Dickinson had a perilous ride by stage from his home town to Rome, where he took the cars and arrived in Janesville on the 16th of November, 1854, coming by rail to Afton, the ter- minus, and finished his journey by stage. Not being satisfied with Janesville, he started for Watertown, and arrived at Forrest House Station, now Wauwatosa, which was as far as he could go by rail. He had engaged his seat in the stage for next day when he found an old friend and roommate, Mr. Serles, who was going to Fulton Depot. Mr. Dickinson decided to join his friend. They arrived here at eleven o'clock a. m., took dinner at the Finney House, and decided to go to Red Wing, Minn. But Mr. Swift, in need of workmen to finish his house, prevailed upon
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them to remain and work for him, which they did that winter; formed a partnership in the spring, known as Dickinson & Serles, which continued for three years. Mr. and Mrs. Serles returned to the East. Mr. Dickinson married here and has lived just out of the city limits for many years.
Mr. James Culton, by birth a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, was a brickmaker in Janesville prior to 1851; he sold out his brick business and went to California, where he made some money in mining, and returned to his family in Janesville. He decided that the bed of clay was better in Edgerton than in Janesville, and bought land of Dr. Head, in all eighty acres, and started a brick- yard on the south side of the tracks. A frame house was built for the family to live in the first summer. This was underdrawn with white cotton cloth, as was customary in California. The brick house was built for the family to move into in the fall of 1855. It covers the same ground space as the block occupied by Babcock & Birkermeyer's department store. Mr. Culton's family when he moved to Edgerton consisted of his wife, his son William and daughter Nellie, also a woman named Bella Benton, who was maid of all work in the family for twenty-seven years. Mr. Culton had eight children, five of whom are living. Of these, John and Charles Culton and Mrs. Charles Bentley are residents of this city. A brother of Mrs. Culton's lived with them when they moved from Janesville, and he was in partnership with Mr. Culton for a time. I refer to Mr. James Croft, who in 1858 bought of Julius Burdiek the house now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McInnes. I am told the Croft and Culton houses were known for their hospitality. Mr. Croft never thought of the trouble when planning a party or doing something for the church. Mr. Mat- thew Croft, Mrs. McInnes' father, was not a pioneer. He came with his wife and two children in 1859 and lived in the house with Mr. James Croft. His daughter, Mrs. McInnes, has lived there ever since.
Many laborers came in 1855; Patrick Mooney and wife, John Leary and wife, William Condon, and others. These men told me they worked in Mr. Culton's brickyard in summer and cut and hauled wood for him in the winter, living in little houses on his land, where the pottery buildings and brickyard are now. They reminded me of a pleasant incident in their lives, for they, in common with thirty or more laborers on the brickyard, were
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served with a warm luneh at nine a. m. and three p. m. This con- sisted of hot buttered soda biseuit and coffee, which they ate under the shade of a tree in the days before Mr. Culton used steam power.
Those who came after 1855 cannot be ealled pioneers, but as there were many people prominent in the activities of the village, I will mention some of them.
Mr. Charles Mallett came to Edgerton when a boy, in 1856, from New York state, with his father, mother and a sister. His father first engaged in the lumber business; the sister married George Williams, and died, leaving two daughters, Mrs. Harry Son and Nellie Williams. Charles Mallett has been for many years one of Edgerton's staunch business men. Ilis wife is the honored president of the Monday Club.
In 1856 B. B. Sherman, wife and children, came to Edgerton. Not finding a house for rent he bought the American House of Sam Coon, and kept a publie house for a short time; but it was not the business he wanted and he consequently sold to Lorenzo Dearborn, and built the brick house on Albion street. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman were Vermont people, but came from New York state to Edgerton. They were the parents of Mrs. William H. Pomeroy, and our sister club member, Mrs. James Pyre.
Ephreium Palmer and wife came in 1856 also, and, like most of the pioneers, were from New York state. They were the parents of Mrs. George Lusk, Mrs. Raselas Bardeen and Dr. Henry Palmer, deceased, who was a most noted physician and surgeon in southern Wisconsin. The Janesville Hospital is named for him. Ephreium Palmer's daughter, Mrs. Bardeen, was the mother of Chief Justice Bardeen, whose death two years ago the whole state mourned. Judge Bardeen spent his youth on the farm where Mrs. Jacobus now lives. Though not in the village the family were a part of Edgerton society.
Dr. Lord was the first physician to remain here long. He grew to manhood in the state of Maine, but lived in Iowa, where he married previous to coming to Edgerton, in 1858. Most of you know what a large practice he had in the village and country -how he served his country in the Civil War, was sent to the legislature, and died, leaving a son well equipped to fill his father's place. He, too, laid down his life, as had his mother. There are three sons living and five daughters are residents of
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our city. Mrs. Charles Tallard, of the Twentieth Century Club, is one.
The first to nurse the sick as a means of earning a living was an English woman named Mrs. Reese. There was no drug store until 1860, when Dr. Burdick built one on the site Phoenix Hall now occupies. It appears that with the seareity of medicine, doctors and nurses, our pioneers were not only healthy, but peace- able, for there was not much doing in the law business until September, 1858, when our honored citizen, J. P. Towne, arrived. He was a young unmarried man, who met and married his wife here. Mrs. Towne was Miss Rosa Ford, a niece of "Elder Ford," as he was known, the first resident Baptist minister. Miss Ford and her aunt were the first milliners, had their store in the front corner of the building which has long been the home of Mrs. Edwards. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards bought the property she now occupies in 1859, of Elder James Rogers, a Seventh Day Baptist minister.
Mr. E. H. Smith opened the first jewelry store in the building west of Mr. Edwards in 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were from Massachusetts. Mr. Smith was in the Civil War, and returned to Edgerton and his trade. For a number of years he has been in the legal business-much of the time a police justice.
I might tell you, if I had time, how the first tin shop was on wheels, Mr. Benjamin Hustler mending and selling from his wagon; the first meat market, the same owned by Mr. Shintz; how Mr. Harris Sylvia Gates and Mrs. Edwards tailored for the gentlemen, and Mrs. Stephen Coon hung out a sign "Dress and Mantua Maker," to attract the eye of the ladies.
I want to tell you before closing that our pioneers well under- stood the philosophy of all work and no play, and society had a place in their wholesome, industrious lives; that pleasures were often helpful, as, for instance, when they went into the country to a husking bee, apple-paring bee or to a friend's to a quilting party. Small dancing parties they had at the houses. If at Roslyn Robinson's the cook stove was moved out that they might dance in the kitchen. When they met at O. D. Peck's, Mrs. Peck not quite willing to have a dance in her house, allowed them to dance in the waiting room of the depot. For music they had two violins, played by Charlie Robinson and Sherman Fassett. Then there was the oft repeated surprise parties, the weekly house social for
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the church, the spelling school and singing school, and there were many good voices among them. Above all, they are to be envied for the generous, informal, hospitable way in which they enter- tained.
I cannot close without paying tribute to the pioneer mother, who, in those rigorous days did the housework, mended the clothes; even wove the cloth oftentimes. She cared for the chil- dren, nursed or assisted her neighbor in sickness, economized and saved, giving of her splendid courage to her husband and those about her. Some one has said "The Pilgrim mother meant quite as much to America as the Pilgrim father." Who would question this ? These pioneer women meant no less. May we not believe that Edgerton is a better place to live in and that the women of Edgerton today are better women because of what the pioneer mother was?
Evansville, which was a village until 1890, is now a thriving city of 2,000 inhabitants with churches, schools and important banking and manufacturing interests. It is located on the Chi- cago & Northwestern railroad, about fifteen miles northwest of Janesville. It was a temperance village and is a no-license city.
This city was first settled about June, 1839, by Hiram Griffith, Boyd Phelps, Stephen Jones, Erastus Quivey and John Griffith, who came from LaPorte, Ind., and made their first camp near the large spring, on what is now known as the Coleman farm. In the spring of 1840 came Jacob West and John T. Baker, fol- lowed by Ira Jones, Edward Marsh, John Sale, and others rapidly followed.
The first residence was built of logs, about eight rods south of the building so long occupied as a shop by John Winston; the second on the rise just north of where the Magee stone block now stands; the third on the East side about where Mrs. Bar- num Wilson's residence is.
The Central House was built by Henry Spencer in 1855, and the store, occupied by W. J. Clark, the same season by John Winston and sons Nelson and Reuben ; it soon after passed into the hands of Nelson Winston and I. M. Bennett.
When the time came for naming our little village, Spencer, Spencerville; Evans, Evansville, and other names were sug- gested, but the name now used was finally chosen.
Dr. J. M. Evans, Sr., one of the early settlers of Rock
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county, was born in Rutland county, Vi., February 12, 1819. At the age of twenty he came west to La Porte, Ind., and there learned the carpenter trade. In 1843 he began the study of medicine and graduated three years later from the LaPorte Medical College. In 1853 he was elected to the legislature of Wisconsin and was again elected to the general asembly in 1873. He served throughout the war with the 13th Wis. Inf. He was one of the earliest physicians of Rock county, and it is in his honor and in commemoration of his many services to the com- munity that Evansville received its name.
Up to 1848 the principal center of business for the whole country between Janesville and Madison was the village of Union, three miles north of the present site of Evansville. In that year, however, William Winston built and occupied the first store in the place, which had then neither name nor postoffice. Now all branches of business are represented and the stores would do credit to a much larger place. The largest are the Evansville Mercantile Association, founded about 1873, and the Economy Department store. There is an excellent paper, "The Enterprise" (including the "Tribune").
There are three hotels, the Central, the Commercial and the Evansville House, east of the railroad. There are three banks. The Bank of Evansville, incorporated in 1870 with a capital stock of $25,000, has also a savings department and a large list of depositors. President L. T. Pullen died in January, 1908. The vice-president is A. C. Gray. The Farmers' and Merchants' State Bank reports the capital stock paid in, $25,000. The Grange bank, organized in 1897, was incorporated in 1902 with a capi- tal of $10,000.
The principal manufacturing interest in Evansville is closely associated with the name of Baker. A. S. Baker, the founder of the Baker Manufacturing Company, was born in the year 1842, within one and one-half miles of Evansville; after receiv- ing his education he learned the trade of blacksmithing, which occupation he followed until 1861. After the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the 2nd Wis. Inf., and served three years in the Army of the Potomac. At the battle of Gettysburg he was hit by a minie ball, which he carried in his body nearly twenty-six years, when it finally worked itself to the surface and was extracted by Mr. Baker with his fingers. He returned to
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Evansville in 1864 and bought out the blacksmithing establish- ment of Edmund Bemis, and continued this business for five years. In 1869 he began the manufacture of carriages and ve- hicles, buying out the establishment of the Bedford Buggy Co. In 1873, with Levi Shaw, he began the manufacture of rotary engines, wind mills and pumps, and established the business of which the present large industry is the outgrowth.
That successful "Profit Sharing" company is described in a separate paper (see page ... ), but the following facts should be added. Besides the profit sharing companies there mentioned, ten other manufacturing firms in the United States are now fol- lowing that method of working. Under the profit sharing prac- tice the capital of the Baker Manufacturing company has in- creased to nearly half a million dollars. The successive balance sheets of the past nine years also show that the per cent of in- crease, which the profit sharing feature has added to the regular earnings of labor and capital annually, has been for each of these years respectively 60 per cent, 82, 74, 98, 69, 25, 81, 120, and last year just 100 per cent. The amount kept in the sinking fund, now $36,261, provides for any unfavorable contingencies.
Mr. Baker has served acceptably for several years in our state legislature, but has recently declined re-election. He is an active leader in the Congregational church. March 23, 1865, he married Miss Margaret Sayers. Of their three children the son, John, is a prominent member of the company and one of the originat- ors of that profit sharing feature.
Churches. The earliest was the Methodist Episcopal, organ- ized in 1840, and erecting its first building in 1847. In 1846 Rev. Stephen Peet of Beloit organized here a church, called then Union church. In 1855 this was re-organized as a Con- gregational church, which at first met in the old Baptist church building. Later a brick church was built and made their church home until in recent years it has been built over into a beautiful and commodious modern church edifice. The present member- ship of the church is 150. The First Baptist: July 1, 1854, mem- bers of this demomination, of Magnolia and Union, formed a corporate body with headquarters at Evansville, where they met and elected trustees. In the same year they built a frame church and a few years later added a parsonage. They have now in place of the old building a modern edifice of brick and stone.
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There is also a Free Baptist church with regular organization and services. Another society is that of the Free Methodists. Evansville Seminary, founded in 1855 by the M. E. church, was transferred to the Free Baptists, and then, in 1879, came under the care of the Free Methodists, who still conduct it. Besides a Roman Catholic organization should be noted also St. John's Episcopal church. On May 13, 1869, the first meeting was held and trustees were elected. A building committee was appointed, and December 21, 1869, they reported the completion of a church edifice, erected on a lot purchased from Mrs. S. Brown. That society has now become one of the leading churches.
Sschools. The first schoolhouse was built of logs and stood a little north of the site of the new bank building. Among the first school teachers were Amy Jones, Lucretia Chapel Lawson, Maria Quivey, D. M. Rowley, Ebenezer Harvey and Levi Leonard. Among the first postmasters were Curtis Bent, N. A. W. Howe, Jacob West and Dr. J. M. Evans; for four years James R. West carried the mail by horseback three times each week to Union.
In 1869 an eight-room building was erected, which furnished ample accommodation for twenty years. The high school build- ing was erected about fifteen years ago, at a cost of nearly $11,000. The school, as now conducted, has some 375 pupils in the several grades, occupying the old building, and 120 in the high school department. In the basement of the newer build- ing is the kindergarten department with two teachers, and there are seventeen teachers in all, five being in the high school; there is a scholars' reference library of some five hundred volumes, besides those in the public library. This school is on the accredited list to all the leading colleges, and our state uni- versity, and Principal Frank J. Lowth reports it as being in excellent condition. The first class was graduated from the high school in 1873, and one of its three members is now at the head of the University of Wisconsin, President Van Hise.
Fraternal Orders. Among the fraternal organizations in Evansville may be mentioned : Union Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M; Evansville Chapter No. 35, R. A. M .; Columbia Chapter, O. E. S .; Leota Lodge No. 116, I. O. O. F .; Union Rebekah Lodge 59; L. T. Sutphen Post No. 41, G. A. R .; W. R. C. of Evansville No. 28; Major J. M. Evans Garrison No. 32, Knights of the Globe; Vir- ginia Dare Garrison No. 8; Eminent Ladies, Knights of the
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Globe; Knights of Pythias, Evansville Lodge No. 36; Evansville Camp No. 351, M. W. A .; Glen Camp No. 710, Royal Neighbors.
Library. The Eager Free Public Library was a gift to the city from Almeron Eager, a pioneer and honored citizen, who died in October, 1902. By will he left $10,000 for a library, the city furnishing the site and expense of maintenance. The new building, which cost $13,000, was dedicated June 9, 1908, and the extra $3,000 of cost was paid by his heirs. The building itself is an architectural gem, and the interior main library room contains a bronze statue of Mr. Eager, a little larger than life size, and a plaster bust of Professor Searing, a graduate of Milton college, who in an early day had a select school in the village of Union, and later became state superintendent of schools. The library has already (1908) about four thousand volumes.
The Baker Manufacturing and Profit Sharing Company of Evansville, Wis.
While the industrial world of America and England is yet troubled with conflicts between capital and labor it should not be forgotten that there are certain happy spots where such opposing conditions have been changed to a condition of permanent peace and harmony. The secret of this change has been the adoption of the principle of profit-sharing.
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