USA > Wisconsin > Dodge County > The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, containing a history of Dodge County, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc > Part 51
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 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123
TERRITORIAL, STATE AND NATIONAL REPRESENTATION-TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
Number and Date of Legislative Assemblies.
Member of Council.
Representatives.
Counties.
First Session, convened at Belmont, Iowa } Co., Oct. 29, 1836.
Alanson Sweet
William B. Sheldon Madison B. Cornwall
Milwaukee.
Gilbert Knapp
Charles Durkee
William B. Sheldon
Second Session, convened at Burlington, Des Moines Co., Nov. 6, 1837.
[ Alanson Sweet
Gilbert Knapp
· Madison B. Cornwall
Special and last Session of First Assem- bly, convened at Burlington, June 11, 1838.
Gilbert Knapp Alanson Sweet
Charles Durkee
Milwaukee.
First Session of Second Assembly, con- vened at Madison, Nov. 26, 1838. Second Session, convened at Madison, ? Jan 21, 1839.
Ebenezer Brigham
Daniel S. Sutherland
Dodge, Dane, Green and Jefferson. § Dodge, Dane, Green and Jefferson.
Third Session, convened at Madison, ) Dec. 2, 1839.
Ebenezer Brigham
Daniel S. Sutherland
Fourth (extra) Session, convened at ) Madison, Aug. 3, 1840.
Ebenezer Brigham
Daniel S. Sutherland
§ Dodge. Dane, Green and Jefferson. ( Dodge, Dane, Green and Jefferson.
First Session, Third Assembly, convened at Madison, Dec. 7, 1840.
Ebenezer Brigham
Lucius I. Barber James Sutherland Lucius I. Barber James Sutherland Isaac H. Palmer Lyman Crossman Robert Masters
Dodge, Dane, Green, Jefferson and Sauk.
Second Session, convened Dec. 4, 1843.
Lucius I. Barber
Lyman Crossman
Isaac H. Palmer
Charles S. Bristol Noah Phelps
§ Dodge, Dane, Green, Jefferson and Sauk.
Fourth Session, convened Jan. 5, 1846.
John Catlin
George H. Slaughter Mark R. Clapp William M. Dennis Noah Phelps
§ Dodge, Dane, Green, Jefferson and Sauk.
Fifth Session, convened Jan. 4, 1847.
John E. Holmes
John T. Haight
James Giddings
Levi P. Drake
First (special) Session, convened Oct. 7, 2 1847.
John E. Holmes
Horace D. Patch James Hanrahan
Dodge and Jefferson.
Second and last Session of the Fifth ) Territorial Assembly, convened Feb. 7 and adjourned March 13, 1848.
John E. Holmes
-
Horace D. Patch James Hanrahan
Dodge and Jefferson.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
The first Constitutional Convention assembled at Madison October 5, 1846, and adjourned December 16 following, having framed an instrument which was rejected by the people at an election held the first Tuesday in April, 1847. Dodge County was represented in the Convention
* Gov. Doty refused to communicate with this body, claiming that they were not legally assembled according to the act of Congress, as no appropriation for that object had been previously made by Congress. The Houses continued in session until December 10, when they adjourned till January 30, 1843. Meeting again, another adjournment was taken until March 6, on which day they came together in pursuance of the resolute old Governor's proclamation, calling them together for the purpose of a special session. The Houses continued in session until March 25, when they adjourned without day. They again assembled March 27, as of the second session, and adjourned finally April 17.
Third Session, convened Jan. 6, 1845.
John Catlin
Robert Masters
§ Dodge, Dane, Green and Jefferson.
Second Session, convened at Madison ) Dec. 6, 1841.
Ebenezer Brigham
§ Dodge, Dane, Green, Jefferson and Sauk.
First Session, Fourth Assembly. con- vened Dec 5, 1842 .*
Lucius I. Barber
Madison B. Cornwall
Milwaukee.
Charles Durkee
William B. Sheldon
Ebenezer Brigham
Daniel S. Sutherland /
§ Dodge, Dane, Green, Jefferson and Sauk.
George W. Green
Dodge and Jefferson.
Levi P. Drake
338
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
by the following delegates : William M. Dennis, Stoddard Judd, Hiram Barber, Benjamin Granger, Horace D. Patch and John H. Manahan.
A second Convention was held, which met December 15, 1847, and adjourned February 1, 1848, the result of their labors being the present Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, which was ratified by a large popular vote the second Monday in March, 1848. The Dodge County delegates were Stoddard Judd, Samuel W. Lyman and Charles H. Larrabee.
STATE GOVERNMENT.
First Session of the Legislature, 1848 .- The constitutional provisions regarding apportion- ment declared Dodge County to be the Tenth Senatorial District, and divided the county into five Assembly Districts, until otherwise fixed by law, as follows: The towns of Burnett, Ches- ter, Le Roy and Williamstown, one ; Fairfield, Hubbard and Rubicon, one; Hustisford, Aship- pun, Lebanon and Emmet, one; Elba, Lowell, Portland and Clyman, one; Calamus, Beaver Dam, Fox Lake and Trenton, one. Section 14, Article XIV, of the State Constitution, pro- vided that "The Senators first elected in the even numbered districts, shall enter upon the duties of their office the first Monday of June next, and shall continue in office one year from the first Monday in January next ; and that those elected in the odd numbered districts, together with the members of the Assembly first elected, shall enter upon their duties, respectively, on the first Monday of June next, and shall continue in office until the first Monday in January next." Such was the common foundation of the " hold-over" system, which is still in vogue. The first legislators from Dodge County, elected under the new Constitution, were as follows : Senate-William M. Dennis, Watertown. Assembly-Lorenzo Merrill, Charles Billinghurst, Benjamin Randall, Monroe Thompson and Stephen Jones. This (the first) session of the Leg- islature convened June 5, 1848, and adjourned August 21 of the same year.
Second Session, 1849 .- Senate-William M. Dennis, Watertown. Assembly-Paul Juneau, Hiram Barber, George C. King, Jedediah Kimball and Parker Warren.
Third Session, 1850 .- Senate-James Giddings, Chester. Assembly-Oscar Hurlbut, James Murdock, John Lowth, William T. Ward and Malcom Sellers.
Fourth Session, 1851 .- Senate-James Giddings, Chester. Assembly-John Muzzy, Asa. W. French, John Lowth, Charles B. Whiton and William E. Smith.
Fifth Session, 185º .- Senate-Judson Prentice, Watertown. Assembly-Darius L. Ban- croft, Timothy B. Sterling, Maximilian Auerbock, William H. Green and Horace D. Patch.
Sixth Session, 1853 .- Senate-Judson Prentice, Watertown. Assembly-[Apportionment changed by act of Legislature, six Assemblymen being chosen instead of five.] Edward N. Foster, Whitman Sayles, William M. Dennis, Patrick Kelley, John W. Davis and Edwin Hillyer.
Seventh Session, 1854 .- Senate-Ezra A. Bowen, Mayville. Assembly-Benjamin F. Barney, George Fox, Francis McCormick, Ruel Parker, Allen H. Atwater and John W. Davis.
Eighth Session, 1855 .- Senate-Ezra A. Bowen, Mayville. Assembly-Solomon L. Rose, John M. Sherman, Narcisse M. Juneau, John D. Griffin, John B. Ribble and Fred F. Schwefel.
Ninth Session, 1856 .- Senate-Solomon L. Rose, Beaver Dam. Assembly-Benjamin F. Barney, Daniel Fletcher, Lawrence Connor, Charles Burchard, Henry L. Butterfield and F. H. Ehinger.
Tenth Session, 1857 .- Senate-Solomon L . Rose, Beaver Dam. Assembly-Edward N. Foster, Peter Potter, R. B. Wentworth, Quartus H. Barron, A. Scott Sloan and John J. Williams. Eleventh Session, 1858 .- Senate-William E. Smith, Fox Lake. Assembly-John Steiner, Narcisse M. Juneau, Paul Juneau, Benjamin F. Gibbs, Fred W. Kribs and E. J. Will- iams.
Twelfth Session, 1859 .- Senate-William E. Smith, Fox Lake. Assembly-Thomas Palmer, John C. Bishop, Waldo Lyon, Cyrus S. Kneeland, Lorenzo Merrill and John Lowth.
339
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
Thirteenth Session, 1860 .- Senate-Benjamin Ferguson, Fox Lake. Assembly-Elva Simpson, Max Bachhuber, John W. Nash, Stoddard Judd, David S. Ordway and H. C. Griffin.
Fourteenth Session, 1861 .- Senate-Benjamin Ferguson, Fox Lake. Assembly-Peter Peters, Jacob Bodden, David N. Minor, George W. Bly, F. H. Kribs and J. C. Williams.
Fifteenth Session, 1862 .- Senate-[Apportionment changed, two Senators being chosen.] Joel Rich, Juneau ; Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly-[Apportionment changed back to five Assemblymen.] Quartus H. Barron, John F. McCollum, H. C. Griffin, Jacob G. Mayer and Daniel D. Hoppock.
Sixteenth Session, 1863 .- Senate-Joel Rich, Juneau ; Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly- Oliver Ashley, J. F. McCollum, Oscar F. Jones, Albert Burtch and F. Wagner.
Seventeenth Session, 1864 .- Senate-W. E. Smith, Fox Lake; Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly-George H. Adams, William H. Green, O. F. Jones, Max Bachhuber and John G. Daily.
Eighteenth Session, 1865 .- Senate -- W. E. Smith, Fox Lake; Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly -* James M. McGuire, Michael F. Lowth, O. F. Jones, Peter Peters and Ferdinand Gnewuch.
Nineteenth Session, 1866 .- Senate-Stoddard Judd, Fox Lake; Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly-Oliver Ashley, Andrew Willard, Hiram Sawyer, Jacob Bodden and W. M. Morse.
Twentieth Session, 1867 .- Senate-Stoddard Judd, Fox Lake; Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly [The number of Districts reduced to four. ]-Miles Burnham, James B. Hays, War- ren Marston and John Wetherby.
Twenty-first Session, 1868 .- Senate-H. W. Lander, Beaver Dam; Sat. Clark, Hori- con. Assembly-Lawrence Connor, Lewis M. Benson, Charles E. Goodwin and G. W. Colomy. Twenty-second Session, 1869 .- Senate-H. W. Lander, Beaver Dam ; Sat. Clark, Hori-
con. Assembly-Cyrus Perry, Rees Evans, Arthur K. Delaney and Eugene O'Connor.
Twenty-third Session, 1870 .- Senate-S. D. Burchard, Beaver Dam ; Sat. Clark, Hori-
con. Assembly-E. Adams Fowler, Francis Johnston, Henry S. Burtch and Henry Bertram. Twenty-fourth Session, 1871 .- Senate-S. D. Burchard, Beaver Dam; Sat. Clark, Hori- con. Assembly-William E. Smith (Speaker), Allen H. Atwater, William Rusch and Marcus Trumer.
Twenty-fifth Session, 1872 .- Senate [Apportionment changed, one Senator being chosen]- Sat. Clark, Horicon. Assembly [Apportionment changed, six Assemblymen being chosen from the countyt]-Michael Adams, Calvin E. Lewis, Allen H. Atwater, Silas W. Lamoreux, George Schott and John Solon.
Twenty-sixth Session, 1873.1-Senate-S. D. Burchard, Beaver Dam. Assembly-John W. Davis, John Runkle, Wilfred C. Fuller, Dennis Short, Sat. Clark and F. Gnewuch.
Twenty-seventh Session, 1874 .- Senate-S. D. Burchard, Beaver Dam. Assembly-E. J. Boomer, D. C. Gowdey, D. L. Bancroft, Jacob Bodden, A. H. Lehman and John Dunn, Jr. Twenty-eighth Session, 1875 .- Senate-John A. Barney, Mayville. Assembly-Owen R. Jones, D. W. Coleman, John Lloyd, Max Bachhuber, W. M. Morse and Herman Grube.
Twenty-ninth Session, 1876 .- Senate-J. A. Barney, Mayville. Assembly-Patrick Griffin, Columbus Germain, G. H. Lawrence, C. E. Kite, George Schott and James Higgins.
Thirtieth Session, 1877 .- Senate-Charles H. Williams, Fox Lake. Assembly [changed to four Representatives ]-William Zeiman, F. A. Neuhauser, Leander H. Shepard and Patrick Roach.
Thirty-first Session, 1878 .- Senate-C. H. Williams, Fox Lake. Assembly-Carl Dowe, Eli Hawkes, Peter Langenfeld and E. C. McFetridge.
Thirty-second Session, 1879 .- Senate-E. C. McFetridge, Beaver Dam. Assembly -- William Fleming, Henry Spiering, James Davison and William Geise.
* Died during session ; Stoddard Judd elected to fill vacancy.
+ Excepting the Fifth and Sixth Wards of Watertown.
# Excepting the Fifth and Sixth Wards of Watertown.
340
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
Thirty-third Session, 1880 .-- Senate -- E. C. McFetridge, Beaver Dam. Assembly -- William Fleming, Joseph Heimerl, D. C. Williams and B. F. Sherman.
CONGRESSIONAL.
An act of Congress, approved April 20, 1836, provided for the organization of the Terri- tory of Wisconsin, and conferred upon the people the right to be represented in the National Congress by one Delegate, to be chosen by the votes of the qualified electors of the Territory. Under this authority, the Territory was represented in Congress as follows :
George W. Jones, elected October 10, 1836 ; James D. Doty, September 10, 1838 ; James D. Doty, August 5, 1840 ;* Henry Dodge, September 27, 1841 ; Henry Dodge, September 25, 1843 ; Morgan L. Martin, September 22, 1845; John H. Tweedy, September 6, 1847.
By the Constitution adopted when the Territory became a State, in 1848, two Representa- tives in Congress were provided for, by dividing the State into two Congressional Districts, the Second District being composed of the counties of Dodge, Washington, Sheboygan, Calumet, Brown, Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Sauk, Portage, Columbia, Dane, Iowa, La Fay- ette, Grant, Richland, Crawford, Chippewa, St. Croix and La Pointe. Under this authority an election was held May 8, 1848, and Mason C. Darling was chosen from the Second District as Representative in the Thirtieth Congress.
At the First Session of the State Legislature, the State was divided into three Congressional Districts, Dodge County being included in the Third District. This apportionment continued unchanged until 1861, during which time the county was represented as follows : Thirty-first Congress, James Duane Doty ; Thirty-second, John B. Macy ; Thirty-third, John B. Macy ; Thirty-fourth, Charles Billinghurst ; Thirty-fifth, Charles Billinghurst ; Thirty-sixth, Charles H. Larrabee ; Thirty-seventh, A. Scott Sloan.
At the Fourteenth Session of the Legislature (1861) the State was divided into six Con- gressional Districts, Dodge County being apportioned to the Fourth District, and Charles A. Eldredge was chosen as the Representative. He remained in office twelve years, serving six successive terms.
The present Congressional apportionment was made at the Twenty-fifth Session of the Legis- lature (1872), when the State was divided into eight districts, Dodge County, together with the counties of Fond du Lac, Manitowoc and Sheboygan, being included in the Fifth District. From this last apportionment to the present time the Representatives from the Fifth have been Charles A. Eldredge, Samuel D. Burchard and Edward S. Bragg.
* Appointed Governor of the Territory by President Tyler September 13, 1841, and resigned his seat as Delegate.
.
CHAPTER III.
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY-HORICON DAM CONTROVERSY-COUNTY POOR FARM-HONORABLE MEN- TION-ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD-RELICS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY-FIRST LAND ENTRY, ETC .- A FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION-SOME STATISTICS-THE GREAT INDIAN SCARE.
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Dodge County is bounded on the north by the counties of Green Lake and Fond du Lac, on the east by Fond du Lac and Washington, on the south by Jefferson and Waukesha, and on the west by Dane and Columbia. Its eastern boundary is about twenty-six miles from Lake Michigan and its western boundary about one hundred and four miles from the Mississippi River. It covers an area of 900 square miles, and, with the exception of Dane, is the largest southeastern county in the State. This territory, with all the Northwest, was claimed by France from 1671 to 1763, when it was surrendered to the British. By the Quebec Act of 1774, the whole was placed under the local administration of Canada. It was, however, practically put under a despotic military rule, and so continued until possession passed to the United States. Before the last mentioned event, and during and after the Revolution, the conflicting claims of Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, to portions of the country, were relin- quished to the General Government. . All these claims were based upon chartered rights, and Virginia added to hers the right of conquest of the " Illinois country " during the Revolution. As early as October, 1778, she declared, by an act of her General Assembly, that all the citizens of that commonwealth who were then settled, or should thereafter settle, on the western side of the Ohio, should be included in a distinct county, which should be called Illinois. No Vir- ginians were then settled as far north as what is now Wisconsin; and, as none thereafter located so far north before she relinquished all her rights to the United States, it follows that no part of the State was included in Illinois County, and that she never exercised any jurisdiction over any portion of Wisconsin ; nor did she make claim to any portion of it by right of conquest.
Notwithstanding the passage of the ordinance of 1787, establishing a government over the territory northwest of the Ohio River, which territory was acquired by the treaty of 1783 from Great Britain, possession only was obtained by the United States of the southern portion, the northern part being held by the British Government until 1796. Arthur St. Clair, in February, 1790, exercising the functions of Governor, and having previously organized a government for the country under the ordinance above mentioned, established, in what is now the State of Illi- nois, a county which was named St. Clair. But, as this county only extended north " to the mouth of the Little Mackinaw Creek on the Illinois," it did not include, of course, any part of the present Wisconsin, although being the nearest approach thereto of any organized county up to that date.
The next and much nearer approach to Dodge County was by the organization of Wayne County in 1796, which was made to include, beside much other territory, all of the present State watered by streams flowing into Lake Michigan. Still, no part of Rock River Valley had as yet come into any county organization. However, from 1800 to 1809, what are now the limits of Dodge County were within the Territory of Indiana, and, in the last mentioned year, passed into the Territory of Illinois. It is probable that the Indiana Territory exercised jurisdiction over what is now Wisconsin to the extent of appointing two Justices of the Peace-one for Green Bay and one for Prairie du Chien. In the year 1809, the Illinois Territorial Government com- missioned three Justices of the Peace and two militia officers at Prairie du Chien, St. Clair County
342
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
having previously been extended so as to include that point, and probably Green Bay. In the course of time, other Illinois counties had jurisdiction, until in 1818, when what is now Wis- consin became a portion of the Territory of Michigan. Under the government of the latter, the district of country now forming Dodge County was first included within the limits of the county of Brown, afterward Milwaukee, and so continued until it became itself a county, consti- tuted as such by name and boundary, December 7, 1836.
THE HORICON DAM CONTROVERSY.
The erection of a dam across Rock River, near the village of Horicon, was commenced in 1845 and completed in 1846-47. A saw-mill was built, in connection with the dam, in 1847, and a grist-mill in 1848-49. In June, 1852, owing to an unusual accumulation of water above, the dam " went out." The break was nearly one hundred feet in width, and the united efforts of the citizens were required to stay the rushing waters. For six weeks, the work of deposit- ing stones and trees and earth in the break went on, and it was not until the energies of the current had been spent, that the gaping chasm could be completely bridged. In the mean time, the land owners on the east side of the lake got out an injunction against the proprietors of the dam-who were, putatively, William M. Larrabee, John B. Preston, Harvey Rice and Jonathan Burr-to restrain them from further proceeding with the work; but, as the citizens appeared to be the parties most interested, service of the restraining order upon the individuals named above (who were apparently unconcerned) did not have the effect of suspending opera- tions ; and so the dam was finished, and, in the spring of 1853, the lake, to the evident gratifi- tion of duck-hunters, small boys and muskrats, became itself again. About this time, a league, composed of farmers claiming that their lands were overflowed by the waters of the lake, was organized and led by Ira Hodge, and thenceforth a relentless war was waged against those inter- ested in maintaining the dam. In March, 1854, the Horicon Iron and Manufacturing Company was duly incorporated, and "authorized to maintain the dam now erected across Rock River, at the village of Horicon ; provided, however, that the dam or dams hereafter constructed shall not be raised so as to flow other lands than are already flowed ; * and, in the event of the said dam causing the water to flow upon lands other than those belonging to said company, and if said company cannot agree with the owners thereof as to the amount of compensation to be paid for damages to such lands by reason of such flowing, and for the right to flow the same, then the question of damages to such lands, and for such right, shall be submitted to arbitra- tors." . Hodge, after being awarded $1,400 for damages to his own land, used his efforts to have his neighbors press their claims, and the result was a suit before the Circuit Court of Milwau- kee County, entitled "Zweig vs. Horicon Iron and Manufacturing Company and others. In Vol. XVII, Wisconsin Reports, we find a recital of the case, in substance as follows :
In December, 1850, the plaintiff took out a patent from the United States for the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 10, Township 12, Range 16, in Dodge County, and also for the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 9 in the same town. In November, 1853, he became owner of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of said Section 9. In December, 1858, he became owner of the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of said Section 10. The lands were first entered in the summer of 1849. * * * * In the fall of 1858, proceedings were taken by the plaintiff to obtain damages from said Company for the flowage of his lands, and for the right to flow them. An arbitration was had, as provided by the charter of the Company, and award made in March, 1859, from which the plaintiff appealed, and judgment was rendered for the plaintiff, in May, 1860, for $860 damages, with costs. On this judgment, execution was issued May 4, 1860, and on the 4th of July following, the Sheriff returned that after diligent search he could not find any property belonging to the defendant whereon to make the whole or any part of the amount. No part of the judgment having been paid or tendered to the plaintiff, this action was commenced against the Company in 1862 for an abatement of the dam, and an injunction against its further maintenance.
The answer of the Company, among other things, denied the regularity of the proceedings resulting in the judgment; stated that by reason of the erection of the dam a large and flourishing village and a large mill and manufacturing interest had grown up, which would be greatly injured by the removal of the dam; that it had been maintained since 1846, and that the plaintiff acquired title to his lands in part in 1848, and in part in 1853 ; that he had lived in the neighborhood thereofever since 1848, and had knowledge of the existence of the dam and the extent of the damage done. The answer also alleged that the execution was improperly returned unsatisfied, as the Company had sufficient property to satisfy. the same apparent of record.
Honderd Suda (DECEASED) FOX LAKE
345
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
The Court decided against the plaintiff, and an appeal to the Supreme Court was taken, which resulted in a reversal of the decision of the Court below, and the subsequent tearing away of the dam. The opinion was by Judge Orsamus Cole, and was based mainly upon the provisions of Section 7 of the Company's Charter, namely: That in the event of the dam causing the flowage of lands not belonging to the Company, if the latter could not agree with the land-owner as to the amount of compensation, such amount should be determined in a mode therein specified. The Court held that where the owner of lands flowed by the dam had obtained, in accordance with the charter, a judgment for his damages, which was not paid and could not be collected, he was entitled to have the dam abated.
J. M. Gillet and D. J. Pulling appeared for the appellant, and Charles Billinghurst and William P. Lynde for the respondents.
MECHANICS' UNION MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
When it became evident that the removal of the Horicon dam would be the ultimate result of the legal proceedings then pending, the Legislature was applied to by William M. Dennis, Samuel Baird, Trueman Woodford, H. H. Rich, H. E. Connit, J. M. Sherman and Sat. Clark, the individuals ostensibly interested in the dam property, for a law allowing them to purchase of the State the land now known as the Horicon marsh, comprising an area of about twenty-five thousand acres. The petitioners set forth that, in view of the loss they would sustain by the demolition of their dam, they should be granted the privilege of thus indemni- fying themselves. The act required was accordingly passed in 1867, and an association of the above-named individuals was immediately formed, known as the Mechanics' Union Manufactur- ing Company, with a capital stock of $70,000, divided into $100 shares. Messrs. Rich and Connit have retired from the Company, the latter disposing of his interest to C. K. Pryor, of Fond du Lac. About one-eighth of the land has been sold to private parties.
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.