USA > Wisconsin > Dodge County > The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, containing a history of Dodge County, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc > Part 58
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
unascertained. One first-class American newspaper expends as much in one year for "special tele- grams " as would have been required to carry on every journal in existence for a similar period a century ago. The New York Herald and London Telegraph alone own over twelve thousand miles of special cable wire, over which are sent, every day in the year, minute details of all important occurrences in any and every continent.
Nor has the press failed to increase in power and usefulness. It is the instrument calcu- lated to elevate and enlighten the people, as well as to aid in the enforcement of the laws and the perpetuation of good government. It is not every one, however, who regards the newspa- per with that singular respect it deserves ; the more popular the journal, the greater the num- ber of its enemies. It has achieved popularity and success by fulfilling its duty ; somebody's corns have been crushed, and an enemy, from the ranks of the unrighteous, is the result. It is the mission of the editor to make wrong-doing odious, by airing the misdeeds of those guilty of crimes against law and society. In this regard, the newspaper is far more efficacious than prison- bars. One is the mirror in which the evil deeds of the wicked are reflected to the gaze of soci- ety ; the other, a screen, behind which the criminal is too often thrust for concealment of his shame.
As an illustration of the growth of journalism, we will state that in 1874 there were 678 daily and 5,554 weekly newspapers in the United States. Doubtless, in the past six years, these figures have been increased about one-eighth. The phenomenal development of the great North- west could never have been accomplished without the aid of the local newspaper. It is as neces- sary to the "eternal fitness of things " as is the railroad, the school, the church, or the factory.
BEAVER DAM.
The first newspaper established in Wisconsin was the Green Bay Intelligencer. The initial number was issued on the 11th of December, 1833, when the white population of the Territory was less than 3,500. Journalism found an abiding-place in Dodge County in 1848. On the 14th of September of that year, the Weekly Badger, published by A. G. Hoag, made its appearance in Beaver Dam. The Badger was issued from a small wooden building standing near the Beaver street bridge. The presswork was done in Watertown on an old Ramage press and a portion of the type-setting was performed in the office of the Chronicle, of that city. Mr. Hoag may be appropriately styled the Nestor of the press in Dodge County, and a perusal of the first number of his paper, a copy of which is now in possession of Judge Hosmer, of Beaver Dam, proves him to have been a man of marked ability. We quote from Mr. Hoag's salutatory, for the double purpose of showing the political creed of the Badger, and enlightening poli- ticians of the present day upon the subject of Democracy thirty-two years ago, and the princi- ples upon which it was then claimed " the people's party " was founded :
* * It [The Badger ] is designed to be a representative of Dodge, Marquette and Columbia Counties, so far as lies within the province of a public journal to advance the interests of those with whom it may be associ- ated by locality, and to furnish the same with such general information as may be important and instructive. The political complexion of The Badger will be invariably Democratic, of the Jeffersonian school, alw rys regarding the interest of the Union as paramount to that of a State ; the interest of a State to that of a community, and the interest of a community paramount, in the ratio of its numbers, to that of a single individual. " Liberty, equal rights to all men, and the fraternity of the whole human family," are the fundamental articles of the Democratic creed ; and so long as the Democratic party continue to recognize these principles as the basis of their organization, we shall be found in their ranks a fearless advocate of their measures and a zealous supporter of their candidates to offices of honor and responsibility. * *
* The distinctions which have marked for the last fifty years, the two great political parties of our Union, no longer exist. The placing in nomination for the Presidency, by the Whig party, of a man [Zachary Taylor] who avows no political sentiments, and who has repeatedly refused to be the candidate of a party, paves the way to a union of the whole North upon such principles as gave birth to and constitute the soul and center of our Republic. This union, rapidly forming, will be a Democratic union. United thus upon great and gen- eral principles-principles that bear upon them legible traces of a Divine hand-and waging one common war against governmental corruption and iron oppression, who can, for one moment, doubt the final unity of the whole North in the defense of human rights ? [Prophetic words !]
The Badger was a six-column quarto, issued on Thursdays, at the rate of $1.50 per year. Under the motto of "Free soil-free speech-free labor-free men," and circumstances over
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
which the editor had no control, it survived three issues and then died. At the head of the first editorial column, on the second page of the first number of the Badger, we find the following :
FOR PRESIDENT, MARTIN VAN BUREN, of New York.
FOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, of Massachusetts.
Free-Soil County Convention .- The Free-Soil Electors of the county of Dodge, who are in favor of the principles as laid down in the resolutions adopted at the late Free-Soil Buffalo Convention, are requested to meet en masse at Oak Grove, in said county, on the 20th day of September next, at 2 o'clock P. M , for the purpose of choosing eight Delegates to represent said county in the Free-Soil State Convention, to be held at Madison on the 27th of September next, for the purpose of nominating an Electoral ticket in favor of VAN BUREN and ADAMS, the nominees of said Buf- falo Convention for President and Vice President.
Then follow editorial articles on " Presidential Candidates " and "Political Reform," and a " Democratic Address," signed by the " Democratic members of the first Legislature of the State of Wisconsin " (among whom we find the names of William M. Dennis and Charles Bil- linghurst), indorsing " Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Ken- tucky, for Vice President, as the standard-bearers of our political creed."
The first column of the Badger's third page is devoted to a report of the proceedings of the Dodge County Irish Relief Society, a meeting of which was held at Oak Grove August 31, 1848, William M. Dennis presiding, and George W. Green acting as Secretary. Resolutions were passed by the Society teeming with words of sympathy for the people of Ireland in their struggle for liberty, and, "as Americans and freemen, extending to them all the assistance we possibly can, consistent with our means and the institutions under which we live." [The glow- ing words of similar resolutions, adopted at similar Democratic meetings throughout the country, were the cause of the future endearment of the Hibernian heart to the Democratic party.] Before the meeting adjourned, the following contributions were made for the relief of the victims of British rule :
Stoddard Judd.
$5 00
John Clifford.
$1 00
James Casey.
$1 00
Lawrence Wallace
5 00
James Cullan.
1 00
John D. Griffin
75
Judson Prentice ..
3 00
James McCaffry
1 00
C. S. Bristol.
5 00
James Brannan .. 3 00
1
Bart. McCaffry
65
Patrick Morgan.
1 00
Francis Manahan
1 00
Stephen Tobin. 1 00
James Hanrahan
2 00
John H. Manahan
5 00
Edward McGovern
1 00
Daniel Ryan ..
1 00
William M. Dennis.
5 00
1 00
Michael O'Connor
1 00
Michael Kelloy.
1 00
Conner Dempsey. Patrick Egan.
1 00
Timothy Driscoll
3 00
William M. Morse
1 00
Patrick Canty.
94
Hiram Barber.
1 25
Hugh Dervin ..
1 00
Patrick O' Mara.
94
C. Billinghurst.
1 00
Thomas Dervin.
1 00
John Lowth.
1 00
E. C. Lewis
1 00
Michael Carroll.
1 00
Samuel Noyes
94
Owen McAnulty
1 00
Patrick Duffy
1 00
Total contributions.
$63 53
So much for oppressed Ireland thirty years ago. But, as we write, a wail of agony comes across the sea from the same people. In a measure, they have turned upon their persecutors ; the anti-renters' war is being relentlessly waged; an occasional murder of some lordly land- owner is announced ; the poor are starving; the distress is terrible. America has heard the moans of the dying and the pleadings of the hungered ; meetings are being held from Maine to California, and aid is again lavishly extended to unfortunate Ireland.
On the same page of this first copy of the Badger, we find a brief report of the proceedings of a Free-Soil meeting held at Clason Prairie August 28, 1848, at which over forty voters were present. The meeting was organized by calling David Moulton to the Chair and appointing D. M. Woolley Secretary. After the reading of the proceedings of the Buffalo Convention, the assemblage was addressed by A. G. Hoag, of Beaver Dam, and Messrs. Bingham and Giddings, of Oak Grove. Great enthusiasm prevailed in regard to the Free-Soil cause, and, after the
387
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
appointment of Messrs. Woolley, Giddings and Bingham as a Committee to form a Free-Soil Club, the meeting adjourned.
We are constrained to depart still farther from the subject of " The Press " in order that we may give an outline of other matters contained in the first issue of the first newspaper pub- lished in Dodge County. For instance, we are informed that "Mr. Stimpson, of this village, is running for Sheriff; see his card." "Senator Dodge spent the Sabbath in this village, on his way home from Washington," and " Alcan Walker, whose arrest for horse-stealing we mentioned some weeks ago, escaped from the jail in this county on the 4th instant, and has not yet, as we hear, been retaken. The Sheriff offers a reward of $25 for his apprehension." Now these items, while they are not very fresh, are exceedingly interesting, but a little investigation discloses the fact that they do not pertain to Beaver Dam or any other part of Dodge County. Fortunately for us, Brother Hoag has left an explanation of their appearance in the Badger, as follows :
Our press has not yet come to hand, and we have, through the politeness of Watertown publishers, been enabled to issue this number of our paper. Its appearance is not what we could desire it to be, nor what we intend making it in the future. This will account for the appearance of much matter in the Badger that is to be found in the Watertown Chronicle and Pilot of yesterday.
So we are enabled to establish the locality to which belong the items relative to the aspir- ing Mr. Stimpson, the Hon. Senator Dodge, and Mr. Alcan Walker, the filcher of equine property and subsequent jail-breaker.
" The Death of a Pioneer " is the sad caption of an item in the sixth column of the Badger's second page, conveying the intelligence that " Mr. James Clason, the pioneer settler on Clason's Prairie, Dodge County, has been 'gathered to his fathers.' He died on the 29th ult. [August, 1848], at the advanced age of seventy-three years. Mr. C. settled on the prairie to which his name has been given early in the spring of 1841. At that time, his nearest neighbors were Amasa Hyland and William Stanton, on Hyland Prairie, four miles distant, and his next nearest at Beaver Dam, then a hamlet of two or three shanties, five miles distant. Between Watertown (at that time rejoicing in some half-a-dozen buildings) and the spot which Mr. Clason had selected for his future home, there were but two buildings-J. G. De Koy's, in Emmet, and Maj. Pratt's at Oak Grove. The first Presbyterian meeting ever held in Dodge County was at the house of Mr. Clason, and he was mainly instrumental in organizing the first society of the same order in the county. He had been an active and consistent member of that Church for the last fifty years of his life."
We find upon the third page of the Badger, besides other reading matter, about one and a half columns of advertisements, mostly of Watertown and Milwaukee firms and individuals. Head- ing the list is the card of C. B. TRIPP, who informs the public that he has opened a shop in Beaver Dam, and is " prepared to make and repair GUNS upon short notice, reasonable terms and on the most approved style." Then comes " GEORGE W. GREEN, Attorney and Counselor at Law and Solicitor in Chancery." Mr. Green made a specialty of the cases of claimants of estates in Europe, having made arrangements with an American agency established in the city of London, " a leading object of which is to attend to business of this kind." And here is where the stranger was "taken in :"
To the Traveling Public ! WARD'S COTTAGE!
At Beaver Dam, Wis.
THE Proprietor of this House would respectfully inform his old Patrons, and the Traveling community at large, that he has taken a new House, (which has lately been rebuilt, and furnished throughout, ) a few rods East of his Old Stand, whose [where] he will be in readiness at all times to attend to the wants of those who may favor him with their patronage. No effort will be spared to render the " Cottage" a desirable stopping-place. The TABLE will be supplied with the best the market affords. The BARN well stocked, and the Servants attentive and obliging. He would return his thanks to those who patronize[d] him while occupying his old stand, and would solicit a continu- ance of their patronage. STAGES leave this House for all Parts of the State. The Stage office is located at this House.
Beaver Dam, Sept. 12, 1848.
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
Classified under the heading of " Business and Professional Cards," we find the announce- . ments of
C. S. BRISTOL, Attorney-at-Law-General Land Agent and Commissioner to take Acknowledgments of Deeds for the State of New York. Beaver Dam.
M. R. MANCHESTER, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, Beaver Dam.
O. G. W. BINGHAM, Physician, Surgeon and Dentist, Oak Grove.
BRADLEY NOYES, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, Beaver Dam.
C. BILLINGHURST, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Oak Grove, Dodge County.
VICTOR M. ADAMS, District Surveyor for the County of Dodge, will attend to all business entrusted to his care. Address, Beaver Dam P. O.
JUDSON PRENTICE, Trenton, Deputy District Surveyor for Dodge County. All business entrusted to his care promptly and correctly attended to. Address, Fox Lake P. O.
STERLING M. CONE, Justice of the Peace, Portland, Dodge County. The acknowledgment of Deeds and Mort- gages taken, Chattel Mortgages and Bills of Sale executed, Marriage Licenses granted, &c.
Brother Hoag has something to say regarding the appearance of this small, though select, number of advertisements in the Badger. He says :
The terms of our paper are one dollar and fifty cents-invariably in advance. No paper that dep ends almost wholly upon its weekly issue for a support can depart far from these terms and avoid pecuniary embarrassment. Were we to admit twelve or fifteen columns of advertisements into our paper, each paying from forty to sixty dollars [beautiful dream ! ], circumstances would be widely different; it might then be an object to circulate them upon almost any terms.
We feel proud of Brother Hoag. He resolutely maintained his determination not to print " twelve or fifteen columns of advertisements at $50 or $60 each," when he could fill his paper with interesting reading matter and furnish it to subscribers at " $1.50 per annum, invariably in advance."
After the suspension of the Badger, nearly five years elapsed before another attempt was made to publish a newspaper in Beaver Dam. On the 18th of March, 1853, Edgar C. Hull issued the first number of the Beaver Dam Republican, a seven-column weekly, wedded to the Democratic cause. In October, 1854, an organ of the then new (Republican) party was estab- lished in Beaver Dam, by N. V. Chandler, called the Sentinel. It is fair to presume that the Sentinel grew out of a political exigency, as we find that a public meeting was held by the friends of the enterprise to give pecuniary aid and encouragement. Mr. Chandler published it till the 7th of December, when he relinquished his interest to George C. Haddock, after meeting with many vexatious disappointments and embarrassments. Mr. Haddock continued the publication of the Sentinel under the direction of a joint-stock company. J. R. Swallow, afterward editor of the Fox Lake Journal, also took some part in the management, while A. Scott Sloan contrib- uted to its editorial columns. In February, 1855, owing to some misunderstanding between Mr. Haddock and the Sentinel's immediate supporters in regard to policy, the enterprise was aban- doned and the materials sold to Mr. Hull, of the Republican, who immediately enlarged his paper to an eight-column quarto, and changed its name to the Republican and Sentinel. Dur- ing the next two years after the consolidation, changes in the management became frequent, Mr. Hull, however, remaining and exerting a controlling influence. At one time, it was Hull & Swallow, and afterward E. C. Hull alone; then Hull & Co. (E. C. Hull, Thomas Merfield and Robert Farbon composing the firm), with Mr. Hull and S. C. Chandler as editors. Finally, E. C. Hull again, with J. R. Swallow as associate editor.
On the 17th of March, 1856, the Daily Republican and Sentinel was issued, a six-column sheet, which continued about a year. Also July 1, 1856, a tri-weekly of the same name. The career of the latter closed in about six months. Mr. Hull finally disposed of the property to Charles S. Phelps, who changed the name of the paper to the Democratic Post, under the editor- ial control of H. B. Phelps, his brother. May 26, 1857, witnessed the obsequies of The Post, the mechanical effects being purchased by M. Cullaton. Mr. Hull went to Staten Island, N. Y., where he engaged in the practice of law, and afterward became the publisher of the Staten Islander. Mr. Swallow turned clergyman, and also removed to the Empire State, where he died. Mr. Merfield established a paper in Ogle County, Ill. C. S. Phelps purchased a farm, and is now
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
living in Aurelia, Iowa ; his brother, H. B., was appointed Assistant United States Assessor, in 1866. Mr. Chandler went to Reedsburg and started a paper, while Mr. Haddock, after assisting at the birth of the first newspaper in Sparta, Wis., became a clergyman, and located at Oshkosh.
While Messrs. Hull & Swallow were in partnership they published, for about one year, the Western World, a monthly literary sheet. The first number was issued in July, 1855. It was a four column folio, mainly a reprint of the Republican and Sentinel.
Upon the ruins of the Republican, Sentinel, the Western World, etc., was founded, by M. Cullaton, April 18, 1856, the Dodge County Citizen, in the interest of the Republican party. It was the intention of the proprietor to run a job office only, but the persuasion of friends turned him from his original course, and he issued a seven-column paper, meeting with imme- diate success. In the fall of 1856, the Daily Citizen, a five-column quarto, made its appear- ance as a campaign sheet, and, after lending its little mite toward the futile attempt to defeat James Buchanan for the Presidency, turned up its little toes and died. In May, 1857, Mr. Cullaton added to his stock of material that formerly used in the publication of the Democratic Post, and then enlarged the Citizen to an eight-column paper. By this consolidation, a large surplus of material was on the hands of the proprietor, and a portion of it was disposed of to J. H. Brinkenhorff, who started the Waupun Times, and still another portion to John A. Far- rell, who removed it to Waupaca. About a year after the Citizen was enlarged, it was reduced to seven columns again, and, in the fall and winter of 1857-58, a morning daily was issued. In November, 1858, the Citizen office was purchased by G. H. Wells, who conducted the paper till the spring of 1861. Its publication then ceased till October 8, 1862, when.it was revived by Shaw & Hughes, who issued three numbers. It then went into the hands of Reid & Hughes, who published it together until October 22, 1868, Mr. Reid retiring. A year later (October 14, 1869), S. B. Allen purchased a half-interest. In 1872, the Citizen again became an eight-column paper, its present size. Mr. Hughes purchased Mr. Allen's interest October 5, 1876, and to the present time has remained the sole proprietor and editor. The Citizen is an excellent local paper ; uncompromisingly Republican; the earnest champion of all the righteous measures of its party. Mr. Cullaton, its founder, is one of the publishers of the Richmond (Ind.) Palladium. Hiram A. Reid, who was for six years the senior editor of the Citizen, has taken the lecture field. His home is Des Moines, Iowa.
The Beaver Dam Democrat was the next journalistic venture following the establishment of the Citizen. The first number was issued in November, 1858, by Carr Huntington. Its politics were Democratic, of the Breckenridge stamp, but when, in 1860, its candidate received but forty votes in Dodge County, the editor concluded that Douglas Democracy was good enough for him. In June, 1861, the Democrat office was destroyed by fire, but the publication of the paper was not interrupted. Soon afterward, the name was changed to the Whig of Seventy-Six, and, January 17, 1863, another visitation of the fire-fiend caused the suspension of the ill-starred journal in Beaver Dam. In March of the same year, Mr. Huntington, having obtained new material, located the Whig of Seventy-Six at Juneau.
September 5, 1860, a Democratic paper, called the Dodge County Excelsior, made its appearance, with John A. Farrell as editor and proprietor. It was a six-column quarto, and was published about six months.
In the Beaver Dam Argus, the Democratic party of Dodge County have an able represent- ative, and the people generally a good newspaper. The Argus was first published in Beaver Dam by B. W. Curtis, December 7, 1860. The material from which it was printed was for- merly used in the publication of the Horicon Argus and the Dodge County Excelsior. J. C. Bruner was its first editor. In February, 1863, Mr. Curtis disposed of the property to B. F. Sherman and D. C. Gowdey, who, for the past seventeen years, have guided its course and shaped its policy. The Argus occupies the very important position of official organ of both its party and the county. Its editors have been frequently called to fill offices of responsibility. Mr. Gowdey has represented his district in the State Legislature, and, at the date of the
390
HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY.
publication of this work, his partner, Mr. Sherman, is at Madison in the capacity of an Assembly- man, having been elected to that office at the last State election by a majority of about 500. The Argus was originally a seven-column paper, but has been enlarged to an eight-column.
JUNEAU.
The Dodge County Gazette was the first paper published in Juneau. The initial number bears date of June 16, 1852, Robert B. Wentworth, editor and proprietor. In politics, the Gazette was decidedly Whiggish. The last number was issued September 23, 1853, the material being purchased by Charles Billinghurst, who, within the next fortnight, ushered into the journalistic world the first number of a new paper called the Burr Oak, with Democratic proclivities. In May, 1854, when the Missouri compromise Bill was repealed, Mr. Billinghurst left the Democratic party and espoused the Republican cause. The defeat of Gen. Scott in the Presidential race, and the subsequent birth at Ripon, Wis., of the now powerful Republican party, made the Burr Oak, while edited by Mr. Billinghurst, a popular journal. But on account of the absence of its editor (who was elected to Congress in November, 1854), the paper suspended publication, and the material was purchased by Edwin O. Wentworth, who removed it to West Bend, and started the Washington County Organ. R. B. Wentworth went to Portage City, where he established the Wisconsin State Register.
In March, 1863, Carr Huntington came from Beaver Dam to Juneau with the remains of the Whig of Seventy-Six, and continued its publication until September 15 of the same year, when he removed to Blue Earth City, Minn., taking with him his unappreciated or, at least, unprofitable journalistic enterprise.
The Dodge County Democrat was the next newspaper venture at the county seat. It was established in 1869, by E. B. Bolens, its name indicating its politics, and published by him until September, 1874, when Frank Lowth purchased the property and occupied the editorial tripod until February, 1879. 'About this time, C. A. Pettibone, editor and proprietor of the Mayville Telephone, purchased the Democrat office and good will, and, removing the Telephone to Juneau, consolidated the two papers, and continues the issue of the latter with commendable regularity. " The amalgam works to a charm, and to-day the quandam proprietor issues his weekly dictum to twelve hundred anxious and expectant patrons." The Telephone is a five- column folio, Democratic in politics, and is surrounded by everything, including a good head of brains, to nurture its youth and make it one of the best newspaper properties in the county of Dodge.
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