The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 127

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899

USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc. > Part 127

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ALVIT CLARKE, farmer, Sec. 35; P. O. Milton Junction ; native of New York ; born in Brookfield, Madison Co., Jan. 11, 1804; son of Joseph and Hannah Clarke, of Rhode Island; he came to Wisconsin March 27, 1856; worked a farm seven months in Walworth Co., then bought 160 acres on Section 35, in Milton ; bas since sold off eighty acres to his son. Mr. A. Clarke married Oct. 25, 1826, Miss Sarah Davis, daughter of L. Nathan Davis, of Rhode Island; they had ten children, eight sons- Joseph S., bora Dec. 8, 1827; Emily C., Jan. 1, 1829; George O., May 6, 1830, died Oct. 20, 1854; Franklin, born Aug. 7, 1833; Albertis, April 2, 1835; Pendleton, born Feb. 5, 1837, died Feb. 8, 1840; Alvit Wellington, born Sept. 27, 1838; Henry P., June 11, 1840; William H., June 26, 1842; Lucy Ann, Nov. 20, 1844. Members of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church. Republican. He sold to his son eighty acres at $50 per acre, without buildings.

WILLIS P. CLARKE, druggist, Post Office building, Milton; born in Plainfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., May 15, 1842; son of Erastus P. and Mary Jane Clarke, who came to Wisconsin and located at Milton in 1856; had two children-Willis P. and William Wallace, who were educated at Milton Academy (classical course). At the breaking-out of our civil war, Willis enlisted Oct. 1, 1861, in Co. K, 13th Wis. V. I .; mustered in at Janesville; in 1862, went to Fort Leavenworth, Kan .; from there to Fort Scott; then to Lawrence and Fort Riley ; returned to Leavenworth, and from there went to Columbus and did duty there; in 1862, garrisoned Fort Henry and Fort Donelson ; did scouting duty in the summer of 1863; in the fall of 1863, also participated with his regiment in all their duties till Jan. 13, 1864, was mustered out, and the same day re-enlisted as a veteran ; served through Tennessec and East Tennessee in putting down guerrilla bands; leaving Nashville, Tenn., was stationed at Green Lake till

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he was discharged at Madison, Wis., Dec. 28, 1865; was commissioned First Lieutenant March 24, 1865. Married, Oct. 15, 1867, Miss Lucy A. Clarke, daughter of Alvit and Sarah Clarke, of Milton ; had two children-Bessie E .; born June 29, 1873; baby, May 29, 1879. Member of I. O. O. F., Milton Lodge, No. 65; corresponding member of the State Historical Society, and the Laphon Archaeological Society of Milwaukee. Wife is a member of the Baptist Church ; he is a Liberal in religion and politics.

JAMES E. COAKLY, M. D., Milton Junction ; came to Rock Co. in the spring of 1856 ; taught school at Lima in 1861 ; graduated at Rush College in April, 1864. Joined the 22d Wis. V., I. as Assistant Surgeon under Sherman's command through the Atlantic campaign ; mustered out in the spring of 1865 ; returned to Milton Junction and commenced practice. Married Miss Amelia S. Worces- ter, daughter of Pomelia Worcester, of Lima; had two children; one died in infancy-Lyman L., born Aug. 25, 1878. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic Order and I. O. O. F .; also of the State Medical Association. Attends the Methodist Church. Republican.

CHARLES R. COLLINS, boiler-maker ; P. O. Milton ; born in Albion, Allegany Co., N. Y., Feb. 10, 1851 ; son of Benjamin F. and Tacey A., who came to Rock Co., Wis., in the spring of 1836, and settled in Harmony Township, now Rock Prairie ; they have eight children. His father, Ben- jamin F .. died in 1865. . Charles R. was educated at the district school, Milton ; at the age of 15 years, commenced to learn his trade with V. D. Anderson, Springfield, Ohio; served six years ; worked for same party three years as journeyman. Is a member of Knights of Pythias; also, Red Men of Ohio. Attends Seventh-Day Baptist Church. Republican.

AMOS S. CRANDALL, farmer, Sec. 15; P. O. Milton; born in the town of Montville, New London Co., Conn., Jan. 10, 1823; son of Henry B. and Lucinda Crandall, who came to Rock Co .. Wis., Nov. 16, 1838, and located on Sec. 28, claiming 240 acres ; had nine children. Amos S. was the second son ; he married in April, 1845, Armanda Frink, daughter of George H. and Esther Frink, of Milton; they had one child-Henry F., born Feb. 28, 1847. Mrs. Armanda C. died in November, 1856; buried at Milton Junction Cemetery. Married present wife (Miss Mary Odell) March 11, 1858; daughter of George and Susan Odell, of Dane Co. Wis. ; have one child-George E., born June 11, 1861. Mr. Cran- dall was elected Constable and Collector in 1845, under Territorial Government ; Trustee of District School in 1859, one term ; member of Anti-Horse-Thief Society ; member Seventh-Day Baptist Church. Republican.

S. H. CRANDALL, farmer, Sec. 18; P. O. Milton Junction ; native of the State of ConLec- ticut ; born in Montville, New London Co., Feb. 3, 1821 ; son of H. B. and Lucinda, who came to Wis- consin in November, 1838 ; they had Dine children-five sons. They located on 320 acres in all, on Sec- tion 28, in the town of Milton, Rock Co., where now stands the depot called Milton Junction. Mr. S. H. Crandall sold this site to Isaac P. Morgan, consisting of about forty acres. Mr. Crandall's mother died in April, 1849 ; is buried at West Milton Cemetery. He married Miss Harriet N. Stillman, daughter of John and Lavina Stillman, of New York; they have had ten children, nine living-George S., born Aug. 3, 1846 ; Eugene S. and Emogene S., born June 5, 1849; Josephine S., born April 1, 1851 ; Julia A., born Nov. 7, 1853; Jessie L., born Feb. 7, 1856; John II., born April 13, 1858, died Feb. 27, 1860; Minnie E., born Sept. 27, 1860 ; Almer W., born Nov. 28, 1863; Herbert C., born May 20, 1868. Mr. Crandall has held the offices of Road Commissioner, Town Treasurer, School Clerk and Commissioner. Belongs to the Seventh-Day Baptist Church, at East Milton ; contributed labor and money for the build- ing of the church; is a leader of the choir; has always taken a great interest in the welfare of the church and its advancement. He is a Republicau. His farm consists of 200 acres; breeds horses, sheep, cattle and hogs ; present value of the farm is $40 to $50 per acre.

WILLIAM A. DODD, agent, express office, Milton Junction; born in Cambria, Colum- bia Co., Wis., Oct. 29, 1858 ; son of Robert Dodd, of Columbia Co., Wis., who died in 1865. His mother is still living and resides in Oregon. Mr. William A. Dodd finished his education at Milton College ; went in the employ of Express Company, Sept. 1, 1878, having lived now at Milton Junction since 1866. Mr. W. A. D. is one of the mighty Nimrods of this county, being one of the most successful hunters in the vicinity of Lakes Koshkonong and Clear.

F. W. ELLIS, proprietor of Milton Hotel; born in Fulton, Oneida Co., N. Y., Feb. 20, 1848; came to Dodge Co., Wis., fall of 1855 ; came to Rock Co., in 1878. Married Miss Mary A. Ward, May 27, 1872; daughter of H. B. Ward and Clara A. ; have one child-Victor Francis, born April 19, 1874. Liberal in religion ; Republican.

HENRY ESTEE, farmer, Sec. 21; P. O. Milton Junction ; native of New York ; born in Salem. Washington Co., April 7, 1830; son of Azor Estec and Betsy Brown, who had two sons-Charles B. and Henry ; the latter came to Wisconsin, November, 1854, and settled at Albion, Dane Co .; came to Rock County, March, 1875, and purchased the Clark Needham farm of 118 acres. He married, May 5,

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1849, Miss Lucretia Green, daughter of Winter Green and Lucretia Saunders, of Rensselaer Co., N. Y .; they have six children-William G., born Feb. 12, 1850; Florence A., Dec. 6, 1852 ; James B., Feb. 8, 1856; Ida B., May 26, 1859; Hattie, April 17, 1861 ; Clara A., May 23, 1865. Member of I. O. O. F. Member of Seventh-Day Baptist Church of Old Milton.

HORACE B. FRINK .- For biography, see last name in Milton Township.

HON. JOSEPH GOODRICH, Milton. Hon Joseph Goodrich, the founder of the village of Milton and of Milton College, was born in the town of Hancock, Berkshire Co., Mass., May 12, 1800. His father, Uriah Goodrich, was a lineal descendant of John Goodrich, who emigrated from Gloucester, England, and settled in Wethersfield, Conn. The mother of Joseph Goodrich was Mary Carpenter, des- cended from English ancestors. Through both parents he was connected with a wide circle of relations in the New England States and in New York. At the age of 12 years, he went to live with his maternal uncle, Deacon Sylvester Carpenter, at Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., N. Y .: here he was trained in the avocation of husbandry and received a limited education. During a six years' residence with his uncle, he developed a vigorous physical constitution, an active, self-reliant and enterprising character, and industrious, honest and religious habits. At 16 years of age, he experienced a hopeful change of heart, and united with the denomination of Christians called Seventh Day Baptists, in the faith of which he remained until his death. He manifested those other traits of practical sense, a sprightly and hopeful nature, great cour- age and indomitable will, which, in after life, made him a trusted leader.

At the age of 19 years, he launched out in support of himself, and, with a small pack on his back, which contained his scanty wardrobe, a new pair of boots and an ax, he went on foot to the then Western wilderness at Alfred, Allegany Co., N. Y., where he arrived with but 50 cents in cash. He made a selection of wild timber-land, felled the forest trees, clearing away and burning the brush, breaking the fallow ground and bringing a farin under cultivation for a future home. December 22, 1821, he married, in Peters- burg, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., Miss Nancy Maxson, daughter of Luke and Lydia Maxson, a woman of sound practical ability, of sterling Christian character, of great industry and economy, who proved a helpmeet in the fullest sense of the word ; they immediately settled in their humble home in Alfred. In the autumn of 1823, in company with his father, he erected a saw-mill on the Vandermark Creek, in which he made the lumber and secured the means for the erection of a comfortable house, which he completed in 1827. Town meetings, elections and religious meetings were held at his house. He subsequently kept a small store and a hotel, manufactured potash, and purchased lumber and rafted it down the Susquehanna River to market. He had some military inclinations, and was honored by his fellow-citizens with the position of Major in the militia.

In the summer of 1838, with the view of making a home somewhere in the prairie country, of which he had heard glowing accounts, he made a tour of observation to the West, accompanied by Henry D. Crandall and James Pierce. They came up around the lakes ; were in Cleveland July 4, and landed in Milwaukee, then a small village, July 11 ; they proceeded on foot, with packs on their backs, Goodrich carrying a spade to test the soil-instead of an ax to fell treey. The weather was extremely hot and the journey a weary one, and, as for food and stopping-places, they were sometimes difficult to obtain. July 16, 1838, they came upon a beautiful little prairie, since called Prairie du Lac (the Prairie of the Lake). The quiet beauty of the spot and its rich alluvial soil, charmed them, and determined their choice to Iccate there. Contrary to the practice of the early settlers, in building in or near the timber, he located out upon the open prairie, selecting the spot with rare foresight. He drew on the map straight lines from Chicago to Madison, and between the points on Rock River, where Janesville and Fort Atkinson are located, and, at the place where these lines crossed each other on the prairie, he erected a house 16x20 feet square, the first framed structure in this section, there being none in Janesville. This was the begin- ning of Milton; the building is still standing and kept in a good state of preservation ; the timbers are of hewed oak, covered with oak clapboards; the roof was of oak shingles and the floors were oak ; the frame was filled in with unburnt brick made of prairie mud, and the chimney was made of the same material, which stood eighteen years' service. The public roads, when laid out, intersected near his house, and subsequently a railroad junction was located there. One other necessity for his prairie home he deter- mined to provide-it was a well of water; in making it he met with new and unlooked-for difficulties, as, after going down about sixteen feet in the usual Eastern manner, be found the gravel subsoil suddenly caving in, on first one side and then the other, in such rapid succession as to make it lively work for him to keep on top, which clearly indicated the necessity of some device to curb it and hold it back ; he resorted to the timber (there was no second-growth then), and got out four corner-posts of oak, and, fastening them together with girths of oak, he made a frame about eight feet square, which he lowered down into the well, then put down boards (and boards were scarce), on the outside of the girths ; then, making another

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frame, in like manner, about six feet square, he succeeded in getting it down below the first another length of boards, but did not reach water ! A council was held, and Dan Butts was heard of as knowing some- thing how to curb a well ; he was sent for, and large oak-trees were cut and split or rived up into thin pieces (something like boards), about four feet long ; these pieces Butts notched at the corners, much the same as modern curbing, and then, removing the gravel, fitted them in, one by one, until they finally reached water, at the distance of fifty feet; they drew the sand all out with tin-pails and bedcords, hand- over-hand ! But Goodrich thought a well was not a well until it was stoned up, and stoned this well must be, and, getting oxen, they drew small hard-heads from the bluff, and farmer Chickering, who had settled near a running stream that used to cross the east end of the prairie, was employed to stone it up, James Pierce and a Mr. Wilson letting the stone down to him with the aforesaid bedcords, by hand ! Thus they stoned it up, and, having finished it, pronounced it good. Having thus provided a house and a well, Joseph Goodrich started East, September 16th, to settle up his business and remove his family, leaving James Pierce in charge of the prairie home. Henry B. Crandall, having returned earlier, came on with his family in the fall of 1838, and lived with Pierce during the winter of 1838-39. During the winter, the water in the well got low, and, in stoning it up, they had taken out and saved the lumber around the frames, which well nigh caused a calamity. Pierce went down, stepping from stone to stone, to learn the cause of the want of water, and found the water had settled or lowered ; he also saw they could not lower their stoned-up well ; so, cleaning it out a little, which Crandall drew up with the tin-pail and bedcord, he started back, climbing from stone to stone with his fingers and toes, when, near the center and where the stones had seemingly pressed in so as but barely to admit the passage of his body, he found a spot where the stones were loose and ready to fall ! He was obliged to hold them in place, and, carefully looking the thing over, had Crandall lower the tin pail and draw them up, leaving an open place and nothing to hinder the gravel from running in ; then, with slow cat-like caution and skill, he crept up, from stone to stone. and reached the surface in safety, where he found Crandall as white as death with fear for his safety. No living ma'n of to-day would dare duplicate the deed !

He started with his family and hired help, twelve persons in all, and household goods, with four teams, one being a single horse, on the 30th of January, 1838, to make the journey by land; after his goods were all loaded in wagons for a start the following morning, there fell, during the night, about two feet of snow, which necessitated his procuring sleighs and placing the wagons on them, and, during the first day's journey, the vehicle which contained his family tipped over, and his wife's collar-bone was broken, and the consequent pain and discomfort which this devoted woman experienced in this long jour- ney can hardly be realized by those acquainted only with the modern mode of easy travel. They came with sleighs to Sandusky, Ohio, and then, with wagons, through snow and mud, and storms and floods. through the great Maumee Swamp, with its thirty-one taverns in thirty miles-breaking through the ice on the Calumet, twelve miles east of Chicago, drowning one horse and wetting the most valuable load of goods-enduring all sorts of difficulties and privations, during a journey of thirty-four days, they at last arrived at their lone little home on the bleak prairie, March 4, 1839. On the Sabbath Day following their arrival, through the influence of his wife, they, with the family of Henry B. Crandall, met at his humble home for religious worship, and organized regular weekly meetings, to be held alternately at his house and at Mr. Crandall's. They formed a Bible-class, in which all took a part, had a sermon read from a book of sermons, each Sabbath, by Mr. Goodrich, songs of devotion and religious conference, which resulted in much good and the hopeful conviction of eight persons, who were baptized and became charter members of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church, which was organized in 1840. Mr. Goodrich attracted from the East many prominent men and women, who were characterized by industry, enterprise, intelligence and piety. through whom a strong religious and temperance sentiment was established. Every genuine reform had his most hearty support. He began to lay the foundation for a village, throwing open some twenty-three acres for a public square, giving the use of lands for a church, for schools, for the cemetery, the railroad. etc .; he gave building-lots to mechanics and assisted them in the erection of houses and shops, and he kept an open house of welcome to early settlers. The first public school was taught in his house, and he kept the first hotel, the first store and the first post office, in Milton; he erected the first frame barn ; he erected an Academy, in 1844, and maintained it at his own expense for ten years, out of which Milton College has grown, and to which his donations were constant and munificent; he gave the bell to the College, and, with his sister, Miss Polly Goodrich, the bell to the Church. He received many marks of esteem and confidence, was elected to many local offices of trust and responsibility ; was a Director of the first railroad and was elected to the State Legislature by the unanimous vote of his district, in 1855.

October 30, 1857, he lost his faithful and devoted wife ; her death was unexpected and instant, from heart disease, and was a great loss, not only to him and his family, but to the Church and to the entire

John M. Evans M. D. EVANSVILLE

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MILTON TOWNSHIP.

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community ; they had two children, a son and a daughter-the former Ezra Goodrich, who still resides in Milton, and Jane G., wife of the Hon. Jeremiah Davis, of Davis Junction, Ill., a lady of great moral worth and superior social qualities. Mr. Goodrich married again, Feb. 24, 1859, Mrs. Susan H. Rogers, widow of the Rev. L. T. Rogers, a native of Rhode Island; she proved a valuable aid to him, being a woman of large experience, of intelligence and Christian worth. He died, October 9, 1867, after but three days illness, of congestion of the brain ; his funeral was attended by a large concourse of people; many old pioneers came from great distances and followed his body to its final resting-place, with the most profound sorrow, the univer- sal refrain being: " How greatly he will be missed." In personal appearance he was of large frame, with heavy head, grayish eyes, broad shoulders and a rugged constitution ; his step was very elastic, and all the actions of his body were quick and vigorous. He was endowed with a remarkable vein of humor, and his narra- tives of personal adventures, his ready and witty repartee and his own hearty laughter made his company the most genial and entertaining ; to this he added a warm and generous heart, which attracted to him hosts of friends. He executed all his plans with great promptness and uncommon energy, and hence he seldom failed in his enterprises ; he was positive and fixed in his views; he was a decided anti slavery man, and his home a safe refuge for the fugitive slave; in politics, he was a Whig and subsequently a Republican ; he was a man of great hospitality ; thousands have " cut their notch at his table."" His large soul wel- comed every new truth, every discovery in science, every practical invention, as something added to the general stock of wisdom and usefulness. His apt sayings would pass from mouth to mouth, and be quoted in sermons and public addresses. He lived emphatically in the present, using all his powers and the means at his command to promote what he considered the right. He was a man of the sternest integrity and of the most hearty devotion. The fruits of his labors survive him in the morality of the place, in the reform- atory and progressive tendencies of the people, in the business enterprises which he carried to completion, in the churches which he organized and fostered, and in the college which he founded, which was the hope and the pride of his life. His remains, with his wife's, are buried in the Milton Cemetery, where his son has erected a marble monument to their memory, surrounding the lot with curbing and covered it with green sods, where they rest in peace.

EZRA GOODRICH was the only son of Joseph and Nancy Goodrich, and was born at Alfred Allegany Co., N. Y., Feb. 24, 1826. He resided with his parents, on the Vandermark, until 13 years of age attending the district school after about 6 years of age. In the fall of 1838, his parents removed tempo- rarily to Alfred Center, where he attended the Alfred Academy one term. January 30, 1838, he started, with his parents, for Wisconsin, coming the overland route, and arriving in Milton March 4, 1839. July 4, 1839, he attended, with his father, the first Fourth of July celebration held in Janesville, the only build- ings visible being the double log house of Mr. Janes and the frame-work up for a hotel where the Myers House stands. Frank Kimball delivered the oration. Gov. Dodge was present, and was presented with a revolver, and Charles Stevens furnished dinner in the grove. The many cares in making a new home on the wild prairie, and the multiplicity of business engaged in by Joseph Goodrich, in keeping hotel, store, post office, building up a village, etc., gave very active and constant employment to Ezra; much of the time on the road, and away from home; and afforded him but limited and irregular opportunities of attend ng school. It gave him instead ample experience in all the practical events of a pioneer life. He painted the sign, however, " Milton Academy" on the front of the first Academy Building in Milton (if not in the county), erected by his father in 1844. He made the sign as instructed, covering the front battlement to the roof. The letters were at least four feet long. It was a big sign to a little institution, which laid the foundation to Milton College, however. He attended school in this little academy to a lim- ited extent during the winter months, and assisted his father on the farm and in his business during the summer season, until he arrived at the years of his majority. In the winter of 1847-48, he attended the preparatory department of Beloit College, and the fall and winter of 1848-49 at the Alfred Academy, in Allegany Co., N. Y., the place of his nativity. Here he formed the acquaintance of his wife. In the summer of 1849 (during the prevalence of the cholera), in company with his father, he visited New York and purchased a stock of merchandise, dry-goods, groceries, crockery and hardware, and commenced business in Milton, Wis., in company with two cousins, Wm. H. Goodrich and John S. Carr, as the firm of Goodrich, Carr & Co. They opened up a fine, prosperous and constantly increasing trade, were well pleased with the business and worked harmoniously together.

In the summer of 1850, the cholera broke out in Milton, taking first a Norwegian, a harvest hand of his father's; next Maxson Green, an uncle; then Lydia Green, an aunt, and Elijah E. Goodrich, a cousin -his partner's brother, in as many consecutive days, and soon after John S. Carr, his cousin and partner. Another cousin, Geo. R. Maxson, joined in the business, under the firm name of Goodrich, Maxson & Co., which continued until the fall of 1851, when Wm. H. Goodrich died of consumption. Goodrich &

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Maxson continued in business until January 1, 1856, when Maxson went out and Jeremiah Davis came in, continuing business as the firm of Goodrich & Davis until the fall of 1858, when Davis withdrew and entered farming in Illinois. Ezra Goodrich continued business until the great rebellion in 1861, when all the banks in Illinois (about one hundred and fifty in number) and three-fourths of the banks in Wisconsin went to the wall; when upon going to bed with a thousand dollars current funds in his safe he would wake up in the morning and find three-fourths of it worthless, and be obliged to pay fourteen per cent. pre- mium on the balance for checks on New York, with no certainty of their holding good to reach the city. He went out of business and went to farming, which he has since followed. October 14. 1852, he mar- ried Elizabeth L. Ensign, daughter of Deacon Charles and Selina T. Ensign, of Kirkwood, Boone Co., N. Y. She came with him to his Wisconsin home, and proved a most estimable and exemplary wife, and a woman of great moral worth. They had four children, two sons and two daughters-Joseph C., born June 24, 1854; Wm. H., born Feb. 15, 1856; Mary E., born March 23, 1859, and Anna S., born June 18, 1861.

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The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 127

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 899

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899