The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 66

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Wisconsin > Waukesha County > The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc > Part 66

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Upon these lakes was the claim which the missionaries proposed to purchase. It lay to the east and south of the Upper Nashotah, and extended about half-way down the east bank of the Lower Nashotah, the lake being the western limit, and the eastern the section line. It was described in the Government survey as the east fractional half of Section 12, Town 7, Range 17 east of the Fourth Principal Meridian, and the west fractional half of Section 7, Town 7, Range 17 east, containing altogether 464 acres, more or less. Negotiations were at once com- menced, and the land was purchased. The deed was made jointly to the three missionaries.

Here, on the 30th day of August, 1842, the Rev. Messrs. Adams and Breck (Mr. Hobart being still at the East) arrived with their worldly possessions. On Thursday, September 1, they took formal possession of the domain by an elaborate public religious service in the open air, at which, besides themselves, two laymen were present, and by which they set it apart and dedi- cated it to the service of God, for an institution of piety and learning.

The missionaries found, on their arrival, that the improvements actually made upon their purchase consisted of a claim shanty, 17x13, made of rough boards, without lath or plaster ; and in this they took up their abode; one corner, as they facetiously described it in after times, being their chapel, one corner their study, one corner their kitchen, and one corner their bed- - room. ' They immediately put under contract a building of a better character, which, though unfinished, they were able to occupy in November, and in which the three clergy (Mr. Hobart having returned) and three resident students, who joined them as soon as they were able to receive them, spent the winter of 1842-43.

On the 9th of October, 1842, Messrs. Adams and Breck were advanced to the priesthood. The ordination took place in the Indian Church, at Duck Creek. The journey was made in a lumber wagon, and occupied four days each way. On their return they brought a bell and some other effects, which belonged to the Green Bay Mission, and which were made over to them by those having authority. The bell was hung in an oak-tree near the house ; and, though its position has been changed, it still calls to duty and to prayer. And thus came into existence the institution which is known to the church at large as Nashotah, and to the people of the vicinity, even to the present day, as " the Mission."

In the fall of 1842, three acres of land were plowed up and fenced. The next spring the house, of which mention has been made, was finished, and the " claim shanty " was moved near it, and made useful. The shanty has disappeared ; it became a kitchen, then a carpenter's shop, and finally was pulled down ; but the house is still standing, though not on its original site, which is occupied by the present stone chapel. It is known traditionally as the "Blue House," from the color with which it was painted. The structure was humble, but fully equal to the average house of the country at that time. It was a low one, two stories in height, a frame building, containing two rooms on the ground floor and three above. The front room below was the common room, the other was the kitchen; underneath was a cellar ; the rooms above were

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study and sleeping-rooms combined. Here the clergy lived, attending to their own housekeep- ing, as well as to their numerous missions.

During the summer of 1843, other buildings were added to the mission premises. The first of these was a chapel schoolhouse of peculiar construction, fitted to the exigencies of an institution which aimed to do a great work with little means. It was a plain, frame building, as were all those erected during this period. It would hold about fifty persons. The second floor was divided into rooms for students, and underneath was a basement. In course of time the basement was also occupied by students, in fact the basement was in request, being warmest and most comfortable in winter; and Bishop Kemper, during the winter of 1843-44, which he spent at the mission, made his home in one of these basements, or cellar rooms. At the end of this year, eight students found accommodations on the premises, and the next year, 1844, these were increased to twenty-eight. To accommodate them, colleges of the same humble character were built, besides which, other improvements were made from time to time; such as a barn, a dairy, a wash-house, ice-house, and finally a farmhouse : so that the mission in a short time presented the appearance of a small village.

Before the institution, however, got fairly started on its educational career, certain impor- tant changes took place. The Rev. Mr. Adams spent eighteen months at the East, from May, 1843, to October, 1844, and his place was taken for a time by the Rev. William Walsh, a young clergyman from New York, who remained a year. At the close of 1843, the Rev. Mr. Hobart relinquished his connection with the mission, and took clerical work at the East, where all his connections were. These changes are not to be wondered at. To gentlemen born and bred, men of university education, the hardships of pioneer life were peculiarly trying, and the triple labor, not only of carrying on an arduous mission, but also of establishing a school without adequate means, and at the same time of breaking up a farm, and reducing it to cultivation, together with the necessity of doing their own housekeeping, cooking and domestic work, might well weary the most devoted enthusiasm. Society there was none outside their own circle ; culture was wholly wanting; books, that prime necessity to a studious man, were inaccessible ; and in the face of the difficulties that beset them, it is no wonder that the one sought a vacation in a change of scene, and the other retired to more congenial pursuits.

The school, however, had been established, and the work must go on. Mr. Breck remained at his post, and, with the assistance of the students and Mr. Walsh, the missionary work was kept up, instruction given and more land brought under cultivation. In October, 1844, Mr. Adams returned, and has remained ever since at Nashotah.

The interest excited by the appeal of Mr. Hobart had not ceased, and friends continued to send their offerings for the support of the mission. These sums more than met the expenses of building and preparing ground for cultivation, but they were inadequate to the support of the clergy and students. Nor was it desired at this time that the institution should be supported by funds collected from abroad. It has been mentioned that the idea of combining manual labor with education was quite popular in the United States at this time ; and it was supposed that the students could contribute materially towards their own support by the cultivation of the farm, and the performance of the various duties required in the internal economy of the institution. To secure a due co-operation and distribution of labor, the mission was formed into a brother- hood, in which the principle of a common fund and a common life was applied to the clergy and the lay brethren. The members, though bound by no irrevocable vows, did bind themselves to merge all personal considerations in the good of the institution, while they remained its inmates, to share equally with the rest the means they might possess or receive, and to perform such labor as the interests of the community required. The lay brethren, being students for the holy ministry, were to receive the reward of their industry in the spiritual and intellectual training which should fit them for their vocation ; and upon their ordination they were to be released from all obligations to the institution.

Every person educated in the institution was expected to work an average of four hours per day, which was increased to eight hours a day during the summer vacation of two months.

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

For two months in winter, only two hours' work was required each day. The manual labor was performed by committees, each committee having its particular duty. Of these, some were special, and depended upon the presence among the students of men brought up to a trade, or educated for a profession ; e. g., the medical committee was due to the fact that an educated physician was for awhile a student of divinity. Others were permanent, and their names indicate the kind of work done-gardening, bakery, dairy, farming, carpentry, and clearing land. The head of each committee was held responsible for the tools, furniture, etc., belonging to his department, and also for the work done. He rendered a quarterly account of the condition of his department to the "Lay Council." Each member of a committee was also required to make an individual report of his personal expenses, labor, etc. His expenses were charged against him, and his labor credited at a fair valuation. In this way, the benefit accruing to him from the general fund of the institution could be calculated at any time, and also the value of the work done in lessening the expenses of the mission.

Mr. Gustaf Unonius, a graduate of the University of Upsala, Sweden, was received as a candidate for orders by the Bishop in the spring of 1844, and, after reading theology with Mr. Adams for a year, was ordained deacon May 11, 1845, the first graduate of Nashotah who entered the sacred ministry.

In June, 1843, Mr. Breck wrote to Bishop Kemper :

"It would be, Rt. Rev. Father, impossible to maintain a student for $25 per year unless other resources, aside from the sum of $25, were available; for his washing would come to $8 or $10 a year, groceries to nearly the same, books to half as much, and clothing to twice the sum. But using other means, such as the labor of the students for food, the industry of the ladies of the mission for preparing clothing already purchased or supplied, and the charity of merchants or manufacturers in the East for much of the necessary clothing, and the donations of private Christians for our expenses-by these means, Rt. Rev. Father, we trust to live. I have written to Mr. M-, of Philadelphia, and to my brother, who is one of several manufacturers, at Wilmington, to send us clothing. It matters not what the color or texture, or style of the clothing may be ; we are all pauperes Christi at Nashotah, and wish to remain so."

And, June 6, 1844, he wrote again : " The brethren are laboring hard to bring about a supply of food for the approaching winter. We are now twenty lay-brethren, and myself (Mr. Walsh and Mr. Hobart had gone, and Mr. Adams had not yet returned), and the expenses of such a household upon the start are very great. With about four exceptions, the mission clothes them all, which, at $25 per annum, would make $400; but the first year nearer $500, for those that have come in many respects very meanly clad; and up to the present we have had all our food to purchase, besides buildings to erect, etc., so that the next twelve months will be the trying time with Nashotah. In the autumn we shall have to purchase, or rather pay for, 600 weight of butter, that we have ordered to be laid down. But, dear Bishop, we must make our own butter another year. There are two brethren here that understand fully both the mak- ing of butter and cheese-indeed do now make from our two cows a few pounds per week, and better butter I never wish to eat ; but we must have ten or twelve good cows, and a milk-house by the lake, and an ice-house. I do, moreover, see another necessity that will, without doubt, arise before long, viz., the doing a portion, and in time all, of the washing ourselves. We cannot pay out $250 a year for twenty brethren, $500 for forty. All, except shirts and the finer cloth- ing, may be done. I have never hinted anything of the kind to the brethren as yet, but they have to me. In time it will work out. We have bought a wagon for $60, new, and Eastern make; also a superior yoke of oxen for $60."

On the 28th of September, 1845, he wrote again : "We have received no very abundant supply of money since last spring, but have been, nevertheless, kept from distress ; we are in debt about $200. We have all the provisions necessary for the ensuing winter, save wheat and pork; both will be cheap. Also, we have the most part of the winter's clothing that will be necessary ; yet this must amount to nigh on $100, which for twenty or more is moderate, compared with the last winter. We have put in twenty-four acres of wheat for the next year, and shall raise our

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own pork. There have been some depredations committed in the neighborhood, so that now we have to keep two of the students statedly sleeping in the wash-house, which is not yet either lathed or plastered. The schoolhouse is lathed, but not plastered. We have had $10 given us to buy fowls with, and have turned the horse-stable into a poultry house, no longer keeping even so much as a single horse. The farm-work is done by oxen. We shall require, to pay what we owe, and to meet necessary expenses, nearly $500 the coming winter."

It will be noticed that Mr. Breck speaks of a limited supply of money, but congratulates himself that they had been " kept from distress." It would be interesting to know at what extremity he would at that time have considered "distress " to begin ; for the fact was that the spring of 1845 was a time of real want at the mission. The rule not to go in debt was. never relaxed for daily support; and if provisions fell short, and there was no money with which to buy more, the community lived on what it had until supplies, or money for their pur- chase, came in. It is not too much to say that more than once their diet was reduced actually. to bread and water, and no great quantity of the former.

When the candidates went out to lay-read at the stations to which they were appointed, they were, of course, entertained by some one or other of the farmers or villagers of the vicin- ity, and it usually happened, on sitting down to a backwoods farmer's meal, that some apology would be made for the roughness of the plenty on the table, with the suggestion that, doubtless, at the mission they were used to better fare. It was said that on no such occasion was the want at the mission alluded to, but the remark was allowed to pass with the assurance that they enjoyed the meal set before them ; and it was not until long afterward that the neighborhood really knew how poorly the brotherhood lived at that time.

And this may illustrate the fact that the brotherhood was a necessity, without which Nasho- tah could not have persevered through the years immediately succeeding its foundation. Cir- cumstances at a later period, however, as imperatively required that the brotherhood principle should be given up; and it is a true account of this whole matter, that, without the brother- hood, Nashotah could not have been begun, and with it, the institution could not, after a certain period, have been continued.

In 1846, Bishop Kemper, having organized the Diocese of Missouri and surrendered it to. a Bishop of its own, removed to Wisconsin and purchased a farm adjoining the Nashotah prop- erty, which became his residence (November, 1846) until his death.

About this time, some further improvements were made at the mission. The increase of population in the immediate neighborhood rendered necessary the formation of a parish, and, to accommodate the more numerous congregation, the building before spoken of, in which the services had been held, was remodeled and enlarged. Some little attempt at ornamentation of a churchly character was also made, and the institution became possessed of a proper chapel, which was also the parish church of the neighborhood.

At this time, the institution had shown such evidence of stability that it was deemed proper to petition the Legislature of the Territory for a charter, and, in 1847, it was duly incorporated with university powers. The property was then legally transferred to the Trustees.

In 1847, Bishop Kip, of Albany, N. Y., visited the mission, and, in his account of it, remarked that at prayer he "was surrounded by Americans, English, Irish, Swedes, Danes, a Norwegian, a converted Israelite and the dusky sons of our own forest. The Indians are Oneidas, from the mission of Mr. Davis, on Duck Creek, where a flourishing church has been formed and a system of discipline adopted as strict as that introduced by the Jesuits, and far more efficient. The Indians, in their own figurative language, have bestowed upon Bishop Kemper a name signifying the 'Keeper of the Word,' and on Mr. Davis that of the 'Clear Sky.' When the late convention of our church was held, at Milwaukee, four lay delegates from the Oneidas appeared and took their seats. They walked the whole distance from the mission, the last day traveling forty-five miles. We believe that it is the first time that the voice of one of our aborigines has been heard in the councils of the church."

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

The report of the committee of clergymen appointed by the Bishop, above alluded to, is also printed in the letters of Dr. Kip. It gives a very full exhibit of the finances of the insti- tution from its commencement, September 12, 1841, to June 17, 1847, the date of the report. It showed that the total sum donated from the beginning had been $13,007.34. Of this had been expended for land, $1,180.30; for buildings, $3,870; for clearing, plowing and fencing eighty-two acres of land, $820; for furniture, tools, live stock and other property, $2,487.31. The number of students actually supported had been equal to ninety-six for one year. Their cost had been found to be $75 per year and labor, instead of $25 and $50, as supposed. The labor done had been found to be worth $2,512.77, but had fallen short of their support $4,649.73.

The mode of life and the nature of the work at Nashotah during the first period of its existence will be understood from what has already been written. It continued the same in its general features until 1850; but for several years succeeding the time to which our history has been brought up in the last chapter, the surrounding circumstances were in a state of gradual but rapid change, which could not help but modify, eventually, the general character of the institution itself.

In the first place, the influx of population was much greater than had been expected when the association was formed; and, as the country became more thickly settled, the newness and strangeness of its life wore off, and the settlers reverted to the habits and customs of the older States from which they had emigrated.

In like manner the internal economy of the mission felt the influence of the movement around it. By the time the area of land cleared for cultivation was a hundred acres, it became necessary to place it under the supervision of an experienced farmer, that it might be turned to the best account. This was done in 1847.

Now, so far as the labor of the students was productive, its result must appear in the supplies the farm could furnish ; and this, we have seen, was charged with the support of the farmer, and very little could be done upon it with advantage by the students, now that it was cleared and fenced and plowed, except in the harvest season, when the coincidence of the vacation with the stress of work to gather in the crops, made their help both profitable and necessary. The only result to be expected from the labor, then, was that kind of indirect pro- ductiveness which saves expense by performing services in the institution which must otherwise be paid for. But not only did this leave the whole question of support untouched, but as the country became settled and civilized, and help was to be hired at a reasonable rate, the popular feeling became more and more prejudiced against the employment, in domestic work, of men studying for the ministry. So that in this way also, the labor theory broke down, and a change in the institution was imminent, if it would go on and prosper.

Upon the resignation of Mr. Breck, in 1850, which was sudden and unexpected, it was at first feared that the institution would go down. There was some $3,500 of indebtedness, against about $15,000 of assets, real and personal ; but the difficulty was that the assets were unavail- able, whilst the debts were pressing. Mr. Adams, who had confined himself to his duties as instructor, and to clerical work, and who was now rising in reputation in the American church as a writer and theologian, was looked upon at the mission as a mere scholar, and it was to the surprise of every one that he manifested a business ability fully equal to the emergency, and successfully filled the gap until a new head was found for the work.

On the 1st of September, 1850, the Rev. A. D. Cole, one of Dr. Adams' classmates, arrived to take charge of the mission. He has continued from that time to this as manager of its affairs.

The principal changes since 1850 have been the substitution of comfortable buildings of stone and brick for the humble wooden cottages of Nashotah's infancy, the increase of the library to 7,000 volumes, and the enlargement of the corps of clerical instructors from two to five. The departments of instruction are Systematic Divinity, Pastoral Theology,

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

Biblical Learning, Ecclesiastical History, and a preparatory course of Classics and Mathematics for those who need it.

The lakes and the land remain about Nashotah, but all else is new. The Indian trail, and even the later stage-road, have become obsolete, and in their place the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, one of the great continental thoroughfares, passes by the mission at the distance of a mile. The great forests have shrunk to groves standing here and there upon the hillsides or lake-shores, and the fields of the farmer, with their grass and grain, fill up the broad spaces of the landscape. Milwaukee, twenty-five miles distant, has grown to be a city of 116,000 inhabi- tants, and within one hundred miles is Chicago, the emporium of the West, whose population numbers more than half a million.

In 1854-55, the first permanent building of Nashotah was ready for occupancy. It is a brick structure of three stories and attic, containing thirty-two rooms; and is named Bishop White Hall, in honor of the first presiding Bishop of the American church. Its cost was $9,000, about half the sum which would have been required to erect it ten years later. Another, called Shelton Hall, a large stone edifice, has also been built.

The routine of the student's daily life is now not so rigidly prescribed as when the mission was a brotherhood. Its course of instruction is indeed thorough, and the institution ranks third of its class in the Union.

In the summer of 1873, the " Convocation of Nashotah House "-a corporate body com- posed of the graduates of the institution-was formed.

The whole number of graduates from the beginning has been 181 up to 1878, that year not included ; and more than one-fourth as many more received instruction for various periods, but did not become full graduates.

A circular, issued in 1879, states that if "to-morrow the affairs were to be peremptorily closed, all her debts would be paid and a balance left for whomever it might concern."

It is an old and a famous institution, and its Faculty, consisting of Revs. A. D. Cole, D. D., President, William Adams, D. D., Lewis A. Kemper, D. D., and John H. Egar, D. D., is also long-tried, earnest, faithful and able. In Biblical and Ecclesiastical lore, the library is an exceedingly rich one.

OCONOMOWOC SEMINARY.

This admirable seminary for young ladies is at Bordulac, Oconomowoc, and the only one of the kind in .Waukesha County. It is delightfully situated, with La Belle Lake a few rods in front and Fowler Lake equally near in the rear of the ample and neatly kept grounds. Its career has been one of uniform success. Following is a transcript of the initial proceedings :

On the 21st of March, 1855, a meeting was held in Zion Church, Oconomowoc, by the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, D. D., at the request of several gentlemen of the place, to take into consideration the best plan and means for the establishment of a female seminary, under the supervision, direction and patronage of the Protestant Episcopal Church. There were present the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, Rev. E. Steele Peake, John S. Rockwell, William H. Warner, M. D., J. M. Lewis, M. D., Mrs. A. H. Whitney, James Luck, Samuel Dodge and D. H. Rockwell-the Bishop presiding.

The Rector briefly stated the objects of the meeting. It was suggested that a suitable building could probably be erected for $2,400, and that if one-half should he subscribed, the other $1,200 could be obtained by a loan at 10 per cent. A plan was described, and Samuel Dodge was appointed a committee to estimate and report the probable cost of a building erected upon the plan proposed. The following resolutions were then unanimously adopted :

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The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 66

Author: Western Historical Co., pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050