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 70

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 70

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).

" The clerk of the steamboat, whose owners were afterward compelled to pay $800 for transporting Caroline from St. Louis to Alton, was in Detroit when we got there, and had been watching every ferryboat that crossed the river for a fortnight. How long he remained on watch I do not know, but he never found Caroline.

"On the road home, I stopped at the place near Climax Prairie where Caroline left the jewelry. [At this prairie is a junction of the underground railroad from the Ohio River. ] The man refused to give up the reticule. His excuse was, that probably Caroline would return for it, and then there would be trouble. I argued every way with him that I could think of, but all to no purpose. He was not only stubborn, but mean and stingy. Finally I asked him if he would take ample security, to which, after an unaccountable amount of squirming, he con- sented, promising to receive Dr. Thayer's bond for the jewelry and money. The Doctor, who was another Dr. Dyer-a double Abolitionist-lived at Climax Prairie, five miles distant, to whose place I started on foot, my horse being very tired, at 9 o'clock Saturday evening. The Doctor was away attending patients, and I started after him. Not knowing the roads, I got lost, and, after a long delay, reached the place where he had been, just a few moments too late. I then returned to the Doctor's house, reaching it late, or rather early in the morning, where I was given a bed for an hour before breakfast, the Doctor being still absent. He returned Sunday, and, when I told him my errand, he spared no invectives or profanity in attempting to satis- factorily express his indignation. He sat down at once and wrote one of the strongest obliga- tions I ever saw, with which I returned for the reticule. Even after all my trouble, and after promising to take Dr. Thayer's bond, this mean-souled individual delayed a long time before he

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would give up the valuables. I was terribly exasperated, but talked as coolly and politely as I could until the reticule was recovered, when I gave him as much deserved abuse as I could com- mand, and I wish I could recall his name now, that the world might know what kind of men inscrutable Providence has from time to time permitted to. live in it. I returned to Milwaukee, and to Father Dougherty's, in the town of Pewaukee, in both of which places Caroline had left whatever she possessed. I immediately gathered everything together, and with the money and jewels, forwarded them to her at Sandwich, Canada, through Dr. Porter, at Detroit, who wrote me afterward that they reached their destination.

" On the road home-I was from home five weeks-I was repeatedly bantered, friends inquiring if I did not expect old Tenny [Chief Justice Taney, who afterward delivered the notorious Dred Scott decision,'] would soon have my hide on the collar-beam.

" Caroline had $80 when she reached Milwaukee, which she placed in the hands of Titball, the ex-slave barber, before mentioned, who at first befriended her, and then attempted to sell her to the slave-hunters. When I went to him for it, he said he never had but $40 of Caroline's money, and even this he refused to pay. I sued him and got a judgment, which I called paid when Titball died, about thirty-five years ago. He had his shop in the Milwaukee House, and it was the finest barber-shop in Milwaukee.

" When Caroline was on the road to Canada, she was asked if she could read or write. 'I can't write,' said she, 'but I can read; I know as much as half my letters.' Since then, she seems to have learned the use of a pen, for I received the following, which contained more errors, however, in punctuation and spelling, than here appear :

"'SANDWICH, April 18, 1880.

"' Dearest Friend: Pen and ink could hardly express my joy when I heard from you once more. I am living and have to work very hard; but I have never forgotten you nor your kindness. I am still in Sandwich-the same place where you left me. Just as soon as the Postmaster read the name to me-your name-my heart filled with joy and gladness, and I should like to see you once more before I die, to return thanks for your kindness toward me. I would like for you to send me one of the books you were speaking about.

"' Dearest friend, you don't know how rejoiced I feel since I heard from you. Answer this as soon as you get it, and let me know how you are, and your address.

"' Direct your letter to .Caroline Watkins, Sandwich, Ontario.

" ' CAROLINE WATKINS.'

" The envelope was quaintly directed in this manner : mr lymun Goodnow Warekesha Wis in haste U S'

" After receiving this letter, I sent a series of questions to Caroline, to which she sent me promptly an answer, dated April 23, 1880, at Sandwich, and which is verbatim et literatim, as follows :

" ' Dear Friend :- i received you letter and was glad you was well and doing well it leaves me in not very good health. I did mary a man on Col. princess farm by the name of Watkins but he was considerable elder than i was and had children by his first wife as old as i was but she was sold from her children in slavery and before she got to the end of her journey she killed herself. I learned to read and write in Canada went to school the first year after i came here to Askins i was here nearly three years before i was married. My husbands occupation is a cook i got a pretty good living but by working pretty hard for it, but i am not very happy. I have heard from St. Louis several times since i came by my cousin who served her time out and got free and came here my old Mistress is dead and my Master is married again that is Charles R Hall i knew about me having property left me before i came away perhaps if i had of stayed until i became of age i could have got it and perhaps not, there was not but only two of us, i had one sister but she died before i came away. I have forgotten how long i was going from Alton to Milwaukee by stage. Mr. Potts was the minister that my master and his wife went to and they were Presbyterians my husband was once a slave born in richmond virginia belonged to a man by the name of William watkins after he died he fell heir to a widow in kentucky by the name of Nancy Cleveland and remained there until he came to Canada. I have six chil- dren three boys and three girls three married and three single the youngest is 16 a boy my oldest boy is a farmer and my other boy is in cincinnati my youngest girl 18 is at home and i am trying to educate her for a school teacher only she has had quite a impediment in her speech they have all very good educations-Mr. Askell is dead he moved away from here the second year after I came here he was not the man as professed to be he had some very dark traits about him my grandfather and father both was born in richmond virginia then emigrated to St. Louis my father was name Robert Prior Quarlls i was born in St. Louis on the corner of pine and sixth streets. I got the box out of my masters store room and hid it in a cherry hedge i left on the 4th of July my mistress folks treated me well enough for

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

a slave. Yes i have been whipped yes i had to do the house work for i was kept for that purpose. I told my grand- mother that i was going to canada but i was so young that she did not pay any attention to me nor any the rest of them.

"' I have answered all the questions you have asked me until the next time good bye.

" ' CAROLINE WATKINS.' "

The letter is published without correction, as its errors are the proof of its genuineness.

Thus ends the story, every detail of which is known to be true, of the first escape of a slave not only from Waukesha County, but from the Territory of Wisconsin, the closing incident being the receipt of the above letters thirty-seven years after Caroline was hidden in Prairieville, or in its vicinity. Connected with incidents like this, the name of Lyman Goodnow will never be erased from the richest pages of American history.

PIONEER REMINISCENCES.

The old settlers of the county were personally and publicly requested to furnish papers for this chapter, one of the most entertaining and instructive in the book, as it furnishes the truest insight into all the early modes of living, doing business and weaving the social fabric. Some have responded, but many have not, urging that they were too busy, had forgotten the stories of their early lives, or were too old to write. The chapter contains a few unimportant errors in dates and names, which, however, will be found referred to correctly in other portions of the book, especially that portion of A. F. Pratt's which states that Mrs. McMillan was the first woman in the county.

BY NATHANIEL WALTON, 1880.

Among the " old settlers " of Waukesha County, I think it safe to record myself and my wife, Mrs. Laura Walton. We started from Genesee County, N. Y., with four children, Feb- ruary 2, 1836, for the "Far West," as it was then called. The journey was begun in the midst of the snows and storms of a very cold winter, and our route took us through a part of Canada, across Michigan, around the lower part of Lake Michigan, through Chicago, then a little village, and on to Milwaukee, arriving there the last of March. We were at the end of the road, so concluded we must be at our destination, at least for a time. Having four horses to feed, I went out to get some grain, and found oats at $4 a bushel, and poor at that. During the summer, I concluded to go a little farther west of the lake.

At that time, there were only paths extending westward from Milwaukee, wide enough for horses in single file. I took my team and started with a party of surveyors and broke the first wagon road through to Waukesha, clearing away such forest trees as were necessary and bridg- ing the streams in a rude way.

In October of that year, I brought my family to Waukesha, and the experience of the first day in their new home was simply a foretaste of many more to follow. Three travelers soon came, wanting to engage board, and thenceforward for some time the little cabin in the center of the prairie was known as the "Lighthouse " and the "Travelers' Home." Our most numerous neighbors were wolves and Pottawatomie Indians. They were very social-in fact, altogether too social.

I was the first Deputy Sheriff appointed for this vicinity. Other whites, in addition to the few already here, soon began to settle around us within the radius of a mile. This had at least one advantage, for, as the settlers had none of the usual Sabbath day privileges, one devout Christian began immediately to observe regular hours of "secret prayer," and on such occasions, all the neighbors within half a mile could plainly hear his every word. The service for the first sermon preached was held in my house, the clergyman officiating being that good Methodist, Father Wheelock. From this time, every denomination met in the same room for service until there was a schoolhouse built. The first Baptist Church was formed there, with eleven members.

Mr. Juneau engaged one room of the house to open the first store. He furnished the goods and a young man named Terrell acted as his agent. Afterward, when the course of travel removed

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

toward the heart of the prairie, the store was removed there, and the room thus left vacant was occupied by Mrs. Emma Griffin, wife of Rev. Mr. Griffin, now living at Pewaukee, to open the first select school.

The register showed the names of fifteen scholars, among whom were the still well-remem- bered names of Mendall, Love, Jackson and others. When the first district school was organ . ized, John M. Wells was the teacher.

The early settlers of Waukesha were patriotic citizens. As early as 1839, they thought they ought to gather together to celebrate their country's independence, and, as no more suita- ble shelter was found, my new barn was selected. The Declaration of Independence was read by David Jackson, then acting as Postmaster ; an address was delivered by Mr. Rockwood, and dinner provided by Mrs. Walton.

Although suffering some inconveniences and privations at first, we have many things to be thankful for. We have lived forty four years on one place, and the family, consisting of nine children, has seen no death.

BY LYMAN GOODNOW, 1880.

- No one comes to Waukesha County nowadays without some good reason, and the reasons are so manifold and all good that no one thinks of attaching any importance to knowing what they are. But everything was different forty-three years ago-a period of time covering more than four-sevenths of man's allotted time on earth. Therefore, the people of to-day very fre- quently ask why the first settlers came to this wilderness; what were the inducements ; what the prospects. Several circumstances combined to result in my coming West, as is probably the case with all emigrants. To begin with, I was born in old Rutland, Worcester Co., Mass., Feb. 12, 1799 -- before the death of the Father of his country-and partook somewhat of the rugged, hardy character of my native section. I possessed a keen desire to do something, to get along in the world-in short, to make money, but had nothing with which to do it. My early education was somewhat neglected, much the same as nature apparently had failed to round and soften the bold hills and barren rocks of Worcester ; but I wanted to do something. I accompanied my parents, Asa and Lydia Warren Goodnow, in 1805, to Potsdam, St. Law- rence Co., N. Y., a county wilder and rougher than the surroundings of my Bay State home, There I first went to a common school-very common, indeed-walking four miles and sitting in a barn at that. I followed farming until 1820, in St. Lawrence County, after leaving school, when I went to Canada and began lumbering, taking along a span of horses. There I made money, and at one time could have bought the land on which the city of Ottawa, the capital of Canada and seat of the splendid Rideau Hall, now stands, for $600, payments to be made in sums of $100 for six years. Three years later, 100 acres of the site sold for $8,000, and now the place is valued at millions and millions of dollars. After meeting with serious financial reverses, I left Canada and began business in Massachusetts, at Lowell, engaging extensively and successfully in contracting and building. When a lull ensued in the building operations, I began the railroad business, where I was again laid out, financially speaking. My attention was then turned to the West. My brother, E. W., and my sister, Mrs. Allen Clinton, had already settled in what is now Waukesha County, in the southern portion of the town of Pewaukee, and were sending back glowing accounts of the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the country. Having, after thorough inquiry, learned that my kind and style of people were settling in that section, I determined to emigrate to Wisconsin Territory. Before coming on to "Quisconsin," however, I spent three years and over boating into Buffalo, N. Y. In Septem- ber, 1837, I shipped on the schooner Toledo, the largest one on the lakes, and arrived at Mil- waukee in October, after a terribly stormy passage. I gazed curiously at the few white brick buildings then in "Milwacky," thinking, of course, from their color, that they were temporary structures of unbaked brick, as the raw brick in the East were of a similar clayey color. It was some time before that erroneous idea was gotten out of my head. After spending one night there, I started on foot for Prairieville (now Waukesha), stopping for dinner with Robert Curran,

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whose log house was the first in the town of Brookfield, and who is now a respected resident of the village of Waukesha. About the middle of the afternoon of the second Friday in October, I came upon Henry Bowron, now a resident of Delafield, and others, building the old Prairie- ville House, of logs, a little northeast of the present court house. I asked them to direct me to Prairieville. "Why," said they, "you are right on the main street." I was surprised enough, for there was no street worth mentioning, and the place was a jungle of hazel-bush, oak under- brush and poplar saplings. This jungle extended all over the present site of the business portion of the village-where stand the American House, bank, Exchange Hotel and all bus- iness blocks-down to the river, where Alonzo R. Cutler had a " claim shanty," of logs, called the " mill claim." Morris D. Cutler also had a " claim shanty," of logs, where his present resi- dence, in the midst of a beautiful park, is located. B. S. McMillan's log house, which was the first tavern, so-called, stood near where the jail now stands, and was occupied by David Jackson, who was Postmaster. Solomon Juneau had an Indian store where the Catholic Church now is, Alonzo Cutler having donated a lot to him as a consideration for opening it; the store was not kept by Mr. Juneau, but by his brother-in-law, a half-breed, I think. Nathaniel Walton had a log house where he now resides, on the street leading to the Industrial School. The Olin brothers had a log house a little northeast of the present village. Robert Love had a good log house near the Bethesda Spring, and was building a frame addition to it when I arrived. Richard and Isaac Smart had claim shanties south of the present village, and Ethan Owen had a log house on the west side of the river, near the present dam ; and farther north, was another claim shanty, afterward occupied by Maj. Pratt. On the hill, in the edge of the present town of Pewaukee, was a very large double log house, built for a tavern, though never used as such. This Owen's daughter ferried travelers across the Fox River, and in Robert Love's house, religious services were held, until the log schoolhouse was built, and in it, I think, the first church organization was formed. I nearly forgot Joel E. Bidwell, who had a log house near Spencer's Spring, on the hill west of the river, and the log house built by Edmund Clinton, farther west from Bidwell's, and occupied by three families. It was a small house, and with the families of Deacon Edmund D. Clinton, George A. Hine, Deacon Allen Clinton, my brother and myself, made a nestful, and no mistake. But it was all right and pleasant in those days, and everything went off in good shape.

The next day after arriving, I took a rifle and started to locate some land. No one knew of a claim to be made, but everybody had claims to sell. I could have " jumped " one almost anywhere, as nearly everybody had taken more than the law allowed. My first work was shav- ing the old-fashioned, long Ohio shingles for Edmund D. Clinton, from a black-oak cut on " Cutler's opening." While I was "butting" this log for the saw, I heard the surveyors com- ing. They run their line across the log and passed on to what is now Walton's corner, about eighty rods from the Fountain House, where they turned and passed down to the river at a point a few rods above the Hygiea Spring. This party was surveying the first road in the town of Waukesha. It was run out from Milwaukee, four rods wide, and was intended to be laid out to Madison. It was never a prominent road, however, being too roundabout, and never was laid out beyond Waukesha.

In the fall of 1837, I helped to build the first schoolhouse in what is now Waukesha County, under the hill on the west side of the river, about east of Thomas Spencer's tower, and a famous building it afterward became. No other building in the county ever witnessed such earnest meetings, such lively debates, or such astonishing temperance and anti-slavery eloquence from men in the common walks of life-men without the slightest training in the arts of oratory.

I also helped to build the first bridge over the Fox River, and with my brother, Edward W., and brother-in-law, Allen Clinton, built the first frame house in the county. It now is the home of Austin Waite. Both were built in 1837, I believe.

I opened the first stone-quarry in the county, having rented the land of M. D. Cutler, and also built the first limekiln, burning the first lime offered for sale. But there was no profit in either. People had little or no money then, but I wanted to see the place growing and

bro. 5 Feffer

PEWAUKEE

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prosperous, so never refused any one stone, lime or sand. Scores of them never paid their debts till they paid them by death, and the grim messenger has not yet come to settle some of my old accounts, which have been drawing interest from thirty-five to forty years.

But for all that, I dwell upon the memory of those early days with lingering pleasure and affection. We had no politics and few distractions. We were all friends-all willing to help one another. The petty jealousies that mar the peace of to-day found no place among us then. There was no aristocracy-one was as good as another, if he behaved as well, and no different thoughts were entertained. We were very radical, however, in our views of right and wrong, and made those views felt. A large class held tenaciously to the most rigid temperance reform and anti-slavery doctrines, and carried them into nearly all business, political, social and church relations. We opposed bad men everywhere ; supported all fugitive slaves who came to us, and worked like beavers for the right. All this told upon those who at first opposed us, having come from localities where different ideas had always prevailed, and at last nearly all were arrayed upon one side, making Waukesha the most famous headquarters for the radicals in Wis- consin, as it was the strongest and furtherest advanced.

Waukesha has now settled down to more quiet, humdrum ways, except the bustle of selling mineral water and caring for our summer guests-all our battles but one having been won, and the fruits, rich and abundant, gathered and stored. That one is the conflict between liquor and abstinence, and I have lived long enough to see the former taking a more advanced position in the fight than it occupied forty years ago, as well as to see this such a rich, prosperous and beautiful country as not one of us in those early days ever expected could be made of it. I can be pardoned for wishing that I might take a look at the valley of the Fox River in 1980.

After taking a rest-for a man in his eighty-second year needs to rest pretty often-I have been thinking over the above. I feel like adding a little more, though it will not join on right beautifully. , My father, Asa Goodnow, was born in old Stow, Middlesex. He was the third of five brothers. He had eight sisters ; all had large families, and all lived to old age. Their mother's name was Knight, from England; she lived to be ninety-eight years of age. Our name Goodnow probably sprung from the name of a Russian count. My mother's name was Warren, daughter of Thaddeus Warren. You look at the record of the Mayflower and you will find the same name. She died of consumption, as did also two sisters and a brother, who died in Bombay, East India, as missionaries. I was sixteen years of age when mother died. She had three brothers who lived to be over eighty years of age and one ninety-six years of age; four sisters lived to be eighty and one ninety-four years of age. Her father and mother were eighty-four and eighty-eight; both were buried in one grave, dying only twelve hours apart. Gen. Hastings Warren, of Middlebury, Vt., was my mother's brother, and also John Warren, who built the first cotton-factory in Vermont.

After landing in Milwaukee in 1837, I paid 3 cents the next morning to cross the Mil- waukee River, and started for Prairieville on foot and alone. Took the woods above Kilbourn- town, came out to Wauwatosa and found Hart's mill had just began sawing. I found numerous claims secured by patches of turnips, as the claim law required something to be raised. The road was through a heavily timbered country till I passed Poplar Creek, where I came to oak openings. I liked the looks of the country better, but did not like the grubs and hazel brush. I traveled on, expecting every minute to find a prairie. I soon came in sight of a small prairie and soon arrived at Prairieville. I crossed the Fox River in a canoe just above where the dam now is. Started west through the openings to Allen Clinton's, my brother-in-law. Reached the bluffs north of the river and began to think Prairieville was worth something. I came to a log house, not more than 18x20 feet, with three families living in it and had boarders. The two Clintons had large families. I turned in and helped E. D. Clinton build another log house, and then helped to build the old log schoolhouse and a log bridge. I took a job to cut and split 5,000 rails and draw them onto the prairie at $30 per 1,000. I bought a yoke of oxen. In the spring, I helped on a dam for a saw-mill built by Clinton & Hine. Then I dug on the race that now carries the grist-mill. John Gale, Jr., built it. In August, a man by the name of

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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 70

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