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 74

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 74

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Our national day was decided to be celebrated on the 4th of July, 1844, but the weak faith of some failed to see how it could be done ; yet, when the day came, the people made their appearance from every direction, through the bushes, except those who came on the lake, " pad- dling their own canoe."

It was a " day of small things," yet all were as patriotic as if the day was exclusively theirs. The music of the fife and drums never sounded more thrilling, for, from a child, I have revered it, as my grandfather was a fifer at the battle of Bunker Hill. The few women that marched, with shoeless feet, were the first to go at the call of distress or sorrow. (The sick ones, away from friends, needed the best of care, as we were eight miles from a physician.) When the marching ended and the music ceased, the company sat down to dinner, and pro- nounced the repast the best ever prepared.

In the fall of 1844, W. W. Collins opened a store on the point, the first one established in Oconomowoc.

There were then seven dwelling-houses on the peninsula. Mr. Rockwell's was the boarding- house ; there was one log house ; five one-story houses, with one room in each (with one excep- tion), with small families in them. The place was all owned, or nearly all of it, by Mr. Rock- well, and most of the men were in his employ. He furnished from his store in Milwaukee the most we had here for a year. In 1845, he moved his family here, and here was his home while he lived.

Leister Rockwell, a brother, was one of his family also-a man long to be remembered by the old settlers.

Mr. Rockwell was a kind, considerate, Christian gentleman, and lived somewhat like his master-for the good of others-and made some of the rough places of pioneer life more pleas- ant and more endurable. Then, in the noontide of his useful life, we were compelled to leave him "in the city under the hill."

Some of the pioneers came here without their families; some were not so fortunate as to have them, and it cannot be denied that some of the latter saw very hard times. Mr. told me he had walked to Milwaukee more than once to buy bread, and brought it home on his shoulder. After I came, there were opportunities to pity and help the boys without homes. Notwithstanding all this, the facilities for gaining a support far exceeded anything we had ever

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

known or imagined. There was very little food here in 1843-44, but every one could help themselves to fish in the lake or deer in the forest. When there was a bee tree found, the honey was divided and every one supplied. It was said that pork was only 1}cents per pound, but there was no money with which to buy.

Then there was a noble company of ladies here, and what women should be, true help- meets. We were laboring not only for husbands, but sons, to be grown into soldiers to sacri- fice their lives for the salvation of their country. Eight boys went from Oconomowoc between the ages of sixteen and twenty years, and three came back. Their mothers are Mrs. D. Hast- ings, Mrs. William Chaffee, Mrs. D. R. Thompson, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. A. Woodruff, Mrs. Chris- tie and Mrs. A. B. Hall. They are living here now, with one exception.

BY ANDREW E. ELMORE, 1880.

Sickness in my family and an unending press of business prevent me from writing anything which would be of value concerning the early history of Waukesha County. I remember I came to Waukesha County, and, after looking over the country, determined to settle at Mukwonago, as it was the richest and most pleasant valley I had ever seen in my life. I had $100 in money, and no more, and no other property ; but I had pretty good credit in the East. I purchased, or rather got trusted for, a general variety of goods, and arrived in Mukwonago in October, 1839. I remained there one night, but I can't now tell precisely where, when I found a man named Hill, who had erected a log building in which to manufacture wooden measures and half-bushels. The upper portion of this building, I think, had been finished and used as a church ; but as there was no one in the country to buy his measures, Hill had given up the business, and I pur- chased his building, paying; if I remember aright, $80 for it. There was a large stump directly in front of the door, which must be removed in some manner before I began business. I there- fore arose next morning as soon as I could fairly see, and began chopping at the stump, which was very large, tough and hard. Not knowing how to go at the work, and being wholly unac- customed to the use of an ax, I made very awkward work and poor headway. While I was sweating and pounding away, I noticed the door of the neighboring cabin open, and the brawny, erect figure of what I thought was the tallest man I ever had seen issue forth. He evidently had been watching me, for he came directly to the spot, and taking the ax, attacked the stump in scientific backwoods style, with astonishing strength, and in a few well-directed blows did more than I had done in half an hour, or during the entire morning, remarking at the same time that he " guessed I did not know much about the use of an ax." He then sat down and said he was "in trouble," and that if I " was from the East I could help him." Grateful for the progress his sturdy blows had made toward removing the stump, I answered that I was from the East, and would do anything for him that lay in my power. "Well," said he, " we have been dispnting here as to who was the father of Madame De Steal. Martin Field says it was one man, and I said it was altogether another; and as there is no library here by which to deter- mine who is right I appeal to you." I chanced to have the required information about me, and so settled the matter at once and forever in Mukwonago. Joseph Bond, for that was the name of my tall visitor, a man whom everybody in the county knows, seized my ax in high glee upon receiving the desired information, and, for a few minutes, made the slivers fly from the old stump that had given me such trouble. From that day-a period of forty-one years, lost in oblivion-Joseph Bond and I have been friends; and, although differing with him in politics during all my later life, we always worked together for the best interests of whatever pertained to Waukesha County.

I finally got my goods in order and my store open for custom, but for some time there was but little to do. I slept under the counter, cut my own fire-wood on Joseph Bond's land, which he gave me, and then gratuitiously hauled it to my store, and got acquainted with all the people in that part of the country, whose names would not make a very long list. I also made it a point to get acquainted with the Pottawatomie Indians, learning to speak their language, and by this means I got nearly all of their custom. I trusted them too, as freely as I was able,

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and they always paid me. No merchant of that day or this can say as much of the whites. In speaking of cutting my own wood, I should have added that I did it by moonlight, and that Mr. Bond hauled it with his oxen at the close of his own day's lahors. But this is only one of his small favors; he has done good to all ever since he came to Wisconsin.

I look back to Waukesha as the county, and old Mukwonago as the place, where I spent many of the happiest years of my life, and where I still love to claim some of my truest friends. I knew from the rich appearance of the country when I first saw it, that the growth of Wau- kesha County would be rapid, but cannot say I expected to live to see the wealth, population, culture and buildings she now contains. But she deserves it all, and I am glad to know that I had something to do with making her what she is.

BY THOMAS SUGDEN-1880.

I was born at Millington, East-Riding of Yorkshire, England, June 12, 1810. Sailed from the port of Hull, in the ship Mayday, for New York, on April 14, 1834; arrived at the city of New York, June 1, 1834; left New York for Detroit, Mich., by steamer for Albany, June 3, 1834 ; Albany to Schenectady by rail, about sixteen miles (no other railroad at that time between New York and the Pacific Ocean); by canal from Schenectady to Buffalo ; June 11, Buffalo to Detroit by steamer, arriving at Detroit June 14, 1834.

On July 11, 1834, I hired to Mr. Rogers to work through haying and harvesting, on what was then called "Bay settlement," sixty miles from Detroit, Aug. 30, 1834. During my absence from Detroit, in all about seven weeks, about five hundred people had died, and about two thousand people fled from the city. The city contained about five thousand people on the 11th of July, and on the 30th of August, one-half had died or fled the city.

November 11, 1834, left Detroit for England. Arrived at Millington, my native place, De- cember 25, 1834. April 1, 1835, was married to Hannah Slightam, daughter of John and Eliza- beth Slightam, of Millington. May 25, 1835, left my native place again for Detroit, U. S. A., bringing with me my mother, five brothers and sisters ; also my wife's father and three brothers. Arrived at Detroit August 3, 1835, with the two families all safe.

May 10, 1836, left Detroit for Milwaukee on the steamboat New York ; arrived at Mil- waukee (then a very small village) May 20, 1836. May 26, 1836, started west from Milwau- kee, following the Indian trail through the then dense woods, a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles, carrying on my back an ax and some crackers and cheese, sleeping on the floor of a small log cabin 10x12, which was occupied by a man named Hunt and a lady friend. It was about nine miles west of Milwaukee, and the only house, shanty or cabin, between Milwaukee and Prairieville.

May 27, 1836, arrived at Prairieville ; the first house I saw was the residence and hotel of a Mr. McMillan, located near or about the place now occupied by the Catholic Church ; think there was no other house between this point and the now Bethesda Spring .* There I found a log house occupied by Alonzo R. Cutler and Richard Smart. About one mile south of this point I found Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Smart, with whom I had crossed the ocean in 1834. This was unexpected, as I supposed they were living at White Pigeon, Mich.

There were a few others living here at that time-A. C. Nickell, Dr. Cornwall, Mr. Man- derville, a Mr. Smith, who was afterward killed in the woods (supposed by Indians), a Mr. Stewart, and one or two of the Osborn family. There may have been some others which time has blotted from my memory ; think there was not a single inhabited house of any description on the present site of the village of Waukesha, except the house and hotel of Mr. McMillan, before mentioned. I remained two or three days with Isaac Smart ; and during this time John Coats and Jonathan Aimeson arrived from Michigan.

About June 1, 1836, the two last named and myself bought of the Indians a canoe, took our pro- visions, guns, axes, etc., and started down the Fox River, the following day. We paddled our canoe

* Mr. Sugden probably did not see the small claim shanty built by the Cutlers in the spring of 1834. It stood not far from where Blair's machine-shop now stands. Or, possibly, he was mistaken a few rods in location, and the house he refers to was the Cutler claim shanty.

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down the river to what was then called Pishtaka Lake, in Illinois, being by the river seventy or eighty miles from the Bethesda Spring. I think we were three days and three nights making this trip, stopping at several points on the river during the daytime to examine the country on each side, and sleeping on or near the river bank during the nights. There were but two log shanties in sight of the river during this entire distance of seventy or eighty miles. The first was about two miles south of Waukesha ; I think it was built by a man by the name of Parker. The second was near the river on the present site of the village of Burlington, in Racine County, built by a man named Smith. On arriving at the above-named lake, we tied up our canoe and explored the country north, discovering the prairie about one mile from said lake. We sur- veyed this prairie into quarter-sections, on one of which the said Jonathan Aimeson now resides. On or about June 8, 1836, I returned to Prairieville by way of the Indian trail on the west side of Fox River. On this trip, the only white person on the whole route was Warren Godfrey and wife, who were living in their wagon, on the present site of the village of Rochester, Racine County. I slept under their wagon during the night, Mr. Godfrey furnishing me with some. bread for breakfast the next morning, for which I was then and am now thankful. I arrived at Prairieville, at Isaac Smart's, the same day, in the afternoon. On arriving here, I found Mr. Joseph Smart, who, with his family, had just arrived from White Pigeon, Mich. Here was another man who had crossed the ocean with me in 1834.

After remaining at Isaac Smart's a few days (probably three or four), a Mr. Cox, who had, a few days previous, settled on the northwest quarter of Section 19, in the town of Mukwonago, called on Mr. Smart, requesting him to send some white person to settle near him, as his wife was afraid of the Indians, there being at this time a large Indian village on the east part of said town, and not one white settler in any part thereof.

On or about the 12th day of June, Joseph Smart and myself started from Mr. Isaac Smart's to the northwest quarter of Section 19, in Mukwonago; there we found Mr. Charles Cox, his wife Mary and their two adopted children, named David and Hannah. They were living in their wagon, near the creek, on said northwest quarter of Section 19, in the town of Mukwonago. I think there were no other white settlers in this town at that time. Mr. Cox and family had moved here from the south part of Illinois, with three yoke of oxen and wagon. I think Mr. Sewall Andrews, Mr. Camp and Mr. Meacham came into Mukwonago about the 14th or 15th of this month, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Camp settling on Section 26. About this time, the Government concluded a treaty with the Indians then living on this section, and, in September following, they surrendered their lands here and moved West, the Gov- ernment aiding in their removal. Up to the time of concluding the treaty above alluded to, the Indians refused to allow white settlers within three miles of this section, and did refuse Coats, Aimeson and myself to stay near them while exploring the lands on each side of the Fox River, about June 4, 1836. At this time, Joseph Smart laid claim to the northwest quarter of Section 17, on which he lived until 1857, when he died. I also, at this time, laid claim to the north- east quarter of Section 19, adjoining the land on which Mr. Cox and family had settled. The first white child born in the town was, I think, John A. Smart, son of said Joseph Smart, on December 31, 1836. The first white person who died in the town was Charles Cox, who died July 23, 1838, he being the first white settler.

I sold my interest in the northeast quarter of Section 19 to James Meader, and moved to the town of Eagle in September, 1843. I removed from the town of Eagle to the town of Gen- esee in October, 1849, where I have resided ever since. I think there is not a single white person living now in the town of Mukwonago, Eagle, Genesee and Ottawa, who were living there when Joseph Smart and myself first claimed our land in the town of Mukwonago. If there are any now living in either of these towns. I should be very glad to meet them.

BY CHAUNCEY C. OLIN, 1880.

Forty-four years ago to-day (April 27, 1880), I left my native.place, Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., for the Far West, being then less than nineteen years of age. Our destination was

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Milwaukee, a place not much known in those days. It being early in the spring, and as we were to travel with teams, with an older brother and family, on account of bad roads we shipped aboard a steamboat at Ogdensburg. After a day and a half of boisterous and disagreeable weather, we landed at Rochester. There we found good settled weather, fine roads and a splendid country. We thought at the time Western New York was comparatively new. It was known mostly for its fine wheat lands, as it supplied most all of Eastern New York and New England with what was called Genesee Flour. I was for stopping right there; but was told by our brother, who had been in Wisconsin during the previous year, to wait, and not be too rash, as a far better and finer country was ahead of us. Rochester was then but a small village and Buffalo a small city ; Erie and Cleveland were also small towns, but such timber as we found around Cleveland was a sight not easily to be forgotten. We remember distinctly those three- foot poplar-trees sixty to seventy feet without a limb. Where Toledo now stands, we found the worst ague country in christendom, so we did not stop only long enough to get safely across the river, and set our faces direct for Chicago, through the southern part of Michigan. After leav- ing Toledo on our route to Michigan City, at the head of Lake Michigan, in Indiana, we saw our first prairie country, where we could travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree, shrub or a house. We said then to ourselves that it would be a hundred years before these large prairie wastes would be settled. But experience has taught us how little we then knew of the Great West and the Yankee enterprise that was then taking possession of these valuable lands. We traveled a large share of the way from Michigan City to Chicago on the beach of the lake, sometimes in the water to the depth of two feet to avoid deep sand that had been thrown up by the waves. On our arrival at Chicago, we were beset with all kinds of difficulties, as it was almost impossible to get through the city without getting stuck in the mud, and we really felt relieved when we crossed the river at the now State street crossing. Chicago had heen advertising throughout the East for two or three years, so it was much better known than any other Western town. But we saw nothing that interested us. Most of the buildings were on stilts, and it was almost impossible to get through any of the streets with teams without carry- ing a rail on our backs to pry them out of the mud, for the street was generally on a level with the water in the river. Little did we think then that, in 1880, Chicago would contain 500,000 inhabitants. We were now eighteen days from home, and in the next three days, had passed what is now Waukegan, Kenosha, Racine and the mouth of the Milwaukee River. All the facilities we had for crossing was a small skiff, but over we went by putting our household goods into the skiff, swimming our horses and floating our wagon. This was May 19, 1836. We were in a new town with scarcely a dozen houses, but plenty of new-comers and Indians. After rest- ing a few days, and looking around for something to turn up, we took our departure for what was then called Prairie Village, sixteen miles west, through a heavy-timbered country for the first twelve miles. Although we had an early start, it took us all day to make these sixteen miles. We had no road more than blazed trees. We had quagmires on the start, and hills and dales until we crossed the Menomonee at the present viaduct of the St. Paul Railroad. In a creek near Elm Grove, we had our first experience in a Western mud-hole. We had to strip the har- ness from our four horses and pull them out one by one; and they looked more like mummies than anything else. By this time it was noon, and we had made about eight miles of the six- teen. After feeding our team and partaking of our lunch, we moved on a little more cautiously. After crossing Poplar Creek, we came into the oak openings. I thought it the most lovely sight I had ever beheld. The country looked more like a modern park than anything else. How beautiful to look upon ! How strange! We said in our enthusiasm, "Who did this ? By what race of people was it done, and where are they now?" for there were but very few people here. On our arrival at Prairie Village, the first family we met was McMillan's, which was the place of entertainment, near where the court house now stands. This cabin was about twelve feet square, with bunks arranged one above another on two sides, for sleeping; our bedcloth- ing, prairie hay, which, with our own blankets, made quite a comfortable bed for summer. At this time, there were but very few persons in or around this Indian town. M. D. and A. R.

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Cutler, Richard and Isaac Smart, Isaac Judson, Elon Fuller, Nelson and T. H. Olin, John Man- derville, Almon Osborn, A. C. Nickell, Dr. Cornwall, Ira Stewart and ourselves were about all who were or had been here up to the spring of 1836. In the fall, Nathaniel Walton and family came and located on his present homestead, south and adjoining our village. On our first visit to Prairie Village, we only stayed a few days, and in that time we made a claim.

I have always regretted that any of the mounds in this county should have been destroyed. We have mounds on the college grounds that have been preserved, and no doubt will always be kept intact, as they are on public ground. If all of these ancient relics of the history of our county could be put back in their orignal state, our people would not take thousands of dollars for them. Before leaving for Milwaukee, I had to take some steps to protect the claim I had made. The way I did that was to blaze a tree and write my name, date of making it, etc. Those who made claims on the prairie where there was no timber had to build a fence with rails, to show whoever came along that it was claimed. But after this precaution, our claims had to be watched very closely to keep them from being "jumped." When I was tired of claim-hunting and sight-seeing, I returned to Milwaukee and settled down where I could see something besides Indians and wild animals. Milwaukee was, of course, just in its embryo stage, and it needed work to level its hills and fill its marshes. For a few months that was my work. Every day we could see a change, and in a few months the transformation of hills and valleys was wonderful. Then came buildings to be filled with goods, families and manufactories. Thus the improvement went on, and speculation, in a very short time, became very exciting. In this way Milwaukee was growing at a rapid rate. But, having a taste for country life, after spending one year in Milwaukee with my brother and family, I took up my permanent residence at Prairie Village, to grow up with the country. I can truly say that I enjoyed this pioneer life, although young and inexperienced. There was just enough novelty about it to interest the most verdant of country boys. By the time we had returned, other parties had come in with their families. The first women that came were Mrs. McMillan and sister, Mrs. Isaac Smart, Mrs. Isaac Jud- son, Mrs. Nathaniel Walton and Mrs. Nelson Olin. Jane Smart, daughter of Isaac Smart, was the first girl born in this vicinity, and U. P. Olin, son of Nelson Olin, was the first boy. Up to this time we were mere squatters on the land, as it was not surveyed until late in the fall of 1836, and was not in market. When the survey was made, a good many of us were disappointed, as the lines did not correspond with our ideas of where our farms should be. The subdivision of townships into sections and quarters left many of us high and dry on somebody else's land, and we had to " get up and get," as the saying was. John Manderville found himself on the school section ; M. D. Cutler did not have what he supposed he had, and had to buy off his neighbor. The Olins-all of them-were in another township, as were also Isaac Judson and Elon Fuller ; but still we were all close by. At this time the Indians were located here in large numbers. A treaty had been made for their lands, and their title extinguished, but they stuck to their old hunting grounds and wigwams, as game was very plenty in the immediate vicinity, as I can testify, having seen as many as eight deer in a drove near where our court house now stands. This Indian village was located on the south and east of us. It extended from Grand avenue and Mineral Rock Spring on the west to C. S. Hawley's place on the east. They planted corn on their grounds for two years after they were notified to leave, and the corn hills remain on some parts of this land to this day.

When I came here, the Indians had a trail running from the northeast to the southwest, just south of Mineral Rock Spring, and it had been used so long that an indentation of some eighteen inches in the ground had been reached in quite a number of places. Pioneers in a new country, if they are at all observing, know that Indians always travel in single file and in the same place for an indefinite length of time. This trail extended from Pewaukee Lake to Muk- wonago, a distance of nearly twenty miles. In coming from Pewaukee the trail crossed the Fox River, two miles and a half up the river at what is now Hadfield's quarry, then came directly down the river to where White Rock Spring is located. Around this spring was a great place for game. It was called by the Indians, and white men, too, the "Salt Lick." The

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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 74

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