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 75

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 75

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).

496

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

water was a little brackish then, as we thought, and was always open in the coldest winter. The Indians understood this so well that they built a large ambush in the branches of one of the large oak-trees near the spring, and many a deer, wolf, fox and smaller animal has been secured from this hidden retreat. This ambush remained there for years after the Indians left the county, until it rotted to the ground. Whenever we felt like going a-gunning, we always chose this region, as we could always find some kind of game without much travel. The trail, after leaving this spring, came just north of Hickory Grove, then to near where the Congregational Church now stands, and a little south of Mineral Rock Spring, then a little more north, and recrossed the river near Bethesda Spring, going to the Industrial School, and so on to Muk- wonago. This tract of country, from Pewaukee to Mukwonago, was the Indians' great fishing ground. We could always buy fish of the Indians cheap. They would take anything, from a cracker to a few pounds of flour or meal, for as many fish as a large family could eat at two or three meals. In 1837, the Indians began to fold their tents and emigrate to their new reserva- tion, and by the fall of 1838 they were all gone, except a few stragglers that were too lazy to work or even to get away to their new hunting-grounds. Finally they became such a nuisance that the Indian Agents came and took them away by force ; and then some of them would return and live on the white folks for months. Such was the Indian's love of country.

In the year 1837, we had quite a large accession to our village and vicinity. I remember the names of the following persons: Orrin Brown, E. D. Clinton, Z. Bidwell, Henry Bowron, J. Y. Watson, J. M. Wells, E. S. Purple, J. Rice, J. W. Rossman, E. Churchill, J. E. Bidwell, Daniel Thompson, Robert Love, Moses Ordway, Sabina Barny, A. S. Watson, Loomis Bidwell, P. N. Cushman. These persons were worthy farmers and settled around our village, near by, and improved their farms, so that in a few years they became quite independent for a new county.

In the fall of 1837, I returned to my native place in New York and spent the winter, at which time I taught my first district school. But I could hardly contain myself in that hard Eastern winter, and early in the spring set face toward the West again, to stay. In 1838, the emigrants came early. The news had spread all over the East in regard to the fine farming lands in Wisconsin, and it seemed as though each one had tried to be the first to reach and claim unto himself a good farm. Milwaukee being the best harbor, all of the new-comers landed there, and more than one-half of these people came through or stopped at Prairieville. I have seen fifty teams loaded with these thrifty people coming through what is called the Milwaukee Woods, and about one-half of them would be stuck in the mud. Each one had to choose his own route, and get along the best way he could. Among the number that stopped here that year I remember the following : H. N. Davis, James Buckner, Charles Crownhart, Ira Doliver, B. F. Chamberlain, O. N. Higby, Albert White, J. and E. W. King, J. C. Owen, Allen Clinton, L. and E. W. Goodnow,* and hundreds of others that I cannot now name. This year, considerable improvement was made, and some good buildings for those days were built, such as the Prairieville House (as by this time the name of the village had been changed), our grist and saw-mill, and Robert Love and A. F. Pratt had each small frame houses. In the meantime, settlements had been opening up at Mukwonago, Summit, Delafield and Pewaukee, so we felt as though we had neighbors. By the time the land came into market in the fall of 1839, there was hardly a desirable piece of land in the county but what was held for actual settlement or for speculation. All the settlers were permitted to enter their claims at $1.25 an acre, but many of us were compelled to borrow the money at 25 per cent interest to pay for our homes, which were then becoming quite valuable. After our lands were secured, we felt a little more inde- pendent, and really from that time set out in earnest to make ourselves comfortable by putting up better and more buildings on our farms, and looking a little more after public improvements in the way of better roads and bridges in different parts of the county. We were also interested in building churches, schoolhouses, stores, blacksmith-shops, and in fact in all kinds of improve- ments where it would help to build up our town. Our wheat crop as early as 1839 to 1841

* The Goodnows, Clinton, Buckner and some of the others came in 1837, perhaps after Mr. Olin had returned from New York. The hotet was also built in 1837.

497

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

was of no mean dimensions. It gave us all enough to eat and some to spare, as our grist-mill sent to Milwaukee 7,000 barrels of flour, and our merchants 250 barrels of pork and 12,000 pounds of hides, which were valued at $38,846. These merchants up to this time had bought in Milwaukee $27,700 worth of goods. While we were providing things for our temporal com- fort, the spiritual man was not neglected or overlooked. In 1840, the population of our county was 2,156, and after this time our county settled very rapidly, town sites were laid out, and water-powers were being improved in every direction.

From the year 1841 to 1844 and 1845, there was a good deal of depression in real estate, as speculation had run high since 1836. A good deal of this depression was caused by the currency of the country, which was of a very doubtful character. The Western and Southern States seemed to vie with each other in seeing which could issue and circulate the most wildcat currency, as it was called in those days. In fact, the currency was so worthless that it could only be passed in the State where it was issued, without a fearful discount. I remember of going to New York in 1841, and I had to change money several times on the way, as there were no through tickets in those days, by steamboats or railroads. On my arrival at New York I could not even pay a hotel bill with Wisconsin money without standing a shave of 25 per cent. The only reliable currency we had in those days in Wisconsin was the Wisconsin Fire and Marine Insurance Company bank bills. This bank was owned and controlled then by George Smith, of Chicago, and Alexander Mitchell, of Milwaukee. They issued thousands of bills, and a large share of the people of Wisconsin, Illinois and' Iowa said : "We shall wake up some morning and find the bills of this corporation worthless." They had several hard runs on their bank, but they were always ready and willing to redeem their bills in coin when it was asked for. I remember at one time there was quite a formidable mob gathered in front of their bank in Milwaukee, because they could not get their money changed quite as fast as they wished. In fact, I suppose the officers were a little slow sometimes, as their supply of gold generally came from Chicago, and there being no railroad in those days, they had to depend upon steamboats, which were very slow as compared with railroads. But every bill-holder got his money, and no man, woman or child could say that they ever lost a dollar by holding this money. In time, Mr. Mitchell became the sole owner of this bank, and it has always since taken a very high rank as a safe moneyed institution of the Northwest.

I was present at an annual dinner of the Old Settlers' Club in Milwaukee on Washington's birthday in 1878, at which time Mr. Mitchell gave a history of the currency, banks and bankers of Wisconsin from the time he landed in Milwaukee. It was the most amusing as well as instructive speech of the occasion, showing how the greatest banking institution of the West was begun, and its progress up to the present time. It had become a settled conviction in the minds of the people that the bills of this bank would always be good and every dollar would eventually be redeemed, while multitudes of other banking institutions had gone to the wall with a loss to the bill-holders of a large proportion of what they were supposed to be worth. After all this depreciation and fluctuation in the currency and real estate, our general prosperity was apparent. We had a splendid soil andplenty of willing hands to cultivate it, and as immi- gration was constantly on the increase, we became a very prosperous community. In fact, we were getting a little too thick for the ever wide-awake Yankee, so much so that quite a large number of our oldest citizens took up their line of march to newer fields in other parts of the State. About the first to leave was the Rev. Moses Ordway, who took up his abode in Beaver Dam, in Dodge County, having sold his large farm. In a very short time, numbers of our citizens followed him, such as E. W. Goodnow, William T. Bidwell, George Thompson, Stephen Cummings, Charles Burchard, Mr. McNeil and two of the Mannings. Mr. Ordway was not only a strong preacher, but a good business man as well, and he soon had a prosperous com- munity about him. He improved a valuable water-power and built the first mill in that part of the State, and to-day Beaver Dam is one of the best manufacturing towns in Wisconsin, having several flouring and woolen mills of no mean dimensions.

In a more northern direction at Hartford the Rossmans located. At first they built a

498

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

saw-mill and did not dream of a removal, but circumstances out of their control compelled them to leave us. Immigration followed them quickly to that timbered county, Washington. The immigrants were mostly Germans, and, as they are almost invariably industrious, in a short time the Rossmans had a prosperous village around them. The La Crosse Railroad was located through their town in a few years, and to-day Hartford is the second town in size in the county. I suppose this lucky find of the Rossmans took at least fifty people from our midst, consisting of farmers, merchants, shop-keepers, teamsters, millers, etc. In a more northern direction other settlements were formed, this time at Neenah and Menasha. L. H. Jones, one of the most prosperous merchants, was the first victim. Others followed, namely, Joseph Turner and family, two families by the name of Wheeler, Rev. O. P. Clinton, Curtis Reed, A. E. Bates and family, and quite a number of others that I cannot now name. But during all this emigration from us, we were receiving new accessions at least three times greater than the number leaving us ; so we were increasing in population rapidly all the time. Farther west in the county of Winnebago, we sent out another delegation to Omro. The following are some of the persons that located there : Nelson and James Olin, Loomis Bidwell, Richard Reed and a large family of boys, Edward West, Marshall Moss, Lyman Goodnow, the first man to settle on the Indian lands opposite Omro and on the north side of Fox River; E. W. Beckwith, Edwin -. Bullis and A. S. Olin. Others soon followed from other parts of the county-Rev. William McKee, Messrs. Sanborn and Fisk, from Summit. Other places were also founded by Wau- kesha people, such as Fox Lake, Eureka, Oak Grove, Pine River, Berlin, Clintonville and several places of minor note. Waukesha people have built up quite a goodly number of towns in different parts of the State, as has been shown, and still we have all the time prospered our- selves. In fact, we may go to most any part of the State, and we will find people that have lived within Waukesha Village or county. During all this time we were connected with Mil- waukee County. But few of our citizens saw in the future the result of being connected with a territory in which was located a large city such as Milwaukee has proven to be, and began to grow restless. We were determined to take measures for a separation and set up for ourselves, the division being at Range 20, leaving the west sixteen towns in the new county. At first the Milwaukee people got dreadfully excited over the matter and declared by all that was great and good that it should never be done. They said that it would have to be submitted to the vote of the whole county, as there was no other way that it could be done in a legal manner; and further, they said, we have just enough territory for one of the best and wealthiest counties in the State, and we. do not propose to stand any such nonsense as a division of this beautiful county, with Milwaukee, the metropolis of the State, located within its boundaries. But the people in the western part of the county made up their minds that their taxes would be much lighter by the separation, so the cry went up strongly for division. Our first move was to go to the Legislature and get a law passed to submit the division question to the voters living within the boundaries of the territory to be set off. The Milwaukee people said that was the height of impudence, but we had some good workers at Madison and a law was enacted, giving the people only within the territory set off the right to vote on the subject. In order to give the reader the full benefit of what was said and done to accomplish the end in view, I will incorporate some articles from the Waukesha Plaindealer, edited by A. F. Pratt. This article was written for the Old Settlers' Club February 21, 1871 :

The Territorial Legislature consisted of a Council of thirteen members and a House of Rep- resentatives of twenty-six members.

At the session of 1846, Nelson Dewey, of Grant County, was President of the Council, and M. C. Darling, of Fond du Lac, Speaker of the House.

This county, which was then Milwaukee, was represented in the Council by J. H. Kimball, of Prairieville ; Curtis Reed, of Summit, and James Kneeland, of Milwaukee. We were repre- sented in the House by Samuel H. Barstow, of Prairieville; Luther Parker, of Muskego; W. H. Thomas, of Lisbon, and John Crawford, James Magoon and W. H. Mooers, of Milwaukee.

At that session, William A. Barstow, A. W. Randall, A. E. Elmore and ourself, conceiving

499

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

the idea of seceding from Milwaukee, and organizing a new county, for that purpose went to the Legislature, where, after a long and desperate struggle, we succeeded in getting a bill passed, submitting the question of division to the voters of the new county only, at the town meeting.

Councilmen Reed and Kneeland and the member Thomas opposed the bill to the bitter end. In fact, all the residents of the present limits of Milwaukee County were so much opposed to it that we did not dare to permit them to vote on the question. The same feeling existed in the north tier of towns, also more or less in Brookfield, New Berlin, Muskego and Vernon, while the people in the other towns were nearly a unit for " division."

At that time, C. C. Sholes was publishing the first and only paper in this village, called the American Freeman, an Abolition sheet of the deepest dye. The friends of " division " met together, and appointed a committee, consisting of A. W. Randall and ourself, to conduct a campaign paper, to be devoted solely to the " division " question. Arrangements were made with Mr. Sholes to print it as often as we desired. It was christened the Waukesha Advocate. The first two or three numbers were filled with good and substantial reasons for a separation from Milwaukee, but about that time our opponents issued an opposition sheet from the Sentinel office, called the Unionist.

This was edited by A. D. Smith (since Judge of the Supreme Court, and a brother-in- law of Curtis Reed, our Councilman, now of Menasha). Dr. A. L. Castleman, of Delafield, Leonard Martin, W. H. Thomas, Aaron Putnam and Curtis Reed were the principal contribu- tors to that paper ; and both papers soon lost sight of the main object, and contained nothing but personal abuse of the bitterest type. For a sample, we clip several articles from the Advocate, which are fair specimens from our side, and if we had a copy of the Unionist, both sides should be represented.

We published a communication in the Advocate, over the signature of " Waukesha Farmer," which contained a few lines of poetry, and was answered in the Unionist by Dr. Castleman, over the signature of " Colburn," which we answered in the Advocate in the following communica- tion, which was intended as a drive at the whole Unionist faction ; and, in order that our readers will better appreciate the drive, we will say that when Dr. Castleman first came here, the prairie itch was a very common disease, which he treated with such success that he subsequently wrote a treatise on it, giving the cause, remedy, etc.

Messrs. Editors : I saw a communication in the Unionist, signed " Colburn," who asks the " Waukesha Farmer,'' to "join his talents" with those of " poet Smith," saying " they could tell us some mighty pretty stories for children." As I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance with this distinguished poet, I have taken the liberty of selecting a few of his " poetic effusions," which you are at liberty to publish. [The poet Smith, whom the Doctor referred to, was another Philbrook .- EDITOR OF PLAINDEALER.]

" To 'Colburn's' bow and shaft I lay no claim, He shot at men ; I but at insects aim ; But grant, since I must war on little things, Just flame enough to singe their puny wings.

" I hear a voice that cries, Lift up thine hand Against the leaders of that ' union band ; ' Roused by the call of duty, I obey ; I draw the sword, and fling the sheath away.

" But where begin ! when vermin thus abound, No shaft I shoot can bloodless reach the ground. O Curtis, Curtis, if thy history's true, In thee, the d-l only gets his due. Thou wretch, if spirits e'er reply from hell, The purpose of thy black invention tell. Dost thou not see thy ' union press ' and tools Create an endless jubilee for fools ? Couldst thou but see the loathing public cram'd, With lie on lie-most justly art thou damn'd. I'll take your vulgar trash and harm you not, Poor d-1, you're not worth another shot.

500

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

" There's A. D. Smith with truth may boast of merits, too ; His paltry pieces are hoth short and few, And still his ' address ' would be the more improv'd The more the number of the lines removed. Some heavy food that undigested lay Upon his organs did his wits betray. Not ' facts,' but vulgar epithets came, And set him free from all restraints of shame.

" Here's milk-and-water Martin, half insane, With his native fogs condensed upon his brain; Unnatural Martin, how, how didst thou dare Fowls of thine own feather thus to tear ? Were the same measure meted out to thee, How great, poor jackdaw, would thy sufferings be.

" Dismissing Martin to the state of mist, The name of Castleman next comes on the list, A name well worthy of no second place, On the dark record of the land's disgrace. When first ambitious hopes his heart inspired, The ITCH, congenial theme, his fancy fired ; A theme that nature did express devise, To find his hand its proper exercise. So well his pen the subject seem'd to match, And brought his thoughts so promptly to the scratch, That all who read the common inference drew, He wrote from feeling, and from knowledge, too. O Doctor, Doctor, where get'st thou so much brass, To think thy farthings would for guineas pass ?

" Now I have thumped each lout I meant to thump, And my worn pen exhibits but a stump; Let candor judge what motive nerved my arm, And if I meant my country good or harm ; For the dear-bought suffrage of the 'Union press,' I prize but little, and fear it less.

" For you whose backs and sides and shoulders still Twinge with my blows, and, maybe, ever will ; Whose yard-long ears my honest muse offends,' I'll tell ye, dunces, how to get amends : To my poor lines be just such treatment shown, (For that's your worst) as each has given his own.

" To those who listen to my humble lay, Untouched and unattempted, let me say- No private malice on my course propelled, No anger spurred me, and no fear withheld ; In these my strictures on my fellow-men, Truth held the light, and conscience drove the pen."

The following "epistle" of the "Geneseeans to the Reedites " was written by us [A. F. Pratt] for the last issue of the Advocate, and we are indebted to Curtis Reed, now of Menasha, for a copy of it, which is, probably, the only copy of that paper in existence. In order that "new-comers" may better understand and appreciate it, we give the following key to it: Councilman Curtis Reed, who then lived with his father, Seth, at Summit, conceived the idea of calling a meeting of the opponents of "division," at Genesee, among its friends, and started around the outskirts of the county, among the opposition, to drum up recruits at that meeting. He went to Lisbon to enlist W. H. Thomas, better known as "Hank," who, with David Bonham, were active politicians in that town; but David, having, a few days previous, been incarcerated for the killing of Keene, could not help. Hank was dubbed the "orphan boy." From there he went over and saw William R. Hesk, at Menomonee, and Leonard Martin, who was a farmer in Muskego, and an opponent of Luther Parker, who had voted in the House for division. From there he called on Aaron Putnam, who was running a saw-mill at Big Bend, and was opposed to the division, but too cautions, as he is now, to invest any money where he

501

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

could not see an immediate return. The meeting was finally held at Genesee, and A. D. Smith and others addressed the crowd; but the friends of "division " outnumbered them more than two to one :

MR. EDITOR: The following epistle was picked up in the street near "Jenkinsville." You are at liberty to publish it if you choose.

Yours, P.

MODERN CHRONICLES.

THE FIRST EPISTLE FROM GENESEE TO THE REEDITES.

CHAPTER I.

1. And it was in those days when the division subject waxed warm that the mighty talents of Curtis, the son of Seth, were brought into action.

2. And behold, he left his home, amidst the tears of his father and mother, and went over and about Lisbon to secure the services of the orphan boy, Henry, a child of David.

3. From thence he passed over the waters of the mighty Menomonee, and entered the synagogue of King William.

4. Now, when William saw him yet a great way off, he ran to him, and fell down on his knees, and kissed him, saying, Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over Milwaukee's interest, and that is mine.

5. And Curtis answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must be out and doing while the day lasts, or we shall never receive our reward.

6. And he said, Master, master, what wouldst thou have me do? And he answered and said unto him, Sad- dle thine ass and follow me; and he did likewise.

7. And as they passed over to a place called Brookfield, Curtis says unto him, Tarry thou here, and notify my people that there is to be a mighty gathering of the sons of Curtis over and about Genesee.

8. After he had spoken these words, he passed over to the land of Martin and Aaron, sons of Ethan.

9. Now, when Martin and Aaron saw him, they said unto him, Our tears have been our meat and drink, day and night. Our opponents have called on us for arguments : but lo ! you have furnished us with none. When we 'asked you for bread, you gave us a stone.

10. And he answered and said unto them, Behold, I have come out to gather my people together at Genesee. Let those who hunger and thirst after facts come there and be filled.

11. Harken unto me, O Martin ! and you shall draw around you the followers of Luther, and he shall become an outcast in Muskego and a wanderer upon the face of the earth.

12. Martin answered and said unto him, I will gather my tribe and follow thee, for thou art my strength, my guide and my salvation.

13. After saying these words, he turned unto Aaron and said, Wilt thou go and do likewise? Aaron answered and said unto him, How many pieces of silver will it cost to carry me over unto the land of Genesee ?

14. Then said Curtis unto him, Whatever thou spendest in my cause shall be returned to thee tenfold in loaves and fishes ; and he shut down his gate and followed him.

CHAPTER II.

1. Now, when all the Reedites had gathered together at. Genesee, behold, they numbered twenty and two. And they began to marvel among themselves, saying, How can these things be? Have our numbers dwindled down to this ?

2. Behold, in their midst stood a son of Waukesha, and when he saw who was there, he cried out with a loud voice, saying, Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless you are born again you can never become honest men.

3. And as they began to look out and around about, then they saw Waukesha indelibly written upon the countenance of every Geneseean.

4. And they cried aloud, saying, Hath the son of Seth nowhere to lay his head ? And the Geneseeans cried out, saying, Crucify him ! crucify him !

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 75

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