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 98

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 98

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640

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

The village and county of Waukesha are the beneficiaries of Richard Dunbar's success- the scene of his noblest toils and triumphs-and the former, largely beautified by his own hand, is to be the final resting-place of the DISCOVERER OF BETHESDA MINERAL SPRING.

POST OFFICE AND POSTMASTERS.

The first Postmaster, not only of Waukesha Village, but in what is now Waukesha County, was David Jackson. Whether he received his commission before January, 1837, or not, it is now difficult to determine ; but he was Postmaster to all intents and purposes, and had a com- mission as such, signed by President Andrew Jackson. It is not to be presumed that " Old Hickory " Jackson appointed David Jackson Postmaster on account of similarity of names, for the man who first had charge of mail in this county had other qualifications. He was a good man, possessed of sufficient ability, and came permanently to Waukesha very early in 1836- probably in February or March-and had located a claim in 1835. The first mail matter that came to the office was a letter for Almon Osborn and a paper for John M. Wells. There were no envelopes or postage stamps in those days, and, if the person to whom letters were to be delivered had no money, they were returned to the post office. There was no post office at first ; that is, not even the usual blue box furnished by the Government had been provided for Mr. Jackson, and when the packages became so numerous that he could not carry them in his pocket, or the crown of his hat, Mrs. Jackson, an excellent woman, put them in a brightly scoured tin pan and hoisted the pan safely to the top shelf. She also kept her husband's pock. ets in excellent repair, putting a button on the one in which Mr. Jackson brought the mail from Milwaukee. Sometimes he went on foot; sometimes on horseback, and sometimes he sent by the neighbors. The post office in those days was not a political machine, and was not much of a machine anyway.

Mr. Jackson held the office until his death, which was caused by consumption, December 19, 1841. He was succeeded by William A. Barstow, who received his commission in Febru- ary, 1842. Mr. Barstow, who was connected with the mill, moved the postoffice from Mr. Jack- son's house, which stood near the present site of the Episcopal Church, to near Charles R. Dakin's store. Mr. Barstow held the office for a year or two and was succeeded by Alex. W. Randall, who continued to hold the office until the spring of 1846, when Lemuel White was appointed. Mr. White held the office during the balance of James K. Polk's term, and was succeeded in April, 1849, by John H. Hays. Mr. Hays was a Whig groceryman from Virginia, and, after receiving his appointment from President Zachary Taylor, moved the office into his store. He was a peculiar man and held the office but a very short time, being succeeded in a few weeks by Martin H. Howard. Mr. Howard drew the Postmaster's salary about one year, but Elihu Enos had the office in charge; was the Postmaster de facto during Mr. Howard's time, and was appointed by the President to succeed him in July, 1850. Mr. Enos made a satisfactory Post- master, and held the office during the Whig administration, being succeeded in the spring of 1853 by Henry D. Barron, who was appointed by President Franklin Pierce. At this time the post office had become a political machine; the Democratic party was divided into factions, and the squabbles for the office were numerous, vigorous and astonishingly successful. In 1854, Mr. Barron was greatly astonished to receive notice that his resignation, after due deliberation, had been regretfully accepted, and that J. B. Reymert had been appointed to succeed him. Rival Democratic politicians had written a resignation, signing Mr. Barron's name, which, upon being forwarded to Washington, was acted upon, the officials there raising no question as to its genuineness. This bold and novel scheme miscarried ; but Mr. Barron was in hot water, and in October, 1855, was removed, and A. F. Pratt appointed to succeed him. The war of his political enemies began upon Mr. Pratt before he had fairly learned the boxes, resulting in his removal early in February, 1856, and the appointment of Sebina Barney. Mr. Barney was succeeded by A. W. Cole, appointed by James Buchanan. Mr. Cole held the office until April, 1861, when he was succeeded by Orson Z. Olin, who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Olin gave general satisfaction as Postmaster, and held the office longer than any man who had preceded him, or eleven years consecutively. He was succeeded in April, 1872, by Elihu Enos,

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who has held the office uninterruptedly from that date. During his first term, about six months after receiving his commission, Mr. Enos was greatly astonished to receive notification that his resignation had been accepted and George C. Pratt appointed to succeed him as Post- master of Waukesha. The telegraph office was then in the postoffice, and in charge of Mr. Enos, who at once sent a telegram to the Post Office Department stating that any resignation purporting to have come from him was a fraud and a forgery, and that he not only had not resigned, but did not intend to do so. In a few hours he received a message saying he had been re-appointed, and telling him to hold the office and show the telegram to Mr. Pratt.

The post office has been where it now is since 1862, having been established there by O. Z. Olin ; and there is probably no office in the State so conveniently and compactly arranged, or one kept in better order. David Jackson went to Milwaukee once each week with mail, if there was any ; now the post office receives and sends ten pouches of mail each day.

The first money orders issued were on July 3, 1865; as follows: One for John George Eisman, for $10, payable to Peter Imig, at Madison, and one for Mrs. Pamelia A. Canright, for $17.40 payable to G. H. Ledyard, Sparta, Wis. There were no other orders issued until July 10; then on July 18, and again August 8. Business was not lively in the money order department. The whole number issued up to January 1, 1866, was seventy-one. The whole number issued to July 3, 1880-precisely fifteen years from the date of issuing the first order, was 20,024, and the number issued during 1879 was 2,108. The net proceeds turned over to the Government by Mr. Enos for 1879 were $3,625 ; that is, the profits of the office after paying all salaries and expenses were the amount named. The money order office handles about $75,000 per year.

The post office at Waukesha is the only second-class office in the Union in a village of less than three thousand inhabitants.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The school history of Waukesha Village can be very briefly told. The old schoolhouse built of tamarack logs on the west side of the river, in 1837, was the first in the place, as well as in the county, and is described somewhat elaborately elsewhere. Slabs were its seats, and a tar-barrel its stove. It served a good purpose until the west portion of the village was set off into a separate district, and the stone schoolhouse erected in 1847, near the residence of William Blair, on the hill. This building has served thirty-three years for District No. 10, which includes the residents of that portion of the village which is on the west side of the river. Only one teacher is employed in this school, which aims only to be a first-class district school.

When the village was divided into two districts, the eastern portion had no schoolhouse, and, owing to various differences, did not build one until the present stone structure was erected in 1854. The district rented the basement of the Presbyterian church, and other convenient places, until a schoolhouse was built. In the mean time, private schools, in addition to the Carroll College were comparatively numerous. A seminary was opened in Juneau's old trading-post building, where the Catholic Church now stands, and several female seminaries and select schools also flourished for longer or shorter periods, so that the children of the village did not suffer for want of educational facilities.

The present schoolhouse is known as the Union School building. The site consists of three acres of level land situated on the west side of Grand avenue, on which a few oak trees, planted by nature, still afford shade to the boisterous youngsters, in addition to those since planted by the school officers. The site was deeded to District No. 1, January 10, 1854, by Morris D. Cutler, for $700. The front wing of the building, constructed of . Waukesha lime- stone, was built during the summer of 1854, under the supervision of Mr. Creighton.

The original structure was equal to all demands upon it during a dozen years, at the end of which time the teachers began to complain of over-crowded rooms, and in 1867, W. D. Bacon, as a member of the school board, attempted to secure the erection of a new building, but failed. This attempt was annually renewed by him or others, but, owing to conflicting opinions, without result until 1870. After repeated special meetings, a contract was finally let, July 26, 1870,

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

to Jentch & Creighton to do the mason work for $1,850, and another to J. Benson, for $1,650, to do the woodwork and painting on a brick wing, to be finished in the same style as the origi- nal building.

The cost of maintaining the school in District No. 1, has been as follows for the last five years : Ending June 1, 1876, $4,670.63 ; 1877, $4,517.92 ; 1878, $4,116.82 ; 1879, $4,513.06 ; 1880, $4,406.58. Total, $22,225.01. The Principal, Prof. A. A. Miller, has as alary of$1,200 per year. He has seven teachers under his direction. The school for some reason has never taken advantage of the high-school law, which allows the district to draw a goodly sum of school money from the State ; but all the higher branches usually taught in a high-school are pursued here. The officers are M. S. Griswold, Clerk ; A. T. Stebbins, Director ; A. J. Frame, Treas- urer. The district once had a debt of $2,000, but is now unincumbered. The school has a comparatively large number of foreign scholars.

CHURCHES.

First Congregational Church .- The First Congregational Church of Waukesha has the distinction of being the oldest Congregational church in the State of Wisconsin, and is believed to be the oldest church organization of any name within the limits of the county. It was organ- ized January 20, 1838, in the log cabin of Mr. Robert Love, a very few rods south of the Bethesda Spring. " Prairie Village," as the locality was then called, had been an Indian set- tlement. The Indian title to the lands had just been extinguished when settlers began to locate here, pushing through the dense " Milwaukee Woods," and here coming upon the first view of prairie land.

There was as yet no village, only a cabin here and there, where the pioneers were begin- ning their farms.

Among the settlers occasional religious services had been held. Elder Wheeler, Methodist, and Elder Griffin, Baptist, are remembered to have held meetings at the house of Mr. Walton, who retains his home on the same tract east of the Industrial School. There had been funeral services, too, the first graves having been made near the southeast corner of the present college grounds.

Rev. Gilbert Crawford had come to Milwaukee in the previous summer, and was preaching for the First Presbyterian Church, then just organized in that settlement. He had become acquainted with some of the new-comers in Prairieville, and, being invited to visit them for the purpose of organizing a church, came out with his wife on that winter day, and was enter- tained at the house of Mr. Walton.

The members who constituted the church at its organization numbered eighteen-Ezra Mendall, Mrs. Alice Mendall, Robert Love, Mrs. Martha Love, Jared Rice, Mrs. Laura Barnett, E. H. Marshall, J. W. Rossman, Mrs. Irene Rossman, Mrs. Achsa DeWolf, Asa Clark, Mrs. Naomi Clark, Edmund D. Clinton, Mrs. Amanda Clinton, Allen Clinton, Mrs. Adaline Clinton, Mrs. Sally Cushman and Mrs. Caroline Eggleston. Three of these survived to the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the church-Deacon Edmund D. Clinton, Mrs. Laura Barnett and Mrs. Caroline Eggleston, now Mrs. Hamilton Nelson.

The church seems at first to have depended upon Rev. Mr. Crawford for occasional services. Asa Clark and Ezra Mendall were the first Deacons, and Robert Love, Clerk. Rev. Moses Ordway, afterward the Pastor of a Presbyterian Church in South Prairieville, is mentioned as presiding at several meetings of the church.

The first minister who regularly supplied the church was Rev. Cyrus Nichols, who labored one year from May 1, 1839, and was succeeded by Rev. Otis F. Curtis, whose ministry was very successful, and continued from May, 1840, to November, 1846.

Mr. Curtis and the church were active in securing the co-operation of other churches in the formation of an ecclesiastical union. This resulted in the "Presbyterian and Congregational Convention of Wisconsin," which was organized at Troy, Wis., in October, 1840. The union of the two denominations was not acceptable to some of the prominent members of the church, and one, Deacon Ezra Mendall, was permitted to place his protest upon the church records.

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

In a small log schoolhouse erected on the north side of the river, the Sunday services were held, and the increasing congregation was accommodated by the erection of an addition of slabs. When there was not room enough for the crowd, the brethren would leave, and go to the grove for a prayer meeting, while the Pastor preached in the house. Some time in the summer of 1840, Rev. Mr. Curtis announced, at a Sunday service, that they would meet next Sunday at the new Congregational Church. No such edifice had yet been reared, but during the week preparations were made. On Saturday the frame was raised, and on Sunday, said Mr. Curtis, "I stood in the frame behind a work-bench and preached, the people sitting on the sleepers, with their feet in the grass. "

As the work of building the house of worship went on, the people met there Sunday after Sunday. The green boughs that had been laid upon the joists for shade were replaced by a roof; the sleepers were floored over, and temporary seats arranged. There was an interruption of service at the church only for one Sunday, to give time for the paints to dry.

This building, the first Congregational Church edifice in the Territory of Wisconsin, stood on the corner of Wisconsin and Maple avenues, and with subsequent additions served the uses of the congregation for a quarter of a century ; it was then used for a while as a schoolroom, and finally removed from its site and transformed into a dwelling.

The ministry of Rev. Mr. Curtis in Prairieville had commenced with a revival season of very deep interest, and such scenes were repeated in this house in successive years. At the communion season in May, 1840, immediately after the coming of Mr. Curtis, fifty-four persons were received to membership ; in February, 1841, thirty-one were added ; and, in the course of the two following months, twenty-seven more. There was also a large accession in the year 1844.

The church records of those days show that a strict watch was kept over the members, and that the discipline and excommunication of the delinquent was a very common part of the church business. Profanity, Sabbath-breaking, drinking, dishonesty, and the neglect of church ordinances were dealt with as they deserved ; nor did horse-racing, dancing and attending circuses find any tolerance. A resolution expressed the opinion of the church that "Going to the post office on Sunday is an ordinary business transaction, and as such should be considered a violation of God's command to keep the Sabbath holy." Another resolution declared that "All secret societies are inconsistent with the religion of Christ, and, therefore, we will not receive any person who is a member of such societies."

It was inevitable that a church so wide awake and so uncompromising should be very early moved to act on that subject which was ere long to convulse the nation. In March, 1845, a preamble and resolutions were adopted, after full discussion, and by a vote, in which the yeas and nays were put upon record, vigorously denouncing slavery, and declaring that "We will not admit to our pulpit or communion, or have any Christian fellowship with, any person who practices, upholds or justifies this gross system of iniquity."

The next Pastor after Mr. Curtis was Rev. I. Codding. Mr. Codding was a very forcible Anti-slavery lecturer, and had presented that subject in New England and the West; he had not been ordained as a minister until after the church called him to its pastorate. A council of churches and Pastors was called for the purpose, and the service took place July 13, 1847. After serving the church one year, he left, to pursue his former course as a lecturer.

After an interval of about a year, in which the pulpit was occupied by Rev. J. Ingersoll and Rev. C. Jones, the church called Rev. Job H. Martyn, who had been for some years preaching in Massachusetts and New York, and his pastorate commenced in October, 1850.

Mr. Martyn's preaching was that of an evangelist; he aimed at immediate results, and secured within a year the addition of sixty-one members.

After this very successful year, the church record is strangely silent concerning the next twelve months, and begins again in May, 1853, with the coming of the next Pastor, Rev. Mead Holmes, of Ohio. Mr. Holmes remained with the church for two years, closing his labors in April, 1855.

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

The church remained without any regular supply for its pulpit until March 1, 1857, when Rev. W. F. Clarke, of London, Canada, with whom they had been some time in correspondence, arrived, and commenced his services.

Mr. Clarke was soon felt in the village as a man of energy and strength; the church pros- pered and the congregation was increased until the house of worship was inadequate. At the end of his first year, he made his continuance in the pastorate contingent on the enlargement of the church edifice, and more perfect arrangements in regard to his support. The first of these conditions appears to have been neglected until the following December, when, upon another hint from the Pastor, the work of providing more ample accommodation was begun, and public religious services, in consequence, were suspended until the following February. About that time, Mr. Clarke was invited to take charge of a mission in British Columbia, and closed his labors here in March, 1859.

Rev. Hiram Foote, of Janesville, was invited to succeed Mr. Clarke, and commenced in April, 1859.

Mr. Foote's ministry was that of a faithful and earnest man, whose sincere interest in the welfare of the church was still manifested in the years of his residence here, after the close of his pastorate. He was a zealous advocate of temperance and opponent of slavery, and, with the church, fully sympathized in the effort of the government to maintain the integrity of the Union. The congregation was well represented in the army, the Pastor having to mourn a son who died at Andersonville.

Rev. Mr. Foote resigned his charge in January, 1864, to engage in an agency for the Rockford Female Seminary. He continued to reside at Waukesha, and was very helpful to his successors, and to the church, by his counsels and his service in many ways. Rev. Charles Caverno, then pursuing his studies in Chicago Theological Seminary, was engaged for one year from June 1, 1864. In the spring of 1865, a series of union meetings was held under the direc- tion of the noted evangelist, Rev. J. D. Potter, which resulted in a goodly number of conver- sions. Twelve persons were received to membership in the month of May in that year.

Mr. Caverno was succeeded by Rev. A. P. Johnson, of Enfield, Conn., who served the church one year and closed his labors, June 1, 1866.

The house of worship and the lot on which it stood had been sold in February. After possession of it had been given the purchaser, the church was dependent on the courtesy of the Baptist Church and society for a place in which to meet. It was decided not to call a Pas- tor until the new house of worship was completed. Communion services were held from time to time, and a series of meetings conducted by Rev. J. T. Avery, of Ohio, during the month of January, 1867, in which Rev. Mr. Foote and Rev. Robert Boyd, the beloved Pastor of the Baptist Church, very cordially joined, resulted in many conversions, and the addition of twenty-five members to the Congregational Church.

The building of a new house of worship was commenced in May, 1867, and completed in the following December. It stands at the head of Wisconsin avenue, upon a lot of ground which had been purchased through the energy of the ladies of the congregation, at a time when it seemed very doubtful whether the society had the ability and the courage to undertake the work of building a new church edifice. This house of worship, forty-five feet by sixty-five, with an oratory in the rear, with bell, fences and furnishing, was completed at the cost-including the lot-of $11,254. The rear of the lot, with the dwelling house upon it, has since been sold. The pipe organ now in use was purchased four years later. At the time of the dedication, a very beautiful pulpit Bible was presented to the church by Mrs. Julia Whitmann, of Canadaigua, New York, a sister of two of the members of the church, A. S. Putney and Milo Putney, and an elegant communion service by Rev. and Mrs. H. Foote, a memorial of their son Horatio, who died in the stockade prison at Andersonville.

This new church edifice was dedicated to the worship of God, December 26, 1867. A very large assembly was in attendance, many persons coming from other congregational churches, to express their interest, and to offer their congratulations. Rev. Charles W. Camp, of Fond du

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Lac, who had been called to the pastorate, conducted the services of dedication, and commenced his labors with the beginning of the year 1868.

The public installation of the pastor was deferred, and did not take place until January 10, 1871, when the service was duly performed by a council of the neighboring churches and their Pastors. Rev. W. D. Love, of the Spring Street Church, Milwaukee, preached the sermon on that occasion.

On the 21st of May, 1872, was held a deeply interesting service at the ordination of John W. Baird, a member of this church, a graduate of Beloit College and Chicago Theological Semi- nary, who had been appointed a missionary to the Bulgarian people in European Turkey. Rev. William Walker, long a missionary in Western Africa ; Rev. Josiah Tyler, a missionary for some years in South Africa ; Rev. Dr. Treat, Secretary of the American Board of Missions, of Boston, and Rev. Dr. Humphrey, District Secretary, Chicago, were present and participated in the services. Rev. Mr. Baird is still faithfully prosecuting his work at Monastir, European Turkey. The interest awakened by his ordination resulted in the formation of a missionary society among the ladies of the church, which has continued its meetings and its contributions to the present time.

The fortieth anniversary of the organization of the church was observed with great interest, January 20 and 21, 1878.

On Sabbath, January 20, Rev. O. F. Curtis, Pastor of the church from 1840 to 1846, occupied the pulpit in the morning, and in the evening Rev. Mr. Camp delivered a memorial discourse to a very large assembly, the Presbyterian and Baptist congregations, with their pastors, being present.

On Monday, January 21, a full assembly met in the evening, and were addressed in reminiscences of the past by Rev. O. F. Curtis, Deacon E. D. Clinton, of Brodhead ; Hamilton Nelson, of Beloit ; Deacon Bell, of Pewaukee; Silas Chapman, of Milwaukee, and Messrs. Orson Tichenor, Ezra S. Purple and C. C. Olin, of Waukesha. Deacon Clinton and Mrs. Nelson were members of the church at its organization ; Deacon Bell was present at that time, though he did not join ; Mr. Chapman was a member of the church in 1841, and at that time taught the academy here, which was the first successful incorporated school in the Territory of Wisconsin.

The singing on this occasion was conducted by the survivors of the first organized choir, Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Olin, Mr. and Mrs. O. Z. Olin, Mrs. E. S. Purple, Hamilton Nelson and O. Tichenor.

Letters were read from Rev. Cyrus Nichols, the first pastor of the church, aged seventy- eight years, and too infirm to attend; from Rev. H. Foote and wife, Rev. Mead Holmes, Rev. C. Caverno, former Pastor, and from Rev. J. W. Baird, of Turkey. A letter was subsequently received and published from Rev. W. F. Clarke.

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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 98

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