The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 104

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082

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" THE BOOTH WAR."

Ripon was never so thoroughly and intensely excited as when Sherman M. Booth sojourned within her limits. Booth, as elsewhere related in this work, had personally aided an alleged escaped slave, named Joshua Glover, to deliver himself from prison, into which he had been thrown under the fugitive slave act. For this he was imprisoned in Milwaukee. After remain- ing in prison about a year, through the aid of friends he escaped and came to Ripon, where he arrived Saturday, August 4, 1860, under an armed escort from Waupun. Notice that he would speak at the City Hall in the evening was sent out, and, at the appointed time, a large audience filled the hall to its utmost capacity, while some hundreds in the streets were unable to gain admittance.

The meeting was called to order by C. J. Allen, when William Starr was chosen Chairman, and Mr. Allen Secretary. Booth was introduced to the audience, and was greeted with hearty applause, and bouquets were thrown on the platform by several ladies.

Booth had proceeded for some time with his speech, when Deputy Marshal F. D. MeCarty, of Fond du Lac, suddenly came on the platform and said, " I have a warrant to arrest you, Mr. Booth." IIe barely succeeded in putting one hand on Booth, when he was instantly pulled away by the bystanders. A scene of intense excitement and indescribable confusion followed. " Kill him !" "Shoot him !" "Hang him !" went up in shouts from all parts of the hall. MeCarty was thrust out of the hall by the enraged people, being kicked and beaten by his pur- suers, and was thrown down the lower flight of stairs, falling upon his face. Instantly regaining his feet, he fled to the Mapes House, followed by the crowd in pursuit. The Mapes House was the headquarters of the Marshal and his friends, and they appeared at the door armed, and for- bade entrance to the pursuers.

At the hall, as soon as order could be restored, a resolution was offered by A. E. Bovay : " Resolved, That Mr. Booth shall not be re-arrested in Ripon," which was adopted amid deafen- ing shouts and hurrahs. Edward Daniels took the stand and made an impassioned speech for a few minutes, and moved that a League of Freedom be organized, the members of which should be pledged to resist any attempt to execute the fugitive slave act. One hundred and twenty persons were enrolled as fast as the names could be written. A. E. Bovay was elected Presi- dent, and C. J. Allen Secretary. A vigilance committee of twelve members was appointed, consisting of Edward Daniels, O. II. La Grange, A. B. Pratt, Dana Lamb, A. E. Bovay. C. D. Loper, J. S. Landon, F. R. Stewart, I. A. Norton, F. W. Cooke, Lucius Thatcher, A. M. May,

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

Benjamin Pratt, L. P. Rivenburgh. The mass of the people then formed a procession, pre- ceded by the Ripon Wide Awakes, and escorted Booth to the residence of Prof. Daniels. Some twelve or fifteen persons were put on duty as a volunteer guard to defend the residence of Prof. Daniels, and the remainder dispersed.

The vigilance committee held a meeting in the morning, and took measures to effect a military organization, to subserve the purposes of the League.

The next day, the people came pouring in from the country, and at 3 o'clock a mass meet- ing was held in a grove. Asa Kinney was called to the chair, and C. J. Allen appointed Secretary. A committee, consisting of Edward Daniels, A. Pickett, C. J. Allen, J. W. Sanders, I. A. Norton, P. F. Drury and J. A. Burt, was appointed to prepare resolutions. Booth then addressed the meeting, after which Mr. La Grange was called out and spoke for a short time. Mr. Daniels reported from the committee a series of resolutions, which were adopted unani- mously. A procession then formed and marched to the City Hall-Booth going to the hall, as he had gone to the grove, escorted by a body of armed men. The hall was taken possession of, and guards stationed for its defense.

At the hall, a committee of teu was appointed to wait upon the Deputy Marshals and request them to leave town. Messrs. William Starr, A. E. Bovay, E. Reynolds, C. J. Allen, I. A. Norton, F. A. Strong, F. R. Stewart, L. P. Rivenburgh, A. B. Pratt and A. Lconard were appointed such committee, who repaired to the Mapes House and had an interview with Deputy Marshals McCarty, Henry, Stryker and Garlick. Mr. Starr conveyed to them the request of the meeting, and received from them an answer that they were United States officers, that they had in their possession a warrant for the arrest of S. M. Booth, and they should depart quietly when such departure was consistent with the performance of their duties.

While the committee and Marshals were in conference, Rev. Hiram McKee addressed a large concourse of people in the streets, which were crowded with excited people, while Booth was strongly guarded at the hall, to which only known friends were admitted.

When the crowd re-assembled Monday morning, they found the hall vacant. Booth had escaped during the night, as it had been announced that a regiment of soldiers (militia) from Milwaukee was on the way to Ripon to arrest him and all engaged in preventing his capture by the Deputy Marshals. He left to avoid this anticipated addition of strength, which, however, did not appear. He went to the residence of a friend, in the edge of Green Lake County, where he remained a few days. Thence he secretly fled to the town of Rosendale, and thence to Utica, Winnebago County. Here he was discovered by agents of the Marshals,' who undertook his arrest, but were unsuccessful. Booth fled to Berlin, in Green Lake County. In these escapes, he had been powerfully aided by Prof. Daniels, who was soon after arrested and taken before Judge Miller, of Milwaukee, who asked him to plead. Prof. Daniels declared he com- mitted the alleged crime for which he had been deprived of his liberty, and did it understand- ingly, after mature deliberation. He then proceeded to justify the act, making an eloquent but scathing speech, attacking Judge Miller and all who in any way upheld or sympathized with the " infamous fugitive slave act." The prisoner was fined $25, which was checrfully paid. This ended, so far as Ripon was particularly concerned, "the Booth war."

The idea of rescuing Booth originated with Edward Daniels, now a resident of Washing- ton. Before going on with the work, however, he conferred with Charles Sumner, who gave unexpected encouragement. He then told his plans to O. H. La Grange, afterward Superin- tendent, of the United States Mint at San Francisco, and these two Ripon men rescued Sher- man M. Booth from the jail at Milwaukce in broad daylight.

FIRST THINGS.

The first birth was that of Charles Fourier Seaman, at Ceresco, in June, 1845.

The first death was that of Caroline Danks.

The first school was kept by Lester Rounds, in 1844, in the Phalanx House, at Ceresco. The first schoolhouse was erected in 1845, in Lot 1, Block 5, Ceresco, at the corner of Church

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

and Liberty streets. It was of stone, but has not occupied the original site for some years. Mr. Rounds was the first teacher.

The first election was at the house of Lester Rounds, about the 1st of April, 1845.

The first building erected in Ripon was a small shanty by the Pedricks, April 9, 1849.

The first hotel in Ripon was the Ripon House, built by D. P. Mapes, in 1849.

The first Postmaster, was Lester Rounds, at Ceresco. The first one in Ripon was E. L. Northrup.

The first newspaper was the Herald, begun by Mapes & Root, December 14, 1853.

Rev. G. H. Stebbins, a Baptist, preached the first sermon in May, 1844, at Ceresco.

The first flouring-mill was at Ceresco, in 1847. The first saw-mill was built by the Phalanx early in 1844.

The first bank was organized in 1856, called the Bank of Ripon, by H. H. Mead, E. P. Brockway, A. M. Skeels, B. B. Parsons, Richard Catlin, T. B. Robbins, George W. Mitchell and E. L. Northrup.

The first lawyer was Alvan E. Bovay, who came in 1850 to Ripon.

The Milwaukee & Horicon, now Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, first reached Ripon in November, 1857.

Ripon was connected by telegraph lines with Milwaukee in 1860. George England was active in securing the line by raising subscriptions, which were paid back in telegraphing after the line was in operation.

The first school on " the hill," in Ripon, before Ceresco and Ripon became one, was taught by Emily E. Turner, in a slab shanty, erected in April, 1849, by Samuel Pedrick, near the present site of the Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Railway depot, as soon as there was any organized school district.

The first marriage in Ripon (not Ceresco) was Jessie Campion's.

GROWTH OF THE CITY.

Ripon grew with astonishing rapidity during the first ten years of its existence-more than it has since. That is to say, the portion founded by D. P. Mapes grew in new business enterprises and population more from 1850 to 1860 than from 1860 to 1880. At the beginning of the rebellion, almost as much ground was covered by hotels, shops and stores, as in 1880. More men of property, education and business experience were drawn to Ripon than to almost any other place of equal size that could be mentioned. To these it owed its rapid but sub- stantial growth, as much as to its rich prairies and beautiful location. Productive prairies could contribute a large but limited amount ; a community of men with experience, unbounded energy and pretty liberal means, could contribute to an unlimited extent to the growth of a newborn city.

True, more money was expended in building after 1869 than for ten years before, but it was rebuilding. The two great fires were in 1868 and 1869, sweeping away almost one entire side of Main street and Public Square. The destroyed property was of wood, and too old and small to be of value. It was replaced with handsome and costly structures of stone and brick. In 1870, twenty business blocks were thus rebuilt in Ripon. This could not be chronicled as growth-enlargement ; but it showed a wonderful ability and willingness to mend the broken city, and mend it well.

RIPON OF TO-DAY.

Ripon, containing at the census of 1875 a population of 3,501, has justly earned the reputation of being one of the most beautiful, wealthy and pleasantly situated cities in the Northwest. It is diversified by hill, valley and stream, and thickly shaded by choice trees of more than the usual variety and beauty. It is not, in any sense of the term, a manufacturing center, owing to the limited supply of water in Silver Creek, during more than half the year. It has, however, acquired an enviable reputation as being the center of a rich agricultural district, the

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

seat of a prosperous college, and the nearest city to Green Lake, an already famous summer resort. Its inhabitants are largely composed of men retired from their various occupations, and the place has therefore a clean, quiet, comfortable air, quite in contrast with the usual hurry and bustle of Western cities. Ripon contains good limestone for building purposes, which lies well to the surface. The three college buildings, two churches and nearly half the business blocks are of Ripon limestone, though some of them are fronted with brick. In Ceresco is a deposit of good brick clay, from which the material for several large blocks has been secured. Fuel is reasonably cheap, large forests of oak, a few miles distant, furnishing the supply.

Ripon has convenient railway facilities. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway puts the city into communication with at least five States over its own lines, and persons desir- ing to do business in Milwaukee or Chicago, the Western centers, find the most desirable arrangements always in force. What is quite remarkable, every one of the surrounding cities and villages is directly connected by rail with Ripon ; on the south and north by the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul road, and on the east and west by the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac. Since the latter road came into possession of the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company, Ripon wheat-shippers have occasionally enjoyed unparalleled transportation privileges. During several weeks in the fall of 1879, competition became so lively between the two roads that each carried wheat for nothing.

CHAPTER X.

CITY OF WAUPUN.

FIRST SETTLEMENT-MEANING OF THE WORD WAUPUN-FIRST EVENTS-GROWTH OF WAUPUN- VILLAGE AND CITY OFFICERS, 1837-1879-A REMINISCENCE-CHURCHES-WAUPUN A QUAR- TER OF A CENTURY AGO-SECRET SOCIETIES-WAUPUN PIONEERS- MANUFACTORIES- BANKS-OLD SETTLERS' CLUB-WAUPUN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION-WISCONSIN STATE PRISON -WAUPUN A DOZEN YEARS AGO-WAUPUN FIRE COMPANY, NO. 1-DODGE COUNTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY-A CONTRAST-WAUPUN SCHOOLS-THE POST OFFICE-WAUPUN AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL ASSOCIATION-CEMETERIES-PUBLIC HALLS-HOTELS- FUN IN YE OLDEN TIME.

FIRST SETTLEMENT.

In the early fall of 1838, Seymour Wilcox, then engaged on the Government works near Green Bay, came to what is now the city of Waupun to locate land for a home. IIe did so at the suggestion of John Bannister, who had surveyed in the vicinity, and who described the Rock River Valley as the most beautiful and fertile he had ever seen. He determined to make himself a home where he afterward settled and resided, about twenty rods east of what is now Markle & Harris' flouring-mill, on Rock River. Therefore, in February, 1839, with John N. Ackerman, Hiram Walker (and another man who remained but a few days), he arrived at the spot previously visited, driving from Green Bay a yoke of oxen laden with a few boards and some provisions. Four burr-oaks were found, to which the boards were nailed for shelter. In this small shanty they lived, or stayed, until a log house was nearly finished, when Mr. Wilcox returned to Green Bay for his family. Ackerman and Walker finished the house, which was occupied by Mr. Wilcox and his family for the first time on the 20th of March, 1839. Acker- man and Walker were single men, and boarded with Mr. Wilcox, helping him to break land and raise a few oats, some corn and potatoes and a little " garden truck," but no wheat. Pork and flour came from Green Bay, and, occasionally, $20 was paid for a barrel of the latter, which was so hard and sour that it would stand alone after the hoops and staves had been removed.

From this time up to 1841, no other persons were added to the settlement. Living in that rude hut, the days caine and went without registering any very strange event. They heard no startling news to disturb their serenity ; no rise or fall of stocks broke in upon their equanimity ; there was no crash in business, no downfall of dynasties, no new fashions to attract their atten- tion. The gray of each morning was heralded by an old, pompous-looking rooster that had been imported, who blew his clarion trumpet at 4 in the morning, one blast following another with great rapidity. Around Mr. Wilcox's home were beautiful openings ; beyond these were blooming prairies, extending he hardly knew where. These natural meadows were interlaced with silver rivulets that danced to their own music. Amid these openings-nature's mighty parks-roamed the noble deer; and over those prairies, which were like so many gorgeous pearls in richest settings, the soft wind played.

The first day of that pioneer family can well be pictured. It was in the season of the year when frosty nights were succeeded by sunny days; when the crows crept into the woods, as if they felt approaching May. The kittens ran round the cabin, and chased each other up the trees; and the dog wandered along the river-side, for reasons best known to himself. The woodpecker tapped his drowsy music on the decayed trunks; the turkey peered from behind the roots of the upturned trees, where she had been waiting so long to hail the blessed warmth, and inquired, " What business have you here ?" The squirrel pushed his nose out of the door of his castle, and, after looking cautiously upon the intruders, threw his tail over his back, and,

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

with an angry chirrup, trotted to the nearest stump; and then, as the sunbeams pierced through the tangled woods, the bluebird broke forth into a note of song, tuned the strings of her harp for the coming summer, and inquired when gentle May was coming, with her music and her flowers.

In after years, the daughters of Mr. Wilcox would tell how they learned to get breakfast and wash dishes; how, one night, they heard a wolf howl in the woods; and how a dirty old Indian poked his head in at the door, and asked for fire-water. They would tell how they used to thrust their little bare feet into the faces of the violets, with a dainty sauciness; how they went down to the river, of a morning, to wash, and arranged their locks with a wooden comb; how, when they milked the cows for the first time, the white current went fizz into their eyes, and shot over into a cluster of wild roses that were blushing at the performance.

There are threads of beauty that pervade every household, wherever it may be, and what- ever may be its lot. There are always pleasant thoughts, kind words and happy remembrances flying to and fro. How must the hearts of this family have rejoiced when, as the long shadows of evening were stretching over the landscape, some traveler, in his Kentucky-jeans coat and stoga boots, alighted from his shaggy old horse, and asked entertainment for the night. They looked upon it as a sort of angel-visit ; each one strived to outstrip others in acts of hospitality ; and though they could not offer him the luxuries of life, he soon felt that he was welcome to anything they had. The old fireplace, if it was winter, was soon piled with logs up to the very throat, and shook its shadows around the room in defiance of the winds that roared without. If the traveler happened to have a paper a month old, their joy was at its height, and the younger members of the family ransacked its columns with the greatest delight.

This little band had, as it were, severed all connection between themselves and the past. True to their purpose, they went to work in their new home as if they were going to tear down the whole forest and pile it into boards. Amid wind and storm and suffering and privation, they helped to lay the foundation of Wisconsin's greatness. Morn's early dawn, and evening's gentle hush, bore witness to their industry ; and the happiness now enjoyed by the citizens of the city of Waupun is, in a degree, the product of their labor. They were firm to their pur- pose as flints, and the sparks struck from them are transfigured into images of beauty and romanee. Their memory will ever be necessary to the loveliness of the city.

The family of Mr. Wilcox was relieved from the monotony of such complete isolation, in 1841. In that year, the settlement received an accession in the persons of C. Carrington, Mr. Town and others, who heroically entered upon the hardships of a pioneer life, in a section of country where everything was new. But to work they went, girdling the trees, fencing the land, raising log houses, and making the old "openings" echo with the din of their industry. From morn till night, they toiled in their new homes, and sent the breaking-plow, drawn by yokes of sturdy oxen, through the native sod. Then came the green grass, the corn and the wheat, some bearing sixty-foldl and some an hundred-fold. There were no arbitrary lines drawn amongst them; no memorable fictions in the way of their progress; society, habit and custom hung no dead-weight on their ambitious minds. It was thus the first settlement began, in what is now the city of Waupun.

MEANING OF THE WORD WAUPUN.

The Indian word Waubun (meaning " the early day," or, perhaps, strictly speaking, " the early light or dawn"), which was intended to have been given to the town organized in 1842, in the western portion of Fond du Lac County, was, upon its first use by the early settlers, written incorrectly ; and its orthography was not fully settled until some years after, when " Waupun " came into general use. The town in Fond du Lac County being called " Waupun," the name was also given to the village, although the latter was located both in Fond du Lac and Dodge Counties ; and, of course, when the place grew into a city, and was incorporated, it was still called " Waupun," which name has the merit, at least, of being unlike any other in the United States. Although the place was first called Madrid, after the native place of Seymour Wilcox,

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yet, when the commission of the first Postmaster arrived, it was found that the name had been changed to Waupun ; this was done by James Duane Doty, who was then a delegate in Con- gress ; so that to Doty belongs the honor of the name.

FIRST EVENTS.

The first store in Waupun was opened by Thomas C. Snow, in John N. Ackerman's house, in Upper Town, in 1845. He kept a limited stock of dry goods, groceries, crockery and a few medicines.

The first Postmaster was Seymour Wilcox, commissioned in the winter of 1840 and 1841. The first sermon was by Rev. S. Smith, a Methodist, who then lived at Calumet, in the little schoolhouse erected near where the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway crosses Main street, in 1844. He had presided at informal prayer or class meetings, at the house of Seymour Wilcox, as early as 1840.

At the first election held at the house of Seymour Wilcox, in the spring of 1842, eleven votes were cast.

The first hotel was the log residence of Seymour Wilcox, who entertained travelers as soon as he moved into it, in 1839. The next hotel was J. N. Ackerman's, opened in 1845.

The first grist-mill was built by Forest & Smith in 1846, where Markle & Harris' stone mill now stands. The same firm built a saw-mill a few rods distant a year earlier.

The first newspaper was the Times, in 1857, by J. H. Brinkerhoff.

The first school was opened in 1844, by Charles Cleveland, in a small frame building situ- ated near where the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway crosses Washington or Main streets.

The first marriage in Waupun was that of William G. McElroy to Miss Lucinda Collins, in 1841, at Seymour Wilcox's house, by Mason C. Darling, of Fond du Lac. An enthusiastic pioneer, writing in 1857, thus describes the wedding :

" The wedding day came; the woods were a frozen poem written by invisible fingers. The earth was wrapt in its winding-sheet of snow, but in our little cabin the light flickered gro- tesquely from the fireplace on the unhewn rafters. There was no useless array among the bridal party, no satin dresses dotted with stars, no jewels spangled in the bosom of the bride, no bracelets encircled her arm, nor did any veil fall from the back of her head to hide the simple evergreen that shone in her hair. There were no dandified, white-gloved, scented, feline-look- ing, empty-headed scions of codfish aristocracy present ; no fashionable birds with beautiful plumage and sickly looks : no pale pets of the parlor who had vegetated in unhealthy shades until their complexions had assumed a greenish color like a potato in a dark cellar. The cere- mony throughout was characterized by Quaker-like simplicity. The building was humble. The ceremony over, I can see the white cloth placed on the table, and on it a plate or two of biscuits almost as white. Then I see a big gobbler, fattened for the occasion, and almost smell the sage with which the stuffing was sprinkled. Then came a bowl of pickled cabbage, a dish of baked beans, a plate of boiled beets fantastically decorated with cloves, and after that the crown- ing dish of all-a glorious jelly-cake, well seasoned with ginger and molasses plentifully spread between the layers for jelly. The day following the wedding the bridal party proposed a journey to Lake Emily, where the bride's parents resided, and which lay twelve miles distant through roadless woods and prairies. And what was their chariot ? a mag- nificent sled. By what was it drawn ? a magnificent yoke of oxen. With what was it enshrined ? a magnificent bundle of clean straw, and on this the beautiful bride and her attend- ant sat as dignified as did Cleopatra when surrounded with all that wealth could purchase."

The second marriage ceremony, performed October 11, 1842. although not performed in Waupun, snatched from single blessedness one of its earliest settlers, John N. Ackerman. Mr. Ackerman, with two small Indian ponies, went to Fond du Lac and secured the services of Alonzo Raymond, a Justice of the Peace, and the two proceeded by Indian trail to Oshkosh, where the bride, Miss Hannah A. Ford, was stopping. After the ceremony, the young couple

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mounted the ponies and made the journey to Waupun. The trail was exceedingly rough in many places, making it impossible for the riders to stick to their ponies unless they sat astride, which they occasionally did. Just imagine a modern belle making her bridal tour astride of a shaggy little Indian pony !

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 104

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1082

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082