The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 49

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

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The town of Empire is identical in its territory with Township 15 north, of Range 18 east, except that the north tier of sections, containing 3,781,0 acres, is exeluded and forms a part of Taycheedah. This reduces the actual number of acres from 23,129.92 to 19,348.12.

The town of Taycheedah includes the tier of sections which are lost to Empire; also the whole of fractional Township 16 north, of Range 18 east, excepting therefrom the north tier of sections, which go to the town of Calumet. By subtracting 2,307.57 acres, forming this tier, from 18,324.15 acres-the whole number in fractional Township 16 north, of Range 18 east- and adding thereto 3,781.80 acres. forming the first-mentioned tier, and we have, as the result, for the town of Taycheedah, 19,798.38 acres. To this must be added the small fraction of 15.48 acres in the southeast corner of Township 16 north, of Range 17 east, making a total of 19,813.86 acres.

The town of Calumet is formed of fractional Townships 17 north. of Ranges 18 and 19 east, and the tier of sections on the north side of fractional Township 16 north, of Range 18 east. lost to Taycheedah. In this tier of sections there are 2,307.56 acres ; in fractional Town- ship 17 north, of Range 18 east, 4,742.13 acres; and in fractional Township 17 north, of Range 19 east, 12,097.22 acres, aggregating in the town of Calumet 19,146.91 acres.

It will be observed that, while there are in Fond du Lac County twenty-two townships (four of which are fractional), there are but twenty-one towns.

Lake Winnebago, having its shores meandered in Townships 15 north, of Range 17 east (town of Fond du Lac) ; also in 16 north, of Range 17 cast (town of Friendship) : in 16 north, of Range 18 east (towns of Taycheedah and Calumet) : and in 17 north, of Range 18 east (town of Calumet). The land in those townships covered by its waters was not surveyed by the United States.

The land covered by the waters of "Crooked Lake," now known as " Fifteen Lake," in Township 13 north, of Range 19 east (town of Auburn) ; that covered by the waters of " Long Lake," in Township 14 north, of Range 19 east (town of Osceola) ; that covered by the waters

Waupun (including North Ward of city) 23,212.26

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

of " Little Sheboygan Lake," now called Mullet Lake, in Township 15 north, of Range 19 east (town of Forest), and that covered by the waters of " Rush Lake," in "Township 16 north, of Range 14 east (town of Ripon), was, also, not surveyed by the Government Surveyors, the shores of these lakes being meandered, as were those of Lake Winnebago.

UNITED STATES LAND DISTRICTS.

By the end of 1833, a large amount of the publie land in what is now Southern and East- ern Wisconsin had been surveyed, and the fact being duly reported by the Surveyor General, Congress, by an act approved June 26, 1834, created two land districts. They embraced all that tract north of the State of Illinois, west of Lake Michigan, south and southeast of the Wis- consin and Fox Rivers. included in the then Territory of Michigan. It was divided by a north and south line, drawn from the northern boundary of Illinois, between Ranges 8 and 9, to the Wisconsin River. All east of that line was called the Green Bay Land District ; all west, the Wisconsin Land District. Within the first-mentioned district was included the whole of the present county of Fond du Lac. A Land Office of this Eastern District was established at Green Bay, which was duly opened by the Government, and a notice given of a public sale of all the then surveyed publie lands lying therein. In accordance with this announcement a sale took place at Green Bay in 1835. Lands not disposed of at that sale were thereafter open to private entry at the Land Office in Green Bay. Most of the land in the county was there obtained from the General Government at $1.25 an acre by carly settlers and speculators.

FOND DU LAC COMPANY.

Prominent citizens of Green Bay were the first to give an impetus to the settlement of what is now the county of Fond du Lac, by forming, in November, 1835, a joint-stock association or company, organized for the purpose of buying and selling real estate at or near the head of Lake Winnebago, in what was then Brown County, Wisconsin Territory. The first action taken was the drawing-up of Articles of Association and the signing of them by the parties interested. The names of these parties with the number of shares taken by each-a share being $100, were: J. D. Doty, 46 shares ; Joshua Hathaway, 12 shares ; John P. Arndt, 40 shares; George Me- Williams, 20 shares ; R. E. Clarey, 10 shares ; R. B. Marcy, 4 shares ; F. F. Ilamilton, 35 shares : David Ward, 3 shares : Brush, Rees & Co., 6 shares; C. C. Sibley, 12 shares ; William Brown, 64 shares : Henry S. Baird, 3 shares; M. E. Merrill, 10 shares; R. S. Satterlee, 20 shares : Silas Stedman. 10 shares : Samuel Ryan, 7 shares ; Alexander J. Irwin, 4 shares ; D. Jones, 15 shares ; W. Alexander, 4 shares ; E. Childs, 14 shares, and M. Scott, 3 shares.

By the 1st day of January, 1836. the Company had become the owners of 3,705 acres of land, in what are now the city and town of Fond du Lac, in the present county of Fond du Lac. At that date, the officers-and they were the first ones of the association-were James Duane Dotv, President ; David Jones, George Mc Williams, F. F. Hamilton and W. H. Bruce, Direct- ors. They had already laid out a village-it was surveyed in November, 1835, by A. G. Ellis -which received the name of " The Town of Fond du Lac." The village plat, after having the east tier of blocks added by Doty in New York City, whither he had gone to have it litho- graphed, was acknowledged. before a notary, " to be a true plat," August 22, 1836, and recorded. the next day, in the Register's office of Brown County. It included territory bounded on the north by the north line of the southeast quarter of Section 3, in Township 15 north, of Range 17 east, and by Winnebago Lake: on the east by the present Amory street in the city of Fond du Lac ; on the south by what is now Merrill street, of the city, and on the west by a line drawn north and south about eight hundred feet west of Fond du Lac River, and by the north and south quarter line of the before-mentioned Section 3; that is to say, it embraces nearly the whole of the north three-quarters of Section 10, in the township and range just mentioned, and nearly all of the east half of the said Section 3. The territory lies immediately north of the heart of the city, and is wholly included within its limits.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

This plat of what was expected to be, in the near future, a city, after being lithographed. was extensively circulated ; though, when the ground was surveyed into blocks and lots, there was not a house in what is now Fond du Lac County. The outside world was notified, in a brief paragraph on the plat, that "Winnebaygo Lake is thirty miles long and ten miles wide." " The town." it was declared, " is fifty-eight miles south-southwest from Green Bay ; thirty-three miles from the bank of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Sheboygan River ; fifty-four miles from Fort Winnebaygo, and fourteen miles from Rock River." In the spring of 1836, the Company began the building of a house on Lot 9, Block 9, in their "town," on the east side of Brooke street ; it was finished in the summer. This was the first house erected in Fond du Lac County. It was a double log house, with an open hall through the center and a stairway : there were also rooms above. It had a back addition, used as a kitchen. Brothertown Indians (civilized) came from Brothertown, some fifteen miles distant, to raise the structure. The object of the Company, in building the house, was to provide a place of entertainment for travelers and to start a settlement. In all these plans for inducing an emigration toward " the head of the lake," Doty was the ruling spirit. He chose the place for several reasons, one of which was that he thought the Rock and Fond du Lac Rivers might be connected by canal and thus open a continuous waterway by this route from Green Bay to the Mississippi, the greater share of trade then going toward that river. IIe became possessed of this idea by hearing the stories of Indian traders who had paddled canoes, loaded with goods, up the Fox River, across Lake Win nebago, up the Fond du Lac River, and then across land about two miles, to the Rock River. Both streams were much larger then than now, so that idea had fewer ridiculous features than at present.

After purchasing the site of the "town " and a considerable body of land in the immediate vicinity, amounting, in all, as we have seen, to over three thousand acres, the Company began to dispose of the same to settlers and others. An aet, incorporating the Company. was approved February 9, 1842. " Whereas," says the preamble, "in the year 1835, an association of sun- dry persons was formed at Green Bay, for the purchase of real estate, under the name of the Fond du Lac Company, which association became, and was, and still is, possessed of a quantity of land situated in the county of Fond du Lac and vicinity, in the Territory of Wisconsin : and. whereas, said association has sold and conveyed, to divers persons, tracts and lots of land in the manner specified in their Articles of Association :

Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin :

SECTION 1. That Samuel Ryan, Henry S. Baird, David Jones, John P. Arndt, and all such persons as now are or may hereafter be stockholders in the said corporation, shall be and they are hereby declared to be a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of the Fond du Lac Company ; and, as such corporation, are hereby declared capable of suing and being sued, answering and being answered unto, pleading and being impleaded, defending and being defended, in all courts and places, and in all actions, suits, matters and causes whatever; and said company shall have a continued succession for the term of five years, and have a common seal and change the same at pleasure.

The next section of the act limited the amount of capital stock to 342 shares of $100 each, and declared that the Company should not purchase any more land, but could improve what they then owned. Section 3 provided for the adoption of by-laws. Section + declared that conveyances already made in conformity to existing by-laws should be binding on the incorpo- rated Company. The fifth section provided that nothing in the act should be so construed as impairing any contract previously made.

By-laws were afterward drawn up and adopted for the government of the Company. On the 19th day of February, 1844, a chancery suit was instituted by Mason C. Darling, a stock- holder, against the Company, in the District Court of Brown County. Andrew G. Miller, Judge, asking, among other things, for the dissolution of the Company, a settlement of its concerns and distribution of assets among the stockholders. Edward Pier was, on the 9th of March, 1844, by the Court, appointed a Receiver of the estate of the Company. Afterward, in 1846, A. G. Ellis, a master in chancery, sold all the lands and town lots of the Company that had not been disposed of previous to the commencement of the suit by Darling. These were all situated in

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

the town of Fond du Lac. The proceeds of the sale were finally distributed, after paving costs and expenses, to the parties entitled to the same, under order of the Court. Meanwhile, "An aet to repeal an act entitled 'An Aet to Incorporate the Fond du Lac Company,' approved Feb- ruary 9, 1842," was passed :

Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin :

SECTION 1. That the act entitled " An Act to Incorporate the Fond du Lac Company," approved February 9, 1842, is hereby repealed : Provided, That said company shall be liable for all debts which may have been contracted by said company, in as full and ample a manner as if this act had not been passed.

Approved February 8, 1845.

So the Fond du Lac Company became a thing of the past.

ORIGIN OF TIIE NAME FOND DU LAC.

The three words Fond du Lac are from the French language, and signify literally, " the bottom of the lake." The word " fond " means literally " bottom ;" but its figurative meaning is also " that which is farthest " or "most remote." The south end of Lake Winnebago, as well as the western end of Lake Superior, were always alluded to by traders living at Green Bay, Mackinaw, Sault Ste. Marie or Detroit, as points in those lakes most distant : and, conse- quently, the appellation among them was " the Fond du Lac Superior," the " Fond du Lac Winnebago," etc., meaning the farther end or extreme from their headquarters. It has noth- ing to do with the " head of the lake " although this is actually the case in both instances. Had the outlet been at the farther end of these lakes, instead of being near the places just named, the expression, according to the French idea conveyed by the term " fond," would have been equally proper. The name was afterward given to the river which has its mouth at " the Fond du Lac Winnebago" and, very appropriately, to the county having its territory around and adjoining the same. It is probable that the name was given to the locality at an early day, so soon, in faet, as the French traders began at the Indian villages in the vieinity to traffic with the natives. The exact date when this took place is not known with any degree of certainty, though it was certainly in the last century.

AN EARLY TRIP TO THE HEAD OF WINNEBAGO LAKE.

It was on the 16th of February, 1836, that Colwert Pier and his younger brother, Edward, started with a horse and sled from Green Bay to go to the head of Winnebago Lake, and take a look at the country in that vicinity. He had previously a talk with the officers of the Fond du Lac Company about locating there. There was no road at that time except what the Broth- ertown and Stockbridge Indians had made, as far as the Grand Kaukalau in Fox River where these Indians then resided. From the Bay to that place, the travel in winter was mostly upon the iee. When the Grand Kankalau was reached, the two ascertained that these Indians, who were preparing to move up and improve their lands on the east side of the lake, had a road eut as far where the Stockbridge Mission was afterward established, and that the route mentioned was the best one to go to Fond du Lac. They also learned that there were four or five families living there at that time. The brothers concluded to take the road indicated. They reached the place the first day, and stopped with a Stockbridge family by the name of Jourdan over night. Jour- dan had a small eabin and a shed. In the last-mentioned building, the travelers put their horse. The next morning after they had their breakfast, Mr. Jourdan very kindly piloted them to the lake, and told them that he had heard folks say that Fond du Lae was up that way.

There were six to eight inches of snow upon the iee and a sharp erust upon the snow. There was no track to be seen, consequently it was slow traveling. The two brothers had been told that Fond du Lae River came into the lake on the west side of the prairie in the timber. They therefore made their way toward the woods, and came to the shore about half a mile east of the month of the stream. They then bore to the west until the river was reached, when they came up it on the east side as far as what is now Tract 38 in the city of Fond du Lae (the pres- ent residence of George Mc Williams), where they made a fire and some hasty preparations for

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

camping during the night, although it was then but little past mid-day. They fed their horse, ate some dinner, and about 3 o'clock P. M., started to look for a farm, leaving their horse tied where they had rested and taken their last meal.

James D. Doty, of the Fond du Lac Company, was, by agreement, to meet them at the point they had now reached, and show them the lands belonging to his association. The two brothers looked over the land on the east side of the river, some distance up the stream.

They came down through the timber and got back to where they had left their horse, at dark. Here they found Doty, Dr. Richard M. Satterlee, Lieut. Merrill and a soldier named Collins. The party had come up the river. found the horse belonging to the two land- hunters and eneamped for the night. The weather was intensely cold, but they had provided a large stock of wood for fire, which, before the next morning, was mostly consumed.

The two brothers slept some that night, had an early breakfast, got what information they could from Doty, and then took their course toward the west. They crossed the river below the forks and walked up across Sections 9, 8 and 18. There was no snow upon the prairie, but about this time, which was near 12 o'clock M., the snow began to fall, and the two started to return to camp. They came down across Section 10 and struck the West Branch, when they found themselves in an unpleasant situation, and for some time, they could not find the spot they sought. They had not learned that the river had two branches. They, however, became satisfied of the fact after wandering about and reaching the forks. They then came up and found their camp.

The brothers then gave their horse what oats they had left, ate what provisions they had. and started east. They crossed two creeks and then turned north toward the lake. It continued to snow very fast. Our travelers homeward soon reached a place where the reeds were higher than a man's head, causing them to fear that they would lose their way ; but they had a small pocket compass which was of much service. Colwert Pier rode on the sled and carried the com- pass in his hand, while his brother Edward went as far ahead as he could be seen, being directed by Colwert on his course. About 4 o'clock, they came in sight of the lake, when it ceased snowing. They went on the lake a little east of where Taycheedah now is, when they soon dis- covered a team coming out of the timber cast of them. This proved to be Doty and his party, who soon joined the two others, and all went on together to where Stockbridge was afterward located. The two brothers (Colwert and Edward Pier) stopped with their friend, Timothy Jourdan again, returning to the bay next day. This ended the journey of the two brothers. It was their first visit to the head of the lake, was in itself not particularly noteworthy only in this -it led to the return, in a few months, to the head of the lake, of Colwert Pier, the first settler in Fond du Lac County.

FIRST SETTLEMENT IN FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

After the return of Colwert Pier and his brother, Edward Pier, to Green Bay, from their trip in February, 1836, to " spy out the land" at the head of Winnebago Lake, they met the Directors of the Fond du Lac Company, and made arrangements for each to have a quarter- section of their land, they being well satisfied with the country around the head of the lake. In addition to this, if the parents of the two brothers joined them, they were to have a quarter- section also, adjoining theirs. It was agreed that the two should move to Fond du Lac, that Colwert should open the "Fond du Lac House," as a tavern, and that both should improve their farms. In short, they were to commence the settlement of the lands of the Fond du Lac Com- pany, which would be the first settlement at the head of the lake.

Now that many of the hardy sons of toil who broke the wilds of Fond du Lac County and converted them into fruitful fields, who filled its towns and cities with many habitations, lie quietly in mother earth, their enterprising spirits having fled from the busy world around, those who enjoy what were once their possessions are curious to know of the vicissitudes of former days, and to learn the names of those who laid the foundations of those improvements which have been so largely instrumental in bringing this region to its present importance. And particularly

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

are they anxious to hold in remembrance the name of the first white settler in Fond du Lac County. The first of the pioneers-let it never be forgotten-was COLWERT PIER.

Sometime near the close of the month of May, Mr. Pier started on horseback from Green Bay, to go to Fond du Lac, to begin a settlement-the first in the county, . Ilis wife, in com- pany with a Mrs. Robean, a lady who had taken up a tract of land on the east side of Winnebago Lake, and was going there to settle, followed her husband in a Durham boat, commanded by Capt. Samuel Irwin, and propelled by Indians and half-breeds. The boat was loaded with merchandise, provisions and household goods, which were to be carried to Grand Kaukalau, Fond du Lac and other points. The custom then was where the water was deep in the Fox River, and sluggish, to propel with oars, and where there were more current and less depth, to use poles, until the rapids were reached, when the men got into the water, took hold of the boat and pushed it up against the current. In this way it was got up to the Grand Kaukalau.

At this point, all had to be unloaded and carried three-fourths of a mile, above the Rapids. This was usually done by Frenchmen and half-breeds, who resided in the vicinity, and had teams of some kind, while the boatmen forced the boat up the rapids. When this was done, the goods were re-loaded and the boat pushed up to the Grand Chute, near where Appleton now is. Here all the load had again to be taken out, the barrels rolled, and the other loading carried by the men, above the falls. A long cable was then made fast to the bow of the boat, then carried above the chute and put around a tree, while two men were stationed there to take up the slack as the others lifted the boat over and up to where the water was smooth again. The next stretch was to the outlet of Lake Winnebago, where one-half of the load had to be taken out and carried up to the lake, then the cable was made fast to the boat and the men forced it up the rapids.

While the party in the boat was on the way, there was a rumor of an Indian war circulated along the route. To this Capt. Irwin paid no attention until he ran into Fond du Lac River, when he met about seventy Indians upon the bank. Usually they were very talkative, but now for some cause all were silent ; not a word was exchanged between those on the boat and those on the land ; this was the more noticcable as, before, those that were met, whenever within speaking distance, communicated very freely. Capt. Irwin began to feel that really there might be some ground for the war rumor.

On the 6th day of June, 1836-a day ever to be held in remembrance by the people of Fond du Lac County as the one on which was commenced the first settlement-the boat reached the spot where had been raised the "Fond du Lac House," by the Fond du Lac Company, where Mrs. Pier had the satisfaction of greeting her husband, who had preceded her. The boat arrived about noon. just below where the railroad bridge now is, when the goods belonging to Mr. Pier were speedily put on shore, and Capt. Irwin was soon making his way, in his craft, down the river.

Said Capt. Irwin, subsequently : " I bade good-bye to Mrs. Pier with feelings not unmixed with sorrow. She endcared herself to all of us by her uniform kindness. She assisted us in our cooking, and cheered us by her looks and words through all the trying seenes of the nine days we were on the voyage. When we left her on the bank of the Fond du Lac River, a lone region, surrounded by hundreds of Indians, with no one but her husband to protect her. we all felt sad." "I have often thought," says a recent writer, " that if she had lived, her version of those times and those scenes would be of great interest to some of the ladies now living in the county. She once told me that when Capt. Irwin's boat was out of sight, and she and her husband were left alone-feeling that they constituted the only civil- ized inhabitants of the entire region-she sat down upon the ground and cried a considerable time. then wiping away her tears, she resolutely got up and walked to the house where her home was to be, and took a calm view of the surroundings. She found the log building to consist of three log cabins united : there was an open hall between the dining-room and sitting-room, and a kitchen in the rear, the floor of which had been laid by her husband after his arrival, but pre- vious to her coming. He had also put in two windows and a door. . My husband tried to soothe and comfort me, but I felt that he needed.' said she, 'some one to comfort him as well :

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

so I took hold, and helped him put up the stove, and I went about putting our house in as good condition as circumstances would permit.' Within half an hour, a squaw came in, and by signs, made Mrs. Pier understand that she wished to exchange some feathers for flour. These she pur- chased, and, as she afterward discovered, paid liberally for them, for, in half an hour, her room was filled with squaws wishing to ' swap ' feathers for pork. Her stock in trade consisted of one barrel of pork and two of flour. That afternoon she bought of the squaws feathers sufficient to make two good-sized feather beds, and paid for them in pork and flour."

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 49

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