The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 73

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

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It was then thought that the West afforded opportunities for gratification in this direction, and Mr. Starr, therefore, determined to emigrate to that section, which he did, landing at Keno- sha, Wis., June 13, 1843. Not finding anything as anticipated, Mr. Starr opened a select school in Kenosha, July 5. of that year, in which were taught Latin and Greek, and all the higher English branches. Here he remained nearly two years. Early in 1845, he removed to Ceresco, now Ripon, where he opened a school, which was abandoned soon after for mercantile pur- suits. In these he was wholly successful, as he was in managing the large farming and lumber- ing operations, in which he engaged later, and to which he gave some attention up to the time of his death.

Mr. Starr was married to Mrs. Annie Clark, at Ripon, Wis., on the 12th of December, 1857. His wife and one son, William James, survive him.

Mr. Starr was the second Postmaster of Ripon, holding his commission until March, 1850. He was a member of the Legislature in 1863-64, and also held various town and county offices, the duties of which were attended to with care and fidelity. He sought no offices, but always took a deep interest and an active part in all matters pertaining to local and State govern- ment and to the choice of public servants. His greatest labor, however, was in the educational work of Ripon and Wisconsin, to which were devoted many of the best years of his life. A co-worker with Mr. Starr pays this tribute to his usefulness in that field of labor :

"In his connection with the Board of Regents of Normal Schools, he performed the most useful and lasting work of his life. He was appointed a member of this board in 1864, and three years after was elected its President. To this honorable and responsible office he was chosen annually thereafter by his associate Regents. His insight into educational problems and methods ; his rare abilities as a business man ; his careful and courteous regard for the opinions and preferences of others ; his habits of close and independent thinking ; his accurate judgment and his stern integrity of character, all qualified him for his leading position in the management of our normal-school enterprises, which must be classed among the most distinguished and suc- cessful movements ever inaugurated by our State. It would not be appropriate in this article to describe the chaotic condition of the initial efforts of the State to create a normal-school sys- tem, when he became a member of the Board. We have not the time even to outline the opera- tions of this Board for the past fourteen years in maintaining yearly our institute work, in the organization of the four Normal Schools, in the judicious expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in the support of them, and in employing their Faculties and supervising their instruc- tion and the progress of their pupils. A large share of this varied and difficult work fell to

GEN. G. Sutherland

FOND DU LAC.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

him. His family state that he gave at least one-half of his time during all these years in atten- tion to the duties of his position. He conducted for the Normal School Board an extensive correspondence ; he attended all the meetings of the Regents, as well as those of several of the important committees, serving generally as their chairman ; he frequently conferred with the Presidents and other teachers of the schools ; he visited them quite often, and inspected minutely their operations. His knowledge of every part of this gigantic system was complete and accu - rate. Quiet in his demeanor, modest in all his opinions, and never forward in presenting his plans, scarcely was a measure of any importance ever acted upon by the Board or its committees without consulting with him or without obtaining his approval. Few persons know so well as the older members of this Board how much the present efficiency of and the past success of our Normal Schools are due to his labors and judgment. I apprehend that none of us ever fully com- prehended how great was the inmost satisfaction of his heart in witnessing the beginning and growth of school after school, and in supplying the means of high culture to so many youth in the State, who would be subsequently employed as teachers in our public schools. Several times in the past year, as I have conversed with him in reference to some feature of the schools, the work of some teachers therein, and the attainments of some classes under their instruction, I have seen the large tears start in his deep-set eyes and roll down his undemonstrative face.

" His character is so well known to the teachers of the State that I need not describe at length its traits. His interest in the passing events of the day was peculiarly prominent. On the railroad trains, at the hotels, and in his own home, unless employed by pressing duties, you would find him reading carefully the daily newspapers. While prostrated in his last illness, his entreaties to the attending physician to be permitted to examine the latest papers were really distressing. His love for some of the best works in our literature was permanent. He even cultivated the poetical spirit, and composed at different periods of his life some exquisite verses, showing remarkable smoothness of rhythm, deep and earnest feeling, and the most refined senti- ments. His hatred of pretention and sham, and of duplicity and meanness, was prompt and crushing in its expression. His self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice in the administration of our Normal Schools were admirable. Associated with him for ten years in this work, I do not remember a single act or suggestion of his which could be interpreted as selfish. His judgment of men and their conduct was profound and just. A lady of culture and high social standing who was thoroughly acquainted with him said, while lamenting his death : 'I would prefer to have submitted to him above all human beings I have ever known, all the thoughts and acts of my life, and to abide by his decision.' He was thoughtful and independent in the formation of opinions, and possessed some of the dignity of an apostle and the firmness of a martyr in main- taining his ideas of right and duty. He required in all workings under his supervision the most conscientious fidelity, and he exhibited that exalted integrity in private and public life which was the natural fruit of a cultivated, pure, noble and upright spirit."

The subject of this sketch died at his home in Ripon April 18. 1879. He was buried on Sunday, April 20, 1879, under the Episcopal burial ritual, of which Church he had been, since 1862, a faithful and devout member. He was taken ill while absent from home attending to the duties of his office, thus literally dying in the harness ; and was buried within a few rods of his beautiful home and the college in which he had taken such a deep interest.

AN INDIAN SCARE.

In September, 1862, when everybody was thrilled with horror over the terrible Minnesota massacre, and trembling with apprehension lest similar outbreaks should occur in other localities, the cry was raised, no one can tell where or by whom, that the " Indians were coming." Sev- eral parties had recently returned from the Minnesota massacre, and their stories of those bloody scenes had been repeated, thought over and exaggerated by the people, until the very atmosphere seemed to be filled with apprehensions, and everything was ripe for just such an ungovernable stampede as followed. During a still night, in the month just mentioned, the

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

sleeping but apprehensive inhabitants of the city of Fond du Lac were startled by the entry of scores of teams driven at headlong speed and loaded with men and women shouting, "The Indians are coming !" "The stream of rattling vehicles began to enter the city from the direction of Taycheedah, but before morning they were pouring in from all directions and in all condi- tions. It was a scene of the utmost fright, confusion, apprehension and downright fear. Repu- table men, breathless and convulsed with fright, rushed in with blood-curdling stories of what they had seen. Those coming from one direction said Pipe Village was burned; others saw Trel- even's mill in ashes ; others had seen the yelling savages setting fire to grain-stacks in the town of Byron, and Lamartine was swarming with red men who were burning and butchering indis- criminately as they swept toward the city. Everybody was frightened, wild, crazy, foolish. No story was too unreasonable for credence-in fact the more horrible and unreasonable the in-com- ing reports were, the more eagerly the crazed populace seized upon them as true. There were in the city of Fond du Lac, on that wild, dusty September day, at least two thousand persons who had seen " Indians " in all the surrounding towns, and beheld grain-stacks, barns. houses and mills in ashes. Business was entirely suspended and people were buying fire-arms, fortify - ing houses, and running wildly about with horrible and unfounded stories to help others' fears. At T. S. Weeks' gun-shop several persons were employed to sell fire-arms as rapidly as called for, and every iron with a hole in it was sold for whatever price first came into the minds of the clerks. Every hotel was crowded; the streets were literally jammed with teams, wagons, buggies and vehicles of every conceivable sort. Ox teams were goaded by hatless farmers over the roads at their ntmost speed, entering the city with distended eyes and parched tongues loll- ing out. The men took turns at the whip to urge their frightened but exhausted horses at still greater speed, while half-dressed women and crying children clung to the bounding vehicles. The sick were hustled in their beds into the lumber wagons, and jolted in the most reckless manner to the city at the highest attainable speed. Some thrifty farmers loaded bureaus into their wagons ; some brought along the best cow, and some hurried away with parcels of worth- less household furniture, leaving valuables behind. No one stopped to eat, and the bruised and jolted children were crying about the streets for food. A cloud of dust hung over the city, and all the roads leading into it, and the smoke from several fallows was indubitable proof to the wild-eyed throngs that the savages were applying their torches as they advanced. Finally, as the burden of proof seemed to indicate that the Indians were advancing in the direction of Calumet, a party was sent out to make a reconnoissance. They reached Pipe Village by the exercise of rare skill in dodging the scores of teams that were rushing wildly toward the city, and finding there an individual who understood the art of drawing beer, went on a spree and did not return for two or three days.

Out in a field on the "Waupun Road," a half-blood Indian was chopping. He worked steadily on for an hour, but finally the headlong rush of teams and people toward the city wrought upon his imagination until he was as thoroughly frightened as his white brethren, and, with ax in hand, ran toward the road to beg for a ride to some place of safety. This was more than the fleeing pale-faces could bear. Here was a real Indian-bare-headed, armed with an ax and on the run ! The foaming steeds were more desperately lashed in the increased frenzy of fear, and the poor redskin, more thoroughly frightened than ever, got no ride.

Finally the " scare " died out, as it had nothing whatever but imagination to feed upon ; but the ludicrous incidents which transpired during that memorable day would make a book of respectable proportions. The hungry, dusty, exhausted crowds returned home. most of them declaring they had " just started " for the post office, or to buy snuff, or tea, or groceries, when they heard the Indians were coming ! Everybody felt sheepish enough after the affair was all over, but gathered bravely on the corners and related how they never felt the least bit of appre- hension. In the mean time, the gun-shop proprietors counted their money and went East to replenish their exhausted stock of fire-arms and ammunition.

There was no foundation for the various rumors afloat at that time, and all rational theories utterly failed to account for the indescribable scene of confusion, fright and excitement that.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

ensucd, as it was well known to all that a thousand Indian warriors could not have been mus- tered in the whole State. At the same time, people from every direction reported that thousands of savages had fallen upon their particular neighborhoods. But Fond du Lac County was not alone the afflicted. The malaria of fright reached every town and village in the State, and even invaded the brave precincts of the Capitol at Madison, the Governor ordering the Milwaukee militia to march to the rescue of surrounding villages, which was done, thereby affording mate- rial for many a gibe in the newspapers.

There are to this day scores of rusty guns and pistols hidden away in Fond du Lac County, which have not seen light since that memorable September day, and which will remain in their secure retreats until the men who bought them at ruinous figures have gone the way of all the earth.

FIRST THINGS.

The first political meeting ever held in Fond du Lac County convened at the Fond du Lac House, September 10, 1838, for the purpose of deliberating in regard to the organization of the county.

The first house, already described, was built in March, 1836, of logs, by the Fond du Lac Company, at what is now the corner of Brooke and Rees streets in the city of Fond du Lac.

The first death, which has previously been mentioned, was that of Fanny, wife of Colwert Pier, which occurred March 1, 1838. At her burial, which was the first in the county, Rev. Cutting Marsh, a missionary to the Brothertown Indians, pronounced the first funeral sermon.

The first frame house was built on what is now known as the Phillips' farm on Section 7 in the town of Empire, in 1838, by James Duane Doty.

The first birth was that of John A. Bannister, which occurred in the town of Fond du Lac, June 20, 1839.

The first religious sermon was preached in the log house belonging to Dr. Mason C. Dar- ling in the settlement where Fond du Lac now stands, by Rev. Jesse Halstead, a Methodist, on November 17, 1839.

The first nominating convention was held at the raising of B. F. Smith's log house in Byron woods, in July, 1839. Three county commissioners, a treasurer and a register were nominated.

The second white child born in Fond du Lac County was Harriet La Borde; the third John Denniston's girl : the fourth Matilda de Neveu, and the fifth and sixth (twins) C. K. Pier and Mrs. H. R. Skinner.

The first election was held August 6, 1839, when county officers were elected. There was but one ticket in the field, and ballots were written on pieces of paper of various sizes and colors. The first marriage was that of Alonzo Raymond to Miss Harriet Pier, September 26, 1838, the ceremony being performed by John Bannister, a Justice of the Peace.

The first bridge was built by soldiers from Fort Winnebago in the fall of 1836, across the East Branch of the Fond du Lac River near Forest street. This was a real " stringer " bridge. A few weeks before, the same soldiers made a " log way " over Seven Mile Creek in Lamartine ; , over Rock River in Springvale and Grand River in Metomen.

The first physician was Dr. Mason C. Darling, who arrived in June, 1838.

The first lawyer was Stephen S. N. Fuller, who came from Great Bend, Penn., in 1843.

The first transaction of business pertaining to county government was at the house of Dr. M. C. Darling on the 9th of October, 1839.

The first dwelling-house built by an actual settler was of logs on the Pier farm in the town of Fond du Lac, by Edward Pier, early in 1837. It was the second building of any kind in the county. The third building and second built by an actual settler was by George White in 1837, in the town of Calumet.

The first cow was brought from Green Bay by Edward Pier in 1838. The first pigs were purchased of the Brothertown Indians in the fall of 1837. They were stolen by the Indians. No pork raised by the settlers was eaten by them until early in 1839.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

The first schoolhouse was built early in 1842, in what is now the village of Taycheedah.

In May, 1845, the Baptists organized a church society, and in July of the same year the Congregationalists organized a society under Rev. Stephen Peet.

The first grist or flouring mill was built by Henry Conklin in 1841-42, on Section 7 in the town of Empire. The first saw-mill was begun late in 1837 by a Mr. Drake and another, and finished in 1838 by Dr. M. C. Darling, on Section 16, which is now just within the city limits of Fond du Lac.

The first newspaper was the Journal, by Henning & Hooker, issued September 14, 1846, at Fond du Lac. It was Democratic.

The first bank was that of Darling, Wright & Co., and the first bank of issue that of McRea, Bell & Butler, which issued notes in 1852.

The first steamboat that touched at Fond du Lac was the Manchester, in 1842, commanded by Capt. S. Iloughtalling.

The first steam saw-mill was built at Fond du Lac by Davis & Ruggles in 1846.

The first daily paper was the Herald, at Fond du Lac, published by Royal Buck in 1854.

The first hotel was the "Fond du Lac House," by Colwert Pier, opened in 1836 at Fond du Lac. The second was also called the " Fond du Lac House," opened at Fond du Lac in 1838 by Dr. M. C. Darling. Both were of logs.

The first school was taught by a Miss Harriet Harding, from Hingham, Mass., in 1840, in Edward Pier's log residence, just south of the present limits of Fond du Lac City.

The first drug store was opened by David R. Curran, late in 1846, at Fond du Lac.

The first fountain was discovered by Theodore Conkey, on the corner of Main street and Western avenue, in the city of Fond du Lac, in the summer of 1846.

In 1839, Rev. Jesse Halstead formed at Taycheedah, with Francis McCarty as " leader," the first religious class.

In 1838, as already noted. a post office was established at Fond du Lac. The first mail was brought to the place February 5 of that year. The mail was carried for some time, once in two weeks, from Green Bay, by a half-blood Indian, on foot. Colwert Pier was the first Postmaster, but was succeeded the following year by Dr. M. C. Darling.

The first cheese in Fond du Lac County, made by a resident, was the work of Mrs. Reuben Simmons, in the summer of 1840, when, besides doing all the housework, cutting and making clothes for a family of seven, and assisting in milking, she made a cheese weighing from thirty to fifty pounds each day, only having the assistance of a girl some six weeks.

The first coroner's inquest, or such an imitation of one as could be had without legal forms or printed statutes, was held in the latter part of June, 1838, over the body of a Mr. May, whose wife, now deceased, afterward became the wife of Joseph King, now of Fond du Lac. Mr. May, who was a large, powerful man, had been engaged by Dr. Darling to come to Fond du Lac and operate the saw-mill, afterward known as the Clark mill in the town of Fond du Lac, and had started on foot from Green Bay. He ate breakfast at Wright's Hotel, in what is now Wrightstown, Brown Co., with G. de Neveu, now living in the town of Empire. He then ate but little and his voice sounded hollow and husky. He walked like one under a great burden of weariness, getting on slowly, calling for water, of which he drank unusual quantities, at nearly every house in Stockbridge. Ile walked still more heavily and wearily at Stockbridge, as though cach succeeding step must be the last, and three days afterward was found dead against a tree by Narcisse Baudoin, a mail carrier, in Section 3, town of Taycheedah. As Baudoin was passing along he discovered a scent in the air which he recognized as putrefying flesh, and on making a search found the dead man in an advanced state of decomposition, owing to the scalding heat of the June sun, to which the corpse was fully exposed. He told his story at Fond du Lac, and Dr. Darling, Luke La Borde, and others mostly Indians, went to the spot, when, with Mr. White, of the town of Calumet, something like an inquest was held. Mr. May's watch and papers were found and identified, and the body buried where it was found, as it could not be removed. His hands were stained with strawberries, showing his last earthly

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

refreshment to have been this delicious wild fruit, which grew in profusion in the vicinity of where the body was found. This was the second death and second burial of a white person in what is now Fond du Lac County. Mrs. May, his wife, had reached Fond du Lac Village a few days previous to his lonely death.

The first deed known to have been executed for land lying within the present limits of Fond du Lac County, was a deed of quit-claim, dated JJuly 30, 1835, from Peter Paquette and Therese, his wife, to Barley Follett, all of Brown County, in consideration of $1,000-convey- ing " all that section, parcel and tracts of land situate, lying and being on the River Fond du Lac, near the southern extremity of Lake Winnebago, known and designated by the survey made by the United States as Section 10, of Township 15 north, and Range 17 east." This deed was acknowledged on the 17th day of August, 1835, before M. L. Martin, Notary Public. It conveyed 640 acres of land, the south half of which now lies in the heart of the city of Fond du Lac. The first deed recorded in Brown County, of land lying in what is now the county of Fond du Lac, was dated two days subsequent to the one just mentioned. It is as follows :

Know all men by these presents : That I, Louise Jarvis. of Green Bay, in the County of Brown and Territory of Michigan, in consideration of the sum of one hundred dollars to me in hand paid by Maxim Garvies, of the same place. the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, have bargained, sold and quit-claimed, and by these presents do bargain, sell and quit-claim unto the said Maxim Garvies and to his heirs and assigns forever, all my right, title, interest, estate, claim and demand, both at law and in equity, and as well in possession as in expectancy of, in and to, all that certain piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being, in the County of Brown, and Territory aforesaid, bounded and described as follows, to wit: On the east side of Winnebago Lake, being the undivided one-fourth part of lots numbered one and two, in the northeast quarter of Section 27 (twenty-seven), in Township 17 (seventeen), north of Range 18 (eighteen) east, in the Green Bay Land District, and containing seventy-eight and eleven hun- dredths acres of land more or less, with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the first day of August, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five. her

LOUISE X JARVIS. mark

In presence of [the words, " the uudivided one-fourth part of," interlined in the fifteenth line before signing] SOLOMON JUNEAU, JOSEPH DICKINSON.

TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, COUNTY OF BROWN -- SS. Be it remembered, that on the first day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty- five, personally came before me the undersigned, the within-named Louise Jarvis, known to me, and acknowledged that she executed the within deed for the uses and purposes therein expressed.

JOSEPH DICKINSON, Justice of the Peace. Recorded on Saturday, the Ist of August, A. D. 1835, at 5 o'clock, P. M. A. I. IRWIN, Register.

POST OFFICES AND POSTMASTERS IN 1868.

Ashford, . R. Hemmenway ; New Cassel, F. M. Findeisen ; Newfane, H. Parsons ; New Prospect. Benjamin Romaine ; Byron, J. Noyes ; Calumet Harbor, Thomas Zweifel : Heinsberg. Henry Hilt; Marytown, M. Boergeous; Eden, Peter Vandervoort; Foster, Egbert Foster ; Junius, Z. G. Coppernoll ; Eldorado, Anton George ; Empire, George Meiklejohn ; Fond du Lac. R. M. Lewis ; Banner, C. A. Corbett; Dotyville, J. Hubbard; Van Dyne, William Lumley ; Lamartine, Albert Hodge : North Lamartine, William Abbs; Woodhull, D. R. Will- iams; Moria, Peter Shrager ; Brandon, B. F. Lockwood ; Fairwater, William C. Gillman ; Metomen, P. Gallagher ; Oakfield, N. Filbey : Oak Center, D. Hatch ; Armstrong's Corners, S. F. Armstrong ; Dundee, Otto Ehrmann ; Osceola, William Mitchell : Waucousta, J. D. Iding ; Ripon, D. McKercher ; Rosendale, H. I. Ackerman ; West Rosendale, G. L. Hammond ; Nanaupa, S. Wilkinson ; Taycheedah, John Preuss : North Taycheedah, D. Ripley : Waupnn, J. H. Brinkerhoff ; Ladoga. J. J. Davis.

POST OFFICES IN 1880.

Armstrong's Corners, Ashford, Banner, Brandon, Byron, Calumet Harbor, Calvary, Camp- bellsport, Dotyville, Dundee. Eden, Eldorado, Eldorado Mills, Elmore, Empire, Fairwater, Fond du Lac, Foster, Hinesberg, Ladoga, Lamartine. Malone, Marytown, Metomen, Mount

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 73

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