The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 85

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

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These drawbacks are entirely lost sight of, however. when the city's many advantages are brought into comparison. On one side is Lake Winnebago, which furnishes fish, pure cool breezes and unlimited rafting and lumbering facilities ; on every block are perpetual fountains of pure cold water, sufficient for private use and fire purposes ; on the one side are lime-kilns and extensive stone quarries ; on another, forests of hard wood; on another, pits of sand ; on another, clay for the manufacture of bricks, and, stretching for miles back to the east, west,

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

south, northwest and northeast, is a larger section of rich, thiekly settled farming country than is tributary to any other eity in the State. On the whole, therefore, it would seem that the choice of location was the best that could have been made, for no other city possesses so many valuable advantages.

ABORIGINES.

The place where Fond du Lac stands was a favorite camping-ground for the Indians, owing to its beautiful location. It attraeted all comers at once, and was the site of several Indian villages of greater or less pretensions.

When the whites first came to Fond du Lac, ancient corn fields could be traced on either side of the river, and a short distance below where the La Belle Wagon Works now stand, on Forest street, was an Indian burial ground, from which bones have been taken in making exca- vations for building.

An Indian skull has been for some years in use as an emblem in the Knights of Honor Lodge, which was taken from another burial place on the high sandy point about equidistant from the foot of Harney street and Lake Winnebago. As the Indians never bury their dead except in the land of their fathers, and as the latest tribes occupying Fond du Lac came mostly for purposes of trading, rather than permanent occupation, these burial places must have been in use a great many years ago. A more beautiful place for the eternal rest of the dead could not have been chosen-the blue lake upon one side, the thickly wooded " Ledge " on the other ; the rich, green prairie, decked with nearly a hundred varieties of bright and fragrant wild flow- ers, stretching far away to the west and south on the other, with a river flowing between-made a picture exeelled nowhere in nature.

The latest. Indian occupants of the land on which Fond du Lac stands were the Menom- onees. They occupied the locality and the prairies in the vicinity as soon as the Winnebagoes left. The most harm these Indians ever did to the settlers was to steal a few pigs, a horse and a cow, and set fire to the prairies for the purpose of driving up game. They did not elaim to have any right to the country, but took possession simply because the Winnebagoes were gone. and the locality was a pleasing one. In 1839, the settlers had a meeting at Fond du Lac, at which the matter of setting fires by the Menomonees was discussed, and their leaders were told that the practice, which had become a costly annoyance by destroying fences, crops and timber. must be stopped, or the Government would be called upon to remove them. They set no more fires, and were soon after removed.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement of what is now the city of Fond du Lac was, as has already been shown, the first settlement of the county.

We have seen how, in June, 1836, Colwert Pier and family became the first settlers : how they were followed in March, 1837, by Edward Pier and his family ; how, soon after, other members of the Pier family arrived in the infant settlement; and how, on the 1st day of March, 1838, the relatives were called to mourn the death of Fanny, wife of Colwert Pier, the pioneer woman of Fond du Lac County, and of what is now the city of Fond du Lac. On the 3d day of that month, while the few mourners were at the grave of the departed, John Bannister, a surveyor, came from Green Bay to Fond du Lac with his family. He lived a short time (about a year) in the Company's log house, and then moved to a place south and outside of the present city limits.

About the 12th of April, 1838, Dr. Mason C. Darling arrived from Sheboygan, having been in the settlement a few weeks before. As Dr. Darling was very prominent in the early history of Fond du Lac, it will be interesting to know how and why he came here. He was, previous to 1838, a poor man, with a small praetiee as a physician at Sheboygan. The Fond du Lac Company was anxious to have people settle where the village had been platted, as rapidly as possible, in order to get the tide of immigration turned in this direction. Gov. Doty, as Trustee for the Company, therefore, thinking a physician and surgeon necessary, on May 21, 1838, consummated a contract with Dr. Darling, which agreed to exchange Lots 22, 37, 42, 43,

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

44 and 45, situated near the river, in what is now " Lower Town ; " eighty acres of land in what is now the heart of the city, and a large tract in the town of Fond du Lac, for his office in She- boygan ; provided, that he should build a house on the large tract, now within the confines of the city, cultivate it as a farm, and build and put in motion the Clark saw-mill in the town of Fond du Lac, then commenced. The tract, which the contract required should be made a place of residence and cultivated as a farm, embraced all the land lying within a line drawn from the corner of Forest and Union streets south to Western Avenue, thence east on Western Avenue and between Fourth and Fifth streets to Ellis street ; thence north on Ellis to Gillet and west through R. A. Baker's bank and on Forest to the corner of Forest and Union streets, and con- taining eighty acres. The proviso contained in the contract that Dr. Darling should live on this eighty and " cultivate it as a farm" was to prevent its being cut up into village lots and sold in competition with the Fond du Lac Company's land adjoining. This contract seems to have been satisfactorily fulfilled at the beginning, for, soon after, the mill spoken of was in operation and Dr. Darling had a warranty deed of all the land promised him by the company.

In a short time, however, Dr. Darling, having a few shares in the stock of the Fond du Lac Company, sued in chancery for a division of property. This suit, which tied up all the land the title of which lay in the Company, was brought before Judge A. G. Miller at Green Bay, Feb- ruary 19, 1844. The suit was not decided until the first Monday in October, 1845, during which time Dr. Darling was buying land in what is now the south part of the city, dividing it into smaller parcels and selling or giving it away to those who would agree to build thereon, thus advancing the value of the eighty given him by the Company, while the value of the Company's village plat in what is now " lower " and " middle " Fond du Lac, remained station- ary. The Master in Chancery decided February 28, 1844, that, pending the suit, no more land belonging to the Fond du Lac Company should be sold or deeded, which was no sooner done than Dr. Darling gave to the county the tract of land on which the Court House now stands, with the proviso that a county building should be erected thereon at once. This, together with the suit in chancery and the gifts to attract settlers, of several village lots, turned immigra- tion to the vicinity of Dr. Darling's property, and secured the location of the county seat and village where the city now is.

But to return to the matter of Dr. Darling's first settlement in Fond du Lac : On the 14th of June his wife arrived with her three children-Keyes A., Helen M. and Louie Darling. They were brought from Calumet, where they had just arrived from Sheboygan, by Gustave de Neveu and A. D. Clark, on the lake in a large yawl made by Mr. Clark-the first one ever built in Fond du Lac, which Mr. de Neveu had purchased for $40. The boat also con- tained A. T. Denniston and his family of a wife and two children (whom Mr. de Neveu had hired at Oshkosh to manage his farm), and Mrs. May (whose husband was found dead in the town of Calumet a few days later), and her son, a child two years of age. A heavy storm drove the boat to Taycheedah, from which place all had to walk to Fond du Lac, a distance of three miles. Mr. de Neveu lost his hat in the storm, and it was a matter of wonder afterward that the boat, which contained twelve persons, was not swamped and its precious burden lost.

Dr. Darling lived in the Company's log house but a short time before he had erected another house where Darling's Block now stands, corner of First and Main streets, and opened it as a temperance hotel. The next year, learning the date at which John Bannister's lease of the Fond du Lac Ilouse-as the Company's house was then called-would expire, he went on horse- back to Green Bay and rented it. He thereupon became John Bannister's successor as Post- master, and as soon as Mr. Bannister's time was out, moved the post office to his own building and closed up and locked the Company's house. He also gave at that time, to his own hotel and residence, the name of the " Fond du Lac House." This has caused confusion as to where the Fond du Lac House was located-some maintaining it was at the corner of Brooke and Rees streets and others that it was on the corner of Main and First streets. Both are right, as there were two public houses by that name. The old Fond du Lac House was not kept closed very long ; but Dr. Darling gained his point and got the post office moved to his portion of the settlement.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

From this time on, settlers began to arrive, in too large numbers to make it practicable to follow out particularly the hardships and success of each. Properly, their history would not belong to the village or city of Fond du Lac ; for, although most of them came directly to the set- tlement and remained at the hotels or with some private family for a few weeks or months, many of them pushed out upon the prairies beyond the present city limits, to establish homes as soon as they could.

VILLAGE OF FOND DU LAC.

On Monday, March 1, 1847, agreeably to previous notice, the inhabitants of the settle- ment of Fond du Lac held a meeting for the purpose of adopting or rejecting the charter for a village corporation previously prepared and passed by the Legislature. At 11 o'clock A. M., the meeting was called to order by the election of Mason C. Darling, Moderator, and J. J. Driggs, Clerk. The vote was taken by ballot, and resulted in 49 votes for the adoption of the charter, and 11 for rejection. The charter was declared adopted, and an election immediately ordered for the choice of village officers. This resulted in the election of Mason C. Darling, President ; John A. Eastman, Moses S. Gibson, T. L. Gillett, Isaac Brown, S. S. N. Fuller and J. J. Driggs, Trustees ; E. W. Drury, Treasurer ; W. A. Dewey, Clerk, and O. S. Wright, Constable. On the 7th of April, these officers had a meeting, took the oath of office, and appointed M. C. Darling, Isaac Brown and S. S. N. Fuller a committee to prepare " a code of by-laws for the village," and T. L. Gillet, S. S. N. Fuller, J. A. Eastman, J. J. Driggs and M. S. Gibson were made a committee to draft and report ordinances for the village of Fond du Lac.

The second election of village officers was held at the Cottage Inn, where the American House now stands, corner Main and Court streets, March 6, 1848, and had to be adjourned to the next day on account of a tie vote between M. S. Gibson, A. D. Bonesteel and Cornelius . Davis, for Trustees. The number of votes cast the second day was 97, and A. D. Bonesteel and Edgar Conklin were elected. After that. for a few months, the Board of Trustees had regular and special meetings in rapid succession to wrestle with the question of whether Western avenue should be opened and sidewalks built. Finally, in March, 1848, it was resolved to have " cross walks." This resolution was hailed with delight by the muddy-booted burghers, but the walks were slow in being built. Some idea of the progress made may be had from a paragraph in one of the local papers of May, 1848, which, said : "Only think of it! Scarce three months have passed since the ordinance was passed to construct sidewalks, and full one-tenth of the work is now completed. At this rate, this grand, extensive improvement will be finished in the unparalleled short space of two and one-half years from the date of its commencement !"

The third election for village officers was held at the Court House, March 5, 1849. The manner of conducting these elections, of which a record was made by Samuel Ryan, would be entirely novel, if not beneficial, at the present day. E. W. Davis was chosen Moderator, and Samuel Ryan, Clerk, both of whom were solemnly sworn to do their duty, fear God, and sup- port the Constitution of the State and the United States. In March, 1851, the village fathers had grown so thrifty that an ordinance was passed compelling every lecturer to pay a license of $1 to the City Clerk, no matter on what subject the lecture might be. This was considered an outrage by itinerant orators, and was frequently evaded by declaring that the matter to be delivered was a sermon and not a lecture. Concerts, shows and exhibitions were granted licenses upon payment of from $3 to $20.

A writer, in the spring of 1847, thus speaks of the village : "Within three years has sprung up, as if by magic, our thriving village of 400 inhabitants, where three years ago stood a soli- tary log house. We have two taverns, four stores, two groceries, three blacksmith-shops, three tailor-shops, one cooper-shop, one wagon-shop, one harness-shop, one fanning-mill shop. two tin- shops, two cabinet-shops, three shoe-shops. one jeweler's-sliop, etc., etc. As yet we have no pub- lic buildings, but the Court House and Jail are in process of erection. A grist-mill is now in course of building. Heretofore, a great inconvenience has been felt on account of a lack of lum- ber and building materials, but there will be less difficulty this season, as we have one steam

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

and one water saw-mill in operation-but the demand is very great. There are now in course of building, or to be commenced in the course of a few weeks, some thirty dwelling-houses, and to these there are to be added several stores and offices.

" The legal profession is well supplied. We have seven practicing lawyers. We have but two practicing physicians. We have also three resident clergymen. As yet there are no churches ; it is contemplated, however, to build two or three during the season.

" The village is built on land heretofore owned by Dr. Darling, and has been confined to his purchase, owing to the unwillingness or inability of the Fond du Lac Company to make sales. During the last season, however, the lands adjoining the town [village] were thrown into the market, and were purchased by different individuals. Lots can be purchased to suit settlers, at reasonable prices, either for places of business or private dwellings. The country round about is of the most fertile soil, and the land generally taken.

" Our population is chiefly from New England and Western New York, and of such a char- acter as to invite the stranger to come and dwell among us."

Says another writer the same year : " We were not aware, until the last week, of the num- ber of buildings which are now in a state of forwardness, or under contract to be erected in this place this season. Upon inquiring, we find that arrangements have already been made for erect- ing nearly one hundred buildings, among which will be two, if not three, churches ; a large and commodious court house, one or more public schoolhouses, besides stores, mechanios' shops and dwellings. Measures are being taken to form a company for the purpose of supplying the vill- age with pure and wholesome water, from the beautiful spring on the farm of Col. Conklin, by means of a water-line pipe and reservoir. The distance is about three miles. The annals of Wisconsin cannot show a village which has sprung up with greater rapidity, or that exhibits a greater degree of prosperity and enterprise than Fond du Lac."

A writer, on the 22d of September of the following year, says: " The prosperity of Fond du Lac is steadily advancing, and it promises soon to become one of the most thriving inland towns [villages ] of the Territory. Several commodions buildings are being erected. Mr. Hebert's new hotel [the building now called the City Hotel] will be a splendid structure when finished- it is 50 feet long by 40 wide, three stories high, and will be surmounted by a commodious observatory. The frame of the new Court House was raised last week. It is a mag- nificent structure, and will be finished in a becoming style by Mr. Isaac Brown, the enterprising

contractor. It is three stories high-the basement of stone to be used as a jail. This is the only building in the place which should remain tenantless. May the owls and bats, cats and rats, forever revel in the halls of its basement."

A Vermonter, who afterward became a prominent citizen of the city of Fond du Lac, sent the following doggerel to the Burlington, Vt., Free Press, in August, 1847, which was freely used by the Green Mountain newspaper publishers to prevent emigration to Wisconsin :

" Great western waste of bottom land, Flat as pancake, rich as grease ! Where gnats are full as big as toads, And skeeters are as big as geese ! "Oh. lonesome, windy, grassy place, Where buffaloes and snakes prevail ; The first with dreadful-looking faee, The last with dreadful-sounding tail.

" I'd rather live on camel's rump, And be a Yankee-doodle beggar, Than where they never see a stump And shake to death with fever 'n ager." -

In August, 1849, the inhabitants were startled with the passage and posting of an ordi- nance declaring that after that time chimneys of brick or stone must be built in all houses. This was regarded by many of the villagers as an unwarranted usurpation of power, and they put forth the opinion that they could build fires under their beds if they wished, or burn down their

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shanties without the consent of an upstart village council. But the war on the resolution of the " upstart council," as the village board of trustees was sarcastically named, soon came to an end, and all new houses were built with chimneys.

No election was held for village officers in the spring of 1850. The necessity for one liad been entirely overlooked. This omission was the butt of numberless gibes by the press of the Northwest. .

The village officers elected for 1848. and at subsequent meetings until the city was incor- porated, were as follows :

Presidents .- George McWilliams, 1848 ; J. Bannister, 1849: Isaac Brown, 1851; D. R. Curran, 1852.

Trustees .- John C. Lewis, John Bannister, Isaac Brown and J. J. Driggs, 1848; A. D. Bonesteel, M. L. Noble, Isaac Brown and George Williams, 1849; Quartus M. Olcott, C. J. Goss, M. L. Noble, E. Perkins, M. C. Darling and David R. Curran, 1851; W. A. Dewey, F. D. McCarty, E. H. Galloway, G. F. Brownson, J. B. Wilbor and J. Q. Griffith, 1852.

Treasurers .- Isaac Brown, 1848, resigned March 11, and Selim Newton, appointed his successor : William Farnsworth, 1849; John Bonnell, 1851; Horace W. Newton, 1852.

Clerks .- A. L. Williams, 1848; O. S. Wright, 1849-51, resigned July 29 of that year, and A. W. Paine was appointed in his stead ; A. H. Boardman, 1852.

Constables .- Z. L. Chapman, 1848-49 ; Charles McCarty, 1851; N. C. King, 1852.

CITY OF FOND DU LAC INCORPORATED.

The village of Fond du Lac was incorporated as a city in April, 1852. The charter, pre- viously passed by the Legislature, established the boundaries and divided the territory into two wards, as it had been before. In 1869, a strip of land forty rods wide was added on the west and south sides of the city, and eighty rods on the east side, except on the northeast corner, which left Luco outside of the city.

The description of the city now is as follows: All that district of country included in the west half of Section 2 and the west half of the east half of Section 2; all of Section 3; the east half of the east half and the east half of the west half of the east half of Section 4; the east half of the east half and the east half of the west half of the east half of Section 9; all of Section 10; the west half of Section 11; the west half of the east half of Section 11; the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 11; all of Sections 14 and 15; the east half of the east half and the east half of the west half of the east half of Section 16; the north halt of the north half of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the north- west quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 21: the north half of the north half of the north half of Section 22; and the north half of the north half of the north half of Section 23, in Town 15 north, of Range 17 east, in the Menasha land district.

When first incorporated as a city, there were two wards, called the North and South Wards, as the village had been divided when incorporated, which form continued for a year, when the two wards were made three. In 1854, the city was re-districted, and five wards were erected. These five wards remained intact until the spring of 1875, when they were erected into eight wards, the present number. The city is governed by a Common Council, consisting of the Mayor and three Aldermen from each ward, only two of whom can vote in Council meetings. Aldermen are elected one at a time in each ward, and hold office three years, but they are entitled to no vote the first year after election. The other officers are a Comptroller, whose salary is $300 per year; a City Attorney, whose salary is $550 per year, both elected by the Council ; a City Treasurer, whose salary is $800, who is elected by popular ballot every spring ; a City Clerk, elected annually by the Council, whose salary is now $600 per annum, though it has been higher ; a Superintendent of Schools, elected by the Board of Education, whose salary is $500 per annum : a Chief of Police, elected by the Council, whose salary is $600 per annum ; a Chief Fire Marshal, elected by the Council, whose salary is $250 per annum ; a

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City Surveyor, elected by the Council, whose salary is $2 per day for actual service ; a Side- walk Superintendent, who is appointed by the Council, whose salary is $450 per year, and a Board of Education, consisting of one Commissioner from each ward, elected annually by the Council. By an amendment of February 9, 1880, the Board of Health was abolished, and one Health Officer is now appointed by the Council for one year, in its place. The same amend- ment gave the City Council power to appoint a Poor Commissioner, a Purchasing Agent and a Sealer of Weights and Measures.

The city has Constables and Justices of the Peace the same as any town, but no municipal or Police Judge. There have been, since 1877, three Justices of the Peace elected at large. They have jurisdiction over all the minor criminal cases brought before them by the police, and hold office two years.

All policemen are appointed by the Council. Their pay is $35 per month, with no fees for serving papers of any kind. The city now has only five policemen besides the Chief, but there is an agitation in favor of increasing this number.

The Board of Public Works was abolished by an amendment to the charter. and, by another amendment, which took effect in 1879, three Assessors are now elected at large, instead of one from each ward.

In 1879, the entire city charter was revised by a committee appointed by the Council, but, when it had been passed by the Legislature, it was discovered that the city had no Second Ward-at least none in the charter. This was rectified by the Legislature of 1880.

At the beginning of 1880, each Alderman was made a Poor Commissioner, but the exper- iment proved so disastrously burdensome in a financial sense, that a special act was passed, as before noted, to provide for the election of a Poor Commissioner and a Purchasing Agent.

CITY OFFICERS, 1852-1879.

Mayors .- M. C. Darling, 1852: George McWilliams, 1853; Isaac Brown, 1854: M. C. Darling. 1855; D. E. Hoskins, 1856; Isaac S. Sherwood, 1857 ; John Bannister, 1858; John Potter, 1859; E. H. Galloway, 1860: J. M. Taylor, 1861: A. D. Bonesteel, 1862-63; J. M. Taylor, 1864-65; James Sawyer, 1866: W. H. Hiner, 1867; C. J. L. Meyer, 1868: John Nichols, 1869; T. J. Patchin, 1870; E. N. Foster, 1871-72: Alexander McDonald, 1873: H. H. Dodd, 1874: G. W. Lusk, 1875-76; C. A. Galloway, 1877: Orin Hatch, 1878; S. S. Bowers, 1879.

Treasurers .- J. M. Taylor, 1852; E. H. Galloway, 1853-54: William A. Dewey, 1855; John Petit, 1856-57: C. L. Pierce, 1858; T. S. Henry, 1859; R. Ebert, 1860-61-62; Louis Rupp, 1863; R. Ebert, 1864; J. H. Clum, 1865-66-67: R. Ebert, 1868-69; Edward Col- man, 1870-71; John S. Burrows, 1872-73; J. C. Perry, 1874-75; John Spence, 1876-77; Byron Town, 1878; J. C. Pierron, 1879.

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 85

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