The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 99

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

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" It is the natural feeling of the human heart that it would lie down by the side of its kindred after it has ceased to beat : that one inclosure should garner its ashes. Our dust is sacred. In this cemetery we expect to bury our friends, and we expect they will bury us there. In those sacred shades now rest the remains of its founder. N. P. Tallmadge died in the month of November, 1864, and was interred upon the spot selected and beautified during his life. There he sleeps by the side of his wife and sons who had gone before ; distinguished in life as asta tesman, Senator, Governor and literary man, he is at last gathered to his fathers.

" Since our organization, in addition to our clearing the grounds (which was a dense wood) and fencing it, including the lane leading to it, we have purchased and paid for twenty-four acres, built an observatory and a handsome stone vault, a house for the sexton, and expended nearly $200 for a fountain near the sexton's house, besides keeping the grounds in good order."

At a meeting of the Trustces of Rienzi Cemetery, held August 12, 1875, the prices of lots were fixed as follows : In the old grounds, $30 each; in the new grounds, $50 (to be paid in cash to the Treasurer, before an order will be given to open the ground for interment) ; single graves for adults, $5; single graves for children under twelve years of age, $3. Sexton's fees, digging graves, $3. For use of vault for one month, or less, $5 ; over one month, $1 per week additional.

The "old grounds " contain a " potter's field," a lot belonging to the Freemasons and one owned by the Odd Fellows.

FLOODS AND FRESHETS,

No one who drives over the smooth, solid pavements and splendidly macadamized roads in and about Fond du Lac, can form any adequate conception of the condition of the streets, roadways, streams, prairies and dooryards in early times, nor can any pen record a description that will do justice to the subject. The site on which the city stands was level, and but a few feet in its highest place above the lake or rivers. The soil was deep. rich and mellow, finely adapted in every way to the production of mud. This mud, which was black in some places, and a dirty yellow in others. was endowed with such consistency and stickiness as could be boasted of by no other article in the same line. In wet times, the whole prairie in and sur- rounding Fond du Lac would be covered by water, on which myriads of ducks appeared in sea- son. The roads were almost wholly impassable, teams being frequently from three to five days on the road to Sheboygan. and the stage three or four days on the road from Milwaukee. On these occasions, the rich verdure and beautiful wild flowers of the prairies did not always sup- press profanity, and the most dejected, forlorn and bedraggled horses and men ever beheld, were those arriving in the village with the stage.

The main street in the spring and fall had the appearance of a long vat of blacking, and the other streets were successions of bottomless sloughs and prodigious ruts. Nor could any of them be avoided, for one portion of the fenceless prairie was as soft and sticky as any other. The stickiness of this mud can be likened to nothing but the irresistible grip of the octopus. Whenever a wheel or a foot sunk into an unusually deep hole, it seemed to he grasped at once by some immeasurable power below. which would not diminish or let go.

The Fond du Lac Journal of June 16, 1847, mentioned the public roads in the following comprehensive paragraphı :

" We would earnestly call the attention of the proper authorities to the condition of the public roads and bridges in this vicinity, and especially between Fond du Lac and Taycheedah, where, within a few days, several accidents have happened. It is mortifying in the extreme to

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

hear the comments of strangers on the publie spirit of the people of this town, and we hope to. see the evil remedied without delay."

In 1850, when James Ewen was keeping the Lewis House on the corner where the Patty House now stands, the mud was as universal and deep as it had ever been. In fact, everything was bloekaded by muddy roads, and business was almost at a standstill. He waded out into the street before the inmates of the hotel were up in the morning, and placed a pair of boots and a hat in the mud, in such shape as to resemble a man just disappearing in the earthy mucilage. Knowing the possibilities of the surrounding country in wet times, many of the burghers at first thought a man had been indeed drowned on land, and the frightened children refused to pass on their way to school until " the man " was helped out of the mud.

On another occasion, a prominent lumberman rented for his family the house situated on Maey street, in the rear of Amory Hall, in which the family of the late Robert Flint resides, to the end that during his absence in the woods there should be no trouble in reaching the main street for provisions and groceries. Ife was absent a little over three weeks, and on his return, was informed the children hadn't been out of the house, which was surrounded by water, during that time. When anything was wanted from the stores or neighbors, Milt. Ewen, now a resident of Fond du Lac, then a boy ten years of age, rolled his pantaloons up as near to his waist as possible, and went barefoot on the errands.

As late as September, 1855, a man rowed a canoe from Oshkosh to the Rock River Valley. the water being deep enough on the marsh in Oakfield Township for his passage to the Rock River.

In 1855, the mill-dam back of the Court House, and the bridge on Western avenue, were. carried away by a flood, and more than a dozen times have thousands of feet of lumber, and hun- dreds of cords of wood been afloat in Lower Town. In 1869, occurred a remarkable freshet. in which nearly every portion of the city was flooded ; cellars without number were full, and water stood in the rooms on the ground floor of scores of residences. A swift stream of muddy water, as broad as the street. rushed down Fourth and Main streets, leaving a large shed or outbuild- ing-which had been brought from another quarter of the city-on Main street, near the Ameri- can House ; carrying lumber, wood, boxes, barrels and furniture out into the lake, and destroy- ing the newspaper files and a stock of paper for the Commonwealth newspaper. These floods were owing mostly to the fact that the de Neveu Creek, which is a narrow, tortuous stream, flowing through the east portion of the city, is several feet higher than Main street, or any street between it and Fond du Lac River. Whenever, therefore, its banks were overflowed, the city was flooded. In 1870. the " Dutch Gap," a deep. wide canal extending across the south border of the city to the river, was dug at public expense, and, in 1879, de Neveu Creek bed was deepened, widened and straightened, so that the disastrous floods of the past will never occur again.

When any one has a desire to verify the stories told of the early mud embargoes, they have only to repair to some spot on Main street where gas or water pipes are being laid, where first stone, then plank, then gravel, then plank, and, finally, sticks and brush will be found extend- ing several feet below the surface, and showing the different efforts made to rise above the canals of black mucilage, which were the most serious drawbacks to the early growth and development of Fond du Lac.

INCIDENTS AND FIRST THINGS.

On Thursday evening, January 14, 1847, Eli Ifooker, now of Waupun, then of the Fond du Lac Journal, delivered a temperance lecture at the schoolhouse.

In the winter of 1847-48, the people of the village convened twice for donation purposes. The first time Rev. H. R. Colman, now a resident of this eity, received about $150, and the second time Rev. L. C. Spofford received $123.21-amounts fully equal to those resulting from donations of the present time.

In May, 1848, the first circus and menagerie-Raymond & Co.'s-visited Fond du Lac Village. Everybody went, and it was the talk of the villagers during several weeks afterward.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

The ground where S. B. & J. Amory first built their gunshop, and where Amory Hall now stands, cost $10 per foot. The site is now worth $14,000.

Main street, beginning at Forest street, bears to the east several degrees, which makes "jogs " in the streets, extending either way, perpendicularly from it. The main street of the Fond du Lac Company's plat was thus diverted by Dr. Mason C. Darling, who turned it east- ward from the East Branch River in order to preserve the " water-lots." He had an idea the stream would be made navigable at some future day, and lots next to it (for wharves and ware- houses) would be valuable. His idea was never realized, and Macy street afterward cut through the land intended for "water-lots."

In 1845, the citizens of the village of Fond du Lac congregated to discuss the action of the County Commissioners, who had purchased, for the Sheriff, a pair of brass and steel shackles, at a cost of $2.50. The heavy taxpayers characterized the transaction as an "outrageous extravagance," while those slip-shod-and-go-easy citizens who occasionally fell into the custody of the Sheriff vehemently protested that it was the height of indignity to put shackles on a man in a free country.

The famous Taycheedah Democratic Convention was held the day on which Edward Beeson published his paper, the Fond du Lac Journal. He was anxious to lay the proceedings before his patrons, but could not do so and " catch the mail." He therefore wrote out an elaborate account of the proceedings of the convention and inserted it, the papers being all delivered before the convention had fairly met. In order to have everything jibe, he started for Tayeheedah with the bogus proceedings in his pocket and actually had the same persons appointed for chairman, sceretary and committee as were named in his article, and so manipulated the convention as to make the nominations tally exactly with those announced several hours before in the Journal. For nearly thirty years it was not settled whether Mr. Beeson was a wizard or had a vision.

On Monday, August 23, 1847, Dr. Cator's house was entered by robbers and $142 in cash taken. This was a heavy robbery for those days, and was a serious loss to Dr. Cator.

The first real steamboat excursion was in July, 1847, which went around Lake Winnebago on the steamer Manchester.

Upon one occasion, in the early fifties, J. C. ("Curt") Lewis and Nathaniel Waterbury desired to enter some pine lands above Shawano, 100 miles from Fond du Lac. Mr. Waterbury started on horseback, taking a good animal from the livery stable, and Mr. Lewis started on foot. The friends of each laid wagers on which would reach the destination first. Those who bet on Mr. Lewis won, for he reached the place, located his lands and met Mr. Waterbury on a jaded horse several miles south of Shawano. On these wonderful journeys, Mr. Lewis rested himself by running when he got tired of walking, and by walking when he was tired of run- ning.

The first eelcry ever brought to Fond du Lac to be sold was grown by James Smith, an English gardener-who is now a resident of Empire-and driven about the streets and to the dif- ferent groceries. For some time no one was found who knew what it was, and, after smelling of the neatly tied bunches, the people would turn up their noses, wag their heads and pass by on the other side. Finally, Dr. T. S. Wright, seeing Mr. Smith's wagon, seized a bunch of the celery and began to devour it, much to the astonishiment of those who had been entirely satis- fied with the smell of " the truck." Finally, James Ewen, who kept the Lewis House, purchased the entire lot, and thereafter Mr. Smith found a market for his " decayed pie-plant," as some of the citizens called the celery.

J. W. Partridge was badly injured in the famous Belleville railway disaster of November 1, 1859. He boarded at the Lewis House, which stood on the corner of Main and Sheboygan streets, where the Patty House now stands, and had a room in the third story. The polls for that ward were held in the same building, on the ground floor, and directly under Mr. Part- ridge's bedroom window. He had a strong desire to vote, but could not leave his bed. He asked the inspectors to allow a friend to deposit a ballot for him, but they refused, as they did of course, to carry the ballot-box to his room. But T. F. Strong, Jr., mastered the situation.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

He moved Mr. Partridge's bed to the window. got a string of sufficient length to reach the ground. Mr. Partridge attached a ballot to the string and leaned out of the window, so that the chairman of the ward could know and identify him, and the ballot was lowered and received.

The first Fourth of July celebration ever held in Fond du Lac was in 1848, when speeches were made by S. Judd, of Fox Lake, and S. W. Beall, G. D. Ruggles, Alexander W. Stow and E. W. Drury. The Sunday-school scholars had a pienie, and the day was generally observed.

While searching for his oxen, Charles Bigford was drowned in Fond du Lac River, on the 18th of October, 1848.

In October, 1847, Finley & Morrow established a stage line between Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, and, in the following November, a weekly stage and mail line was established between Fond du Lac and Watertown.

On the 22d of October, 1847, considerable excitement was caused by the lecture of a fugi- tive slave, named Lewis Washington, on the condition of negroes in the South. He was the first negro to appear in public in Fond du Lac.

In 1844, George McWilliams sold 300 bushels of potatoes, which he had raised the year before on the west side of the river and kept through the winter in " heaps," covered with prairie grass and earth, for three shillings per bushel. Settlers came from twenty miles in either direc- tion to secure them. He also fattened a ton of pork, which was the first exported from the settlement or fattened, except for family use.

After cars began to run to Fond du Lac in 1859, on what is now the Chicago & North- Western Railway, the "devil" on one of the city papers, who had been left in charge of the office during the editor's absence, lost his position and pay by writing and publishing with all due gravity the following descriptive paragraph : "The cars are quite long, and capable of hold- ing sixty passengers with doors at each end!"

John A. Eastman built the first law office in Fond du Lac. It stood on Main street, about half-way between First and Second streets.

On the 27th of January, 1849. a public meeting was held at the court house to organize for protection against horse-thieves and burglars, their depredations having become unbearable.

A fellow came from Racine to Fond du Lac in the latter part of 1848 to take one of the Fountain City belles to wife, and, the next week. the following paragraph in the paper set the society gossipers into a flurry :

"A FINE WEDDING GIFT .- Giving the bride the prairie itch while vowing at the altar to love, cherish and protect. The idea is not original with us. We deal only in facts."

In the days before artesian wells were known in Fond du Lac, and even as late as 1846-47, the settlers were compelled to go for fresh water to a spring situated three-quarters of a mile west of Main street, where B. F. Moore's stone quarry now is.

There were few gardens belonging to the first settlers of Fond du Lac which were inelosed by fences, and the potatoes and " sass" raised therein by the thrifty, but needy, inhabitants were very frequently stolen by the Indians, who were numerous. They were bold about their depredations of this sort, solemnly entering the gardens in broad daylight, and often, despite all protests and threats, appropriating whatever they desired.

Edward Beeson, now editor of the Wisconsin Farmer, gave to Fond du Lac the name of " Fountain City." by referring to it in his paper as " the city of fountains." finally reducing the expression to " Fountain City."

In August, 1848, a tri-weekly mail was established between Fond du Lac and Milwaukee.

In September, 1849, two persons, a woman and her child, died in Fond du Lac with the cholera. For a few days there was great consternation lest the disease should spread, but it did not.

The city of Fond du Lac was lighted by gas the first time on the evening of Thursday, September 18, 1862.

The Common Council ordered at its second meeting. in September, 1862, that a committee, composed of its members, go to Chicago as a guard of honor for the body of Edward S. Bragg,

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

who had been reported killed in battle. The committee went, as directed, but found instead of Gen. Bragg's body, that of E. A. Brown. Mr. Brown was buried in the grave dug for the body of Mr. Bragg.

In May, 1867, Charles Susan sold in Fond du Lac 150 bushels of wheat for $500 to John Marshall. On the same day, C. B. Bartlet paid $105 to John H. Martin for a fat cow. Those were war prices.

EARLY TIMES IN FOND DU LAC. BY JOHN A. EASTMAN.

" When I was Postmaster of Fond du Lac (1845 to 1849), remuneration came from a per- centage on receipts. In 1845, I kept the office in a small United States blue desk. Mail came twice a week from Green Bay, Milwaukee and Fort Winnebago. The mail carrier, whose name was Conklin, rode on horseback. All the letters were kept in one small pigeon-hole, and when any one asked for mail I took all there were in the office in one hand and looked them over with the other.

" Before I left the office I had to have a full set of alphabetical cases and a clerk. Three times a week there would be ten to twenty bushels of mail matter to look over and distribute to different routes-mostly single transient newspapers-and. as the heavy mails came in during the night, it was not a luxury to distribute them, especially when the mercury was 20° below zero.

" The first term of Territorial District Court was held in June, 1844, with A. G. Miller, Judge ; . Tom' Sutherland, United States District Attorney : Isaac Brown, Clerk ; John J. Driggs, Sheriff ; Theodore Conkey and Alonzo Raymond, Deputies. Court was held in a small frame schoolhouse standing on the east side of Main, between Second and Third streets. The present Conrt House was built some years after, and was very well in its day, but it now seems to be a standing disgrace to a large, wealthy and populous county. The grounds for the Court House and public square were donated by M. C. Darling, and I doubt if the condition of the gift is well performed by maintaining such a burlesque.

" Of course, the first lawyers to attend courts were from other older counties. It was the practice then for lawyers to . travel the circuit ; ' so there came to Fond du Lac, Marshall M. Strong, E. G. Ryan, A. W. Stow, 'Squire Palmer, W. P. Lynde, J. E. Arnold, M. L. Martin, H. S. Baird and S. R. Cotton.

" The first resident lawyer was Stephen S. N. Fuller, from Great Bend, Penn. He set- tled in Fond du Lac in 1843, and lived and had his office in a small frame house opposite the Court House east, where Bannister & Eldredge's office afterward was. He built the house with his own hands. He moved to Hudson, and is now dead.

" The second resident lawyer was myself. I came from Franklin County, Me., and settled at Fond du Lac in September, 1844.

" The third lawyer was W. H. Harmon, who only remained about one year and emigrated to Iowa. The fourth was James Monroe Gillet, who came from Ellicottville, N. Y., in 1846. He drove a flabby, yellow, long-legged mare the entire distance from Ellicottville to Fond du Lac, and traded her to M. C. Darling for the lot where Cornwell's hardware store is on Main street, next to D. R. Curran's drug store. Myron C. Eaton, who was drowned at St. Anthony's Falls, Minn., Aamzi L. Williams and E. W. Drury followed later in 1846.

" The first school taught in the county was taught by Miss Harriet Harding, from Iling- ham, Mass., in 1840-41, in the log house built by Edward Pier, which stood opposite the fair grounds, then occupied by Russell McCarty.

" A school was taught at Taycheedah by Edgar Conklin in 1842, to which scholars from Fond du Lac went. In 1843 and 1844, Theodore Conkey taught school in the then new schoolhouse in Fond du Lac. In the winter of 1844 and 1845, I taught a ' select school ' in the same building : had about twenty scholars, though they were not all from the village of Fond du Lac.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

" The first physician was Dr. M. C. Darling, and the next was Dr. William H. Walker.

" Daniel W. Bromley was the first merchant in Fond du Lac. His store was opened in 1842. Dr. Darling gave him one and one-half acres of land as an inducement to open a store there.

" Moses S. Gibson brought a stock of goods by the way of Sheboygan in 1844. He was from Genesee County, N. Y. O. S. Wright came with him as clerk.

" Clock & Weikert came to Fond du Lac with a stock of goods in October, 1844. They went to Indian ' payment' at Shawano, and after 'payment' returned to Fond du Lac and opened a store in the Fond du Lac Company's house, which was then' occupied by George McWilliams, who kept . bachelor's hall.' The next spring, 1845, they came 'up town ' and occupied Bromley's store, as he had gone to Milwaukee.

" Walter Smith and George W. Gillet opened a stove and hardware store in 1845. T. L. Gillet opened a general store in 1846. George N. Lyman, of Sheboygan, opened a branch store (W. A. Dewey, manager) in 1846, and David R. Curran opened the first drug store in the fall of the same year.

"In 1844, Rev. William H. Sampson was residing at Fond du Lac, and was Presiding Elder of that (Methodist) district. Mr. Joseph Lewis was circuit minister. After that came Mor- gan L. Noble. He and T. P. Bingham, a Methodist minister, built a house on ' West Prairie.' They occupied the house together, but disagreed, and, to divide interests, sawed the building .in two parts, and thus divorced themselves.'

" INFORMATION WANTED."

Under the heading " Information Wanted," the Badger State newspaper at Portage City, published October 1, 1853, the following :

" Will some of our Fox River boatmen inform us if the persons who attempted to make a settlement at Fond du Lac have all moved away and abandoned the project ? A. Ilyatt Smith told us there was such a place as Fond du Lac, and that he proposed running a branch of his railroad to it, but we suppose the erection of the dam at Menasha has drowned it out. At all events, we have sent copies of our paper regularly to the Union and Herald. directed to ' Fond du Lac,' and have received no answering tidings ; from which fact it is to be inferred there is nobody there, and. consequently, no such place as Fond du Lac !"

CHAPTER IX.

CITY OF RIPON.

FIRST OWNERS OF RIPON-EARLY SETTLEMENT-RIPON'S EARLY PROGRESS-CITY INCORPORATED -CITY OFFICERS, 1858 TO 1880-POST OFFICE-PUBLIC SCHOOLS-RIPON WATER-POWER-FIRE DEPARTMENT-GAS-WORKS-HOTELS OF RIPON-PUBLIC HALLS-CHURCHES OF RIPON- BANKS-SECRET SOCIETIES-BENEVOLENT, LITERARY AND OTHER SOCIETIES-MANUFACTUR- ING INTERESTS-RIPON CEMETERIES-CONFLAGRATIONS-RIPON'S FIGHTING CAREER-"THE Boorn WAR"-FIRST THINGS-GROWTH OF THE CITY-RIPON OF TO-DAY.

FIRST OWNERS OF RIPON.

The land on which is located the principal portion of the city of Ripon (not including Ceresco) was bid off at the public-land sales in Green Bay, by John S. Horner, November 5. 1838. The " Patent," which was issued to Mary Eleanor Watson, of Washington, assignee of John S. Horner, is dated October 2, 1840. The next transfer was by Mr. Horner, as attorney in fact for Mary Eleanor Watson, to David P. Mapes. This deed was as follows :

WARRANTY DEED .- This indenture, made this 28th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1849, between John S. Horner, as attorney in fact of Mary Eleanor Watson, of the city of Washington, pursuant to a power of attorney hereto annexed, of the first part, and David P. Mapes, of Fond du Lac County, Wis., of the second part, witnesseth ; That the said party of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of $500, to him in hand paid, receipt whereof is hereby confessed and acknowledged, does grant, bargain, sell, remise, release and convey unto the party of the second part, and to his heirs and assigns forever, all the following lots in the town of Ripon, in the county of Fond du Lac, Wis., according to the plat of said town to be of record, to wit: Nos. 2 and 4, of Block 1; Lots No. 2, 3 and 5, of Block 2; all of Block 3; Lot No. 5, of Block I ; Lots No. 2 and 3, of Block 5; Lots No. 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8, of Block 6; Lots No. 2, 4, 6. 8, 10 and 11, of Block 8; Lots No. 2, 4 and 5, of Block 9; Lot No. 2, of Block 10; also Outlots No. 1, 3 and 4; and he, the said Horner, as aforesaid, his heirs, executors and administrators, do cove- nant with the said David P'. Mapes as follows: First, that she, the said Mary Eleanor Watson, is lawfully seized of the said premises ; second, that she, the stid Watson, has good right to convey the same. so that the same is frec from encumbrances ; that the said Watson and the said Hforner will forever warrant and defend the title of the same against all lawful claims.

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 99

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