USA > Wisconsin > Jefferson County > The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing biographical sketches > Part 61
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The German Lutheran (St. John's) Society also supports two schools, one being in the country and the other situated in the Sixth Ward in Watertown. The latter was established twenty-four years ago, and now has over one hundred and ninety scholars. The teachers are F. W. Fuerslenan, First Class, and F. H. Meyer, Second Class.
Soon after the organization of the Moravian Church Society, a school was established by them, but under the influence of the public-school system, the institution suspended.
Each of the Catholic congregations in Watertown supports a parochial school. The old frame building, wherein St. Henry's (German) Society first worshiped, is now occupied as a schoolhouse by four Sister teachers who have presided over classes of Catholic children for the past twenty years in Watertown. During the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Norris. of St. Bernard's, a parochial school was established, which now consists of about two hundred pupils.
In 1861, A. S. Dantz opened a commercial college in Watertown Bank Block. It sur- vived but a short time. July 28, of the present year, Wilmot, Deming & Marsh, of the North- western Business College in Madison, opened a branch of their institution at the corner of West avenue and Water street.
THE WATERTOWN PRESS.
To the local newspapers-those engines of civilization, liberty and progress-the people of Watertown owe an everlasting debt of gratitude-a debt that can only be repaid by the most
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
liberal patronage and the profoundest respect. While the power of the press cannot be denied, the effects of its correlative influence are so gradual and imperceptible as to be rarely appreciated. Philosophers have frequently acknowledged themselves unable to decide in their own minds which of these institutions-the school or the printing press-is the most essential to the well-being of mankind. It is quite certain that either would make slow progress without the aid of the other. True, the editor must have had the benefits of schooling to be able to set himself up as a public instructor through the columns of his journal ; but the strength of this argument in favor of the superiority of the school is sadly weakened when we consider that the books from which he acquired sufficient knowledge to enable him to write even an intelligent account of the veriest dog-fight, were the fruit of the printing press. Horace Greeley, in a lecture before a Philadel- phia audience, a few years before his death, said this was a question which resolved itself into an endless number of unanswerable arguments. So convinced was he that the school and the press were of parallel usefulness, he would not advocate the suspension of either in order to test the merits of the other. He believed they were identical, both the handiwork of the Great Designer.
To A. Hadley belongs the honor of being the pioneer printer of Watertown. D. W. Ballou, Jr., founder of the Watertown Democrat, gives the following interesting account of his first meeting with Mr. Hadley :
" While setting type at the case in the office of the Niagara Democrat, in Lockport, N. Y., in the early part of April, 1846, my attention was arrested by the appearance of a tall, serious- looking gentleman, who approached me, and in a very deliberate tone of voice inquired if the proprietor was present. I replied by pointing out to him Mr. Orasmus Turner, the editor of the paper, who was sitting at a table on the opposite side of the room, and engaged in writing. After exchanging the courtesies usual at the meeting of persons wholly unacquainted with each other, the stranger, in a manner at once brief and direct, made known his business by remark- ing that he had seen an advertisement in the Democrat offering two fonts of type for sale, and, if convenient, he would like to see them. His request was immediately complied with, and, after a few moments' examination, a bargain was closed, and the two lots of half-worn long primer and bourgeois were his. Taking off his coat, and calling for a composing-stick, he went at the work of putting his newly bought type in a condition to be safely packed and sent away ; nor did he stop, leave the office or allow anything to interrupt him for a moment until near sunset, when every letter had been taken care of, the last nail driven, and the boxes plainly and neatly marked, ' J. A. Hadley, Watertown, Wisconsin.'"
Watertown Chronicle .- The history of this, the first newspaper ever published in Water- town, is better told in Mr. Hadley's own language :
" My first visit to Wisconsin was in the summer of 1846. My object was threefold-first, to break away, for a brief season, from the drudgery attendant upon the foremanship of a daily morning paper ; second, to visit some friends in this (then) Territory ; and, third, to find a loca- tion for a paper. I returned without accomplishing the latter object. Early in October follow- ing, a copy of the Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette fell into my hands, and, among the adver- tisements, I discovered the list of letters remaining in the post office at Watertown on the first day of that month. It was a list of goodly proportions, and directed my attention at once to this point. I immediately wrote to a friend here (Henry Shears), and expressed a willingness to add to the institutions of Watertown a weekly newspaper, provided the enterprise would, in his opinion, pay. He replied, and suggested to me that I open a correspondence with certain citizens here on the subject. I did so, and the result was, in April, 1847, I left Rochester, N. Y., with my family, and materials for a paper. I arrived here early in May. At that time, the village contained a population of perhaps 800 souls.
It was certainly a rough-looking place, surrounded by dense forests, its plat newly cleared, its streets studded with stumps and, just then, knee-deep with mud, with not a rod of sidewalk in the town. *
* I well * remember my wife's look of blank astonishment when I. commenced unboxing our household goods. She thought I was 'perfectly crazy ' to think I could obtain a living at the printing business in such a place.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
"My press was an old Ramage, a style well enough known to the earlier disciples of Faust ; an uncouth wooden structure, requiring two pulls where one suffices on a common hand-press ; a slow, muscle-trying machine, that long since gave place to more modern inventions ; a relic of the past, and a curiosity to the craft of the present generation. I paid for this press $35.
" My types were all second-hand, and were purchased at the different offices in Rochester and Lockport. My job type cost me 10 cents per pound, that being the foundry price for old type metal. For some months, I had but two sizes of type for my paper-bourgeois and long primer. I paid 16 cents a pound for the former, and 17 for the latter. * * * *
I had but one font of new type; my cases were new, and for a long time appeared ashamed of their contents. * * For four years, my only imposing-stone was a plank, badly warped by the lye, and having an ugly crack near the center. My entire material inventoried at less than $175. * * * *
*
" When Sam Ryan called upon me, a few weeks after my first number was issued, he could hardly restrain himself from laughing outright at my old traps, and was compelled to whistle. when not talking, to prevent himself from doing so. I felt mortified, and cast my eyes occasion. ally at my new cases, as much as to say, 'Brother Ryan, perhaps you havn't noticed these.' And when Charlie Robinson dropped in some months afterward, I elbowed him out of the office as soon as good manners would permit.
" The first number of the Chronicle was issued June 23, 1847. For the first six months. it was a five-column sheet, the printed matter on each page ocenpying a space of eleven and one- half by eighteen and three-fourths inches. * It became necessary for me to labor * hard myself, and I did thus labor, always performing a regular day's work, either at the case or at press, and making my selections, writing my editorials and keeping my books when other
* * people were asleep. * In December, 1847, I purchased of Cramer & Curtis, of the Milwaukee Wisconsin, a fifty-dollar font of second-hand minion, spliced the bed and platten of my press and enlarged my paper to a six-column sheet. % On the 5th of November. 1851, having purchased one of Hoe's excellent presses, and added about $100 worth of material to the news and jobbing departments. I enlarged to a seven-column sheet ; and, if that was not a proud day for me, I have never seen one. * * *
" My business proved a paying one. By hard work and close economy, was able, in the course of about four years, to liquidate all demands against me. But my health began to fail in the spring of 1852. and, with the exception of a few months the following fall and winter, continued poor, until I disposed of the Chronicle establishment in September, 1853. Minor & Skinner were my successors, they paying me $1,500 for the establishment and its good will. After that, the paper was subjected to frequent changes of proprietorship. Mr. Minor was connected with it about two years. The subsequent proprietors were Cullaton & Rose, Rose & Stevens, McBride & Stevens, Stevens & Brother and E. B. Quiner. The publication of the paper was finally suspended in the fall of 1857, and upon the same materials the Beaver Dam Democrat is now printed."
Mr. Iladley has forgotten to mention the fact that while the Chronicle was in the hands of Messrs. Cullaton & Rose the publication of a daily issue was begun. It made its appearance September 2, 1855, and was the first and only daily paper ever issued in Watertown.
Mr. Hadley died September 24, 1868. He was born ar Goffstown, N. HI .. May 9. 1809. and had been identified with the press for forty years. Under his management, the Chronicle became prominent as one of the leading journals in the State. Mr. Hadley wrote for its columns the first article that ever appeared in favor of the construction of the Chicago & North - Western Railway. In 1850, he was elected Clerk of the Court of Jefferson County. In 1853, he was the Whig candidate for Secretary of State; twice nominated for State Senator ; for several years held the office of Police Justice in Watertown ; at one time Sergeant-at-arms of the Senate ; afterward Printing Clerk in the Secretary of State's office, and finally Assessor of the First Reve- nue District. He was a man of untiring industry, and possessed a character above reproach.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Rock River Pilot .- Established in 1847, by George Hyer. Judge William T. Butler soon became the proprietor of the Pilot, but it did not long survive.
Democratic State Register .- A seven-column weekly paper, whose name indicated its poli- tics ; established by E. B. Quiner in 1850. " The Register," says Mr. Quiner, "enjoyed a lib- eral support in both Dodge and Jefferson Counties, and I continued its publication as a Demo- cratic sheet until that party passed under the control of 'Barstow and the balance,' when I deemed it my duty, as the conductor of a public press, to refuse to support a portion of its can- didates for State offices, * and declared my independence of party control. Ilenee- forth the Register stood upon independent political ground, and so remained until I sold out my establishment, the materials passing into the hands of Chubbuck & Sanborn, who used it in the publication of the Central Wisconsin at Warsaw." The Register suspended publication in October, 1854.
The German Press-The Anzeiger .- In the summer of 1853, D. Blumenfeld and John Kopp-the one foreman, and the other pressman in the office of the Milwaukee Banner, a Ger- man daily and weekly paper-encouraged by prominent German citizens of the then young and rising city of Watertown, removed thither, and brought the necessary material with them for the publication of a German paper, the Anzeiger, the first number of which was issued Septem- ber 27 of that year. It was Democratie in politics. Emil Rothe, a young lawyer of Water- town, with some journalistie experience in the Fatherland, and at that time a contributor for some of the leading papers in Berlin, Breslau, etc., was its chief cditer. He wrote in a style that soon made him favorably known among German publishers all over the United States. The initial number of the Anzeiger contained the advertisements and cards of *Joseph Schubert, druggist ; J. S. Foote, attorney ; * Theodore Bernhard, Notary Public; H. Bertram & Co., shoe-dealers ; G. S. Schempf & Brother, dry goods ; Peterson & Maldaner, dry goods and gen- eral merchandise ; * L. J. Fribert, dry goods ; * C. M. Ducusse, tavern keeper (Schweitzer House) ; * Ad. Beurhaus, saloon ; L. Stallman, grocery ; John Luber, grocer; * John Becker, grocer ; John Keck, cabinet-maker; William Buchheit, saloon and insurance ; * Joseph Fischer, dentist and land agent ; William 'T. Butler, County Judge and land agent; M. B. Williams, Postmaster ; William Roeber, boots and shoes ; J. H. Koch, tailor; Joseph Salick, watchmaker; Ambrosius Pernis, watchmaker; * Martin Hopf, tanner; Chr. Schroeder, car- penter ; H. Boegel, Boegel's IIall ; * Jacob Baumann, ball alley ; G. Werlich, Secretary German School Association.
In 1857, Mr. Rothe's editorial contributions becoming irregular, the proprietors accepted the offer of Carl Schutz (now Secretary of the Interior), then a resident of Watertown, to take editorial charge of the paper, provided he would conduct it as an independent journal. When the first number of the Anzeiger appeared under the new management, its previous politics had undergone a wonderful change. It was, in fact, what would now be termed a "Stalwart" organ. Mr. Schurz was forthwith deposed, a former theologian, named Engelmann, succeeding him.
Der Weltburger und Anzeiger .- In February, 1858, the Anzeiger was consolidated with Der Weltburger, a new Democratie German paper established by Emil Rothe in October of the previous year. The new journal bore the title of Der Weltburger und Anzeiger, Mr. Rothe becoming the responsible editor. In the fall of 1858, the paper suspended, and the old mate- rial was sold.
Der Volkszeitung .- In September, 1857, Carl Sehurz, Herman Von Lindermann and C. J. Pahne established Der Volkszeitung. Mr. Lindermann, who was a literary gentleman, and a refugee after the German revolution of 1848, was the chief editor, and Mr. Palme his assist- ant. The Volkszeitung was radically Republican. It suspended soon after the Presidential election in 1860. Messrs. Lindermann and Palme, when the war broke out, were appointed to positions in the State Quartermaster's department, at Madison. From there they went to St. Louis, where Mr. Lindermann was connected with the Westliche Post, which was afterward
*Since dead.
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under the editorial management of Carl Schurz. From there he went to St. Charles, Mo., and edited a German Republican paper until his death, in 1872.
Mr. Palme was in the United States Revenue Department in St. Louis; was afterward chief editor of the Milwaukee Herold from 1869 to the summer of 1879, when he received the appointment, through his old friend, Carl Schnrz, of Superintendent of the Government Paper Factory, at East Pepperell, Mass., where he died in September, at the age of sixty-two years.
Der Weltburger .- On the 1st day of January. 1859, new material having been purchased by Mr. Blumenfeld, the first number of Der Watertown Weltburger (new series) was issued. with Mr. Einil Rothe as chief editor. Mr. Rothe having retired in 1862, Mr. Blumenfeld assumed entire charge of Der Weltburger, which he has maintained to the present time, making it one of the best German weeklies in the Northwest.
In 1864, Mr. Blumenfeld published a monthly literary magazine called the Westliche Monats-Schrift. A full volume of it appeared. 2,200 copies of it being printed, of which 1.100 copies were sold in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, 100 in San Francisco, and 1,000 in St. Lonis. The Gemeindeblatt, published by the German Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin and other States (first issued monthly, and afterward semi-monthly), was also printed, from the time of its beginning until it was removed to Milwaukee (over five years), in the office of Der Welt- burger.
In 1869, Mr. Rothe accepted the position of editor of the Cincinnati Volksfreund. Der Weltburger is an eight-column paper, published every Saturday, accompanied regularly by a supplement.
The Watertown Democrat .- The first number of this paper was issued on the 18th of Octo- ber. 1854. by D. W. Ballou, Jr., and it has been regularly published ever since, "without the failure of a week or any apology for a half-sheet." Mr. Ballon's first editorial experience was in 1846. on the Niagara Democrat, a weekly journal published in the village of Lockport. N. Y. He came to Wisconsin in 1852, and, in the autumn of the following year, became associate editor of the Green Bay Advocate, which position he held for about one year, when he came to Watertown and established the Democrat. Mr. Ballou was a powerful and fearless writer, a scholar and a gentleman, and. perhaps. did more than any one who lived in his time to promote the interests of Watertown and imbue its citizens with the spirit of enterprise which has resulted in the building-np of one of the prettiest eities in the great Northwest. His journal was Demo- cratie both in politics and principles. June 28, 1860. the Democrat hoisted its colors as fol- lows : " For President, Stephen A. Donglas and Herschel V. Johnson." and, at the solicitation of Mr. Ballou and others. Mr. Douglas, on the 12th of Otober, 1860, made a political speech in Watertown. We have the authority of the Democrat. also, to the effect that Matt Carpenter made a ringing Bourbon speech in Watertown about the same time. This is of interest as showing that great men sometimes change their political opinions.
But the most remarkable feature of the Democrat was its true Jacksonian utterances. A firm supporter of James Buchanan, it did not hesitate to censure in the strongest terms the unfortunate course pursned by him toward the close of his administration. In its issue of Feb- ruary 14, 1861, we find the following outspoken article :
" It is strange talk for Democrats, but there are a few of those who voted for James Buchanan who count with eager delight the days that lessen the term of his office. The present administration will be recorded in the pages of history as the weakest and worst that has ever been placed at the head of national affairs."
When the nation was upon the eve of being plunged into a cruel war, the editor of the Democrat paid his compliments to the fire-eaters of both North and South. In noticing Presi- dent Lincoln's memorable journey to Washington to take his seat, he said :
" To the last degree it is humiliating to believe that a President-elect is compelled to go to
* Mr. Lincoln cannot and will not fall unavenged. the capital of the nation in disguise. * *
Wo to the hand, the party, the section that strikes the blow."
& Blumen feld PUBLISHER" WATERTOWN WELTBURGER"
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Later, when the brave Anderson was defending the flag of the Union against rebel hosts, and the news of his imminent peril was flashed over the wires, we find the following patriotic sentiments in the Democrat : * *
* " This state of things cannot last long, but that will be a day of humiliation when the Stars and Stripes give place to so insulting and ignoble an emblem as the serpent- twined palmetto."
The fall of Sumter was announced in an article concluding with a vigorous warning to Northern sympathizers with Southern secession.
The Democrat mourned the fate of the martyred Lincoln with turned column-rules, and an eulogy as touching and sympathetic, as the following concerning his assassin is earnest and bitter :
" The rotten carcass of the brutal murderer, Booth, has been bid away from the knowledge and sight of mankind. Now let him be forgotten. He was only a common, vulgar villain, and it is only the eminence of his victim that will give his fiendish act a place in history."
Mr. Ballou was severely punished for his strong Union sentiments, by a marked decrease in patronage, but he lived long enough to convince most of his opponents that he was right in the bold stand he had taken in defense of free institutions. He died in July, 1876, in the fifty- second year of his age, leaving a wife, who still resides in Watertown. He was a thorough journalist, and for a long time a prominent member of the Wisconsin Editorial Association. Mr. Ballou was a native of Richmond, Vt.
The Democrat was purchased July 24, 1876, by Thomas E. Jones and James McHugh, both of whom had for some time been connected with the office, the former in the capacity of associate editor, and the latter as foreman of the mechanical department. In March, 1877, Mr. Jones bought Mr. McHugh's interest, and thenceforward became the sole proprietor and editor of the Democrat. He is a young man of ability and his articles have the true journalistic ring, while the local news and general management of the paper indicate the presence of a veteran publisher. The Democrat is in politics everything its name indicates.
Watertown City Times .- This was the title of a weekly paper which laid claim to public patronage in 1855, its first issue bearing date of March 22, of that year. George Hyer was the editor, and William T. Butler & Co., the proprietors. The Times' had a precarious and check- ered career, and it ceased to exist in September of the same year that witnessed its birth.
The Representative was the name of a Republican journal issued by M. Cullaton, in the fall of 1857. It was a sort of campaign sheet, and did not live to serve any other purpose. Feb- ruary, 1858, was the date of its death.
The Independent .- Published semi-occasionally in the spring of 1858. It was noticed by its cotemporaries as being " a sprightly little sheet." It was very personal in character, and a per- petual source of annoyance to vulnerable individuals. It died unhonored, but not unknown.
Watertown Transcript-Another journalistic venture, under the authorship of M. Cullaton. Issued January 5, 1859 ; suspended March 16, same year. It was an able and interesting journal. The Democrat commenting upon its suspension, said : " The Watertown Transcript is no more. Cullaton lost money. He has gone to Waukesha to publish the Freeman. Since we begun the publication of this journal, we have witnessed the extinction of the Chronicle, the State Register, the Home Circle (a small temperance sheet), the City Times, the Representative and the Transcript, four of the six being Republican in politics."
Watertown Republican .- Established June 15, 1860, by J. W. Lawton, who published it, with Justus T. Moak as editor, until February, 1862, when it passed to the hands of D. T. Lindley. J. E. Atwater had editorial charge during the proprietorship of Mr. Lindley. In April, 1864, Messrs. Tompkins & Howland purchased the concern, Mr. Tompkins being the editor, and two years later Mr. Howland disposed of his interest to Mr. Tompkins, who a few months later sold to William Innis Martin. In February, 1867, Col. Gill, having returned from fighting the battles of his country, relinquished his sword for that other mightier instrument, the pen. He bought the Republican, but was not generally known as its manager, although furnishing the editorial pabu- lum. In August, 1868, the Colonel stepped down from the tripod. Julius H. Keyes became
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
the proprietor. Almost simultaneous with this transfer, E. D. Coe purchased a partner- ship with Mr. Keyes, which lasted fourteen months, at the end of which time Mr. Coc retired, leaving Mr. Keyes in full possession, which he has continued to hold to the present time. Mr. William L. Norris has for several years been associate editor of the Republican. During the proprietorship of Keyes & Coe, the Republican was enlarged from a six to a seven column paper. May 26, 1869, the size was increased by the addition of an eighth column, and on May 21, 1873, the form was changed to that of a six-column quarto (cight pages), its present size. On the morning of July 27, 1879, the office of the Republican was badly damaged by fire and water, the body-type on which the paper was printed being entirely destroyed. Not an issue of the paper was missed, however, on this account. The Republican is the largest paper in Jefferson County. Aside from being a first-class newspaper, its editorial columns reflect the genius of a master-hand. In politics, it is a stanch supporter of the Administration, and has ever been a reliable and trusted friend of the Union, one and inseparable. It is frequently referred to by its political opponents as a " Radical " or " Stalwart" organ.
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