The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 64

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840

USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 64

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HENRY HOWARD POTTER,

was born November 6, 1824, at Hartsville, Onondaga Co, N. Y. He came to Baraboo in 1849, remaining a year as clerk for James A. Maxwell. Returning to Pennsylvania (where his parents made their home soon after his birth) he remained five years, returning to Baraboo permanently in 1855. In the fall of 1856, he was married to Emma A., eldest daughter of James A. Maxwell. Five children were born to them. Mrs. Potter survived her husband, and is still a resident of Baraboo. Mr. Potter possessed traits that gave him many warm friends. He was warm-hearted, charitable, trustful, candid. His influence was powerful through his large acquaintance with men, but he never used that influence unworthily.

ALEXANDER CRAWFORD

was born in Delaware County, N. Y., in 1798. In 1836, lie removed to Ohio, and there resided until 1839, when he removed to Michigan. In 1844, he came to Wisconsin, and in February, 1845, settled in Baraboo. The public lands were not then in market, but a claim of an acre was bought from Moore & Wood, on which Mr. Crawford erected a log house, occupying the spot upon which he lived until his death. For many years, his was a favorite stopping-place for travelers. Count Haraszthy was numbered among the transient guests. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford celebrated their golden wedding on the 23d of September, 1869, and on the 13th of September, 1870, Mr. Crawford was relieved of his earthly cares by death.

ROBERT CRAWFORD

was born in Greenfield, Huron Co., Ohio, in 1820. He came to Wisconsin, and settled in Baraboo in 1845. He helped to erect the old Maxwell Mill, and was a partner with B. L. Brier, in the erection of the first carding-mill northwest of Madison. In 1863, Mr. Crawford enlisted in the Third Cavalry, in which he served three years. During this period his health was undermined, and after his return he failed rapidly. He was of the mold of men through whose energies the young territories have grown great-honest, neighborly, of sound judgment, enterprising and public-spirited. He died January 31, 1868.

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

HARVEY CANFIELD

was born in New Milford, Conn., July 4, 1794, and removed with his father's family wlien a boy to the then wilds of the West, Onondaga County, N. Y. He came to Wisconsin in 1844, and settled in what was afterward known as the village of Lyons. He was an energetic business man, speculative and enterprising. Before coming to Wisconsin, he was a contractor on the Erie Canal at Little Falls ; then a farmer, salt manufacturer and merchant ; then a gold digger in the Carolinas ; afterward a contractor on the Oswego Canal, and also on the Auburn & Syra- cuse Railroad and the Genesee Valley Canal. He died, it is supposed, of heart disease, while plowing on his field near Baraboo, on the 18th of October, 1861. He was buried with Masonic honors, of which order he was an active member.

DANIEL SCHERMERHORN.

Diligent search fails to reveal the birthplace of Daniel Schermerhorn. He was born August 27, 1793, and died in Wonewoc August 26, 1875. The following tribute to his memory appeared in the local papers at the date of his death : " And so the pure, grand, peculiarly . eccentric, widely-known, honest ' Old Judge' has at length been admitted to the 'Grand Lodge above.' The patriot soldier, the first magistrate, and the ever-esteemed citizen, the pioneer whose name all pioneers loved to hear so well, very ripe in the harvest time, is gathered in by the Mighty Reaper. A remarkable man, whose sterling, positive qualities commanded such respect that most of the time for fifty-four years he was in public life, a sworn officer of some sort, although he never attended school six weeks in his life; yet he had a great understanding of very many things of the world, and not a narrow view of any question whatever. His ideas were as ennobling as his once towering, noble form and features ; in every way a self-made man ; aye, every inch a man. His life was indeed a grand success-from boyhood to manhood."

DANIEL BAXTER

was born in 1787 in one of the New England States. He came to Wisconsin Territory in 1837, settling in Green County. He moved to Prairie du Sac at a very early date in the county's history. Mr. Baxter held an honorable place in public life in the Empire State, having been a member of the Legislature in 1828 and 1829, in which capacity he served with Silas Wright. Millard Fillmore and other noted men. He was a member of both of Wisconsin's Consti- tutional Conventions. He was also one of the contractors who built the old Territorial Capitol. for his part in which, it is claimed, he never received his full pay. He died at Prairie du Sac on the 18th of September, 1867.

JAMES W. BABB

was born about three miles from Winchester, Frederick Co., Va., September 26, 1789. He remained in Virginia until the fall of 1810, when he was about twenty-one years old, remov- ing at that time, with his father, to Greene County, Ohio, where he remained for a year or two before returning to Virginia, to bring thence as a bride, Rebecca Scarff, whose acquaintance he had formed before moving thence. He ultimately received from his father 400 acres of valuable land, which he improved, and became one of the substantial men of his section. But, having fre- quently become security for other parties, and generally having the debts to pay, he found him- self, in the year 1845, seriously embarrassed, and determined to sell his property in Ohio, and remove to the "Far West," and make himself a new home. Accordingly, he disposed of his real estate, and early in April, 1845, started for Wisconsin Territory, in company with two persons named Kilpatrick, distant relatives of Mr. Babb's, one of whom lived near Janesville, and had been East on a visit. This person gave Mr. Babb a glowing description of a beautiful prairie, with rich, deep soil, lying in the valley of the Baraboo River, above Baraboo, which he had crossed in one of his hunting tours, and which had rarely, if ever before, been trodden by the foot of civilized man ; and it was to see and claim this prairie that Mr. Babb started from Ohio. He was also accompanied by his son John. The journey was made with a horse team across the

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and with a short tarry at Kilpatrick's house in Rock County, Wis., the party pushed on to this place. Arrived at Baraboo, then a mere hamlet, the party was augmented by several persons, among others by a Mr. Clark, who knew the way. They probably came through the Narrow Creek Gap, as the first view they obtained of the prai- rie was from the bluff back of the Dixon place, on the 12th day of May. Mr. Babb was then upward of fifty-five years of age, in the very prime of his manhood, of strong physical frame, robust health and iron will, and the difficulties and hardships of such an undertaking as he con- templated, and which would be sufficient to appeal to one of less courage and powers of endurance, had no horrors for him. Sticking his claim stake, he proceeded at once to improve, employing parties upon Sauk Prairie to come up and break seventy acres of land, upon a portion of which he raised, the same season, a crop of buckwheat, potatoes, etc. He built a double log house, after the Southern style, two stories in height, consisting of two buildings sixteen feet square, separated between by an open space twelve feet wide, but with the upper story extending the whole length, forty-four feet. The front of the building faced the south. Upon the north side, the alley between the buildings was extended twelve feet by an addition of logs, and closed at the north end, making a room twelve by twenty-eight feet, one story high. The whole was covered with shingles, obtained from an adjacent pine grove, where there were already hardy lumbermen engaged in converting the timber into lumber and shingles. To raise this house- the logs having been prepared by Mr. Babb and his son, and perhaps some other persons-it was thought to utilize the labor of the friendly Indians; but after getting the building up some distance, Mr. Babb became afraid that the reckless way in which they handled the heavy tim- bers would result in serious injury to them, procured help from Baraboo and Sauk, respectively sixteen and twenty-eight miles ; and thus the building was raised. The same summer he went to Baraboo, purchased lumber, built a flat-boat, loaded it with provisions and other useful articles, and poled it up the river to his place. The boat was afterward used as a ferry-boat to cross teams at Reedsburg, when the river was too high to be forded. Some time in December he returned to Ohio, where he remained during the winter. Early in the spring of 1846, accom- panied by his sons John (and his wife) and Strother and Wash Gray, he started for Wisconsin again, bringing some household stuff and a set of blacksmith's tools, which Strother knew how to use. They arrived here in time to get in a crop that season. Early in the fall, Mr. Babb returned alone to Ohio for his family, and was somewhat hurried up in his preparations for moving by the intelligence that the land sale in this district would take place on the 1st of December. On the 30th day of October, he started on the return journey, with his wife, his son Philip, his daughter Betsey, and her husband, Stern Baker, bringing the remainder of his worldly goods, cattle, etc. It took nearly a whole month to reach Whitewater, and there the weather was so cold that the party halted for a couple of days, and Mr. Babb left them to go to Mineral Point to enter his land, which he did, entering 900 acres in a body at that time. Journeying onward, the party reached Portage City, then Fort Winnebago, on the 28th of November, where they found considerable anchor-ice running, and a high wind prevailing, and they were obliged to camp eight days before they could prevail upon the ferrymen to cross them over. Upon this sid they were rejoined by Mr. Babb, who was accompanied by Don C. Barry, and they made the home stretch inside of two days, arriving at the Prairie on the 8th day of December, 1846. For years, Mr. Babb and his family were constantly surrounded by Indians, and for some time they were almost his only neighbors; and it speaks volumes for his justice and generosity, that he and his were always upon friendly terms with the aborigines; and that, throughout the whole period of thirty years which elapsed since his first settlement, neither he nor any of his family ever lost $5 by the depredations of their red neighbors, shows that they fully appreciated this justice and generosity. Mr. Babb died on the 14th of May, 1875, and was buried according to oft-expressed wishes, without religious ceremony.

." Babb's Prairie " will probably be known as such to future generations. It is the garden spot of Sauk County. Mr. Babb made acquisitions to his original claim until his farm comprised 1,800 acres, almost all of it being at one time or another under cultivation. The productions of

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

this farm were very large. In 1860, there were raised upon it, 17,500 bushels of grain, 900 bushels of potatoes, 160 tons of hay, and a proportionate amount of vegetables. Philip Babb, the eldest of the sons, still resides upon the homestead.

ALFRED AVERY

was born near New London, Conn., on the 9th of March, 1797. He was descended from an ancient and honorable family that settled early with the Massachusetts colony. From the early settlement of New London and Groton, his ancestors, the Averys and the Allyns, on the mother's side, held a prominent place in society. The first thirteen names on the Groton mon- ument to those murdered at Fort Griswold were his immediate relatives. His father was one of the few picked men whom " Mad Anthony " Wayne led that dark night to take Stony Point. In 1805, his father, with his family, formed a part of a colony which emigrated from Granville and Granby, in Massachusetts, to Central Ohio. The new Granville that they built soon be- came a marked educational center. When he was but nine years of age his father died, and he was thus thrown early in life upon his own resources, and, when only twelve, engaged to chop and clear a piece of land. He was but a mere lad when he supported his mother and two sisters. A youth of fifteen, he served in the war of 1812, after which he engaged in the mercantile business, driving the hogs and cattle which he took for pay, over the mountains to Baltimore, and carrying provisions to New Orleans on flatboats. Before the advent of railroads, he had crossed the Alleghany Mountains eighty times, and when there were twenty-six States in the Union, he had visited all of them on business. He helped build the Ohio and Maumee Canals ; established one of the first iron foundries in the State; and was President of the first bank in Granville. He removed to New York in 1846, and engaged in the wholesale dry-goods business, in which he continued until 1854, when, having established his eldest sons in the same business, he ceased to be an active partner. In 1868, he came to Baraboo, where he lived and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the community, until April 11, 1880, when he died, in the eighty- fourth year of his age, mourned by all who knew him. Mr. Avery married Jane Mower in 1823, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. In 1836, he became a widower, and, in 1843, he married Lavinia Dexter, by whom he had one daughter.

WILLIAM LUSK

was born in Union, Broome Co., N. Y., January 19, 1802, and died at his residence in the village of Reedsburg, Sauk Co., Wis., June 8, 1879.

During his early childhood his father died, and he was left to the care of his grandparents, who resided in Canaan, N. Y. From them he received a faithful religious education, and when seventeen years old he was converted and united with the church. He fitted for college in Lenox, Mass., a pupil of Dr. 'Jonas King, the distinguished missionary to Greece.

After graduating at Union College, at the age of twenty. he taught, for one year, the acad- emy at Springfield, Mass., and then entered the Seminary at Princeton, where he completed his theological course. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Columbus in 1826, and ordained by the same body April 23, 1829, and entered at once upon the work of the ministry, with the energy and devotion which has characterized his whole life, and continued in the service until he was obliged to relinquish it on account of ill health. He had as classmates in the · Seminary Revs. Dr. Bethune and Erskine Mason, and while they lived was on very friendly and intimate terms with them. Mr. Lusk's mind was an unusually active one, and by constant reading and correspondence he kept himself well acquainted with the events of his time. He gathered a valuable library and was a great reader, and no new work from the press escaped his attention. Mr. Lusk has labored in various fields, the most prominent being the churches in Cambridge, Saratoga Springs, Nunda, Cherry Valley, Batavia and Huron, in the State of New York, Will- iamsburg, Mass., and Piqua, Ohio. He became stated supply of the Presbyterian Church of this village, which had been recently organized, remaining until the spring of 1860, when he removed to Piqua, Ohio. In November, 1869, he returned to Reedsburg and resumed his work

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

as stated supply of the Presbyterian Church, in which he continued until October, 1874, when the infirmities of old age obliged him to give up his charge. He was genial and attractive in social life, instructive and earnest in the pulpit, and greatly endeared to his family and all the people among whom he labored. He left three sons and one daughter. One of his sons, bear- ing the same name as his father, is an alumnus of Princeton Seminary, now connected with the Protestant Episcopal Church, and resident at North Haven, Conn.

MARCUS WARREN,

one of the oldest and wealthiest citizens of Sauk County, died at the residence of his brother, in Baraboo, on Sunday, February 18, 1872, aged sixty-two years. The deceased settled where Sauk City is now located, in 1845 or 1846. He brought with him a heavy stock of goods, the first stock of any importance brought into the county. At that time the few residents on the Baraboo did their trading with him. He soon purchased what was known as the Bryant residence, which he converted into a hotel, at the same time buying the Bryant interest in the village, thus becoming one of its leading proprietors. He was afterward joined by his brothers, of whom, however, only T. M. Warren became a permanent resident of the county. Mr. Warren soon became the leading moneyed man of Sauk City, and was largely interested in real estate. When he died his fortune was estimated to be worth about $300,000.

J. F. SMITHI

was born in Irasburg, Vt., February 1, 1822. At the age of thirteen, he was left alone in the world, so far as paternal care is concerned, but, by indomitable energy and perseverance, he acquired a liberal education, and entered business relations of life in the employ of the Messrs. Hammonds, of Crown Point, N. Y. Later in life, he was engaged in the lumbering business in Pennsylvania, but not finding it lucrative, he went to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and was connected with the iron manufacturing interests of that place. From there he removed to Chicago, where he became identified with the banking business until 1858, when he removed to Ironton, Sauk County. He was first in the employ of Jonas Tower, in the iron mines, and afterward a part- ner, until the death of Mr. Tower, in 1868, by whose will he was made equal heir with others in the estate, and eventually became sole proprietor of the iron mines. In later years, he turned his attention to land matters, and at his death was considered the richest, and perhaps the most extensive, farmer in the county.

A. W. STARKS.

Knowledge of the early life of this well-known pioneer is unfortunately very limited. He was born, it is believed, in Williamsburg, Mass., in 1801. He was for a time a resident of Jefferson County, N. Y., and at a later period lived in Albany and became one of the Aldermen of that city. . He came to Wisconsin early in the forties, and in 1844 or 1845, was Marshal of the then young city of Milwaukee, where he continued to reside until 1852, when he removed to Sauk County. In 1853, he was elected State Prison Commissioner on the Democratic ticket. The honesty with which he discharged the duties of the office, and his refusal to be influenced by partisan considerations, drew upon him the hostility of political factions, and charges were preferred against him, which, after strict investigation, were disproved. At the expiration of his term he returned to his farm in Sauk County, and when the war broke out he took a position against the secessionists, which wholly identified him with the Republican party. In the move- ment in 1861, to unite the loyal masses of both parties, in the support of the Government, Mr. Starks was brought forward as a Union candidate for the Legislature. He received unanimous support, and thereafter served five successive terms in that body. He died June 20, 1870.

JOSEPH MACKEY

was born May 17, 1822, in the town of Broome, Schoharie Co., N. Y., and dicd October 22, 1879, at Minneapolis, Minn., in the 58th year of his age. He received academic instruc- tion at Schoharie Court House, and in 1842, commenced the study of law. In 1845. after

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

admission to the bar, he removed to Gilboa, N. Y., where he practiced his profession till 1848, when he removed to the county seat of Schoharie County, and was elected District Attorney. In 1854, he came West and settled in Reedsburg, where he resided about a year before his death. He entered immediately in the pursuit of his calling and continued to practice law until about 1870, when he engaged in banking. He removed to Minneapolis in 1878. The leading traits of character developed in Mr. Mackey were the energy and thoroughness by which he accomplished everything he undertook. As a lawyer he was particularly noted for the complete and perfect preparation of his briefs. At the age of twenty-five, he married Cornelia, daughter of Daniel Mackey, of Gilboa. The result of the union was three children, two of whom, with their mother, survived their father.

JOSEPH I. WEIRICH*

was born at Mooresville, Harrison Co., Ohio, April 14, 1837. He was the second son and third child of Rev. Christian E. and Maria Weirich. His father, a Methodist preacher of ability, and a man of eminent Christian character, was also at several periods an editor and publisher ; and here we have a key to the life of this son, who drew his moral inspiration and acquired his love of the editorial profession from the same paternal source. When but fifteen years old, young Weirich was accepted as an apprentice in the office of the Washington (Penn.) Examiner, where he served three years with creditable acceptance. In the meantime his father had joined the Wisconsin Conference. So, on completing his apprenticeship, Joseph came to this State, in 1856, with the rest of his father's family. During the next two or three years, we find him engaged as a compositor in Madison, first on the State Journal, where he was associated at the case with A. J. Turner and Peter Richards ; afterward on the Patriot, where he was the imme- diate associate and friend of S. S. Brannan-names honorably connected with the history of Wisconsin journalism. At a later date, he was similarly employed on the Richland Democrat ; and, partaking of the itineracy of his father, who was assigned to Baraboo as preacher in the fall of 1859, the son, in 1860, first went to work as a printer upon the paper which eventually he was to own and edit. In January, 1861, he had an attack of lung fever which came near proving fatal. The crisis past, he rapidly recovered his strength, and renewed work in the office, continuing in that employment until the President's first call for three years' men to sus- tain the Union, when he enlisted as a private in Company A of the Sixth Regiment, Iron Brigade, of whose original muster only about twenty-five men survived the war. He was wounded in the breast at the battle of South Mountain, September 14, 1862, and was honorably dis- charged as Sergeant at the expiration of his term of enlistment. He now rejoined the family circle, which during his absence had centered at Monroe, and renewed his occupation as a printer. During the next four or five years, he was mostly employed on the Monroe papers, the Sentinel, Republican and Vindicator, being foreman of the last two offices ; and during this period, also, it was his happy fortune to be married to Miss Rebecca Ball. In 1869, he removed with his family and a number of kinsmen and friends, forming a colony, to Eden, in Dakota Territory ; but, severe experience during the succeeding winter causing him and others to abandon their agricult- ural adventure, he returned with his family t Monroe and resumed his former work. In

August, 1872, he purchased the Baraboo Republic, which he conducted alone till the spring of 1874, and afterward, till his death, jointly with the present writer. So passed away, on the 21st of December, 1877, this dear friend. Beneath flowers in the sunny cemetery at Monroe, near the bed of " The Best Chaplain in the Army," from whom he inherited so much of the best that was in him, and of whom he has written as his Sainted Father, sleeps the mortal part of Joseph I. Weirich.

ICHABOD CODDING

was born at Bristol, Oneida Co., N. Y., September 26, 1810. At the age of seventeen, he entered the the academy at Canandaigua, where he remained three years in the capacity of pupil and teacher. While there, he had for fellow-student Stephen A. Douglas, whom he in

*Extracts from a memorial address by E. E. Woodman, read before the Wisconsin Editorial Association, June 25, 1878.

( DECEASED )

IRONTON.

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY. 435

later life encountered in political debate on the prairies of Illinois. On leaving the academy, he entered Middlebury College, and, while there, commenced his career as an Anti-slavery lec- turer, and in so doing incurred the displeasure of those in authority in that institution, on account of which he voluntarily left without completing the course. After that, his persecutions in that behalf came fast and more trying, until he had received violent treatment at the hands of pro-slavery mobs on no less than forty different occasions. He early espoused the temperance cause, and delivered nearly one hundred lectures on that subject before arriving at the age of twenty-one. At this time, the doors of the churches were closed against the temperance lec- turer, and, to use Mr. Codding's own expression, " the pioneers in the temperance cause had to get their hearing in the churches by printing pamphlets and throwing them over the walls of Zion from the outside." A great deal of light has since been infused into the church after sim- ilar means. After leaving college, he was employed by the Anti-Slavery Society to lecture in the New England States. He came West in 1843, stoutly maintaining his opposition to slavery. He was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church at Waukesha in 1846, Owen Lovejoy officiating as one of the ministers on that occasion, in whose behalf Mr. Codding afterward had the honor of declining a nomination for Congress. Mr. Codding also declined a like nomina- tion on another occasion. His extensive researches and investigations soon led him to change his religious views, and placed him outside the so-called orthodox churches. As a religionist, he may be classed among that branch of the Unitarians represented by Theodore Parker. He held, like Thomas Paine and many other men of deep thought, that there is a religion arising from man's relation to God and his fellow-man not dependent on written revelation. The one- ideaism of his life was to plant himself on the broad platform of eternal truth and justice, and defend it against all assailants. His discourse was argumentative, sometimes eloquent. Although not a politician, the Republican party had no abler advocate than he, and he especially endeared himself to the thinking people of Baraboo during his four years' residence among them for his righteous denunciation of secession. His death occurred on the 17th of June, 1866, upon the eve of his intended departure for Bloomington, Ill., where he was under engagement to preach. To Ichabod Codding, Chief Justice Chase once paid this tribute : " I have heard Webster, Clay and most of the great orators of this country, but none of them could equal Codding. When I say greatest orator, I wish to qualify the expression. Many may be ranked higher by the usual standards, but by the standard which, after all, should measure the power of oratory-that of effect produced upon a large and promiscuous audience-Codding surpassed any speaker I ever heard."

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The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 64

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 840

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840