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 65
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DAVID P. CRANDALL
was born at Austerlitz, Dutchess Co., N. Y., November 24, 1802. He was twice married-in 1828 to Catherine Bradt, and in 1838 to Priscilla East, who survived him. By the latter he liad three children, two of whom, Robert B. and Mary C., are still living. In 1831, he went from his native town to New Orleans, and remained South till 1846, when he removed to St. Charles, Ill., and the next year to Baraboo. Here the first home of the family was a room ten feet square in Brown's saw-mill. In 1851, Mr. Crandall with his family returned to Mississippi, where they remained until 1856, when they came back to Baraboo. Mr. Crandall was a man of mark and was famous for his endurance. He was one of the first members of Rev. Ichabod Codding's church in Baraboo, and was also a prominent Mason, being the first Master Mason made by the Baraboo Lodge of that order. His character was marked by noble and admirable traits.
R. G. CAMIP.
The subject of this sketch died in Baraboo, November 5, 1872. He was born in Litch- field, Conn .. in 1799. Early in life he studied law, and was Judge of Probate a number of years in his native State. He came to Wisconsin and located at Baraboo in the fall of 1848. He also held the office of County Judge of Sauk County for a short time at an early day. He was always a firm opponent of slavery, and during the war was a zealous friend to the soldier. He was strictly honest and upright in his dealings, and was frequently honored by his fellow-men with positions of trust and responsibility.
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
NEWMAN PECK
was born in the town of Bristol, Hartford Co., Conn., on the 24th of December, 1796. He came to Wisconsin in 1841 and settled in Racine County. In 1856, he came to Sauk County and located in the town of Excelsior, where he continued to reside up to his death. Mr. Peck was the first Deputy Sheriff that his native county in Connecticut ever had. He was one of the first Assessors in Racine County, and the first Justice of the Peace in the town of Excelsior. He was Coroner of Sauk County one term. He was a man that had read very extensively, and his memory of men and events was very remarkable.
JOHN C. YOUNG
was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., November 10, 1790, where he lived till March, 1834, removing thence to Otsego County. From there he went in 1848 to Jefferson County, and in May, 1856, he settled on Section 5 in the town of Reedsburg, where he died on the 17th of February, 1878. Mr. Young was particularly illustrious in having been a soldier of 1812, and also a Mason of over sixty years' standing, having received all the degrees of the order obtaina- ble in America.
R. A. ORVIS
was born in 1827. He came to Baraboo in April, 1857, and engaged in business as a mer- chant, with his uncle, Ransom Jones, afterward entering into and for six years continuing in partnership with H. A. Peck. Later, he was associated with Messrs. Lang & Camp. In the spring of 1870, Mr. Orvis sold out his business in Baraboo and removed to South Bend, Ind., with a view of forming a more important business connection. Soon after his departure, the construction of a railroad to Baraboo being assured, he made frequent visits to his home -- his wife still living in Baraboo -- and, had not his untimely death occurred, he would, doubtless, have made his permanent home here. He was drowned at South Bend on the 13th of Decem - ber, 1870.
J. H. RORK
was born in Essex County, N. Y., August 12, 1811. At the age of 14 he removed, with his parents, to Sheridan, Chautauqua County, N. Y., where, on the 15th of September, 1830, he was married. In 1837, he removed to Racine, and from there came to Sauk County, settling in Reedsburg, on the 11th of February, 1848. Six months previous, he had been here and had erected a log-house half a mile east of the present village. He continued to reside in the town and village until his death. He had filled numerous minor offices, and at the time of his death was a member of the Board of Trustees. He was the father of nine children, six of whom survived him. Mr. Rork was a highly respected citizen, and was particularly noted for having been one of the very first settlers in Reedsburg.
ALONZO WILCOX
was born at Edineston, N. Y., March 18, 1810. When twenty-one years of age, he removed to Medina, in the same State, and from that place he went to Chicago in 1835, where he purchased and partly improved forty acres of land now included in the corporate limits of that city. In 1837, he became a merchant in Joliet, Ill., where he became deeply interested in the political issues of the day, taking a decided stand with the Abolitionists about the time of the assassina- tion of Lovejoy, and in consequence he lost many friends, and, with the rest, his business. In 1840, he went to Warsaw, Wis., and, in 1843, to Madison, where, the following year, he married Miss M. F. Toffelmire, by whom he had seven children. He filled several minor local offices, and, in 1848, was a Free-Soil candidate for State Senator. In 1849, he was nominated for Congress by the same party, but declined. In 1854, he resumed the study of medicine at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, he having studied a brief period in 1839 for the profession of a physician. He graduated. but never offered himself as a practitioner. In 1856. he identified himself with the interests of Sauk County, settling in the town of Honey Creek.
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
In 1862, he removed to Spring Green, and represented his district in the Assembly during the winter of 1863-64. He was Sergeant-at-Arms in that body in 1865. He died at his home in Spring Green, March 25, 1878.
DAVID SANDS VITTUM,
the fifth child in a family of eight of David and Dolly Vittum, was born at Sandwich, N. H., October 21, 1820, where he resided till his tenth year, when his parents removed to Meredith Village in the same State. He was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1845, and subsequently read law for two years at Laconia, N. H. On being admitted to the bar, he prac- ticed as an attorney in company with a Mr. Lyford for two years, and then for two years more in partnership with George S. Stevens, of Meredith. In 1851, he came to Wisconsin, first stopping in Milwaukee, and in August of that year came to Baraboo. Although a member of the Sauk County bar for many years, it was only in the early part of life here that he was known as a practicing attorney. For a time, he edited the Sauk County Democrat, one of the first newspapers published in the county. But he may be said to have devoted most of the years previous to the war to business operations, making speculative ventures chiefly in the way of real estate and land warrants, in which he laid the foundation of his fortune. He was State Senator in 1853-54, then representing the counties of Sauk, Juneau, Adams and Marquette. In 1861, he raised, in Sauk County, Company F of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, which was mustered into the United States service in January, 1862, and served with the regiment until it was mustered out in 1865, when he came home with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, Col. Vittum returned to his business pursuits. He took an interest in the Island Woolen Company, which he held for a number of years. In 1873, he organized the First National Bank, subsequently buying out the Sauk County Bank, of older existence, and consolidated its business with that of the new bank. He continued at the head of this bank till his death. In his social character, Col. Vittum was a dignified and polished gentleman, of tender sensibili- ties and warm heart. He was very exact in his business habits, but liberal and accommodating to those whom he could favor.
H. A. TATOR
was born in Lysander, Onondaga Co., N. Y., April 23, 1826. At the age of ten years, he removed with his father's family to Delavan, Walworth County, where his father died October 20, 1836. In 1854, Capt. Tator removed with his mother and sisters to Reedsburg. In November, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Nineteenth Infantry, and was soon after commis- sioned as First Lieutenant of his company. Three years later, he veteranized with his regiment and served to the close of the war, succeeding to the command of the company on the promotion of Capt. (now Colonel) Strong. He returned to his home in September, 1865. In August, 1869, he went West for his health, but died on the 24th of September, at Brigham, Utah.
S. A. DWINNELL
was born in Lee, Berkshire Co., Mass., and was the eldest of a family of ten children. At the age of nineteen, while attending school at Springfield, Mass., he was converted and began a life of Christian service which was decided and steadfast to the end. The next year, he entered Phillips' Academy at Andover, Mass., and while there united with others in forming a society called " The Missionary Fraternity," for the purpose of gathering information about the con- dition of heathen nations, and of preparing themselves for missionary work. Among the mem- bers of this society were Champion and Grout, afterward pioneer missionaries to the Zulus in South Africa. On account of ill health, Mr. Dwinnell was compelled to leave school and give up his purpose to preach the Gospel. Some time previous to this, he had become convinced that total abstinence was the true ground to be taken against the evils of intemperance, and so he signed the temperance pledge, although he stood entirely alone" among his companions in doing it. In 1834, after a careful and candid examination of the subject, he came to the conclusion that slavery, as it existed in the United States, was a sin against God and a great wrong to the
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
enslaved, and that it ought to be abolished at once. From that time, he cast his lot with the little band of reformers who were called Abolitionists, and with tongue and pen advocated the cause of emancipation. In 1835, he came West to Indiana, and three years later moved to Walworth County. in this State. While residing there, Mr. Dwinnell organized the first Sab- bath school ever held in the county, held religious meetings at his own house, and when called upon conducted funeral services ; he also spoke frequently upon the subject of temperance. On his first visit to Reedsburg, in the fall of 1848, he gathered together the entire population of the village (twenty-nine in all), on the evening of the Sabbath, and spoke to them upon the duty of obeying the law of God. Two years after this, he sold his farm in Walworth County, and became a citizen of Reedsburg, then a little hamlet of twenty-five families. Here his interest in the cause led him to active work, and as a result the Congregational Church of the village invited him to become their Pastor, and he was licensed by a council of ministers, called together at Baraboo, in August, 1852, and a year later he was ordained to the Gospel ministry. Mr. Dwinnell's work as preacher extended through about fifteen years, ten years of which time he was installed Pastor. His labors were abundant. He preached in the schoolhouses far and near. During the period of his ministry he delivered over sixteen hundred sermons, attended about nine hundred other meetings, conducted 122 funerals and traveled 13,545 miles. In all these years, he left his people but five Sabbaths without providing for the supply of his pulpit. As a preacher, Mr. Dwinnell was plain and practical, dealing faithfully with the evils of the day. He spoke boldly against Sabbath-breaking, profanity, intemperance and slavery. No consideration of self-interest, no fear of pecuniary loss, ever kept him silent when he felt that he ought to speak, or made him endeavor to soften the repulsive features of what he believed to be a wrong.
" A man of thoughtful mind and courage strong, And conscience keen to feel the force of right ; He struck hard blows 'gainst every form of wrong, Doing whate'er he did with all his might."
During the war he taught the duty of supporting the Government in its struggle for exist- ence ; and when the war was finished, he rejoiced that the shackles were stricken from the limbs of the slave, and that our land was free in fact as well as in name. He preached his last sermon in 1867. Since that time, though laid aside from active work, he did much with his pen, writing sketches of the pioneers of the State, and tracing the growth of her towns and cities. The last two years of his life he was confined mostly to the house, and at times suffered intense pain ; but he bore his sufferings with Christian patience, and, when the hour of death came, he fell asleep in the full assurance of a blessed immortality. He left behind the faithful wife, who had been his companion for more than forty years, three sons and three daughters.
JOHN STARKS
was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1841. While very young, he came to Wisconsin with his parents, who finally settled in the town of Excelsior. When the war broke out, young Starks was attending the Collegiate Institute in Baraboo. He laid aside his books, and became a mem- ber of Company A, Sixth Regiment, going out as a Corporal. At the battle of Gainesville, he was wounded in the knee, and carried the leaden missile to his grave. When wounded, he had in his pocket a commission as Adjutant of the Twenty-third Regiment, and, upon recovering, joined that regiment at Paris, Ky. He was at the battles of Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Cham- pion Hills, Black River Bridge and the storming of Vicksburg. At the latter place, he was wounded in the breast. and never wholly recovered. The office of Adjutant of the Twenty-third had been filled when Capt. Starks reached the regiment, and he was given a lieutenancy in one of the companies. He afterward received a Captain's commission, and died at his home in Excelsior March 16, 1865.
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
JAMES F. FLANDERS
was born in Enfield, N. H., in 1813, and came to Wisconsin in 1838 as an accredited minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His first appointment was on the Troy Circuit, in Wal- worth County. He became identified with the interests of Baraboo at a very early date, and was the leading spirit in the organization of the first Methodist society in the place, being the first to preach the Gospel in the little " slab church." This was a building composed entirely of slabs from the lower mills. Mr. Flanders' little flock used mother earth as a floor and sawdust for carpeting around the desk. He died at Marietta, Ga., on the 12th of September, 1864, of dropsy of the heart.
SILON NOYES,
one of the founders of the Baraboo Republic, died at Mason City, Iowa, on the 18th of Janu- ary, 1875. He was born in Chelsea, Orange Co., N. Y. in 1833 ; came to Wisconsin in 1844. In 1855, he engaged in the publication of the Baraboo Republic, in conjunction with his brother, W. W. Noyes, having previously been connected with the Portage City press. He removed to Iowa in 1857, and for a few years engaged in farming, but, being a practical printer, his love for his chosen profession led him again to engage in it, and he purchased an interest in the Cerro Gordo Republican. This he retained, with, perhaps, an intermission of a few months, until his death. As a mark of appreciation of his services to the county as its pioneer editor, about a year previous to his death he was elected County Auditor. He left a wife and three children.
JOSEPH GAYLORD BLAKESLEE
was born at Paris Hill, Oneida Co., N. Y., February 12, 1805, and died at Ironton December 26, 1878. His parents were pioneers in that part of New York, in which he found much more hard work than opportunities for education. In the absence of canals and railroads, the usual routine of his rural youth was mostly varied by trips with sleigh to Albany, 140 miles, with farm produce and return with merchandise. The fashion and economy of those early days are illus- trated by his taking from home enough cooked provisions for the round trip of ten days to two weeks, in order to clear anything by such hauling. Experiences in trading on such trips caused him, when of age, to engage in peddling through most of the New England States, in which he acquired more of experience than capital. During several years following, he alternately formed, ran a saw-mill and essayed a wagon and blacksmith shop, employing several hands. Soon after being married, January 1, 1835, to Ruby Bliss, who survives him, he had the mis- fortune to have his shop, tools and stock consumed, which led him to give up all his remaining property to his creditors. With several long-time acquaintances, he then determined to abandon New York, and make a new start in Wisconsin, in which Territory he settled, near Salem, Keno- sha County, in 1844. One drawback after another, including sickness, induced him to desire a new location, and, hearing of the Baraboo country, he, with several friends, made no less than seven prospecting and hunting tours between 1848 and 1852, during which, by means of cash and warrants, he entered several hundred acres of excellent land lying about one or two miles northwest and west of Ironton Village. On this land he settled in the spring of 1852. Much of this land he soon disposed of, but retained enough for a good farm until about ten years ago. This farm being situated in Lavalle (then Marston, including what now is Woodland, Lavalle, Ironton and Washington), he was soon chosen Chairman of its Board of Supervisors, and many times represented it in the old county board. In these early days he was also a noted Justice of the Peace, and thereby acquired the title of " Squire," which clung to him through life. After the death of James Tower, founder of Ironton, who was one of the members of the County Board, he was appointed and then elected to the position, which he retained about four years, and gained the respect and good will of his colleagues. Having a good offer for his farm, he disposed of it in the spring of 1868, and purchased a comfortable home in the village of Ironton, where he resided until his death. Throughout his Sauk County career, he was one of the landmarks of Republicanism, never wavering in its support, and contributing
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
freely of his money, time and labor for its success. He was specially noted for the persistence with which he insisted that his town should always be represented in county convention, whose every session he has attended for a generation. The massiveness and shape of his head betok- ened, what he really possessed, much more than average mental endowments, which, had they in youth been fairly cultivated, would have raised him to much more important stations in life than he occupied. While observation and keen analysis, with sound reasoning and considerate judgment, guided by justice, insured him a fair measure of social, official and financial success without wronging another, and placed him on the right side of most public questions, and caused his opinion to be respected and frequently consulted ; wealth and station, however, were but secondary with him, for he distributed the one and waived the other more than is generally known. He was for many years an Odd Fellow, but gradually communed more and more with the Free Masons, with whom he remained in good standing to his death. He also worked with the Good Templars for a number of years. In all these organizations, he was an active and influential member, and frequently held important official positions in each. In the pioneer days of the Little Baraboo, many were those who were freely welcome to his bed and board, and a seat about the old-style fireplace ; and often did the capacious old log house contain a merry com- pany whose down-right old-fashioned sport and ready wit caused the walls to fairly ring again ; and often do his children refer to the endearments of the old farm home.
JOHN METCALF
was born in Rhode Island in 1786. He came to Wisconsin in 1831, and commenced the build- ing of a shot-tower at Helena, in company with Mr. Hambleton and Capt. Terry, but the Sac and Fox Indians becoming hostile, the work was abandoned. In 1832, and until 1835, he was in the employ of Daniel Whitney (the first American owner of the present site of Portage), who had obtained permission of the Menomonee Indians to make shingles on their lands lying along the Wisconsin River. He and Mr. Whitney took into the pinery a whip-saw, and sawed by hand a raft of lumber, which Mr. Metcalf ran to the Portage. Therefore, he was the pioneer raftsman of Wisconsin, having, of course, the honor of running the first raft through the Dells. His account books show that he had dealings with Augustin Grignon, from whom Mr. Whitney pur- chased title to the land Portage now stands upon. Grignon held the land by a title from the French Government, and the deed from him to Whitney is signed by Andrew Jackson, then Presi- dent of the United States. After peace was concluded with Black Hawk, the tower at Helena was finished. Gradually failing, however, in business prospects at that place, Mr. Metcalf pur- chased, in 1849 or 1850, one-half of the " Upper Mills" in Baraboo, where he remained until death snapped the brittle thread, if indeed it was not unwound to its natural end, on the 22d of January, 1864. Mr. Metcalf was never married, and had at his death no known relatives.
JAMES STEELE
was particularly illustrious for having reached the great age of one hundred and thirteen years six months and eleven days, as claimed by his son William Steele, of Delton, at which place the elder Steele died April 23, 1872. He was born at Harper's Ferry, Va., and settled in Sauk County at a very early day. He was one of the leading citizens of Newport. The old gentle- man claimed to have borne a part in the Revolution, and later to have participated in the battle of Maumee, under " Mad Anthony Wayne," of whom he spoke in terms of enthusiastic eulogy. He was married a second time when ninety-eight years of age to a Canadian-French woman who was ninety-one. She died November 12, 1873, aged one hundred and two years four months and fourteen days.
WILLIAM PALMER
was born at Acquia Creek, Md., in 1805, and died at his residence in the town of West- field, September 20, 1873, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Mr. Palmer learned the trade of a carpenter in his native State, and soon became a master builder. In 1828, he went to Phila- delphia, where he remained six years, and where he was married. In 1834, he removed to
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Belmont Co., Ohio. Here he acquired considerable property, but meeting with subsequent financial reverses, he went to California in 1850, returning in two years with means to free his property of its incumbrance. In 1854, he removed to Wisconsin, arriving in Reedsburg on the 16th of May. He soon afterward purchased 160 acres of land near Loganville, of King Thompson, and entered 600 acres more lying adjacent thereto. In 1855, in company with Chauncey P. Logan, he built a saw-mill, and, with J. D. Mackey, in 1861, a flouring-mill at Loganville. In 1864, he was elected to the Assembly from the south district of the county, and re-elected the next year. At the expiration of his second term and until his death, he devoted his attention to the management of his farm, retaining a lively interest in town politics. He was Chairman of the Town Board when he died. A wife and five children survived him.
HERBERT N. HUNTINGTON
was born in Connecticut April 9, 1807, and died in Baraboo January 2, 1878. While quite young, he removed with his parents to Mexico, Oswego Co., N. Y., where he was educated. He married, February 2, 1836, Miss Amanda M. Steele, the schoolmate of his youth. Two children were the result of this union, one of whom died in infancy. The other is now Mrs. William Staley, of Baraboo. Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Huntington removed to Scriba, N. Y., where they resided till 1851, when they came to Wisconsin, settling in Baraboo, and Mr. H. engaging in the mercantile business. He was a careful, sober and industrious busi- ness man, with a sound and reliable judgment.
JULIUS CONVERSE CHANDLER
was born in West Randolph, Orange Co., Vt., August 23, 1833. The disease of which he died was dropsy, induced by cirrhosis of the liver. He was the fifth son of William B. Chandler, in a family of thirteen children, all of whom possessed strong characteristics, and several of them have occupied important and responsible positions, both in civil and public life. Julius entered as an apprentice to the printing trade at an early age in the office of the Green Mountain Free- man, published at Montpelier, Vt., which was the leading paper in the State. On completing his apprenticeship, he set out as a journeyman, his first stopping-place being Quincy, Mass. In 1853, he went thence to Cleveland, Ohio, where his brother William then resided, and worked for a time as a compositor on the Leader. In the fall of the same year, he went back to Quincy, and was married to Miss Helen W. Adams, of that place. Returning to Cleveland, he continued his work there until August, 1854, when he removed to Janesville, in this State, where he worked on the Democrat, of which Judge Armstrong was editor. From Janesville he went to Portage, where he and his brother, John A., started the Independent. John withdrew at the end of nine months, and, after the paper had lived two years, Julius sold to Robert B. Went- worth. He continued a year longer in Portage, out of business, and then went to Friendship and started the Adams County Independent, which he published till the war broke out, when he enlisted in the Second Regiment. In the first battle of Bull Run, he was disabled so that he was discharged from the service. He then returned to Friendship and continued the Independ- ent irregularly till May, 1864, when he again enlisted, this time in the Fortieth, a 100-day reg- iment, serving till October. In December of the same year, he entered the service of his brother, William W., as traveling agent of the Star Freight Line, and so continued for about two years and a half, in the meantime selling his office at Friendship. In 1867, he removed to Bar- aboo, and soon afterward established the Sauk County Herald. Still later, he made newspaper ventures at Augusta, Eau Claire and Elroy, and, in 1877, he edited a paper called Frontier Business, at Morris, Minn.
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