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 83

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 83

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In 1847, a part of Block 20, of the village of Adams, was set aside for burial purposes, and the body of George W. Brown, who was accidentally killed by the falling of a mill timber Decem- ber 15, 1847, was the first buried in this plat.

A year or two later, the Baptist Church purchased of Ira S. Angell the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 35 for burial purposes. Mr. Angell's mother, a member of this church, who died about this time, was buried in these grounds-the first interment made in them. Her name being Mercy, the new cemetery took the name of Mount Mercy. It is a lovely spot, overlooking the Baraboo Bluffs and valley for many miles on either hand. Quite a number of the pioneers of Baraboo, of both sexes, were laid away on Mount Mercy when their earthly pilgrimage had closed. But the advance of civilization and progress soon caused their remains to be disturbed.

In 1855, the Baraboo Cemetery Association was organized ; ground was purchased of John B. Crawford, in Section 26, and the bodies previously deposited in the three burying-grounds already mentioned were disinterred and removed to the new plat. The first Trustees of the Baraboo Cemetery Association were R. G. Camp, Ransom Jones, Irwin Crain, Thomas English, Edward Sumner, John B. Crawford and Benjamin L. Purdy, Mr. Camp being President, Mr. Purdy, Secretary, and Mr. Jones, Treasurer. Five of the ten acres of land purchased of Mr. Crawford were surveyed by Josiah Dart, and laid out in burial-lot form. Mr. Crawford received $400 for his land, $200 cash, and the balance at the end of a year with 12 per cent interest. There seems to have been some misunderstanding concerning the transfer of title from lots in Mount Mercy Cemetery to the new grounds, as will appear from the following resolution, which appears on the records of the new association, dated September 12, 1855 :

Resolved, That this association accept no more certificates from Mount Mercy Association, and fill out no deeds to persons claiming lots in the same, until said association indemnify this association for lots thus deeded, or make an assignment of their grounds to this association.

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

The difficulties were soon settled, however, and the bodies then lying in Mount Mercy ground were removed to the new plat. The receipts from the sale of lots, during the first year of the new association's existence, amounted to $373, but a very small portion of it being paid in. In the meantime, the ladies of the village had held a fair for the benefit of the association, the proceeds amounting to $88.75. The remaining five acres (the north division) of the original plat have been improved, and, in the spring of 1879, an additional ten acres were purchased of Mr. Crawford for $500. The present officers of the association are T. Thomas, President; W. S. Grubb, Treasurer; Louis Wild, Secretary.

Catholic Cemetery .- In 1872, the Catholic Church of Baraboo purchased four acres of land, situated on the Kilbourn road, and laid it out for the purposes of a cemetery. The first interment therein was that of the body of the Rev. Mr. Coghlan, who died while in charge of the parish. The cemetery belongs to, and is entirely under, the management of the church.

OLLA PODRIDA.

Mrs. Peck was the first white woman in the Baraboo Valley.

Capt. Levi Moore is the oldest living male settler on the Baraboo Rapids.

Archibald Barker was the first white man who came to Sauk County with the intention of settling. He is now a resident of the town of Baraboo.

The first bridge built across the river was at a point where the present bridge crosses on the street leading to the depot. It was constructed, in 1846, of rough round logs, and was what is known as a " crib bridge."

Abraham Laezert was the pioneer crispin in Baraboo. Daniel Schermerhorn also made boots and shoes here as early as 1848.

E. M. Hart was the first school teacher.

Dr. Charles Cowles was the first physician.

In 1859, William Crawford and James Crawford, Jr., while fishing below the lower dam, caught a sturgeon which weighed 113} pounds, and was six feet long. A discussion of the merits of this "catch " among old settlers brought out some pretty tough fish stories, one by Archibald Barker, who says that, in 1842, while running the first raft of lumber ever taken down the Baraboo, he saw in the stream, at a point just below the Lower Narrows, a very large school of sturgeon plowing along, their backs being out of water. They had, apparently, formed a line reaching from one bank to the other, and Mr. Barker says, when he first discov- ered them, he thought some one had dammed the river. He killed three very large ones with a hand-spike, and, while in the water trying to secure them, he was knocked down by others fully as large as those he had killed. While upon the subject of fish, it may be well to state that P. A. Bassett caught the first eel ever taken from the Baraboo River by any of the early white settlers.

Thomas Fullerton preached the first sermon in the Baraboo Valley, at the house of Mrs. Valentia B. Hill, in the winter of 1842. Mrs. Hill was the first person baptized in these parts, and her son, Ichabod B. Hill, was the first white child born in the same region ; the latter event occurred January 9, 1842.

The first rat ever seen in Baraboo was found in Mrs. Garrison's store, which stood on the corner just east of the Sumner House, in 1858. The old lady called upon some of the boys, Levi Crouch among the rest, to kill the rodent, which they did, with neatness and dispatch.

It was a Baraboo Constable who, acting under instructions from the Sheriff, levied upon some swine to satisfy a judgment, and, upon reporting the fact to the court, said : “I have seized the hogs and have them in my procession."

LYONS.

The first village plat made of any part of the Baraboo Valley was that of Lyons, located just west of the present village of Baraboo. It was recorded in' April, 1846, and it was confi- dently believed by those interested that this spot was especially designed by nature for the future

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

metropolis of Sauk County. James Webster built a hotel here in 1843, having become a resi- dent the year previous. Mr. Webster died in 1853. Alexander Crawford came in 1844, and erected a house near Webster's. He also kept hotel, and accommodated travelers and new- comers ; Mr. Crawford departed this life in 1870. Thomas Morehead came in 1850. In this year a school was established in Lyons, which is now in School District No. 6. Diligent search and inquiry have failed to unearth the early records of this institution of learning. George Holah, one of the school officers, has furnished documents showing the names of those who have taught school in the district from 1867 to 1876, as follows : Francis Avery, L. M. Park, Delia Odell, Samuel F. Beede, Hannah Holah, Lina A. Flanders, Belle M. Flanders, J. M. Savage, Mrs. A. B. Savage, Mary Perigo, Jennie Dodd, Robert B. Crandall, William Barker, Prof. J. S. Kimball, Bertie Van Sice, Belle Remington, Emma J. Jones, F. T. Twist, G. A. Pabodie, W. B. Sprague, R. DeT. Evans, George A. Gross, Nellie Bacon and R. R. Remington, Jr.

Mr. Holah came to Lyons in 1856; J. P. Atwood, Robert Lot, and J. W. Aldrich date their settlement early in the fifties. Lyons succumbed to the inevitable, and gave way to the more rapid growth of Baraboo, of which it is now a very lively suburb. It is to Baraboo what Brooklyn is to New York, and, occupying this position, it must be a consolation to its citizens to know that their village may some day receive the surplus population of Baraboo. The location is all that could be asked. With the more thorough improvement of its water-power privileges will doubtless come additional population, and with the latter-well, Lyons, as one of the wards of the city of Baraboo, would be in a position " not to be sneezed at."

MANCHESTER.

The first claim made to any part of the land comprised in the Baraboo Valley was at a point on the river known in early times as the " foot of the rapids." It was here, as has been shown in the first part of this chapter, that Eben Peck, in the face of Indian opposition, and amid the surrounding solitude of a wild and unsettled country, determined to make his home, and soon afterward carried out that determination. The history of the water-power and the manufacturing interests of this point has already been given. In May, 1850, a village survey was made here, the field-notes of that survey as they appear in the Register's office being as follows :

" This certifies that I have surveyed for Walter P. Flanders a town plat, called Man- chester, situated on the northeast quarter of Section 1, Town 11, Range 6, with lots, blocks, streets and alleys. All full lots are 66x132 feet; the streets are 66 feet. wide, except that on the south side, which is 33 feet ; all alleys are 162 feet wide. At the northwest corner of the public square a stone is planted, which is 10 inches long, 10 wide and 5 thick, from which a white oak, 18 inches in diameter, bears south 37°, and east 91 links distant ; and a white oak, 12 inches in diameter, bears north 293º, and east 72 links distant. The southwest corner of Block No. 5 is 71 links northeast of a post in the center of said section, from which a white oak, 10 inches in diameter, bears north 24°, and east 85 links distant. Fractional Blocks 1, 2 and 3, lying west of Front street, are in Brier and Maxwell's Addition."

The foregoing was signed by Peter Folsom, Jr., Deputy Surveyor, and E. P. Spencer, Register of Deeds, and acknowledged before John D. Perkins, Justice of the Peace. The plat covered the entire quarter-section described, and in its time was among the most noted paper villages on record ; though in reality there were a few mills and dwellings to mark the spot. In fact, the place has by no means been lost sight of, but as a village it will probably never prove a success. Edmund Brewster will doubtless do his share toward rejuvenating it; and should the movement now on foot to establish a watch factory there result favorably, Manchester will at least hold its own with the pretentious little village of Lyons, which in early days competed for supremacy with Baraboo, and was distanced.

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

CHAPTER X.

REEDSBURG.

A LEGEND-EARLY SETTLEMENT-SHANTY ROW-MANUFACTORIES-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES-POST OFFICE-HOTELS-BANKS-FIRE DEPARTMENT AND FIRE RECORD-ELLINWOOD'S FAIR GROUNDS -ORDERS AND SOCIETIES-GOVERNMENT-BRIDGES OVER THE BARABOO-THE NATIONAL ANNI- VERSARY-FIRST CRIMINAL TRIAL-A PEN PICTURE-CEMETERIES.

A LEGEND.

Far back in the misty past, before the dawn of civilization, two Indian hunters-" noble red men " they must have been-met in mortal combat in a grove of quivering aspens upon the banks of the Baraboo. Both were slain ; each died from the effects of the other's knife-wounds. Near their lifeless forms lay the carcass of a deer, punctured with arrows, its flesh still hot and jerking. A deep silence pervaded the awful scene, but no explanation of the cause was needed. It was the result of a sanguinary chase. Over hills and crags, through thickets and across streams, the lithe hunters had given pursuit to the deer, each bent upon its capture. The ani- mal finally slain, they quarreled over its possession ; quarreling, they fought, and, fighting, they died. Had they been wise men, they would have divided the spoils, one taking the meat and the other the hide ; but perhaps the smiles of a " dusky maiden " depended upon the result, and, this being an Indian legend, such is presumed to have been the case.

The fallen braves were buried side by side on the crest of a large mound which stood where now stands the Mansion, or Sallade, House. Here for many years their sorrowing relatives and friends were wont to gather and bewail their loss. Among the mourners who came most fre- quent were the mothers of the deceased hunters ; and it was from the lips of one of these old squaws that the story of the tragedy was obtained by the earliest white settlers in that vicinity. Recollections of the mothers' lamentations at the graves of their sons are yet recalled by residents of Reedsburg. In the center of the mound, it is related, stood a tamarack pole, fifteen feet high and five inches in diameter nearest the ground. On top of the mound, around the graves of the dead Indians, a trail several inches deep had been worn into the earth by the feet of the mourn- ers, who often came in large numbers and walked in a circle about them, singing and crying piteously. It was a sad day for the faithful frequenters of this lonely spot, when the graves of their honored dead were desecrated by the "implements of labor and liberty "-the pick-ax and spade-in the hands of their white brethren. It seems but little less than vandalism. The bones of these scions of American aborigines, together with the gravel and sand that surrounded them, were finally consigned to the current beds of the Baraboo as a part of the dam which, in after years, David C. Reed was glad had washed away-" For now I know what ailed it, and can build a better one; I'm glad on it."

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The Indian was the earliest known inhabitant of the region about Reedsburg, but his moc- casined footprints are no longer to be seen. He left many evidences of his presence along the Baraboo, and when the first white settlers came they found his tribe in larger numbers than was at all times comfortable or convenient. The fall of 1844 saw the first white man in these parts, at least the first who came with the intention of remaining. Don C. Barry, accompanied by a man named Henry Perry, while exploring this part of the country in search of a lumbering loca- tion, discovered traces of copper in Section 1 of what is now the town of Reedsburg. A claim

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

covering the " find " was made and Perry left in charge, while Barry returned to his home. The next summer he came back, bringing with him from Mineral Point two experienced miners. In the meantime, James W. Babb and his son John came to the Baraboo Valley, reaching a point looking out upon the prairies from the Narrows Creek Gap on the 12th day of May, 1845. Pro- ceeding further up the river, Mr. Babb and his son soon reached the fertile lands comprised in the tract since known as Babb's Prairie, and here they concluded to stop and make their claims. Mr. Babb, unlike most new-comers, was blessed with some means, and with it he employed par- ties then living on Sauk Prairie to come to his claim and with their teams break seventy acres of land, upon a portion of which he raised, the same season, some buckwheat and potatoes. He built a double log house two stories in height and sixteen feet square, separated below by an open space twelve feet wide, but with the upper story extending the full length, forty-four feet. The building was covered with pine shingles from the forests further west. During the sum- mer, he went to Baraboo, purchased lumber, built a flat-boat, loaded it with provisions and polled it up the river to his place. In December, he returned to Ohio, and early in the spring of 1846, accompanied by his sons Strother and Jolin, the wife of the latter and Washington Gray, he returned to Sauk County, arriving in time to put in a crop that season. Early in the fall, Mr. Babb made another trip to Ohio for the remainder of his family, consisting of his wife, his son Philip, his daughter Betsey and her husband, Stern Baker. The party, after a long and tedious trip, arrived at " the Prairie " on the 8th of December, 1846. At the point where the village of Reedsburg now is, Mr. Babb soon ascertained that a magnificent water-power could be obtained, and he looked upon the section with a desire to possess it. He did not have money enough to enable him to invest in the enterprise at the time, but he hoped at some future day to lay claim to it. - Before that day arrived, David C. Reed, then a resident of Walworth County, heard of the superior advantages for a mill site in this part of Baraboo, and, in the spring of 1847, he, in company with a Mr. Powell, came and laid claim to the land upon which the principal part of Reedsburg now stands, including the mill power. In June, 1847, the first improvements were commenced-the construction of a dam and the building of a shanty . for the accommodation of the men engaged in the work. In June, 1848, the frame of a saw-mill was put up, and during that summer a few accessions were made to the yet meager population.

SHANTY ROW.

It was in the fall of this year that the famous. " Shanty Row" was built. When Austin Seeley and family came in January, 1849, the inhabitants were Messrs. Reed and Powell, and the family of the latter; William McClung (the millwright) and family ; J. L. Green and Keyes Bishop (two single men). The snow was three feet deep and food was exceedingly scarce. A few frozen potatoes and a short allowance of " cannel," with wild meat, composed the daily bill of fare. The weather being extremely cold, and the inhabitants thinly clad, hunger was, per- haps, the least of their sufferings. The houses were of the rudest pattern, and afforded but little protection from storms. The rain and snow beat in on all sides, and during severe showers at night, the older members of families were compelled to protect their sleeping children from the torrents by holding over them umbrellas, and placing milkpans, buckets and other vessels on the beds beneath the "leaks," to catch the water. The wind, at times, would whistle through the apertures in the walls and almost blind the inmates with ashes and dust from the mud fire-places and earthen floors.

The little log houses, five in number, composing "Shanty Row," were made of tamarack poles taken from the river. These poles had been cut by George and Edward Willard, of Bara- boo, along the upper banks of the Baraboo, and had been floated down stream to where Reed and Powell were building a dam. Here they were confiscated and turned to building purposes by the settlers, who were out of doors, without a roof to shelter them, and had no time to wait for permission from the owners to take them. Two apartments were erected under one roof; that is to say, two rooms, twelve by sixteen feet, were built twelve feet apart, tamarack poles of sufficient

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

length to reach across both structures being placed on top, thus forming a covered compartment between the two. The roof was made of elm bark, peeled horizontally from adjacent trees, and used in the same manner as shingles, two tiers of bark being sufficient to cover one side of the shanty. The cracks in the shanties were " chinked and daubed," with pieces of three-cornered wood and a liberal proportion of the native swamp mud, which, in soft weather, existed in generous quantities ; and, when this composition of bog and basswood dried, there was no neces- sity for windows for purposes of light or ventilation. Probably the most annoying feature of one of these frontier dwellings was the basswood door, which, during damp weather, would grow much too large for the aperture. Mrs. Seeley remembers, on one occasion, when her door was " on a swell," having placed a large stick of wood against it on retiring. During the night, un- der the influence of a warm fire and drier weather, contraction set in, and the door "went to with a bang." The noise brought the sleeping occupants of "Shanty Row " to a sitting posture ; but, not hearing a second volley, their fears of an attack from Indians were soon dissipated.

The houses in " Shanty Row " were numbered after the manner of more palatial residences in large cities. No. 1, which stood at the west end of the row, next to the river, was known as "Bachelors' Hall." 'It was here that " the boys " came together and discussed the day's topics, after which they joined in devotional exercises and retired to their respective apartments, to be up with the lark in the morning. \ In No. 2, lived Mr. Powell and his family, consisting of a wife and four children, one boy and three girls. With Mr. Powell lived a young man named Brace, who afterward married the eldest daughter, a buxom girl of twenty years, and 210 pounds avordupoise. It is said that a gunny-bag, somewhat altered and revamped, figured as an important part of the bridal trosseau. The third house, or No. 3, was the domicile of William

McClung and his wife and daughter. Mr. McClung was the millwright employed by Reed & Powell, to superintend the building of the saw-mill. In No. 4 lived Elder Locke, his wife and six children-John, Susan, James, Rebecca, Levi and Phobe. The Elder is said to have been the first to preach the Gospel in Reedsburg. His pulpit was a chair, and his temple the open roadway. He now resides on Hay Creek, a few miles northwest of the village. The fifth shanty in the row was the last one put up, and its first occupants were the family of J. H. Rork, who came in February, 1849, from Racine. Unlike some of the other settlers, they came moderately well supplied with provisions and money. They found the people in the shanties in ¿. state of destitution, the only eatable thing in the whole row being a shank of venison ; and. they at once shared their plenty with the less fortunate. But a time came when they were as destitute as the others. Sickness and misfortune attended them; they shared their provisions with the others until all were gone, and potatoes were all they had for food. Provisions could not be obtained nearer than Portage or Madison, and there were neither teams nor time to haul them hither. There were seven members in the Rork family; J. H. and Diena Rork, the father and mother ; L. E. Rork, A. R. Rork, Wealthy Elizabeth Rork, W. W. Rork and O. O. Rork, the children.

Early in 1849, Mr. Powell sold out his interest in the mill to Caleb Croswell, a new-comer, and Mr. Croswell in turn sold to William Van Bergen the same year. In this year, also, the mill was put into operation, and the first lumber sawed was used to cover the mill and build a shanty, into which Austin Seeley and family moved temporarily, and which was afterward known as the " old mill house."

The completion of the mill marked an important era in the history of Reedsburg. Its pro- jectors met with many difficulties in the form of bad weather, scarcity of provisions, impassable roads, sickness, etc. As already stated, work was first commenced in June, 1847. A pleasing feature of the work was the finding of a solid rock bottom in the river bed, upon which the dam was built. - This must have been an agreeable surprise to the inhabitants, who, from the character of the ground upon which the village now stands, had about arrived at the conclusion that there was nothing but mud beneath them. The weather being cold, and working in the water a disa- greeable task, a few of the many Indians in the neighborhood were employed to wade into the stream and deposit the material for the dam. They were paid for their labor in economical

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

quantities of whisky, which with poor Lo is a currency always above par, no matter how freely it may be "watered." The mill building was raised in June, 1848, three days being devoted to the work. There were present representatives from all the then settled parts of the county, and it is of oral record that "a good time" was had.

" The year 1849," says Mrs. French in her "Sketch Book," "brought a few other settlers. Z. T. Carver and his wife and two children came that year. So did Daniel Carver. The latter located on a farm. Mr. Vernoy and family, J. P. Mowers, Horace Carver and Samuel Chase also settled here that year. D. B. Rudd and E. O. Rudd, brothers, were among the pioneers, having arrived here in 1849. They were single men, and they brought their mother and sister to keep house for them. But Col. Strong, who came in the next year, finally coaxed that sister to accept the position of Mrs. R. M. Strong, and to make glad his home instead of theirs. The blow was a terrible one to the brothers. Neither ever took another housekeeper. The frost of life's winter is gleaming among their dark hair, but no gentle hand ever strokes it away. Though wealthy and influential, they have turned from womankind, and live only to console each other. Z. T. Carver, A. F. Leonard, Samuel Leonard, his father, John Leonard, and George Huffnail, were also settlers in 1849."

The first frame house, if we except the slab shanty known as the " Old Mill House," was put up in the fall of 1849. It was built and occupied by Austin Seeley and family, and is still standing, being the residence of J. F. Danforth. The next frame was erected by John C. Clark, on the present site of the Reineke House, and known as the Clark House, it being used as a hotel. It was one and a half stories high, and was regarded as a " big thing," probably second only to the mill. It was here that the first store in the place was located, a stock of goods being opened for sale in the bar-room by O. H. Perry. The goods were the property of J. F. Sanford, now of Lavalle, who then kept a store in Baraboo. The amount of merchandise on hand was small, and in order to prevent the annoyance of people asking for articles not on hand, a half-sheet of paper containing a catalogue of goods for sale was kept posted on the door, so that all might ascertain, without asking, if the articles wanted were there. In the spring of 1851, the store was removed across the street to a little frame built for that purpose. J. S. Strong was the founder of the next store in the place. He kept a small stock of dry goods, groceries and crockery. The old gentleman's three sons assisted him. Two of the sons

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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 83

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