USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin: comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form: > Part 33
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Weblake, a country postoffice of Burnett county. Grantsburg, the county seat, is 50 miles distant.
Webster, a country postoffice of Burnett county. 23 miles north- east of Grantsburg, the county seat.
Wedges Creek, a tributary of the Black river, flowing south and southeast, wholly within Clark county.
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Weisse, Chas. H., was born in Sheboygan Falls, Oct. 24, 1866; educated in the common and parochial schools. He was elected as a democrat to represent the sixth district in the fifty-eighth con- gress in 1902 and re-elected in 1904. He Is the only democrat in Wisconsin's congressional delegation. His home is in Sheboygan Falls.
Welcome, an incorporated village on the C. & N. W. Ry. in Outagamie county, 25 miles northwest of Appleton, the county seat. It has a population of 336 and was formerly called Bear Creek. One bank is maintained.
Welhaven, a discontinued postoffice in Shawano county.
Wells, a station on the W. C. Ry. in Calumet county, 10 miles northeast of Chilton. It has rural free delivery.
Wells, Owen A., was born Feb. 4, 1844, in Catskill, Greene county, N. Y., and came to Wisconsin when a boy. As a democrat he was elected to the house of representatives of the 53d congress. His home is in Fond du Lac.
Wentworth, a post station on the N. P. R. R. in Douglas county. Superior, the county seat, is 14 miles distant.
Wequiock, a post village with a population of 200 in Brown county, 9 miles northeast of Green Bay, the county seat.
Werley, a postoffice of 28 people on the Green river and the C. & N. W. Ry. in Grant county, 15 miles north of Lancaster, the county seat.
West Allis, an incorporated village on the C. & N. W. Ry. in Milwaukee county, 6 miles west of Milwaukee, the county seat. It has a population of 2,306 and is connected with Milwaukee by electric railway. The village was formerly called North Green- field.
West Bend .- This city of 2,362 is the county seat of Washington county and is on the C. & N. W. Ry. and the Milwaukee river. It was first settled in 1814 and today has two banks and three weekly newspapers, the Washington County Pilot, the Beobachter and the Democrat.
West Bloomfield, a country postoffice of Waushara county. Wautoma, the county scat, is 26 miles to the southwest.
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Westboro, a post village of 650 people on the W. C. Ry. in Tay- lor county, 18 miles north of Medford, the county seat.
Westby, an incorporated post village of 767 population on the C., M. & St. P. Ry. in Vernon county, 71/2 miles northeast of Viroqua, the county seat. A weekly newspaper, the Times, is pub- lished, and there is one bank.
West Denmark, a discontinued postoffice in Polk county.
West De Pere is now a part of the city of De Pere.
Westfield, an incorporated village on the W. C. Ry. in Marquette county, with a population of 818. Montello, the county seat, is 12 miles distant. There is one bank in the village.
West Lima, a post town of 150 people in Richland county, 30 miles northwest of Richland Center, the county seat.
Weston, a post town of 150 people on the C., St. P., M. & O. Ry. in Dunn county, 10 miles southwest of Menomonie, the county seat.
West Point, a discontinued postoffice in Columbia county.
Westport, a country postoffice in Richland county, on the C., M. & St. P. Ry., 22 miles southwest of Richland Center, the county seat.
West Prairie, a country postoffice of Vernon county, 1234 miles southwest of Viroqua, the county seat.
West Rosendale, a postoffice of 40 people in Fond du Lac county, on the C. & N. W. Ry., 15 miles west of Fond du Lac, the county seat.
West Salem, an incorporated village of La Crosse county and a station on the C. & N. W. and the C., M. & St. P. Rys., 10 miles northeast of La Crosse, the county seat. The village was first settled in 1849 and today has a population of 868, which supports two banks, and a weekly newspaper, the Nonpareil Journal. The La Crosse river furnishes water power for manufacturing pur- poses.
West Superior .- See Superior.
West Sweden, a country postoffice in Polk county, 21 miles north of Balsam Lake, the county seat.
Weyauwega, an incorporated village in Waupaca county on the W. C. Ry. and the Waupaca river, 9 miles southeast of Waupaca,
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the county seat. The village was first settled in 1848 and today has a population of 993 which supports a bank and two weekly newspapers, the Deutsche Chronik and the Chronicle.
Weyerhauser, a post village with a population of about 200 on the M., St. P. & S. Ste. M. Ry. in Rusk county, 15 miles west of Ladysmith. the county seat.
Wheatland, a postoffice of 25 people in Kenosha county on the W. C. Ry., 22 miles west of Kenosha, the county seat.
Wheatville, a discontinued postoffice in Crawford county.
Wheeler, a postoffice of 125 people on the W. C. Ry. in Dunn county, 16 miles north of Menomonie, the county seat.
Wheeler, Ezra, was born in Chenango county, N. Y., in 1820. He was a member of the state assembly in 1852 and county judge of Green Lake county 1854 to 1862. He was a republican repre- sentative in the 38th congress. Berlin was his home city.
Whelan, a discontinued postoffice in Buffalo county.
Whitcomb, a post town on the C. & N. W. Ry. in Shawano county, 36 miles southwest of Shawano, the county seat. It has a population of 150.
White Bee Lake is in Douglas county. Wascott is the nearest rail approach.
White Creek, a post town of 150 people on White creek in Adams county, 12 miles south of Friendship, the county seat.
Whitefish Bay, an incorporated village of Milwaukee county, G miles north of Milwaukee, the county seat, and connected with it by the C. & N. W. Ry. and by electric line. It is on the shore of Lake Michigan and has a population of 527.
Whitehall, an incorporated village of Trempealeau county, of which it is the county seat, and on the G. B. & W. R. R. The population of 700 supports a bank and a weekly newspaper, the Whitehall Times and Blair Banner.
White Lake is in Waupaca county. Ostrander is the nearest rail approach.
Whitelaw, a postoffice of 100 people on the C. & N. W. Ry. in Manitowoc county, 10 miles west of Manitowoc, the county seat.
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CYCLOPEDIA OF WISCONSIN.
White Mound, a postoffice of 50 people on Honey creek in Sauk county, 24 miles southwest of Baraboo, the county seat.
White Oak, a country postoffice of La Fayette county, 16 miles southwest of Darlington, the county seat.
White River rises in Long lake, Bayfield county, flowing north- east into Ashland county, passes through Odanah, and empties into Lake Superior northeast of Odanah.
Whitewater, an incorporated city of Walworth county, 22 miles northwest of Elkhorn, the county seat. It is located on a tributary of the Bark river and on the C., M. & St. P. Ry. There are two newspapers, the Gazette and the Register, and two banks. White- water's population is 3,108.
Whiton, Edward V., was first chief justice of the state supreme court under separate organization. He was born in Berkshire county, Mass., June 2, 1805, and came to Wisconsin in 1835. Hle was a member of the first territorial legislature and the speaker of the lower house of the second; in 1847 he was a member of the second constitutional convention, and in 1848 he was elected a cir- cuit judge, and as such was an ex-officio member of the supreme court, until 1853 when that body became a separate organization and he was made chief justice, holding the position until his death in 1859.
Whittlesey, a post town of 200 people on the Black river and the W. C. Ry. in Taylor county, 7 miles north of Medford, the county seat.
Whittlesey's Creek is a small stream emptying into Chequa- megon bay, and a spot near its mouth is believed to be the place where a palisade or fort was built by Radisson and Grosielliers, the first structure erected by white men on Wisconsin soil.
Wiehe, a post station on the N. P. Ry. in Douglas county, 30 miles southeast of Superior, the county seat.
Wilcox, a discontinued postoffice in Clark county.
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler .- A poetess and prose writer of note was born in Johnstown, Rock county, in 1850. She became known first as a writer of verses having a religious and temperance trend. Of late years her writings have been mostly prose. She is the author
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of "Poems of Passion," and has written several works of fiction. Ifer fame rests chiefly on her fugitive verses, which attracted a great deal of attention in the seventies. She is now living in Meri- den, Conn.
Wild Rose, an incorporated village on the C. & N. W. Ry. in Waushara county, 9 miles northeast of Wautoma, the county seat. It is located on a branch of the Pine river and has a population of 497.
Williams Bay, a post village and summer resort on Geneva Lake and the C. & N. W. Ry. in Walworth county. It is 6 miles from Elkhorn, the county seat, and has a population of about 600.
Williamsburg, a station of the Milwaukee postoffice.
Williams, Charles G., was born in Royalton, Vt., Oct. 28, 1829; came to Janesville, Wis., in 1856. He was a state senator in 1869 and 1870 and a republican representative from Wisconsin in the 43d, 44th, 45th, 46th and 47th congresses.
Williams, Eleazer .- In 1853 a story became current in this coun- try to the effect that the lost son (the dauphin) of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of France had been discovered in the person of Eleazer Williams, an Episcopal clergyman and a missionary among the Indians near Green Bay. Williams himself gave mod- est support to the story, and related how a French prince, who visited the United States twelve years before revealed to him the story of his descent and abduction. The story had many plausi- ble features, and for a time was pretty generally believed. A criti- cal investigation, however, proved that Williams was a half-caste son of an Indian woman of the St. Regis band of Mohawk Indians. Williams had ambitions to form a great Indian state in what is now Wisconsin and he enlisted the sympathy and support of John C. Calhoun, and was encouraged also by parties who desired to transport all the Indians in New York to the west. He died at Little Kaukauna, Aug. 28, 1857.
Willow Creek rises and is wholly within Waushara county. Flows east and northeast and empties into west end of Lake Poy- gan.
Willowdale, a discontinued postoffice in Rock county.
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Willow River rises and is wholly within St. Croix county, flow- Ing southwest and joining St. Croix river at Hudson.
Wilmot, a post village on the Fox river in Kenosha county, 20 miles southwest of Kenosha, the county seat. Its population of 300 supports a weekly newspaper, the Agitator.
Wilson, a post village of St. Croix county, on the C., St. P., M. & O. Ry., 30 miles east of Hudson, the county seat. It has a popula- tion of 300.
Wilton, an incorporated village of Monroe county, on the C. & N. W. Ry., 18 miles southeast of Sparta, the county seat. Its pop- ulation of 511 supports a weekly newspaper, the Herald, and a bank.
Winans, John, was born in Vernon, Sussex county, N. J., Sept. 27, 1831. He was a member of the Wisconsin legislature in 1874 and again in 1882 and an independent democratic member of the house of representatives in the 48th congress. Later he moved to South Dakota, where he died. His home was formerly in Janesville.
Winchester, a discontinued postoffice in Winnebago county.
Winckler, Frederick C .- This prominent attorney of the state was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1838, was brought to Milwaukee in 1844, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. lle entered service during the War of Secession from Milwaukee as a captain, rose to the rank of colonel and was brevetted brigadier general at the close of the war. He is now practicing his profession in Milwaukee.
Wind Lake, a discontinued postoffice in Racine county.
Wind Lake is in Racine county. Lake Beulah is the nearest rail approach.
Windsor, a post town of 200 people on the C., M. & St. P. Ry. in Dane county, 12 miles northeast of Madison, the county seat.
Wingra, Lake, is a small lake near Madison in Dane county, named by J. A. Noonan in 1837. The name signifies "duck," in the Indian tongue.
Winnebago, a post village of the county of the same name, on the W. C. and the C. & N. W. Rys., 4 miles north of Oshkosh, the county seat. It is the site of the northern hospital for the insane and has a population of 1,100.
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CYCLOPEDIA OF WISCONSIN.
Winnebago County is in the southeastern part of the state, and derives its name from an Indian tribe. It is a territorial county, having been organized in 1838. The soil is a heavy red clay. The area of the county is 460 square miles and it had a population in 1905 of 60,300. Oshkosh is the county seat.
Winnebago, Lake .- This is the largest lake in Wisconsin wholly within the state limits. Winnebago county is on its west shore. Fond du Lac county is at the south end and Calumet county on the east shore. Through the Fox river it has an outlet into Green bay. The cities of Oshkosh and Fond du Lac are both on the shores of this lake, and Neenah and Menasha are situated at its outlet. It was noted in the early missionary and fur-trading periods as an important part of the waterway from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river.
Winneconne, an incorporated village on the C., M. & St. P. Ry. and the Wolf river in Winnebago county, 13 miles northwest of Oshkosh, the county scat. It was settled in 1849 and incorporated in 1886 and its present population of 942 supports a bank and a weekly newspaper, the Local.
Winneconne, Lake, is in Winnebago county. Winneconne post- office is on its banks.
Winnequah, a point on Lake Monona (Third lake) opposite Mad- ison, noted in the early days as the site of a Winnebago village. Until recent years evidences of Indian agriculture could be found in its vicinity ; also known as Squaw Point.
Winooski, a discontinued postoffice in Sheboygan county.
Winslow, John B., associate justice of the state supreme court ; was born in New York Oct. 4, 1851. He was graduated from Ra- cine college in 1871 and from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1877. In April, 1883, was elected judge of the first ju- dicial circuit. In 1891 he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court, by Gov. Peck and in April, 1895 was elected for the full term and re-elected in 1905.
Winter, a postoffice of Sawyer county, recently established.
Wiota, a post town of 110 people in La Fayette county, 12 miles southeast of Darlington, the county seat.
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Wisconsinapolis, a small settlement existing in territorial days on the Fox river, about 21/2 miles from the site of Fort Winnebago. When the territorial legislature at Belmont in 1836 was voting on the location of the capitol, several members voted for Wisconsin- apolis. There is nothing at the present time to mark its site.
Wisconsin, Admission of .- Wisconsin was admitted to the Union of States by act of congress May 24, 1818. As soon as possible after the close of the second constitutional convention notice was given in congress (Feb. 21, 1848), by the territorial representative, the Hon. John H. Tweedy, of his intention to introduce another bill for the admission of Wisconsin into the Union (the first bill being of non-effect because of the rejection by the people of the territory of the first constitution submitted). March 13, 1848, the people of the territory voted on the new constitution, and it was adopted by a vote of 16,799 to 6,384. On March 16, President Polk in a special message submitted to congress the Wisconsin consti- tution with accompanying documents. March 20, Mr. Tweedy introduced his bill, which on April 13 was favorably reported from the committee on territories, read first and second times and re- ferred to the committee of the whole. It was made a special order for May 9, and on the 11th was engrossed, read a third time and passed. The senate at once took action, and a week later, May 19, the bill was concurred in and ten days later, May 29, was ap- proved by the president.
Wisconsin, Boundaries of .- In the matter of territory Wisconsin suffered from being the last of the five states to be carved out of the Northwest territory. Step by step as the territories and states were formed adjustments and compensations were made necessary, so that in the final adjustment of lines Wisconsin had to yield to make up for what had actually been demanded by the states which preceded her in their order. The chief losses suffered, and those which called out the loudest protests were the strip now consti- tuting the northern tier of counties in Illinois, 61 miles wide, includ- ing the present site of Chicago, and north from there to the pres- ent division line. Another was what now constitutes the northern peninsula of Michigan. The third was a strip lost along the west-
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ern line of the St. Croix river, but this latter loss did not arouse public sentiment as did the others. The territory of Wisconsin was erected in 1836 with these boundaries: Bounded on the east by a line drawn from the northeast corner of the state of Illinois through the middle of Lake Michigan to a point in the middle of said lake and opposite the main channel of Green Bay, and through said channel and Green bay to the mouth of the Menomonee river ; thence through the middle of the main channel of said river to that head of said river nearest to the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the middle of said lake; thence through the mid- dle of the main channel of the Montreal river to its mouth ; thence with a direct line across Lake Superior to where the territorial line of the United States last touches said lake, northwest; thence on the north with the said territorial line to the White Earth river ; on the west l.y a line from the said boundary line following down the middle of the main channel of the White Earth river to the Missouri river, and down the main channel of the Missouri river to a point due west from the northwest corner of the state of Missouri, and on the south from said point due east to the north- cast corner of the state of Missouri, and thence with the boundaries of the state of Missouri and Illinois as already fixed by acts of con- gress. By act of congress June 12, 1838, that body contracted the limits of Wisconsin by creating from its trans-Mississippi tract the territory of Iowa. This was in accordance with the original de- sign when the country beyond the Mississippi was attached to the territory of Michigan for purposes of temporary government. This reduced Wisconsin ahout to her present limits except that she still held as her western boundary, the Mississippi river to its source and a line drawn due west therefrom to the international boundary. In this condition Wisconsin remained until the enabling act of 1846 brought the calling of a constitutional convention. Set- tlements had been made on the upper Mississippi and in the St. Croix valley, and the people did not desire to be included in Wis- consin but preferred to be attached to the new territory to be called Minnesota. There was a spirited fight over the matter both in congress and in the constitutional conventions of 1816 and
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1847-48. The Minnesota sentiment carried and when the state was admitted it was with the present boundaries.
When the Wisconsin territory was erected by congress in 1836, the northern boundaries of Illinois as established in the Illinois enabling act of 1818 were recognized. But the people of Wis- consin, or at least the members of the legislature, felt that that . boundary line was in violation of the terms of the ordinance of 1787, and in December, 1838, the territorial legislature of Wisconsin sent a memorial to congress representing that the act fixing the Illinois northern boundary was "directly in collision with and was repug- nant to, the compact entered into by the original states with people and states within this northwestern territory," and praying that the southern boundary of Wisconsin territory be so far altered as to include all the country lying north of a line drawn due west from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. This memorial re- ceived no attention from congress. But the territorial legislature was not willing to let the matter drop, and a year later decided to submit to a vote of the people the question of forming a state con- stitution, and requesting that the people in the northern counties in Illinois vote upon the proposition and elect delegates to the con- stitutional convention. This awakened a great deal of interest in Illinois and public meetings were held in Galena, Rockford and Belvidere, and resolutions favoring the Wisconsin claim were enthusiastically adopted. Later a convention was held in Rock- ford, July 6, 1840, in which Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, MeHlenry, Ogle, Carroll, Whitesides and Rock Island coun- ties, all in Illinois were represented. That convention formally de- clared in favor of Wisconsin's claim, and the citizens were recom- mended to elect delegates to a convention to be held at Madison the following November, "for the purpose of adopting such law- ful and constitutional measures as may seem necessary and proper for the early adjustment of the southern boundary." But senti- ment among the people in the territory of Wisconsin itself did not keep pace with that in the Illinois counties, or that of their own legislature; and indeed was generally against trying to regain the 61-mile strip. 'A public meeting h I in Green Bay, April 24, 1840,
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"viewed the resolutions adopted by the legislature with concern and regret." When the returns from the election in September were cast they were largely against state government. Some of the more prominent citizens of the territory continued to agitate the subject of reclaiming the Illinois strip. Among these were Gov. Dodge and his successor, Gov. Doty. The latter went so far as to officially notify the governor of Illinois in 1842 that the four- teen northern counties claimed by Illinois were within the boun- daries of Wisconsin. In the meantime several of the disputed counties held elections to vote on the subject and the vote was al- most unanimously in favor of Wisconsin's claim. Gov. Doty is- sued a proclamation on his own responsibility calling on the people "in the ancient limits of Wisconsin" to vote on the fourth Monday in September on the question of forming a state government. Within the territory itself the yote was light but largely against the proposition. Later Gov. Doty asked the legislature to again submit the question of forming a state to a vote of the people, and the legislature refusing to do it, he in August, 1813, again of his own motion, issued a proclamation calling on the people to vote on the question, and again the people of the territory voted it down. Then in December, 1813, Gov. Doty in a message covering the boundary question again called the attention of the legislature to Wisconsin's claim to the G1-mile strip in Hlinois. A special com- mittee of the legislature to whom the matter was referred made a report and an address to congress, in which it pointed out that congress had violated the compact of 1787 when it fixed the north- ern boundary of Illinois on a line above the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. This address produced no effect on congress and it marked the last effort to secure the Illinois strip. In the first constitutional convention held in 1846 an attempt was made to leave all boundary disputes to the supreme court of the United States, Wisconsin to be admitted with indefinite boundaries, but this failed.
The controversy over the northeast boundary of the state was carried on mostly in congress, and a few incidents, trivial, appar- ently, in themselves, determined the fixing of the northeast bound-
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ary so as to cut off the upper peninsula of Michigan. The gen- erally accepted western line of Michigan (and therefore the ac- cepted eastern line of Wisconsin) was what was known as the meridian of Mackinaw, a line drawn through the center of Lake Michigan north to the international boundary in Lake Superior. In 1828, in 1833 and again in 1834, the legislative council of Michi- gan, contemplating the organization of their territory into a state, contended that the Mackinaw meridian was the proper and de- sirable western boundary. In the United States senate in 1834 when the establishment of the northern boundary of Ohio was un- der consideration before a committee and Michigan delegates were again protesting against a change from the Mackinaw meridian, a member of the committee, Senator Preston of North Carolina, asked how much territory would be left to Wisconsin if the Mackinaw meridian were determined as the western boundary of Michigan. When informed that there would be probably 100,000 square miles, he expressed the opinion that that was too large a tract for one state. Preston at this time brought out a map of the country, which represented that the Menomonee and Montreal rivers met in the Lake Vieux Desert, thus making an island out of the upper peninsula, and pointing to this water division expressed the opinion that that would be a fair dividing line. The map, as was soon afterward learned, was inaccurate, yet Senator Preston's opinion had more weight with the committee than the protest against at- taching the peninsula to Michigan made by Mr. Lyon, the Michigan delegate there present. Mr. Preston's views prevailed and on March 22 when the select committee of the United States senate reported on the Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute, and reported a bill erecting the territory of Wisconsin, the northeast boundary of Wisconsin was fixed as Preston suggested. Later surveys made showed that there was no connection between the Menomonee and Montreal rivers, and that Lake Vieux Desert was the head of the Wisconsin river and not related to either of the other two rivers. In February, 1812, after careful and elaborate surveys of the bound- ary line had been made by Capt. Cram, who was commissioned by congress to do the work, and it was shown that the Menomonee
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