Fifty Years in the Northwest: a Machine-Readable Transcription
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Library of Congress Fifty years in the Northwest L34 3292 1 W. H. C. Folsom FIFTY YEARS IN THE NORTHWEST. WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX CONTAINING REMINISCENCES, INCIDENTS AND NOTES. BY W illiam . H enry . C arman . FOLSOM. EDITED BY E. E. EDWARDS. PUBLISHED BY PIONEER PRESS COMPANY. 1888. G.1694 F606 .F67 TO THE OLD SETTLERS OF WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA, WHO, AS PIONEERS, AMIDST PRIVATIONS AND TOIL NOT KNOWN TO THOSE OF LATER GENERATION, LAID HERE THE FOUNDATIONS OF TWO GREAT STATES, AND HAVE LIVED TO SEE THE RESULT OF THEIR ARDUOUS LABORS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WILDERNESS—DURING FIFTY YEARS—INTO A FRUITFUL COUNTRY, IN THE BUILDING OF GREAT CITIES, IN THE ESTABLISHING OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, IN THE CREATION OF COMMERCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR, W. H. C. FOLSOM. PREFACE. Fifty years in the Northwest http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.01070 Library of Congress At the age of nineteen years, I landed on the banks of the Upper Mississippi, pitching my tent at Prairie du Chien, then (1836) a military post known as Fort Crawford. I kept memoranda of my various changes, and many of the events transpiring. Subsequently, not, however, with any intention of publishing them in book form until 1876, when, reflecting that fifty years spent amidst the early and first white settlements, and continuing till the period of civilization and prosperity, itemized by an observer and participant in the stirring scenes and incidents depicted, might furnish material for an interesting volume, valuable to those who should come after me, I concluded to gather up the items and compile them in a convenient form. As a matter of interest to personal friends, and as also tending to throw additional light upon my relation to the events here narrated, I have prefixed an account of my own early life for the nineteen years preceding my removal to the West, thus giving to the work a somewhat autobiographical form. It may be claimed that a work thus written in the form of a life history of a single individual, with observations from his own personal standpoint, will be more connected, clear and systematic in its narration of events than if it were written impersonally. The period included in these sketches is one of remarkable transitions, and, reaching backward, in the liberty accorded to the historian, to the time of the first explorations by the Jesuits, the first English, French and American traders, is a period of transformation and progress that has been paralleled only on the shores of the New World. We have the transition from barbarism to civilization; we have the subjugation of the wilderness by the first settlers; the organization of territorial and state viii land. This Foulsham is spoken of in Bayle's catalogue of eminent worthies as “no mean proficient in controversial theology, knowing how, by means of syllogystic tricks to turn white into black and men into donkeys. He died in the great plague at Norwich in 1348. A certain John de Foulsham is spoken of in Blomefield's History of Norfolk as an “eloquent, unflinching opponent of the corruptions of the times.” It is possible that this may be the Fifty years in the Northwest http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.01070 Library of Congress Carmelite prior above mentioned, though the prefix de leaves the matter somewhat in doubt. As to the original derivation of the family name, Hon. George Folsom, of Philadelphia, in one of the manuscript left by him, says: It arose upon the adoption of surnames in England, from the town of Foulsham, a village in the county of Norfolk, six or eight miles north of Hingham, in which country the family was seated for many centuries, possessing estates in fifteen different places. Thus John de, or John of Foulsham, became John Foulsham. The orthography and pronunciation of the name have varied in the family itself, as well as among those writing and pronouncing it. The first Anglo-American bearing the name spelled it “Foulsham.” His son, Deacon John, spelled it” Fullsam” in 1709, and it is signed “Foullsam” in his last will—1715. In one instance, in the Hingham town records, its spelled “Fulsham,” but always afterward, “Foulsham,” In the Exeter records it is written uniformly “Folsom” with but one exception, when it is written by the town clerk “Foulshame.” In the records of the first parish, Haverhill, Massachusetts, it is written “Foulsham,” “ Foulsam,” “Folsham” and “Fulsom,” Originally it was doubtless spelled “Foulshame,” its etymological significance being the fowls home, a breeding place or mart. It was probably at first written with a hyphen, as Fouls-hame, but the final syllable was eventually shortened. Everywhere it is now written Folsom by those having the name, and is pronounced like wholesome. The characteristics of the family have been quite uniform. Far as known they were a religious family, and prominent as such in both Catholic and Protestant circles, with a strong disposition toward dissent from the established order of things. Thus John de Foulsham wrote a treatise quite at variance with ix the doctrines of the church, advocating the marriage of priests. John Foulsham, the Anglo-American, left England on account of his dissent, preferring a home in the wilderness with freedom to worship God, to dwelling under the rule of a haughty and tyrannical bishop. Many of the family espoused the doctrines of Whitefield. Many of them became Baptist, becoming such at a time when Fifty years in the Northwest http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.01070 Library of Congress the Baptist were most unpopular, and afterward becoming Free Will Baptists, in which communion more of the family may to-day be found than in any other. The occupations of the family were mostly, in the early days, mechanical. Many were joiners and millwrights. The children and grandchildren were farmers, landholders and lumbermen, of the many who removed to Maine, after the Revolution, most engaged in lumbering, but turned their attention also to milling and storekeeping. The family have also shown a military tendency, and during the various wars visited upon the country since the early colonial times, this family has borne its full share of the dangers toils and expense. My father, Jeremiah, Folsom, was born in Tamworth, New Hampshire, Sept. 16, 1780, and was married to Octavia Howe, April 5 , 1805. My mother was born in Machias, Maine, Oct. 12, 1786. My father was a prominent business man, and was engaged in shipping and mercantile pursuits, he owning vessels that plied from St. Johns to Machias and other American ports. To facilitate his business, St. Johns was his home four years, during which time he was associated with William Henry Carman. This temporary residence and business association account for my being born on British soil, and for the names by which I was christened. According to the record in the old family Bible, I was born at St. Johns, New Brunswick, June 22 1817. When I was six months old my parents moved to Bangor, Maine, thence to Foxcroft, Maine, thence to Ascot, Lower Canada. When I was five years old my parents moved to Tamworth, New Hampshire. Young as I was, I am still able to recall events that occurred while I lived in Canada. I remembered falling into a well and being badly bruised. I remember also an adventure with a bear. My parents had gone to church, leaving me at home, greatly against my will. I attempted to follow, but missed the road and wandered off into a wood, perhaps three miles x away. When my parents returned they were much alarmed, and parties immediately went in pursuit. When I knew I was lost I set up a vigorous screaming, which had the effect of Fifty years in the Northwest http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.01070 Library of Congress attracting attention from two very different parties. The first was a huge bear in quest of food, and doubtless delighted at the prospect before him. The second was one of the rescuing parties in quest of the lost boy. Both simultaneously approached the screaming youngster and Bruin fought stubbornly for his prey, but was vanquished by the clubs of my rescuers, and I was carried home in triumph. I do not clearly recall all the incidents of this scene, and, strangely enough, do not remember seeing the bear. Perhaps the terror of being lost drove out every other impression. An excuse for the narration of this apparently trifling incident may be found in the fact that but for the prompt arrival of the rescuing party, this history would never have been written. When I was ten years of age my parents removed to Bloomfield, Maine. While in Tamworth I had excellent opportunities of attending school, which I improved to the utmost. After leaving Tamworth my school privileges were well nigh ended, as I never received from that time more than six months' schooling. My father followed lumbering on the Kennebec river. During the first winter in Maine, he took me to the logging camp as camp boy. During the second winter he hired me to Matthew and Lewis Dunbar as a cook for their wood camp. I cooked for six men and received five dollars a month. I was used very kindly by the Dunbars, but that winter in the woods seemed a long, long winter. The only book in camp was the Bible. There were, however, newspapers and playing cards. In the spring my father used the fifteen dollars received for my three months' work to purchase a cow.