The Story of Washington County

By CARL QUICKERT

Published by the AUTHOR at WEST BEND, WISCONSIN COPYRIGHT 1923

BY CARL QUICKERT

Published in 192S, Two hundred fifty years after the first white men set foot on Wisconsin and Washington coimty soil, in 1673.

GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY MENASHA, WIS. CONTENTS Page

PREFACE . . VII

I. THE HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENT . 1

II. THE ABORIGINES 11

III. THE FIRST WHITE MEN .... 26

IV. THE BIRTH OF THE COUNTY . SO

V. THE SETTLEMENTS AND THEIR FOUNDERS 46

VI. HISTORICAL INCIDENTS^ ANECDOTES^ ETC. 86

VII. THE POPULATION ELEMENTS . 107

^III. THE WARS 123

IX. THE CHURCHES 142

X. EDUCATION ...... 178

XI. AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES 192

XII. CIVIC AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 206

PREFACE T IS not SO easy to explain just how this county history I was gotten up. It did not step into being like Athene stepped out of the head of Zeus. The roots of history, like those of human beings, are traceable through many generations, and they draw nourishment from many sources. The writer has been collecting material for this work during the past twenty years, on and off, purposely and accidentally. He had access to a rich store-house of local history, the files of the West Bend News reaching down to I860, and often, when there was a lull in his editorial work, he would delve into those tomes, some as blurred and decrepit as old age is at its worst. There also was an old county history in the sanctum, published in 1880, with a jumble of information, some quite valuable, some of no import, some misleading, and some made useless by later researches. The writer's first attempt in the his­ torical line was the publication of a little volume containing monographs on the settlement of the county. This collec­ tion was quite well received, and this ripened the thought of getting out a more comprehensive and connected history. When this was finished, a representative of a Chicago pub­ lishing firm happened to drop into the office, and when he was shown the work, I was doomed and was tagged as the editor of a forthcoming work called "Washington County, Wisconsin, Past and Present,'* of which I was to write the first volume, the historical part, some hundred thousand words. To come up to specifications, I had to about treble the bulk of my history, and as I had but three months' time in which to furnish the manuscript and had to attend to my regular work first of all, I had to resort to considerable padding, and as a consequence, the work left little to be desired as far as variety was concerned. Yet it was con­ sidered an improvement over the old type of history, or what went under that heading. In the present work I have attempted to advance another step or two to come closer to what a county history should look like. To be frank, my aim was to produce an ideal or model county history, the thing Wisconsin historians have been after for some time. I am far from thinking that I have reached the ideal, for that would be impossible at any rate, even if the way to it had been blazed, which was not the case. I had to rely largely on my own judgment as to what a model county history should look like, what should and what should not be said in a work that tries to approach the ac­ cepted historical standard. Besides the sources mentioned, I have drawn my information from various other sources, from speeches on the olden times, from conversations with old settlers, from correspondence with people who were in possession of desirable material, from publications by the Wisconsin State Historical society, and from bulletins pub­ lished by the State, as far as they touched upon matters useful to the work. Most of the chapters of my former work, as far as they have been made use of in this history, have been entirely re-written to come up to the results of the latest historical researches and the amplifications which I was able to add to the county's history. Neither merce­ nary nor adulatory motives guided me. I have tried to follow the precepts laid down by the best writers on history, to give Washington county a history careful as to facts and their verbal presentation, a book that truly and concisely presents the eventful story of an important unit of Wis­ consin. THE AUTHOR. THE HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENT HE history of Washington county really begins with T the moment the county was mapped out and created by the State Legislature. But the area had a history before that, of which little is to be said; and the time which ante­ dates that history, and therefore is called prehistoric, is still more dipped into the dusk of the past. Even here history does not start, for there is still the geological his­ tory left, as fascinating and strange as any. But it is not intended here to go back to the creation of the earth, or at least to the "deluge," unless the immense ice sheets that at one time covered the county may be called a "frozen deluge." To explain how the surface of the county was shaped, how it came to its topography which is claimed to have some influence on the people who live in it, is the main purpose of this chapter. The geological history that antedates the ice age will only be indicated with a few re­ marks. The surface of those four hundred thirty-two square miles of Wisconsin soil, which subsequently were named Washington county, was for the most part shaped under the influence of a prehistoric glacial period, when a large area of the State lay buried under vast sheets of ice. Like gigantic icy tongues they stretched from the Laurentian highlands in Canada as far south in places as to reach the Ohio and Missouri rivers. One of these tongues, or lobes, filled the basin of Lake Michigan and is known as the 2 The Story of Washington Cownty

Michigan glacier; another, the Green Bay glacier, moved down through the valley marked by the Green bay and Lake Winnebago. For a stretch of about one hundred fifty miles the rims of these two glaciers either touched each other, or they were separated by the accumulation of the moraine. As with all glaciers of this sort, the ice, by means of expansion, contraction, and gravitation, moved down from the high points toward the low borders, where it melted in the warmer sun. Imbedded in the lower layers of the ice, a mass of sand and stones, from the size of a pebble to that of large bowlders, were carried along and dropped at the edges and on the bottom of the sheets. The drift came from a crumbling mountain range in Canada which at one time had more mountainous areas than today, just as Wisconsin is said to have been a mountain country at one time, many millions of years ago, and had its moun­ tains blotted out by the levelling forces of Nature long before the last glaciation. The chains of hills, which run through the county in a southw^esterly direction, are made up of drift dumped from the edges of the glaciers. Here the terminal moraines of the Michigan and Green Bay glaciers met. The ranges are called "Kettle Moraines" because they were piled up as though in huge kettles, the sides of which consisted of immense walls of ice hundreds of feet high. Some writers derive the name from the peculiar "kettles" or depressions found in parts of the ranges. The melting at the rims of both glaciers produced an enormous amount of water which could be drained only through the kettle. Thus the drift was piled up, creating the ranges of hills running nearly parallel and consisting of gravel, sand, pebbles, cobble­ stones and bowlders. Each range indicates the position of The History of Environment 3 the glacier's edge at the time, which advanced or retreated according to the prevailing climatic conditions. A cross section through the elevations of this area would show from three to ^LYC ranges of hills, which occasionally unite in acute angles. A most impressive view of the kettle moraine is gained from the hill half a mile west of the depot at Slinger. Looking toward east, the village is relieved against a back­ ground so abrupt and distorted as to appear like a pile of hills, one dumped upon the other. To the west, over one hundred feet below the spectator, extends the slightly rolling ground moraine which was formed below the ice of the Green Bay glacier. Between the kettle moraine in the east and the ground moraine in the west lies a strip of lowlands several miles broad, partly swampy and oc­ casionally interrupted by groups of hills which arose in the crevasses of the receding glaciers. The scenery is simi­ lar on the east side of the kettle ranges. The hills rise from one hundred to several hundred feet above the plain at their bases. The valleys between the chains of hills were the drains of the glaciers. They were temporary beds of glacial rivers, and because they only served as such as long as the ice stood on one or both sides and dropped drift into them, they cannot be expected to look like river beds in every particular. The last drainage line on the side of the Green Bay glacier was the lowland at the western foot of the morainic hills, as indicated above. It includes the trough of Pike lake. On the side of the Michigan glacier, at the eastern foot of the moraines, the Silver creek and the lakes and swamps through which it flows mark in part the last drain- 4 The Story of Washington County age line of that sheet of ice. Like the lowlands to the west, those east of the ranges are dotted with more or less isolated hills; occasionally they appear as islands in the marshes. A well developed area of such hills is found between Little Cedar and Silver lakes; tongue-like it extends from the high ridge of the moraine toward southeast. East of the Silver creek the plain at places shows deep depressions, shaped like bowls or kettles, which give quite a romantic touch to the country. These kettles are very conspicuous on the east side of Silver lake. Here gigantic blocks of ice broke away from the receding glacier, which were im­ bedded in sand and gravel. When the ice was melted at last, the bowls remained. ' The process may have lasted hundreds of years, perhaps longer. In this way the climax of scenic beauty in the county was created. Big Cedar lake. The accidental inclosure between morainic ridges, and the partial filling of the trough with immense blocks of ice, are, according to Prof. N. N. Fenneman who made a thorough geological investigation of these parts, factors which in the genesis of the lake can be traced with certainty. His work, "On the Lakes of Southeastern Wisconsin," has largely been made the basis of this chapter. The rocky bottom of the lake lies buried too deeply below the drift to gain satisfactory knowledge of pre-glacial soil conditions. At Hartford, six miles southwest, the paleozoic limestone is found near the sur­ face of the ground, and on both shores of Little Cedar lake, about a mile east of Big Cedar, the same rock is found only ten feet below the surface of the water, or about thirty feet below the surface of Big Cedar. It will be seen that the rocky stratum below the latter lake lies much deeper than at its sides. There must have existed a pre- The History of Environment 5 glacial depression which, although it did not cause the trough of the lake, resulted in its greater depth. Its deepest place is 105 feet. The origin of Little Cedar lake and the other lakes of the vicinity is traced back to the same tremendous natural forces. They are all fed by subter­ ranean springs which, it is believed, in part originate from remaining ice deposits buried deeply in the morainic ac­ cumulations. The shores of these lakes, consisting of such loose material as bowlders, gravel and sand, naturally underwent many changes since their origin, and these will keep on under the law of cause and effect. Linden Point, a penin­ sula of Big Cedar lake, offers a, good example for illustra­ tion. The peninsula at one time was an island that rose 35 feet above water. Its base shows traces of cuts made by waves. Those on the west side originated in a time when the currents from the south flowed uninterruptedly through the channel between the island and the mainland, which was over one-eighth of a mile wide. In the course of shore construction the currents from the north and the south were compelled to use the larger channel on the east side of the island, and the comparatively quiet water in the rear of it received the material, sand, pebbles, and cobblestones, which the currents dragged along from the island and the steep shores to the south. From the main­ land and the island tongues of land, or spits, gradually extended, which finally united, finishing in a miniature isthmus. This, in a prettily swung curve, adapted itself to the currents along the shore to the south. The stagnant water to the north is filled with bulrushes and weeds—the vanguard which, in the natural course of events, at some future time will be followed by the mainland. 6 The Story of Washington Coumty

The above is an illustration of how the natural forces are at work, ever changing and remodeling our environment. The water which since the solidification of the surface of our planet, the fiery, sunborn child, Gaea, played such an im­ portant part and caused, next to the plutonic forces in her bowels, the "coat of mold," on which we living creatures scamper around, continues to work out its task assigned by the Supreme Will. It works on large and small scales. Slowly but untiringly it tears down what it once built, like a child playing with building blocks, to use the units for something new. But how could this terrific glacial period come over the country, which nevertheless fathered the most charming landscapes of the county.^ Science now distinguishes be­ tween two glacial periods, with many thousand years of milder clime intervening. Scientists have made several attempts at an explanation. The most plausible follow: Lyell endeavored to show that solely in our geographical conditions the cause of the former extent of the ice is to be found. The influence of the distribution of water and land, according to him, causes climatic changes even to the complete glaciation. He especially pointed to the effects of the ocean currents. Penck, another geologist, called attention to the fact, that the predominating system of winds, especially the so-called region of calms, is shifting. With it the trade-winds will wander, and with these also the ocean currents. On that half of the globe, which has the region of calms, the trade-winds are blowing, and with these the tepid waters from the other half flow in, and the higher the latitudes are in which the zone of the calms lies, the stronger will be the overflow of warm water. That half of the globe, which has the longest summers. The History of Environment 7 and consequently, as accepted, carries the zone of the calms, receives through the ocean currents a part of that warmth which the sun had originally meted out to the other half. Its seas are warmed, while those of the latter give off heat. The cooler hemisphere then has a cold ocean climate which greatly favors snow and the formation of glaciers. These, if once started, will bring the cold down from higher regions into lower ones, and let temperate climes share of the cold which other regions produced. With the spreading of glaciers, the temperature is considerably shifted, and in the vicinity of big masses of ice a change of climatic con­ ditions is bound to take place. For a considerable deploy­ ment of glaciers, for the inauguration of a true glacial period, not so severe a cold is needed as one is inclined to think. Continuous, severe winters, without the changes of freezing and thawing, will not allow the formation of glaciers, while cool, rainy summers will favor it. Washington county in that remote time wore a mail of ice as parts of Alaska and Greenland do at present. Simultaneously—geology calls the age the diluvium—Eu­ rope and Asia had their glacial period. Since Milwaukee and Chicago grew to be great cities. Big Cedar lake is among the most favored of the many Wisconsin lakes by that fortunate part of their population, who can afford to spend part or all of the summer in the country. A number of summer hotels, many splendid summer homes as well as modest cottages rose on its shores, where the jaded city dwellers seek and find recreation at the bosom of smiling Nature, in sweet, pure, and invigorat­ ing country air, and among charming scenery. Big Cedar lake began to be frequented in the seventies of last century, when its shores were dotted with the tents of the summer 8 The Story of Washington County guests, which later gave way to more substantial structures. The smaller lakes in the neighborhood with their peculiar, coy, primeval beauty also exercise much attraction. Big Cedar has a charm that cannot be surpassed. The geological history is so fascinating, that a little deeper penetration into it at this occasion suggests itself. It is the most truthful of all histories for those that can read it. Not only the pebbles and bowlders tell of an ice age in this county, but also animal remains. Animals different from those found here now at one time lived in these parts, not the deer and bear that passed away with the first pioneers, but quadrupeds that only inhabit frigid zones. In the lakes and marshes remnants of such animals are sometimes found. Many years ago part of the skull of an elk with large antlers was fished out of Schwinn's lake near the southern line of the town of Farmington. It was brought to West Bend and for some time hung on the wall in a hotel, but the prehistoric ornament after a while crumbled and fell to pieces. A find which seems to prove that human beings lived in Washington county in glacial times, or during an interval between two ice periods, was made some years ago in the gravel hills in the northwestern part of the city of West Bend. About fifteen feet below the surface a long pole was dug out, which stuck vertically in the ground. It was about six inches in diameter at the butt end and had an iron ring around it. It may have been a spear used by ancient hunters in killing the monsters that at one time roamed here. Besides elks, there were caribous and moose in Wisconsin, and beavers that were much larger than those of today. There were even elephant­ like animals here, mastodons and mammoths, and to hunt these, spears of the size of the above pole were used. The History of Environment 9

Farther south on this continent were found great sabre- toothed cats, tapirs, camels, and many other strange creatures. It is hard for us to imagine our country swarm­ ing with monstrous and grotesque beings so utterly different from the forms we are used to, but the Great Book that is without mistakes shows the pictures of them on its rocky leaves. It is believed that they came over from Asia at a time when a continuous strip of land stretched from Alaska across the Behrings Strait. They at first lived in the north, for in ages past the northern countries were much warmer than they are now, in fact they at one time were tropical countries, when palms grew in Siberia and Alaska and northern Canada. In those days it was so hot around the equator that no living being could stand it. The earth started to cool off at the poles, and the animals and plants moved south as the frigid zone advanced and it became too cold for them up there. The first layer of rock below the glacial drift is the paleozoic or silurian limestone which comes close to the sur­ face in some parts of the county, as has already been observed. This rock, the floor of an ancient inland sea which covered our country from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, is richest in fossils. It is literally made up of the calcareous remains of animal life of the lower orders, of corals, mollusca or shellfishes, and crabs. There are several kinds of limestone layers, among them the Niagara, Trenton, Galena, and Magnesia limestones. Each layer proves a new inundation by the sea, after the land had risen, but for some reason sunk back again, allowing the floods to cover it anew. The limestone layers alternate with sandstone layers, and next come the Huronian and 10 The Story of Washington County finally the Archaean rocks, the latter being the presumed foundation of the earth's solid crust. There are many layers of rock missing in our countj^, and in fact in the entire State, which are found in other parts of the country. Among them are the Pliocene and Tertiary rocks, the chalk, the coral layers, and the Devonian formation. These layers could not be deposited because Wisconsin rose too soon from the inland sea aforesaid, and did not sink back into it any more. In this respect our county and our State are older than many other parts of America and Europe, as these were still on the bottom of the sea, in the making, when our rocky soil foundation for the last time rose out of the primal ocean, and the sunshine and the air of millions of years past began to play about it. This is the genesis of the soil, the history of the sur­ roundings. Here were the dumping grounds of those im­ mense glaciers, slowly moving ice rivers of a hoary past, and yet of very recent date when compared with the enor­ mous epochs geology reckons with. The scenery actually moved in from way up north, in the great moving vans of the ice sheets, and covered up the original soil of Wiscon­ sin, which is the limestone rock. Besides the moving, the glaciers also did much of the soil making, grinding the various kinds of rocks as if in huge stone mills, and leaving a mixture of most fertile soil, thus not only providing for lovely landscapes but also for good farm land. II

THE ABORIGINES FTER the disappearance of the glaciers and the re­ A turn of milder airs, it must have taken a long time before the bare gravel hills and valleys and the plains of sand and clay could sustain plant life and clothe themselves with a luxuriant vegetation. Some of these hills up to this day are covered with but a scanty growth of grass, as larger plants are unable to find sufficient nourishment in the little disintegrated drift. It must have taken additional time for animal life to appear and find sustenance. And it still was in prehistoric times when the first man set his foot on these regions. The oldest traces of men making their homes in these parts are the curious earthworks, called "mounds," which they left us. And the most curious of these are the effigy mounds, also called animal or picture mounds. Up to recent years it was thought that the effigy mounds were the works of some strange and mythical race which was called "Moundbuilders" from these same mounds. They were supposed to have inhabited this State almost exclu­ sively, before the Indians came from some Asiatic shore, and it was believed possible that the former came from Iceland and were the people alluded to in the Icelandic sagas as inhabiting New Iceland. They should have been conquered and annihilated by migrating Indians in a great battle fought in the eastern valley of the Mississippi, where they lived in fortified places, as a civilized nation. 12 The Story of Washington Coimty

The Indians who lived in this county when the first settlers arrived did not know who were the originators of the effigy mounds. But it must be considered that the Menominee, or the Potawatomi, did not always roam here, that the Indians as a rule were no sedentary race, and were more or less always on the move, and that other tribes previously may have had their hunting grounds here, who may have stood on a higher level of the savage state. Some of these tribes may have disappeared altogether, long before the Algonquin or any other of the known Indian nations stepped into the dawn of American history, and the record of their existence may have perished with them. Recent attempts to lift the veil that hides so much of the anthropology of this continent have brought to light facts that caused the historians to discard the Mound­ builders as distinguished from the Indians. Noted his­ torians, among them the late Reuben G. Thwaites, have treated the Indians as the only aborigines of this country. Paul Radin, in a paper on "The Influence of the Whites on Winnebago Culture," published in the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1913, gives it as an established fact that the effigy mounds are the works of the Winnebago Indians. It is an historical fact that in the beginning of the seventeenth century, before the Algonquins roamed in this and neighboring counties, the Winnebagoes lived here. In 1640, in a war with the Illinois Indians, they were driven away and nearly exterminated. Mr. Radin, in the paper alluded to above, assumes that the territory of the Winnebagoes was bounded by the entire course of the Fox river and Lake Michigan, extending southward as far as Lake Koshkonong and including the The Aborigines 13 territory between Madison and Lake Koshkonong on the west and Lake Michigan on the east. The animals repre­ sented by the mounds were the totems of the different Winnebago clans. Mr. Radin distinguishes twelve clans, namely, the Thunder-bird, Hawk or Warrior, Eagle, Pigeon, Bear, Wolf, Water-spirit, Buffalo, Deer, Elk, Snake and Fish. The most prominent and best preserved effigy mounds in the county, located about frve miles northeast of West Bend, in Section 31, town of Farmington, have for many years aroused local and even nation-wide curiosity. They are visited by many people interested in American an­ tiquities, and models of them have been constructed and exhibited. Charles E. Brown, secretary and curator of the Wis­ consin Archeological society, visited these mounds in 1916 and pronounced them one of the finest and most interesting groups of ancient Indian remains still preserved in the Lake Michigan shore counties in eastern Wisconsin. The group contains between twenty-five and thirty mounds, most of them located in a fine patch of woodland on the Myers and Hagner farms. A few others were formerly to be seen in the cultivated fields nearby, but as the plow went over them, only faint traces of them remain. Mr. Brown found that examples of all the principal classes of Wisconsin aboriginal earthworks—the conical or burial, the linear or wall-shaped, and the effigy or animal-shaped mounds—occur in this group. Of the burial mounds among them the majority were dug into years ago. Human bones, fragments of large pottery vessels, and a small number of implements were taken out. The diggings were done in a dabbling and unsatisfactory manner. 14 The Story of Washington County

All but one of the linear mounds, a long, tapering mound, are parallel-sided, embankment-shaped structures. They are short, the longest being not over 100 feet in length, and their prominence, being from four to five feet in height along their middles, make them quite remarkable among Wisconsin mounds of this character. Their bases are narrow, which gives them rather steep sides. The effigy mounds of this group, with two exceptions, are of what Mr. Browii calls the panther type, a form of animal mound, which has a widespread distribution in this State. Some of the examples in the group are far better representatives of this type than others, more care having been bestowed on their construction. They stretch through the woods in all directions. Some have long and others rather short tapering tails which gradually diminish in height from the body of the animal toward the extremity. Two of these monster effigies are placed opposite of each other, head to head, as if in combat. This juxta­ position has been noted in a few other Wisconsin mound groups. What the object of such grouping was, is not cleared up. Two other effigies of this sort, locally called the "Horses," but in reality representing bears, have their tails and bodies overlapping, being but a few feet apart. The only bird effigy in this group, locally called the "Man," has outstretched wings and a tapering body measuring about 200 feet from head to foot. The effigy which locally is called the "Lizard" Mr. Brown considers the finest and most interesting mound of the group, bearing a slight re­ semblance to the mounds of the so-called turtle type. It differs from these in the shape of its limbs which show distinct paws or feet. It is excellently preserved and lies just outside of the woodland, on the edge of a cultivated The Aborigines 15 field, the owner of which has generously agreed to preserve it. This mound is about 250 feet long, and the distance between the paws is about 50 feet. A burial place of aborigines was found years ago on a farm near these mounds. Some farmers were loading gravel to build a road with, when in a layer of sand they found a mass of human bones. They were struck with their size and put a skeleton together, which measured eight feet from the top of the skull to the bottom of the heel bone. Alive, the owner of the bones must have been a veritable giant. The skull was well preserved, and the jaws held teeth that measured an inch in length. It did not have the protruding cheek bones of the ordinary Indian skull. Soon after their contact with the air, the bones crumbled to dust, which would warrant their great age; the skull alone remained rigid. From this mound which was only a few feet away from a dwelling—a circum­ stance which caused a mild shudder in the farm home— about six bushel baskets full of human bones were gathered. They lay below four feet of sand, but most likely the wind had blown away part of the cover. In two places the sand had hard, rusty-brown veins which ran to the surface like rays diverging from a center—the petrified results of decomposition. The tumulus no doubt was an old Indian burial mound. In these mounds usually single skeletons are found in various positions, often with the knees drawn up. These positions are one of the means by which Indian mounds of prehistoric times are distinguished from those of historic times. Some mounds contain a large number of bones, arranged in different ways, which belonged to many bodies. The Indians, after leaving their dead buried for some time 16 The Story of Washington County on trees or in caves, collected the remains and re-interred them together in one large mound. Potsherds found in one of the old burial mounds on the Hagner farm, belonging to at least three good-sized vessels, as the different orna­ mentations of the necks proved, show quite a considerable degree of artistic taste and skill. The material of the pots was clay mixed with ground quartz or granite, to bind it and give it a great degree of strength. It may be opportune to insert here a few directions how to explore Indian burial mounds. Many people go at it in an awkward way, as has been hinted at already. The mound is first measured and a drawing made of it, to pre­ serve at least that much. The digging is done in slices, starting from one side, or from two sides, and carefully using the pick and shovel. The work often is an arduous one, for the ground in the course of centuries has been packed so much as to make it almost as hard as cement. The effigy mounds contain no human remains. The old designers often exaggerated the tails of the animals which they tried to model out of the surface soil of the respective locality. They represent the totems or protective spirits of the different clans or classes of an Indian tribe. It is known that the bird, or eagle, was the totem of the war­ riors, and the bear that of the policemen. The meaning of other effigies is lost. They were symbols of religious and other duties, and were looked at with superstitious reverence by the members of the respective clan, who be­ lieved that an intimate and special relation existed between every member and the object which the totem symbolized. It was believed to protect the members who were bound together by a common faith in the totem. They reverenced the animal which the figure represented. It will be seen. The Aborigines 17 therefore, that totemism had both a religious and social side. The religious side touches the oldest belief of humanity in all countries, that man is very closely related to the animals. Numerous other Indian mounds and other traces were located in Washington county, but as a rule they did not fare as well as the Farmington group described above, be­ cause they either were inferior specimens, or they were not favorably located for preservation, or their owners lacked that reverence and enthusiasm for vestiges of an­ tiquity. The "Wisconsin Archeologist" for 1906 enu­ merates the following: Group of effigies near Aurora (on the west side of Cedar lake) ; group of seven effigy and conical mounds and two inclosures (marking the site of an Indian village) on the north side of Pike lake; group of three conical, an emblematic and a linear mound on the north shore of Pike lake, now levelled; remains of an Indian village and garden beds on the west side of Pike lake; group of three conical mounds occupying tlie summit of Holy Hill; mounds about Mud lake in the town of Erin; Indian village and remains of trails at Kewaskum, also mounds. (Some believe that Kewaskum, the noted Potawatomi chief, lies buried in a mound at the North Side park in that village; J. M. LeCount in his "History of Holy Hill" on the contrary asserts that Chief Kewaskum was buried on Indian, now Barber's, Island in the Rock river, four miles north of Hustisford; his grave was despoiled in 1878) ; mounds on the bank of the Milwaukee river in the town of Barton, found by early settlers; village or camp site on the north­ east side of Little Cedar lake; mounds on Barton Smith's f rr^ *n the town of West Bend; group of mounds in the 18 The Story of Washington County town of Polk; indication of village site on Cedar creek, near Cedar Creek P. O.; Menominee camps scattered along Oconomowoc river from Loew's lake to Fries's lake in the town of Richfield in the early 40's; old Monches was the chief; village and workshop sites, about Lake Five in the same town, Indian camps in historic tifiies; mounds on the old Wescott place in the tow** of Farmington; cache (hiding place) of four blue hornstone knives found beneath a stump at Boltonville, in 1886; group of mounds about one mile east of West Bend; group of two effigies and a linear mound on the south side of the Milwaukee river, two miles southeast of WestrBend; group of thirteen conical, linear and effigy mounds half a mile north of the preceding, on Section 18, town of Trenton; buried place on the Frank farm near Jackson, copper kettle, silver cross, and stone implements found in one grave. (The silver cross indicates that the burial took place during or after the French occu­ pation which lasted from l67l to 1761, and during which French missionaries and traders, called "voyageurs," visited the Indians then living in the county.) To the above may be added traces of an Indian smithy on the Lucas farm, one mile southwest of West Bend. Some of the Indian mounds of Washington county have been described in Increase A. Lapham's work on the "Antiquities of Wisconsin," published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1855. A friend of that pioneer of Wisconsin naturalists, L. L. Smith, visited the group of mounds found on the south side of the Milwaukee river, in the town of Trenton, and Lapham mentions them in his work. They consisted of a turtle, two crosses, two club-shaped, three oblong, and ^YC conical mounds. The largest cruciform figure was 185 feet long, the head 24 feet, and the arms The Aborigines 19

72 feet each. The height at the head was 3 feet 10 inches; at the center, 4 feet 6 inches. The uniform width of the head at the base was 28 feet. The shaft gradually dimin­ ished in height and width to a point at the end. The appearance was that of a cross sunk in light earth, in which the lower extremity was buried beneath the surface. There were two round mounds near the foot of this cross, each 3 feet high, and 20 and 22 feet in diameter at the base. The smaller cross was l60 feet long and resembled the larger one in every respect. The body of the turtle was 22 feet long, and 15 feet wide; it had but three legs, one of which seemed to have been left unfinished or de­ stroyed; the head was towards the Mihvaukee river. The work speaks of another group of mounds in that neighbor­ hood. They consisted mostly of ridges of earth from 3 to 4 feet high, and from 12 to 15 feet wide at the base, and were of various lengths. They were supposed to have been originally square at the ends, but at the time of their dis­ covery had been rounded by the effects of the weather. One mound, 123 feet long, was shaped like a war-club. It was believed that this mound represented a regular fort, being an inclosure; but a careful examination disproved this. The earthwork was 32 rods in length, with another mound at right angles to it. Lapham's work also describes the three mounds discovered on top of Holy Hill, which hill was originally named Lapham's Peak, in honor of its explorer who also made the first barometrical measurements of its altitude. He opened the middle and largest one of the mounds which proved to be composed of black vegetable mould, covering a base of stone. But nothing was found to show for what purpose it was erected. The group of Indian mounds in Washington county 20 The Story of Washington County described last in Lapham's book are those on the north side of Pike lake. Here a mound was found with a level area on the top, the frustrum of a cone, similar to the temple mounds, supposed to be places of sacrifice. Besides this, three other mounds of ordinary form, and two of emblematic forms were noted, also a semi-circular ridge embracing a circular excavation at one extremity, and par­ tially enclosing another. The figure mound at the east had but one projection, or leg, and a forked tail; the other figure mound differed from most of the lizard mounds, as the body and tail were not in a straight line. Other human earthworks found in this county were the Indian corn fields and garden beds. They are met with as far north as Lake Superior. Often many beds, running in different directions, have been located in one place. The obvious object of this was to have the gardens close to­ gether, which arrangement made it easier to protect them against ravages by wild animals. They probably had fences, or a watchman. This seems to prove that the aborigines already had conceived and carried out the idea of community gardens. Mounds and garden beds are always signs that some Indian village had existed in the vicinity, and a little search will almost always reveal its site. And from what is left in its refuse, the archeologist easily can draw conclusions as to the mode of living of the ancient inhabitants. The only other reminders of an aboriginal population in Washington county are various copper weapons and tools, which have been found in many parts of the county, and the great number of flint and stone weapons and imple­ ments plowed out of the ground. The Milwaukee Public museum has a fine collection of coppers from this county. The Aborigines 21 among them being an axe, a spud, spear and arrow heads of various shapes, knives, awls, and other articles the pur­ pose of which is doubtful. One of the latter looks like the knife of a meat chopper, and another has the outline of a blubber lamp. The Indian flints and stone weapons and tools consist of axes, hatchets, celts, knives, spear and arrow heads. The above named museum also came into possession of a stone gorget, or breast plate, found in these parts. There are numerous private Indian stone collec­ tions to be found in the county, some of which are quite extensive and contain fine specimens. The former Indian population of Washington county is for the first time mentioned in the reports of the Jesuit Fathers LaSalle and Hennepin. On a journey in the year 1679 they and their companions were compelled by rough weather, perhaps also by other causes arising from traveling in frail crafts on Lake Michigan, to land at the mouth of Sauk creek. There they found a village of Potawatomi Indians who had entered an eternal peace treaty with the tribes of the Sacs (Sauks, Ozauki) and the Foxes. The three tribes freely intermingled and had their hunting grounds in common. They belonged to the family of the Algonquins. One hundred and fifty years afterwards the Potawatomi were found virtually in the same places, in which the old missionaries had met them. But a change was preparing. The first squatters could notice how the Potawatomi slowly pushed to the south and the west. The vacated country was peopled by the Menominee, who also belonged to the great family of the Algonquins and heretofore had lived in the southwest, where Waukesha county lies today. At the time the Indians ceded their land to the Government, 22 The Story of Washington Coumty the Menominee lived east and north, and the Potawatomi west and south of the Milwaukee river. In the treaty of February 8, 1831, the Menominee ceded their land to the Government; about two and one-half years later, on September 26, 1833, the Potawatomi followed their example. The treaty of the latter was ratified on February 21, 1835, but the Indians had a clause inserted, which left them in possession of the land for three more years. So it happened that the country east and north of the Milwaukee river was opened for settlement seven years earlier than that west and south. The tribes were removed to reserva­ tions west of the Mississippi. Many of the transplanted Indians, however, longed for their old cherished hunting grounds; they wandered back singly and congregated in villages, living among the settle­ ments of the Whites and sustaining life with hunting and begging. After a while, Solomon Juneau, "the William Penn of Wisconsin," induced them to return to their leser- vation. One of these Indian villages, quite a sizeable wigwam, v/as situated a short distance south of West Bend, near the shore of Siver lake; another lay on the eastern shore of Pike lake in the tov/n of Hartford. But the only places in the county which have adopted an Indian name are the town and village of Kewaskum. It was the name of a noble chief of the Potawatomi, who with his community lived near the village that today bears his name. The wigwam stood on a hill of considerable height, which since the time of the first settlements is called "Indian hill." On its top it has a roomy depression which afforded protection from the rough winds. The name of "Kewaskum" is interpreted as meaning "the turner," or a man who is able to turn fate The Aborigines 23 whichever way he pleases. As a chief, he also was the medicine man or doctor of his tribe, and in sickness or distress his people confidently trusted in him and his sup­ posed powers. He also stood on friendly and honorable terms with the settlers who reciprocated in righteousness and good feeling. Small wonder the Indians found it so hard to forget their old hunting grounds in the county. The primeval wilds in their grandeur had nothing superior in the State, in the surrounding states. The ground was covered with forest of maple, oak, beech, elm, basswood, cedar, birch, hickory, butternut and other trees; they were so dense that one could not see for more than a few rods in any direc­ tion. Between the trunks the wild vine hung its festoons. The many streamlets, creeks and rivers, fed by thousands of bubbling springs, were lined with willow, alder and lilac. The lowlands had been picked out by the tamarack and juniper. A great variety of things that grow in a wild state in a temperate clime, whether tree, shrub, herb, or flower, could be found here. And the game! It is almost incredible what the first settlers tell of it. One could not walk for a mile without a deer running across the way. Millions of passenger pigeons were cooing at the water courses. When they arrived in spring their immense flocks would cloud the sun. Today they seem to be exterminated. Partridges also lived here in great numbers. An old set­ tler once saw a bevy of partridges alight on a hickory tree which under their weight bent to the ground and snapped. The lakes were covered with water fowl. The only re­ minder today of the once teeming animal life are the song birds which in such numbers are said to be found nowhere else in the State. But even their variety has been lessened. 24 The Story of Washington County

The redbird of pioneer days no longer is seen in these parts. There was a lot of other game, and the lakes and streams were full of fish. It must have been a prototype, or something similar, of the Indians' happy hunting grounds, or the Eden of the redskin. Indian trails, at some places sunk as deep as three feet into the ground, ran in all directions, and because they were chosen with great care as to surface conditions, some of them later were widened to roads. With the Whites the Indians were on friendly terms. They, as a rule, were honest and appreciative of favors. Animosities, or bloody wars between the two races, which stained advancing civilization in other parts of the country, were unknown here. A noble trait in the character of the redskins was that, although to sustain their life they were to a considerable extent dependent on charity, they always tried to repay their benefactors with something that might be of use to them. It is true, they had a great foible for "Goodnatosh" (fire water, whiskey), and for a jug full would give the result of a day's hunt, but excesses, on account of it, have never been known, or they would have been recorded. On their little clearings they raised their corn in their peculiar way; it had irregular rows of kernels on the cob, but they were of a superior taste. The squaws did all the manual labor; they were ad­ mirably skilled in making baskets of bast, which were so tight that in them they were able to cook maple sap over a fire, which was one of their many household duties. The bucks spent their time hunting and fishing. They walked in single file, if there happened to be several of them, or rode on ponies, and it was a droll sight to see a lank Indian The Ab origins s 25 sit astride on one of the little animals, his leather pants showing slits like rifts on the sides. It is a long time since the red men left the county, but kindly recollections of them remained. Ill

THE FIRST WHITE MEN HE fur trade with the Indians and the zeal of the T Jesuit Fathers to spread Christianity among the sav­ ages most likely brought the first white men for a longer stay to the shore of old Washington county which formerly extended as far as Lake Michigan. This, according to the old mission journals, happened in the summer of 1673. Two years previous, in 1671, the country came into the possession of the crown of France, to which it belonged for ninety years thereafter. The French reign, however, was felt very little, and only fur traders and missionaries tried to bring the red son of the wilderness under their civilizing influences. In May, 1673, Louis Joliet, an adventurer and fur trader, and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Father, with three companions in two Indian canoes started on an exploration trip from the Straits of Michilimackinac, the water way which connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. They paddled along the northern shore, always keeping land in sight, for their flimsy conveyances would not have with­ stood hard weather on the lake. When the dusk fell, they turned to the shore to go into camp for the night. In this way they reached the Green bay and ascended the Fox river to a point which was to be known as the Portage. There they engaged some Indians to guide them to the Wisconsin river which was not far away, and help them carry their canoes over. On that river they glided down The First White Men 27 into the Mississippi, and on the back of that mighty water way they continued their journey to the mouth of the Arkansas river. Then they again paddled their canoes up the Mississippi, and by way of the Illinois river reached Lake Michigan. Along the western shore of the lake they proceeded to the newly-founded mission at the Green bay. From their mode of traveling it may be presumed, with the best chance to hit the truth, that the party spent at least one night on the shore of what became later Wash­ ington county. They probably landed at the mouth of the Sauk creek, which could easily be reached in a day after leaving the mouth of the Milwaukee river. It was a place, where the steep and high bluffs of red clay are broken for a distance, the work of Sauk creek, in former times a river which forced its way to the lake, leaving a washout^ in which the city of Port Washington is largely built, after the soil was, by plutonic forces, lifted from the bottom of the lake. Autumn had put golden and purple tints on the leaves when the expedition took to the shore. It is said that from here Marquette made a side trip into the unknown inland country and traveled some twenty miles west until he reached a hill of dominant height. The legend of Holy hill has it that Father Marquette ascended the steep emi­ nence rising high above the surrounding country and planted a cross on its top, dedicating the place to his patron saint, the Virgin Mary. On October 25 of the following year Marquette in com­ pany with two Frenchmen, Pierre and Jacques, and ten canoes full of Potawatomi and Illinois Indians, undertook another trip from Green Bay, where illness had held him for months, south along the western shore of Lake Michi- 28 The Story of Washington County

gan (at the time called Lake Illinois) to the mouth of the Chicago river. Marquette's journal on this trip says: "Our little fleet of canoes proceeded up (the Frenchmen always said "up the lake," where we would say "down") the western shore of Lac Des Illinois, and after many de­ tentions arrived at Portage (Chicago) river early in De­ cember. We passed eight or ten fine rivers up the lake. On November 19 we arrived at the bluffs, where we stopped two days and a half." Marquette's records also show that the party was on the lake for nine days. The entire dis­ tance is 208 miles, which makes an average of twenty-three and one-ninth miles a day of canoe paddling. It is figured out that the bluffs alluded to above were those of Port Washington. • The landing at that point should have taken place on November 5, 1674. If Marquette at any time made a stop at the mouth of the Sauk creek, it must have been on this or the previous journey, for on his return he died and was buried on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Another expedition which followed the route of the last and which had for its object the Christianizing of the In­ dians and the establishment of trading and military posts was started upon by the Jesuit Fathers La Salle (Robert Chevalier Sieur de la Salle) and Hennepin, accompanied by twelve or thirteen other Frenchmen, in September, 1679- Mention of this trip has already been made in the preceding chapter. They used four heavily loaded canoes, and on their way were subject to the fury of the storm-swept Lake Michigan, and were often compelled to seek shelter on the shore. One evening the raging elements again drove them ashore. Their provisions had been exhausted or spoiled by the waves dashing overboard, and they were glad to find The First White Men 29 tractable Indians who supplied them with corn, for which they paid out of their store of barter articles. They remained on shore for fiYC days. It was the last landing north of the Milwaukee river, and so very likely it was at the mouth of the Sauk creek. In their records it is said that after a short sail they arrived at the mouth of the Melwarik (Mil­ waukee) river.. In the seventeenth century two more white men, Henry de 5"onty and St. Cosme, journeyed by water along the western shore of Lake Michigan. The latter, in 1699, found an Indian village at the mouth of a rivulet, probably that of the Sauk creek. There he learned that in the pre­ ceding winter a Jesuit missionary had lived and worked among the Indians of the place, and the wooden cross which he erected was still up, a token of his labors. His name was Joseph J. Marest, and he most likely was the first white man who lived on the soil of old Washington county. As another early visitor of these parts Tuttle's "His­ tory of Wisconsin" mentions S. A. Storrow, judge advo­ cate of the United States army. He was sent by General Jacob Brown to visit the Northwestern posts, and on Sep­ tember 19, 1817, arrived in an open boat at Fort Howard near Green Bay. Major Zachary Taylor (later President) was in command of the fort, who received his visitor and entertained him, as did also the officers of the Third regi­ ment garrisoned there. Judge Storrow, while there, made observations on the tides of Lake Michigan. For his return to Fort Dearborn (Chicago) he chose the land route, south­ east to Milwaukee, and he very likely passed through what is now Washington county. IV THE BIRTH OF THE COUNTY URING the entire eighteenth century little worthy D of Clio's pencil seems to have happened in the parts known later as Washington county. We will shortly men­ tion the vicissitudes they went through as part and parcel of a vast territory. The country covered by our State was explored by French fur traders and missionaries, after it came into the possession of the French crown in 1671, as stated in the preceding chapter. This was during the reign of Louis XIV, and the entire domain so explored was named Louisiana, in honor of that French king. The be­ ginnings of Wisconsin really start with fur trading and Christianizing. When Louis Joliet left Quebec in 1673, it was under the order of the French government to discover the South Sea. On the way, at Mackinaw, he took with him Father Marquette. How far they came, and that on their return trip they very likely made a stop on the shore of what later became Washington county, has also been related. Others followed, and stockade depots for the fur traders were erected at various points on the trading routes, all leading to Mackinaw, the emporium of fur trade. In the French and Indian war of 1755-60, the fourth war on American soil fought between the French and British, Wisconsin Indians served under Charles de Langlade and helped toward Braddock's defeat. About the middle of the eighteenth century De Langlade and his father had estab­ lished a trading post at Green Bay, which developed into The Birth of the Coumty 31

a settlement. At the close of the Revolutionary war a like settlement sprang up at another trading post called Prairie du Chien, and toward the close of the century Milwaukee and other points became trading posts. In 1761 England, after the Seven Years' war with France, took possession of the French territory which included Wisconsin, then a "howling wilderness" without any real settlers. The English rule—if such it can be called—lasted till 1796, although after the Revolutionary war, in which most of the Wisconsin Indians under De Langlade supported the British, and since the treaty of peace with England of 1783 the country belonged to the United States. It appears that the gross of the Indians who at the time of the revolution lived in our State, when it was no state at all yet, but belonged partly to Massachusetts and partly to New York (the dividing line running east and west and touching the northern shore of Lake Winnebago), did fire at the backs of the Colonial forces Avho were wringing independence from King George III. One tribe, however, did not join in the general war whoop for the British, and that tribe were the Potawatomi living along the western shore of Lake Michigan. It is proven that the Potawatomi of Milwaukee, very likely also those farther north, which would include those living within the area covered by this history, under the influence of Siggenauk or the Blackbird made a treaty at Cahokia, Illinois, with George Rogers Clark in September, 1779, and were there­ after for a time American allies. They did not actually serve under General Washington, but it is surmised that their chiefs received medals or certificates in his name. The Potawatomi later were again won over by the British, and they opposed the Americans in the Indian wars. 32 The Story of Washington County

Despite the treaty of Paris, Great Britain retained Mackinaw, and American domination was practically not felt by the Wisconsin traders until after the war of 1812. In this war they favored England, and in 1814 the English were still bold enough to wrest Prairie du Chien from an American detachment. After the organization of Aster's American Fur Company, followed by a Federal law ex­ cluding English traders, the American influence increased. At the close of the latter war the United States erected forts at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. By an ordinance of 1787 Wisconsin became part of the "Northwestern Ter­ ritory," or the country northwest of the Ohio river. For a time the eastern part of the county, as it at first existed, was embodied in a vast stretch of land including the states of Indiana, Michigan, and portions of Ohio and Illinois, all of which was named Wayne County. Since July 4, 1800, Wisconsin was a part of the "Territory of Indiana." March 2, 1809, it was transferred to the "Territory of Illinois," except a small portion between the Green bay and Lake Michigan. In 1818 it was attached to "Michigan Territory." The hostilities with the Winnebago Indians in 1828, resulting in the cession of the lead region near the Mississippi, and the Black Hawk war in 1836, left no im­ pression in this section. July 3, 1836, Wisconsin was made a territory, its name of Indian origin meaning "wild rush­ ing water" appearing for the first time. It then included the states of Iowa, Minnesota and part of Dakota. May 29, 1848, Wisconsin became a state with boundaries as they exist today. By an act of the territorial Legislature Washington county was created on December 7, 1836. It originally was bordered by Lake Michigan, embracing also Ozaukee The Birth of the Coumty 33 county, and Port Washington was made the county seat. Until 1840 the administrative machinery of the county was run from Milwaukee, and in the beginning it also belonged to the judicial circuit of Milwaukee county. When on August 13, 1840, by the Act of Organization it received its own administration, and Port Washington had fallen in decay and was all but deserted, the necessity of the removal of the county seat was pressing. Thus Grafton received the honor, which formerly was called Hamburg. On February 20, 1845, the county received its own court. The first court session was held at Grafton in September of 1845, Judge Andrew G. Miller of Milwaukee presiding. His appearance and habits are described as follows: "In person he was tall and stout; had a large head, blue eyes, black hair; voice clear and distinct; spoke with em­ phasis and quite rapidly; was of commanding presence and in every sense one who would attract attention in any place or position. He was straight as an arrow, walked with an easy, dignified movement, each step always the same in length, a la militaire. He was a keen observer of men and their ways; saw all that was enacted around him—nothing ever escaped his eye; kept his own counsel and always acted upon his own judgment. His habits were simple and uniform, never changing. His morals were of the strictest kind; neither could he be made to swerve from what he believed to be right, or in any way countenance wrong doing in others. With strangers he was reticent; with acquaintances and friends he was social, and affable and polite to all. And as a judge no man has ever sat upon the bench in this county whose decisions have given more satisfaction or have been more universally respected than were his." 34 The Story of Washington Coumty

He was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1801, and died at the age of 73. Court was held in the old Grafton public school house. By this time plans were again ripe for the removal of the county seat. Four places. Port Washington, Cedarburg, Grafton, and West Bend fought for the honor which also included material advantages, and because each one was bound to get it, and consequently none could get it, the administration led a kind of nomadic life. It was a county seat on wheels, meting out justice and decrees here and there, where it seemed best. From 1847 until the separa­ tion Port Washington again was the county seat. They had no shows nor circuses in the days of the settlements, but they had something that often took the place of these entertainments, reaffirming the old saying that there is a compensation for every want. The com­ pensation were the justice court sessions. This phase of early pioneer life is very rarely mentioned, yet it is most interesting and helps more than many another thing to give posterity an insight into the life of the old settlers and the conditions in which they found themselves. Leander F. Frisby, who settled in West Bend in 1850, when Port Washington was the county seat of Washington county, for over two years was the only lawyer in the cen­ tral part of the county, as no other barristers were nearer than Hartford in the west, and Cedarburg, Grafton and Port Washington in the east. He was eventually elected attorney general of Wisconsin, and he fortunately left reminiscences of his law practice in Washington county, from which has been freely drawn in the following. Upon his arrival he found a number of would-be law­ yers, most of them farmers and often shrewd men and The Birth of the County 35

fluent talkers, who with a proper course in jurisprudence would have made their mark in the profession. But they were dangerous adversaries before the courts and juries of those days. The trials were held in some log schoolhouse, or more likely in the justice's kitchen, and usually lasted through the night. They were attended by the male por­ tion of the neighborhood, to witness "the fun," as they called it. It was very seldom that the discussion got beyond words, but the narrator was present at one occasion when the advocates used chairs and fists until the constable parted them. The personal portion of the closing argument to the jury of these lawyers was very much like this: "Gentlemen of the jury, I am a farmer (or laboring man) like your­ selves, and have often said, I come into court reluctantly, but when I do, it is always to prevent some of my friends and neighbors from being defrauded of their just rights. I have no interest in misleading you, as the gentleman has on the other side, for I am not dependent on your verdict for a living, as he is. He talks very plausibly to you and tries to make the worse appear the better, but you must remember that is his business. He has come among us to get his living in this easy way without work, and if he does not succeed in misleading, his occupation is a failure, and his bread and butter is gone." These speeches had their effect on the courts and juries, as their prejudices were easily played upon. One of these unlearned lawyers, a farmer of Cedar Creek, was in justice court to try a case of assault and battery for the complainant. An attorney of West Bend was engaged for the defendant. During the trial, the lawyer spoke of the case as an action ex delicto. Our 36 The Story of Washington Coumty farmer, when he came to reply, said he was no lawyer and didn't know anything about actions ex delicto, but if the court would look at his client's face, it would satisfy him that this was an action "ex dewhacto." Lawyers in their zeal for their clients frequently make strong appeals to the jury. In a trial before Justice Max- field of Hartford and a jury in the old Derfuss tavern, which lasted all night, one of the lawyers would occasionally go to the bar to "brace up." In his closing speech to the jury he got well wrought up and told the jury he knew his client was right, and that he would "carry the case through earth, heaven and hell," before he would submit to defeat. He was defeated in the justice's court, and was defeated in the circuit court, and finally concluded life was too short to carry out the program he had outlined. In the same tavern another case was tried, in which the opposing counsel was very pugnacious. When the justice ruled against him, he would persist in arguing the question over again. That the narrator objected to and appealed to the justice to stop him. But no heed was paid to his remonstrations. He finally gave notice that for the time used by the opposition in post mortem arguments, he would immediately consume an equal amount of time. Very soon a question arose, which was decided against his opponent. The latter at once made a lengthy argument of the question. The narrator took out his watch and marked the time. As soon as his opponent took his seat he commenced his reply. He talked some little time before his adversary saw the absurdity of the situation, whereupon he appealed for a stop but was refused and told the program was to be carried out according to notice. That brought him to his feet, and both now talked as fast as they could until the justice. The Birth of the County 37 who all the while had remained passive, also jumped to his feet, brandished his clenched fists, and with a vigor­ ous oath said: "You will both sit down." The scene had become so ridiculous that the crowd burst into roaring laughter, in which court and lawyers joined, and thence­ forth all went smoothly. Many of the justices, not exercising a very rigid control over the counsel, would admit much irrelevant testimony. This led to trying a great many side issues not pertinent to the main issue in the case. A story often told is quite illustrative of many of the trials of those days. It ran thus: Mr. Jones sued Mr. Smith for having borrowed and broken his "great kettle." Mr. Smith's counsel in stating his defense to the jury said his client had three defenses to the plaintiff's action. Firstly, he would prove to the satisfaction of the jury that the kettle was broken when his client borrowed it; secondly, that it was whole when he returned it; and thirdly, that he never had it. The narrator at one time was called to the town of Polk to defend a man arrested for assault and battery. He found the justice, complainant and counsel waiting, took his seat at the table, entered a plea of "not guilty," and waited for the prosecution to proceed. Suddenly the coun­ sel for the plaintiff turned to him and said if he wanted to traverse the complaint he had better bring on his witnesses. He replied, he was on the defense, and if there was any evidence to support the charge, it should be introduced. The plaintiff's counsel then gravely moved that the court convict the defendant on the sworn complaint. This was so absurd as to be treated as a joke, but the justice looked at it otherwise and began to write out his judgment. It 38 The Story of Washington County was no joke with him, and only after several hours of argumentation was he brought to change his ruling, and the trial preceded in the usual way. But the best of the joke was in the case itself. It was this: The families of the plaintiff and defendant w^ere not on the best of terms and were "laying for each other's scalp." The defendant kept a little dog which had run out and saucily barked at the complainant's wife when she was walking along the road. This was construed as assault and battery. The justice finally was made to see that the defendant was not guilty, and a judgment was entered accordingly. In the first year the narrator practiced at West Bend, Patrick Conolly, a settler of the town of Wayne, came to him to engage him as defense in a suit for payment of a promissory note. The amount involved was small, but the defendant felt very indignant that he had been sued. When asked, what defense he had, he said: "Faith, I have th' best defense in th' wurruld. I have had th' money in th' house ready to pay th' note iver since it fell due, but he niver asked me f'r it but sued me out iv spite, to make me pay costs." When asked if the note was made payable at his house, he replied: "Oh, no. Does that make any dif­ ference?" He was told that it does, and if that was his only defense, he had better look for some pettifogger. He was much surprised, but finally he brightened up and said he had talked with the justice who thought his defense was good. The lawyer then told him that he would draw a plea setting up that defense, and he could go and try the case himself, as he was something of a lawyer himself, and perhaps he might succeed. He went and did accord­ ingly. The next time he came into the lawyer's office, he had a broad grin on his face and burst out: "By jabbers. The Birth of the County 39

I bate the rascal." He explained that the justice had decided that when a man had the money in his house ready to pay, it was a great injustice to sue him until he was asked to pay and refused. Men elected to the office of justice in the early days generally took considerable pride in serving. But there were exceptions. Mr. Ames of Farmington was one. He sat in the trial of a case betwen a doctor and a widow, involving the title to an old cow. Big drops of sweat stood on the justice's forehead as he listened to the arguments. Then a question came up for his decision, which had been vigorously discussed by the attorneys. The justice asked for fifteen minutes' time to decide it. When the case was finally concluded, he called in a neighbor to help him de­ cide it, and then he resigned. When asked why he resigned, he said he did not believe he was suited for the office; that he had listened attentively to the evidence in the case and thought he understood it, but when the lawyers had con­ cluded their speeches, he did not know anything about it, and it was evident he was unfit for the place. This was not complimentary to the attorneys. Justice Haffner of West Bend tried a single case and then resigned. He was a shoemaker and an honest man. His reason for resigning did not compliment the lawyers either. He said they "made so much fool with the wit­ nesses, he could not stand it." The courts of Washington county at the time were neither worse nor better than those of all new countries. The experience was of great value to a young lawyer, not however, to enrich him with legal lore, but to make him more familar with the ideas, prejudices and thinking processes of the people he has to deal with as clients, witnesses and 40 The Story of Washington County jurors, for the best study of mankind always was and is man. January 20, 1846, the Legislature passed an act changing the form of county government from that of commissioners to that of supervisors. This gave each town a represent­ ative in the County Board, through the chairman of its Town Board of Supervisors. The same law also provided for an election in April following, to establish a temporary county seat. The election was duly held, and the vote for the competing places was as follows: County Farm, 371; Northeast of Section 3, Town 10, Range 20 (also County Farm), 88; Port Washington, l64; Cedarburg, 100; Hamburg (Grafton), 74; Center of County, 32; Good Location near Center, '20; West Bend, 12. Total, 861. Hartford remained out of the raci^ because it dreamed of forming a new county from the western tier of towns of Washington county and a slice of Dodge county, of which territory it might become the county seat, according to an old chronicle. As none of the above places received a majority the election was useless. In 1848 it was attempted to choose a county seat by a popular vote. The Legislature, by an act passed on August 8, 1848, authorized an election for the purpose of deciding on the question. Seven places competed for the honor, and the result of the election, held on September 25, 1848, was as follows: Cedarburg, 570; West Bend, 336; Port Washington, 697; Newark (Barton), 149; Saukville, 82; County Farm (Town of Jackson), 180; and Newburg, 11. As this election did not settle the matter, none of the places having received a majoritj^, a second election was held on November 7, 1848, with the following result, four of the contestants having dropped out: Cedarburg, 944; West The Birth of the County 41

Bend, 1117; Port Washington, 640. This election again did not settle the affair, for the same reason. A third election for the same purpose was held on January 1, 1849, resulting as follows: Cedarburg, 1643; West Bend, 1111; Neither 986. The latter votes were considered unlawful, and charges of ballotbox stuffing were made. Hardly a town escaped such accusations. The majority of voters were not satisfied with the result, and innumerable protests were showered upon the Legislature, the lobby of which all winter was filled with partisans from different sections of the county. The vote tended to embitter the contest and to still more divide the voters. A petition was now sent to the Legislature stating that after several trials the people of Washington county had not succeeded in designating a place for a county seat, that in consequence thereof no county building had been erected, and that there is no place, where the county records may be kept. It further stated that because of sectional interests as well as acute personal ambitions the people wished to be relieved of the unpleasant task of selecting a county seat and beg to leave the matter to the pleasure and wisdom of the State Legislature. The petition was signed by all members of the County Board but one. In the campaign that followed, the German Lutherans of the southern part of the county, and the Irish and Luxemburger Catholics of the northern part were made to yield a plausible reason for dividing the county by an east-and-west line. Port Washington did not like the argu­ ment, and men on horseback were dispatched to the Luther­ ans of the northern section, in the town of Farmington, to tell them that the idea of such a division was "to hem them in amid the Catholics who will rule them from the 42 The Story of Washington County steeple." The same side let the Catholics of Cedarburg, Grafton, and Mequon know that such a division would give the German Lutherans of Cedarburg, Freistadt and Kirch- hayn control of the county affairs, and that every Irish child would be compelled to learn German in the public school. This brought the German Lutherans and the Irish Catholics in large representations to Madison, and the poli­ ticians had a strenuous time going through the ordeal of conflicting opinions and suggestions. On February 8, 1850, a bill passed both houses and received the Governor's signa­ ture to divide the county in a northern and southern half. The former was to retain the old name, with the county seat at Port Washington, while the latter was to be called "Tuskola," with the county seat at Cedarburg. The voters of the latter were to give their opinion on the decision at the spring election of 1851. The result of that election was 1716 votes against and 275 for the division. Public opinion was unmistakably expressed in this result. At the Hart­ ford town meeting, following the election, protests against such a division were formulated in a resolution stating that the citizens of that town regard the law involving the division as "an invasion of the rights of the citizens of this county, unconstitutional, and therefore void;" that the Hart­ ford vote simply expressed a choice of two evils, and that the voters earnestly protest against being compelled to submit to either of them; and that the chairman of the Town Board be instructed to oppose any action of the County Board to carry out the provisions of said law, whether the vote of that part of the county shall be for or against division. The matter next came before the Supreme Court on an application for a writ of mandamus compelling the County The Birth of the County 43

Board to erect county buildings in accordance with a sec­ tion of the act dividing the county. The mandamus was denied by the court. The five years now having expired, during which, under the act of 1847, the county seat had been located at Port Washington, the Legislature, on Feb­ ruary 13, 1852, passed another bill, establishing the county seat at Grafton and calling an election, at which the re­ moval of the county seat to West Bend should be voted on. The election, held in April following, resulted in a vote against the removal, 2496 votes being cast against and 1789 for it. But this election was anulled because gross ir­ regularities were traced in the town of Belgium, of which the Board of Canvassers said in their protest, that there were not more than 300 voters in that town, while 763 votes were cast, and that persons under legal age voted, while others voted more than once. They also protested against the vote of the towns of Cedarburg and Mequon on account of illegal occurrences. The outcome of this election was most unsatisfactory all over the county. Port Washington saw her rival. West Bend, defeated, but she did not enjoy the spoils of the victory, as the coveted prize slipped away from her forever. The Legislature of 1853 found the lobby filled with people from all parts of the county, ready to unload protests, petitions, affidavits, remonstrances, applications of relief to the court, etc., on the law-makers and the court, to renew the fight for the county seat. The struggle was now in its thirteenth year, and no session but what was made to pay attention to it in one way or another was held during this time. It was looked upon as a chronic legislative evil, rooted deeply in the local dissensions of Washington county and overshadowing and hampering the legislative work of 44 The Story of Washington County the entire commonwealth. Small wonder the Legislature grew tired of the embroglio and the failure of popular vote, the people apparently being not able to solve the county seat question for themeslves. An alliance was formed between leaders of the Port Washington lobby and those of West Bend for the purpose of dividing the county by a north-and-south line and making West Bend and Port Washington the county seats of the two new counties. As­ sembly and Senate both supported this solution of the vex­ ing problem, and a bill to the effect rushed through before vigorous opposition could be organized in the county. Pro­ tests already began to come in. But the plan was pushed through, in spite of the rigorous and able opposition of Senator Blair of Port Washington, who spoke against the bill for a part of three days. He and Senator John W. Cary of Racine cast the only dissenting votes in the Senate, while in the House two asemblymen from the county favored the division, namely. Dr. James W. Porter of Port Wash­ ington, and William P. Barnes of Barton. Charles E. Chamberlain of Grafton opposed it, as did also Charles Schuette of Meeker, although otherwise taking no active part in the opposition. Senator Baruch S. Weil of West Bend supported the bill. Thus ended the thirteen years' fight for a county seat. The following skirmishes by the disgruntled parties, among which were the hiding of the realty records when the authorities of West Bend tried to get them at Port Washing­ ton, and the appeal to the Supreme Court which decided that the east boundary line of Ozaukee county ran through the middle of Lake Michigan, to conform with the State Constitution, which gave an area of more than 900 square miles to the county and therefore made the division legal. The Birth of the County 45 could not change the law, and now look like a humorous aftermath of the affair. It was a fight the like of which occurred in other counties of the State, but with less tenacity and bitterness and general mix-up. The peculiar causes for this have been sought in the lack of a feeling of unanimity beyond the respective locality; in a population largely of foreign birth, with little political experience in a democracy and with an extravagant sense of personal power engendered by the new freedom, and the unusually large number of villages striving for the prize, each one commanding almost an equal support. Party politics did not enter into the quarrel, as the county remained firmly Democratic; nor did religion or nationality play any part in if, as the united Catholic or German vote could have brought a decision. It was a fight which exhaustion alone could end. The division by the Legislature, arbitrary and little gratifying as it ap­ peared at the time, was the wisest move possible under the circumstances, as time taught, for the two counties have long ago buried their war hatchets and are good neighbors, vying with each other and the rest of the State to march on along the route of advancement, for the best of the common interests. Such is the story of the birth of Washington county. It was a most painful birth, and—to continue the meta­ phor—the new-born child cried. But it learned to smile and enjoy the wonderful possibilities of existence. V THE SETTLEMENTS AND THEIR FOUNDERS E WILL now have to retrace our steps and go back Wto the time when the first settlers crossed the bound­ ary lines of Washington county, as they exist today, after the Indians on the land passed it over to the Government, and the wild was thrown open for settlement. In the fol­ lowing it is attempted to present a short history of the beginnings of the several townships. Only the names of the very first few settlers will be mentioned, for it would be beyond the compass of this work to tell of all who with their brawny arms swung the ax of the settler, and it would not do to overburden a work, intended to be at once entertaining and instructive, with names, however deserv­ ing their bearers may be. In some instances land specula­ tion preceded the settlement, as the value of the tracts was readily recognized by shrewd moneyed men of the cities.

TOWN OF ADDISON.—By an act of the Legislature the town of Addison was incorporated on January 21, 1846. It included all of what is now known as the town of Wayne. On March 11, 1848, by another act, the latter was separated and the present town line established. Timothy Hall, the first settler of the town of Hartford, found at his arrival, in July, 1843, Alfred Ohrendorf to be the only settler in all of the town of Addison. He had settled on Limestone creek, close to the Fond du Lac road. In the same summer The Settlements and their Founders 47

Uriel S. Wordsworth took up land two miles farther away. Hall helped him build his log house. In 1844 four more settlers, Simeon Aaron Andrus, Harmon Ostrander, and Jacob and Franz Stuesser, arrived in the town. Following them, and during 1845, the pioneers came in squads and platoons to take possession of the teeming wild. On April 7, 1846, the first town meeting was held in the home of Caleb Spaulding. It was resolved to levy $50 for incidental expenses, and $9 for the poor fund, furthermore, that the town officers shall be paid $1 a day for services, and that pigs shall not be left running at large. The first road built by the town commenced near the house of J. W. Dickerson and ran in a northwesterly direction to the town line. At the first election, in November, 1846, a total of 44 votes were cast. Among the first settlers of the town was Lehman Rosenheimer w^ho in 1844 arrived with his young wife and bought a farm. In Germany he had learned the butcher's trade, and this vocation he continued here, be­ sides doing a lively business as a drover. He acquired ex­ tensive tracts of land in the town, and in 1856 removed to Schleis inger ville in the town of Polk. Another German whose name stands out prominently among the old settlers was John Schlagenhaft. He came in 1850 and was the first Catholic layman who settled in the town. In 1851 Father Bieter of Hartford read the first mass in the old church of SS. Peter and Paul, which was built of logs. The sur­ roundings were as primitive as the church.

TOWN OF BARTON.—This town, originally called "Newark," was in 1848 sliced off from the town of West Bend to the south and the town of North Bend (now Kewaskum) to the north. On November 25, 1853, the 48 The Story of Washington County

County Board re-baptized it "Barton," in honor of its first pioneer. Barton Salisbury. In the home of Martin Foster (the site now lies in the village of Barton), on October l6, 1848, the first town meeting was called to order. John K. Avery was the moderator, and Samuel H. Alcot the secre­ tary. After being organized, the meeting repaired to the schoolhouse, where the election of officers was held. The schoolhouse was built of logs and had formerly served as living quarters for Barton Salisbury who on an explora­ tion trip along the winding course of the Milwaukee river in 1845 had decided to settle here. When in the following year he built himself a frame house, the log cabin was turned over to the interests of education, yet in their beginnings like the other institutions. At the aforesaid election thirty-seven votes were cast. A coffee pot served as a ballot box. The first assessment of all taxable prop­ erty in the towns of Barton, Trenton, West Bend, Farming- ton, and Kewaskum showed as a grand total the sum of $3,700. The old log schoolhouse in the village of Barton was the accepted meeting place of the old pioneers. They gathered there to talk over the questions of the hour as well as to perpetrate many a stunt. From all over the county they came. One evening they had a sham session of the legislature. Hank Totten was elected governor, and Reuben Rusco secretary of state. Each town in the county had a representative. But when these had as­ sembled, it was found that the secretary of state had mys­ teriously disappeared. The doorkeeper was ordered to look for him and bring him back as quick as possible. He found the recalcitrant officer way off in the woods, where he and another deserter were deeply absorbed by a game of Seven- up on a spacious tree stump. After the governor's order The Settlements and their Founders 49 had been read to him, he thought it best to leave the jacks, spades, clubs, aces, etc., and betake himself to the school- house. The session was highly humorous. No burning question regarding state or national affairs escaped the tongs of the joke-smiths. The roar of the house was brought down by a legislator who claimed to represent the territory east of Ozaukee, Lake Michigan, by rising and in a Demos­ thenic appeal claiming equal rights for all fishes. This was an allusion to a decision of the State Supreme court. When the Legislature had divided Washington county in 1853, Ozaukee, the newly created county upbraided and claimed that its territory was too small. The court held, supported by the State constitution, that the east bound­ ary of the county was a line drawn through the middle of Lake Michigan, and consequently the territory was ample enough. The meeting was of the opinion that the champi­ on of the rights of the fishes should be "soaked in cider." Whereupon they adjourned.

TOWN OF ERIN.—As the name suggests, the first settlers of this township were Irish—they were Catholics from the Emerald Isle. Michael Lynch on November 27, 1841, was the first to take up Government land. In the following two years the valleys fairly resounded with the efforts of the Ryans, Quinns, Daleys, Fitzgeralds, Welches, Donohues, Murphys, McCormicks, Gallaghers, McLaughlins and others of distinctly Gaelic lineage to make homes in that most hilly portion of the county. German names among the first settlers are rare exceptions. By 1846 the last patch of arable land was taken. The town was well settled before the first tree was felled in the town of Hartford. The town of Erin was incorporated on January 16, 1846. 50 The Story of Washington County

April 6, 1846, the first to%vn meeting was held in the house of Patrick Toland. At the election of the town officers seventy-four votes were polled. The first mass was said in the home of Barney Conwell by Rev. Kundig. The priest had come on foot—"per pedes apostolorum"—from Prairie­ ville (now Waukesha). Soon afterwards, at Monches, a tiny hamlet of the town, a little log church was built, and in it gathered for years the pious settlers of the town, bound in faith to the Church of Rome. In 1857, at Thomp­ son's Post Office, the second Catholic church, a frame struc­ ture, was erected. Politically, the town of Erin was from the very beginning of its existence the stronghold of the Democratic party in Washington county. Until 1859 no­ body who was not a Democrat could get a vote. Lincoln in I860 was the first one to effect a breach in that solid phalanx. He polled one vote. But the election officers thought that it certainly must have been a mistake, and— threw it out. In the next few elections that solitary Re­ publican vote appeared regularly. Then the Republican party slowly gained ground. The story of that lonely vote runs thus: An Irishman, after landing in New York, was taken violently sick and was taken up and nursed in the home of a compatriot. When he had recovered, he wished to pay for the shelter and good care he had received, but his benefactor would not take any money; instead, he made his ward promise to vote at the polls no other ticket save the Republican. This Irishman settled in the town, and he kept his promise faithfully.

TOWN OF FARMINGTON.—On February 11, 1847, the Legislature preceded to prune the town of West Bend and declare the northeastern portion a new township, giving The Settlements and their Foumders 51 it the name of "Clarence." In the year following, this name was changed to "Farmington"—a fitting appellation, for farming is the occupation of most every inhabitant. The first settlers were Amasa P. Curtis and Elijah Westover, both of whom took up land on October 14, 1845. November 22, of the same year, William Smith became their neighbor. When the year slipped away, the wilderness had not at­ tracted any more than these lonely three. More pioneers came in the following year, and the names of Wescott, Schwinn, Bolton, Detmering and others appear in the records—names that are interwoven with the days of old and ring true to this very day. About two months after the creation of the town, on April 6, 1847, the first town meet­ ing and the election of officers were held in the home of Thomas Bailey. Thirty-five votes were cast. Fifteen dol­ lars were allowed for schools. At a special meeting on October 2, 1847, it was decided to levy taxes to the amount of $200 to build a bridge across the Milwaukee river. Soon afterwards the project was dropped. It was thought too much of a burden for most of the settlers who had little or no means beyond what they needed to sustain life. Yet they managed to build a log schoolhouse in the same fall and called it the "Washington Union School." In the same year a Methodist minister held the first service in the log shanty of Sylvester Danforth. The Methodists organized the first congregation in the town. The first sawmill was built by Delos Wescott on Stony creek. The first physician was the aforesaid Sylvester Danforth. The first log house was built by Jonathan Danforth who was the first post­ master. In 1859 the German Methodists followed their English brethren in founding a congregation. The first church built was that of St. Peter's Catholic congrep""" 52 The Story of Washington Coumty who with forty-two members was organized in 1846. In 1859 St. John's Catholic congregation was founded. In 1861 the German Evangelicals united in St. Martin's con­ gregation, and two years later they built a church. In 1857 a number of German lovers of ideality founded the Farm­ ington Humanitaetsverein with A. W. Demuth as president, Fritz Huebner as secretary, and Wilhelm Kletzch as treas­ urer. The society flourished for many years and possessed a library of about 400 German volumes. In 1862 the Farmington Turnverein was organized.

TOWN OF GERMANTOWN.—Of all townships in the county Germantown was the first to be settled. As its name tells, the old pioneers were almost all of German stock. They came by the way of Milwaukee, where they had learned of the new country just opened for settlement. They had come to America to conquer the wild and cultivate the soil. In the town of Mequon, adjoining to the east, many Germans had already settled, and the neighborhood of compatriots encouraged the newcomers to push into the wild to the west. The first settler of the town of German- town therefore was the first settler of Washington county of the present day. He was a German, Anton D. Wiesner. His name appeared first in the records. March 11, 1839, he took up eighty acres of Government land. In the second place appears the name of Levi Ostrander who bought his eighty on the same day. He had followed closely. In the same year sixteen more settlers ari^ived and settled mostly in the southern part of the town. <{For fiYe years following the pioneers poured in steadily, and by the end of 1844 most of the land had been taken up.^> The settling in this «^n was not so much wrought with hardships and want The Settlements and their Founders 53 as in parts farther north. Milwaukee, at that time quite a village, was not far off, and victuals could be toted from there with comparative ease. Many of the settlers had not come without means. Among the first buyers of land of non-German nationality the Scotchman Alexander Mitchell may be mentioned, who later in Milwaukee amassed a for­ tune that made it unnecessary or undesirable for him to take to his eighty acres and agriculture as recourse. VThe town was incorporated on January 21, 1846. On April 7, 1846, the first town meeting was held in the home of John Mattes./The clerk was J. T. Brown, a scholarly man well versed in the English language./ But something seemed to weigh down his spirits, and poor and melancholy he passed his old age in the poorhouse. In the meeting eight road masters were elected for as many districts; $150 were allowed for the poor fund, $100 for highways and bridges, and $400 for schools. Votes were cast in favor of the admission of Wisconsin into the sisterhood of states, the removal of the temporary county seat onto the county farm, and the raising of $1000 for the erection of county build­ ings. There were 123 voters present. At the election of town officers George Koehler was chosen chairman.

TOWN OF HARTFORD.—It is believed that a Canadian by the name of Jehiel Case was the first white man who lived in the town of Hartford. He was a squatter or a man who made himself at home on a piece of land without having a title of Uncle Sam. It is not known when he came. Timothy Hall who arrived in July, 1843, found him in a log shanty. In the fall or winter following he sold his claim, consisting of a small clearing and the hut, to a settler named Scheitz. The first settler who took up 54 The Story of Washington County land was the aforesaid Timothy Hall. One day he arrived with his wife and worldly belongings on an oxcart from Milwaukee, to the great surprise of the Canadian squatter. He settled on Section 12 and built his shanty, the second one in the town. It later for many years served as an inn, for it lay half way between Milwaukee and Fond du Lac, and many a weary traveler hailed it in those railroad-less days. The first postoffice was set up here. The first Ger­ man settler whose name appears in the realty records was Nicolaus Simon. He and another German, John Theil, arrived in 1843 from Prairieville on a landseeking trip. They walked around Pike lake, on the shore of which they struck a village of Potawatomi Indians. These latter had a different, and it seems more appropriate, name for Pike lake. They called it "Nokum," or Heart lake, and the lake actually is heart-shaped. While Theil stayed on the land, Simon returned to Prairieville to tell the two Rossman brothers of the rapids of the Rubicon river at the place which furnished the site for the city of Hartford, and to get them to come along and improve of the splendid op­ portunity to harness a water power. In the summer of 1844 he returned with them, and they bought 40 acres of land adjoining the river. In the fall of the same year they built a dam, and in the following spring a sawmill. In 1846 a flouring mill droned complacently on the river bank. Thus the nucleus of the city of Hartford had been created. More settlers had come in 1844, and at the end of the year thirty entries had been made, but only about fifteen families had actually settled. In the four years following, the noise of the ax in some pioneer's brawny fists echoed through nearly every section of the primeval forest. The town's first name was "Wayne" which was subsequently changed The Settlements and their Founders 55 into "Benton," then into "Wright," and finally the popular predilection settled on the name of "Hartford." The greater number of the settlers were Yankees who took the leadership in civic affairs. The first poll list, that of the election in November, 1846, contains almost exclusively English names. In April, 1846, the first town meeting was lield in the home of E. O. Johnson. The chairman was John G. Chapman, and the secretary, John Barney. Town officers were elected and votes were cast in favor of the admission of Wisconsin to the statehood, the removal of the county seat to the county farm, and the raising of a school tax of one-fourth of one per cent of the assessment. There were forty-two voters present.

TOWN OF JACKSON.—By a legislative act the town of Jackson was created on January 21, 1846. But some years previous the settlement of the fertile and almost level land, watered by the Cedar creek and numerous tributory rivulets, had already begun. The first entries were made in 1843 by John McDonald and Peter Devereau. Each one took up eighty acres. In May of the same year John Kinney followed the Scotch-French vanguard and picked out forty acres. By fall thirty-one entries were made, and until the winter of 1845 their number had increased to 149. Much land was bought for speculation. The first poll list, that of the year 1846, showed up only one-fourth of the names in the realty records. The value of the land in those early days was readily recognized by people who saw the day coming when steel rails would glitter alongside the foot­ worn Indian trails, and the little heap of grain that was ground between two stones would be overtaken by golden wheat fields and the clacking mill. Among the first settlers 5Q The Story of Washington County was a large contingent of Germans. A colony of German Lutheran immigrants headed by their pastor. Rev. Klnder- mann and their teacher, Steinke, settled in the tow i and founded the hamlet of Kirchhayn which today can boast of having one of the oldest Lutheran congregations in Wis­ consin. On April 7, 1846, three months after the town had been born and baptized, the first town meeting was held. It appears to have been looked upon as a most important affair, for 43 voters were present—evidently the entire voting population. It was in the turbulent times of the quarrel about the county seat, and Jackson had its hands in the pie. The Poor farm already lay within the borders of the town. Why not move the other offices onto the grounds and have everything together ^.f The intentions were excusable and the arguments plausible, but the older towns laughed at the little shaver who tried to put on father's big hat. But regardless of the scoffs they unan­ imously voted for the removal of the county seat to the town of Jackson. The meeting was held in the home of L. Topliff who was clerk. He also was the first to be elected chairman of the town. It was decided to levy $100, of which $75 were for general expenses and $25 for schools. Thus the town began to manage its affairs.

TOWN OF KEWASKUM.—The territory comprised in this town originally belonged to the town of West Bend, as was set forth in an act of the Legislature of January, 1846. In 1847 it was separated and received the name of North Bend, the Milwaukee river which is flowing with many windings through the town being the sponsor. In 1849 its name was changed to "Kewaskum," in honor of an Indian chief who lived there and was highly esteemed. In 1844 The Settlements and their Founders 57

William P. Barnes and his wife settled in the town, and the couple are considered the first settlers. The first town meeting in the town of North Bend was held on April 6, 1847, in the home of the first settlers mentioned. Twenty- six voters congregated. The minutes of the meeting are still extant. They read as follows: At the annual town meeting held at the house of William P. Barnes, in the town of North Bend, Washington Co., T. W., April 6, 1847, the friends who were there organized by calling Harry N. Strong to the chair, and appointing Joshua Bradley, clerk. The meeting being called to order, the following motions were made and carried in the affirmative: First.—That the next annual town meeting is to be held in the house of Ferdinand Dagling, on Section Number 21. Second.—^That the town officers receive for their services $1 per day, where the price Is not fixed by law. Third.—That the town raise one-eighth of one per cent for the benefit of schools in the town. Fourth.—That we, or the town, raise one-eighth of one per cent, to be applied to roads in the town. Fifth.—That Samuel Ladd serve as Overseer of Highways in the town of North Bend till others are appointed. Sixth.—That we raise $75 to pay officers and to bear the necessary expenses of the town. Seventh.—That the Supervisors accept no account unless it is itemized, dated and sworn to. April 9, 1847. JOHK S. VAXEPS, Town Clerk.

In the same house in the same year two elections were held. September 6 for territorial and county officers, and November 29 for delegates to the constitutional convention at Madison, in which the fundamentals of the state-to-be Wisconsin were laid down. The first election in the newly baptized town of Kewaskum was held on April 2, 1850, in the home of Nathan Wheeler. He also was the first post- 58 The Story of Washington Coumty master. It proved to be void because it was held outside of the town limits, and the elected chairman, J. T. Van Vechten, was refused the vote in the session of the County Board. Matters were righted in another election.

TOWN OF POLK.—The first settler of this town w^as William Williamson. Timothy Hall, the first settler of the town of Hartford, says of him: "At the time (in 1843) I found William Williamson ^YC miles away from my place toward Milwaukee; he was the first settler of the town of Polk. Jn November of the following year Dinsmore W. Maxon came and settled on Cedar creek, where he still lives." The entries essentially corroborate his statements. Williamson, who uses here the given name of James, took up his forty acres on August 7, 1843, and on December 7, 1844, Dinsmore W. Maxon took up his forty, to which, in March, 1845, he added another forty. Maxon was a young surveyor who in 1843 had settled in the town of Mequon and with his instruments had explored the country east. On the bank of the Cedar creek, the volumed outlet of the Cedar lakes, he bought a piece of land and built a dam and a sawmill. His neighbor was Kewaskum, the Potawatomi chief. Both men united in lasting friendship. Prior to the year 1846 a large part of the fertile land traversed by ranges of low hills was sold, but little settled. In 1847 the clearing began on a larger scale, and in the next few years the woods fairly resounded with the ax-strokes of the pioneers. The biggest entries of land in the town were made by B. Schleisinger Weil, the founder of Schleisinger- ville. In December, 1845, he took up nearly two thousand acres—the best part of the northwest quarter of the town— in the name of his son Jules and his wife Adelaide. The The Settlements and their Founders 59 first town meeting was held on April 7, 1846. The minutes of it are lost, but from the procedings of the first session of the County Board it is evident that the first supervisors of the town were D. W. Maxon, Silas Wheeler, and John Detling. Jacob Everly was the first treasurer, and C. B. Covender was the first clerk and school commissioner. After the removal of the latter, John Rix was appointed clerk, and Andrew Dunn school commissioner. The pro­ ceedings further show that the first town meeting was held in the home of John Rix, for the use of which, together with the light used, he was reimbursed with $1.50*- There existed five taverns in the town in 1846; they were con­ ducted by Jacob Barwind on Section 26, Peter Brenner on Section 25, Julius Schleisinger at Cedar lake, Nikolaus Guth on Section 28, and Emanuel Mann on Section S5. The oldest extant poll list, that of the November election of 1846, contains the names of 21 voters.

TOWN OF RICHFIELD.—The first settler to turn his eyes to the arable clay soil of this town, dotted in its south­ western part with morainic hills, was Samuel Spivey. On May 31, 1841, he bought l60 acres of Government land in Section S6, but it is not known that he ever settled on it. July 6, 1841, Jacob Snyder had 40 acres in Section S5 entered, and about his settlement on the land there is no doubt. He is considered the first settler of the town, and for almost a year he also was the only one. In the fall of 1842 fifty-odd entries were made. In 1843 the tide of German immigration began to find its way into the town, and two years later little Government land was left. The town was incorporated January 21, 1846. A few resolu- 60 The Story of Washington County tions of the first town meeting have been preserved. They read:

Resolved, By the citizens of the town of Richfield, in annual town meeting, held at the house of Zachariah Fuller, April 7, 1846: (First) that it is our duty and it shall be our aim to practice strict economy in the government and management of our town affairs, and that our motto is "the greatest good to the greatest number," and in order to carry out these principles, therefore Resolved (second). That the pay and fees of the officers of the town shall be as follows, to-wit: Supervisors, commissioners of Highways, commissioners of common schools, and assessors shall receive each $1 a day, and no more, for every day necessarily employed with the business of the town, and that the town clerk shall receive the like sum of $1 per day when the business is such that it can be calculated by the day; in all other cases he shall receive for all necessary writing on town business six cents per folio, and the committee of investigation shall order that the resolution be altered in such manner as to convey the same meaning in a less number of words; they shall make such revoca­ tion in the charges as they shall deem fit. The collector shall receive 5 per cent on all money by him' paid into the town treasury. The treasurer shall receive for his services 2 per cent for all money received by him, and 1 per cent for all money by him paid out. Resolved (third), That in all surveys of roads that pay shall not be allowed to more than four persons, to-wit: A surveyor, two chainmen, and a marker. Resolved (fourth). That we will raise $80 to pay the expense of the town for the ensuing year. In addition to the above $80, $70 more was voted for at a special town meeting held at the house of Philip Laubenheimer, at 1 o'clock the 6th day of May, 1846. Attest: MICHAEL FOGARTY, Town Clerk. The Settlements and their Founders 61

The chairman of the first meeting was Balthus Mantz. Tradition says that in the meeting the first indemnity amounting to nine dollars was paid to Gustavus Bogk, a pioneer. His wagon, on which he had packed his earthly belongings, tipped over on the Fond du Lac road, whereby a stove and other things were broken. He blamed the poor condition of the road for his mishap, and the town fathers agreed with him and allowed for the damage. It is an his­ torical fact, therefore, that Gustavus Bogk had the first tip-over in that town. The first church in the town was built of logs by Catholic pioneers in 1845 and dedicated to St. Hubertus. The first priests were Revs. Meyer, Kundig, and Obermueller. Another log church, that of St. Augustine, was started soon after by another settlement of German Catholics.

TOWN OF TRENTON.—As far back as 1836 the forest- clad undulations of this town, between which the Milwaukee river in many turns ate its way, attracted the attention of speculators. The land near the river bank, which now is the site of the village of Newburg, was especially desirable. Here Solomon Juneau, the founder of Milwaukee, Michael Anthony Guista, Charles Hunt, M. C. Johnson, James Duane Doty, Joseph R. Ward and others bought land, on which they never settled nor changed anything of its prime- ordeal appearance. Only the realty records give notice of their erstwhile owners. It was nine years later, in 1845, when the first real settlers arrived. They were Peter Nuss, Ferdinand Nolting, Patrick Keown, Michael Bower^ Edwin R. Nelson, Thomas Jessup, Moses Young, Emanuel Mann, Christopher Long, and Fred. Firstenberger. The vanguard on the spot> the main force of the pioneers, with axes and 62 The Story of Washington County ox-carts, brought up in the following year. In the years 1847 and 1848 the remainder of the land was settled. In the winter of 1847 Newburg, the most important village of the township, was founded by Barton Salisbury. He was busy getting the village of Barton, some ten miles up the Milwaukee river, started, and sent a man by the name of Watson down to a place, where the river's ripids in­ vited some captain of industry, with directions to build a log house. Into this Salisbury moved with his wife in 1848. He built a dam, a sawmill, a gristmill, and also an "ashery," in which the ashes from the burned log piles of the clearings were converted into potash. Salisbury was joined by two of his nephews. Under his directions some more buildings were put up and it was at the construction of the first hotel that a poor rafter broke under his feet, and he fell and came to a tragic death. The first town meeting was held on April 4, 1848, in the house of John Smith. The chairman was James H. Watson, and the clerk John A. Douglas. For roads $50 were appropriated, for the support of the poor, $25, for general expenses, $200, and for schools "as much as the law allows." A special tax was imposed on each freeholder for every eighty acres of land, consisting of ^Ye days of road work, or five dollars in cash. As a poll tax each had to put in two days' work for the community. The first supervisors were John A. Douglas, Reuben Salisbury, and Turner Bailey. The first town clerk was Frederick Balch; the first treasurer, Ely L. Hurd; and the first justices were Frederick Leson and James H. Watson. The office of the "Sealer of Weights," that since sank into obscurity, was held by John A. Douglas. In the first general election, held in the town in November, 1848, 58 votes were cast. The Settlements and their Founders 63

TOWN OF WAYNE.—The northwestern quadrangle of the county map was named "Town of Wayne." The settlement of the wooded, undulating country, dotted with numerous steep gravel hills and stretching west of the morainic ridges, began in 1846. June 8, 1846, Alexander W. Stow took up the first eighty acres. In the fall of the year several other pioneers arrived. Among the first was a German, Konrad Schleicher. He, on February 1, 1847, had three tracts, of forty acres each, in Section 28, entered under his name, and then brought his wife and two children out from Mil­ waukee to his big estate in the wilds. He left them in the care of his father-in-law and returned to the city to work and save up a little capital to run the farm with. They began to clear the land, and the woman put in her solid share of the work. An experience of her's throws a spot­ light on the hardships these pioneers had to wrestle with. She needed flour to bake bread, and walked nine miles to get it. With a sackful placed on her head—a practice which the peasant women of Germany, who carry large baskets and jugs filled with butter, eggs, milk, etc., for miles to the next market, still follow—she started for home. At one place she had to cross a creek swollen with heavy rains, which she could not ford. There lay a tree athwart the water, and on hands and knees, pushing the sack care­ fully before her, she managed to crawl over, and for a time she again could stuff the hungry mouths of her family. In the house of Patrick Conolly the first town meeting was held on April 1, 1848. Eleven voters were present—hardly enough to fill the offices. They chose A. S. McDowell for chairman; he also served as street commissioner and justice of the peace. The salary of the officers was fixed at $1 a day; $10 were appropriated to the poor fund, and $75 for 64 The Story of Washington Coumty general purposes. The latter sum seemed to some of them too weighty a burden for the young community, but after a long squabble, in which the epithets "extravagant" and "stingy" were liberally exchanged, it was carried by a vote of six to fiYC. Until 1850 the town was mostly settled by Yankees and Irishmen. Then the German pioneers came in larger numbers, and they kept on a-coming and buying the land of the first settlers, or taking up the rest of the homestead land, until the township was almost entirely peopled by Germans.

TOWN OF WEST BEND.—The original town of West Bend, as divided off by the Legislature on January 20, 1846, included the areas of the towns of Barton, Trenton, Farmington and Kewaskum, which have since gone in the administrative business for themselves. The area was trimmed several times until it was reduced to its present size. As the first settlers of the town M. A. T. Farmer and Isaac Verbeck are set down. Both hailed from Penn­ sylvania and were related to each other. In the spring of 1845 they with their wives, children, and two thousand pounds of luggage arrived in Waukesha county, not far from the border line of Washington county, where two brothers of Verbeck had already settled. From there the restless Isaac undertook a cruise into Washington county. Like Columbus, he did not trust his luck altogether, for he had heard of beautiful lakes and land farther east. On the way he spent a night in a wigwam among one hundred fifty-odd Indians. Here he became a witness of the In­ dian's sense of justice. A German had shot a deer which had been hunted by some Indians. One of them was greatly nettled at the German's claim of the booty. He retired to The Settlements and their Founders 65 the woods and fired at the German without hitting him, whereupon the latter answered the shot and killed his ad­ versary. The other Indians who carried the body away entirely sanctioned the action of the German, saying that "John," who was known as a "bad Indian," had received what he deserved. When on the following morning Isaac from the wigwam overlooked the prairie, the chief stepped to his side and said: "White man, walk on." And he walked on and came into the vicinity south of West Bend. He liked the country so well that he took up land and set­ tled on it with his brothers and his brother-in-law Farmer. They put up the first shacks in the town. Besides these settlers the following arrived in the years 1845-46: The Alsacian Moses Weil and his family, the inn-keeper G. N. Irish, the Rusco brothers, Jehiel H. Baker, Walter Demmon, the Young brothers with their families, Daniel Freer, Ed­ ward Helm, Elder Babcock, James L. Bailey, the black­ smith Sinn, and others. Like other places, the city of West Bend is indebted to the Milwaukee river for its existence. The rapids offered a strong inducement for a sawmill and a gristmill. Byron Kilbourn of Milwaukee, on an exploration trip through the county, noticed the ex­ cellent water power, and he and two other Milwaukeeans (James Kneland and Dr. E. B. Wolcott) bought land along the river bank. This was in the fall of 1845. In the fol­ lowing year a dam and a sawmill were built and in 1848 the clang of a gristmill joined in the intermittent buzz of the band saw. They turned out lumber for houses and flour for bread, the two most necessary staples of the pio­ neers, and so the work of building up the future county seat could begin. The voters held their first town meeting on April 7, 1846, in the house of Isaac Verbeck. The 66 The Story of Washington County minutes of that meeting have been lost. But a few recol­ lections of it have come upon us: That the meeting didn't know exactly how to constitute themselves; that finally somebody swore in somebody else as clerk, and he in turn swore in the election officers; that Barton Salisbury was chosen chairman, Verbeck secretary, and Farmer treasurer. There is a difference of opinion as to whether a coffee pot or an old candle box was used to collect the ballots. Be­ tween thirty and forty votes were cast. The early history of the villages and cities of the county is fragmentary. In some instances not even fragments are left, in other instances fragments that may have existed got lost. Few of the old settlers who made local history were inclined, or even able, to write it down. This is the general rule for all who make history. And the historian of a later generation is puzzled how to fill the many gaps and not use his fancy. This is why county histories appear so inco­ herent, not to say anything of the errors which naturally are inherent to history more than to any other branch of human knowledge. In the following the beginnings of the villages and cities in the county are described, and it is also tried to perpetuate the names of their founders.

ALLENTON.—This village is too young to be included in the old settlements, as it sprang up after the Wisconsin Central railroad had been built through its later site in the early 80's. It was first known as Dekorra Station, which name was soon changed to "Allenton." Among the founders were the Ruplinger brothers who in 1882 built a stave fac­ tory, J. Bertschy who built the first grain elevator in the same year, Frank Weiss, the butcher, John A. Christnacht, G. Wenninger, M. Stoffel, and J. H. Kreilkamp. The vil- The Settlements and their Foumders 67 lage quickly developed into a market center for a large farming section.

BARTON.—The original name of this village was Salis­ bury's Mills, which, after the retreat of the numerous Yankee population, was translated by the incoming Ger­ mans with "Salzburg." The founder of the village was Barton Salisbury. On a surveying trip in the fall of 1845 he discovered the strong current of the Milwaukee river at the place. It looked to him like an invitation to build a mill on the bank. The surroundings, too, seemed to be predestined by Nature for the site of a village. He at once got busy and started to build a log hut. Some settlers who had located a little way south came up to help him. They found him and two other men cutting down trees which two oxen dragged to the lot. During the fall and winter several other pioneers arrived, among them Charles and Foster Buck, James Frazer, John Douglas, Martin Foster, Rev. Bela Wilcox, W. P. Barnes, and the Danford family. Mrs. Danford was the first white woman who put her foot on the ground of the village. Ere the spring of 1846 blew into the land, Salisbury had his sawmill running. In 1847 the big flouring mill of Edward and William Caldwell was finished. Thus the seed was planted out of which the village did grow—to use a trope. The last named brothers, in 1846, fitted up the first general store. Their stock, the "fall line of goods," they brought from Milwaukee on an ox-cart. On their way home they in West Bend met Moses Weil who was just putting up the first store building of that place. Barton had become a "business center" ahead of the future county seat. The first school teacher was Rev. Wilcox. He did not have to 68 The Story of Washington County

pass a teacher's examination. School commissioner Young simply asked him to write out his certificate himself, which the school board signed. The reverend schoolmaster was also the first postmaster. The official name of the post office was "Salisbury Mills Post Office." The mail was carried from and to Cedar Creek, the nearest railroad sta­ tion at that time, by Wm. Ellis "in a pouch made of W. P. Barnes' vest pocket." For that reason it was called the "Vest Pocket Mail." The first sermon was held by a Rev. Traine in the schoolhouse which was a board shack originally built by Salisbury for his own use. The first congregation, of the Presbyterian creed, was organized by Rev. Elliot of Milwaukee. For want of a better place, he sometimes had to preach in the—sawmill. In 1853 the congregation built a church. The first saloon was opened by Martin Foster. On Christmas day, 1857, Father Rehrl held the first Catholic service. September 30 previous. Bishop Henni of Milwaukee had laid the corner stone for the first Catholic church. Father Rehrl also founded a convent of the Sisters of St. Agnes. The convent since has been discontinued, and the low building with its bowlder walls and Gothic windows is now used as a dwelling. In 1855, ten years after the founding. Barton had 1095 in­ habitants. It had considerably more than West Bend at that time. As the years went by, the tide turned.

BOLTONVILLE.—This village was founded in 1854 on Stony creek in the town of Farmington. In its baptism it received the surname of Harlow Bolton, a settler. The first house, a store, was built by Horace Smith. Following him, E. A. Duncan erected a sawmill on a tributary of the Stony creek. He made improvements on it as necessity The Settlements and their Founders 69 demanded and his means allowed. Next came a gristmill which Bolton & Schuler built on the bank of Stony creek, and which also in course of time was enlarged and im­ proved. In 1858 Bolton put up a store building. By and by other tradesmen, blacksmiths, wagon makers, cobblers, harness makers, etc., arrived and fitted up their stands. A school saw to the education of the children, and a church— "for man does not live of bread alone"—catered to the spiritual wants.

FILLMORE.—Christian Beger, a native of Saxony, was the first to arrive on the site of Fillmore, and he is credited with the founding of the village. This was in 1846. In the same year Gust. Zettler and E. Rudolph, two more Saxons, and Geo. Pritchet and Jos. Rex, two Bavarians, arrived on the scene which was dense woods haunted by bear and deer and straggling bands of Indians. During the next few years more families arrived, among which were the Klessigs, Jaehnigs, Aurigs, Poetzschs, and Kuech- enmeisters. Many of the old settlers were scholarly peo­ ple, a "Latin Settlement" was close by, and the village for decades enjoyed a unique air of intellectuality and humani- tarianism.

HARTFORD.—The founders of the city of Hartford were the Rossman brothers, James, George, and Charles, and Nic. Simon. As has been said in the sketch on the settlement of the town, they were induced by Simon, a German settler, to come over from Prairieville, now Wau­ kesha. James and George arrived in the summer of 1844, immediately bought forty acres about the rapids of the Rubicon river, built a dam in the fall of that year, and 70 The Story of Washington County had a sawmill running early in 1845. In 1846 Charles joined his brothers and built a gristmill which had three runs of stones and did a fine business. Simon felled the first tree and built the first log house in the village. E. O. Johnson started a hotel in a log house at this time. In April, 1846, Hiram H. Wheelock arrived from Oconomowoc and put up the first general store. It was 12x18 feet in size, built of slabs, with a shed roof. The year following, Reuben S. Kneeland came and formed a partnership with Wheelock, whereupon the firm built larger quarters, this time 20 x 40 feet in size. They also started an "ashery" whi6h proved very profitable. The settlement soon became the central trading point for the country many miles around. Other early settlers who came before the incor­ poration of the village in 1846 were Joel F. Wilson, John Rumrill, Christopher Truax, Ralph Freeman, Isaac Max- field, Chester Ewers, Warren Sargent, John D. Morey, Henry Washburn, John G. Chapman, S. A. Musgrove, Dr. Nichols, B. A. King, John Nanscaven, E. O. Johnson, Calvin S. Wilson, Francis Willmuth, C. Smith, and John Barney. A vivid picture of what Hartford looked like in its first years is presented in the following extract from a letter of Mr. Bissel, an old settler, published in the Washington County Republican of March l6, 1881: "I first saw the village of Hartford in the spring of 1845, coming in by the south road. After a walk of twenty-five miles, just at sundown, we came out into a broad chopping of some two or three acres, extending along the west side of the present Main street, from the corner mentioned to the river. Just north of the present brick hotel and nearly opposite Whee­ lock, Denison & Co.'s store stood one log house, occupied by E. O. Johnson, who gladly fed and piloted land-lookers The Settlements and their Founders 71 for a consideration. After a few months he put on more style, built a small addition, got a bottle of whisky, painted *Noster House' on a small board with iron ore, nailed it to a tree in front of the house, and thus commenced the hotel business in Hartford. He used to inform those of us not so well educated that he had studied Latin, and that *noster' meant 'our.' At the time just spoken of, the frame of the sawmill was up; not a stroke had been done toward putting the machinery in place, or on the dam. There was a small house by the river, nearly opposite the parsonage, where the man who had put up the frame of the sawmill had stopped, but no family had occupied it. On the lot way out in the woods, now owned by J. C. Dennison, Ralph Freeman had put up the body of a house, but no one had yet lived in it. In the southwest part of the town were the families of Julius Shepherd, John Rumrill, and John Graham, both of the latter families living in one house, and Henry Winters and Thompson Harper in another. These families came in the fall of 1844, by way of Mil­ waukee and Neosho road, leaving that road at or near Cherry Hill. Going east from the mill, the first house was John Brasier's, on the bank of the lake. He could have been there but a short time, and made or bought little fur­ niture, for, in coming from Milwaukee, and getting belated, I stopped with them overnight, they taking down the outer and only door for a supper-table. On the east side of the lake was Fred Hecker, an old *bach,' living in an Indian bark wigwam, and just south of him were two sailors, also old 'baches,' but they stayed but a short time. About one mile farther east was the family of John Mo wry, and a little north of him his brother-in-law Churchill, on the farm so long, and perhaps yet, owned by Christopher Smith. 72 The Story of Washington County

North of him, and well toward the north side of the town, were the families of Deacon Chapman, Chris Truax, and Cornelius Gilson. I am not sure whether Chester Ewer, Isaac Maxfield, and the Pulfords were here then or not; if not, they came very soon afterward. Nicholas Simon had selected his farm, but had not commenced work on it. These families embraced all, or nearly all, here at that time. In the northwest quarter of the town, not a settler had yet located. Wagons had come in as far as the mill, or Ross- man's mill, as it was called, but no wagon had crossed the river. I drove the first wagon across, turning down the hill nearly where the Mill House stood so long, and perhaps does yet, and crossing about half way down between the gristmill and the foot of the tail race. This was not a good crossing, and another was opened just below the saw­ mill, which was used until the first bridge was built by Almon Washburn for $25. The first road was the old Milwaukee and Fond du Lac road which crossed the north­ east corner of the town. The next was the Territorial road from Grafton, Ozaukee county, to Hustis Rapids, now Hustisford, in Dodge county, both being large and import­ ant points, in future prospects, being the present road through the village east and west."

JACKSON.—In 1848 Franz Reis, a young German of twenty-seven summers, acquired a preemption on an area of land, on which subsequently the village of Jackson arose. The year before he had immigrated from Germany, and he was almost penniless. Bodily vigor, coupled with courage and determination, were his capital. When he had saved up a little money, he bought forty acres of land. To this he added one stretch after another, as his means would The Settlements and their Founders 73 allow, until at last he owned four hundred acres of the finest soil in that vicinity. His domain he worked in the best way and with the best means of the pioneers. When the "air-line" railroad was built from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac, Franz Reis was not slow in offering to the company free of charge a right of way and a plot of ground for a depot, for he was aware of the advantages he would reap from a railroad that would pass through his farm and would stop right at his door. Not only would he be bene­ fited by it, but likewise the entire neighborhood. The offer was accepted, the rails were laid across his land, and the depot was built. Thus he became the founder of Jackson, which formerly was called Riceville, after his Englished surname, so that Americans could pronounce it correctly. On his farm the village was built. In 1873 he erected a large general store and saloon, and also an elevator, and around this center the village grew. The founder had six children, of whom the three sons followed the footprints of their father. He died in 1878.

KEWASKUM.—The first pioneer who built a log house on the bank of the Milwaukee river, on the site of the present- day village of Kewaskum, was J. H. Myers. This was in 1852. In the same year F. W. Buchtel fitted up the first smithy, and in the fall, Myers constructed a primitive saw­ mill near the river, where the rapids promised a good water power. In 1854 the latter also began the erection of a flouring mill which was completed in 1856. The first frame house was raised by Henry P. Fames; it was a structure of a story and a half, and stood close to the river, south of Main street-to-be. The next settler, William Pickel, lived one-half mile away. William Spicer kept the first store. 74 The Story of Washington County

In the spring of 1854 the Dutch Reformed organized the first congregation. They started out with four members, and their pastor was Rev. M. Davenport. In 1855 a Sun­ day school was added. The Catholics built a church in 1862, the Methodists in 1866, and the Lutherans in 1868. A lodge, Kewaskum Lodge No. 101, I. O. O. F., was organ­ ized February 4, I860. The members held their meetings at first in English, later substituting German. After a w^hile, the lodge disjoined, and since its reorganization on February 2, 1876, the English tongue is again used in the meetings. June 2, 1878, the Kewaskum Turnverein was organized. The society flourished for years, but went out of existence long ago. With the advent of the railway to Fond du Lac, the village developed a vigorous growth. In its name, the name of a noble Indian, Chief Kewaskum, is perpetuated.

MAYFIELD.—A native of Switzerland, Andreas Reiderer was the founder of this little village. He named it after his birthplace, Maienfelden, translated into English. In 1851 he was joined by another pioneer, George F. Fleisch- mann, and in the spring of 1852 the two men platted the village, laid out the main street and the side streets, and named them. On this land, on the bank of Cedar creek, Reiderer built a sawmill. The baby village had a struggle to hold its own and to keep the plow away from its empty blocks, and up to now it is but a quiet hamlet. When Joseph Katz and his partner, Jacob Pfeil, opened up a general store, the name "Katzbach" came up, and because many of the inhabitants, and also many outsiders, took a fancy to it, the original name which was certainly much more poetic was almost wiped out, to the chagrin of the The Settlements and their Founders 75 bland Swiss founder who, together with both of the store­ keepers, John Metz the shoemaker, and a blacksmith whose name is no longer known, for many years entertained hopes for a radiant future of the place. In 1859 Mayfield was made a postoffice, and the first postmaster was John Toedly. Once a week the mail was brought over from Cedar Creek. But when Jackson, situated one mile east, got to be a rail­ road station, trade mostly drifted thither. The out-of-the- way hamlet withered, and its streets, planned for a flour­ ishing community, are nearly empty and deserted.

NEWBURG.—The founder of the village of Newburg was Barton Salisbury, an Anglo-Saxon who in the first act of our civac drama played the most conspicuous part, and the most tragic. When he had founded Barton, farther up the Milwauke river, he in the winter of 1847-48 sent one of his men by the name of Watson to a place, where now the village of Newburg complaisantly spreads, to build a log house. On his exploring trip up-stream he had noticed the swift current of the river at that particular place, and he intended to make use of the water power. In the spring of 1848 he came to the place himself, built a dam, a sawmill, and a gristmill. He then erected an "ashery." These were the beginnings of Newburg. The founder was assisted by two nephews who shared their uncle's vim and push. They built some of the first houses, among them the first hotel, the Webster House. At the construction of the latter, Salisbury lost his life. He was working on the roof, when one of the rafters broke and he fell down into the basement. He was mortally injured and died soon after. Fate reached him at the early age of S6 years. After having founded other places, he intended 76 The Story of Washington County to settle here permanently and make Newburg the most im­ portant place in the county. Prematurely his life's thread was cut off, and the vision of a singularly energetic and enterprising pioneer did not materialize.

RICHFIELD.—With the foundation of this village the name of Philipp Laubenheimer is inseparably associated. His bearer was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1803. In 1842 he was seized by the great migratory wave which swept the northwestern and middle parts of Europe, and which finally landed him in the wilderness on the site of the future village of Richfield. He was accompanied by his wife and seven children. For the first two weeks the family camped beneath a spreading tree, until the log house was finished. Soon afterwards his wife and a child died. They were the first white people buried in the vil­ lage. The old Fond du Lac road ran through his land, and Laubenheimer conceived the idea that a tavern might be made to pay. He accordingly started one, and after a while put in a supply of needles, coffee, and sugar, thus also making a beginning in the store business. When quarters were getting crowded, he built an addition to his log house. He had to do that several times. His house came to be the meeting place of the German settlers of the vicinity. Laubenheimer was the first German who kept an inn and a store in Washington county. He created the commercial center of the surrounding country, and when in 1855 the La Crosse railroad was built right through his land, the success of his business was assured. He offered a plot of land to the railroad company, on which a depot was built. Later he erected a large store building of bowlders and brick. His second wife was Mrs. Annie M. The Settlements and their Foumders 77

Arnet of Germantown, who bore him five children. He died in 1878. Laubenheimer was a close friend of Solomon Juneau, one of the founders of Milwaukee. The two men often met. Juneau enj oyed great esteem among the Indians and was very influential with them. This relation the red skins who were still numerous in the settlement extended to his friend Laubenheimer.

SLINGER.—B. Schleisinger Weil, a German-Alsatian, was the founder of this village. In December, 1845, he bought much Government land in the town of Polk, on 527 acres of which he platted the village. A merchant dyed in the wool, he began by building a store and a dwell­ ing. His assortment of merchandise comprised everything the settlers could make use of. And these in return fetched him everything their land would produce. This way the place very early became the mart for many miles around. Blacksmiths, shoemakers, wagonwrights, and other artisans settled here. A hotel was built to accommodate the travel­ ing public. Then two tanners, George Ippel and Thomas Jenner, arrived and started a tannery. Weil later put up and rigged out a distillery. It is also due to his efforts that the La Crosse railroad, now the St. Paul, was laid out through the place. When in 1855 the tracks had reached Slinger, he invited a large number of prominent Milwaukeeans to a sumptuous feast, the expenses of which he paid out of his own pocket. Among his guests were Stoddard Judd, the president of the road. Judge Larrabee, Mayor James B. Cross, Moritz Schoeffler, and Harrison Ludington. When the train pulled in, an artillery salute was fired off. The carousal in the upper story of the hotel, which followed, was a favorite topic of the town gossips 78 The Story of Washington County for many years after. The Milwaukeeans fairly gulped Weil's hospitality. They missed the return train. Late in the evening a special train arrived, on which their host packed them with difficulty, and which carried the merry crowd back. Until I860 Weil remained in the village and then moved to the shore of Big Cedar lake, a few miles away, where he had erected a fine country home. He later lived at West Bend, and lastly at Milwaukee. Soon after Slinger had become a railroad station, Lehman Rosen­ heimer, another merchant, arrived on the scene in the infant village. He in 1856 built a large store, and he also did much cattle and grain buying. Five of his six sons followed the footprints of their father. The advent of the house of Rosenheimer marked another era of advancement for Slinger. Among the names of early merchants of the place that of John Pick may also be mentioned. The first church was erected by the Catholics in 1862. In 1863 the Luther­ ans reared their place of worship, and after it had burned down in 1866, they and the Methodists had a church in com­ mon until the former built a new one in 1872. The village was incorporated in 1869. In 1868 the Oddfellows organ­ ized a lodge, and in 1877 a Turnverein stepped into exist­ ence, but went out of it again, long ago. The name of the village formerly was Schleisingerville. The County Board in 1921, for the sake of brevity and complying with the wishes of the citizens, shortened it to Slinger.

WEST BEND.—In 1845 the Legislature authorized the construction of a new road from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac. The county at its organization had three roads, the Green Bay road in its eastern part, the Old Fond du Lac road in its western part, and the Decorah road running east and The Settlements and their Founders 79 west, about through its middle. The commissioners ap­ pointed to lay out the new road were Byron Kilbourn, James Kneeland and Dr. E. B. Wolcott, all of Milwaukee. They decided to stake out a village half way between Mil­ waukee and Fond du Lac. Kilbourn and Jasper Vliet, a surveyor, on ponies started out one morning in November, 1845, along the prospective course of the new road. Knee­ land followed the next day on horseback, using a section map and blazed trees as guides. The following day the three commissioners decided to lay out the village on the bend of the Milwaukee river. They found on it a squatter, E. N. Higgins, who had preempted a piece of land and built a shack on it the previous summer. The village site comprised 720 acres of beautifully wooded land, for which $900 was paid, Kilbourn, Kneeland and Higgins each hold­ ing one-third of it. They gave Dr. Wolcott a share in their holdings with the understanding that he was to build a dam, sawmill and gristmill. Surveyor Vliet finished the plat of the village that fall. The name "West Bend" was suggested by Kilbourn and approved by his partners. It was suggested to him by the bend of the Milwaukee river, the early explorers taking the direction of the bends from the upstream course of the rivers. The dam and the saw­ mill were finished in 1846, and the gristmill in 1848. The sawmill was rented by George H. Irish, and the gristmill by Daniel Cotton and his brother. Meanwhile the settlers had come in platoons. In the summer of 1845, Isaac Ver­ beck took up land on the spot which later was nicknamed "Battle Creek," in commemoration of a family feud which was settled there. He and M. A. T. Farmer, as has been said already, with their families came from Pennsylvania to Waukesha county, but later changed locations. Among 80 The Story of Washington County their belongings was a big chest which they had constructed of four doors from their homes in the Keystone state. When it was taken apart, each one had a door for his shack. They moved into their temporary abodes in the beginning of November. In January, 1846, Jacob E. Young arrived on foot. It was a cold evening when he halted at Verbeck's shanty, coming from the south. The next morning his nimble-tongued daughter, Jeannette, told him of the lane along the river bank. He took a look at it, and in the same afternoon hiked to Milwaukee, where on the following day he appeared in the land office and bought a quarter-section of land, and in the office of Kilbourn, Wolcott & Co. also purchased two lots in the village. He paid everything with gold coin, having one thousand dollars of the precious metal on his person. In the land office he in his forgetful- ness left his bag of gold lay. But the officer was an honest soul, and when Young came in distress for his treasure, he handed it back to him with an earnest admonition. In the spring he built himself a roomy log house. In the fall his brother Christian arrived with his family and his mother. The aforesaid George N. Irish arrived in 1846 from Cedar Creek and erected a log house, in which he also kept a tavern which enjoyed quite a repute in pioneer days. He and Verbeck boarded the mechanics from Milwaukee, who erected and fitted up the mills. The log-house inn later developed into the "American House," the first hotel of West Bend. In August, 1846, Moses Weil arrived. He was born in 1798 in Alsace, and, when in Paris, had wit­ nessed the return of Napoleon I from the battle of Water­ loo. He built the first frame house on the "Sharp Corner," and opened up the first general store. The lumber for it his son Paul hauled from Milwaukee on wagons drawn by The Settlements and their Founders 81 oxen, and his assortment of goods he got in the same way. Of other early settlers may be mentioned: Jehiel H. Baker the merchant, and William Wightman the innkeeper, both arriving from Michigan in the summer of 1846; B. Goetter who in the spring of 1849 opened up the first brewery and later erected the "Washington House," one of the largest and finest hotels in the State at the time, and for many years the preferred rendezvous of the German pioneers; John Wagner who came in 1848, and John Potter the mer­ chant who came in 1849; and William H. Ramsey who was the first male schoolteacher and taught the village school in the winter of 1847-48. Here is a description of the appearance of West Bend after one year of existence, in which a narrative of one of the Wightman daughters, Mrs. Miller, was followed: When William Wightman came to West Bend, in 1846, he found just five families living in the place. He and his family made the journey from Michigan in a covered wagon, and it took them two weeks, as they stopped on the way to visit relatives. Part of the distance they traveled on blazed roads. There were a few farms between Milwaukee and West Bend, and each had a rude sign stuck up reading "Entertainment for Man and Beast." M. A. T. Farmer was living on a farm about a mile south of West Bend, and the newcomers stopped there and bought a loaf of bread. They soon came to a small clearing in the hilly stretch of forest and knew that they had arrived at what was then to be seen of West Bend. They stopped over night at Baker's store, later Potter's. The other settlers were Moses Weil and his sons who had a store on the Sharp Corner. One of their employees, Sebastian Snyder, lived in a log house just back of them, the only orie in the place. At the south end of the town 82 The Story of Washington County

Isaac Verbeck and Jacob Young had located. Down at the river, where Paul Weil lived later, the Indians had a camp. The pioneer children used to go down to play with the little Indian children. One of the Wightman daughters, the in­ formant, used to tell how one day she ate a meal with them. They often came to the village and sometimes entertained their white playmates by giving them a war dance. Mr. Wightman, the first hotelkeeper of West Bend, built his hostelry with the first lumber turned out by the sawmill of the place. By 1848 the village had about thirty families. There were no houses on the east side of the river, and the strip of land on the western bank was reserved for a public park. The latter, however, never came to be. There were no churches yet, and each family held their devotion in their home. A mail carrier brought the mail once a week on horseback from Milwaukee.

YOUNG AMERICA.—This hamlet was founded in 1851 by Morris Wait, when he harnessed the rushing waves of the Milwaukee river with a dam and made the stored-up power run his sawmill. The mill was, according to pioneer notions, an up-to-date plant, but hardly had it "yanked out" lumber for three hours, when a fire started and consumed the building. It almost seemed as if this was the end of the village. But ^Ye years later, in 1856, it received an­ other and stronger impetus, when Cook & Elliot built a flouring mill on the site of the burned sawmill. Again a fire frustrated the efforts of the town builders. On Sep­ tember 19, 1856, the mill, after being almost completed, burned down. But it was rebuilt at once, this time of brick. On August 10, 1857, the millstones turned for the first time. The mill had two sets of stones which daily The Settlements and their Founders 83 could grind one hundred and fifty barrels of extra fine flour which found a ready market in Milwaukee. The mill owners also ran a cooper shop, manufacturing their own barrels. A bridge was built across the river, which was considered the finest iron bridge north of Milwaukee in those days. The mill soon after its completion was sold to A. W. Coe who also fitted up a general store. Shortly before the outbreak of the Civil war he sold the mill to W. P. Horton, and he in turn soon disposed of it to Fred Hart. The milling business had for some reason received a kink, and several other owners vainly tried to bring it back on a paying basis. At last it was given up, and the mill was left to rust and crumble, and many other buildings shared the same fate. Other early settlers were P. C. Schmidt who came in 1856 and started a wagon shop, and N. E. Woodford, a carpenter, who arrived in the same year. The village, for decades a quiet and sequestered hamlet, in late years received a new lease on life by the rebuilding of the mill and the addition of two other industries, a cheese factory and a plant for the manufacture of electrical equipment. The reader in the foregoing sketches has caught some glimpses of the life in the settlements of the county. The latter at the time, to use the words of an old pioneer, "was a sort of island in the woods, so completely cut off from the rest of civilized society, that the loud beat of the world's tumultuous waves outside awoke no echo in the deep re­ cesses of its frowning forests." Travel was done by ox teams, and it took several days to get to Milwaukee to ex­ change products and return with what little money was left from the barter. The log cabins were one story high, as a rule, with one door and a gable roof covered with shakes, 84 The Story of Washington County or bark. The house contained one room which served as kitchen, sitting room, dining room, and parlor, with a bed room in one corner partitioned off with a blanket. The cellar was a hole in the ground, below the puncheon floor, covered by a little trap door and reached by a short ladder. Sometimes, as with the Saxon settlers of the town of Farm­ ington, stable and dwelling were under one roof, and the former had to be passed through before the living quarters were reached. The floor of these log houses was the bare ground, tamped. The furniture was of a primitive kind. The bedsteads were of poles fastened to the logs of the wall at a convenient height from the floor. Rough stools and benches shaped with an ax and auger served as chairs, and a dry goods box was turned into a side-board. The kitchen utensils were equally simple and cheap. Yet there was cheer and comfort in those primitive homes of brown logs and bark roofs, and old settlers with artistic feeling claim that the log huts which marked the clearings were more in harmony with the landscape than the more preten­ tious and spacious white painted frame houses which later became their rivals and caused distinction among neighbors. The puncheon floor, if not exactly plumb, was scoured to the highest degree of cleanliness, and mats, quilts, and carpets, woven and dyed by the housewife, brightened the room with a beautiful mosaic of colors. While the log homes of the "Yankees" had their fireplaces of stone, those of the German settlers who were not familiar with the open hearth fire, had iron stoves. The enjoyments were just as simple, but hardly less keen than those of today. We all are satisfied with very little, if we cannot have any more. One of the pleasures of winter evenings was to yoke up the oxen, hitch them to the long, low sled and drive to some The Settlements and their Founders 85 settler miles away, guided by the fresh blaze on the trees glimmering in the moonlight. The party always took an ax and a gun with them, for the drive was not without dangers. The driver, in his hand an ox gad about fourteen feet long, usually walked at the side of his team, the better to guide them through the forest, and with him trotted his dog. Another pastime was the logging bee. As one neigh­ bor helped another to burn up his useless logs, these bees occurred often. Among the men gathered there often was one or the other who loved to show his strength, or his dexterity, in handling the hand-spike. The great men of those days were the experts with the hand-spike. In some localities candle dippings were occasions for mirth. They were held in fall, and all the young people in the neighbor­ hood would attend. It required much skill to make a well- shaped candle. The candles were strung on rods, six to the rod and fifteen rods to the bunch. Ninety candles were the winter supply for a family, one for each evening. There were families who could not afford the luxury of tallow candles. These used "sluts," which were saucers filled with grease or oil, in which floated a button with a little piece of cloth tied around, serving as a wick. They gave a good light, provided the oil was good. In many a log cabin the pine torch was the first source of artificial illumination. Such were the lights that illuminated the log cabins of the old settlers during the long winter eve­ nings, yet they shone upon much gaiety and merry-making. VI

HISTORICAL INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC.

HE LOST REALTY RECORDS.—From the gloom of county T history—fifty-odd years suffice in our fast-living age to shroud historical events in the shadows of centuries—an episode looms up. It happened in 1853. A part of Wash­ ington county had been lopped by the Legislature. It was a rather painful operation that gave birth to a new county. And the records were yet in Port Washington and had to be gotten over to West Bend, the seat of the reduced county. To do this proved to be no easy sledding. The newly-elected County Board ordered the removal of the county offices, but the only officer who complied with the order was the register of deeds, Adam Schanz of Addison. But while engaged in packing his curule chair and pigskin tomes on a wagon, an injunction was served to him. The game of bluff, however, did not work with the inhabitants of West Bend. They got up a petition to set aside the injunction and entrusted Messrs. L. F. Frisby and Paul A. Weil, two lawyers and prominences in local circles, with its delivery into the hands of Judge Larrabee. At the time the Judge held court in Marquette, at the outermost periphery of his large circuit, and it took the messengers a whole week to reach him. They returned with the desired writ pocketed. On the following day, four plenipotentiaries went to Port Washington to clean up the office of the register of deeds. But the sheriff at the Port had "smelled a rat" Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 87 and taken to precautions to prevent the removal of the books. Besides, he knew nothing of the revoked injunction. After sundown—darkness was considered an ally in the undertaking—the expedition from West Bend, provided with bags, entered the office. They were eagerly occupied, the volumes rapidly disappearing in the gaps of the bags, when the executor of the law put his hand on the door latch. The keen eyes of the sheriff had noticed a light in the room, and an inspection through the key hole had re­ vealed the whole thing. He weened to have discovered a dreadful conspiracy. The riot bell was rung, the militia called out, and the office soon was surrounded by an excited crowd of people. The West Benders were seized and shoved on the street; the sacks with the books were taken away from them and brought to a safe hiding place. The morning sun of the following day shone upon empty, bleak book shelves. In a morose mood the expedition returned to West Bend and reported that the records had been stolen. For some months all attempts to find the books were futile. It was only after the Supreme Court had declared the division of the county to be constitutional, when they began to bob up. One day Mr. Frisby received a letter from R. A. Bird, the editor of the Washington County Blade, in which he was informed that a part of the volumes had been found. Again, under the cover of the night, two men went to the house of the knight of the quill, located a short distance west of the Sauk creek. They arrived about one in the morning and received the books; to them also was given a clue, where the others could be found. Early in the morning they reached West Bend with their precious load of books, and with their bandanas tied to 88 The Story of Washington County sticks and floating in the cool breeze, they triumphantly entered the newly-created county seat. Soon afterwards the other volumes with the exception of volume "M" were found hidden between the plaster and the brick wall of the Arcade building at Port Washington. Volume "M" was discovered in an obscure hiding place while remodeling a business block. Thus Washington county at last got its record books together, long after the minds of the people had been ap­ peased over the division of the county.

A PHLEGMATIC SETTLER.—The old county of Washing­ ton which before the division was washed on its eastern boundary by the waves of Lake Michigan had among its pioneers a character that reminds of Rip Van Winkle, the hero of one of Washington Irving's famed sketches. How a man of such temper could stray into a life that with every step demanded battle and work and privation, is hard to understand. But one day he turned up in the midst of it and called himself Timothy Wooden. He lived in the vicinity of Grafton. If he was asked, where he came from, he would reply that he did not come at all, but had grown up with the country. Because he got along tolerably well, although he hardly ever was seen working—Tim never denied that he was lazy—it was believed that he had in some way communication with spirits of the woods, wights, elves, hobgoblins, or the like, who would admit him to their treasures in hidden caves, and allow him to help himself. One time some Menominee Indians who knew of his foible and wished to test it to the breaking point, persuaded him to go with them to Milwaukee Falls (the present vil- Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 89 lage of Grafton). Upon arriving there they told him that they wanted his scalp. They tied him to a tree, piled wood around him, and acted like real savages who with devilish cruelty were about to burn their victim alive. When all preparations were finished, and the flame could have licked the pyre any moment, the Indian chief stepped up to Tim and whispered in his ear that the white men had upon one time pardoned him, and that from sheer gratitude he would do the same to Tim and spare his life if he would but walk to Milwaukee, and not tell anybody what had happened to him. "Twenty miles I should walk.^" exclaimed Tim whom the stake had not robbed of his composure. "If you give me one of your horses, I'll do it." Whereupon the Indians let him go. He had stood the test. Many other stories about Tim and his sluggishness were afloat among the old settlers, but some of them were believed to be pure invention, while others were exaggerated. But the truth of this one seems to be vouched: One day Tim was taken sick with the cholera. When his end approached, one of his friends stepped to his bed­ side and said: "Tim, I believe you are dying." "Well, I ain't doing anything else," was his answer. A few hours later he breathed his last. One known occupation of Tim Wooden was that of a fiddler. When the frame work for the sawmill at Grafton was raised with the help of the settlers in 1841, a dance was given them in the largest Indian hut standing near the falls of the Milwaukee. The services of Tim Wooden "were put in requisition, and the dancing was kept up pretty nearly all night. Almost every settler in the county 90 The Story of Washington County was invited and present, and as no house was in the im­ mediate vicinity, the wives of some of them did the cooking in the Indian huts." The affair lasted two days. It was probably the first public dance held in Washington county. In spite of his phlegm, Tim died a well-to-do man. After his death, his widow moved to Chicago and lived comfortably on the income of his estate. THE FIRST OF THE SOLONS.—The first one to represent Washington county in the State Legislature at Madison was—"nomen et omen"—Solon Johnson. He took his seat on June 5, 1848, a short time after Wisconsin had risen to the level of a state. From the life of this gentleman two anecdotes have come upon us, which throw spot lights on his character as well as on life in general in those days. Solon Johnson was gaunt, and measured six feet ^ve in his socks. In his ways he was somewhat eccentric, but that did not hinder him from being kind and noble-minded. In his extenuated body he carried a kind of penned-up gayety which occasionally broke loose in the most waggish way. After he had been elected—his abode was in Port Washington, the former county seat—he went to Milwaukee and bought himself a new suit of clothes, in which he intended to make his debut in the halls of the Legislature. He had always been rather negligent in his dress, and his fellow citizens would have craned their necks to see him in a dress-suit and with a silk hat. Solon presumed the like, and carefully packed his suit away. He intended to don it on the day of his departure for Madison. Until then, the purchase should stay a secret. But somehow, as it is often the case, the secret leaked out. Some one was put on to Solon's purchase, and soon the whole town knew about it. A meeting was called and Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 91 a scheme devised how Solon could be made to show and "wet" his new garb. "General" Wooster Harrison, a jo­ cose Yankee, known in those days all over the eastern part of Wisconsin, was entrusted with the execution. The ruse worked to perfection. Harrison went to Solon and found him in his room, where the following dialogue ensued: "Good morning. Your Honor." "Good morning." "I have called on you," began Harrison with measured and impressive speech, "to pay—to pay—well, you know, Solon—pardon me for addressing you by your given name— but, believe me, my motives are prompted by the purest of friendship." "I can assure you," replied Solon, "that no apology is necessary." "My object in calling," continued Harrison, "is to compliment you on your success in attaining to the very high and honorable position of representative of our new State in the maiden Legislature. The responsibilities are great, as the laws formed at this session will serve as prece­ dents for all coming generations, and we feel confident as to your ability to represent judiciously the interests of Washington county." "You do me great honor," replied Solon, touched by the homage of his friend. "I know not how to express my gratitude towards my friends for this manifestation of their loyalty and their good wishes, and I shall try and prove myself worthy of the great confidence they have imposed in me." "And now," continued Harrison, "that my humble mis­ sion is at the end, I have one request to make. I know 92 The Story of Washington County you will think me foolish, but then you will pardon the whim. What I wish, my friend, is to see you dressed up in your new togs. I have heard that they are worthy of the high office you are to represent, and I am in a great anxiety to see how you look in them." "Well, I have a new suit," admitted Solon, somewhat flattered, "and although it is not as grand as you may have imagined, I will comply with your request." With that he began to invest himself with his new "tog­ gery," while his visitor prodigiously complimented him as every piece was fitted to its proper place. When he had everything on, his toilet finished, and his friend standing before him in simulated ecstacy over his appearance, heavy knocks fell on the door below. Then followed a commotion in the hall way, and somebody shouted up with excited voice: "Where is Mister Johnson.^ I must see him at once." Meanwhile Solon had opened the door of his room, and a messenger, panting and livid, rushed toward him. "Are you Solon Johnson.^" he gasped. "I am; what can I do for you?" "A friend of yours has been seriously hurt, and desires to see you at the hotel at once." "Who is it?" "I don't know. I couldn't get his name; they told me to get you with all possible speed." "You had better go at once," suggested Harrison, feigning innocence. There was no need for a second bidding. Solon took his hat, and in his new clothes accompanied the two men to the hotel. He found a large crowd gathered there, asked to be led to his friend, and inquired as to the seriousness of Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 93 his injuries. In response, a roaring laughter rose from the crowd, followed by three cheers. Solon grasped the situation. "Harrison, you old rogue," he exclaimed, "this is another of your diabolical tricks." Another roar from the crowd confirmed his apprehen­ sion. "Well, boys," he added, "you have earned your treat. Landlord, they all drink at my expense." Three more cheers were given to the representative of Washington county. He had been made to show and "wet" his new suit. Soon after the Legislature had convened, Solon Johnson introduced an important bill, on which he wanted to speak. Before, he had given a sumptuous dinner, at which con­ siderable wine was drank, and he had paid more homage to Bacchus than was good for him. He hardly had entered the hall, when he began addressing the Assembly. This being out of order, the Speaker reminded him of the par­ liamentary rules. "Order, or no order," exclaimed Solon, "I wish you to understand, Mr. Speaker, that I am here to represent the interests of the great county of Washington; and, if my bill is not passed, I will tear this house down over your heads." Some of his friends succeeded in calming him. He was brought to his room, where he could meditate over the fix his indulgence had put him into. His bill afterwards was passed, and so were a goodly number of others which he introduced and urged for passage "with great vigor and fair ability." Taken in all, he was an able, though some­ what rash, representative. 94 The Story of Washington Coumty

ALEXANDER OF THE WILDS.—It was upon a day in the autumn of the year 1845 when a young man of medium size, light complexion, and blue eyes—a pure Anglo-Saxon type—arrived on the bank of the Milwaukee river at the very spot, where today the village of Barton stands. He threw his ax and surveyor's instruments down and sank wearily into the tall grass. For days he had followed the endless windings of the river and had hewn a path through the pristine forests of the bottom lands which never before the foot of a white man had trodden. Barton Salisbury—this was the name of the blonde Anglo-Saxon—had, in 1839, come from the East to Wis­ consin, and had settled in the town of Mequon. His be­ longings consisted of a horse and a wagon wherewith he had traveled. Arrived at his chosen place, he sold his rig, and with the money bought a piece of land bordering on the Pigeon ci*eek, or Mequonsippi, as the Indian name was, a tributary to the Milwaukee river. He built a small saw­ mill, and upon the completion of it, a log house. Into this he moved with his wife who had meanwhile, upon his bidding, arrived from Ohio. In it he also held primitive court sessions, having been elected justice. For two years he lived on the spot and followed the occupation of a sawyer; then he swapped his sawmill for one hundred and sixty acres of land with house and barn. The house was so roomy that he decided to start a tavern in it. He was a "Jack of all trades," so to speak. He had tried his brawn and brain as a sawyer, a carpenter, a judge, a farmer, and a host before we saw him wearily stretching in the grass, at the beginning of this sketch. Three years after he had taken to farming, he went on a surveying trip up the Milwaukee river. When he got to the point men- Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 95 tioned, he saw that here Nature had provided all the es­ sentials for the start of a village, maybe a city. Every rushing wave in the river seemed to coax him: "Here is an excellent water power; harness me, and I will make things hum for you." Before Barton dropped tired in the fat grass at the river bank, he knew one thing: on this very spot he would build his next shanty. Thus arose, in the fall of 1845, on the right bank of the river, opposite the roller mills of today, the first log house, and with it the village of Barton was founded. His wife and children he had sent back to her parents in Ohio to remain until the place would be a little populated. She had remonstrated against again moving into the wilderness, having had plenty of that sort of life. Her husband succeeded in attracting, within a few months, a considerable colony of settlers, and in June of the following year his wife returned with the children. He now went at the erection of a flouring mill, for which he had won two settlers, the Caldwell brothers, as partners. His brother, a millwright, who had come from Ohio, was entrusted with the management of the enter­ prise. Barton also built the first sawmill of the place. But his mission as a founder did not end here. In the winter of 1847-48 he made arrangements to found a village farther down-stream. To a place, exactly marked by him, he sent a man to build a log house. It was the first house that went up on the site of the present village of Newburg. A sawmill, a flouring mill, an "ashery," a dwelling for himself, and other buildings followed. He was the leading spirit of the new place. In the fall of 1849 Barton Salisbury was engaged in building a hotel at Newburg. He entrusted two young men. 96 The Story of Washington County relatives of his, with the work. But, fearing that they were too inexperienced in carpentry, he himself took a hold of the band saw and the adze. So he met his fate. A rotten timber on which he stood, broke, and he fell from the roof of the building down into the cellar. Bleeding and un­ conscious, he was picked up, and seven hours later he breathed his last, without having regained consciousness. He was but thirty-six years old. It may seem odd, but let us draw a little parallel be­ tween this "Alexander of the Wilds" and the great Mace­ donian of historic fame. He, too, started out to conquer, but with an ax, and not with a phalanx of warriors, cutting his way through the woods. He, too, founded communities when he met conditions favorable to their life and growth. The pioneers who trusted his star followed him. He, too, planted a higher civilization beside the crude totem mounds. He, too, died young; it was, however, no death, after mili­ tary triumphs and revels at Babylon, but a sober, tragic death, after strenuous work and the conception of great plans for the future. Of the places which he founded none has attained importance, else his figure would have been cut in marble, or his name emblazoned in bronze. Unsculptured he sleeps in some forgotten grave. Yet, a village in the county bears his name. His is the fate of innumerable heroes who went down into obscurity. Once in a great while Fate places such a man in a larger field of activity, and he develops into an Alexander, a Napoleon, a Lincoln, or a Bismarck.

RESCUED BY INDIANS.—All old settlers who came in touch with the Indians agree that they were peaceable and friendly. There is no case known, when a white man was Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 97 harmed by a redskin. The following little story throws light on the relations of the two so widely different races to each other, of which the Caucasian was nevertheless destined to supercede the Indian: In the fall of 1847 three Yankee families settled on a tract of land half a mile north of the former County Poor farm. They huddled in a single shanty of rough boards until log houses would be finished. Shanties and tents were the first abodes of the pioneers. There were tvro children among the newcomers, five-year-old May and three- year-old Billy. One day, at the frugal dinner, they over­ heard their parents talk of buying chickens as soon as somebody would get to Milwaukee. At that time Milwaukee was the nearest place, where the settlers could do their buying. At three o'clock the children came home to get their afternoon lunch, saying that they intended to go to Milwaukee to buy chickens. Nobody, though, took their babble seriously, and no further attention was paid to them. Night fell, but the children did not return to the shanty. The parents, plodding in their mind for an explanation, at length came to think that the little ones must have been in dead earnest when they talked of going to Milwaukee to buy chickens. Little May and little Billy had started on the way and were now undoubtedly lost somewhere in the wild. The anguish of the parents grew when hour after hour passed and the little tots were not found in the immediate vicinity of the settlement. The mother of May took her disappearance very hard, while the mother of Billy was less disconsolate although her boy was the younger one of the two. The few neighbors who had settled in the vicinity were aroused and helped to look for 98 The Story of Washington Coumty the children. All night the neighborhood was searched with lanterns, but it was in vain. The next morning each one took a gun, and the search was continued. They dis­ persed in different directions, and the one that found the little ones was to call. But the sun was low in the west, and not a trace of them had been found. Now one of the men proposed that two of them should go to a settlement near West Bend to get someone familiar with the Indian tongue. Thence they should go to an Indian village not far away and get some of the Indians to join the searching party. This was done. After the Indians had learned of what was up, they sent one of their tribe into the pasture to get two ponies. Two lank "Injuns" mounted them, and ac­ companied by two of their keen-scented dogs and led by the three Whites, the party started toward the south. It was growing dark when they arrived at the settlement of the three families, and following the advice of the In­ dians who with the aid of signs made themselves understood, the search was postponed until the following morning. With daybreak the Indians and the Whites set out. It did not take long until the party came to a brook, in the soft bank of which the footprints of little shoes could easily be seen. The dogs sniffed at the traces and followed them in a northwesterly direction. The Indians could hardly keep up with them, let alone the Whites. The steeple-chase hunt may have lasted for twenty minutes when the dogs barked. A moment later the Indians found the children. In a swamp, beside a fallen tree, they sat. Fatigue and hunger had brought them to the verge of death, for they had wandered about the woods for two nights and a day without anything to eat and without protection. To Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 99 slake their thirst, the little girl drew water with the palm of her hand and drank, and in this way also let her younger companion in distress drink. Who can describe the joy of the parents over the re­ covery of their children, after a state little short of despair ? The mother of little May swooned when they laid her daughter into her arms. Her husband rewarded the Indians with a twenty-dollar gold piece, a big sum in pioneer days. The father of little Billy loaded the Indian ponies to their carrying capacity with provisions. May and Billy grew up, the former probably with a dim recollection of the dreadful experience of her early youth, and both with a feeling of thankfulness for their Indian friends who had saved their lives. The names of the families were Curns, Chasty (little May's), and McCormack (little Billy's).

LOST IN THE WOODS.—When the first settlers arrived in Washington county, the country was a vast wilderness— the forest primeval covered its valleys and hills. Few of the younger generation can form an idea of wild lands and the life on them. The woods were so dense that it was impossible to see farther than a few rods in any direction. No street led through them save a casual Indian trail, and for days one could wedge through the rank vegetation to find a miserable board shack with a hopeful pioneer in it. In night time no light from some farm house shimmered through the darkness at almost every stone throw, as now­ adays. Very often the traveler had to take night lodging in the seemingly endless wilds, no matter how much he dreaded it. Here is another story of those woods: It was in the spring of 1847. In the northern part of the town of Fredonia, in old Washington county, a German 100 The Story of Washington County had settled with his family. With united efforts they had cleared a small part of their homestead, when one morning, after some trees had been felled, the woman wanted to get the oxen, to drag the logs away. One of them had a bell tied to his neck, the sound of which could be heard from the distance, where the animals were grazing. She set out in the direction of the sound, while her husband continued his work. But some time passed, and she had not come back. Uneasy, he went to the shanty, expecting to find her there. But he only found the baby who had been left all alone, while the parents had gone to their hard day's work. The mother had followed the sound of the bell and had lost her way. More and more she had deviated from the right direction, and it grew dark without her having found the way home. It was a weird night for the poor woman. The wild beasts howled around her, and to the agony which befalls everyone lost in the night came the harassing thought of her nursing baby and her worried husband. The sleep­ less night passed. In the morning she reached the clearing of a young man who did not understand her German ad­ dress. Her knowledge of English was confined to but a few words, but she succeeded in making him understand who her next neighbor was and that her home was near a little lake. The young settler offered the tired and hungry woman something to eat, and after she had rested awhile, he led her to the next lake in the town of Scott. They went around its entire shore, but nowhere was a trace of a settle­ ment. On the way back they met a settler who opined the lake to be Schwinn's lake in the southern part of the town of Farmington. They now started for that lake, the man Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc. 101 walking ahead, clearing a way through the dense brush, and the woman following. But the night came again, and another day and another night, and the home of the woman had not yet been found. On the third morning they came to Schwinn's lake, sore- footed, worn out, and almost starved, only to be disap­ pointed again, for the settlement was not there. They now turned to the north, and after a walk of a few more miles arrived on the clearing of a German, Mr. Beger, who was acquainted with the neighbor of the woman and who brought her home. Before she reached her home, she heard the woods echo with the voices of men, for her husband and some neighbors had not yet given up the search for her. When she stepped into her hut, the baby shouted lustily at her. The family was united again, after the wild had separated them for days.

AN INDIAN LOVE STORY.—As Washington county of today has a town which bears the name of an Indian chief, so a township of the old county, of that portion which was sliced off to end the fuss about the county seat, was named after an Indian chief's daughter. It is the town of Mequon. A pathetic story is told by an old settler of the life of that Indian maid. It was in the beginning of summer in 1845 when in the woods he met a young Indian and a pretty Indian girl. The former he had seen several times before. He was a spruce and friendly youth with whom he could lead a scanty conversation by means of signs. He showed him the ginseng root and other roots and tubers which were edible and savory, and formed a part of the Indian fare. He was not of the Potawatomi who lived in the country 102 The Story of Washington Coumty about, but belonged to the tribe of the Menominee who lived to the southwest, in Waukesha county. When he saw his white friend, he waved his hand at him to step closer. Pointing to himself, he said: "Pewaukee"; and, pointing to the girl, he said: "Mequon." He then pointed to a bevy of wild pigeons which in those days were abundant in the woods, and his lips again uttered the word "Mequon." The settler concluded from this that the girl's name was Mequon, and that the word meant "wild pigeon." It was probably the first time that one of the settlers of that section heard the word "Mequon." The settler learned that the girl was the only daughter of the old Potawatomi chief Waubekee whose tribe had their village on the western bank of the Pigeon creek and the Milwaukee river, where the tepees snuggled behind a ridge which shielded them from the northwest winds, and where running water was always at hand. When the southeastern part of the territory of Wis­ consin was divided into counties and towns, the old pioneers chose the name of Mequon for their town, in remembrance of that comely Indian maid. The original Indian name for the Pigeon creek was Mequonsippi, because its banks were the breeding places of innumerable wild pigeons. In the fall of 1845 the old chief Waubekee broke up camp and with his people moved north into the town of Fredonia, where he stayed for a short time, and then moved farther north. The girl was seen several times later, but seemed to be in a very unhappy and run-down condition. She died shortly after the removal from Fredonia. Her lonely grave is said to be on the height skirting Elkhart lake. There is little doubt that Pewaukee and Mequon felt a strong attrac­ tion toward each other, that old Waubekee for some reason was opposed to a marriage, or had disposed otherwise of Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc, 103 his daughter, and that she died of grief over her hopeless love. Pewaukee afterwards was never seen again. The memory of the beautiful Indian maid still lingers in the parts where she lived.

THE LEGEND OF HOLY HILL.—The chains of hills which run through the county in a southwest toward south direc­ tion in the town of Erin assume the character of a foothill country. They almost fill the eastern part of the township and give it a touch of ruggedness as bold as it is found nowhere else in the county. Surrounded by a retinue of lower hills rises the wooded cone of Holy hill or Hermit hill, originally named Lapham's peak, in honor of Wiscon­ sin's pioneer scientist. The vulgar sometimes call it "The Sugar Loaf." Its altitude is 783 feet above Lake Michigan. Adding the height of the latter above sea level, 578 feet, we have a relative height of 1361 feet. The hill is the sixth highest elevation in the State. But already its absolute height is quite imposing, and it is visible for miles around. It happened that a legend was spun around it, and for decades it has been a place of pilgrimage of the Catholics, and it is known as such all over the State and far beyond its borders. A church decks its summit, and a monastery leans to its side, which is in charge of Carmelite monks. The legend runs thus: Many years ago it happened that a farmer was on his way home from the then village of Hartford to his farm among the hills. It was late at night, the full moon had just risen, and at his approach from the west the hill in inky blackness stood out bold against the silvery light in the eastern sky. The outlines of the hill were set off sharp as those of a silhouette, and on its summit the farmer could 104 The Story of Washington Coumty discern the shape of a cross and a human being kneeling in front of it. He may have watched the queer spectacle for an hour, when the devotee slowly arose and disappeared in the dark woods on the hillside. One morning, soon afterwards, the farmer again saw the strange form per­ forming religious exercises on the top of the hill. The news of the arrival of the hermit soon spread through the vicinage, and upon investigation it was found that he lived in a dugout made by himself in a crevice on the eastern slope of the hill. Nobody molested him. His only occupation seemed to consist of his pilgrimages to the summit and to prostrate himself in prayer. By and by he waxed more confidential with the people of the neighborhood, responding to their greetings, and casually entering into a talk about religious subjects. One farmer especially was favored with his trust, and to him he related his life story, the gist of which follows: His name was Fran9ois Soubris, and his birthplace was about twenty miles from Strassburg, Alsace. His parents belonged to the gentry of the country, and they intended their son for the priesthood. While he was studying, he fell in love with a prepossessing girl who lived not far from the convent, where he prepared for his work in the vineyard of the Lord, and when he saw that she also loved him, he threw his vow of chastity to the winds and was publicly engaged to her. For this he fell in disgrace with his family, and also incurred the ban of the church. To let the affair settle down a little, he bade his betrothed farewell with the promise to come back in a year. When at the end of the year he returned, he found that his love was as faithless as she was fair, and in a fit of maddening jealousy he killed her. Historical Incidents, Anecdotes, etc, 105

Thereupon he fled to America, landing at Quebec. He became a monk in one of the monasteries of that old Canadian city. Many years he spent in retirement, while the harpies of remorse were torturing his conscience for the break of his vow and the greater sin of a rash murder. The only relief from his soul's pangs he found in prayer, in penance, and in the reading of old French manuscripts which he found in some dusty corner of his cell. Among the latter was a manuscript which appeared to have been the journal of Jacques Marquette during the summer and fall of 1673, and in which was a detailed account of his memorable trip with Louis Joliet on the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi, and back on the Illinois, and along the western shore of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, from where they had started. His attention was particularly focussed on the report of a side trip during the voyage. On his return, Father Marquette had landed on the mouth of a creek, and after a good day's walk west had come to the foot of a steep, high and cone-shaped hill which he ascended, and on the top of which he built an altar of bowlders and erected a cross. In the name of his patron saint, the Virgin Mary—thus the record read on—he dedicated the place as holy ground for all times to come. After that, he returned to the landing place of his boats and continued on his j ourney. Fran9ois, upon reading this, felt that now the way to Complete atonement of his sins had been pointed out to him. He fell on his knees and pledged himself to find that holy hill again, and to replace the cross on its summit, doubtless decayed long since, by a new one. The descrip­ tion of the shore, and a map sketched by Joliet and added to the handwriting, made it easy for him to find the place 106 The Story of Washington County again. He set out for it, but was taken severely sick at Chicago, which interrupted his travel. Both of his legs were partly paralyzed. Crippled he finally reached the hill. It was late at night, and on his knees he crept through the slender-trunked woods up to the top, where he spent the rest of the night in prayer to the Virgin Mary. With daybreak he arose rejuvenated and in the full possession of his former good health. The palsy had disappeared. On the place, where the wonderful cure was wrought, Fran9ois built a chapel of rough boards, and during the days and the nights, often twice and three times, he wended his way up to pray. In the course of time a well-trodden path formed under his feet, at the side of which at certain distances he erected crosses, before which he knelt on his way to the top and back. To do extreme penance, he often made the way on his bare knees. The people of the vicinity, who had heard of his miraculous cure, soon came to seek relief for their ailments at the shrine of the hermit. For seven years Fran9ois lived in his dugout which had a kind of vestibule built of rough boards and extending from the cleft. One day it was found that he had disap­ peared as mysteriously as he had come. A rumor claimed that he afterwards had been seen at Chicago. Imaginative minds also claimed that they occasionally saw his figure in the dusk, kneeling before one of the crosses on the margin of the footpath, or melting into the chapel, where the relics of the former shrine were preserved. VII

THE POPULATION ELEMENTS MMEDIATELY after the Indians had ceded their land I to the Government, the white race began to settle on it. The vanguard of the newcomers consisted mostly of "Yankees," so called although few came from New England proper. Most of these settlers hailed from the state of New York. As the East was overcrowded, the most hardy and daring ones looked for an outlet. It was the first time that the call of the West was heard and heeded. Wisconsin was a part of the vast Northwestern Territory that was very attractive to the colonists, although hardly anyone knew much of the country in which he was to cast his lines. One reason why Wisconsin appealed so much to them was the comparative ease with which it could be reached. By the way, this also was the reason why the French mission­ aries and adventurers took their way through this region to reach the Mississippi on their travels and erect outposts of civilization, Wisconsin (and in fact also Washington county) being the watershed of the St. Lawrence and Mis­ sissippi rivers, with but a few miles from one extremity to the other. The Easterners could go aboard some vessel in their home state, packed with provisions and necessaries for a few weeks, and sail over the Great Lakes, through the Strait of Mackinaw, and land at Milwaukee. The voyage was perilous, but they took it in the bargain; they were no milksops at any rate. Some of them could trace their ancestors back to the early English colonists, maybe to the 108 The Story of Washington Coumty pilgrims on the "Mayflower"; others were of a mixture of Dutch and English blood. Some brought swords and mus­ kets along, which their forefathers had carried in the Revo­ lutionary war, or papers of dismissal from the army, signed by George Washington himself—old mementoes of the family history, which were carefully preserved. It may go without saying that they did not leave behind the ancestral pride of the Easterners. The newly broken virgin soil of Washington county gave promise of rich harvests, while on the meagre, worn-out soil of their eastern farms they could barely make a living. They were not disappointed. Being Americans by birth, and well versed in the lan­ guage and government of the country, and being in the majority in almost every township, they naturally played the first fiddle in the local administration and politics. In American civics they were the instructors of their German fellow citizens who came later. Long after the number of the "Yankees" had dwindled away, they were a powerful factor in public life, and were very respected. Their in­ fiuence can be traced to this very day. Rubs between the nationalities occurred in those early days, but they did not seriously disturb the development of the county. They were only like the sputterings of the metal in the melting pot before the amalgam is finished. When the great tide of German immigration set in, most of the "Yankees" sold their land to the Germans and v/ent farther west. One of the reasons for this lay in the "Yankee's" eye for gain. The Germans offered him fivefold what he had paid for his land. He took the profit and bought cheap wild prairie land farther west. Some had other, economically less defensible, aims in mind, when thc}^ followed Horace Greeley's advice: "Go west, young The Population Elements 109 man." They helped to swell the army of soil robbers, that swept over the country from the East, where they had left their worn-out farms. They did not give back to the soil those elements necessary to retain its fertility. This wave of soil robbing rolled on until today it has reached the northwestern brink of the continent. For this reason Wis­ consin was fortunate to be favored so much by the German immigrant farmers who came here to stay, eventually to make it the very best agricultural state in the Union, The "Yankee" used more brain in farming and was constantly bent upon inventing devices that make toil lighter, while the German used more brawn, making the soil respond to his doggedly hard labor and what knowledge of farming he brought over from his native land. Both could have learned from each other, but the "Yankee" decided not to enter into competition, or in a compromise. The time had not yet come. In the annual meeting of the Old Settlers' club in 1917 a letter of Mrs. Elizabeth Maxon was read, which deals with the experiences and tenor of life of those earliest settlers. As it may help to understand their character, the interesting passages follow: "I was born in the village of Katskill on the Hudson river. New York State, Feb. 22, 1828. My father, Peter Turk, and his family, consisting of his wife and seven children, landed at Milwaukee bay in August, 1837. No pier, not even a plank, projected from the shore to receive passengers. The boat anchored in the bay, and we were lowered into a yawl-boat, the men carrying the women and children from the yawl-boat to dry land. At that time Milwaukee had two dry-goods stores, one of which, I remember, was run by Mr. Hollister. There were only two small hotels, the Leland and the 110 The Story of Washington County

Belleview, and one small schoolhouse. My father took his family to Mequon, about sixteen miles north of Milwaukee, the latter place being our nearest postoffice. We had no neighbors nearer than two miles, and communication by mail was expensive, the postage rate being twenty-five cents in cash paid on delivery of letter accompanied by a way bill. My father built the first sawmill in the vicinity of his new home in 1837, and there was a great demand for lumber. The following year the country settled very rap­ idly. There was no gristmill at this time within reach and flour was made from corn and wheat pounded fine in a mortar by the men in the evenings. The first flour mill which bolted the flour was built, accessible to this new territory, about the year 1841, and this was at Prairie­ ville, now the city of Waukesha. Our first school teacher was my sister Mary, aged seventeen. The term opened in the summer of 1839, and the school was the attic chamber of my father's log house. The pupils numbered four in addition to my brothers and sisters. The first schoolhouse was built in 1843 in Washington county. In 1846 I was married to Dinsmore W. Maxon and moved with an ox- team to Cedar Creek, Washington county. In two years' time what was the forest wilderness of Cedar Creek and vicinity was as thickly colonized as at the present time. The territory between that point and Milwaukee was prac­ tically all entered from the Government. For the first few years of our pioneer life we were bountifully supplied by the Indians with such game as venison, fish, wild turkey, geese, ducks, quails, partridges, and pigeons, who gladly exchanged them for farm products. The prices of meat in those days, as compared with the present prices, were very low. Pork in the retail at Milwaukee markets sold at 2^4 The Population Elements 111 cents, and beef at 4 cents per pound. While pioneer life had its drawbacks and privations, it had many advantages over the strenuous life of modern competition. If modern conveniences could go hand in hand with the ease, freedom and health of pioneer life, there could be no more ideal existence." The intellectual life of those Easterners was another noteworthy thing. They had good writers in their ranks, and also several poets whose talent was above mediocrity. One of their most brilliant examples was Josiah T. Farrar, the editor of the old Washington County Democrat, the first newspaper printed in the county. He flourished in the last few years before the outbreak of the Civil war. There is but one full volume of the paper in existence, besides about half a volume in the State Historical library at Madison, edited by him, but this is enough to prove his mastery of the pen, and his buoyant, indomitable humor. His locals which breathe the spirit of pioneer times up to this day have not lost their tingling quality, probably be­ cause his is almost a lost art. He was befriended with the best journalistic coevals in the State, and his paper ranked among the best in Wisconsin. It was for years the only newspaper published in the county, and the literary talent among the settlers found its vent through its columns. But not all of the Yankees moved on. Some remained and helped in the development of the county, and they had no reason to be sorry for it. There is another English-speaking element in the county, the Irish. They came simultaneously with the Yankees, and are thinly sprinkled over the county with the exception of the town of Erin, where they form a large part of the population. Although they picked out what 112 The Story of Washington County would seem to an ordinary farmer's eyes the most unde­ sirable part of the county—the town being very hilly,— they found it to their advantage as compared with the poverty-stricken and oppressed life on their beloved Emer­ ald Isle. They make a comfortable living with farming and sheep raising, and live free and happy. While the old Irish settlers were steeped in ^the customs, traditions, and idealism of Ireland, modified by their new surroundings, their children became thoroughly Americanized, and they are a valuable and esteemed part of the population. The Slavic race also sent its representation into the county, when a colony of Bohemians located in the town of Trenton. In the southwestern part of the town of Erin a colony of Norwegians settled. They, like the Irish, remained true to the soil and cultivated pleasant relations to the other Teutonic element which gained such prominence in the county, and which will be treated presently. It was in the early forties of last century, when the maelstrom of German immigration began to send one of its branches into Washington county. Close up to the southern and southeastern borders German colonists had already settled, as in the colony of the Lutherans at Freistadt. This attracted their countrymen who, backed by the set­ tlers, pushed into the country across the border, buying whatever Government land was left, or inducing the Yan­ kees to sell their farms at a very fair margin of profit. They came from many parts of Germany, from the north, south, east and west, and from the middle states, Hesse and Saxony. They did not shirk a long and tire­ some, sometimes even fatal, sea voyage to build a new home in a country with more room and liberty, on a soil The Population Elements 113 that with its natural wealth and hidden vim was craving for man to empty on him its cornucopia. They were mostly common people, sons and daughters of the soil, men with callous hands and women trained in life's hard school, who, in spite of ceaseless labor, had little chance to gain ma­ terial independence in their native land. But it was just such people that their new home needed. After the first pioneers had hewn their clearings into the vast forests, and the virgin soil had produced its first rich harvests, the custodians of higher culture could gain a foothold. It is true, there were exceptions. Occasionally the settlers were accompanied by their pastor, or young men of an academic education were among them, wrestling with the wilds, a textbook on agriculture in one hand and the ax in the other. They were energetic, enduring and frugal, the product of generations of toilers, these sturdy Germans in incipient Washington county. It was an immense change from the state of development of their native land to the beginnings of a civilization. Most of them no doubt were in the same fix the soldiers of Cortez had been—their ships had been burned behind their backs, that is, they would not have been able to return, had they wanted to, for their means were all but exhausted. So it was a case of fighting or dying. They fought and were victorious; most of them, anyway. When the first and hardest part of pioneering was done, the higher achievements of civilization followed in the wake. Sawmills and gristmills arose, where a brook, or a river, offered water power, and around these nucleuses hamlets, villages, and cities grew. Highways and schools and churches' were built. Many are the communities that trace their origin to a sawmill, and should name as their 114 The Story of Washington County founder some enterprising sawyer. Some of the places, at the outset promising, have fallen into decay, or had their cannily planned sites returned to the plow. The old German settlers for a long time remained as true to their descent as was possible far away from the source of German influence. This peculiarity their chil­ dren inherited to a large degree. But it must be admitted that the first owners of the soil, the Easterners, called "Yankees," exacted a great and lasting influence, and that things foreign to its culture have so often fascinated the German mind. The "Yankees" spoke the language of the country and lived up to its customs, and the country had welcomed the newcomers on an equal footing with them. And the newcomers would not be ingrates. They put them­ selves a double task—to preserve their mother tongue and customs, and at the same time adapt themselves to the new conditions, to meet the requirements of their American citizenship, and learn as much of the country's language and ways as possible. They did this with variable success, according to the age. There is an age limit, after which it is about impossible to learn a new tongue. Because of their sequestered life in the country, aside from their love for the home with its narrow bounds, they practically re­ mained German in their core and manners. But not every­ where in the county did public life show a distinct German stamp. There have always been places, where the Ameri­ can predominated. Take for example the two cities of the county. Hartford from the start, and for many years, appeared more like an American community than did West Bend. This difference now is wiped out. Taken as a whole, and considering the degree of their education and what they wxre up against, the old German settlers played their part The Population Elements 115 honorably and well. They could not be expected fo assimi­ late much of their new country. But the process which was finished in their descendants had been begun in them. Instances of the self-centered mind of these old settlers furnish the German names given to many localities in the county. Although they were mostly surnames, they were better known than their English originals. A locality be­ tween Slinger and Cedar Creek was named "Hunsrueck." The town of Germantown furnished names like "Teufels- eck," "Scholleklopper," and "Schnappsberg." A hamlet in the same town up to this day is called "Goldenthal." Richfield contributed the weird name of "Blutgericht." St. Lawrence was called the "Buckel." The town of Addison had localities named "Gaensburg" and "Froeschloch." Barton was well know^n by the name of "Salzberg," or "Salzburg," a corruption of Salisbury, the name of the founder of the village. St. Mathias's surname was "Viel- noethig." Mayfield up to this day is known by the name of "Katzbach." Some of the names obviously are nick­ names, bred by the stern humor of the privation-ridden settlers, but they were generally accepted. The various German tribes mostly lived mingled, with­ out an attempt to segregate. In some places, however, larger numbers from the same states of Germany drifted together, as did the Bavarians at St. Lawrence, the Saxons at Fillmore, the Hessians in the towns of Germantown and Polk, and the Rhenish Prussians from the vicinity of the Moselle river west of Big Cedar lake. The most noteworthy, although very short-lived, German settlement in the county was the so-called "Latin Settle­ ment" in the town of Farmington. It received that name because its founders were German university students who 116 The Story of Washington County understood Latin. The story of this settlement is as follows: It was in 1849, on board of an emigrant sail, when a number of young men drifted together. An ocean voyage in the days of our grandsires was a protracted affair—it lasted as many weeks as it does now days,—and the travel­ ers had much more chance and leisure than nowadays to study and fathom each other. They were Germans and German-Austrians. As university students they had more or less, if not in deed, at least morally, supported the German revolution of 1848, which extended into Austria. The rise of the people ended in a failure, the thrones of the potentates proved to be too firm to topple, freedom, the dream of the masses, was interpreted with "insolence," and many who had helped along, open-handed or under cover, preferred to get out of reach of the ruling powers, or to emigrate to the Country of the Free across the big pond, where they could better live up to their standards of life. They were academically educated people, and for this reason alone it was a matter of course that they should segregate from the bulk of the emigrants and find each other. Thus a double cord held them together, that of lost hopes, and that of intellectual nobility. It did not take long before they had vowed eternal friendship. The young men who had thus found each other were: Wilhelm A. Pors, Adolf and Gustav Jacobson, Leopold Eghardt, Otto and Carl Wermuth, Hermann Schlueter, Hans Balatka, and Friedrich Bude. Their time aboard was largely occupied with thoughts of the future and planning. They had heard that in America people would get rich in a single night, and that vast tracts of land could be gotten almost for a song. The European press The Population Elements 117 so often delighted in grotesque exaggerations of American conditions, and numberless readers have taken them for the truth. No wonder that our former students were building air-castles, or laying plans as if they possessed Aladdin's lamp. In their visions each one saw himself the owner of large domains with fine mansions, beautiful wood­ lands, fertile fields—in short, in an independent and happy state of life, and as free as any of the sovereigns of the many petty states of Germany. They agreed to continue their trip to the West at once after their landing at New York. In those days Wisconsin lay way out in the Wild West. So it came that the East with its industrious cities was hardly deemed worthy of any scrutinous look, and it was not until in Milwaukee that the travelers began to examine the surroundings closer. Their resolutions were not shaken. They wanted to go on the farm, to do farming on a big scale, to bring about a revolution in agriculture, to create models for the entire West, that should be astounding. The heaven-storming enthusiasm of these German ex-revolutionists of '48 knew no bounds. "Arms interlocked with thee, I challenge fear­ lessly my century," they apostrophized from Schiller's "Don Carlos." In the first few" years there would be hard­ ships, surely, but then: Domains which could arouse the envy of any German country-gentleman. Thought was followed by action. They chose the town of Farmington in Washington county to try out their scheme, where they bought 360 acres of land from Charles W. Detmering. It was divided into equal parts, and the chopping-down of the primeval forest began. Hans Balatka sacrificed the freedom of his bachelorhood and took to himself a neat German girl as a wife. She did the cooking 118 The Story of Washington County

and housekeeping for the men, and brought changes into the monotony of their meals and life in general. A hut was built of logs and rough boards, wherein a space was partitioned off for Balatka and his spouse. The intimate relations of married life shun the eyes of even the best friends. Owing to the unwieldy material, the work of the carpenters was, however, far from perfection. The roof especially had its shortcomings. On rainy days Balatka had to open an umbrella in bed to prevent himself and his wiie from getting drenched. The difficulties grew, grew worse, took on towering proportions, and at the very same ratio, inversely, sank the courage of the settlers. Never- dreamed-of difficulties blocked their way. Harder than Hercules's work in the Augean stable appeared this wrestling of a piece of arable land from a thousand-year- old wilderness. The beautiful dreams of country-seats faded, dissolved into nothing, like mental mirages. At the end of the second month everyone, with the exception of the Jacobson brothers and Wermuth, had quit battling with the wilds. These did stick to the ground and turned out as well-to-do farmers. Hans Balatka removed to Milwaukee and became one of the foremost musicians and directors of America; he also became a composer and directed high-class singing societies in St. Louis and Chi­ cago and founded a school of music in the latter city. Her­ man Schlueter settled down in Chicago and gained the green twig in business enterprises. Wm. A. Pors went to Port Washington, studied law, and became an important factor in local politics. Leopold Eghardt also settled in Port Washington and reached the top-notch of local honors by being elected county judge. Of all these broad-minded and highly intelligent men Friedrich Bude alone returned to The Population Elements 119

Germany, where he drifted into such miserable straits that he chose to die by his own hand. Meteor-like was the appearance of these Germans in Washington county, but the bright line which they drew in the heavens of our prosy every-day life has up to this day not entirely disappeared, at least not with the older foreign-born generation whose feelings and views still to some extent are rooted in the soil of their native land, from which they draw strength, like Antaeus of the Greek fable. To the old German settlers of the county the preserva­ tion of their native tongue seemed vital. For years this was attended to in the families and in the churches. Later on most every community had its turners' society, or shoot­ ing club. But these have about all disappeared. Singing societies have flourished and withered; there is not one of importance left. Some of these societies possessed quite large German libraries. In passing, the benevolent societies and lodges that used, and those that still use, the German language in their meetings may be mentioned. A number of German newspapers flourished at times in the county, but all have disappeared for want of support, as Ameri­ canization progressed. Most potent factors in the preserva­ tion of the German language were the parochial schools of the Catholics and the Lutherans, as well as the Sunday schools of the Evangelical, Reformed, and German Metho­ dist congregations. But the transition which was witnessed in every other part of the country with a foreign-born population also showed itself here. The younger generation gradually drifted into the ranks of English-speaking America. There were plenty of the second generation, born on American soil, who were classed among Germans and who could not 120 The Story of Washington County read a German paper, or book. An impure German, similar to the Pennsylvania Dutch, is still widely spoken among the old folks, while the children's range, construction and accent of the language does not differ much from that of their Anglo-American playmates. There were Irishmen who could talk German fully as well as some of the second- generation Germans. Even the best German spoken de­ teriorated to some extent. Their best writers—few as there are left—found it almost impossible to evade the Americanizing influence in their diction. It is small wonder that all of this came to be. Most people are far from being linguists who master several tongues; all they want is to know enough of one to fetch them through life. The exigencies of the country are such that the American tongue should have the first and all im­ portant place. It is a patriotic and economic necessity. What little German was studied here in years gone by was acquired mainly for business purposes. Contrary to the German, the average American does not believe that foreign language study enlarges the mental horizon. By the way, the latter claim is still open for discussion. Yet, the con­ viction gains strength among us that if we want to enter world markets, if we wish to better understand other peo­ ples, at least some of us must make a study of foreign tongues. It is conceded that the second generation of German descent, born in this country, is purely American. The country has assimilated them, the Americanizing process is complete, the melting pot has done its duty. Our entrance into the World war no doubt has helped the process along, and many foreign-born who still believed themselves to a large part unassimilated found to their great surprise that The Population Elements 121

America is the country their heart has grown to, and that ours is the only land they consistently can support. While the old settlers with their fondled recollections of Germany very often were seized by a kind of mild homesickness in spite of American freedom and affluence, their children learned to love the new country as well as anybody can love his native land, for this is what America is to them. They could but respect their parents' love for the Fatherland and try to understand it by means of analogy. There is no doubt that the higher American culture had a great fascination for the progeny of the German settlers. Its influence was as strong in the country as in the cities, and the means by which it was exercised were the public schools, the ideals of which are the same all over. Those settler children who did not come in touch with German culture, outside of their homes and associations, surrendered almost unconditionally. Because the parents were, rare cases excepted, not in a position, or educated enough, to disclose to their children the treasures of German thought, there was for the brighter ones who felt a desire for better education but one way to walk on, and this led to the intel­ lectual life of cultured America. This fact, as said before, is no localism. It may be noticed in this country, wherever foreigners have settled. That invisible Americanizing power is at work everywhere. It seems to be aided by Nature. And in point of amal­ gamation the Germans are ahead of all other nationalities. Attempts to band them together, to arouse their racial pride, to get them to voice their racial views in the political arena, warning them not to give up their characteristics unre­ servedly, pointing to the valuable help German leaders and 122 The Story of Washington County soldiers have rendered this country in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, were utter failures. The attitude of the gross of our citizens of German birth, or descent, in the World war was an additional, a final, proof of their com­ plete Americanization. VIII

THE WARS HETHER or not any wars were fought on the soil Wof Washington county in prehistoric times will prob­ ably always remain a matter of speculation. When in 1640 the Winnebagoes were driven back from the region of Lake Michigan and the Green Bay and almost exterminated by the Illinois, the soil of our county may have been stained by the blood of the unfortunate aborigines. The numerous emblematic mounds ascribed to the Winnebagoes, which have been found here, give unmistakable proof that they were very much attached to this section and that they pre­ sumably defended their works against the enemy, as they played so important a part in their religious life and social order. Arriving at historical times, we find the rather startling fact that in the Revolutionary war the Indians then popu­ lating Wisconsin almost exclusively sided with the British. The Potawatomi alone seem to have made an exception. Recent researches have disclosed the fact that the Pota­ watomi living on the west shore of Lake Michigan, notably those of Milwaukee, and probably those farther north, under the influence of Siggenauk or the Blackbird made a treaty at Cahokia, Illinois, with George Rogers Clark, in Septem­ ber, 1778, and for a time allied themselves with the strug­ gling colonies. They did not see actual service under Gen. George Washington, but their chiefs probably received medals or certificates in his name, and thus considered 124 The Story of Washington County themselves fighting under his command. The historical evidence for this is found in a rhymed chronicle of 1779 by De Peyster, the British commandant at Mackinaw, who speaks in it of "Those runagates at Milwakje" and calls them in a foot note "A horrid set of refractory Indians." The Potawatomi later returned to the British allegiance and opposed the Americans during the succeeding Indian wars. This seems to prove that the Potawatomi living in Washington county at the time of the revolution either were ready to help the colonies in their war for independence, or indirectly abetted them by not joining their enemies, or that they at least observed a sympathizing neutrality. Yet, the influence of the British on our Indians was powerful enough to make itself felt long after the British rule had ceased, as said before. In the war of 1812 the relation of the Wisconsin Indian tribes to the United States had not materially altered. With the increasing influence of the latter, however, their attitude changed. In the Black Hawk war, in 1832, the Menominee, a part of which tribe occupied the western portion of Wash­ ington county, furnished about three hundred warriors who were mustered into two companies. They were called to­ gether by Col. George Boyd who acted on the order of Gen. Henry Atkinson, then encamped on the Whitewater river. The latter feared that the Sauks and their chief. Black Hawk, would attempt to escape to the British at Maiden. The Menominee were willing to fight against the Sauks, if they were given the privilege to choose their officers, which was done. Black Hawk and his band were defeated, after they had crossed the Mississippi early in 1832, to forcibly regain possession of land on the eastern bank of the river, including the lead region, which the The Wars 125 other chieftains of the Sauks and Foxes had ceded to the Government, but which deal he resented. Black Hawk and his two sons were captured in the encounter and were for over a year kept prisoners in Fort Monroe. He later was deposed as chief of his tribe. So far the wars had affected the aborigines. The Civil war, the next in order, affected the Whites who since had settled in the county and had progressed far in establishing civilization. A heavy April shower of 1861 was pattering on the shingled roof of the West Bend courthouse and splashing against its wooden walls of Old Colonial design. Within, a throng of people had assembled to take the first steps in a matter of nation-wide import. In the same hall, a year previous, Carl Schurz had spoken in favor of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the Presidency. Lincoln had been elected, and under his administration the volcano of Southern rebellion, which had been grumbling for a long time, burst forth in deadly eruption, and its first missiles struck Fort Sumter. The North wanted to have a word to say in the slavery question, which the hot-blooded Southerners resented. Thus it came about that, following the victories of the North, slavery, instead of being re­ stricted as was originally proposed, was abolished alto­ gether. It was in the afternoon of April 23 when this first war meeting was held in the county "to consider the state of the country and make response to the call of the President for the maintenance of the Government against the aggres­ sions of traitors in arms," as it was said in the call. Before the meeting, which consisted of citizens from West Bend, Barton and the surrounding country, was called to order. 126 The Story of Washington County the Stars and Stripes were unfurled from the dome of the courthouse and greeted with three cheers. Daniel McHenry was chosen president. A committee was appointed to draw up resolutions expressing the sentiment of the meeting. Meanwhile some speakers gave short, firm and patriotic addresses, and Parker's band played the "Star-Spangled Banner," "Yankee Doodle," and other patriotic airs. The committee presented the following resolutions: WHERJEAS, Our Government has been attacked by rebels and traitors, and the Union thereby endangered, therefore Resolved, That our sentiments are "The Union Forever," and, if necessary, our blood and treasure to sustain it.

They were adopted unanimously, and after three more cheers for the flag and three for the Union, the patriots dispersed. The President's call for a militia of 75,000 men had found a hearty response in the county. Young men from many parts of the county began to enlist in the Wisconsin regiments. Among the first were several lads from Barton. They joined Company K of the Second Infantry and fought in the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. The first full company which the county furnished for the war was gotten together in West Bend during Septem­ ber, 1861. Men w^ho enlisted were promised $100 in gold and 160 acres of land, besides their regular monthly pay. At the same time Hartford was endeavoring to raise a company. An attempt was made by the latter to unite the two, to which the West Bend Post of September 28, 1861, replied: "The Union Guards of this place now number 57 members, "sworn in," and in quarters at the Mansion House. They are all jolly good fellows, and are bound to make their mark. The proposition of the Hartford company to The Wars 127 unite was respectfully declined, for the reason that the members have too much confidence in their present officers to admit of a change. If the Hartford company wish to fall into the ranks as privates, they will be cordially re­ ceived. They have now a good fifer and drummer, and a flag bearer that measures 6 foot 3^ inches in his stock­ ings." This union never came to be. During the following days the Union Guards went on mustering expeditions to the surrounding villages. On the morning of October 3, six or more two-horse rigs filled with soldiers and the Martial band started from the printing office for Newburg. On one of the wagons the Stars and Stripes streamed in the wind from a thirty-foot pole. The company filed out of town to the tune of the "Yankee Doodle." It was a fine morning with not a trace of a cloud in the sky, and the success of the expedition seemed to be assured. On the way they were reinforced by those living along the road, and when they reached Newburg the expedition num­ bered about a dozen teams with some fifty soldiers. The citizens of Newburg were completely taken by surprise. The soldiers marched through the streets of the village to the county line, were ordered to "right about," marched back to the Webster House, and were halted. But the cloudless welkin of the morning had not re­ mained so, and it now began to rain quite hard, and when the company was drawn up in front of the hotel, the order was welcome to "pitch tents" below its roof. Some of the leading citizens appeared, and each one took a few of the soldiers to his home, feeding and entertaining them to the best of his ability. It persistently kept on raining, thus preventing the soldiers from showing themselves, and when 128 The Story of Washington County they returned in the evening in the rain, their ranks had been increased by but three new members. On Saturday, October 5, the Union Guards and their friends, about 400 in all, followed an invitation of the citizens of Kewaskum to partake of their hospitality. When within half a mile of the village, they were met by the Kewaskum Home Guards who escorted them to their place. Speeches were made, and those wishing to enlist were in­ vited to step forward. Strong, husky men came forth, signed the roll, and took the oath. J. Myers then offered the following preamble and resolutions which were unan­ imously adopted: WHEREAS, Our fellow citizens and associates are enlisting under the banner of our country for the purpose of maintaining our Government and the honor of our flag, it is therefore Resolved, That we fully appreciate our obligations to them for the commendable course they are taking. Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to provide for their families during their absence, and to faithfully look after the interests of all those who go forth for the purpose of maintaining our government and free institutions.

Thereupon they sat down to a dinner. The tables were laden with meats, fruit, cakes, pies, and pastries of all kinds. It was the work of the ladies, and the quantities which were done away with proved its merits. After dinner the com­ pany was given a short drill of double-quick which they executed smoothly, notwithstanding some of them having to march through mud nearly knee-deep, "but as the captain took the lead, the soldiers willingly followed." Before they returned home, they gave three rousing cheers and a tiger to the good people of Kewaskum. On Saturday, October 12, the company appeared in The Wars 129

Boltonville. They had announced their coming, and the villagers were prepared for them. Early in the morning they assembled to give them a rousing welcome. When the roll of the drum was heard in the distance, everyone seemed to he thrilled. Amid cheers the company entered the vil­ lage. Speeches were held, and a dinner was served, after which the following sentiments were read and approved: "The Southern Confederacy—may it be laid upon a mortal bed of sickness by our Northern Army; may its grave be dug deep, and may there be no resurrection,— E, A, DUNCAN," "May God hear the prayers of all his children for the protection of our troops—the success of our army, and the safe return of every soldier.—M. W. SMITH." "The ladies of the town of Farmington, whose patriot­ ism is exhibited on this occasion, do the soldiers recognize as patriots, and we see in each countenance the welcome which we receive at their hands. The love of their country, which was transmitted to them by their antecedents, is fondly cherished, and may they soon see the Stars and Stripes proudly wave in triumph from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northern Lakes, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts.—A SOLDIER." The resolutions unanimously adopted were: WHEREAS, We, the citizens of the town of Farmington, appreci­ ate the position and responsibilities assumed by our fellow citizens in volunteering to preserve the principles of our General Government, therefore Resolved, That we deem it our imperative duty to attend to the pecuniary interests of all those families who remain amongst us, when their heads have enlisted in this glorious cause. Resolved, That it is our duty as good and loyal citizens to contribute cheerfully our proportion of the funds necessary to 130 The Story of Washington County preserve our country and her institutions as they were trans­ mitted to us by our fathers. Resolved, That in our opinion all persons that are not actively in favor of our country in this her hour of peril are either open or concealed enemies; while our citizens go forth to battle, they shall never receive a fire in the rear from those left behind.

The meeting was closed by a patriotic song which was sung by a choir, and a few more addresses. The Union Guards, 112 hearty and rugged men, left for Camp Randall, Madison, on Thusday, October 31, 1861. On the day previous, the ladies of West Bend presented them with a beautiful silk banner valued at over fifty dol­ lars, and each soldier besides received a blue flannel shirt. After the presentation, the company took a solemn oath to support their flag and their country under all circumstances and bring back the banner unsullied, or die in its defense. In the evening they were treated to a supper and a dance. The trip to the nearest railroad station, at Schleisinger­ ville, was made on forty-five teams. They arrived at noon, intending to take the one-o'clock train, but being late, it made no stop. Until ^Ye they sat along the side-track, and instead of a dinner which they intended to take at Mil­ waukee, they fed on crackers and cheese. When at five the freight train pulled in, which was to take them up, the several hundred people enacted, or witnessed, touching de­ parting scenes. It was a farewell to sons, brothers, and lovers, and no one was sure but what it might be the last. Many a strong heart tried in vain to quell its feelings, many were the heaving breasts and the silent tears at the sight of so many young and brave men who were ready to lay down their lives for the preservation of the Union, They arrived in Milwaukee at half past seven in the The Wars 131 evening, and were marched to the Phelps House, where they took supper. At nine they were again aboard the cars, on the way to Madison. On their arrival in camp they were assigned as Company D to the Twelfth Wisconsin regiment. On January 18, 1862, the regiment left for the war. It took part in the campaigns in Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, in the siege of Vicksburg, the battles around Atlanta, and Sherman's march to the sea. In point of bravery it was inferior to none, and it sustained extremely heavy losses. The captain of Company D, John Martin Price of Barton, was killed near Savannah. The silk flag of the company was brought back at the close of the war and is still preserved among the battle flags in the Capitol at Madison. The second company, the Corcoran Guards, consisting of 75 men, mostly of Irish descent, left West Bend on January 17, 1862, for Camp Randall. Other parts of the county also continued to furnish volunteers. At Kewaskum $2,000 were collected, which money was used to induce men to enlist; each soldier received $100. The second war meeting in the West Bend courthouse was held on August 13, 1862, and resulted in the organiza­ tion of the Washington County Rifles, a company made up mostly of men of German lineage. About twenty-five en­ listed at the meeting, and $475 were subscribed for the benefit of the company. A committee was appointed to solicit further subscriptions. The number of volunteers increased rapidly during the next few days. Three days later a war meeting was held in Reiss's hall at Barton, in which a number of young men were sworn in and $890 were subscribed. It was resolved "that each in­ dividual present exert their influence to procure subscrip- 132 The Story of Washington County tions to the bounty fund," and also "that each man, woman and child use their influence and urge volunteers to enlist in the cause of the Union." When the Washington County Rifles left for Camp Sigel at Milwaukee, they numbered 95 fine looking soldiers. Their captain was Jacob E, Mann, an editor of the West Bend Post. His wife took over the editorship, after her husband and her brother, Charles Waldo, another editor of the paper, had been enrolled in the army, and she pub­ lished the paper for some time alone and under the most trying circumstances, Jacob Heipp was first lieutenant, and Charles Ottilie second. The company was assigned to the Twenty-Sixth Wisconsin as Company G. The regiment, commanded by General Franz Sigel, left for Washington, D. C, on October 6, 1862, and was sent to the front. They fought at Gainesville; went into winter quarters at Stafford Courthouse; took part in the battle near Chancellorsville, in which Co. G lost twelve men; also in that of Gettysburg, in which many were wounded, some mortally; were engaged in the campaign around Atlanta; had a hand in the battles of Resaca, near Dallas, and of Peach Tree Creek; and marched with Sherman to the sea. One of the companies raised at Hartford, numbering nearly one hundred native Americans, chose J. R. Kohls- dorf as their captain, who but a few years before had come over from Germany. He proved himself a very ca­ pable and popular officer. In spite of all this honorable support of the Union cause, the county in point of the number of volunteers furnished was behind every other county in the State. Rea­ sons have been proffered to explain this fact. For example, the agricultural pursuits of most of the inhabitants who The Wars 133 had little liking for the din of war, the end of which, by the way, was expected every day; or the population being mostly made up of Germans who, among other reasons, left their native country to get away from military service. But these explanations could not stand, for other counties under practically the same conditions had furnished a larger quota. A good reason has never been found. Most likely it was a mere accident which could have been passed over as such, had it not been for an unpleasant effect in its train. The call for troops had again been sounded, and all over the State a draft was to be held on Monday, November 10, 1862. When it became known that Washington county had to furnish nearly 800 men, or many more than any of the other counties, the population grew indignant, and many believed themselves to be the victims of foul play. It was a time of general excitement and little cool thinking, or they would have seen that the demand was only just. The draft performed by a little girl in the Courthouse had the first day run on without a hitch, Tuesday the turn of the town of Trenton came. When the last name had been drawn, one of the men who had shown considerable uneasi­ ness stepped upon a chair and addressed the crowd in ex­ citing terms, and then demanded the papers from Com­ missioner E. H, Gilson. An attempt by Sheriff Weimar to suppress the growing mob sentiment failed, but it helped the commissioner to make away with the papers. But before he had reached the postoffice, his absence was noticed, and the men rushed down the hill after him. They stopped him at the law office of Frisby & Weil, and one threatened him with a heavy stone if he would not give up the papers. Mr. Frisby, himself a drafted man, came out and spoke to them, explaining matters, and succeeded to quiet them a 134 The Story of Washington County

little. Gilson got into the office, disappeared through a back door, and reached Milwaukee, where he notified the authorities. In the afternoon another meeting was held in the Courthouse, in which resolutions praying for two months' postponement of the draft were adopted and for­ warded to Madison. Saturday, November 22, six companies of the Thirtieth regiment arrived in West Bend, and on the following Monday the draft, under military protection, was resumed and completed. In all, 758 men were drawn, mostly Germans. Commenting on the occurrence, the West Bend Post said in an editorial: "We deny that the people of this county are not loyal and ready to enlist. ^ -^ ^ We most decidedly deny that this county is not loyal, but on the contrary be­ lieve if she had been treated with half the consideration that other counties have been, she would have furnished her quota." The disturbance, nettling as it was to the patriotic citi­ zens, had been instigated by but a few persons who believed themselves a prey of some unfair scheme, and would not submit to it, and it would have been extremely unjust to use it as a trump against the loyalty of the county. The day before it happened, a draft riot of much larger propor­ tions, but after all something of an operetta riot, had occurred at Port Washington, the waves of which spread north to the town of Fredonia and west to the town of Trenton, encouraging the disgruntled men to offer active resistance. All other drafts that were held at West Bend in the course of the war came off smoothly. To better understand the incident it is well to consider the sentiment in the State at the time. Wisconsin to a large degree shared the division of the North in regard to opinions The Wars 135 on the Civil war. Here was the seat of a formidable copperhead sentiment with widespread opposition to the enforcement of the draft by the Federal Government. A largely attended mass meeting at Madison in April, 1861, after Fort Sumter had been fired upon, laid on the table a resolution pledging support to President Lincoln. Within four days after the news of the attack on Fort Sumter ar­ rived, specie payments were suspended in Wisconsin; and the efforts of the Government to float a war loan of $1,200,000 on the credit of the State in the summer of 1861 met with an inglorious failure. While the citizens of Ozaukee and Milwaukee counties were warned in proclama­ tions issued by Governor Salomon to desist from further rioting, the occurrence in Washington county appears not to have called for such a warning, and none was issued. About two thousand men from Washington county fought on the Union side in the War between the States. In many places most all of the able-bodied men had enlisted. For war purposes $180,577.48 were raised in the county. This chapter would be very incomplete indeed if men­ tion was not made of the noble help offered by the women. A little on it has already been said. They fought at home hardly less desperately than their husbands, sons, brothers, and lovers fought on the battlefields. In many places societies of women were organized, who collected clothing, food, and money, partly for the soldiers, but mainly for the support of their families. It was considered a sacred duty to ward off penury from the folks of the brave men who offered their service to the country in the time of her greatest calamity. The soldiers in turn sent home what­ ever they could spare of their pay, and this, too, helped to make conditions at home more bearable. 136 The Story of Washington County

The women assumed the duties of their old, old office, old as wars are among men. There were cowardly young men who tried to shirk the duty they owed to their country. Cowards are found in any larger group of society. And here is where the old custom of the women of our ancestors thousands of years back, and of the uncivilized tribes of today, was again revived. They inspired the men, and if necessary, goaded them, to fight. And when in 1865 the war came to an end and many a husband, son, brother, or betrothed did not return because his life blood was spilled on some battlefield, his loved ones at home learned to bear this great sacrifice with submission to the will of the Eternal. The strong bonds of comradeship felt by all who went through this terrific fratricidal war caused the foundation of the Grand Army of the Republic. A branch of this or­ ganization, Andrew J. Fullerton Post, No. 193, Depart­ ment of Wisconsin, was founded at West Bend on March 21, 1885, "to preserve and strengthen the kind and frater­ nal feelings which bind together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion, and to perpetuate the memory and history of the dead; to assist such former comrades in arms as need help and protection, and to extend needful aid to the widows and orphans of those who have fallen; to maintain the allegiance to the United States," etc. At Hartford a Women's Relief Corps was founded for similar purposes, and Willet R. Wescott Circle, No. 34, Ladies of the G. A. R., was organized at West Bend in 1912. In the Spanish-American war, in which our country became involved after the battleship Maine had been myste­ riously blown up in the harbor of Havana in the spring of The Wars 137

1898 and the Spanish misrule of Cuba had for a long time been obnoxious to our liberty-loving people, Washington county played an honorable and thoroughly patriotic part. A number of her young men served in one or the other of the three regiments of the Wisconsin National Guard which the Governor ordered to mobilize to form a part of the army of 125,000 men called for by the President. All of our boys returned save one who died of malaria in camp. We now come to the last and most terrific war history knows of, and in which Washington county also was called upon for assistance, the World war begun in 1914. Before our country entered it the sympathy of the population was very much on the side of Germany. Ties of consanguinity played an important part in this. Few would believe that Germany was the aggressor, that her military leaders were running amuck with their dream of a world domina­ tion, and that the people were "hoodwinked with the bloody bandage of imperialism." When President Wilson on April 6, 1917, asked Congress to declare a state of war to exist between this country and Germany, and our representa­ tives did so, with a vote of seven to one, the people of the county, in their fealty to the United States, quietly and resignedly bore the great strain, nearly heartbreaking in many instances. This rather passive loyalty, as compared with the enthusiasm over the war shown by a small minority, did not change until Germany's share of guilt was admitted and proven by some of that country's noblest men, in the Lichnowsky letters and the Muehlon confessions. The con­ fidence in Germany's clean hands shattered, passive loyalty quickly changed to active and whole-hearted support of our country. What the people had lacked in patriotism before. 138 The Story of Washington County they tried to make up later, and this will be a lasting honor to their fairmindedness and loyalty. Many young men enlisted voluntarily. There was no opposition to the drafts, first of men from 21 to 31 years, and later from 31 to 45 years. The several contingents from the county assembled and entrained at West Bend at dif­ ferent times, without the least attempt at disturbance. The people, many with tears in their eyes, but courageously, saw the flower of their young manhood off for the training camps. Most of the inducted men were trained at Camp McArthur, Waco, Texas, and Camp Grant, Rockford, Illi­ nois. The others were scattered over most every training camp in the country. They were distributed among every branch of the arms, infantry, artillery, cavalry, signal ser­ vice, hospital service and aviation. Quite a number also joined the navy. Those that saw active service on French soil were largely represented in the American forces who turned the tide of the war in the battles of Chateau-Thierry and St. Mihiel, vindicating American strategy, bravery and military prowess, and adding glamour to our flag as the sym­ bol of freedom, justice, unselfishness, and the brotherhood of man, for which principles our soldiers avowedly fought, and which later, in the League of Nations project, were so brazenly disregarded. About a score made the supreme sacrifice for their country. Several met death on the battle fields in France, several hundred Washington county boys having gone overseas. Others were more or less severely wounded or gassed, but recovered. Most of the deaths, however, occurred in training camps in this country, caused by the Spanish influenza epidemic ravaging the entire country, in fact the world. One met his death in an accident on the aviation fields in Texas. In all, Washington county The Wars 139 furnished over twelve hundred men for this war. In no case were exact numbers available. Many soldiers from this county were with the Thirty- Second Division and with it went through the thick of battles toward the close of the war. They saw the worst of that modernization of "hell." On May 17, 1918, the Division was the first to plant the Stars and Stripes on German soil in Alsace. On May 10, Wisconsin and Mich­ igan men came under shell fire, and from that day to the signing of the armistice, on November 11, 1918, the Divi­ sion outranged German guns. Only ten days after its turn in the trenches, the Thirty-Second drove the enemy from the Ource river to the Vesle river. Then it went to a sector north of Soissons and stormed Juvigny plateau, fight­ ing victoriously alongside with the Poilu troops of General Mangin. Ten days of rest prepared it for the final drive. The "scrape" of the American army north of Verdun was but three days old when the Thirty-Second joined in, and for the next three weeks the Wisconsin and Michigan men hammered the Germans back to the Kriemhilde Stellung. They at last broke through the enemy's Key position of La Dame Marie, from which they pushed on to the Freya Stellung, compelling the German gunners to clear out of the Bantheville woods. The division then carried their line to the point, where the final attack, on November 1, was launched, following in support of the Division that crossed the Meuse at Dun and captured Stenay, In the last few days of the war the Thirty-Second with the French went into the line in the Meuse bridge-head sector, and it was in the midst of an attack when the armistice stopped further fighting. The Division fought on five fronts, in Alsace, on the Vesle, at Soissons, the Argonne, and the 140 The Story of Washington County

Meuse. It was pitted against twenty of Germany's best divisions, among them the Prussian Guards, and never yielded a yard of ground to the enemy's counter attacks. Many soldiers from Washington county were with the Army of Occupation in Germany, after the armistice, based on President Wilson's Fourteen Points, was signed by the Germans w^ho believed that they would be treated justly, as indicated by Wilson's attitude. All of these soldiers speak well of the treatment they received in Germany, and they, to a large degree, had to correct their opinion of the late enemy. While our soldiers were fighting overseas, or training in the camps of this country, the people at home did all they could to give them that support, without which an army would be worse than useless. As soon as the situation was fully realized, the war loan allotments of the Government were repeatedly oversubscribed, food conservation measures were obeyed, and so were all other war measures. A county war relief fund was created by allotments based on the income and wealth of everyone, to meet the Red Cross and other drives for the physical and intellectual welfare of the soldiers. At the head of these activities was a Defense Council with numerous committees. Red Cross auxiliaries, under the Milwaukee Chapter, were organized in many localities, where women and girls helped in preparing hospital supplies, knitting stockings and sweaters, etc. The Red Cross had about five thousand members in the county. In 1920 a Red Cross chapter was organized for the county. Two American Legion Posts, one at West Bend and the other at Hartford, were formed among the veterans of this war. With all this affluence of loyalty, it cannot be denied that The Wars 141 here, as well as most everywhere in the country, there w^as an undertow which proved that people were not quite satis­ fied with the way matters were handled. An invisible power seemed to make encroachments on their constitutional rights. A sporadic few in our county openly expressed their con­ trary opinions and thus provoked abuses which in one or two instances rose to incipient mob rule. This mob senti­ ment which appeared to be backed by anything but clean motives took hold of but a few, but they strengthened them­ selves with a fanaticism that gave the cool-headed gross of the population a distinct sense of terrorism. The un­ pleasant experience of 1862 was reversed. The mob against war changed into a mob for war. Both were in the wrong as lawlessness always is. Moral forces were brought up against the transgressions, and they were not repeated. The great increase of the Socialist votes in the following fall election was the response of the people to the attempted violation of their fundamental rights. The war, victorious for our country, taught us a few lessons which, when heeded, will make us a greater nation, as it certainly immensely contributed toward strengthening the feeling that we all are Americans and share in the destiny of our country, and that our best efforts are neces­ sary to help in shaping it for the best of humanity. That Washington county has taken a determined and loyal part in helping to spread democratic principles beyond the bor­ ders of our country will be a subject of lasting pride and glorification to the population. IX

THE CHURCHES NE of the first things the old settlers did after they O had gained a foothold on their new land was to form congregations among those of like creed. They were often very modest affairs, these first religious meetings held in some private home, sawmill, or other odd place, but there were ample prospects for their growth. The craving for transcendental consolation and edification was naturally strong in people who had to brave so many hardships and privations. The old log churches have disappeared, and in their places numerous steeples point toward heaven. Many have developed into stately edifices. Of all the de­ nominations which have adherents in the county, the Catholics are numerically the strongest; next come the Lutherans, and then the Evangelicals. The Protestants have the greatest number of congregations and churches. Before entering on the histories of the different congrega­ tions, two subjects that stand out most prominently in our pioneer church work deserve historical mention, namely, the circumstances that led to the foundation of the first Lutheran congregation, at Kirchhayn, and the missionary work of Father Casper Rehrl. We all have been taught, or at least have read, that the Pilgrim Fathers left England on account of religious per­ secution, to practice their faith on free American soil, untrammeled by a state mixed up with church affairs; and we have admired and venerated those early colonists. But The Churches 143 it is an historical fact that the first Lutherans came to Washington county for the same reason. Prussia, under the reign of Frederick William III, and in a less degree under his successor, Frederick William IV, passed through a time of religious intolerance the like we look for in vain during the reign of the other Prussian kings. It was caused by the formation of the "Kirchenunion" in 1817, by King Frederick William III, he himself belonging to the Re­ formed church. He insisted that the distinction between Lutherans and Reformed be dropped, that the Lord's Sup­ per be celebrated in common by the two denominations, and that Christians henceforth be either known as Evangelical or Catholic only. With less severity this union was tried in Nassau, the Palatinate, and in Baden. In Prussia plenty of orthodox Lutherans remained, who resisted the amal­ gamation, but they found their paths strewn with thorns. Instances of relentless persecution are recorded, the victims, after their release from prison fleeing to America, The best known of these were Capt, Henry Von Rohr and Pastor J, A. Grabau. It was during the reign of Frederick William IV, when a number of Lutherans of Pomerania, disgusted with religious conditions at home, conceived the idea of emigrat­ ing to America. They sailed from Hamburg in the spring of 1843, led by their pastor, Adolph Kindermann, and their teacher, Carl Steinke. After a long and wearisome voyage they set foot on American soil and continued their journey to Wisconsin. They founded Kirchhayn in Washington county, and Freistadt and Cedarburg in Ozaukee county. The Kirchhayn settlers organized the Star of David con­ gregation, which not only is the oldest Lutheran congrega­ tion in the county but one of the oldest in the State, 144 The Story of Washington County

The Lutheran colonists found the religious freedom which they sought. And in addition they also found, as did the passengers of the Mayflower, great opportunities in a country of immense resources. Turning back once more to the country which they left and to the reign of Frederick William III, it may be said that the latter was a weak monarch. He had a bright and cultured wife who drew him up to her higher intellectual stand, but after her death he slumped to his lower level which was natural to him. Yet he was the king under whom his people fought the war of liberation from the French yoke. After the defeat of Na­ poleon I, he forgot his promise of a constitutional govern­ ment to Prussia; and after the July Revolution he turned out to be a bitter enemy of liberal ideas. Father Casper Rehrl can truly be called an apostle of Washington county and the entire Milwaukee river valley. Rev. Rehrl was born at Aigen, Duchy of Salzburg, Austria, on December 31, 1809, of Catholic parents. He was a very pious youth and was sent to the Salzburg university to prepare for the priesthood. He studied philosophy and theology and received the degree of a doctor of divinity. September 20, 1835, he was ordained. During the follow­ ing ten years he was a priest in his native country. Then the missionary spirit came over him, America was beckoning the young divine. In 1844 he arrived at New Orleans. He continued his journey on a boat up the Mississippi and Illinois to Peru, 111., from where he traveled by stage coach to Chicago, and in a small boat up to Milwaukee, where he landed on January 8, 1845. In Milwaukee he presented himself to Bishop Henni who gladly welcomed the young and scholarly priest, and who tried to hold him at Mil- The Churches 145 waukee. But his mind was made up to preach the Gospel in the wilderness. With his pack on his back, his crucifix and a few re­ ligious books and paraphernalia, he set out on foot one morning. Following the Milwaukee river, he slowly ad­ vanced north, through a country yet largely wild and un­ settled, along blazed roads and Indian trails, past the lonely shacks of settlers in the dark forests. Nights spent on layers of brush, or in hollow trees, with the wild beasts prowling about, were among his experiences. After wan­ dering for three days and two nights, he came to the place in the river valley, which had already been chosen as the site of West Bend, and it is said that he spent a night with Isaac Verbeck, the first settler of the place. The next morning he continued on his walk north along the river, and no doubt he came to the place where the village of Barton stands today, but which then was thick woods, not even the first settler. Barton Salisbury, having arrived, who came in the fall of the same year. For another day Father Rehrl followed the course of the Milwaukee, and then turned northwest, toward Fond du Lac, where he safely arrived. There he said mass in a French home hnd preached to an audience made up of pioneers. For the next thirty-five years Father Rehrl led more or less an itinerary life, a true successor of the apostles. His name is connected with the histories of many Catholic churches in eastern Wisconsin, He traveled in all direc­ tions, sometimes making thirty and more miles a day. He was a great friend of the Indians he met along the trails, and they were great friends of him. He taught them the fundamentals of the Christian religion, communicating with them through some interpreter. At one time he had 146 The Story of Washington County charge of twelve congregations in Washington, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, and Brown counties. He knew most every Indian trail in this territory. In Washington county he at one time or another administered to congrega­ tions in Kewaskum, St. Bridget's, Newburg, Schleisinger­ ville, Barton, and West Bend, He founded many churches and schools. The more settled part of his life began on September 12, 1857, at Barton, where he built a brick church which was razed in recent years. He had a predilection for Barton. A reason for this probably was that Barton at the time appeared to become the most important place in the Mil­ waukee river valley, and it also was the center of his mis­ sionary work. Here, in 1846, with a few young ladies he founded a convent of the Sisters of St. Agnes, the main purpose of v/hich evidently was to prepare suitable teachers for the parochial schools which he started. He organized the first Normal school of this kind in the State, The con­ vent encountered many difficulties, but the influence of its founder, his learning coupled with great kindness of heart, helped over the critical periods. The convent buildings and the old parsonage, with massive bowlder walls, are still standing. The convent in 1870 was transferred to Fond du Lac, where it greatly increased its activities. From 1870 to 1880 the old missionary spirit again held the priest, and we find him absent from Barton. In the latter year he returned, as the years began to weigh on him. He died at Barton on September 3, 1881, and lies buried in the village cemetery, a white marble monument marking his last resting place, about half way between the gate and the chapel. The historical data on the congregations of the various The Churches 147 creeds in the county, as far as they were obtainable and were deemed of importance, or interest, are given in the following.

CATHOLIC

ADDISON, TOWN.—SS. Peter and Paul's Congregation.— The Catholic settlers of the town of Addison, in the early '40's of the last century, were occasionally visited by mis­ sionaries who held services in private homes. One of those missionaries was Rev. Michael Heiss, who later ascended the archiepiscopal see of Milwaukee. In 1848, Rev. Schraudenbach organized the congregation, and in the same year the first church was built. The first resident priest was Rev. Michael Heiss, a nephew of the archbishop. In 1865, under the administration of Rev. Michael Wenker, a new church was built, and also a parsonage. The paro­ chial school, taught by Sisters of St. Francis, was estab­ lished in 1845. Two societies were organized, one for women and one for men.—St. Anthony's Congregation.— The first church of this congregation was built in 1855. Originally it was a mission of St. Lawrence's congregation, later it was affiliated to SS. Peter and Paul's. In 1873 a new stone church was built. The congregation also estab­ lished a parish school under the direction of the Sisters of St. Francis.—St. Mathias's Congregation in the town of West Bend, a mission of St. Anthony's, was organized in 1848 by Rev. Schraudenbach, and was incorporated in 1883. The parochial school, taught by Sisters of St. Agnes, was established in 1889.

ALLENTON,—Sacred Heart Congregation,—Up to 1917 the Catholics of this village attended church at St, An- 148 The Story of Washington County thony's in the vicinity. In that year they decided to organize their own parish. Sacred Heart congregation. An imposing brick edifice, combining church, school, and dwell­ ing for the Sisters, was erected at a cost of $20,000, The corner stone was laid on July 29, 1917, by Archbishop S, G. Messmer.

BARTON.—Immaculate Conception Congregation.—The organization of this congregation was effected September 12, 1857. For some time before this, and for a considerable time after, traveling missionaries, and also resident priests from the neighborhod, administered to the congregation. The first priest who said mass in the original church was Rev. Caspar Rehrl. This building has since been torn down. During the ministry of Rev. Michael Ruckengruber, which lasted for almost nineteen years, a parochial school with dwelling rooms for the teachers who are Sisters of Notre Dame was built, costing $8,400, and also a parsonage at an expense of $3,500. The present fine brick church, costing $35,000, was erected during the ministry of Rev. August Rossbach. It was consecrated December 5, 1900, by Archbishop Katzer of Milwaukee. The Ladies' society of the congregation was founded soon after the organiza­ tion of the latter, and St. Joseph's society was founded November 18, 1867.

GERMANTOWN, TOWN.—St. Boniface's Congregation.— The town was sparsely settled when in 1845 this congre­ gation was organized. The members were poor and could not afford to erect an expensive church. The first church was built of logs and divided into two parts, of which one part was used as a parsonage. The designer was Rev. The Churches 149

Michael Heiss, later archbishop of Milwaukee. For some time missionaries read mass in this humble place of worship. The first resident priest was Rev. Dr. Joseph Salzmann who came in 1847. He was instrumental in the erection of a frame church, to complete which it took almost two years. Under the administration of Rev. Foeckler the building of the present stone church of classical design was begun. The edifice, 100x45 feet in dimensions, was completed under his successor. Rev. J. Gamber. He also had a par­ sonage built. Rev. Karl Grobschmit had the interior walls adorned with fresco paintings. The parochial school, taught by Sisters of St. Francis, was erected in 1889, during the ministry of Rev. H. Blum. Within the congregation three societies were founded, the Men's society, the Ladies' so­ ciety, and the Society of the Sacred Heart. Connected as a mission is St. Mary's Congregation, founded in the latter part of the '50's. The present church, costing $2,500, was \built in 1895. HARTFORD.—St. Kilian's Congregation,—This congre­ gation was organized in 1863 by Rev, Deisenreiter who at the time was stationed at St, Lawrence, In 1867 it num­ bered 56 German and 40 Irish families, but it has since been increased by numerous German families. The present imposing stone church was erected in 1876 under the direction of Rev, Michael Wenker who was stationed here from May, 1872, to September, 1883, He also otherwise improved the church property. His successor. Rev, Nic, M, Zimmer, had a parsonage built in 1884, and a parish schoolhouse in 1891. The school instruction began in 1864. Under the ministry of ReV. J. A. Bertram who succeeded in 1893 the church received a splendid high altar and also an organ costing $1,200. Sisters of St. Francis took charge 150 The Story of Washington County of the school. Five societies were organized within the con­ gregation, namely; St. Kilian's Benevolent society; a branch of the Catholic Protective association; Branch No. 6l, Catholic Knights of Wisconsin; St. Elizabeth's society; and St. Rose's society for young ladies. The congregation is the largest in the county.

HOLY HILL.—St. Mary's Help Congregation.—On the summit of Holy Hill, near the spot where the rude chapel of the hermit Fran9ois stood, and on the site of a later small chapel, a brick church was completed in 1881. Its dimensions are 42 x 90 feet, and the spire is 80 feet high. On the site of the hermit's cave a monastery has been built by the Carmelite monks who took charge of the property in 1906. Before that, the congregation was in charge of priests from the neighborhood. The Carmelites since have enlarged and improved the church property. In 1920 a new monastery, of brick, three stories high and modernly equipped, which also serves as a noviceship of the order, was finished. The old monastery since is used as a retreat for laymxcn. Pilgrimages to the shrine began at an early date. St. Patrick's Mission in the town of Erin is attended to by the Carmelite Fathers of Holy Hill, and so is St. Augustine's in the town of Richfield. The latter parish was founded in 1846. The old log church about 1875 was replaced by a stone church which was gutted by fire in 1922.

JACKSON, TOWN.—Immaculate Conception Congrega­ tion.—This parish is a mission of the Cedarburg congre­ gation. There is no account of the organization in the records. Among the first members were the Riordan, The Churches 151

Fagan, and Coughlin families. The present church was built in I860.

KEWASKUM.—Holy Trinity Congregation,—Prior to 1861, the Catholics of Kewaskum had to go to neighboring churches to fulfill their religious duties. In that year they built a medium-sized brick church on two lots presented to the congregation by Mathias Altenhofen. Until 1868 they were affiliated to the Barton congregation as a mission. The first resident priest was Rev, J. Mueller. He also said mass in St. Michael's mission in the town of Kewas­ kum, Rev, Grome, who came in 1878 and held the ministry for seventeen years, had an addition built to the old church; he also had a schoolhouse and a parsonage erected, which cost $3,000 each. Originally the parochial school was taught by secular teachers who later were supplanted by Sisters of St. Agnes. The societies founded within the congregation are: St, Francis's Benevolent society; a branch of the Catholic Protective association; a Ladies' society; and a Young Ladies' society. Under the ministry of Rev, Philip J, Vogt who took charge of the congrega­ tion in July, 1895, a fine and spacious brick church was erected in 1905. It has four bells in its lofty tower. The consecration by Archbishop S, G, Messmer took place March 24, 1906.—St, Bridget's in the town of Wayne is a mission in the care of the Kewaskum priest. As far back as 1848 the Catholics of that section were visited by Rev. Beittner of St. Lawrence, who said mass in private homes. Under his direction they built a log church in 1852. In 1856 the congregation was organized, and for many years Rev. Caspar Rehrl of Barton attended to it. A parochial school, taught by Sisters of St. Agnes, was also established. 152 The Story of Washington Coumty

LAKE FIVE.—St. Columba Mission.—This mission, in charge of the priest at Monches and situated at Lake Five near the southern county line, was organized in 1842 by Rev. Martin Kundig. Previous to this event, he read mass in the home of John Donnelly, on the shore of the lake. Among the first members of the congregation were the families of M. Cosgrove, P. Flynn, Ed. McCartan, John Flemming, M. Claffey, M, and John Redmond, William Dunn and M, Denney. The congregation has an Altar society.

NEWBURG.—Holy Trinity Congregation,—In I860, twelve years after the first white settler. Barton Salisbury, built his log house among the remnants of the former Indian population, on the wildly beautiful bank of the swiftly running Milwaukee river, and harnessed its bump­ tious strength to run a sawmill, the Catholics of the com­ munity felt strong enough to start a congregation. It was the first German settler of the place, Nicolaus Schwinn, a blacksmith, who did the preliminary work of such an organization. He came in 1848, In his wretched log cabin missionaries who now and then happened to come that way found hospitality and shelter. In 1854 Bishop Henni of Milwaukee was his guest, and he picked out a place for him, which in his opinion would be best suited for the site of a church. Eventually, on that spot the first church was built. In 1858 Dr. Joseph Salzmann of the Catholic Seminary at St. Francis, on a collection trip visited this pioneer in the wild, who accompanied him to the Catholic settlers of the neighborhood and took this chance to interest them in the foundation of a parish. For a number of years services had been held in a hall by traveling priests who The Churches 153 occasionally visited the settlement. The need of a church edifice was felt more with the progress of the pioneers and their increasing numbers. In March, 1850, the first meet­ ing for the purpose of organizing a congregation was held. Trustees were elected and also a building committee; the former were Jacob Barth, Jr., Nicolaus Schwinn, Math. Wierschem, Peter Klein, Joseph Uetz, and Dr. M. J. Leonard; the building committee consisted of F. Wald- kirch. Math, Welskiel, Johann Lauterbeck, George Kaiser, Ferd, Moersch, Jacob Spenner, and Theodore Weinand. The first church was a rather sober-looking brick building, 75 X 40 feet ground space. Each side had four windows, the front had a rose-window, and near the front gable appeared a little turret with a steeple, and a cross on top. The building was completed in I860, and the first service was held in it on Easter Monday by Revs, Caspar Rehrl and B. Smeddink, The consecration by Bishop Henni took place December 8, 1861, Until 1861, the congregation was served by priests from the Barton and Port Washington parishes. For some time the church did not possess such a thing as a bell, and to call the faithful to mass, or vespers, a steel hoop was used, which was struck with a hammer. The first bell was purchased in 1862, At the time of their organization, the congregation numbered twenty-five fami­ lies, none of whom enjoyed material wealth. The first resident priest was Rev, Wilhelm Engeln, In 1882, under the administration of Rev, P. J. Stupfel, a parochial school- house was built and Sisters of Notre Dame were engaged as teachers. Under the same administration a parsonage was built in 1887. Under the ministry of Rev, B, Nutt- mann who came in 1896 a new and magnificent church was erected, which was consecrated October 5, 1899, by Arch- 154 The Story of Washington County bishop F, X. Katzer of Milwaukee. In 1912 a new and commodious parsonage was built. The societies founded within the congregation are: St. Joseph's society; a Society of Christian Mothers; St, Agnes's society; St, Alois's so­ ciety; a Society of the Sacred Heart; and a branch of the Catholic Knights, The ranks of the congregation many years ago were swelled by the members of St, Peter's con­ gregation, who abandoned their little church in the town of Farmington, near the town line of Trenton. The quaint old building, furnished in the most primitive manner, is now used only as a funeral chapel, when mass is said over the remains of some one who died in the neighborhood and is to be inhumed in the adjoining cemetery. The church was built at a very early period.—St. Augustine's Mission is affiliated to the Newburg parish. This mission was founded in 1855, when Messrs. Weiss, Bach, and Wollner donated thirteen acres of land for church purposes. Missionaries held the first services in the log house of Mr, Bach, In 1857 a church was built.

RICHFIELD.—St. Hubertus's Congregation.—jThis par­ ish was organized in 1846, and at once the erection of a log church was begun. It was a mission of St, Boniface's until 1854, when Rev. M. Pfeiffer took up his residence here. Under the ministry of Rev. F. Raess who came in 1875 the present church was built. A parochial school was added during the ministry of Rev. B. Weiher. Rev. P. Pape who succeeded in 1892 had the tower built and the church fitted up in a more dignified way. Three societies, the Young Ladies', the Ladies', and the Young Men's socie­ ties, were organized within the congregation. The Churches 155

ST. LAWRENCE.—St. Lawrence's Congregation.—This congregation whose church stands in the town of Hartford, near the town line of Addison, was organized in 1845, "by night," according to some old notes. In that year the Catholic pioneers of that section were for the first time visited by a priest. Rev. M, Heiss, afterwards archbishop of Milwaukee, Among the other priests who occasionally read mass in the settlement were the Revs. Mayer and Obermueller. Under the supervision of the latter, in 1846, fourteen members erected a log church. Rev. F. X. Schraudenbach was the first resident priest, and he under­ took the erection of a parochial school. People kept on coming from the old country, principally Bavaria, so rapidly that the small church soon could not hold the con­ gregation any longer, A more spacious building, of frame, was erected in 1851, from which time to 1855 Rev, Beiter administered to the congregation. During the following year. Rev. Caspar Rehrl had charge of the parish. In May, 1856, Rev, J. B. Winkelmann arrived and remained until September, 1857, being; succeeded by Rev. L. Reindl who remained till May, I860. Rev, Michael Deisenreiter who came in 1861 enlarged the church and provided it with an organ and two bells. During the administration of Rev. Martin Weiss, from 1865 to 1881, the present church and also a parsonage were built. The latter's health failed and he died on a visit to his old home in Europe, His succes­ sor. Rev. N. Thill, completed the church and built a com­ modious new schoolhouse. Sisters of St. Agnes were engaged as teachers. Three societies were founded in the congregation, namely: St, Lawrence's Benevolent society for men; St, Mary's society for married women; and St, Rose's society for young ladies. 156 The Story of Washington County

ST, MICHAELS,—St. Michael's Congregation.—The founders of this congregation were the families of M. Rodenkirch, Th, Thull, H, Herriges, J, Theusch, P, J, Schneider, J, Keller, H. Junk, P, Boehm, J. Rodermund, and J, Hammes, They left their homes in Prussia in June, 1846, sailed on the Clinton, and landed at New York, the trip across the water having taken fifty-two days. They settled in the town of Farmington, on virgin soil. The first church was built in the year of their arrival, 1846. It was a log church that cost less than twenty-five dollars. Rev. Schraudenbach who came over from St. Lawrence was their first priest He was succeeded by Rev. Beiter who also came from St, Lawrence, making the trip of twenty miles on his Indian pony, and charging the nominal sum of two dollars for each service. Other priests in charge of St, Michael's mission were the Revs, Bartoss, C, Rehrl, J, Reindl, J. A. Mueller, M, Ruckengruber, Boers, Schmitz, Stehle, and Edelmann. The first resident pastor was Rev, Cratza, He was succeeded by the Revs. Carl Grobschmidt, P. Welbes, L. N, Thelen, M, J. Lochemes, G, J, Muenzer, and Jos, Beyer, the present priest, A stone church was built in 1855 at a cost of $800, which did not include the work on the building. Eventually this church became too small, and in 1884, under the ministry of Rev. Welbes, the present spacious and imposing edifice was erected. In 1896 the interior v/as frescoed. The present schoolhouse was built under the ministry of Rev, Grobschmidt, and the present parsonage under that of Rev. Muenzer. The so­ cieties founded are: St. Michael's Benevolent society for men; the Altar society for women; and St. Rose's society for young ladies.—The Congregation of St. John of God in the town of Farmington is a mission of St. Michael's. The Churches 157

UntiLl877 it was visited by priests from Barton and S chleis ingerville.

SLINGER.—St. Peter's Congregation.—Prior to the organization of this congregation the Catholics of Slinger and vicinity were occasionally visited by missionaries who happened to come their way. The services were held in various private homes. When in 1856 a little log church had been built, the congregation was administered to by priests from St. Lawrence and Barton. These conditions lasted for nine years, until Rev. Deisenreiter, in 1856, became the first resident priest. Rev. Peter Mutz who came in 1870 had the log church enlarged and a parsonage built. In 1892, under the ministry of Rev. Karl Grob­ schmit, the present church, a stately brick structure, 113x49 feet, was erected at a cost of $19,300. It w^as consecrated May 1, 1893, by the late Archbishop Katzer. The church was furnished with three finely carved altars and fresco paintings. The basement contains a chapel. The tower rises to a height of 138 feet and has three bells. The schoolhouse was built during the pastorate of Rev. Paul Geyer who arrived in 1881, Sisters of St, Francis were intrusted with the teaching. In 1912 a parsonage costing over $7,000 was erected. The societies founded within the congregation are: St. Mary's society, organized in 1894; the Ladies' society, organized in 1892; and St, Peter's Benevolent society.

WEST BEND.—Holy Angels' Congregation.—This con­ gregation existed as a mission for about forty-four years. As far back as 1849 the Catholics of West Bend and vicinity were visited by missionaries who said mass and 158 The Story of Washington County administered the sacraments in private homes. In that year Rev. Beittner who was stationed at St. Lawrence began to attend to the mission at West Bend. In 1853 the first church, a frame building, was completed. It was but 23 X 34 feet in size and stood a block south of the old brick church. In 1862 a bell was purchased. It was the first church bell that rang in the village, and it inspired the editor of the local paper to print this: "What a seem­ ing change does the first bell give a place! Many of our generous citizens recently donated something towards pay­ ing for a bell for the Catholic church, and last Saturday (Oct. 18) one from St, Louis, which cost $220 and weighs over 600 pounds, was placed in the belfry. It is rung at 6 in the morning, at noon, and at 6 in the evening." July 10, 1866, the corner stone of the second church was laid. It was completed in the following year, save the steeple. The church was consecrated October 20, 1882, For many years the old frame church was used as a parish school. From 1870 to 1888, Rev, M, Ruckengruber of St. Mary's in Barton was the missionary, and under his direction, in 1880, a brick schoolhouse with dwelling rooms for the teachers was built. It cost $7,000. Its four rooms were arranged for the instruction of eight grades by four Sisters of Notre Dame. In 1882 Rev. Ruckengruber had the church repaired and a fine steeple added, which was 125 feet high. The church cost close to $20,000. When in July, 1893, Rev. Peter J. Stupfel who from his charge in Barton had administered to the congregation since 1888 became the resident priest, it ceased to be a mission. In 1894 a commodious parsonage was built at an expense of $6,000. In June, 1914, the erection of a new church on a fine and large plot of ground comprising an entire block The Churches 159 was begun. The corner stone was laid on August 9 follow­ ing. On June 20, 1915, the beautiful edifice was conse­ crated by Archbishop S, G, Messmer. The architectural style is Tudor Gothic, and the material is concrete, brick, and Bedford limestone. Groined vaults, springing from pendants on the walls, and magnificent painted windows heighten the effect of the interior. A new parsonage and a residence for the Sisters were also provided near the church. The property of the congregation is valued at about $125,000, Six societies were called into existence within the congregation, namely: St. Peter's Benevolent society; a branch of the Catholic Aid society; Holy Angels' Court, C. O. F,; a Ladies' Court, C. O. F,; St, Anne's society for women; and the Young Ladies' society. A council of the Knights of Columbus was organized in 1919.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN

ADDISON, TOWN.—St. Peter's Congregation.—The or­ ganization took place in 1851. Among the first members were the Rosenthal and Kirchner brothers, Roecker, Faber, Fromm, Baumgartner, and Wernicke. The present church was erected in 1872. The ministers were in succession: Revs, Denninger, Hilbert, Thiele, Klauss, Lescow, Stephen, Petri, and Weber. The pastor also has charge of Zion's Congregation in the town of Wayne, also founded in 1851. Prominent among the first members of this congregation were the Pamperin brothers, Bartelt, Wolf, Kerber, Bene- dum, Gruetzmacher, Meyer, and Schleicher. The church was built in 1862.

HARTFORD.—Pteace Congregation.—About the year 1864 the Lutherans of Hartford organized a congrega- 160 The Story of Washington County tion. Among the charter members were: E. Mueller, Albert Hacket, August Werner, L. Evert, and Louis Lau- benstein. The first trustees were: Christian Haas, Fred Lamp, John Voss, Fritz Abert, and Fritz Duehring. Rev. Albert Opitz was the first pastor. In 1863 a brick church was built costing $1,500, and subsequent improvements were made to the amount of $1,000. In 1897 another and more commodious church, the third since the organization, was erected. In December, 1920, members of this congrega­ tion, who wished to have services and sermons exclusively in the American language, formed the English Lutheran Congregation of the Redeemer. Arrangements for the erection of a church were made in 1921.

JACKSON.—Christ Congregation.—Organized August 28, 1899. Most active among the first members were Fred Prochnow, Louis Bitz, Chas, Eggert, John Froehlich, and H, Haufschild, The church was built in 1900 and dedi­ cated October 7, the same year. The first pastor was Rev, R, Grabau,

JACKSON, TOWN, — Immanuel's Congregation, — The property of this congregation which was organized in 1847 is situated three miles southeast of the village of Jackson. It consists of a church, parsonage, schoolhouse, cemetery, and of twenty acres of good land, of which ten acres are wooded. Among the first members were the Bublitz, Heckendorf, Groth, Hillmann, Kurth, Fraedrich, and Lies- ner families. The church was built in 1874, It is a Gothic structure of brick, with a spire eighty feet high, and can seat nearly SOO people. The congregation is a member of the German Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other The Churches 161 states. From 1876 to 1880 acrimonious controversies divided the members of the congregation, resulting in a considerable reduction of the enrollment. But it has since rallied and regained much of its former strength. In the first years of its existence the congregation was served by pastors from Milwaukee, namely. Revs. Ernst Keil, Fried­ rich Lochner, and Ottomar Fuerbringer. The first resident pastor was Rev. J, H, Jost (1858-1865). Then came in succession: Revs. Alexander Stamm, Hermann Meyer, Al­ bert Kaemmerer, Hermann Schmidt, and Victor Theodor Destinon. During the vacancies, pastors from Kirchhayn and Salters preached and administered the sacraments.

KEWASKUM.—St. Lucas's Congregation.—It was in 1863 when this congregation was founded. Among the first members may be mentioned: John Klein, Sr,, C, Meilahn, Sr,, Wm. Schaefer, and Ernst Wendorf, The church was built in 1870.

KIRCHHAYN. — Star of David Congregation. — The founders of this congregation belonged to the earliest set­ tlers of the eastern part of the town of Jackson. The organization was perfected in 1843. Among the first mem­ bers were: F. Heidtke, Joh. and G. Kressin, Rahn, G. Ziemer, Wm. Ehlke, Joh. Woldt, G. Fischer, F, Bublitz, J, Eggert, and Rusch, The first church, a log house, was built in 1844 and it was also used as a schoolhouse. In 1848 the second church was built; it was likewise a log house, but larger. The third church, a stately edifice of quarry sandstone, 86 x 41 feet in ground space, was erected in 1^56. The church property covers eight}?- acres of fine 162 The Story of Washington County land. Another schoolhouse was built of stone in 1866, and in 1900 a modern brick schoolhouse was erected,

NEWBURG,—St. John's Congregation.—The organiza­ tion took place April 9, 1859. Some of the first members were: John Brunns, H. Wilkens, H. Yahr, M. Geidel, F. Seidemann, J. Bloecher, F. Zinke, J. Schmidt, T. Seide- mann, and G. Zinke. The church was built in 1861-1862. The congregation was in charge of West Bend pastors until 1904, when Rev. W. Mahnke became the first resident pas­ tor. In 1909 a parochial school was established.

SALTER,—Trinity Congregation.—This congregation was organized February 21, 1866. Prominent among the first members were: Christian Hennig, Wilhelm Schroeder, Karl Rathke, Wilhelm Kringel, and Friedrich Gaenzer, The church was built in 1879. The congregation also es­ tablished a parochial school,

SCHLEISINGERVILLE,—The "German Evang. Lutheran Congregation of Schleisingerville, Wis.," was organized in 1875. The first pastor was the Rev. Albert Opitz. Some of the first members were: John Lau, Sr., John Lau, Jr., Martin Bassler, Frank Hoffmann, John Klier, G. F. Roth, Jacob Oelhafen, and August Borgmann. Until 1886, divine services were held in private houses and in a public hall. In that year a substantial brick church was erected. Soon after the organization. Rev, Opitz was succeeded by Rev. Christ, Probst of Hartford, who served the congregation in conjunction with his parish in Hartford till 1909. In that year a new parsonage ^vas built, and Rev. F. Ave- Lallemant became the first resident pastor, the society The Churches 163 having become independent of the sister-church at Hart­ ford, A parochial school also was founded.

WEST BEND,—St, John's Congregation.—Among the first settlers of West Bend were Lutherans, and they about 1850 joined with the settlers of the same faith in the town of Trenton to organize the German Evangelical Lutheran Society. Some of the first members were Carl D, Wilke, Carl, Fritz, and Wilhelm Schroeder, Ludwig Ottmer, and H, Treviranus. The first pastor was Rev, Heis. He re­ mained until 1853, when the congregation divided, the members in the town of Trenton building for themselves a log church on Ottmer's farm. For many years services in West Bend were held in the schoolhouse of District No, 2, November 16, 1858, the congregation was incor­ porated as the "German Evangelical Lutheran St, John's Society, of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession." In 1859 the society joined the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin and other states. The first pastor who made his home in West Bend was Rev. H. Roell. Under the ministry of his successor. Rev. G. Vorberg, the present handsome brick church was completed, and dedicated De­ cember 15, 1864. Rev. Vorberg's charge also embraced Emanuel's congregation in the town of Trenton, St. John's at Newburg, and a congregation in the town of Farming- ton, A parochial school was established in August, 1872, and in September following the schoolhouse was erected. Under the ministry of Rev. E. Hoyer who came in 1883 an addition to the church was built, and the parsonage remodeled. Under him, in 1918, the congregation also erected a handsome new brick schoolhouse along modem principles of srchool architecture. The building also serves 164 The Story of Washington County social purposes, having a large hall in the second story and bowling alleys in the basement.—Trinity congregation was organized September 19, 1922, with twenty-five members who desired services exclusively in the English language, A missionary had attended to them during the previous spring and summer. Regular services are held every Sun­ day at the Masonic temple. The congregation is a member of the English Lutheran Church of North America. The congregation in 1923 bought a church site, on which to erect their own house of worship.

EVANGELICAL ACKERVILLE*—St, Paul's Congregation,—The incom­ plete records of this congregation show that it existed in 1859; it probably was organized several years earlier. Among the first members were Lorenz Guth, Peter Guen­ ther, George Kroehler, Phil. Lehner, John Albrecht, and Phil. Kurtz. The first church, a log structure, existed in 1862, for the records tell of repairs that became necessary in that year. The present church was built in 1874, The pastor also administers to the spiritual wants of St John's Congregation in the town of Polk, In 1852, twelve families joined in founding that congregation. Among its first mem­ bers were Geo. Mayer, Sr., and John Schmidt. In 1854 the first church was built of logs. The parsonage was put up in 1862, In 1895 a brick church was erected.

DHEINSVILLE.—Christ Congregation.—As early as 1844 this congregation was founded. The founders were Ph. Dhein, Sr., William Wasmuth, and Andrew Wetterau. They came to America with their families in 1842, and for ^^he The Churches 165 first few years their chief object was to establish a home for their families. Ph, Dhein was the first one on the spot, and he was of help to those who followed. He helped them pick out their land, for which they paid one dollar an acre; "school land" could be had for less, A rude log house was the first meeting place and also the schoolhouse of the pioneers, where their children were taught during three months of the year—out of an old spelling book. After the three months had elapsed, they were so much older, "but no wiser," as one claimed in later years, A Rev, Schmidt, with whom Mr. Dhein became acquainted, came out from Milwaukee, once every four weeks, and served the settlers with the word of God, The news of the first religious meeting in the log school located a mile west of the present Christ church spread over the surrounding country, and other settlers came and joined in the worship; women came, carrying their babies with them, and the schoolhouse soon proved too small. The Weimars and the Meyers, and brothers of Ph. Dhein, as well as seven bro­ thers of the Klumbs, and the large families of Kraetschs and Dixes were added to the faithful band. In the early '50's a church was put up, where Christ church now stands. Here the pioneers met for religious service, and also to ex­ change their experiences during the week, A stone church was built and dedicated about 1861, After Rev. Schmidt's death. Rev. Fleischer was called to the pulpit. He was succeeded, in I860, by Rev, Binner. Steadily the congre­ gation grew, and, in 1868, Rev. C. Ruegg was called, of whom more will be said later on.

ERIN, TOWN.—St. Paul's Congregation.—This congre­ gation was founded in 1840, when a log church was built. 166 The Story of Washington County

Jacob, Henry, and John Loew, Jacob Schneider, and George Hoffman were among the first members. When, in 1880, Jacob Loew gave three acres of land for the site of a church and a cemetery, a new edifice was erected. The old log church was torn down,

FILLMORE,—St, Martin's Congregation,—In 1861, a number of Protestants came together to organize this con­ gregation. Among them were: Jac. Plaum, Gottlieb Schuster, C, Bormann, C. Degnitz, E, Klessig, G, Jaehnig, and W, Beger. The first church was built in 1862. In 1891, a new and substantial church was erected. The pastors who served the congregation were: Revs. Vorberg, Gause- witz, Frank, Grunewald, Barth, Brunn, and Erber. The first two were Lutheran and the others were Evangelical ministers. St, John's Congregation at Silver Creek, town of Farmington, a charge of St, Martin's, was organized in the early days by English and German settlers as a Free Baptist association, but since 1905 it is an Evangelical con­ gregation. Some of the first members were: Andreas Kraetsch, Ed. Woog, John Meisner, O. Plaum, C. Morgen- roth, and Haentze. It is not known in what year the church was built.

GERMANTOWN, TOWN.—St. John's Congregation.—The church of this religious body, situated in Section 35, was built in the early '40's. The charter members were Messrs. Straub, Herboldt, and Gilbert. Many pastors came and went since the congregation was established.—Zoar Con­ gregation, in the same town, was founded in 1895. The first trustees were: U. Huber, Wm. Meyer, Peter Bast, Val. Hoelz, Louis Boeker, and J. Bast, Sr. On June 16, The Churches 167 the place which was donated by Louis Boeker was formally dedicated as a site for the church and parsonage, and July 7, the comer stone was laid. Sixteen heads of families signed the constitution, and by vote the name of "Zoar" was chosen for the church. The latter was dedicated Octo­ ber 15. Rev, Caspar Ruegg was the first pastor. He had served in the Dheinsville church since 1868, and when he retired from this charge he could say that he had admin­ istered to the spiritual wants of the same people for forty- six years. His career was unique in several respects. He was born in Switzerland, of poor parents, and learned the trade of a wood carver and later was enabled to study for the ministry. In 1866 he came to America and took charge of a congregation at Madison, Wis. Two years later he began to labor in this county. He also organized St. Paul's congregation in Menomonee Falls, St. Jacob's in the town of Jackson, and at one time conducted services in the schoolhouse at Mayfield. He never made use of a horse and did all his home visitations on foot. During his career he preached 4,280 sermons, and almost every one he burned up in the stove, after it was held, so as not to be tempted to use it again, as he abhorred sameness. He died in 1915, almost sainted by his parishioners.

HARTFORD,—St. John's Congregation.—The organiza­ tion took place in January, 1874. Among the first mem­ bers were: Ch. F. Lohr, John Schroeder, Adolph Spaeth, Geo. Laubenstein, Louis Laubenstein, and L. Kissel. The first church was bought from the Universalist congregation. In 1907 a splendid brick church was built. In 1910 the congregation installed a fine pipe organ, half the cost of which Andrew Carnegie paid.—Zion's Congregation.—Or- 168 The Story of Washington County ganized in 1862. Among the charter members were: Nick Hosig, Michael Reik, John Steiner, and Anton Fischback. The first church was built in 1864. It was superseded by another church in 1885. A new and imposing church edifice was erected in 1917.

JACKSON, TOWN.—Peace Congregation.—In 1852, a number of German settlers of the towns of Jackson and Polk founded a congregation and named it "Evangelical Protestant United Congregation." A constitution was framed and adopted April 20, 1852, and Gottlieb Hammel donated the grounds for a cemetery and a church, in the northwest corner of Section 18, town of Jackson. A log church was built in the same year. The first board of directors consisted of Jacob Theurer, Fred Anspach, and Peter Theobald. The incorporation took place March 20, 1859. From 1851 to 1867 the congregation was served by ministers of various denominations. Evangelical, Pres­ byterian, Congregational, and Episcopal, as Protestant pas­ tors were scarce at the time. Each minister was engaged for but one service and received his pay after it was over. Some of the ministers were: Revs. Schmidt, Biener, Fleischer, Krantz (a carpenter who as a side-line did some preaching), and Bickel. From 1867 to 1912 it was served by resident Reformed ministers. In 1878 the present church was erected. In 1882 another constitution was adopted, in which the name was changed to "Evangelical Reformed Congregation." The first resident pastor was Rev. Hinske. He was, in 1870, succeeded by Rev. F. P. Leich who served for twenty-eight years. In 1904 a difference of opinion among the members brought on a heated denominational controversy which, in 1912, was settled by the State Su- The Churches 169

preme Court, whereupon a number of families together with the pastor. Rev. Wm. C. Zenk, who had served since 1907, separated and founded a new congregation of the Evangelical Reformed creed. The others were again taken into the fold of the Evangelical church, to which the con­ gregation belonged from the start.

KEWASKUM.—Peace Congregation.—This congregation was founded in 1898, and in the same year the church was built. The first officers were: Karl Doms, president; L. D. Guth, secretary; Christ. Schaefer, Sr., treasurer. The pastors in succession were: Revs. R. Grunewald, A. Franke, H. Erber, and F. Mohme.

KoHLSviLLE.—St. John's Congregation.—This congre­ gation was organized in 1855. Some of the early members were Jac. Endlich, Ch. Jung, Bormann, and Hose. The first church was built in 1862. The present edifice was erected in 1892. It was remodeled in 1917. St. Paul's Congregation in the town of West Bend is affiliated to the former. It was founded in 1865, and the first church was built in the same year. Among the first members may be mentioned Philip Bauer, H. Wolfrum, and Peter Riesch, Sr. The present church dates from the year 1894.

RICHFIELD.—"Emanuel's Evangelical Association" was organized in 1852, and the first church arose in the same year. Among the first members were Carl Ph. Held, Phil. Peter Reichert, and John Straub. In 1898, a new church with modern conveniences was erected in the village of Richfield. Affiliated to this congregation is Zion's Congre­ gation in the town of Richfield. It was founded in 1846, 170 The Story of Washington County and Gottfried Motz, Jos. Suson, Jos. Harlacher, Phil. Becker, and Isaac Romig were among the first members. The first church was built in 1851, and in 1886 the congre­ gation had a new church put up.

RICHFIELD, TOWN.—St. Jacob's Congregation.—In 1852 this German congregation was organized, and in the same year a log church and a small parsonage were raised. Some of the original members were: Philip Schneider, Conrad and John Eimermann, Peter Hartleb, John Leon- hardt, Balthasar Ebling, Gottlieb Griesemer, Ernst Schwamb, Jacob Klippel, Jacob Kurtz, Adam Held, John Kessel, Jacob Maurer, and Jacob Kissling. Children of the founders now constitute the body of the congregation. In 1892, a new frame church and an addition to the par­ sonage were built. The pastor also has charge of St. Peter's Congregation in the town of Jackson, which was founded in 1858, when a little log church was built. The first pastor who prersched in it was Rev. Roell. The grounds were donated by Philip Weinheimer and Peter Dautermann. Later, the building was sheathed with siding and crowned with a little steeple. Besides the aforenamed, Philip Mann, Charles Schuette, and Melchior Reis consti­ tuted the first board of trustees. Among the first mem­ bers were Michael Reis, Peter Schneiss, Caspar Weifen­ bach, and the Schowaiters. A new frame church with furnace heating and basement for school purposes was built in 1909.

SLINGER.—St. John's Congregation.—The names of the first trustees appear on a deed of April 5, 1846. They were Friedrich Kohl, Andreas Oelhafen, Ph. Sory, The Churches 171 and Joh. Thomas Genver. The deed was for a parcel of real estate which the congregation bought of Julius Schleisinger and Pauline, his wife, for the consideration of one dollar. The congregation was incorporated January 3, 1854, under the name of "United Evangelical Lutheran Church." Among the trustees were Thomas Faber, Fried­ rich Klier, and Caspar Overmann. Meanwhile the congre­ gation had built their first church, a hexagonal log house which stood back of the present church. The same also served as a schoolhouse for the Catholics, which shows that the first settlers were very tolerant in religious matters. The first pastors came occasionally from neighboring places. Among them were Rev. Fuchs (1853 or 1854) and Rev. Sauer. Regular services seem to date from the year 1857, when Rev. Fleischer, living in Germantown, served the congregation. His successor, from 1863 to 1867, was Rev. Opitz, under whose ministry a stone church was built in 1864. The next pastor was Rev. J. H. Keitel, for whom, in 1868, a frame manse was put up. He resigned in 1871, being opposed to certain rules adopted by the congregation. In 1872, he was succeeded by Rev. Hirtz, under whom the conflict between the Lutheran and Evangelical factions of the members became acute, and finally was brought into court which decided in favor of the Evangelicals. There­ upon Rev. Hirtz resigned in 1875, and Rev. Mernitz of Ackerville took his place until Rev. J. Koehler, a Re­ formed minister, arrived and remained until 1876. Next came Rev. N. Severing, of the Evangelical Synod. He left in 1878, and in March, 1879, he was succeeded by Rev. Campmeier. In 1881 the Hartford congregation, thus far affiliated to this congregation, withdrew, and the pastor left. The successor was Rev. Jean Greb, a Re- 172 The Story of Washington County formed minister. He remained until September, 1882. Then the Hartford congregation again joined, and Rev. K. L. Kemm administered to both until May, 1888. Then followed a period during which outside pastors helped out. In 1889, the congregation joined the Evangelical Synod and induced Rev. R. Rami to take the ministry. He re­ mained until 1896, when the congregation decided to be served by the pastor of the Hartford congregation which had become independent. Until 1902 Rev. Gammert served in that capacity. Next came Rev. Blankenagel who re­ signed in 1909. The congregation then decided to again have their own pastor and chose Rev. Herm. Mueller. In the same year a new parsonage was built. In June, 1912, lightning struck the church and almost completely de­ stroyed its interior. By October it was renovated. July 19, 1914, the congregation celebrated the golden jubilee of the church dedication, and also the sixty-fifth anniversary of its organization.

WAYNE, TOWN.—Three Evangelical congregations were founded in this town, (St. Paul's) in Section 10, in Section 6, and in Section 25. None of them has a resident pastor, and records are wanting or fragmentary.

EVANGELICAL REFORMED FILLMORE.—The Evangelical Reformed Congregation was originally organized as "Independent Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Town Farmington, Washington County, Wis." The organization was perfected July 19, 1891, and the church had been built shortly before. Some of the first members were: Max Gruhle, Jacob Plaum, H. F. The Churches 173

Beger, Wm. A. Crass, Carl Degnitz, Wm, Gerner, Justus Klein, H. J. Moths, Wm. Bretschneider, Moritz Eisentraut, and Gottlieb Meuschke.

JACKSON, TOWN.—Peace Congregation.—The history is identical with that of the Evangelical Peace congregation of the same town. After the separation from that congre­ gation, it was organized in the summer of 1912 with an enrollment of twenty-eight families, A church located one- half mile west of Jackson was built, of which the corner stone was laid August 18, 1912. The building was de­ stroyed by fire, caused by lightning, in the night of June 10, 1922, and a new edifice was erected during the following summer.

WAYNE, TOWN.—German Evang. Reformed Salem's Congregation.—The original name of this congregation was "Ev, Luth. St. Jacob's Congregation." It was organ­ ized in 1857, and the first church was built in the same year, during the pastorate of Rev. Rech. Among the first members were Jacob Boos, Geo. Schaub, Anton Schmittel, and Geo. Arnet. In 1878 it was organized under the name of "German Evang. Reformed Salem's Congregation." A new church was built in 1879, during the ministry of Rev. A. Guenther. Among the reorganizers were L. Schaub, Wm, Petri, F. Menger, and Wm, Radke.

WEST BEND.—The Evangelical Reformed Congregation was founded in 1890. The charter members were: Henry Krieger, Fred Krieger, Carl Quade, Philipp Heipp, Wm, Fischer, Val. Muenk, John Lohr, Wm. Freuk, and John Treviranus. During the first year the congregation was 174 The Story of Washington County served alternately by Rev. C. Huecker of Campbellsport, and Rev. F, P, Leich of Jackson. The first services were held in the old Baptist church. In the meeting of August 16, 1891, it was decided to have a resident pastor. The choice fell upon Rev. Friedrich Wagner, During his ministry the site for the church and the parsonage was bought, and an adequate building erected. Rev. Wagner removed in 1893, and his successor was Rev. J. Terborg v/ho remained till 1898. In that year Rev. C. Ruppert took charge of the congregation which had been largely reduced in numbers, only about twenty families remaining. Under his ministry the church was renovated, a new parsonage was built, and the membership largely increased. A new and larger church, of russet brick and tile and noble Gothic lines, was erected in 1922.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL WEST BEND.—"Hardly a scratch of record of the early history of West Bend M. E. Church can be found, save the roll of membership and the records of the Quarterly Conference routine business," says Rev. J. B. Noyes, a former pastor of the congreagtion, in a booklet which he published in 1904. It appears from his list of pastors that Rev. David Lewis was the first minister, serving in 1854-55. Here is an interesting scrap of a record: "P. W. Frink, the M. E. Preacher that traveled from Green Bay to Chi­ cago on horseback; Elisha Springer, Presiding Elder, first on West Bend Circuit; H, M, Train, first preacher; P. S. Bennett, Presiding Elder, Isaac Sleigh, Presiding Elder, 600 miles around his district, forded streams 7 and 8 feet deep," Another item jotted down tells that Abraham and The Churches 175

Clara Van Epps were charter members. The Wisconsin Conference was organized in 1848, and West Bend Mission appears in the records with Wauwatosa, A, C. Penncock, pastor. From records of baptism, reception of members, etc, it appears that this work was more or less connected at different times with Kewaskum, Auburn, Barton, Sauk­ ville, Fredonia, Oak Creek, Trenton, Myra, Jackson, and other places, but whether preaching services were held regularly is not known. The old church stood in the vicinity of the former County Poor farm in the town of Jackson, The congregation later decided to have their place of worship in West Bend where a church was built in 1872, and a parsonage in 1892. The congregation organized a Sunday school and an Epworth League.

GERMAN METHODIST

WEST BEND.—The German Methodist Congregation was ushered into existence when in 1855 or 1856—the exact date is not known here—Rev. Frederick Heinz commenced to preach and hold services in the schoolhouse at West Bend. March 19, 1858, a lot was purchased, upon which a frame church was built. It stood east of the Courthouse square. Among the first members and trustees were John Kammer, Henry Wiek, George Schneider, and Nikolaus Eifler. The congregation belonged to the Rock River Mission until, in 1864, the German congregations were separated from the English. A church was purchased in 1892. It had been formerly owned and occupied by a Baptist congregation. The congregation also built a par­ sonage. The pastor also has charge of the German Metho­ dist Congregation of Kopp's District in the town of Barton. 176 The Story of Washington County

This was organized in 1848. The first minister was Rev. A. Keller, and among the first members were John Vai- hinger, F. Kopp, John Kopp, Martin Rilling, and Wm. Fenstermacher. The first church was built in 1852. After it had burned down, another church was erected in 1858. This was struck by lightning and burned down in the sum­ mer of 1913. A new and modern church was raised on the foundation of the old and was dedicated November 29, 1914.

CONGREGATIONAL HARTFORD.—The First Congregational Church was organized December 19, 1847, by Rev. Norman Miller of Lisbon, Waukesha county. Wis., with ten members. They were: Cyrus Bissell, Amanda Bissell, Lewis B. Stowe, Laura W- Stowe, Fidelia F, Musgrove, Russell S, Knee­ land, Electa Kneeland, William R. Coates, George C. Wil­ liams, and Mary A. Williams. In 1853, the church—a frame structure 32x50 feet—was built. The church was rebuilt in 1874. It is now a brick-cased edifice with noble lines and a fine Renaissance tower. This congrega­ tion for some years held the English Methodists of the city in its fold, the church going under the name of "Fed­ erated Church." The union was dissolved in 1921, and the Methodists since do their worshipping separately.

EPISCOPAL

WEST BEND.—St. James's Congregation.—The parish for a long time had been a mission of the Milwaukee dio­ cese. Later it was served by resident ministers. Under the rectorate of Rev. Johannes Salinger a parsonage was The Churches 177 built and other improvements were made on the church property. The chapel was erected in 1870. When Rev. Salinger left, the parish again lapsed into the mission state.

BAPTIST WAYNE, TOWN.—Zion's Congregation of German Bap­ tists was founded in 1850. Some of the charter members were Wilhelm Mollhagen, M. Schwendener, and F. Mueller. The church was erected in 1865. The first preacher was Rev. W. E. Grim. The congregation has no resident min­ ister.—Another Baptist congregation was organized near Ackerville in the town of Polk, which likewise has no resi­ dent preacher.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HARTFORD.—A Christian Science society was organized in 1919, and regular meetings have been held since. WEST BEND.—The Christian Science Society of West Bend was informally organized in March, 191O. The so­ ciety in 1921 built a substantial church edifice of hollow tile, brick and concrete and of the accepted classical design for such churches. X

EDUCATION HE hope of the nation lies with her schools. It is a T truism that, as a river never rises higher than its source, the intellectual standard of a nation is never higher than that of her schools. The early history of the public schools in Washington county is very meagre and frag­ mentary. Almost everything that could be gathered has already been said in preceding chapters. About the first thing the old settlers did after they had gained a foothold in the wild, but still in the shadow of the arduous task that they had laid out for themselves, was to look after the education of their children. The reader will remember that the first schools were held in the garrets of log houses and in abandoned shacks and log huts. Probably the school very often met in the Great Open. As teachers were rare, most anyone who had a little superior knowledge, a smattering of learning, was welcome to transplant it into the young minds, "to teach the young idea how to shoot," as the phrase went. An instance is recorded, when a teacher wrote out his own certificate, and the school board let it go at that. As the town of Germantown was the first town settled in the county, the first school district was organized in that town. The earliest school report of the district is that of 1842. At the time Washington and Ozaukee coun­ ties were one county, and the town of Germantown com­ prised school district No. 5. It appears that up to the time Education 179 schools had been established in only three townships, namely, Grafton, Mequon, and Germantown, That oldest report gives the names of thirty-five heads of families in the town of Germantown, who sent eighty-three children to school. The school clerk was Levi Ostrander, The children's age was between four and sixteen. Two years later, in 1844, the same town had three school districts. The school census and apportionment of school money of April 1, 1844, throws some light on these districts. Fulton district. No. 1, Town 7, Range 20, had 140 scholars and was to get $93.92 for school purposes; the clerk was Levi Ostrander, Franklin district. No, 2, Town 9, Range 20, had 68 scholars and was apportioned $45,62 for the maintenance of the school, of which J, G, Southwell was the clerk, Darmstadt district. No, 4, Town 9, Range 20, had 66 scholars, for whose education $44.27 was to be raised; the clerk was E, Semler. At the time the town of Germantown had 274 children who went to school. The apportionment of school money at the present day appears ludicrously little, but conditions in those days were different from ours. Of one of the first (perhaps the first) schoolmasters of Old Washington county, William Wirth, it was said that he taught three months for twelve dollars a month, boarding himself. He gave one acre of land, on which the log schoolhouse was built. He came in 1838 and taught, in 1840, in the vicinity of Thiensville. Of the examination of another early teacher, E, H. Janssen, by one of the school commissioners, an old settler left the following humorous account: "The first school commissioners were Daniel Strick­ land, Harry V. Bonniwell, and Levi Ostrander. Strickland, soon after his appointment, assumed the responsibility of 180 The Story of Washington County examining Mr. Janssen who had applied for one of the schools. Thinking to be rigid with the pedagogue, Strick­ land approached him with an air of self-importance and put the following arithmetical problem: *Now, sir, suppose that I were to sell you one hundred bushels of wheat at 75 cents a bushel, how much money would you have to pay me?' *Seventy-five dollars,' promptly answered Janssen. *Good enough, you are a smart fellow to answer a question like that so readily.' Strickland then scratched his head, and as he could think of no more difficult problems in mathe­ matics, concluded to try some other branch, and, accord­ ingly, switched off onto geography, A happy thought struck him; he had, during his younger days, experienced considerable of ocean life, and, while on one of his ex­ tended voyages, had been wrecked on the island of Mada­ gascar, Here, then, was where he could corner Janssen. With all the assurance imaginable, he approached the anxious candidate, for something in his looks warned the aspirant that some great question was about to be pro­ pounded. *Well, sir,' said Strickland, 'perhaps you can tell me, where the island of Madagascar is located?' This was a puzzler, and might have sealed Janssen's doom, but for the kindly assistance of a friend who stood near, who had heard Strickland relate his adventure on this island. He whispered the location to Janssen who at once replied: *Off the coast of Africa.' That was enough; Strickland grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: *You are the smartest man I ever met, you can have the school right off!" So much on the pioneer teachers and the conditions which confronted them. As to what the old schoolhouses looked like, the reader has already gained some idea. He can easily imagine that the furniture and equipment were Education 181 in harmony with the primitive surroundings. The editor of the old Democrat drew a picture of the old-time school- house, which probably comes very close to the average, when he spoke of the West Bend schoolhouse of I860 as a "house with whitewashed walls and uncurtained windows, through which the sun's rays streamed all through the long summer day upon blistered necks and sweating faces and aching spines, because the soil was too niggardly to nourish a tree to mitigate with its shade the suffocating, blinding heat; with seats so high from the floor that the feet of the tallest might not hope to reach them for years—seats with backs made by a plumb line, and confronted by horizontal desks, hacked with jackknives of no-one-knows-how-many owners, and besmeared with enough logwood ink to cover with pot-hooks every sheet of foolscap in Wisconsin; a house whose builders must have thought that the young intellect could not grow without water as well as air, and so with wonderful sagacity placed the ventilating machinery in the roof; a house whose play-ground was a wilderness of sand and whose 'apparatus' consisted of an oaken ferule and Walker's Dictionary." Because seventy or eighty years ago the schoolhouse was the only public building available, it served more pur­ poses than now. Social gatherings, political meetings, "literaries," elections, religious meetings, and spelling schools were held in them. If some of the old school- houses, like that at Barton, could tell their story, many odd things would be exhumed. Who still remembers the old spelling schools? We hear of the few whose memory reaches back to them, that they were occasions of great social interest. They must have been, or the Democrat of January 16, I860, could not have fallen into this trans- 182 The Story of Washington County porting strain: "How it carries one back to the days of his boyhood to attend a regular old-fashioned spelling school. How it brings up thoughts of boyish flirtations, or sly kisses given and taken when the 'master's' back was turned. These long winter evenings are being improved by all the school teachers in this vicinity, by having numerous 'spells of spelling,' from which some benefits, a few sleigh rides, and any quantity of fun are derived." The social feeling of a community of pioneers with their buoyant spirits was intense, and it centered in the doings at the schoolhouse. People who came to take up homesteads and making homes were far more interested in their neighborhood which they helped to create than are the farmers today, who think of deserting their land for the city, or the tenant whose only interest in the land he tills is concentrated on what he can get out of it. The old schoolhouses really were as much intended for meetings for the grown-ups as for children. The old desks with their high seats and their backs made "after the plumb line" were convenient enough for men and women, while the invention of the modern school desk has made the rural schoolhouse rather impracticable for public meet­ ings. Then, too, as villages and cities with their halls had sprung up, and many churches had been built, the school- houses fell into disuse as places for other than school pur­ poses. The "literary" only, although modernized, has sur­ vived these changes. The first Teachers' Institute in the county, of which records are left, was held in June, I860, at Hartford. Immediately after the session the "Washington County Teachers' Association" was organized. In October of the same year, another Institute was held at West Bend, to Education 183

accommodate a greater number of teachers. Thirty-five were present, and the speakers were S. S. Smith and Rev. H. Beckwith of Hartford, State Superintendent Pickard, Mr. Gaylord of Oshkosh, and I. N. Frisby of West Bend. In the meeting of the Teachers' association, which fol­ lowed, W. K. Barney of Hartford read the minutes of the first meeting held at Hartford. The Teachers' Institutes have since become a part of the school system of the county. They are held annually during the summer vacation, and they provide most of the teachers in the rural schools with their special training. In 1861, the county system of school supervision was established, and the town system which so far had existed was done away with. The first county school superin­ tendent, elected in that year, was Frederick Regenfuss. He had taught in the county for some years previous to his election, and was considered a very good educator. His last venture was a German and English Select school held in the courthouse at West Bend. Apropos, in these days, when the public schools of the county were yet in their infancy, the Select schools flourished, which were private schools intended to give a better education. The old newspaper files mention a number of them. The county in those early days could also boast of two academies. Newark (Barton) Academy was incorporated in 1853, and West Bend Academy in 1865, Both institutions, if they ever flourished, must have done so very unostentatiously, as nothing of them is recorded in the old files as far as they are preserved. The codex of legislative acts now seems to be the only proof that they really existed upon a time. With the advent of the county system of school supervision, things in the educational line improved materially. Mr. 184 The Story of Washington County

Regenfuss held his position for fourteen years, and he brought the schools of the county to a higher plane of effi­ ciency. He was born December 3, 1824, in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and prepared for the educational field at Altdorf seminary. In 1849, with the immigration wave following the failure of the German revolution, he came to America, locating in Milwaukee. He opened a private school which he later, together with Peter Engelmann, enlarged. It eventually assumed the name of German-English Academy. Together with Mr. Englemann he also published a German reader, the first book of its kind coming from a Milwaukee press. After eleven years spent at Milwaukee, he came to West Bend, Being also a friend of music and song, he was chosen director of the Liederkranz and the Harmonic, male and female singing societies in those days existing in West Bend, Mr, Regenfuss died July 9, 1886, at West Bend and was buried there. The public schools of the county form a part of the State public school system. The State sets aside as a per­ manent fund the Federal grant of section 16 in each town­ ship, with 500,000 acres of land and 5 per cent of the pro­ ceeds of the sale of public lands in the State, together with less important items. This school-fund income is supple­ mented by a State tax of one mill on the dollar. The com­ bined amount is annually apportioned among the counties, towns, villages, and cities in proportion to the number of children in each of from four to twenty years of age. In their turn the counties must levy upon each town, city, and village a tax equal to their proportion of the combined school fund and State mill tax. In the course of the years four High schools were established in the county, the first one at West Bend, Education 185

Hartford following, and in more recent years High school classes were added to the State Graded schools at Kewaskum and Slinger. These schools primarily are intended to give pupils who have completed the work of the elementary schools an opportunity to carry on their studies to a higher level, and also to take up new studies. Diplomas are awarded to students who complete the courses. For these reasons the High schools may be called "people's colleges." Another object of these schools is to prepare young men and women for the college and univer­ sity, and thus they become intermediate or preparatory schools, especially in states where a state university is at the head of the educational system. The High schools of West Bend and Hartford are accredited at the University of Wisconsin. This means that the University accepts the diplomas of their graduates instead of entrance examina­ tions. Besides the elementary schools of eight grades in the cities of Hartford and West Bend, there are in the county one school of four grades, eight schools of two grades, and eighty-one rural schools. Of the latter many belong to the first class, that is to say, there has been installed in them a heating and ventilating system and other equipment which entitles them to a special State aid of fifty dollars per year for a period of three years. To stimulate the efforts of the pupils in the rural schools, diploma examinations have been introduced with gratifying results within recent years. Graduation exercises are jointly held since 1918. The "little schoolhouse at the cross-road" is of vast importance to a county that is overwhelmingly dependent on agriculture as the mainstay. Its destiny is shaped within those walls. The improvement of the rural schools 186 The Story of Washington County is an ever recurrent topic of the superintendents' annual reports. It also has aroused the attention of sociologists. The social center movement of our days is to be extended over the rural districts, and the rural schools are again to become centers of social life as in the pioneer days. They are to prepare the children for country life. Agriculture already is taught as a branch of study. Agricultural con­ tests for children are arranged during the County Fair. The country school of the future, according to the ideas of its regenerators, will be one in which teacher, text books, and course of study shall be correlated to country life. Teachers, children, and parents will work together upon the problems of farm life. In this way the problem of vocational education in the rural schools will readily be solved. The problem will be much more complicated for the city schools, because of the diversified vocations of the city. In the public schools of West Bend an important step in that direction was taken in 1911 by the introduction of manual training. This was made possible through the efforts of the local Woman's club. Instruction in domestic science for the girls also was taken up on the initiative of this club. Similar classes were added to other schools in the county. The movement for manual training sprang from the conviction that more should be done to fit boys for the practical duties of life. This conviction was gained from the success of the trade- schools of European countries, especially those of Ger­ many. In America, however, the direct pedagogical value of manual training is considered of more importance than the effect it may have on the future employment of children. As another, although only transitory, educational step Education 187 may be mentioned the oldening of an evening school at Hartford in 1912, to instruct the large percentage of for­ eign population of that city in the language and customs of our country. A vocational school with evening classes was established at West Bend in 1920. The parochial schools of the county have been mentioned in the chapter on "The Churches." They are supported by the respective congregations. Catholic and Lutheran, and in their instructional standards they generally endeavor to keep on a level with those of the public schools. Graduates from the former are admitted to the High schools, and a cooperative spirit is gaining strength. Of late, beginnings of consolidation, of combining sev­ eral small schools in a larger school, may be noticed in the rural school system. The town of Trenton was the first township in the county to establish a consolidated school district. This was in 1918, when three little schools were united in one. A fine concrete-and-brick school build­ ing costing about $6,000 was erected in Section 8. The building embodies the chief modern ideas of school archi­ tecture. In a State University bulletin on "Some Economic Factors Which Influence Rural Education in Wisconsin," published in 1916, Washington county figures with twenty rural schools with less than fifteen pupils each. Their number increased since, as the number of pupils decreased. To avoid this expensive and unsatisfactory kind of instruc­ tion, small schools closed and sent their children to neigh­ boring larger schools, transporting them to the place and back, part of the latter cost being paid by the State. This way the small school districts did not lose their identity. The difficulties with which our rural schools have to 188 The Story of Washington County fight are mostly due to averse economic factors. The sys­ tem was laid out under conditions as they existed seventy or eighty years ago. They have since changed as materially as the country has changed in its strides to higher develop­ ment. The average farm in Washington county seventy or eighty years ago contained forty acres. The county at the 1910 census had but 49 farms of from 20 to 49 acres, and 56 farms of from 50 to 99 acres. The rest contained 100 acres and over. This change in the size of the farms took place all over southern Wisconsin. When in former years, in the days of the small farm, a larger number of families could send their children to the neighboring school, the attendance grew smaller with the increasing size of farms, as a number of families moved out of the district. Not only has the number of farms and the number of farm families decreased, but the composition of the popula­ tion itself has changed. Many of the original settlers were of foreign birth. Census figures of 1920 showed that the percentage of foreign-born in the county had decreased to 9-6, while ten years before it still was 14,2, It had reached a lower point than in any of the surrounding counties and was the seventh lowest in the State, It has been found that the number of children to the family of women of foreign birth is larger than the number of those of native parentage. Since the percentage of foreigners is de­ creasing and the percentage of natives is increasing, the number of children to the farm is necessarily decreasing. In the same bulletin Washington county ranks fourth among the counties of the State, which have the least per­ centage of illiteracy, it being 1,3 per cent among pupils between ten and twenty years of age. But it is reminded that illiteracy is often more the result of social and Education 189 economic conditions effecting parents than of the adminis­ tration of schools. Yet, it has been found that where a large number of schools with small attendance are located, the percentage of illiteracy is the lowest in the State. The 1920 census gives the county 1 per cent of illiteracy, while the average for the State is given with 2.4 per cent. The press usually is quoted among the educational fac­ tors, and so an historical sketch of it may find its place in connection with the schools. No doubt it can wield a powerful influence for good or evil; it can also mold the mind, only slower, because it addresses itself to the grown­ ups who have passed the most plastic stage, that of child­ hood. That the press of the county from the very start influenced public opinion, nobody will deny, who is familiar with its early history. It actually at one time had a weighty influence on the public opinion of the State, The oldest newspaper of the county is the West. Bend News. It was started at West Bend in the spring of 1855, under the name of Washington County Organ, by R. B. Wentworth, a printer. He had little luck with it, and at the close of the year he sold out. The name was changed to Washington County Democrat. In I86I the name and ownership again were changed, the former to West Bend Post. The owners and editors changed many times during the next decade, and mutations, at a slower gait, continued after that. In 1875 the name was changed to West Bend Democrat. In 1887 the West Bend Times, a paper estab­ lished in June, 1880, by B. S. Potter and Clarence L. Powers, was merged in the Democrat. In 1902 the name was changed to West Bend News. The paper always has been a weekly, and until 1896 sided with the Democratic party, when the Free Silver issue caused it to turn Repub- 190 The Story of Washington County lican. The most remarkable of the editors connected with the paper was Josiah T. Farrar, who edited it for a few years ending with 1861 and who was known all over the State for his wit.—The West Bend Pilot was launched in 1892 by Charles E. Robinson under the name of Washing­ ton County Pilot. The paper since has changed hands twice. It has always been Democratic. The Hartford Press was at first, in 1872, published at West Bend under the name of West Bend Republican by a corporation. Its first editor was S. S. Barney. It was the first Republican paper started in the county. In 1876 the place of publication was changed to Hartford. In politics it remained Republican, the State campaign of 1918 excepted.—The Hartford Times was founded in 1894 by Tim Foley and A. J. Hemmy. It always adhered to Democratic policies. Both Hartford papers for a number of years were published semi-weekly, but in I9II they went back to the weekly issue. The Kewaskum Statesman, also a weekly, is published at Kewaskum since 1895. It was founded by Charles E. Krahn and its first editor was George Nugent. In politics it has pursued an independent course. Several other English papers have at times been pub­ lished in the county, but they died a peaceful death either from want of support, or from an outlived cause. The most noteworthy of them was The Home League, started at Hartford in I86I by A. M. Thomson. It was devoted to the interests of the railroad mortgagors of Wisconsin, who were hard beset by the creditors of the bankrupt railroads, and were in imminent danger of losing their farms and everything they had, and eventually did lose much. It was "the friend of labor, and the uncompromising foe of swin- Education 191 dling corporations," as the prospectus read. The little paper was edited by Thomson, and it circulated in the county and the State. After the courts had upheld the claims of the mortgagees and his championship was of no avail, publication was discontinued. The first German weekly, Der Phoenix, was started at West Bend in 1858 by Gustav Grahl. It appeared for about a year. In 1861 the experiment was repeated by F. Orthwein who had bought the outfit of the defunct Port Washington Adler. The name of the paper was West Bend Democrat. After it had come out a few times, its publisher locked shop and enlisted in the army to help squelch the Rebellion. Later, a German weekly, the Washington County Banner, was published in connection with the En­ glish West Bend Post. It lasted for less than two years. In 1888 the Washington County Publishing association bought the Beobachter, a weekly which had appeared at Fond du Lac since 1880, and began to publish it at West Bend. It lived through almost thirty-seven years and was discontinued in 1917, owing to want of support. Its mis­ sion, as it explained in its last number, was fulfilled, which consisted in leading its readers to American ideals of life and government.—In 1895 another German weekly. Das Echo, was launched at West Bend, only to be discontinued six months later. In 1897 a German weekly, Der Bot- schafter, was founded at Schleisingerville. It died in 1917 of an outlived cause and insufficient support. Clearly, German newspaperdom which at its best and most flourish­ ing stages could only be considered as a transitory institu­ tion was no longer in demand in the county, as the people, in natural evolution, had too far progressed in Americani­ zation and preferred newspaper service in the language of the country. XI

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES HEN man began to till the soil, he had arrived at W the beginnings of civilization. When the roaming tribes at last settled down and adopted some system of agriculture, however primitive, they took the first steps toward building up a social order. If the man with the hoe ostensibly does not rule the world, he nevertheless is the governor of the social machines, of whatever make they may be. He keeps them steady. His close connection with Nature and her laws makes him less subject to error and whims. These truisms applied to Washington county mean that the part it plays in our national life is a most important one, for nine-tenths of the population are engaged in agriculture or pursuits closely allied to it. Disregarding the beginnings of agriculture in these parts, which could be noticed in the Indian cornfields and garden beds, we will begin with the old settlers who intro­ duced husbandry in the state of advancement they had left it in the East, or in their native country overseas. The county being in the area of the glacial drift, the soil gen­ erally was not as inviting to tillage as that of surounding counties on account of the many bowlders imbedded in or strewn over it. But the harder the work of turning the wild into pasture and plowland, the more the spot wrested from the blind forces is apt to be loved. The settlers as a rule came with the intention to do farming. There was little demand for others, unless they could offer services or Agriculture and Industries 193 things which the settlers needed. In the sawmills which arose along the creeks and rivers logs from the clearings were sawed into lumber, and in the gristmills the wheat raised on those clearings was turned into flour. There was work for sawyers and millers. In the first years of the settlements the farm work was done with oxen, and horse-shoers were not needed, although occasionally oxen were sho d. Buggies and carriages were not yet in use, and wagons and sleighs often were crude and home-made affairs. Many other home industries flourished. The first settlers largely relied on their legs, and to walk thirty or forty miles to the next city was a very common occurrence. Letter carriers walked such distances regularly several times a week. The doctors were about the only people who could afford to keep horses; they rode on horseback to their patients, their medicines and instruments in the saddlebags. The grain and hay were cut with the scythe and cradle, and the machines that lighten the work of the present-day farmer were not yet invented. The chief crops raised after the clearings were large enough were wheat and rye. Old newspapers tell many a little story of the virgin soil's productiveness. "Mr. Reynolds of the town of Jackson," a local item of I860 reads, "counted the stalks of rye that grew from one kernel this year, and found 57 stalks with heads on." Wheat growing in this and the neighboring counties was so ex- tensivety carried on that in I860 southeastern Wisconsin was the center of wheat production in the West. The grain region since shifted to the northwestern part of the State, and farther on to the other newly developed states of the great Northwest. The wheat fields changed into fields of barley, corn, and oats, which in turn of late have 194 The Story of Washington County largely been replaced by the luxuriant sward of pastures. Dairying now is the principal source of income on many farms. When the county for years ranked first among the barley-raising counties of the State, the introduction of the silo, toward the end of last century, and the greater profits from dairying now help in winning for it the proper place in the greatest dairy commonwealth. It is imposible to watch the development of agriculture in the county and not notice the great influence the College of Agriculture at Madison has exercised on it. Farm In­ stitutes held during many winters gradually and persist­ ently spread the evangel of better farming methods. The agronomy department of the College for years experimented on plots on the county farm to find the varieties of corn thriving best under local conditions. This had good re­ sults. It also experimented with new crops with a view of introducing them in the county. The Wisconsin Experi­ ment association, organized by the College, found a number of members among the rising farmers of the county, who planted their small assignments of selected and pedigreed grains developed at the College, grew them in increase plots and thus gradually eliminated the mixed and scrub varieties of seed on their own and other farms of the county. Even the growing generation has been enlisted in the practical advancement of agriculture by the organiza­ tion of various boys' clubs, the members of which have exhibits at the County Fair, on which prizes, medals, love cups and scholarships are awarded. The society which promoted agriculture since a very early date is the Washington County Agricultural society founded on November 1, 1855, and reorganized in 1858 with a provision that an annual Fair be held. The first Agriculture and Industries 195

County Fair was held on the Courthouse square at West Bend in December of that year. With the exception of two years, I860 and 1862, annual fairs have been held ever since. In 1867 Fair grounds were purchased adjoining the then village of West Bend, and the tract was increased by subsequent purchases and greatly improved by adequate buildings and the construction of a fine half-mile race track. The County Fair ever since its institution was a strong factor to unite the agricultural interests, and besides its social amenities it has an increasingly large educational, and we may also say, social value. There are other crops that have come into prominence. The first settlers planted fruit trees of various kind, as they had them in their old homes. Fruit in the days of the pio­ neers was a luxury, and a few good apple trees were spotted by mischievous youth for miles around. Of all fruit, apples did best here, and the varieties and crops raised now are an object of pride, and with a little more care they should become an object of considerable revenue. Sugar beets have been planted on large tracts in late years, and pea culture also has assumed large proportions. A beekeepers' asso­ ciation was organized in 1920. Stock raising has been developed from small beginnings, passing through the scrub and grade stages to the pure­ bred climax in increasing instances. Much has been done in poultry raising and hog breeding, the latter culminating, in 1919, in the founding of a Duroc Jersey Breeders' association and subsequently in organizing pig clubs among farmer boys, less in horse breeding, but the' greatest advance was made in cattle breeding as dairy industries held out the most tempting promises. The first important steps to make a dairy section of 196 The Story of Washington County

Washington county were taken about forty years ago. It was a German settler of the town of West Bend, F. C. Schroeder, who with far vision and good judgment fore­ saw the possibilities which the topography of the county offers to dairy farming and stock breeding. Well watered by innumerable springs, brooks and rivers, the watershed of two great river systems, that of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, with the headwaters of five rivers springing from its morainic soil, it appeared to be predestined to become the home of the cow and of men who saw in her the foster mother of the human race. The senior Schroeder in his plans for improving dairy farming found a willing helper in his son, C. A. Schroeder, and in 1881 they bought their first pure-bred bull. They were among the very first breeders who brought pure-bred Holsteins into the State of Wisconsin. They exhibited the first Holstein grades at the Washington County fair of 1882. This was one of the first, perhaps tlie very first, of the Wisconsin county fairs at which grade Holsteins were shown. Two years later they acquired their first pure-bred heifers, three head. From one of these, Maddie K., the herd of Cedar Lawn farm sprang, several head of which eventually set up new world's records in butter fat pro­ duction. They were glorious events in the history of dairy stock breeding in the county. This phenomenal success, gained through many years of patient and absorbing work, helped much to induce other breeders to improve their herds. It may safely be said that it acted as a powerful stimulus on cattle breeding throughout the State. Dairy farming had made much progress in the county at the beginning of the present century, and cheese fac- Agriculture and Industries 197 tories and dairies dotted the rural sections by the scores. Large condenseries opened up later. By this time the elimination of the scrub bull and the "boarders" among the cows had begun to make noticeable headway. In 1915 the Washington County Holstein Breeders' association was organized, which event gave a mighty impetus to pure-bred cattle raising in the county. Cow testing associations were formed in a number of sections, and their work of discard­ ing the scrub bull was so thoroughgoing that in 1921 they could boast of having got rid of him in the herds of the members of the five existing associations, a feat that at the time had not been duplicated anywhere else in Wisconsin, nor even in the United States. With the help of the Hol­ stein Breeders' association, a Junior Calf club was organ­ ized, thus interesting the rising generation on the farms in pure-bred cattle. In 1921 the Guernsey breeders of the county followed with forming an organization. To free the herds of bovine tuberculosis, tuberculine tests are applied on an increasing scale. Of 1300 head tested in 1921, only eleven reacted, which indicates a re­ markably low percentage of the disease among the herds of the county. Nutritious feed all the year around is essential to keep up a good and rich milk flow. To the pasturage in summer and silage in winter alfalfa has been added in late years. The area planted with alfalfa in the county in 1921 was about 6,000 acres, while in 1918 it was only 772 acres. The acreage is increasing at the rate in which the high protein value of this feed becomes known. The various breeders' and testing associations tend to keep the interest in their work alive, taking notice and 198 The Story of Washington County advantage of all progress in their lines, and they are also a factor socially. There are dairy farmers in the county, who specialize in Red Polls, Shorthorns, Ayr shires. Polled Herfords, and Jerseys, all of which apparently are doing well, but the Holsteins by far have the preponderance, about 9^ per cent being of this strain, and going through the county one soon gets it "black on white" that they are the breed the dairy farmers and stock raisers generally put their faith in as the mainstay of the milk and milk products industry—furnishing milk springs comparable in their steadiness and imperturbability to the numberless pellucid streams that water the lush green pastures of the county. From the first chapter of this history the reader prob­ ably will have gained some idea of the soil conditions of the county. Beyond the morainic ridges composed of gravel and the valleys between them the soil is a clay loam, more or less mixed with sand. In parts the soil is decidedly sandy, as in the towns of Barton and Farmington. The sand hills near Barton gave rise to a sand brick industry, while the clay deposits on the other side of the Kettle ranges en­ couraged clay brick making. The silurian limestone cropping out at Rockfield and South Germantown caused the open­ ing of quarries and the building of lime kilns at those places. The ice sheets passing over the region during the last glacial period ground up large quantities of the underlying limestone rock and mixed it with the surface soil pre­ viously existing there, producing a clay subsoil highly charged with ground limestone. The marshes and shallow lakes left after the melting of the glaciers are slowly filling up, partly with the remains of the plants growing in them. Agriculture and Industries 199 and partly with the ground washed in from the surround­ ings, as explained before. Thus the ground limestone is dissolved and carried into the marsh lands by the surface waters and underground seepage, so as to largely neu­ tralize the tendency of marsh soils to become sour on account of the decomposition of large amounts of organic matter. The marsh soils of the county, therefore, gen­ erally did not turn acid. The lime carbonate keeping the soil "sweet," the latter is readily decomposed to supply an abundance of nitrogen for plant food, if the soil is properly drained. Drainage of marshy soils is becoming of greater im­ portance as the agricultural possibilities are developed. The lands first occupied were those readity broken and with good drainage. The marshy lands for long years were used only as pastures, or for cutting wild hay, when they became sufficiently dry. But the more agriculture ad­ vanced and the higher the price of farm lands rose, the more it became desirable, yes, necessary, to draw the low­ lands into the arable area. With the aid of the Soils de­ partment of the Experiment station, drainage districts were laid out in some of the larger marsh areas, the respective farmers paying for the work of reclaiming the land, or they solved their drainage problems individually. Hastened by the emergencies of the World war, an important step toward helping agriculture in the county was taken in 1917, when the County board decided to employ an agricultural agent who in January of 1918 assumed his duties. These consist in keeping in personal touch with the farmers and helping them solve their indi­ vidual problems, drawing from his large store of knowledge acquired at the College of Agriculture and continually in- 200 The Story of Washington County creased as agricultural science progresses, and applying it to specific needs and local conditions. Agriculture is the mainstay of the county, and it will remain so for an unlimited time. So much the better for the county; so much the better for its population. Wise men of all ages have expressed themselves in this sense. "Civilization is agriculture," says L. K. Kerrick; "agri­ culture is civilization; civilization and agriculture are one. There is nothing before, nothing higher, nothing beyond agriculture. Agriculture is the original, natural, necessary, single and universal business of mankind. Every other art, trade, profession or calling whatsoever is secondary and dependent and useful only when and in such degree as it may contribute to the one great and useful business, agri­ culture. We must teach agriculture; it is the social, po­ litical and economic salvation of the nations." Roads do not come under any subdivision of agriculture, yet they have up to recent times been included in the work and the problems of the farmers. They built and main­ tained them. Some of the roads existed before the county did, and either were old trade routes, often following Indian trails, as the old Fond du Lac road, or they were built for strategic purposes, as the Dekora road. Washington county originally had three roads that were cut out but hardly passable—the old Green Bay road running north through the eastern towns of the old county, the old Fond du Lac road running in a northwesterly direction through what now is comprised in the county, and the Dekora road running west through the center of the county. The latter was laid out in 1832 under Territorial Governor Henry Dodge, by the Federal Government. It started at Port Washington and ran across the entire State as far as Agriculture and Industries 201

Decora on the Mississippi river. This military road passed over the later sites of Newburg and West Bend and left the county in what was subsequently known as the town of Addison. The name was taken from a prominent Winne­ bago Indian family. Numerous Indian trails led from one little lake to the other, along the rivers, and from one Indian camp to another. Arrangements for building the Milwaukee-West Bend-Fond du Lac plank road and the Port Washington-Newburg plank and turnpike road were made in 1852. Stock companies were formed for the purpose. A change came in road construction, taking much of the road work off the farmers' hands, when the County board, in 1911, created the office of highway commissioner and the State Aid money for road building began to come in, the amount being in proportion to the appropriations made by the towns. Routes of prospective State highways were macadamized. In 1917, a trunk highway system for the county was laid out by the legislative State Trunk Highway committee and the Wisconsin Highway commission; in 1918, the patrol system of trunk road maintenance was established by the County board; and in 1919, the building of concrete trunk roads was begun, in accordance with a resolution passed by the County board in 1917, calling for hard surface roads. At a special election held September 2, 1919, the county with a majority of 800 votes, 2351 for and 1543 against, decided in favor of a bond issue of two million dollars for building about 103 miles of concrete roads, following a plan laid out by the County board and assisted by the State Highway commission. The paving of the first stretch of these roads, three and eight-tenths miles along Highway 15 202 The Story of Washington County in the towns of Germantown and Jackson, was begun in the spring of 1920, the county doing the work. In the summer of 1922 the pavement of Highway 15 was finished in the county, the last connecting link of a concrete road running from Green Bay to St. Louis. Shortly before, the pavement of Highway 55 had been completed as far as West Bend and farther north beyond Barton, and inter­ mittent stretches of pavement had been laid down up to the northern county line. We now come to the industries that flourished in the county in the days of the settlements and now have nearly all disappeared. The first of these were the old sawmills with their vertical overshot, or undershot, water wheels. The wheel shaft was connected with the gate saw by a long rod, called a pitman. The vertical saw moved up and down in a frame connected by a crank, and the logs moved toward it on a carriage, also driven by water power. Lime burning was carried on by the pioneer masons, the kilns being arranged in holes dug in the ground, and the limestone bowlders strewn about furnishing the material. It re­ quired long nights of watching the fire of the kiln to pro­ duce fresh lime. Charcoal burning was another old-time industry. The ]3ioneer blacksmiths had no other coal, and each one charred his own supply, but some also was sold. For charcoal maple wood was used. The sticks were piled up to a conical shape and covered with sod and ground. Below, on the outside, a little opening was left, in which the fire was started. It had to be a smothering fire, without flame, that only charred the wood, leaving the carbon and only destroying the other substances by exclusion of air. As the charring of the pile progressed, little holes were made Agriculture and Industries 203 through the outside layer to help the process along. When the smithies had to put tires on wheels, fires were built on the ground within the iron rims to make them expand. The old pioneers from the very first made their own sugar from the sap of the maple trees so abundant in the primal woods, and "sugaring-off" was an important spring work. It furnished the supply of sugar for the year. After the holes had been bored into the trees and the spiles placed in position, the sap was collected in buckets and evaporated in kettles over fires built in the woods. How delicious the odor arising from the kettles was, floating through the woods farther than the shafts of firelight could pierce the gloom of the night! How cheerful and wxird the experience was for the watchers, especially the young people! The joys of the "sugar bush" even now are not altogether memories of the past. Next to the sawmill and the gristmill, the "ashery" was the chief industry that flourished in the county, when the old woods began to recede around the clearings. Few of the younger generation know anything about those asheries which arose along the water courses all over the county. The fact of their quondam existence is interesting to any­ one historically biased. They were usually run by "Yan­ kees." Where there was an ashery, one could safely assume that the establishment and the premises were owned by some "Yank." The ashes came from the huge log piles burned in spring in the clearings. The logs had been dragged and rolled on piles during the winter. The "logging bees" were frolicsome affairs, at which the settlers of the neighbor­ hood helped. The ashes were worthless unless they were hauled to the ashery. The settlers were satisfied if some 204 The Story of Washington County one got them and they were out of the way. Every little space of land that could be planted counted in those days, and there was no necessity for fertilizer, as the soil was so rich. The chief equipment of the ashery consisted of two wooden boxes or troughs set slanting on stilts and cross beams. The troughs were about four feet wide and fifteen long. The bottom was covered with a layer of straw. On this the ashes were piled, and on the top of them water was poured. On the lower side of the upper trough were holes, through which the liquid was drained into the lower trough. This was the leaching process. Scientifically this is ex­ plained as follows: By the action of water on the ashes the carbonates of potash are dissolved along with more or less of chloride, sulphate, and a little silicate, while the earthy phosphates, carbonates and other insoluble matter remain as a residue. The clarified solution or lye was then treated in kettles, of which the ashery contained two. In the first kettle it was boiled and strained, leaving it as "black salt." It was further boiled and evaporated in the second kettle which it left as potash. In this latter cal­ cining process the particles of charcoal and half-burned organic matter were removed. Potash was the finished product of the ashery, from which saleratus was manufac­ tured, or glass, or soap. The asheries were rough shanties, always built near water. Many old settlers made potash for home use in soap boiling. Soap was another of the many home-made articles of the pioneer household. In the villages which were destined to grow and become larger communities the gristmills were followed by other industries, stave factories, wagon works, breweries, machine shops, tanneries, etc. It was not until in comparatively Agriculture and Industries 205 recent times, when large manufacturing plants gained a foothold in what had then grown to be cities. Thus the county now can pride itself in big shops for the manufac­ ture of automobiles, automobile parts, farm machines, barn equipment, extensive plants for the manufacture of pocket- books, aluminum ware, and woolen goods, and a number of minor industries. Yet, all of them combined are still insignificant when compared with the vast agricultural interests. XII

CIVIC AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTS FTER the division of the county, its affairs lay in the A hands of a Board of Supervisors until the Legisla­ ture, in 1862, thoughout the State, changed it to a Board of Commissioners, one for each county. Accordingly, each assembly district had to elect a commissioner, also, as the law stated, each ward of the incorporated villages and the cities. But, as the county at the time had nothing that could boast of corporate limits, or a city charter, the elec­ tion was restricted to three rural assembly districts, for that was the number into which it had been divided. Later the number was reduced to.two districts. Its representation in the Legislature was re-adjusted several times, and the county for the purpose at different occasions was sliced up lengthwise and crosswise. Also, before 1884, the legisla­ tors were elected every year, and since then every two and four years, for the Assembly and Senate, respectively. Thus, in 1862, and for eight years afterwards the county's affairs were disposed of by three commissioners who elected a chairman among themselves, and the county officers, clerk, treasurer, and register of deeds. They formed the admin­ istration and official body. This commission government was abolished in 1870, and the old form re-established, by which each town and village was given a representative, the chairmen of the local boards of supervisors constituting the County board, to which body later the ward supervisors of the cities were added, after they had received their charter. Civic and other Developments 207

After the division, in 1853, the first step of the County board was to provide for buildings for the county admin­ istration. They did not look very far ahead when they took it, as far as the buildings are concerned. As a site a plot of ground in the village of West Bend, known as the "Park," and four adjoining lots were selected, the whole tract being presented to the county by William Wightman on the condition that a courthouse be built in the center and that it be "inclosed with a good and substantial board fence, with the proper gates, etc." The grounds years before had been reserved for the same purpose by the original proprietors of the village plat, Byron Kilbourn, James Kneeland, E. B, Wolcott, and William Wightman. Bonds to the amount of $8,000 were issued to build a courthouse, a jail, and a jailor's house. The first County Board meeting in the new quarters was held in July, 1855, During the preceding two years, the sessions, also the court terms, were held in the village schoolhouse, and the county officers were quartered in private places about the village. In 1855, arrangements were made for a fire-proof building for the county offices, the frame courthouse not offering sufficient safety for the county records. It was finished in 1857, The old courthouse was located near the center of the park, the jailor's house in the southern part, the jail in the rear of the latter, surrounded by a high stockade, and the office building near the northern boundary line. In 1889 the old frame courthouse was moved away, down the hill, and was replaced by an imposing stone-and- brick structure. The old building for many years after­ wards very well served the more humble purpose of a hard­ ware store on West Bend's main street. A brick county 208 The Story of Washington County jail was built in 1886. The courthouse grounds, com­ prising a block, in the course of the years were improved to look park-like. An asylum for the chronic insane was built in 1898 near the eastern city limits of West Bend. Its wings received two additions in 1911, the material of the entire building being brick and stone. A large farm is being worked in connection with the institution. The county farm originally was located in the northern part of the town of Jackson, and on it was the Poor home. In 1912 this county property was sold and a new Home erected on the Asylum grounds. At the same time a central heating, lighting and power plant was built on the grounds. As a rule the county officers have been faithful to their trust. In all of the county's history there is only one flagrant case of misappropriation of public funds to be recorded. This is known as the "Great Defalcation." In July, 1876, it was discovered that Albert Semler, the then county treasurer, was over $14,000 short. He had been in office for nearly nine years when the discovery was made. Suspicion had been aroused several times, and at one time a partial investigation of his accounts had been made by a special committee of the County board. Semler was a very popular character, and he succeeded to hood­ wink the committee who in their report explained away some of the suspicious circumstances. When the shock came, Semler had just returned from the Democratic Na­ tional convention at St. Louis, to which he had been dele­ gated. He found the school commissioners anxiously waiting for him to pay out the apportionment of the school fund, some $4,000, which was in his hands and should have been divided before he left for St. Louis. Semler pleaded pressure of business, made profuse apologies, and then Civic and other Developments 209 started for Milwaukee, where he said he had the funds on deposit, promising to return with the required sum the next day. In Milwaukee he made strenuous efforts to bor­ row the money, as he had often done before. This time, however, he failed, and in an interview with three gentle­ men from the county, who had gone after him, he confessed his embezzlement. He claimed to have had heavy business losses and had gambled to regain the money, but luck had been against him. The gentlemen returned to West Bend, and a warrant was sworn out for Semler's arrest. But when the sheriff arrived at Milwaukee, Semler had dusted for parts unknown. After a search of two weeks he was traced in Omaha, Nebraska, and brought back. A dis­ graced and ruined man, he was lodged in the county jail. A thorough investigation during a special County board session revealed a deficit of $14,032.05. As the belief was that the defraudation had been running through several years, whereas Semler's bondsmen could not be held liable for more than was taken since they became responsible, a compromise was made, whereby they were to be released on payment of $4,000 in addition to $1,000 to be furnished by Semler and his friends. All but $717 was collected of the bondsmen, and finally a settlement was made, the county getting back $4283 in all. This reduced the loss to the county treasury to $97^9 plus the expenses of the prosecu­ tion. Semler was, after a number of months spent in jail, released and remained at West Bend for some years after, but unable to regain the confidence of his fellow citizens, he left for the West. The incident caused the Legislature to reduce the term of office for county treasurers to four years. In the County Board session of November 25, 1853, in 210 The Story of Washington County wlhich the name of the town of Newark was changed to Barton, and that of Farmington to Carbon, it also was voted to change the name of West Bend village to Lamartine City. When the villagers learned of the change in the even­ ing, there was great indignation over it, and the next morn­ ing a petition with many signatures was presented to the Board, asking for a change to the former name. The Board could do nothing but comply with the wish. For eighteen hours the village had born the name of the French poet, historian, and hero of the revolution of 1848. Another dark cloud that cast a gloomy shadow was what is called the "De Bar Tragedy." It was an atrocious lynch­ ing affair that marred the record of a generally law-abiding county. George De Bar, a young man who "walked with a somewhat shambling gait, and altogether had the make-up of a more than ordinarily harmless, though rather shiftless young man" worked in the summer of 1855 for a farmer named John Muehr in the town of Trenton, whose family consisted of himself, his wife and a boy, Paul Winderling. De Bar left Muehr's employ some time in July to work in Young's sawmill not far away. On the evening of August 1 he left Young's house saying he would sleep in the barn, where it was cooler, it being a sultry night. It proved to be a pretense, for he went to the house of Muehr to collect a small sum due to him for work, as he said afterwards. Muehr intended to treat his visitor to some beer, but when he brought it up from the cellar, De Bar, standing at the head of the stairs, dealt him a murderous blow with some hard instrument. The victim fell unconscious back into the cellar. The assailant then turned upon the woman with a knife, stabbing her and inflicting fearful but not fatal gashes on both sides of her neck. She fainted away from loss of Civic and other Developments 211 blood. The cries of the woman awakened the boy who had gone to bed. He came to the room, but tried to escape when he saw what had happened. De Bar followed him into a cornfield, caught him and cut his throat from ear to ear, dispatching him on the spot. He then dragged his body to the house in which he thought were the dead bodies of Muehr and his wife, and set fire to it. Muehr, however, recovered from the blow and succeeded in saving himself and his wife from the burning building. De Bar fled to Milwaukee, but was discovered the next day and brought back to the county jail for his trial. As the news of the shocking butchery, apparently done without any provocation, spread over the county, many voices were raised that the murderer should not escape the biblical penalty for such a crime. A few months before a perpetrator of a similar deed had been hanged at Janesville by a mob of infuriated lumberjacks, and the lynchers went free. Besides, capital punishment had only recently been abolished in the State. Thus circumstances were grouped in a way to incite people to take the law in their own hands. A special court session was held by Judge Larrabee on August 7. Because the air was heavy with threats of lynch­ ing, the Judge ordered two companies of militia, one from Milwaukee and one from Port Washington. They were present at the trial. An indictment for murder was formu­ lated by the grand jury. De Bar was arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and was being brought back to j ail by the sheriff and his guards when a frenzied mob overpowered them on the courthouse steps and seized the prisoner. A contemporaneous newspaper report says on this stage of the affair: "The soldiers came out (of the courthouse) without the least order, the prisoner with them. Instead 212 The Story of Washington County of marching toward the jail, as directed, they shaped their course in another direction, and with such open ranks as to permit the crowd to mix in with them and collect around the prisoner. When the assault was made, instead of defend­ ing the prisoner, as was their duty, they carried their bay­ onets and sabres high in the air, as if to show the crowd they need have no fear of being injured. But there was an exception, Lieut, Beger, of the Ozaukee Guards, fought like a tiger in defense of the prisoner, but receiving no assistance from his fellow-soldiers and officers, or from the Milwaukee company, he was soon overpowered, and the prisoner taken by the mob," He was knocked down, and a heavy stump and stones thrown upon him rendered him unconscious. They then seized him by the legs and dragged him down the street, the closely following crowd kicking him on the head and pelting his body with stones. It was at one point proposed to draw and quarter him, but this medieval method did not find enough supporters. On he was dragged with ropes tied to his feet to a maple tree in front of the old grist­ mill and hung, head downward, to a branch. He had been dangling there for a little while, when he was cut off by some citizens who had not taken part in the execution. But the mob who wanted to make sure of his death again seized the rope and dragged him across the bridge to the eastern river bank, where they again hung him to a tree, this time by the neck. When he was cut down an hour later, there was no doubt that he was stark dead. Fifteen of the lynchers were indicted and tried for murder, but they were set free because "the testimony did not sustain the allegation that he came to his death by hanging, there being a reason­ able doubt as to his being alive when hung the last time." A strange part of the history of the county, and of Civic and other Developments 213

Wisconsin generally, is that which has been called the "Indian Scare." Strictly speaking, there were two out­ breaks of this psychic phenomenon. The first occurred on August 26, 1861. The Civil war had begun in April and already had lasted longer than "three months," the time limit predicted, and the country was steadily being depleted of its young manhood. The public mind, being overstrained, was ripe for some sort of hysteria. A complete and all around satisfactory explanation of the occurrence^ has never been given, possibly because they were too deeply grounded in the dark abyss of human emotions. Although the terror-stricken people soon found that the reportS^ were completely unfounded, they fell for them again almost exactly a year later. Today only humorous anecdotes are left of the strange happenings. According to the story of a contemporary, about two dozen Indians with their women and children at the time had their wigwam on the shore of Horicon lake, not far from Hartford. Nearby some Germans had settled, and one of them had shot a pony belonging to one of the Indians, which had broken into his cornfield. The Indian, half drunk, had chased the German around a stump, without even drawing his knife, but the German, frightened to death, ran to his neighbors and told them of a horrible Indian mas­ sacre that was breeding. Probably the story grew the far­ ther it spread, as bad news so often does, as the wave rings from a stone thrown into the water grow bigger the farther they draw away from the center. When it reached Hart­ ford in the evening, the two dozen of harmless Indians had grown to ^Ye thousand bloodthirsty savages. The cooler heads even were seized with the excitement. On the fol­ lowing morning the strong men of the place, provided with 214 The Story of Washington County all kinds of weapons, rode on wagons to the seat of the supposed hostilities, while the women busied themselves at home, getting lint and bandages ready for the wounded- to-be. There were touching scenes at the departure of those heroes. But the bravery of the Hartforders was not to be tried to the uttermost. When their main force had reached the lake, they found only a few Indians who at the sight of the armed men and their warlike attitude were at least as fright­ ened as the Whites had been before. The rear-guard was met half-way by a wagon full of Mecklenburgers coming back, who convinced them of the uselessness of their ex­ pedition. They were armed with old shotguns, pitchforks, and scythes. The first report of the Horicon Indians being on the warpath reached West Bend in the afternoon of that day. The excitement caused by it was increased when the Mil­ waukee evening papers confirmed the news of Indian hos­ tilities. What "capt the climax," according to the editor of the West Bend Post of August 31, 1861, was information by a messenger who came to the village at ten in the evening from ten miles w^est on the Dekora road, saying that a large horde of Indians was about to swoop down upon West Bend. This spelled a night of terror for the villagers. The wild firing of guns and the roll of drums chased people out of their beds. "Children were crying and men and women were seen running in all directions. Speeches were made advising the men to stand by their homes and their families till the last. Picket guards were immediately formed and sent out in every direction, armed with rifles, shotguns, pistols, pitchforks, or whatever could be got hold of." Old muskets and pistols were taken to the village gunsmith who Civic and other Developments 215 was kept busy all night repairing them. Women packed their silverware and valuables, or, still more up to the occa­ sion, urged their husbands to make their wills. One woman who lived half a mile out in the country and who had been bedridden for over a year was hastily dumped into a wheel­ barrow and pushed to the village for safety. Every half hour mounted men rode out to the pickets to see if anything had turned up. All was well till two in the morning, when a man was reported shot, but it was at last made sure that he had been "shot in the neck with sidearms which he car­ ried." At Barton, a mile north, one man stood picket all night armed with an ax and with nothing on but a shirt, as he dared not leave his post long enough to put on more clothes. The second Indian scare which happened just about a year after the first, in 1862, appears to have produced much less of a panic in the county than in its eastern and northern neighborhoods. Yet, the fear of Indian massacres this time was not as groundless as a year before, because one had really happened in Minnesota in August of 1862. But in Wisconsin it would have been insanity for a few thousand Indians to try to exterminate the Whites who were about twenty times as numerous. The panic spread from the northwestern part of the State down as far as Milwaukee and up the lake shore counties. In some places of the county the hysteria was serious enough, as in Richfield which appealed to Governor Salomon for help. There was "considerable" excitement at West Bend, according to the Post of September 6, 1862, when it was rumored that the savages were but twenty miles north of the village. About a dozen men from Barton went up to Batavia, some sixteen miles north, and found the people ready to flee from the vil- 216 The Story of Washington County lage on the first alarm. But as the report soon came that it was all a hoax, the fright was dispelled, everything looked normal again, and the Bartonites returned and their news quieted down their fellow citizens and their neighbors in the county seat. The people of the town of Farmington appear to have remained more cool-headed in the "Scare" than some of their neighbors, especially those across the line in Ozaukee county. Perhaps also more skeptical. The farmers learned of the danger from a man who came wheeling along at a crazy speed, with only the two front wheels of his vehicle left. They hid their valuables in a dugout on the Riley farm, and the whole neighborhood, men, women, and chil­ dren assembled to await what was coming. They wished to die together if that had to be. But it did not come to that. When no Indians showed up after some time of waiting, they went back to their farms and resumed their work, where they had let up. Many odd stories of the panics were told by those who went through it, but these samples will suffice. The old settlers had some sad experiences with the rail­ roads, those most potent factors in the development of a country. Generously and blithefuUy they had helped to­ ward building the Milwaukee and La Crosse railway (nov/ the St. Paul) by buying shares of the company and paying for them with mortgages on their land. In 1855, the con­ struction of that road was completed through the county. In 1856, the building of the Milwaukee and Lake Supe­ rior railway (now a part of the Northwestern system) was begun. It was to be an air-line road from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac, running through Washington county. Again the farmers put their shoulders to the wheel by buying Civic and other Developments 217

shares and hypothecating their land to pay for them, for the days of fat bank accounts did not yet smile on them. The railroad company sold the mortgages to get the funds wherewith to build the road. Hardly had the construction advanced a few miles into the county, just far enough to make the mortgages valid, the company through mismanage­ ment went bankrupt, and the farmers had worthless shares on their hands, while the courts held the mortgages to be valid. Their hopes had vanished, their money was gone, only the debt stuck to them like a lost dog to a kindly looking gentleman, and they had to pay, or be driven from their farms. It was hard in those days when money was scarce. Next came the failure of the Milwaukee and La Crosse railroad. Again the shares held by the farmers were not worth the paper they were printed on, and the mortgages on the farms were foreclosed. For years the farmers liti- . gated against their creditors. The following resolutions adopted in a meeting in the town of Richfield on February 15, 1861, furnish the key to the desperate situation: WHEREAS, A number of farm mortgagors of this county have within a short time had suits instituted against them for the foreclosure of mortgages given to the Milwaukee and La Crosse Railroad Company, which company by fraud and by fraudulent representations made to us obtained said mortgages, and WHEREAS, we are all as unjustly subject to foreclosure at any moment, therefore be it Resolved, That our sheriff, Charles A. Cron; Jacob Bertschy, register; George H. Kleffler, clerk of the court; Michael Bohan, clerk of the county board of supervisors, and their deputies are hereby requested by us and our friends to refuse having anything to do with such foreclosure, either in serving papers or in filing them; in abstracting titles or in preparing papers for such fore­ closure ; 218 The Story of Washington County

Resolved, That we will remember our friends, and mark our enemies; and that anyone having anything to do with such fore­ closure WLQ be regarded as our enemy; Resolved, That we are all for peace, but if forced to ex­ tremities, we prefer defending ourselves to surrendering our homes and the homes of our children through such foreclosure.

The two papers published in the county at the time, the Home League at Hartford, started expressly for the mort­ gagors, and the Democrat at West Bend took up the cause of the hard beset farmers. Monday, November 27, 1865, a railroad bridge between Richfield and Germantown was burned by incendiaries in a revengeful mood, as it was believed. It marked the climax of the Farm Mortgage trouble in the county, for there is little doubt that this did not lie at the bottom of the act. The most violent threats had been uttered and they even appeared in print. The West Bend Post, the successor of the Democrat, was made to publish, on November 11, 1865, a fulminating letter to the sheriff, in which the stockholders of the railroad offered death to him, to lawyers and judges if they do help in carrying out the law against the farm mortgagors. "We shall do all we can to ruin the business of the railroad as soon as possible," it was said in one passage; "we shall blow it up on different places with very little trouble, for we have money enough to buy powder even if they should take our farms. But, however, we shall warn the passengers before we do it. As true as there is a God, we shall ruin that railroad, so that they can not use it even for the length of two miles without risking their lives and property. This refuse of mankind and band of robbers must either settle that in an honest way or they must die like dogs, for we have sworn it and it will be done," Civic and other Developments 219

The mortgages given for stocks of the Milwaukee and La Crosse radroad mostly were executed in 1853, and were made payable in ten years from date, with interest at ten per cent. Interest was paid until 1858, The indebtedness originally amounted to $1,100,000, of which Washington county owed $200,000, The mortgages were nearly all upon homesteads and fell due in 1863, The mortgagors appealed to the Legislature for relief and resorted to the courts for justice, but they failed to get either. They were offered twenty cents on the dollar for their bonds by the owners of the mortgages. When that railroad was first projected, the incorpo­ rators having more ingenuity than money, other means were resorted to, among which was the plan of taking mortgages upon unincumbered and improved real estate, which were given as collateral security to the company's note for borrowing money. Of the men at the head of the railroad a coeval editor speaks in these most searing words: "There is not a con­ jugation of the verb "to swindle" but that has been partici­ pated by that profligate corporation—no phase of fraud and corruption, that it has not tried—no possibility to re­ fined rascality, which it has failed to put in practice. It has had some boards of directors since its organization, whose aggregate meanness and rascality put into practice would be competent to cheat the devil out of the last ounce of brimstone in his possession. It is no figure of speech to say that every cross tie on that line lies imbedded in some poor man's hearthstone, that every spike has been driven through hands and feet in crucification of honest day laborers, and that every bridge hangs suspended by cords torn ruthlessly from the bosom of affection and consanguin- 220 The Story of Washington County ity. And yet men wonder that this long series of the most aggravating frauds and abuses should culminate in the manifestation of revenge that has just taken place." Yet, the burning of the bridge was considered a lawless act that would not help in the least to redeem the mortgages. The decision of the Supreme court was carried out to the letter. Many a farm was sold to pay the incumbrance on it, and many a farmer again had to turn toward the setting sun and find a new home in the wilds for his family. Law is two-faced, like everything in life; what is the greatest right for one individual often is the greatest wrong for another. The construction of the La Crosse railroad was taken up by another company and pushed to the finish, and so was that of the Lake Superior railroad. But who, in traveling on the Milwaukee road today, thinks of the heart-ache and despair that at one time clung to every tie of it and made peaceful and honest pioneers swing the torch of incendiarism? And yet we still have contemporaries of those days among us, who saw the poor, abused settlers driven from their homesteads because they wished to help in the building of railroads, without which, after all, the development of the country would have been impossible. The final act in an unusual law suit came off in 1876, in the county's Circuit court, in which the site of almost an entire village, that of Richfield, was involved. It had kept the villagers in suspense for years, as the titles to their properties were questioned. The facts of the litigation were these: The viUage of Richfield largely was laid out on a farm belonging to a Mr, Zaun who, as was found later, had no clear title to the land. Civic and other Developments 221

His father purchased it from a Mr. Ahnert who gave him a warranty deed. Zaun, at the time of the purchase, had shortly before arrived from Germany, and he knew little of the ways of this country. He employed a notary public to draw up the deed for him. But the original title to the land was in the name of Ahnert's wife who had previously died, leaving six small children. Zaun upon oath swore he knew nothing of this, but the notary public must have taken notice of it, as he had the original instrument before him, which had never been transferred to the husband. Zaun took possession of the property under the warranty deed, ignorant of the fact that he had been swindled by Ahnert. He went on and improved the same. When the La Crosse railroad was projected through this land, the promoters, on looking up the county records, found that Zaun in reality was no more than a squatter, his deed being worthless, as the giver of the same was merely a tenant by courtesy, and that the six little children were the real owners. Litigation by the heirs was commenced. The property had become valuable, as a village had been located thereon, and those who had bought from Zaun found that they were also liable. Zaun had become well-to-do and fought for the possession of what his father had bought in good faith. He lost in the lower courts, and carried it to the Supreme court, where he attempted to bribe Chief Justice Ryan in his favor with $100, and a promise of more. He was again defeated, and in the Circuit court the question then was tried as to whether any of the children died before they arrived at the age of twenty-one, three of them having passed away. The verdict of the jury was that they had died before becoming of age. Zaun had to pay over the 222 The Story of Washington County amount to the Ahnert heirs, and those who had titles in the property through him did not lose them. Washington county sent six delegates to the constitu­ tional convention which opened at Madison October 5, 1846. The county was one of the three counties (the other two were Brown and Iowa) which voted in favor of the proposed State constitution at the election of April 6, 1847. This in spite of the faults of the constitution as first drafted. The result in Washington county was due to the large foreign population who wished to enjoy the political rights which, among other things, induced them to leave their native country, and which were threatened by the Know-Nothing party. Four other referendum votes also had failed to give a majority for statehood. An improved constitution, the same which we still have, was framed in another con­ vention with about half the number of delegates of the for­ mer, and it was carried in the election of March 14, 1848, and May 29, 1848, Wisconsin was admitted as a state to the Union. Before the division, Washington countj?- was the strong­ est Democratic county in the State. The political complexion showed itself in the very first election, the Presidential election of 1848, after Wisconsin had been made a state. Cass, the Democratic candidate, received 1719 votes; Tay­ lor, the candidate of the Whigs, S5S; and Van Buren, the candidate of the Free-Soilers, 324. The Whigs opposed the Democrats and the Free-Soilers advocated the non- extension of negro slavery. Every vote cast in the towns of Erin, Richfield, and Wayne was Democratic, while on the other hand in the town of North Bend which at the time comprised the town of Kewaskum and the northern half of the town of Barton not a single Demdcratic vote wais easrt;. Civic and other Developments 223

Germantown township was about three-fourths Democratic, and Polk nearly the same. About two-thirds of the voters of the town of Addison were Democrats, and so was the political coloring of the town of West Bend. Trenton had 23 Democrat votes against 34 for the other parties. The vote of Hartford township was remarkable, as 93 Free-Soil votes were cast to 32 for the Democrats and 23 for the Whigs. In the State elections of November, 1849, Dewey, the gubernatorial candidate of the Democrats, received l6lO votes in the county, Collins, the Whig, 208; and Chase, the Free-Soiler, 86. Just why the county did cast its lot with the Democratic party is a mystery as deep as any that may be at the bottom of human nature. It remained true to its first love for almost a half-century. In 1856 Buchanan, the Democratic candidate for Presi­ dent received 2647 votes in the county, and Fremont, the Republican, 813. In I860, Breckenridge polled 2747 votes, against Lincoln's 939. And, in 1864, Lincoln's vote fell to 664, while his opponent, McClellan, received 2923. The amendment to the Federal constitution, enfranchising the negroes, received 188 votes, and 243 were cast against it. The Thirteenth Amendment of the Federal constitution, forbidding slavery within the United States was ratified by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1865. Washington county at the time had three assemblymen, of whom one voted against the amendment, one was absent when the vote was taken, and one voted for it. The latter was George C. Williams of Hartford, representing the First district, and his elo­ quent speech in the Assembly at the occasion helped much to relieve the oblique situation the county got in on this 224 The Story of Washington County fundamental question. In summing up his arguments he said at the end: "The onward march of civilization brought us as a nation to a point, where that relic of barbarism— slavery—could no longer exist. Either civilization must stop, or slavery must cease. The conflict was for a long time confined within the sphere of diplomacy and the pen. In such a contest civilization must triumph. Seeing this, slavery resorted to rebellion and war—the weapon of bar­ barism in all ages—to enforce its dominion. But it is con­ tending against the decree of the Almighty, and it must fall. In adopting the measure now before us, we but follow the teachings of the divine impulse. Oppose it who will, it is as certain to become a part of the permanent law of the land—of the charter of its future greatness and pros­ perity—as the river is to run in its restless course to the ocean, as the sun is to shine upon us as a free, a great and united people." The Republicans scored a material gain when in 1868 their Presidential candidate. Grant, got 1213 votes to Sey­ mour's, the Democrats' 3073. But in 1872 Grant's vote sank to 94, while Greeley, the fusion candidate of a party which called itself the "Democrats and Liberal Republicans," polled 2727 votes. The Republican vote in 1876 again jumped up to 1321 for Hayes, against 3047 for Tilden. And in 1880 it rose to the unprecedented height of 1906 votes for Garfield to 2841 for Hancock. Cleveland, the Democratic candidate for President, in 1884 received 2972 votes, against Blaine's 1583; 2872 in 1888, against Har­ rison's 1869; and 2624 in 1892, against Harrison's 1700. It was a significant happening, when in 1894 S. S. Barney was elected congressman, the first Republican from Wash- Civic and other Developments 225 ington county to take a seat in the lower house of Congress. He was re-elected three times. The first time the Republicans carried the county was in the Free Silver campaign of 1896. The people, thrifty, frugal, and conservative, would not bite on Bryan's shim­ mering silver bait and gave McKinley 2877 votes and 2404 to the silver-tongued champion, a Republican plurality of 473. In 1900, the vote for McKinley sank to 2614, and that for Bryan rose to 2524, leaving a Republican plurality of 90. Roosevelt, in 1904, was the second presidential candidate of the Republicans, who got a sizeable plurality in the county, 322 votes, polling 2565 votes to Parker's 2243. But after all, Bryan, in 1908, after the Free Silver issue was dead, carried the county with 2625 votes, against 2588 for Taft, the Republican candidate for the Presidency. The Taft vote in 1912 shrank to 1799 votes, while Wilson, the candidate of the Democrats, received 2417, and Roose­ velt, the leader of the newly-launched "Bull Moose" party, polled 296 votes. In the presidential election of 1916, the voters did not put very much faith in Wilson and his cam­ paign slogan, "He kept us out of War," for they gave him 2710 votes, against 2834 for his Republican opponent, Hughes. It was left to circumstances accompanying our entering the World war to produce the most phenomenal results in county politics, a spring tide of Socialistic votes, that stag­ gered all those who clung to old party affiliations. The political phenomenon sharply moved into view in the fall election of 1918, but it had a forerunner which could have served as a warning, if those that brought it about had not been blind in their zeal. In the spring election of that year, Berger, the Socialistic candidate for U. S. senator of the 226 The Story of Washington Coumty district, received 2614 votes in the county, against 1331 for Davies the Democrat and staunch Wilson supporter, and 1216 for Lenroot the Republican with a Wilsonian bias. It was not so much the cities as manufacturing centers and with a corresponding proportion of wage earners but the rural districts with a staid and conservative farm popula­ tion, that helped to fill the ballot boxes for the Socialists. And this drastic expression of the popular will followed the attempts to suppress or disturb meetings of Socialist agitators and others criticising the Washington administra­ tion. The State election in the following fall put a few more touches to this strange Cubist picture of coimty poli­ tics. The Socialists polled more votes than the Democrats, their candidate for Governor, Seidel, receiving 1251 against Moehlenpah's 1044 votes. And Philipp, the Republican candidate who showed himself more of an independent thinker and not always readily kotowing to Wilsonian ut­ terances and requests, received 2227 votes. By this time it was clear that this sudden deluge of Socialistic votes and also the enormous increase of the Republican votes were a protest against abuses that affected the fundamental and constitutional rights of the citizens, and which the party in power had either become guilty of, or had abetted in or connived at. The situation in the county was much aggravated by coercive and lawless measures a number of Liberty Loan solicitors without authority had employed to get farmers and others to take bonds to the amount which they had been "assessed" and against which they had protested as being beyond their means and ability. It was a repetition of the mob sentiment of Civil war days, only that now it was a pr'o-war mob, while fifty-six yfears before it had been Civic and other Developments 227 a con-war mob. And the county seat again was the scene of its outburst, more virulent than the first, it would seem. The home of a photographer on Main street, who was known to have a pronounced Socialistic bias, was during the night daubed with splotches of yellow paint, and a few nights later a mob in autos smashed his plate glass front with stones thrown from their passing machines. Mob rule spread over the State, and sordid motives, not at all compatible with true patriotism, apparently were at the bottom. The outburst had the earmarks of an awkward and lawless attempt to put the State "over the top" in the fourth Liberty Loan drive, so that it might not be slighted in war contracts, or boycotted otherwise, as it was under national scrutiny on account of the large percentage of its German population. The instigators of this mob rule were sought high up in industrial and financial circles, and they had no trouble in finding help in hoodlums that are ever waiting for the barriers of law to break down, to enjoy their day, or in half-witted individuals that are easily driven into some frenzy. An atmosphere laden with the danger­ ous gases of terrorism spread over large sections of the State and an explosion would have been due, had it not found a safety vent in the ballots of the voters. It cannot be supposed that so large a percentage of them in a single year turned Socialists, and so the deluge of these votes could not mean anything else but a protest. At that it completely stood on the grounds of the constitution; it was an orderly and legal protest and a vindication of the rights of American citizenship. We are still too close to this remarkable event to see it in its true proportions. The future will place it in a clearer perspective. Although the Socialistic vote was greatly reduced in the 228 The Story of Washington Coumty general election of 1920, confirming that it had been mainly a protest, a residue remained. In that election. Debs, the Socialist Presidential candidate, received 408 votes in the county, and the other Socialists received from 293 for Weber, candidate for the U. S. Senate, to 529 for Schubert, candidate for sheriff. The latter was the only candidate the Socialists put up in the county, outside of Herman, their candidate for the Legislature, who received SS6 votes. Harding, the Republican Presidential candidate, received 5896 votes in the county, and Cox, the Democrat, 1300. The women, for the first time voting in this election, in­ creased the county's electorate by about two thousand votes. The unheard-of Republican landslide of that election made it clear that almost the entire nation by this time had risen in protest against the Wilson one-man rule and its ruinous and demoralizing effects during the preceding four years. This "solemn referendum" was the most stupendous and crushing disavowal in all history, flung by an outraged people against their government. In the fall election of 1922 Washington county helped in the tremendous landslide for Robert M. LaFoUette who was Progressive Republican candidate for re-election to the U. S. Senate from Wisconsin, giving him 3779 majority over the Democratic candidate, Mrs. Jessie Jack Hooper. Congressman Edward Voigt's majority in the county was 2687 over his Democratic opponent, Wm. F. Schanen. Mr. Voigt was candidate for re-election on the Republican ticket, and he as well as Mr. LaFoUette ran largely on their records as antagonists to the entrance of the country into the World war, and both had been ostracized and flayed by those in power at the time. The common people had again spoken. Civic and other Developments 229

In a preceding chapter light has been thrown on the beginnings of the judiciary functions in the county. The county from the passing of the Separation act and its birth in 1853 to 1881 belonged to the Third Judicial circuit of Wisconsin. In the winter of 1881 the Legislature effected a new grouping by embracing the counties of Dodge, Wash­ ington, and Ozaukee in the Thirteenth Judicial circuit. The county at its organization established its own Probate court and has since elected its Probate or County judges. An en­ lightened electorate succeeded to remove these judgeships from party politics, and the same tendency showed itself at various times in the elections for the county offices, ability being placed over partisanship. In conclusion it may be meet to mention that the county with pride looks upon a number of its people who gained acknowledgement, or renown, far beyond its limits, in the medical, judicial, and literary fields, in cattle breeding, or who have held high offices in the State government. The end of what was deemed of enduring historical value anent Washington county, Wisconsin, has been reached. The aborigines have left long ago, never to return; and most all of the real settlers have shuffled off the mortal coil. Another generation has turned grizzly, and a third genera­ tion has grown to manhood, all during the eighty-odd years since the arrival of the first settlers, which period is com­ prised in this history of the white race in the county. Those gone beyond the limits of time have solved their tasks as far as they were able to, and the burdens left were rolled upon the shoulders of the living. They have new duties to perform and new problems to solve. The county so far has kept step in the march of our speedily advancing American civilization, and the living will be loyal to the record of their 230 The Story of Washington County forbears. As an active and valuable unit of the State that carries the proud motto, "Forward," in its Great Seal, and acts upon it so steadfastly, Washington county will progress along sound economic lines, as heretofore, its population enjoying that greatest amount of happiness which comes from well-spent energies.