Dane County WI Archives History - Books .....Berry 1877
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Book Title: Madison, Dane County And Surrounding Towns...

BERRY.

BY OTTO KERL, ESQ., AND WM. S. CROWTHER, ESQ.

  THE town of Berry is situated in the western part of Dane county, and lies
south of the town of Roxbury, west of the town of Springfield, north of the town
of Cross Plains, and east of the town of Black Earth. The general character of
the town is hilly, although there are several rich valleys, the largest being
Halfway Prairie, which is sometimes called the English settlement, and that
portion of Black Earth valley, which crosses the southwest corner of the town.
The bluffs are timbered with several kinds of oak, cherry and poplar, the last
being a recent growth, and admirably adapted for fencing. The poplars grow in
groves, long and straight, and are cut when about six inches in thickness, sawed
into fencing, and considered by many as superior to pine fencing. They seem to
be especially provided by Providence for such purposes, as the large oaks,
formerly used in fencing, are all gone. The town is abundantly supplied with
water, there being a number of springs and creeks, with several mill sites, one
of which, on the Black Earth creek, is being improved for a flouring mill. The
climate is very healthy, there being no stagnant water or marshes.

  The town was first settled in 1843, by James Mills, Captain Amos Heald, Albert
Skinner, Joseph Rogerson and ____ Hood, on Black Earth valley, and a year or two
later by Mr. Barnes and Mr. Hyer, on Halfway Prairie.

  In 1845, a large number of English came out under a colonization society,
which was organized in the city of Manchester, England, in 1842, called the
"British Temperance Emigration Society." They located several of their claims in
this town, and the following persons came out in 1845: John Whiteman, John Mead,
James and William Bowman, Geo. Draper, Francis Wilson, John Ford, John Saville
and James Crowther. This last gentleman relinquished his claim, giving it away,
saying, "it was dear at a gift," and bought Albert Skinner's farm, on section
31, which had the first frame house in the town. His claim was situated on what
was called "long breaking," in the town of Mazomanie, a miserable sandy prairie
that would not grow white beans. This so enraged the officers of the society
that they sent word to England that Mr. Crowther had left a nice farm and gone
and settled in a swamp (which, by-the-way, was every foot dry and good land). In
after years, when they would come up to see him, he would say, "let us go out
and see my swamp."

  In 1847, several more English settled there, among which were Thomas, Samuel
and Edward Barber, Thomas Haynes and George Bates.

  Many amusing incidents are remembered of these early settlers; most of the
English coming from manufacturing towns in the old country, were, to use a
phrase, somewhat "green" respecting farms and farming, which the following
incident will illustrate: Two parties (who afterwards became prominent and
thrifty farmers) came to Joseph Rogerson, another English settler, who came out
in 1843 and settled on section 32, to buy his claim. After partaking of a frugal
meal, which consisted of pork and corn bread, the latter made into the
remembered "johnny cake," they went out to see the farm, examine the soil, etc.;
after they got out to the field, one of them commenced to jump and spring on the
ground, saying to Mr. Rogerson "is this land sound?" The latter, in a (feigned)
terrified air said, "My G—d, friend, do not do that or you will go down about
twenty feet." It is also related of another who, before he was " naturalized,"
commenced planting his corn, and had about an acre planted before he found out
his mistake; he had planted an ear in each hill.

  In 1847, the Germans first commenced to settle, the first comers being Otto
Kerl and Mr. Anhalt. They rapidly settled in, till the whole town was taken up.
But very few of the old English settlers are now alive to tell the tale of the
trials and hardships of the early settlement of the town; most of them have gone
to "that bourne from whence no traveler returns." The town now is almost
entirely Germans, who, by-the-way, make our very best citizens.

  In 1849-50 a number of Germans settled here, and the town has continued to
fill up from time to time until it is now almost all cleared and broken up for
cultivation.

  The town was organized in 1850, and the first town meeting held on the 2d day
of April, 1850. Twenty-four votes were cast, and sixty dollars raised for town
purposes. The names of the voters were Wm. Seston, Otto Kerl, John W. Ford,
Thomas Barber, George Stevens, Henry Carden, John Wightman, John Savelle, George
Draper, Edward Barber, Francis Wilson, Thomas Hawley, John H. Roberts, Wm.
Hawley, John Gray, Thomas Haynes, Joseph Harrison, Edmund Ellis, Joseph Bowman,
Samuel Hawley, William Bowman, John Mead, Henry Paddelford, Abijah Davis. And
the following officers were elected: Supervisors — Joseph Bowman, chairman;
Thomas Haynes and John Wightman. Town Clerk —Samuel Hawley. Treasurer — Thomas
Barber. Justices of the Peace — Thomas Haynes and Joseph Harrison.
Superintendent of School—Edward Barber. Constables —Henry Carden and Aug.
Barnes. Assessor— George Draper.

  In those early times there were plenty of deer, and often as many as
twenty-four head at a time were seen feeding upon the fields of winter wheat
sown by the early settlers. The town was a favorite resort with the Indians,
because of the quantity of game frequenting this section of country, and their
camp was about one-half mile from my house. In the fall of 1848, about
sixty-five of them and their families remained near my land, on section 27, for
about six weeks, killing deer. When they prepared to depart, they loaded each of
their ponies with a fresh killed deer, which they purposed carrying to Milwaukee
to sell. They made frequent visits to my house for flour and salt, and the most
friendly relationship existed between them and my family, we passing in and out
of their camp as often as opportunity permitted us. On one occasion, while I was
making hay near their camp, three squaws came with long sticks or canes and
helped turn the hay. When done, they signified by signs that they had done so
because I had given them flour and salt.

  The deer continued plentiful for a number of years, but the constant settling
up of the town, and the killing of them, made their appearance very scarce, so
that the last deer known to have been killed in the town was by myself in 1856.

  A frequent and very troublesome annoyance to the settlers was the great number
of wolves that made the night hideous with howling, and would even attack the
stock if suitable care was not taken to keep the cattle in places of safety. In
the winter it was sometimes unsafe, even in the day time, to be unarmed, as they
followed teams of horses or oxen, watching every opportunity to attack them. One
winter in 1847, between Christmas and New Year, Conrad Scheele, a yonng man
living with me, started out with the ox team and sleigh to go to Clark's
Corners, in Springfield, to get a few bushels of potatoes from Joseph
Knippschild, and after being gone about an hour, came back to arm himself,
because the wolves were so numerous and savage he could not make any progress on
the road.

  On Table Bluff, the highest bluff in the town, section 29, there are a number
of Indian mounds that are in the form of small hills, others long or oblong,
while some of them take the shape of animals, such as bears, snakes, etc. On
section 27, where my land is, there are several long ones, also having the form
of animals.

  There is evidence on sections 21 and 29 that the aborigines were engaged in
mining or digging for some valuable minerals or flints, before the white
settlers came to this town. Large excavations are seen showing where the soil
has been thrown out for some purpose that, we are not made aware of in our time.
Perhaps to obtain the copper masses, or boulders from which they made their tools.

  In those days the postal arrangements in the town were not within the
requirements of our modern conveniences, and perhaps could not be better told
than to relate an incident that came under my own observation. The nearest
post-office was Madison, and letters for the town of Berry had to come over the
Sauk road, by way of Mr. Dunlap's, then sometime afterwards it would be carried
from there to Cross Plains, and then to Mr. Thomas, who was postmaster, on
section 10. A friend and myself calling for letters at his house were informed
by Mrs. Thomas that her husband was in the meadow haying, where we went and
found him mowing with a sickle one foot long After the compliments of the day
were passed, we asked if there were any letters for us. He replied that he would
see, and sitting down on his haunches he very carefully with both hands took off
his hat (which was a genuine stovepipe of no very recent style), tumbled out a
number of letters on the ground, looked them over for us, and then replaced the
hat and its contents on his head. We were Germans, but we had never seen a
portable post-office before, nor had any conceptions of the weighty
correspondence of many heads being carried in one, and then covered with a
stovepipe hat; but that was the post-office of Cross Plains.

  The nearest mills that we had were Hickocks', in Iowa county, Sugar River
Mill, and the Lodi Mill; and the inconvenience of the early settlers in getting
their wheat gristed was sometimes scarcely possible in our times to imagine. On
one occasion, I carried a grist to Hickocks' Mill and found the mill stopped and
undergoing repair; I then started for the mill at Sugar River, but found that
also broken down and repairing, which ultimately compelled me to go to
Janesville, before I could get my wheat gristed; occupying about six days going
and returning. Mr. John Cropper started a mill at Halfway Prairie creek in 1863,
but afterwards moved it to Mazomanie.

  In 1852, I started a brewery, and continued in the business until 1861. In
1862, George Esser also started a brewery, and has built up a large business.

  In the southeast part of the town there is a large Catholic church, built of
stone, and with a fine spire that can be seen for miles around. The present
pastor is the Rev. John Friede, a well educated and sociable gentleman. There is
also a Catholic school connected with the church. In the center of the town
there is a German Lutheran church, under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr.
Schenk, of Middieton. The town has six school districts.

   The first store in town was kept by Hartwig Meyer, at Halfway Prairie, and
for several years Mr. Christian Henrichs also kept a store at the above place.
There is no store at present.

  The town is well supplied with stone for building purposes; and Mr. Peter
Rouls has a lime kiln, and supplies the neighborhood with burned lime.

  The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad runs through the southwestern part
of the town. In Halfway Prairie there is a little village called Meyer's
Corners, where are two saloons, one kept by Aug. Rieward, and the other by
Herman Schneyer; two blacksmith's shops, one by August Hagemann, and the other
by John Hagemann; one wagon shop, kept by Jacob Back: one shoe shop, kept by
Carl Schuman; and one tailor, Chris. Luetzow.

  On sections two and eleven there is a lake known as Indian Lake, that has no
apparent outlet. It was much frequented by the Indians for fishing and hunting,
but of late years, they soldom visit it, although many of the citizens still
continue to hunt here. From having dried up, it is not as large as formerly.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Dane County Towns Section

MADISON, DANE COUNTY AND SURROUNDING TOWNS;
BEING A HISTORY AND GUIDE
TO PLACES OF SCENIC BEAUTY AND HISTORICAL NOTE FOUND IN THE TOWNS OF DANE COUNTY
AND SURROUNDINGS, INCLUDING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNS, AND EARLY INTERCOURSE
OF THE SETTLERS WITH THE INDIANS, THEIR CAMPS, TRAILS, MOUNDS, ETC.

WITH A COMPLETE LIST OF
COUNTY SUPERVISORS AND OFFICERS,
AND
LEGISLATIVE MEMBEES, MADISON VILLAGE AND CITY COUNCIL.

ILLUSTRATED,
MADISON, WIS.:
PUBLISHED BY WM. J. PARK & CO.,

BOOKSELLERS, STATIONERS AND BINDERS, 11 KING STREET.
1877.

COPYRIGHT.
WM. J. PARK & CO. 1877.

DAVID ATWOOD, STEREOTYPER AND PRINTER, MADISON, WIS.

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