Dane County WI Archives History - Books .....Chapter III Pioneers And Celebrities 1877
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Book Title: Madison And Dane County And Surrounding Towns...

CHAPTER III.
PIONEERS AND CELEBRITIES.

  THE PIONEERS of our city were not the first settlers in the territory, now
known as "Wisconsin, and therefore we shall look outside our own borders to
construct a sketch of the early days, which will connect the house of Eben Peck
and his wife Rosaline, with the remote past, as well as with the present. The
chief whose name is spelt by different writers in so many differing ways, De
Kaury, Day-Kau-Ray, De-corrah, Decori, and otherwise, in every manner that will
give even an approximation to the original sound, is said to have been the son
of a French voyageur, or trapper, who had made his home among the Indians,
giving rise to a succession of able men, who were influential in the affairs of
the tribes. One of that family, a Winnebago, surrendered Black Hawk to Gen.
Street, the Indian Agent, at Prairie du Chien, after the close of the Black Hawk
war in 1832. The Frenchman Pellkie—whose name is undoubtedly a corruption from
the original, who assisted to build the first log house for Eben Peck—was
officered by another resident among the Indians, named Wood, afterwards a mill
owner, who had married into the family of a De Kaury. Some exquisite stories
could be written of the Four Lake country, connecting Indians with white men, in
the days before the city of Madison was even imagined. One of the De Kaurys
exercised the powers of a chief in this immediate locality. Gray-headed
Day-Kau-Ray or De Kaury, with a considerable force, met Gen. Atkinson at
Portage, while Gen. Dodge was in the field during the troubles preliminary to
the war, which was ended at the Bad Ax. They were various in their
characteristics, as well as numerous and widely diffused, these Franco-Indian
warriors and sachems. One-eyed De Kaury of La Crosse bore a good reputation, but
another of the family was suggestively described as Rascal De Kaury. Mrs. Kinzie
says that the mother of the race, a Winnebago, was alive in 1831, and supposed
to be more than a century old. There were four or five brothers, of whom the
Winnebago chief was one, and Washington—or Wau-kon—De Kaury another. One sister
married a French trader named Lecuyer, another was twice married to Canadian
French traders, named De Riviere and Grignon, and three married Indians. But
enough about the De Kaurys. They were pioneers in this territory, busily engaged
in the war of 1812 on the side of the British, and the advent of white settlers
was the prelude to their removal by death or transfer. Descendants from the
Lecuyer marriage were united in wedlock with white settlers at Green Bay, and
elsewhere, and prospered according to the customs of civilized life. Eben Peck
and his wife came to the Blue Mounds, where they rented the tavern stand owned
by Col. Brigham, and boarded the old colonel and the hands employed by him.
While so engaged, Mrs. Peck entertained Judge and Mrs. Doty on one occasion, and
the conversation turning upon Madison, where the location of the capital was yet
recent, the judge and his good lady made a promise, which was afterwards
forgotten, apparently, that if Mrs. Peck was the first to commence housekeeping
on the village site, she should have the best lot in the township, and also a
present. Mrs. Peck was the first housekeeper, but it is probable that she did
not care to recall the promise, which in the hurry of affairs, at that time,
might easily have been forgotten by Judge Doty. Boarding houses must have been
expensive and troublesome institutions to run, in the early days, as we find
that flour fetched $17 a barrel in Milwaukee in 1838, irrespective of the cost
of freight, in the days when travelers made their own routes, and carried axes
along to cut down the timber that blocked their course. Pork cost as high as $33
per barrel, and potatoes $3 per bushel; add thereto the cost of transfer, and
the profits incidental to boarders must have been whittled down considerably.
Some courage was wanted then to open an establishment, such as the Peck family
meant to run, when Indian villages were the only habitations near, and deserted
wigwams along the borders of the lakes and streams told of the red men who had
flourished and faded in this locality. Until now the cabin of Michel St. Cyr had
served all the purposes of a hostelry, and the old man had not grown rich by
entertaining his few and scattering guests.

  There was certain to be a much greater demand for hotel accommodation, because
the capitol had to be soon erected, and visitors were sure to become more
numerous as the works advanced, but the workmen, as the event proved, would
build their own lodgings before long, and make arrangements among themselves
about cooking provisions. Travelers who came to see the country, to visit the
mines, or to see the spots made famous by engagements during the Black Hawk war
of five years before, seldom failed to visit Madison, which had charms of its
own sufficient to justify a detour. Before long there were numerous hotels doing
a prosperous business on the ground which had at first been exclusively
possessed by Eben Peck's log house; and hundreds occupied their leisure in
exploring the sparkling lakes, skirted with every kind of scenic beauty. Groves
and meadows, suggestive of love in a cottage, capes, bluffs, ravines and
prairies, the peninsula itself with its elevation seventy feet above the lakes,
on which the capitol stands, now in the center of a lovely park, the undulating
lines descending thence to rise again in numerous ridges, and most beautiful of
all, in the grounds now occupied by the university, offered variety enough to
gratify the most persistent searcher after loveliness. Mrs. Peck became the
owner of a canoe which had been the property of an Indian chief, and Cleopatra
never enjoyed her famous voyages, celebrated by the poets, more than did the few
who were privileged to glide over the lakes of crystal in that vessel. Only to
see that boat freighted with pleasure seekers was a delight equal to all that is
realized by the average looker on in contemplating a regatta. The joy of the
rowers, and the charms of the scene could not be surpassed. A picture painted by
C. A. Johnson, a fine and truthful representation of the first residence in
Madison, with the canoe in the distance, is one of the most valued properties of
the Historical Society, and an engraving of that scene accompanies this sketch.
The primitive looking dwelling was at one time quite a luxurious abode, on
Butler street, near the Lake House, lately destroyed by fire, not far from the
Third Lake.

  The picture is a perfect reproduction of the reality, in almost every detail.

  Professor Chapman has recorded one fact which should long since have been
tested by experience, in the natural desire of the early settlers to vary the
supplies on their table. He states on the authority of Mr. Rasdall that the
Indians used a root which grew in the marshes, as a substitute for potatoes,
called by the red men no-ah-how-in. It was bulbous, but did not resemble arrow
root. Mr. Kasdall said that having been cast ashore, without provisions, from
Mendota Lake, in 1835, while arranging a trading establishment near the First
Lake, he had subsisted on the root in question for ten days. The early settlers
were not very speculative, as it appears that water for daily consumption was
brought from the lakes until 1839, when the first well upon the plat was
excavated on the American House lot, the labor being performed by two soldiers,
James Nevil and an Italian named Whildean. Mr. Darwin Clark, our fellow citizen,
gives a vivid idea of the state of society in the. summer of 18 37, and while
glancing thereat, we can understand that a fully employed population, engaged
upon a task which must be finished in a hurry, and surrounded by hot blooded
Indians, had little opportunity for making permanent improvements, which others
would probably enjoy. That summer a party of Winnebagoes camped on the shore of
the Third Lake, on the flat just below the old Lake House. During the
continuance of the encampment, a quarrel occurred between two young Indians, one
of whom stabbed the other, and from different sources we learn that the murderer
sat on the body of his victim with perfect unconcern, smoking his pipe, as
though modestly disclaiming special merit in a very creditable transaction. The
white workmen, who were unaccustomed to look upon murder with satisfaction, were
much incensed, and by way of warning that the knives of the red men must not be
too freely brought in as umpires, they carried their rifles and shot guns to and
from their work. The Winnebagoes took the hint in a proper spirit, and soon
after left for parts unknown. The Indian stabbed as above described, was the
brother-in-law of Pellkie's partner, another French Canadian, and, as stated
elsewhere, Pellkie was himself shot on a subsequent occasion. There were
consequently other matters deserving attention besides digging wells, and
seeking roots as substitutes for the potato. The vigorous action of the
volunteers, who provided their own rifles and ammunition^ may have prevented
worse trouble. Public opinion, speaking through the rifle barrel, was a power
which the red skins did not wish to provoke.

  About two weeks after the arrival of Mrs. Peck in Madison, a party of fifteen
men came on from Milwaukee via Janesville, and the work of the hostess began in
earnest. Commissioner Bird was one of the arrivals, and he was accompanied by
hired hands whose work had consisted in blazing and preparing a road by which
other workmen and supplies would follow. It was important that proper tracks
should be defined where so much traffic must shortly occur and the acting
commissioner was provident. The American Hotel, already mentioned, was built in
1838, and circumstances gave that establishment an advantage over all
competitors, for a time. It continued to be a place of considerable note, until
it was destroyed by fire in 1868. The Madison Hotel also dated from 1838, but
the structure was at first quite small. The territorial supreme court was
organized in this building, in June, 1838, and held its first session here when
the legislature assembled in the American Hotel. Gov. Dodge and many of the
leading members of both houses made the Madison Hotel their headquarters. The
structure belonged to Commissioner Bird, and was at first kept by his brother.
The long continued efforts of the other side to remove the seat of government
from Madison found in this building an unceasing watchfulness which could not be
evaded. There were numerous hosts, after the hotel passed out of the hands of
the Bird family, and the name was changed several times, but it was known by the
old name at the last, in March, 1863. It was situated on King street on the
present site of Dean's block. The establishment kept by Mr. and Mrs. Peck, has
already been mentioned. The new comers, whose names and influence have been
beneficially associated with Madison since that date, would defy enumeration,
but there are some who cannot be omitted, from a record, however brief, which
aims at any measure of completeness. The scene enacted in plastering the kitchen
of the Peck boarding house, in which Judge Doty, Col. Brigham, and all the
available masculinity of Madison, took part, is historical. The pioneers of
Wisconsin were well represented and well occupied on that occasion. One of the
earliest visitors from abroad, was an English geologist named Featherstonehaugh,
afterwards a British consul until his death in 1866, and he provoked the ire of
his hostess at a later date, by some ill-mannered jokes and very unnecessary
criticisms, about Mrs. Peck and the accommodations obtained in her pioneer
restaurant, which were published by him in London. There is unexceptional
testimony, from a witness no less reliable than Gen. Mills, that Mrs. Rosaline
Peck made excellent coffee, a point expressly denied by the earliest writer
whose lucubrations concerning Madison, were published in Europe. The somewhat
vulgar and untrustworthy book served its purpose in procuring him a government
appointment under the British crown, so that Madison helped at least one man to
fortune.

  Before the days of Featherstonehaugh, there had been celebrities in Wisconsin,
and not a few of them had stood where the capitol has since been erected. Capt.
Jonathan Carver may have been a visitor to this precise locality, certainly he
was for some time in the lake country. Gen. Dodge, who came occasionally to the
capital, in discharging his official duties as governor, was in that way a
Madisonian, and it is no small matter that we should be identified with the man
whose conduct of the war did most toward effecting the defeat of Black Hawk in
1832. Col. Zachary Taylor was for some time in command of the troops in Prairie
du Chien, and while there, a young lieutenant, Jefferson Davis, was sparking the
daughter of the commandant, so that there were two celebrities in Wisconsin; the
one destined to become president of the United States, after serving the country
for many years in the field with "rough and ready" effectiveness, and to die of
the turmoil of political life; the other, to lose by ill-directed ambition, the
repute won as a soldier, and to find the grave of his success in the presidency
of the confederation whose ruin it was his fortune to survive. Both officers
rendered good service in the Black Hawk war until the end was reached in the
battle of the Bad Axe on the second of August, 1832. But for the vigor with
which the United States troops and volunteers fought then, in vindication of the
faith to be placed in treaties, and in defense of property and life, there might
have been no Madison on this peninsula. In that sense the men named were pioneers.

  The Hon. John Catlin was essentially among the first comers. He was one of the
party that accompanied the surveyor, Moses M. Strong, to survey and plat the
town, and a lot purchased by himself, near the present post office, was utilized
by him by the erection thereon of a log house, to be used as the post office
store. That building was the first erected in Madison, as it was commenced some
time before Eben Peck began his structure: but an accident destroyed the
interior of the building, a fire having been by some means originated, and in
consequence the primeval log house was not the first residence. Mr. Catlin was
the pioneer par excellence. He was a Green Mountain boy, as he came from Orwell,
Vermont. He was a partner with Mr. Strong in the law business at Mineral Point
in 1836, and clerk of the supreme court. He became postmaster in. this city in
1837. Removed from office by Gen. Harrison, he was reappointed by President
Tyler. Subsequently he served as chief clerk of the house of representatives;
was district attorney for Dane county, and judge at a later date; in 1846, he
became secretary of the territory. Mr. Catlin was a good citizen and an able man
of business. He died in 1874.

  Hon. Simeon Mills ranks in the same category, with this difference, that he
still remains in our community. Born in Norfolk, Litchfield county, Conn., in
February, 1810, he is now in his sixty-seventh year, and he has spent his
lifetime in Wisconsin since attaining the age of twenty-five. Mineral Point was
his first abode in this territory, but immediately after the location of the
capital, he moved to this city when there was only one house upon the ground,
and on the 10th of June, 1837, he commenced a small building of hewed logs, in
which to begin business as a storekeeper. For five years from 1837, Mr. Mills
carried the mails to and from this city for the government, and about the same
time the responsible duties of a justice of the peace were imposed upon him by
Gov. Dodge. Numerous offices of honor and emolument have since that date been
conferred on Mr. Mills. He was one of the commissioners for Dane county upon its
organization in 1839; clerk of the United States district court; territorial
treasurer; first senator for Dane county; one of the regents engaged in the
organization of the state university, and subsequently paymaster general of the
state during the war, from 1861. The record left by Gen. Mills, in every
relation of his well spent life, reflects credit on one of the oldest pioneer
families in Dane county, and his industry has contributed, in no small degree,
to the prosperity and growth of the city.

  Darwin Clark came to this city with acting commissioner Bird, in the spring of
1837, to commence work as a cabinet maker on the capitol, and since that time he
has been a resident in Madison, holding many offices of trust with honor to
himself, and conducting for many years a very extensive business. He was born in
Otsego county, N. Y., in May, 1812, in which state he also married his first
wife. He set out for the west when twenty-five years of age, to make a home
where there would be better opportunities than in the crowded east. The pioneers
had among them few more estimable men. A young mechanic of mark in the early
days, when there was only one family in Madison, and growing up with the place,
figuring in its gayeties in the first New Year's festivities, which lasted two
days, a guest at the first wedding when a young woman in Mrs. Peck's household
became the wife of Jairus S. Potter, his name is interwoven with most of the
early celebrations, as well as with many later responsibilities.

  The community was very limited when that marriage occurred, on the 1st of
April, 1838, and the better half was held in high esteem. Gen. Simeon Mills, not
then holding military rank, but a prosperous storekeeper, and in office, rose
betimes to gather an early bouquet of wild flowers to grace the occasion. The
spring, in honor of the event of course, came early, or that feature would have
been wanting from the festival. The wedding ceremony was performed by Mr. Eben
Peck, in his capacity as justice of the peace, and when the dance followed, the
better half of the Peck family played on the violin, assisted by Luther, her
husband's brother, according as the exigencies of the time demanded. Mrs. Peck
played well, but she danced well also, and there were so few ladies to take the
floor that one could hardly be spared to form the orchestra. The disparity of
the sexes was happily expressed by Mrs. Peck: "You cannot call it succotash;
there was too much corn for the beans." Both bride and bridegroom have since
passed away, but the memory of the event is part of the domestic history of the
city. Mrs. Prosper B. Bird was present, and she yet remains to honor and grace
our community, a living memento of a time from which sad memories, mingled with
few delights, yield a gentle perfume as of bruised but never dying flowers. Mr.
Potter died in Madison, somewhere about the year 1841. His wife's maiden name
was Elizabeth Allen. There were two Potters then in the village, Jairus, known
as "Long Potter," for he was a man of great altitude, and Horace, whose more
stunted proportions caused him to be known as "Short Potter." Miss Allen, after
considering "the long and the short of it," did not follow the maxim "of two
evils choose the least," consequently there was more husband in her home than in
any other household near the capitol. Darwin Clark was good for many things,
besides, being good company, in the early days, as thank goodness, he still
remains. In the summer of 1837, when Wm. A. Wheeler came here to erect a steam
saw mill west of the foot of Butler street, on the bank of lake Mendota, the
young cabinet maker was able to give valuable assistance toward the erection of
the works; and although owing to the fact that the engine and machinery had to
he brought from Detroit, operations were not commenced until nearly the end of
the year; much of the timber used in the old capitol was sawed in Wheeler's
mill. The McDonalds, the Smiths, and others whose names have escaped us, who
mingled in the throng when Commissioner Bird and his wife led off in the
"Virginia reel" or "Hunt the squirrel," will never have for us more than a
phantom existence, as they "come like shadows, so depart;" but friend Clark is a
reality.

  The days in which Judge Doty, treasurer of the board of commissioners, came in
from Green Bay with specie and currency to pay the men, guarded by Capt. John
Symington and a squad of soldiers from Fort Howard, were not without their
charm; more especially when we see the commissioner laying aside the pomp of
office to stand sponsor at the informal christening of the first white child
born in Madison; and editor Sholes, who was then in his company, must have been
favorably impressed by our band of pioneers. Some four years later we find the
Hon. C. C. Sholes identified with the publication of the Enquirer newspaper, the
material of which journal was eventually removed to Milwaukee from this city.
Mr. Sholes was more actively identified with Kenosha. The name most intimately
associated with our early press is that of the Hon. George Hyer; but his work in
that capacity will appear in reviewing our newspaper history. He was one of our
pioneers, and before Madison was platted, he had accustomed himself to thread
his devious track through the woods, having on one occasion made his way from
Milwaukee to Green Bay, and on another in 1837, from, the same starting point to
Rock river settlement, when he was specially sworn in by old Solomon Juneau to
carry the mail.

  In the earliest apportionment of offices for Dane county, the name of John
Stoner occurs as treasurer, and that of R. L. Ream, father of the famous Vinnie
Ream, a Madisonian, as register of deeds. Ream succeeded to the old log house
erected by Eben Peck, after another residence had been built for that family.
Geo. P. Delaplaine was surveyor, N. T. Parkinson, the first sheriff, William A.
Wheeler, assessor, Adam Smith, collector, and the three commissioners were,
Simeon Mills, Eben Peck and Jeremiah Lycan, with LaFayette Kellogg for clerk.
The father of Vinnie Ream assumed the management of the pioneer "Tavern Stand,"
as Mrs. Peck phrases it, when Eben and his wife gave their attention to farming,
unfortunately for themselves, cultivating a piece of land which, had been deeded
to them by mistake. The change was made in the spring of 1838, and the birth
place of the sculptress was torn down in 1857, after twenty years of peculiarly
eventful service. The old Madison House, the picture of which we preserve, was,
under the presidency named, the resort of the aristocracy of Wisconsin, and it
long continued to be the stage house. According to Judge Knapp, the charges were
not very moderate, as "two feet by six of floor could be had for the night,"
only upon payment of "two pence per square foot," and "the weary traveler might
spread his own blanket, using his saddle or portmanteau for a pillow, rejoicing
that he had so good a bed." The other hotels were no more sumptuous than Ream's,
as in all of them, the lakes, the woods and the slow coming "prairie schooner,"
were drawn upon liberally to supply the table. Sleeping accommodation was at a
premium everywhere, even after the American Hotel, the largest on the ground,
was raised.

  The first treasurer of Dane county, John Stoner, was born in Washington
county, Maryland, in 1791, consequently, when he died in this city, in 1872, he
was in his eighty-first year. He served in the war of 1812, and was one of the
early arrivals in Madison village. His pioneer log cabin was in the second ward,
abutting on the lot now occupied by the church of Norwegian Lutherans. The old
landmarks are nearly all effaced, so far as they were raised by men in the
springs and summers of 1837-8. The log house on the marsh is gone, the first
frame house built in the city at the southwest corner of Wilson and Pinckney
street, for J. S. Schermerhorn, has given place to a large two story brick
dwelling. The old steam mill on the bank of the lake is so entirely gone that it
is not easy to find even a trace of its foundations. A grey sandstone slab,
erected to mark the spot where a carpenter named S. Warren was buried in 1838,
having been killed by lightning in that summer, cannot be found.

  "Chief Justice of the Peace, Seymour,"  who is mentioned in a very pleasant
and appreciative way in "Reminiscences of Madison," by Judge Knapp, loomed large
in our early days, at once a pioneer and a celebrity. Mrs. Peck mentions him as
possessed of a feather bed, once her property, and containing "over thirty
pounds of fresh geese feathers," so that he had ideas of luxury. Judge Pratt
says, that "his pipe was part of the man; with that in his mouth, he was clerk
in the commissioners' store, kept books, dealt out silks and dry goods, tea and
powder; was surveyor of the town plat, only he read the degrees and minutes at
the wrong end of the needle; tried causes, civil and criminal, administered
justice, mingled largely with equity and common sense. ..... All knew he was the
Gazette, the very latest edition, and he had under his special care all the
affairs of town, state and church. ..... A dreadful sickness came upon him and
Seymour lost his pipe, the city losing its best guardian." Gov. Dodge appointed
Seymour justice of the peace, upon the recommendation of Eben Peck, when Dane
county was organized, and the commissioners set about bridging the Catfish, and
erecting the jail, reducing "the bounty on wolves' scalps," to render their
funds available for such works as have been suggested. Wm. N. Seymour published
a directory of Madison, a copy of which is in the hands of the Historical
Society. He has lived to see several other works of a similar character, but
none of them more interesting than his own. The stroke of paralysis under which
he fell in November, 1859, has not deprived him of the satisfaction of
witnessing the steady growth of the city, the infant steps of whose village days
were in part guided by himself. His form is well known on the streets, and most
of the old pioneers can tell of some good deed in his career, which retains for
him a pleasant place in their memories. The Masonic fraternity stood by the
"Chief Justice of the Peace" in his affliction, and by their aid he is
comfortably circumstanced.

  Gen. Geo. P. Delaplaine was county surveyor. We find him on the Fourth of
July, 1839, reading the Jeffersonian Declaration, when William T. Sterling was
orator of the day, and the music on the occasion was anything but first class.
The dinner that day consisted of bacon and fish, with the addition of much
whisky. Customarily the dinner comprised fish and bacon with less whisky. The
celebration lasted three days. The pioneer Geo. P. Delaplaine came from
Milwaukee to clerk in Jas. Morrison's store, and his ability no less than his
high character soon made him master of the situation. His name stands honorably
identified with most of the movements in early days for the advantage of
Madison. Another of the early pioneers whose life has been honorable to the
community, although there are no brilliant deeds to be pointed to in his career,
is Mr. E. M. Williamson, of Pinckney street, one of our earliest school
teachers, and identified with the establishment of the Episcopal church, which
will be found more particularly mentioned elsewhere. Many names that should have
had notice have been omitted, but that is inevitable because of our limitations.
The position and labors of Mr. and Mrs. Peck have already been briefly
indicated. Eben Peck started overland to California when the gold fever spread
over this western country, and it is supposed that he was slain by the Indians
on the plains, but there is no record of his death, and it is claimed, that he
was heard from at a later date. His wife, a brave and able woman, has written
many piquant papers, descriptive of pioneer life, in which her own experiences
made her proficient. In her house the earliest visitors to Madison found a home,
in her dining room the gayeties of several seasons found their earliest
expression. Her husband as justice of the peace united in the bonds of wedlock
the first couple lawfully married in this city, and after the irrevocable knot
had been tied, as we have seen, the violin of the justice's lady gladdened the
hearts of the assembled throng while they threaded the mazes of the dance. In
the old log house was born Miss Wisconsiana Victoria Peck, the first child that
saw the light in this city, concerning whose christening some particulars are
given. Mrs. Peck and her husband were the pioneer settlers, and subsequently the
lady became the first settler in Baraboo, where she still resides.

  Mrs. Prosper Burgoyne Bird, formerly Miss Hewitt, another of our pioneers,
came of good revolutionary stock, and was one of the most valued of our early
residents. Her husband built a house for her in this city, while she remained in
Milwaukee. There was only one house in Janesville when the lady came through to
her destination. The party had seen enough of pioneer life to have, discouraged
most people, before they left Milwaukee. While they were neighbors of "Old
Solomo," as the Indians always called Col. Juneau, they witnessed an election,
in which the principal argument used in favor of the successful ticket was a
dipper placed in a barrel of whisky, by the founder of the Cream City. The
potency of such logic was manifested in the fact that a sober man could hardly
be found in the settlement at the close of the day. The first boat launched on
Lake Michigan, "The Juneau," kissed the water while Mrs. Bird was remaining in
Milwaukee. The party set out on their road altogether, but at the last moment
Mr. Bird, having business to transact on account of the capitol, for the
building of which his brother was acting commissioner, returned to the village,
leaving his courageous wife to prosecute the journey without his guidance, until
sundown the following day. The ferryman at Janesville was not at home, so the
little band went round by Beloit, where there were two log houses, one on each
side of the river. The home provided for their accommodation was an uninclosed
frame building, on the street now known as Webster street, on lot eight, and the
building was not com pleted [sic] until April, 1838. During part of the
interval, Mrs. Bird resided in a log house on the site where Kentzler's livery
stable now stands, and afterwards moved into the old log boarding house near Mr.
Pyncheon's residence. There were, when Mrs. Bird arrived in the village, only
four log houses; that built for Mr. Catlin, and partly consumed by fire; that
occupied by Mrs. Peck, and known long after as the Madison House; the residence
of Mr. Stoner, already mentioned; and one other of less note. Such an addition
to the village was important.

  The workmen engaged upon the capitol boarded with the newly arrived
housekeeper, and there were rough times and hard work for all hands when she
began her pioneer experience in this locality. In Mrs. Bird's mother's home the
first death in the new settlement occurred from typhoid fever, and the second
happened from her own house having been struck by lightning. The cemetery then
in use forms now a part of the university grounds. The Bird family was one of
the most numerous and energetic among the pioneers, but a volume would be
required to record their several fortunes and adventures.

  Col. Wm. B. Slaughter, whose eloquence is still the pride of his fellow
townsmen, was born in 1797, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and came to reside in
Green Bay in 1835, where he was appointed register of the land office. While
serving as a member of the legislative council of Michigan, which assembled at
Green Bay in the winter of that year, he initiated the memorial for the
organization of Wisconsin. About the same date, he entered the lot held by St.
Cyr, near this city, and gave the half-breed $200 for his improvements. When the
capital was located, he made his residence where the City of the Four Lakes was
platted by M. L. Martin, Judge Doty and himself, and continued a resident until
1845, when Virginia attracted him to his old home. On the commencement of the
war, the colonel was appointed commissary and quarter-master by the president;
and now, nearly eighty years of age, he is one of the most active and
intellectual of the residents in this city. There are but few men to be found
who, from their personal experience, know more about Madison from the beginning.
Soon after the capitol was commenced, and when Commissioner Bird's residence was
small and cold, Sheriff Childs from Green Bay mentions a visit to Col. Wm. B.
Slaughter's, on the west bank of the Fourth Lake, near Pheasant Branch. Long
before this time, all the land business of the territory had passed through the
colonel's hands at Green Bay. When the location of the capital was under debate,
and long before it came to the vote, Col. Slaughter made arrangements with St.
Cyr, under which the half-breed enabled the colonel to enter the tract in the
summer or autumn of 1835, and he subsequently conveyed an interest to Judge
Doty, with the hope that the capital would be there located. The arrangement
with Gov. Mason of Michigan, and the purchase of the peninsula for $1,500,
wrecked Col. Slaughter's project, seeing that he was absent in the south while
the session was being held at Belmont, upon which the location turned. Sheriff
Childs, already mentioned, says that the votes which determined the matter were
those cast by representatives who knew that their several localities would be
erected into a distinct territory soon afterwards. Iowa had six councilmen and
representatives, so that the influence of the outsiders really determined the
issue, and the country west of the Mississippi was separately organized with
little delay. Childs says that the town plat of Madison was divided into twenty
shares, and that he was offered one share for $200, apparently with the hope
that he would in that way be induced to vote for the location. His Roman virtue
was equal to the emergency, and Green Bay was pleased with the course taken by
him. Col. Slaughter's site had been very wisely chosen, upon the historical
ground where Gen. Dodge held his "talk" with the Winnebagoes, when the Black
Hawk war had begun, and after Stillman had sustained his defeat.

  Josiah A. Noonan did not come to our territory until the year 1837, and in
1840, removed to Milwaukee, whence, still later, he migrated to Chicago to take
charge of the Industrial Age; but as the founder of the first newspaper issued
in this city, the Wisconsin Enquirer, he must have a place among our pioneers.
The first press and printing materials bought for this enterprise, were thrown
overboard, off Mackinaw, in Lake Huron, in a storm, on the voyage from Buffalo
to Green Bay, and in consequence the Racine Argus, with its material, was
purchased and removed, to do duty in the capital. The paper was published on
King street, in a room over the commissioners' store, and eventually some of the
ablest journalists in the state were identified with its career. C. C. Sholes
became a partner in the paper in 1839, as is elsewhere mentioned, and it lived
until June, 1843, taking an active part in all public affairs until its death.
Judge Knapp was for some time its editor. That gentleman has left on record a
brief description of the Fourth of July celebration in 1839, and according to
his winged words, there was no lack of spirit among the celebrants. There was an
oration, and the declaration in proper order, but a liberal supply of
"Pecatonica" and "Rock River," the latter a peculiarly strong water, with an
orchestra consisting of two violins and a flute, filled every soul with martial
music. A fat steer which had been brought to grace the tables of the citizens on
the Fourth, was forgotten until three days later, when the keg was empty, and
there was then but little superfluous fat upon the bones of the delayed
sacrifice. It must not be supposed that all the citizens were affected by "old
rye," but the carrier, who had brought the steer, had kept the secret of its
whereabouts, until his senses were sobered by the emptying of the keg.

  Abel Rasdall cannot be utterly omitted from a record of our pioneers; his
bravery during the troubles and his good faith at all times, entitle him to be
mentioned, but he has been referred to at large in the first chapter, as will be
remembered.

  The schoolmaster was in request, but the number of pupils was not great. Mr.
Edgar S. Searle taught school in the summer of 1839, and was followed by Mr. E.
M. Williamson, mentioned among our pioneers, who had six pupils. Mr. Williamson
taught at the corner of Pinckney and Dayton streets, one term, in a very
primitive building. In the winter of 1842-3, Mr. Theodore Conkey also taught.
Miss Pierce was at the same time engaged in the tuition of girls in an old
building near the spot where Dean's block is now standing. Another step in the
same direction, aiming at the improvement of adults, was an association for
church purposes, entered into in July, 1839. The instrument of association
indicated the establishment of a parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church as
the object of the members. There were sixteen signatures to the document. The
first Sunday school was also started about this time and conducted by Rev. Mr.
Clark, Presbyterian clergyman, It was held in the capitol.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Madison 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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