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

CHRISTIANA.
BY CHAS. N. BROWN AND OTHERS.

  THIS town is the second from the southern, and immediately upon the eastern
boundary of the county, occupying the whole of township 6 north, range 12 east.
It was named, we believe, at the suggestion of the early Norwegian settlers, in
honor of the capital of their native country, and was set off from Albion, which
bounds it on the south, and organized as a separate town, May 6, 1847.

  The town was at first attached to the town of Albion for township system of
government, and it was organized as a separate town, and elected its own town
officers, only a short time before Wisconsin became a state. The first annual
town election held after Wisconsin had entered into the family of states, was in
the spring of 1849, and the town board then elected were: Randolph Brown as
chairman, with Nathan G. Van Horn and Daniel Davidson as assistant supervisors,
and Gabriel Bjornson as town clerk. The town has, since the above time, famished
four members for the legislature, and two county officers, as follows: Gabriel
Bjornson was elected member of assembly in the year 1850; Daniel B. Crandall was
next elected member of assembly in the year 1857; William D. Potter was elected
member of assembly in 1865, and John E. Johnson in the year 1868. Gabriel
Bjornson was next elected clerk of the county board of supervisors in the year
1852, and reelected in 1854. And Charles Cornelinson was elected register of
deeds in the year 1856. Of the above named persons only John E. Johnson is now
residing here; Randolph Brown, Charles Cornelinson and Daniel B. Crandall being
dead. Daniel Davidson is residing somewhere in California; William D. Potter
residing in Stoughton, in this county, and Gabriel Bjornson now a resident of
Madison. The residence of Nathan G. Van Horn is unknown.

  Of the early settlers at Utica, S. W. Coon and W. H. H. Coon are yet residing
there, both of whom, in their honorable old age, enjoy the confidence and
respect of the community of which they are members.

  There are in this town three small villages, the largest of which is
Cambridge, situated in the northeastern part upon Koshkonong creek, and
described in the next chapter. Clinton, the next in size, is situated upon the
same stream, in the eastern part, and Utica, the smallest, which, in fact, is so
small that it hardly lays claim to the title of village, and is upon no stream
at all, lies in the western part. The population of the town in 1875, was nearly
1,700, the larger proportion of which are foreigners, of whom nearly all are
Norwegians.

  The surface, which is gently undulating, is diversified with prairie and
oak-openings, and to the eye of a farmer, this is one of the most beautiful
towns in the county. These oak-openings were so named from the fact that the
annual burning over of the county by Indian tribes kept the timber so entirely
free from underbrush, that a team could be easily driven through it in any
direction; it was this openness, contrasted with the denseness of forests of
other states, that suggested the name "openings." As soon, however, as the
annual fires ceased, and the original timber was cut off, there sprang up the
dense second-growth which is familiar to all, and which is now, though we think
improperly, called oak-openings.

  Koshkonong prairie is nearly all included within its boundaries, lying in the
southern, central, and western portions of it. The surface of this prairie is
moderately rolling, and its soil, for fertility, is unsurpassed by any in the
state, almost incredible stories being told of the yields of wheat upon it,
before the success of that crop was sadly interfered with by the chinch bug.
This prairie is named after Koshkonong lake, which touches the extreme
southeastern corner of the county, the banks of which were favorite hunting and
camping grounds of the Sacs and Foxes, as the remains of their cornfields, still
faintly visible, testify, and its name, in the Indian tongue, is said to
signify, "The lake we live on."

  Koshkonong creek is the most important stream, and enters the town somewhat
south of the northeastern corner, flows through the eastern tier of sections,
and leaves it very near the southeastern corner. As this stream is quite rapid,
it affords first class facilities for milling purposes, there being two grist
mills in the town, one at Cambridge and another at Clinton, the latter having
one of the finest water powers in this part of the state, and doing a large
custom and flouring business.

  The other streams are Mud creek in the north, and Saunders' creek in the
south, but they are of little importance. Along the banks of these streams the
surface is more broken and less favorable for agricultural purposes, and in some
places there are large marshes, some of which, in the days of the first
settlers, were so wet as to be nearly valueless, but which are now dry enough to
furnish pasturage or excellent hay.

  Previous to its settlement, this was a favorite hunting ground with the
settlers in adjoining towns. Deer were then very plenty, and one of the favorite
methods of hunting them in winter, was to get what was called a "drive" on them.
Taking advantage of their curiosity, and knowing they could be easily approached
with a team, several men in a sleigh followed their trail until within rifle
shot, when the team was turned and driven around the deer, the men jumping out
behind trees at convenient intervals. As soon as they were well surrounded the
firing commenced, and the deer were driven from one side of the circle to the
other, a large number frequently being killed before the herd succeeded in
making its escape. This was also a favorite hunting ground of the Indians, but
the trail which connected Koshkonong and First lakes, only slight traces of
which are now to be found, is about the only trace of their occupancy which they
have left. This trail entered the limits of the town near the southeastern
corner, ran a little to the south of the Lutheran church, crossed the farms of
Thos. Carpenter, Nils Torgerson, John E. Johnson and Rev. J. A. Ottesen; thence
bending slightly to the south, it led to the large spring on Samuel Coon's farm,
which was one of their favorite stopping places. At the time of the Black Hawk
war there were no settlers in this town, and probably no fighting, although
Black Hawk and his warriors, in their retreat from the Rock to the Wisconsin
river, in the early part of July, 1832, crossed the northern part of the town,
and encamped for some time near Koshkonong creek. An account of his sufferings
at this place will be found in the succeeding chapter.

  Wm. M. Mayhew was the first settler of the town, and located on section 23, in
1837. He was a Southerner by birth, and, previous to the great financial panic
of that year, was a prominent merchant in Milwaukee. Losing his property at this
time, he came to this town, and built a log house, on what is now the land of
Geo. Odell, at the foot of quite a steep bluff, where for many years he kept a
tavern. This was one of the regular stopping places of the teamsters drawing
lead from the mines near the Blue Mounds to Milwaukee. Old settlers, entirely
unaccustomed to the handling of lead, tell us, that to them, their wagons
appeared almost empty. But, nevertheless, three or four yoke of oxen were
required to draw the wagons over the rough roads, and the shouts and curses of
the teamsters as they urged their oxen up the steep ascent the other side of
Mayhew's, could be heard for three-quarters of a mile around. For many years
Mayhew's was a center of interest, Christiana post-office, the first, and for
many years the only one in the town, being kept here, and as the nearest office
was at Milton,, this was the place at which nearly all the settlers in adjoining
towns received their mail. Here, also, was held the first town meeting and
several subsequent ones.

  In 1842, a number of settlers arrived, most of them being emigrants from.
Norway. Prominent among these were Hellik Gunderson, Jul Gisleson, Nils Olsen
Smithback, and Thosten Levorson, all of whom except the latter, are now living.
This was almost the beginning of Norwegian emigration to the United States, and
was induced by the glowing descriptions of the mildness of the climate, the
beauty of the prairies, and the fertility of the soil, given by members of a
small colony from Norway, which, a few years before, had settled in Walworth
county, near the state line. This report was printed in pamphlet form, and being
quite extensively circulated in Norway, was largely instrumental in giving an
impetus to emigration to this country. The arrivals spoken of were only the
beginning of a more extensive emigration of Norwegians to this section, and in
the five years following, the greater portion of the town was settled by them.

  Accustomed, in their native country, only to timbered land, these early
settlers shunned the prairie, which seemed desolate and cheerless to them, but
which is now considered as the more desirable land, and settled in the edges of
the openings, and along the marshes.

  In the fall of 1846, N. A. Perry arrived at the present site of Clinton, and
erected the first house, in which he boarded the hands who were at work on the
mill-dam. In the following year, the mill itself was built by Thos. and Nathan
G. Van Horn. In the fall of 1848, the first store was opened by Wardner Earle,
and in the fall of 1849, Christiana postoffice was removed from Mayhew's to this
place. Not many years after its settlement a brewery was established in this
place by one Lewis, but after a few years its place was taken by a distillery,
built by Mr. Jacobson, which, however, has not been in operation for some years.
The present proprietors of the Christiana mills are O. H. Lee & Co., and the
present merchant is C. Tollefson, who is one of the most prominent citizens of
the place, and who is doing quite an extensive business.

  The first settlers at Utica were Samuel Head and S. H. Coon, who arrived in
December, 1845, and who immediately built the first house, which was a one-story
log affair (12x16) with a shed roof. In this they wintered, and in the following
spring built an addition of equal size, making a gable roof. In 1846, Hampton
Crandall, W. H. H. Coon and Randolph Brown arrived, and in a short time this
portion of the town was settled, principally by people from central New York.
These settlers, who, excepting Mr. Mayhew, were the first Americans in the town,
instead of locating, as most of the Norwegians had done, in the openings, nearly
all settled on the prairie. The first store in Utica, which was of gravel, was
opened in 1851 by Le Roy Crandall, now of Lawrence, Kansas, and here soon after
the removal of Christiana post-office from Mayhew's to Clinton, Utica
postoffice, named in honor of Utica, New York, was established. The old gravel
store was taken down in 1872 and replaced by a larger one of wood, now owned by
W. H. H. Coon. This made the second store in the place, one having been erected
by F. E. Olsen in 1869.

  As has been before mentioned, to Clinton belongs the distinction of being the
place in which the first and only distillery in the town was started, and to
Utica, we believe, belongs the honor of being the starting point of temperance
reform in this section. Soon after the organization of the town, a town meeting
was being held at this place, in the old gravel school house, still standing but
unused. Some of the candidates from the eastern portion of the town had
furnished a keg of whisky, which was to serve the double purpose of catching
votes and enlivening the occasion generally. The dispensers of this beverage
improvised a bar-room in the end of a shed belonging to one of the neighboring
settlers, and were having an exceedingly jolly time, when the owner of the shed
came in, and embracing a moment when all were busily drinking, seized the keg,
and, carrying it into the middle of the road, put a heavy fence rail through it,
greatly to the damage of the whisky, and the disgust of the imbibers.

  The early settlers endured many hardships, and often carried on their
agricultural operations in the most primitive manner. The section of a large
round tree, usually shod with iron, often formed the wheels of their carts or
wagons, and until the introduction of threshing machines in 1848, the prevailing
mode of threshing was indentical [sic] with that which has been practiced in
Oriental countries for the last three thousand years. A large dry spot of ground
was cleared off evenly, and packed as hard as possible. Upon this the grain was
placed to the depth of a foot or more, with the heads in, and five or six yoke
of oxen were driven over it until the grain was all trodden out. The straw was
then thrown off with forks, and the grain separated from the chaff with fanning
mills. The first threshing machines, introduced at the date mentioned, were
without separators, and were an improvement upon the method described in little
else than speed and cleanliness. To sell their grain, a trip to Milwaukee, which
was then their only market, was necessary, and which usually occupied a week,
the wheat bringing from thirty to fifty cents, and in some instances even less.

  The first church in the town was of the Norwegian Lutheran denomination, and
was organized in 1844, with Rev. Mr. Dietrichsen as pastor. The same year a log
church was built by this society on section 27, which was superseded in 1858, by
a neat and commodious building of stone. During the first pastorate, one of the
members, who was under discipline, made his appearance at church services one
Sunday, and was peremptorily ordered out. He declined to leave, when the
militant clergyman ordered some of the members to throw him out of doors by main
strength. Feeling himself seriously aggrieved, he sued the pastor before Justice
David Stillman, at Albion Center. His attorney was Bjorn Anderson, father of
Prof. P. B. Anderson, of the University of Wisconsin. (By the way, the
Professor's mother was the first white woman in the town of Albion.) The pastor
pleaded his own case, but was beaten and fined five dollars. Not long after
this, becoming disgusted with this country, he returned to Norway, where we hope
that he conducted his pastoral affairs so successfully, that from a clergyman
militant, he became a clergyman triumphant. Mr. Dietrichsen was succeeded in
1850, by Rev. A. C. Preus, and he in 1860, by Rev. J. A. Ottesen, the present
pastor, who is widely and favorably known among his countrymen in this and
adjoining states.

  In addition to the church already mentioned, there are three other church
organizations; the Methodist and Presbyterian, located at Cambridge, and which
are mentioned in the chapter following, and the Seventh-Day Baptists, which are
located near Utica. This church was organized in 1850, with Rev. Z. Campbell as
pastor, and has a very neat and pleasantly located house which was built in
1866. The present pastor, Rev. Geo. W. Burdick, is a young man of much promise.

  In the early days of the town, before newspapers were so generally taken by
farmers, it was necessary for politicians and candidates for office to take
greater pains to look up their country friends, and enlist them in their behalf,
than at present. Intent upon looking up their friends, Judge J. G. Knapp and Mr.
Wilcox, the former being candidate for district attorney, and the latter for
state senator, came into the town, and after a meeting at which they spoke, put
up for the night with one of the most prominent citizens in the vicinity. As the
house was small, and pretty well filled already, they occupied a bed belonging
to a young man who was expected to be absent for the night. Rather late the next
morning, a brother of the gentleman with whom they went home, supposing that the
usual occupant of the bed had returned in the night, and thinking it was high
time he was awake, went into the room, and seeing an empty meal bag, took it and
laid it over the heads of the candidates very smartly several times. We are told
that their astonishment at being thus suddenly and rudely wakened from a sound
sleep, was only equaled by his consternation upon seeing that he was belaboring
a couple of strange gentlemen from Madison; indeed, even now, though twenty-five
years have elapsed, he recalls very vividly his fright when he beheld Mr.
Wilcox's nightcap rising from among the bedclothes.

  The first public school was kept by Mrs. Wm. Mayhew, at her husband's tavern,
in the winter of 1845-6. The first school house, which was a rough log
structure, was built very soon after on section 10, and which remained standing
until within a few years. From these small beginnings in educational matters, we
have achieved very satisfactory results. We have now ten school houses in the
town, the majority being almost new, those of districts No. 2, 5 and 7 being
more than usually elegant buildings of brick, well furnished. District number 5
is in Cambridge, and is a commodious two story house, and is kept as a graded
school.

  In common with nearly all the towns in the vicinity, until within a few years,
the principal crop has been wheat, but since its yield has been so seriously
affected by the chinch-bug and other causes, many of our best farmers have
engaged more extensively in the raising of live stock, and as a consequence,
have largely increased the area of their corn fields. In 1876, the acreage of
the various crops was as follows: Timothy or clover, 1,859; oats, 1,922: wheat,
2,155; corn, 3,457; barley, 1,166.

  Previous to 1871, but a small amount of tobacco was grown in the town, but as
those who had cultivated it found the soil adapted to it, and as it was at this
time bringing a high price, many farmers engaged extensively in its culture. The
subsequent decline in prices, consequent upon over production, drove many to
abandon it, and though not now so extensively grown as a few years previous, its
culture is still quite an important branch of agricultural industry, the area
grown in 1876 being 328 acres.


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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