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

PRIMROSE.
BY HON. G. TOLLEFSON.

  THIS township lies in the southwestern part of the county, on its south
boundary line, which separates it from the town of New Glarus, Green county,
about eighteen miles southwest of Madison, and known as township 5 north, of
range 8 east. The town is well watered in the northern part, by the west branch
of the Sugar river, and also by two tributaries of the same, furnishing the town
with an abundance of water and good marsh land. The face of the country is
undulating, agreeably diversified with oak openings and prairie. There is
considerable highland or small ridges, in which there is excellent stone for
building purposes.

  On section eleven there is a large rock that stands out in strong contrast
with its surroundings, and is composed of several blocks of stone, raised one
above the other to the height of about fifty feet, the lower one of which
measures nearly twenty-five feet in diameter, while the top block is about fifty
feet. It is familiarly called the "Devil's Chimney," because of its supposed
resemblance to the form of a chimney. In 1850 a man named Joel Blitz, said to be
an old sailor, climbed to the top by means of ropes which were thrown over it
and fastened on the ground on the opposite side. He planted a flag on the top,
the staff of which is still remaining. The feat was never known to have been
done before or since. The base of this chimney is, like many other noted places
of historical interest, covered with a profusion of names and dates from all
over the United States.

  Mount Julia, another of the curiosities of the town, is an oblong ridge of
rock, surmounted with trees, about 200 feet high, 250 feet broad, and about
1,600 to 1,700 feet long. It is, in some places, somewhat precipitous, indeed it
indicates as if it had at a very recent date been entirely so, but from the wash
by rains from the top, it is now quite accessible.

  The first settlers in the town of Primrose were David Thomas and family,
Robert Speers and family, W. Speers, Edmund Speers, W. Underhill, Robert
Harrington, Mr. Scoville, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Peck and Hall C. Chandler. Mr. R.
Speers gave the town its name.

  Of the Norsemen, who now constitute a large majority of the population of
Primrose, Christian Hendrickson from Lier, Norway, was the first settler. He
came here in 1846, and still lives on his old farm. Two years later —1848, more
Norsemen arrived, among whom were Niels Evenson, Salve Jorgenson, Niels N.
Skogen, who were followed in 1849 by Gunolf Tollefson and Peter Haslerud. When
Mr. Tollefson bought his land, only 80 acres had been purchased in the town, the
other settlers having only preempted the pieces of land on which they were living.

  The first school house was built on section 17, in 1847, but the town now has
seven school houses. The first teacher was Gunnuld Jackson.

  The first church in Primrose was built by the Norse Lutherans. The name of the
congregation was: "The Primrose Norse Evangelical Lutheran Congregation;" it was
connected with the Norse Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America, and the
church edifice here referred to, was erected in 1856 on section 21. The first
minister who preached to an organized congregation was Elling Eielson. The
second pastor of this congregation was Arne Boyum. The third was Ole Torgerson,
and its present minister is P. Solberg.

  A few years after the organization of the above named congregation, another
Norse Lutheran Church was organized in this town by the Rev. A. C. Preus. This
one joined the so-called Norse Synod. Its second pastor was P. M. Brodahl, and
its present preacher is John Field, of the Norse Synod. This congregation
erected in 1866 a church, which was consumed by fire in 1873, and has not been
rebuilt.

  Finally, there is a third Norse Lutheran congregation, which was organized in
1869, by Rev. C. L. Clausen; its second pastor was Prof. A. Weenaas, and its
present preacher is M. F. Gjertsen of Stoughton. From the above it appears that
the statement in the Dane County Atlas "that Rev. A. C. Preus was the first
Lutheran pastor in Primrose" is incorrect.

  There has always existed the best of feeling between the different
nationalities in Primrose. To this there is but one exception. In the small
village of Mt. Vernon, whereof a part is situated within the limits of the town,
there lived in the early days of Primrose a man called Dr. Byam, and with him
his two brothers and their families, all Americans. Dr. Byam and his brothers
had, by their tricky and dishonest practices, and by repeated acts of rascality
toward the citizens of the town, made themselves odious to such an extent that
the farmers decided to get rid of them. So they got together, about seventy in
number, with Dick Chandler as their chosen leader. On the evening agreed upon
they proceeded to Dr. Byam's house, armed with axes, crow-bars and other
weapons, and asked to speak with him. The rascal, who suspected what was in
store for him, sent his wife to the party outside with the answer that he was
not at home. But the farmers were not to be bluffed off in this manner, and when
he refused to come out they began to tear down the house, and were about
throwing it into the stream near by. Fear now seized the doctor, and he came
out, upon the pledge of three farmers that no harm should be done to him before
they had properly discussed the matter. He had to go with them into the flour
mill near by. Here he was tried and found guilty of several grossly dishonest
transactions, among which it was proved that he, with a patent churn, had
defrauded several farmers of their lands. The sentence was that Dr. Byam, his
brothers and their families must leave Mt. Vernon and Primrose within
twenty-four hours, and the rascal was prudent enough to obey this decision. One
of Dr. Byam's brothers was tarred and feathered, and the other, who also defied
the will of the farmers and came back to town after a load of hay, was also made
to feel that the farmers were in earnest when they forbade any of the Byams
returning to Primrose. As soon as he had gotten the hay into his wagon, the
farmers set fire to it. The horses ran away, as a matter of course, when the
hay-load got to burning, and the man had to save his life as best he could by
taking to his legs. Since that time none of the brothers Byam have made any
attempt to settle in Primrose. Of course the Byam brothers brought suit against
the seventy farmers, but the latter employed George B. Smith, of Madison, as
their lawyer, and the case ended in an almost complete acquittal of the farmers.
They simply had to pay the costs of the suit. Although the action taken against
Mr. Byam and his brothers doubtless was perfectly just, the citizens of Primrose
of to-day have changed their opinion in reference to ways and means, and would
not again take the law into their own hands to protect themselves against
vagabonds and rascals.

  Another circumstance that took place in the pioneer days of our town, was a
conflict between Primrose and the adjoining town of Montrose. An old man, by
name Mr. Jackson, in Primrose, owned a claim covered with good oak timber. This
timber some of the settlers in the town of Montrose tried to get possession of,
and so they came up in tolerable large numbers, having Mr.  L__ for their
leader, and equipped with teams, sleds, axes, etc., so as to be able to take all
the logs down to Montrose. As soon as the people of Primrose found this out, the
message of "war," was sent from neighbor to neighbor throughout the town, and an
army was soon brought together. The end of the war was that the Montrose party
had to go home with their sleds empty, while the Primrose people took the logs
home to Mr. Jackson's house.

  Politically, we have had many interesting incidents but none quite as rich as
the following, told from Blue Mounds, our neighboring town.

  It was the day before election. Mr. Dean and Mr. Burdick of Madison, both
candidates for office, came to Blue Mounds to naturalize a number of Norwegians.
The Norwegians, thirty or forty in number, were placed in a row and all sworn in
at once, upon which Mr. Dean passed up the line, handing to each man his
certificate of naturalization, and the ticket he wanted them to vote the next
day, urging them to be sure to vote the ticket he gave them and no other. The
new-fledged citizens being very conscientious and anxious to keep their pledges,
appeared at the polls the next day; but the returning board were the ones who
were surprised when they came to count the votes in the evening, and found that
some of them had voted their naturalization certificates instead of tickets. The
Norwegians in Primrose never were quite as conscientious as that.

  In Primrose no one has ever had license to sell any kind of intoxicating drink.

  All the factories we have is a flour mill on section seven, built in 1858.

  The Hon. Gunolf Toleffson was the first member of the legislature.

  S. Julle is a practicing physician in this and adjacent towns.


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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