Lafayette County WI Archives History - Books .....The Pioneer Women 1881
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 April 18, 2013, 6:17 pm

Book Title: History Of La Fayette County

THE PIONEER WOMEN.

If the men were of a superior type, their counterparts, increased and multiplied
a thousand times over, were to be found in the pioneer women. Reference to them
has already been made, but only superficially, and the writer cannot refrain
from appropriating the syllabus of an address made in that behalf years ago by
Peter Parkinson, Jr., to whom it may be said, not alone the pioneers of La
Fayette County are indebted for perpetuating the history of those times, but
whose facile pen and eloquent voice have always been employed as occasion
demanded, in preserving for the emulation of posterity the virtues and
inestimable worth of those who laid the foundation for that prosperity which is
to-day visible whithersoever the eye may turn or the feet may wander.

They are justly entitled to the highest praise, observes Mr. Parkinson, that
language can express, justly entitled to the appellation of "second pilgrim
mothers." All that was noble, womanly, magnanimous, intellectual and
self-sacrificing was fitly expressed in the characters of Wisconsin's pioneer
women, especially so of those who resided in and contributed to the development
of La Fayette County. Prior to emigrating to the West, they had enjoyed the
comforts of a good home and social surroundings, but, impelled by a noble spirit
of enterprise and independence, they accompanied their husbands to an unbroken
wilderness, inhabited by savage Indians, and endured with fortitude and
resignation, the untold hardships, privations, toils and dangers incident to the
settlement of a new country, with the resignation and courage of heroic souls.
They lived in camps, sheds, cabins and "dug-outs," such as would to-day be
considered unfit to furnish a precarious shelter to farmers' stock. To meetings
of a public character which called the people together, they journeyed on foot
and horseback, behind the husband, or went thither by the uncomfortable means of
transportation afforded in ox-carts. The spectacle has frequently been
witnessed, a man escorting his wife to meeting in a large ox-wagon that would
bear up six thousand pounds of mineral, himself walking. What would the girl of
the period think of this mode of going to church or any other resort of public
gathering to-day? What would they think of this mode of going to parties? Upon
one occasion, when the night was cold and stormy and the ladies could not walk,
a ball was given, and the means of conveyance used was a large ox-sled, upon
which the guests were huddled, and went to the ball.

Among those who were prominent in their day and generation, was Mrs. Henry
Dodge, wife of the old Indian fighter, a woman of high Christian virtues,
amiable disposition, and overflowing with benevolence and charity for all. Mrs.
John R. Coons bore a similar relation to this period, as is reported of Mrs.
Gen. Knox, during the Washington administration in the Federal capital. Mrs.
Henry Gratiot and Mrs. Fortunatus Berry, of Gratiot's Grove, were veritable
ministering angels to the homes of the sick and afflicted. Many a poor, sick and
disconsolate miner, in his dark, gloomy hut, has breathed a prayer of
thanksgiving to these noble women for timely aid in dark days of sickness and
destitution. Mrs. John Ray, of Willow Springs, the gay and fashionable lady of
early times, the belle of social gatherings; Mrs. Elias Pilling, Mrs. Joseph
Bailey, Mrs. John P. Sheldon, Mrs. D. W. Parkinson, Mrs. Carroll, Mrs. Lamb and
many others were women of most excellent qualities, both of head and heart, who
would have honored any community in any land wherein fortune might have cast
their lives. Mrs. Col. Moore, of Prairie Springs, Mrs. A. C. Ransom, and Mrs.
David Southwick, of Gratiot's Grove, were the popular and esteemed ladies of
early times, at whose hospitable homes the weary traveler received bounteous
fare and a generous welcome. Many is the old man of to-day who came into
Wisconsin a stranger, and was received by these noble women as though he had
been one of their own sons, and was comforted and sustained on his lonely
pilgrimage through distress and darkness that knew no limit. They were indeed
women of noble hearts, of kindly impulses, tender sensibilities, sympathizing
with the sorrows and ills of life, and ready upon all occasions to mitigate the
distresses that were not of occasional occurrence.

As these pages are read, bright memories will blossom out of the shadowy past,
glorifying and beautifying its dimness and tinting the vanished years with
colors of never-ending fascination. Many herein mentioned have long since gone,
like visions of the beautiful, to be seen no more. Many yet remain who have
almost reached the Biblical limits of human life, and are waiting to say "Now
let thy servant depart in peace," leaving as a heritage to their descendants in
long years hence, the ripe and perfect glory of a domain of which they laid the
foundations.
The great mass of those who participated in the foundation of the county sleep
after their labors and their works do follow them. A numbered few remain who
have survived the rush of matter and the wreck of worlds, contemplating the
scene as a Rock of Ages cleft for the good and faithful servant.

* * *


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY, WISCONSIN,

CONTAINING
AN ACCOUNT OF ITS SETTLEMENT, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES; AN EXTENSIVE
AND MINUTE SKETCH OF ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES—THEIR IMPROVEMENTS,
INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOCIETIES; ITS WAR RECORD,
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLERS; THE WHOLE
PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF WISCONSIN, STATISTICS OF THE STATE, AND AN ABSTRACT OF
ITS LAWS AND CONSTITUTION AND OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY.
MDCCCLXXXI. [1881]


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