Dane County, Wisconsin - Chapter 13: Madison As an Unincorporated Village, 1880 (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 13: Madison As an Unincorporated Village

Madison Founded - The Founder - The Capital Located at Madison - Staking Out "The Town" - The Fibst House - The Pecks - Madison on Its Wat to Globy - First Meeting OF the Legislatuee in Madison - Pioneee "Chabacters" - An Eaely Visit - Pioneer Recollections - What Vaeious Weitees Said - Enumeeations of the Inhabitants - The "Woeseb" and " Ti&ee " - Ubledine's Gig.

Madison Pounded

When, in January, 1836, the last Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Michigan was (attempted to be) held at Green Bay, James Duane Doty, together with Thomas P. Burnett, William J. Hamilton, Levi Sterling, James R. Vineyard, and others in attendance thereon, met together, when Doty proposed to them that they should contribute $100 each, and in that manner raise the sum of $1,200, which should be invested in such lands in the vicinity of the Four Lakes (now in Dane County), as might be selected by two of their number, the avowed purpose being to establish a town on the lands, and the improving of the water-power at the outlet of Lake Mendota. The lands contemplated to be thus improved lay between Lakes Mendota and Monona, where the city of Madison is now located, and, at that date, were all subject to private entry at the Land Office in Green Bay. This was the first step taken looking to the founding of the present capital of Wisconsin. For certain causes the arrangement was postponed, and Doty and another entered the lands coatemplated to have been purchased by the persons before named. Previous to this and soon afterward other persons entered lands in the neighborhood.

On the -Tth day of October, 1835, Francis R. Tillou, of New York, entered, at the land office in Green Bay, Lots Nos. 1, 2 and 8, in Section 7, of Township 7 north, of Range 10 east, containing 97.22 acres. On the 28th of the same month. Doty entered Lot No. 3 and the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 12, in Township 7 north, of Range 9 east, containing 98.94 acres.

On the 6th day of April, 1836, Doty and Stevens T. Mason entered the whole of fractional Sections 13, 14 and 24, in Township 7 .north, of Range 9 east, containing 671.80 acres; they entered also on the same day the southwest quarter of Section 6, in Township 7 north, of Range 10 east, and Lots 4 and 5 of Section 7, in the same township and range, containing 331.30 acres. They also entered on the same day Lots 1, 2 and 3, and the west ha,lf of the northeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 23, in Township 7 north, of Range 9 east, containing 261.53 acres. On the 11th of June of the same year, Lucius Lyon entered Lots 1 and 2 of the northeast fractional quarter of Section 12, in Township 7 north, of Range 9 east, containing 99.82 acres. On the same day, Warren Bryant, of Buffalo, N. Y., entered the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 23, in Township 7 north, of Range 9 east, containing 70.60 acres. On the 18th of the same month, Aaron Vanderpoel, of Kinderhook, N. Y., entered the northwest quarter of Section 23, in Township 7 north, ot Range 9 east, containing 160 acres. On the same day, Charles Walker, of Otsego, N. Y., also entered the north half of the southeast quarter of Section 6, in Township 7 north, of ^*°8*^" east, containing 215.84 acres. So it was that the lands upon which Madison is now located, and tracts contiguous thereto, became the property of sundry persons by purchase from the (genera Government.

On the 1st day of May, 1836, Doty executed to Mason a quit-claim deed of all his right, title and interest, in the lands they had entered, as follows : " Fractional Sections twelve, thirteen fourteen and twenty-four, the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, and the west half of the northeast quarter, and lots No. one, two and three [and the west half of the northeast quarter and northeast quarter of the northeast quarter]* of section No. twenty-three, in township No seven north, of range No. nine east of the fourth principal meridian ; and also the southwest fractional quarter of section No. six, and lots No. 4 and 5 (five), of section No. seven, in township No. Seven of range, No. ien east, according to the public surveys;" in all, 1,263.57 acres.

On the 28th day of that month, Mason executed to Doty a power of attorney authorizing him to divide, layoff or otherwise dispose of his interests in these lands, in such manner as in his the joint interest of both might require. A power of attorney also was executed on the 7th day of the same month by Francis R. Tillou to Doty, authorizing him (by implication) to of his interest in the 97.22 acres he had entered. Thereupon Doty, as the Attorney in fact for both Mason and Tillou, sold, ostensibly, their interests in these tracts to James Duane Doty, Trustee of the Four Lake Company, of the county of Brown and Territory of Wisconsin, the 1st day of June, 1836.

As to what was the cause of the conveying of Doty's interest to Mason in these lands or the execution of the powers of attorney by Mason and Tillou to Doty as Trustee, it is unnecessary in this connection to inquire. Nor is it important to discuss whether these conveyances were legal or illegal. The Four Lake Company, it was claimed by Doty, was organized. June 1, 1836, with himself as general manager, as originally contemplated at the first meeting in Bay, of the gentlemen already named.

Doty afterward employed John B. Suydam, a surveyor at Green Bay, to make meanders and surveys at the Four Lakes for a town, the site of which was to be chosen by Doty upon actual inspection. How this was accomplished is best told in the words of the surveyor :

" On the second day of November [October] of the year in which the session of the Legislature was held at Belmont [1836], J. D. Doty and I started from Green Bay on horseback, he with his green blanket and shotgun, that had been his companions on many and many a trip through the almost trackless wilds of Wisconsin, and I with my compass and chain. We were both provided for camping out wherever night should overtake us : and for the more solid part of our forage, we were to depend upon Doty's gun. On our way we stopped at various places, among which were Clifton, at the north end of Winnebago Lake, where we laid out the village bearing that name, out of respect to an extensive ledge of rock that crops out at that point; and at Duck Creek, on the east bank of the Wisconsin River, about eight or ten miles below Portage City, where we laid out the town of Wisconsinapolis.

" Finally, after about eight days from the time of leaving home, we reached what was-then called Four Lakes. We came by the trail that led around by the north side and west end of~FWrth Ijake, and found, near what might be called the northwest corner, and perhaps two miles from Where the university buildings now stand, a small log house, occupied by a man whose name I nave forgotten [Michel St. Cyr], who entertained our horses and ourselves nights, and assisted us daytimes in making such meanders and surveys of the shores of the Third and Fourth Lakes, tv- 1°*'**'" P°''^^' *^ ^^""^ necessary for making the plat of the future city. This took us, I t\!^A ** *^*^^' '^^^ precise time in which the survey was made was during the second and of November, while the Legislature was in session at Belmont.

Capitol of Wisconsin at Four Lakes, as he remarked to me then - that I need not be surprised to learn that the seat of Government of Wisconsin was located on that spot before the Legislature had adjourned. And sure enough it so happened.

" We went directly to Belmont, where the Legislature was in session. On arriving there I immediately set about drawing the plat of Madison, Doty, in the meantime, giving me minute directions as to its whole plan, every item of which originated with him while on the ground as being the most suitable and best calculated to develop the peculiar topography of the place. . The " town " laid off and platted was located on the 1,360.79 acres previously described as entered by Doty and Mason, also upon some of the land purchased by Vanderpoelfrom the General Government. To this " town " was given by Doty, in honor of the fourth President of the United States, the name of Madison. The plat was acknowledged by Doty, October 27, 1836, " to be a correct plat of the town of Madison, situated between the third and fourth of the Four Lakes, in the Territory of Wisconsin." This is known as the " Doty Plat." A few days afterward, another plat was. made nearly identical with the first, on which Doty indorsed the following: " I, James Doty, as agent, trustee and attorney of the Four Lake Company and of the said stockholders, the proprietors of the town of Madison, in the county of Milwaukee and Territory of Wisconsin, acknowledge the plat hereunto annexed to be a true plat of the said town of Madison, according to the certificate of the surveyor, J. V. Suydam." This plat was acknowledged by Doty January 2, 1837, and is known as the " Doty Trustee Plat." Thus was founded "the town of Madison." Afterward, on the 10th of October, 1839, the town was re-platted by Kentzing Pritchette. This plat is called the "Pritchette Plat."

The- territory included within the limits of Madison, as indicated by these plats, was bounded on the north by Lake Mendota, on the east by the Yahara, on the south by Lake iVIonona, and on the west by a line drawn two blocks beyond the present Bedford street and parallel to it, nearly across the isthmus, from lake to lake.

The Founder

The distinguished founder of Madison - James Duane Doty - was a native of Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., where he was born in 1799. In the year 1818, he settled at Detroit, Mich. A young lawyer of good repute, he was the next year (1819) admitted to the Supreme Court of that Territory, and was the same year promoted rapidly to places of public trust, being appointed Secretary of the Legislative Council and Clerk of the Court.

Although young and quite juvenile in appearance, he was decidedly popular with the people, and had already attracted the attention of Gov. Cass, who took much interest in all young men of character and talent. He had a fine address, was of a sociable and genial disposition, thereby winning the good- will, respect and friendship of his acquaintances.

Gov. Cass, in 1820, made his famous tour of the great- lakes and the Mississippi to its sources, traveling a distance of four thousand miles with his party in five bark canoes. Mr. Doty was selected by the Governor to command one of the birch flotilla, C. C. Trowbridge and John H. Kinzie each having charge of another. The trip from Detroit to Mackinaw and the SaultSte. Marie consumed nearly ninety days, and was one of great difficulty and peril. It was on this occasion that Gov. Cass, supported by his assistants and canoe-men, in the presence of the assembled dignitaries of the fierce Chippewas and in defiance of their menaces, pulled down the British fla.g which those Indians had displayed on the American side of the straits on his arrival, and hoisted the stars and stripes in its place. Mr. Doty was present, and aided with his own hands in displaying the American flag. He often spoke of it as a most exciting scene. Ihe party left Detroit early in May, traversed the lakes and reached the sources of the Mississippi, held conferences with various Indian tribes, and returned the last of November. Mr. Doty, besides having charge of one of the canoes, acted as secretary of the expedition.

In the winter of 1821, Mr. Doty was at Washington, where Henry Wheaton procurefl his admission as attorney in the Supreme Court of the' United States at the age of twenty-two years.

In the winter of 1822-23, Congress passed " an act to provide for the appointment of an additionalJudffS for the Michigan Territory," and to establish courts in the counties of Michilimackinac Brown and Crawford ; the two latter counties embracing nearly all that is now Wisconsin, Iowa Minnesota and Dakota. From the numerous applicants for the place, President Monroe selected James Duane Doty, of Detroit, for the new Judge. No more suitable appointment could have been made. With the exception of the two small settlements of Green Bay and Prairie Du Chien, the whole vast area west of Lake Michigan was an unbroken wilderness, and Judge Doty soon proved himself just the man to traverse, explore and expose its wild recesses to civilization.

In May, 1823, he was at Detroit, already on the way to his new circuit, accompanied by his wife, whom he had just married - the eldest daughter of Gen. Collins, of New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y. The lady afterward proved herself eminently qualified for the wife of one destined to the eventful career which subsequently marked the foot-steps of her husband. Gen. Collins, her father, was a prominent officer in the war of 1812, commanding the New York State Militia at Sackett's Harbor.

Judge Doty lost no time in entering on his duties as Judge - law-giver to a country sufficient in extent for an empire. He repaired forthwith to Prairie du Ohien; organized the judiciary of Crawford County, and opened court. It was no easy task to inaugurate justice in these wilds ; to create Sheriffs, Clerks and Jurors, out of half-breed Indian traders, voyageura, and courrier» du hois ; but the tact, talent and perseverance of the young Judge prevailed. It was done, and stood fast.

Judge Doty had thought to make Prairie du Chien his resting-place - his home ; but, the leading Indian traders, and one of great influence in the country especially, not regarding the establishment of courts within the precincts of his trade with favor, but with evident dislike, early intimations of a want of good neighborhood appeared between the leading traders, and the Judge of the U. S. District Court, to avoid which, as well as two find a more healthy location for his family, he determined on a permanent residence at Green Bay, to which place he soon removed, and made it his home for twenty years.

The Judge proceeded to organize courts in Michilimackinac and Brown Counties, where he found the inhabitants generally disposed to render every assistance in bringing a wild country subject to law and good order. The terms were held with perfect regularity throughout the whole district ; he continued to discharge his onerous duties for nine years, and until superseded by Judge Irwin in 1832, when he turned over his judicature to his successor and retired to private life - if, indeed, his time and talents, devoted as they were thenceforward to the development of the resources of this new country, could, in any sense, be termed " private life."

Relieved from the cares and responsibilities of the judgeship and courts, he immediately commenced, on his own resources, a personal examination, by repeated tours, of the country that now constitutes Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. It was then inhabited and possessed By the aborigines. His sagacious mind saw the importance of conciliating these natives ; he visited every village of note, made himself acquainted with, and gained the good will of, the chiefs, and contributed, in no small degree, to the good understanding which followed between the Government and these savage tribes. In the course of these explorations, he traveled over the whole ot the southern part of Wisconsin many times, often quite alone, stopping in the deep forest Wherever night overtook him, tying his Indian pony to a sapling, and, with his saddle for a pillow, lying down under his blanket with as little concern as if in his own house.

n 1830, Congress made an appropriation for surveying and locating a military road from ween hay to Chicago and to Prairie du Chien. Judge Doty and Lieut. Center, of the U. S. 18^'^' ^R^ appointed Commissioners, and surveyed and located these roads during 1831 and Count / P°*'°^ from these labors and travels. Judge Doty projected a map of this Upper strnnf'^J'p , ^^^'^^j in the main, one was soon afterward - but before the surveys - constructed for the use of the War Department.

Doty's talents for usefulness were now conceded and appreciated by all ; the people of the district of Michigan west of the lake elected him to the Legislative Council in 1834, in which he served with marked ability for two years. It was while he was a member that the Legislative Council of that Territory began to agitate the question of a State Government, which he was first to introduce, and which finally prevailed.

Returning from the Legislative Council, he became an active operator in the public land sales, which were opened at Green Bay in 1835-36. He was applied to from all quarters by capitalists, to take agencies for the purchase of choice locations in the Green "Bay Land District. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were placed at his disposal for investment, such confidence had they in his integrity and knowledge of the country, and its best points for future towns and cities. The result showed the confidence not misplaced ; many of the most populous towns and villages of the State to-day stand on sites selected at that time by him. One of these, as already shown, is the present city of Madison, of which he was, in every sense, the founder.*

The Capital Located At Madison

The Territorial Government was established by act of Congress, approved April 20, 1836, and the Territory of Wisconsin embraced within its boundaries all of what is now Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and a part of Dakota. Henry Dodge was appointed Governor, J. S. Horner Secretary, with Charles Dunn, Chief Justice. Other ofiicers were also appointed. These persons took the prescribed oath of oflSce July 4. A census was soon after taken, and the time of election appointed for October 10. The latter excited considerable interest, growing chiefly out of local considerations. The permanent location of the seat of government, the division of counties and the location of county-seats, were the all-absorbing questions ; while the views of candidates in relation to national politics had little or no influence upon the result. The Governor, by proclamation, appointed the village of Belmont as the place for the first session of the Legislature, and October 25 as the time for the meeting.

The great and paramount question of the session was the location of the seat of government. To this all others were subordinate and made subservient. The wild spirit of speculation which in the earlier part of the year 1836 had, like a tornado, swept over the whole country, and which, having invaded and unsettled the prices of every species of personal property, seized upon the unsold public domain, which was transferred by millions of acres from the control of the Government and the occupation of the settler to the dominion of the speculator, although on the wane in the last months of that year, was still omnipotent, and exerted a marked influence upon many of the members of the Belmont Legislature.

Numerous speculators - J. D. Doty among the number - were in attendance, with maps of prospective cities, whose future greatness was portrayed with all the fervor and eloquence which the excited imagination of their proprietors could display. Madison, Belmont, Fond du Lac and Cassville were the points which were most prominently urged upon the consideration of the members.

Nearly four weeks were spent in skirmishing outside the legislative halls, when, on the 21st of November, the battle was formally opened in the Council, and the bill considered in committee of the whole, until the 23d, when it was reported back in the form in which it became a law, fixing upon Madison as the seat of government, and providing that the sessions of the Legislative Assembly should be held at Burlington, in Des Moines County, until March 4, 1839, unless the. public buildings at Madison should be sooner comelted.

When the bill was reported back by the committee of the whole, and was under consideration in thes Council, where the ayes and noes could be called, a spirited attack was made upon it, and motions to strike out Madison and insert some other places were successively made in favor of Fond du Lac, Dubuque, Portage, Helena, Milwaukee, Racine, Belmont, Mineral Point, Platteville, Green Bay, Cassville, Belleview, Koshkonong, Wisconsin apolis, Peru and Wisconsin City ; but all with one uniform result - ayes, 6, noes, 7 - and the bill was by the same vote ordered engrossed, and the next day passed the Council. In the House of Representatives, the opposition was not so formidable, and on the 28th the bill was ordered to a third reading by a vote of 16 to 10, and passed the same day 15 to 11 - thus ending one of the most exciting struggles ever witnessed in the Territory of Wisconsin.

Sbctiok 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin, That the seat of Bovernment of the Territory of Wisconsin be, and the same is hereby located and established, at the town of Madison between the third and fourth of the Four Lakes, on the corners of Section 13, 14, 23 and 24, in Township 7 north, of Eange 9 east.

Sec. 2. Be it enacted. That until the public buildings at the said town of Madison are completed, that is to say until the 14th day of March, in the year 1839, the session of the Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin Territory shall be held at the town of Burlington, in the county of Des Moisne, provided the public buildings are not sooner

So Madison became the capital of the Territory before it was made a county seat, and before there was a single resident upon the lands which had been platted. The site, in its pristine state, was indeed unsurpassed. On each side was a beautiful lake ; in the center, an eminence whereon was to be erected the capitol ; but " the town " was a solitude ; even Dane County had not yet been created.

Concerning the lobbying of Doty to secure the passage of this law, a well-informed' writer says : " The rapid settlement of the country beyond the Great Lakes, called for a new territorial government - a separation from Michigan. Congress passed the act creating the Territorial Government of Wisconsin in 1836. Henry Dodge received the appointment of Governor, and assembled the first Legislature at Belmont. One of the most important matters brought before that body, and to be settled by it, was the location of the seat of government. Doty, though remaining in private life, had not been idle, and especially was not uninterested in this matter of a capital for Wisconsin. There was great excitement over the matter in the Legislature. While others were planning. Doty was acting. He appeared at Belmont as a lobby member ; and almost before the solons knew of it, by his superior tact, had brought about a vote fixing the seat of government at Madison, the beautiful place where it now is. There was a good deal of sparring and fault-finding with Doty and his management at the time ; but all agree, now, that it was then, as it seems to be since, just the right place for the capital."

Another pioneer says : " Having been at Mineral Point and Belmont during the session of the first Territorial Legislature, in November and December, 1836, I will relate an incident or two m relation to the selection of Madison as the seat of government, which, so far as I know, have never found their way into print :

" The location of the capital was the all-important question before the Legislature, and a very animated and somewhat angry warfare was carried on between the friends of Milwaukee, Cass- Tille, Mineral Point, Madison and many other places for the recognition of their favorite as the most eligible site for the future seat of government. J. D. Doty, of Green Bay, and Gov. Mason, of Michigan, had purchased a considerable tract of land of the United States between what was then known as the third and fourth of the Four Lakes, at $1.25 per acre, and Doty, with all the proverbial integrity and adroit skill that characterizes the modern lobbyist at Washington, was on hand with a beautiful plat of Madison to convince the members that it was far better to locate the capital in ttie interior than either on Lake Michigan or in the neighborhood of the Mississippi, where the population of the Territory at that time was mostly located. Themost common and convincing argument to secure votes in favor of his proposition seemed to be that by locating the capital in the ntenor It would promote the settlement of a large tract of country then without inhabitants, and wnen the whole territory was settled up it would be found to be exactly in the right spot. This, the°f^t*^l! °^''®°^'^^® reason why a majority voted for Madison, but the records soon revealed date th f * ^^'^^ proportion of the members had deeds of lots in their pockets of earlier votes passage of the bill, which clearly indicated the real reason that influenced their

" No matter now about the reason, the location of the capital at Madison has been universally admitted as the best and most appropriate that could possibly have been made by every one except our Milwaukee friends, who were so shocked at the immorality of the proceeding that for more than thirty years they never once forgo i to modestly ask for its removal.

" There had long been a feud between Gov. Dodge and Doty, which had ripened' into personal hatred, so that the two were scarcely on speaking terms, and on that account it was feared by the latter and his friends that the Governor would stay proceedings by a veto. The Governor, however, regarded the location with favor, and gave the act his approval. Soon after the bill became a law, Doty called on Gov. Dodge at the executive office, and, with his blandest smile and in his most fascinating manner, said: ' Gov. .Dodge, it will afford me great pleasure to present you with a deed of a few lots in the new capital of Wisconsin.' An electric shock could not have produced a more sudden and marked effect. Springing to his feet, with pompous native dignity and chilling deportment, with his right hand clenched and raised to give emphasis to his short, crisp sentences, he exclaimed : ' Judge Doty - when I want any lots in Madison, sir - I will call on yon, sir - by G - d, sir !'

" The records do not show that he ever made the promised call. I do not vouch for the interview; I only. know the story was currently circulated and keenly relished by those well acquainted with both parties."

The surveys made by the surveyor, Suydam, upon his visit to the Four Lakes, in company with Doty, in October 1836, preparatory to laying out "the town of Madison," were of little account. The platting was mostly done from the township plats of the United States surveyors, and of course none of the lots had been staked out, not even the public square. The first step to be taken, therefore, before getting settlers to move upon the site, was to survey the public square and some lots and blocks adjacent thereto; as purchases thus far made were all in that vicinity. To do this work, Doty employed Moses M. Strong, a surveyor, residing at Mineral Point. Mr. Strong says :

" During the winter of 1836-37, I was employed by James Duane Doty to survey and stake off the capitol square, now usually designated 'the park,' in Madison, and some lots in the vicinity. On the 17th of February, John Catlin and I started from Mineral Point to perform this work. We spent the first night at the house of John Messersmith, about twelve miles of Mineral Point, where we engaged his son George to go with us. Before we again started, we were joined by Josiah A. Noonan, who desired toA^ve some surveying done in the same vicinity. I kept a diary while absent, and I find these entries therein :

" ' February 17. - Bought surveying-chain, shirt and gloves, and same day started with John Catlin for Madison, and stayed at Messersmith's. J. A. Noonan joined us, bringing a letter from J. D. Doty. Noonan will go with us to Madison.

" ' February 18. - Bought at Ebenezer Brigham's provisions for the excursion at $15, and went on to Steel's, on Haney's Creek, near what is now Cross Plains Station, on Black Earth Creek [town of Cross Plains, Dane County], Noonan and George Messersmith in company.

" ' February 19. - Went to Michael St. Cyr's and finished Noonan's work on north side of Fourth Lake [now Lake Mendota], and slept at St. Cyr's.

"'February 21. - Finished Noonan's meanders on Third Lake [now Lake Monona], and he paid me |70 for myself and Catiin. Then we commenced work for Doty at Madison.

" ' February 22. - Continued Doty's work at Madison ; camped there, aiid at daylight were -driven off by a severe snowstorm. W,e went to St. Cyr's and spent the day.

" 'February 23. - Remained at St. Cyr's, because of the snowstorm. ' February 24. - Continued Doty's work at Madison, and went to St. Cyr's.

Black Eart

" ' February 26. - Returned to Madison and finished all of Doty's work west of canal, [that is west of the present East and West Canal streets], and then went to Wallace Rowan's and slept, having paid St. Cyr $13.50.'

" Rowan lived about twelve miles south of Fort Winnebago at that time, where now is Poynette, in Columbia County. He lived in the ordinary log house of those days. We slept on the floor. There was no appearance of his having just arrived there, though I cannot say how long he had been living at that place.

" From Rowan's we went to the Wisconsin River ; followed down that stream to Helena, and thence went to Mineral Point. I am positive this was in February, 1837, both from my recollection and from documentary evidence in my possession."

" In the early part of February, 1837, I made an arrangement with J. D. Doty, at Green Bay, to go to Mineral Point and get a surveying party to go to Madison and meander the shores of Third and Dead Lakes [Monona and Wingra], with a view of platting the western addition to Madison and to stake out some lots in the main part of the plat near where the capitol now stands. At Mineral Point, I employed Moses M. Strong, John Catlin and George Messersmith to go to Madison- and do the required surveying. Mr. Strong was the sueveyor, the rest of us common hands. Mr. Messersmith took a sleigh and a span of horses from his father's barn, at Messers' Grove, four miles west of Heacox's house, and, with supplies obtained at Mineral Point, we set out on our expedition.

'' We followed the military road to Berry Haney's, at Black Earth, and went from there to St. Cyr's, and, crossing the Fourth Lake, struck the south shore a little west from where the university farm now is. I was on horseback, the rest of the party were in the sleigh. Before we had selected a camping spot, a severe snowstorm came upon us, and we put back to St. Cyr's and took a fresh start in the morning.

" It was very dark, the snow beating upon us fast, and, but for Strong's tact and experience as a frontiersman, I do not believe we could have effected the crossing of the lake. The next morning we returned and made our camp on the marsh, and near a spring and running water, on Section 22. From the northwest corner of that section we took our bearings along the section line to the Dead Lake - more properly Duck or Wingra Lake. The last name I learned from Joe Pelkie, the early French settler, was the Indian name for that body of water, and I had it "so entered on the map in that month, February, by Heading and Delaplaine, of Milwaukee. We meandered the Dead Lake to its outlet, and then commenced with the Third Lake at our line. We then changed our quarters to near the head of the Third Lake. I remember George Messersmith and I undertook to cut through the ice for water, and we had to cut from six to twelve inches deeper than the length of our ax handle. What we supposed would be but the work of a few minutes we found a wearisome job before we got through with it.

" After four days' surveying, the work for the party with which I was interested was done, and, provisions getting scarce, I started for Milwaukee by way of the First Lake [Kegonsa]. Ihe first night I stayed with Pelkie and Armell, two French traders that lived with squaws on the east side of the First Lake. There I found plenty of forage for my horse and some excellent potatoes for myself. I made a hearty supper and breakfast of roasted potatoes and salt, and, with a large roasted potato in each pocket of my overcoat, I started in the morning for

The First House

Madison had been platted ; Madison had become the capital of the Territory ; Madison Baa been (a small portion of it) staked out; but Madison was still without a house or an in-

The first house in Madison was built by John Catlin. This is his story : n ^ ^''^^ ''8'' to Madison was in company with Moses M. Strong, Josiah A. Noonan and and after a hard day's work, wading in it, we camped at night between the Third Lake [Monona] and Uead Lake [Wingra], where we found some timber and a sheltered spot. With a good deal of difficulty we made a log-heap fire, and ate our snack, and after the fire had thawed the snow and warmed the ground, we removed it to a little distance and made our bed on the ashes. The weather was extremely cold, but we slept warm, and the next morning Mr. Noonanleft us on horseback for Milwaukee. The snow being too deep to survey out and find the corners of the lots and blocks in Madison, and the weather extremely cold, we returned to Mineral Point to wait for milder weather.

"In February, 1837, I again visited Madison with Mr. Strong, who had been employed by James Duane Doty (who platted the town from the township plats without a survey) to survey out some lots and blocks around the public square according to the plat he furnished, so that those persons who intended to build could find their lots. We found that the snow still covered the ground, and we stuck stakes in the snow, the ground being too deeply frozen in most places to receive them. We camped in the timber in the low grounds under the hill of Fourth Lake, and were compelled to abandon our work by a severe snowstorm, that so blinded us that it was with great difficulty we found our way across the Fourth Lake to the cabin of St. Cyr, where we stayed two days, until the storm was over. While there I made a contract with him to erect the body of a log house on Lot 3, in Block 90, where the post office now stands, which he put up in that month, but the house was not finished until spring.

" In the spring I drew the pine lumber to finish the house from Helena, on the Wisconsin River, at a cost of over $90 per thousand feet, and was so unfortunate, after its completion in very good style, as to have the inside burnt out before any one lived in it." *

The first master-builder then in Madison, or the first one to act as such, upon the site of what is now the city, was Michel St. Cyr, who lived on the northwest side of Lake Mendota at the time.

The Pecks

Eben Peck was born in Shoreham, Addison Co., Vt., in 1804, and was taken to Middlebury, Genesee, now Wyoming Co., N. Y., by his parents when quite a child ; and on his return to Vermont in 1827, he established himself in business in Middletown, Rutland County. There he was married, February 24, 1829, to Miss Roseline Willard, a native of Middletown, born February 24, 1808 ; the wedding taking place in the house in which she was born, with her 'parents, grandparents and numerous friends and relatives present. . -In 1832 Mr. and Mrs. Peck moved to Middlebury, N. ¥., and thence, in 1836, to Blue Mounds.

Mrs. Peck's mother was Julia Ann Burnham ; and her Grandmother Burnham, (wife of John Burnham, lawyer of the Bennington bar) was a sister of Isaac Clark, of Castleton, Vt., a soldier of the Revolution, known as Old Rifle, and who commanded a regiment in the war of 1812, making a successful expedition against Massequoi, Lower Canada, October 12, 1813 ; was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and Judge of the County Court ; died at Castleton January 31, 1822, aged seventy-three. Clark was the grandfather of Satterlee Clark, an early pioneer of Wiscohsin, and for many years a member of the State Senate.

Mr. Peck having moved to Blue Mounds in 1836, his attention was early called to the desirability of investing in some lots in the (to be) city of Madison. He made some purchases there, and determined to become a settler in " the town." So in March, 1837, he began work upon the site, by getting together some materials for a house. What followed is best told in the words of Mrs. Peck :

We came direct from Genessee County, N. Y., by way of Buffalo, Detroit, Michigan City and Chicago, to the Blue Mounds, at which place we arrived July, 1836, our goods having been shipped by the way of Green Bay and Portage ; and as a fort was then kept at each ot those points, and the Blue Mounds being situated on the military road between those places and Mineral Point and Galena, there was considerable travel. A post office was establisnea at Ebenezer Brigham's, at the Blue Mounds. We took his house, with everything appertaining thereto, his large, excellent garden, a number of cows, etc., and boarded himself and his farming and mining hands during autumn and winter ; also entertained travelers ; and as the Legislature convened at Belmont that season, and J. D. Doty being the principal proprietor of land at the Four Lakes, a good part of the members were bought with slices therefrom to locate the seat of government of Wisconsin at Madison ; and on the return of the northern members we purchased lots at that place, and immediately sent hands and teams to erect three large rooms or buildings, and, in fact, they were erected before I ever saw the place.

" The men employed to erect this first house were two Frenchmen, one named Joe Pelkie, the name of the other is forgotten. They were with a party of Winnebagoes who had spent that winter at the largest of the Blue Mounds, and Abraham Wood superintended the work. Wood then hved at Strawberry or Squaw Point - since better known as Winnequah. on the eastern side of Third Lake. He had a squaw wife, a daughter of the Winnebago Chief De Kaury. Wood subsequently removed to Baraboo, and erected a saw-mill there. During the erection of these cabins, which was in March, Mr. Peck made two excursions with teams to Madison, to carry out supplies and give directions about the work. There was then snow on the ground, and the lakes were frozen, so that Mr. Peck crossed on the ice to Strawberry Point, to stay over night at Wood's. Pelkie remained in and around Madison for some time. At one time. Berry Haney, a noted character, shot Pelkie in a dispute about a land claim, and when last heard from Pelkie was still carrying the ball in his back. The other Frenchman, the companion of Pelkie in building our cabins, had a squaw wife whose brother was stabbed and killed on the beach of Third Lake.

" In March, Mr. Doty and lady (their residence being at Green Bay) put up over night with us. They found a decent, clean table, a thing seldom seen in those days. I informed Mrs. Doty that we were going to settle in Madison. She said if I would be the first housekeeper there I should have a present and my choice of the best lot in the place. It was also confirmed by her husband, hut, by-the-bye, I never got it, and on the 15th of April, 1837, we arrived there, and as we were well aware what our business would be when settled, we provided ourselves accordingly, and purchased at Mineral Point over flOO worth of groceries, as I have the bills now to show. Among the items were one barrel of pork, two of flour, one of crackers, one of sugar, naif-barrel dried fruit, one box of tea, and as good a sack of coffee as was ever brought into the

I State ; besides a half-barrel of pickles, put up by myself, also a tub of butter, and jars of plums and cranberries collected from Blue Mounds thickets. All these were carried to Madison when we moved, besides a good load of potatoes. I also made six more bed-ticks, to be filled with grass or hay as occasion required, as we fetched but four feather beds with us.

^ after dmner, with our teams, I riding an Indian pony. We traveled about seven miles, where some person had made a claim, and had laid about five rounds of logs toward a cabin. We camped therein that night, with a tent over us. The next day, the 14th, we pushed on. A more pleasant day I never wish to see ; but I had a severe headache before night. We pitched our tent on a little rise of ground, within three miles of Madison, spread down our beds, and rested

, , .J^®{J' ^°^j here we are at Madison, on the 15th, sitting in a wagon under a tree, with a ea-qmlt thrown over my own and my little boy's head, in a tremendous storm of snow and sleet, wenty-tive miles from any inhabitants on one side (Blue Mounds), and nearly one hundred on

Wisco *' ^^''^ ^^^^ first - only one saw-mill in the Territory, and that away up in the b - ^^^ ^°^ completed, and of course no lumber; but there lies a pile of puncheons ' Pnnn^v, "* ,* P®° ""-^^'" 'his tree, and move in my stove, and we will crawl in there. Sure

" Some two weeks from this time, or about the Ist of May, on a pleasant day, there were about fifteen men arrived from Milwaukee to look a road through and see Madison. Among the number were A. A. Bird, the two Pixleys, merchants ; W. M. Dennis and Col. Morton of the' broad canopy of heaven - where I spread tables for them. A portion of the party, the hired men, set out on their return the next day. We immediately sent a team to the other side of FourtlL Lake, where there had been some hay put up by a party of half-breed French and Indians, and got a load of it, with which we filled our bed-ticks ; we then laid down puncheons in one end of one of the buildings, spread down our beds, built a fire of chips (hewn from the logs) at the other end between the sleepers, tacked three or four sheets for bed curtains around the walls, and there they rested ; and they stayed with us three or four days, enjoying themselves hunting and fishing around the lakes, and looking at the country, and then left for Mineral Point, or perhaps Galena ; and in eight or ten days Bird returned, accompanied. by J. D. Doty, Bbenezer Brigham and others.

" Doty observed, ' Why do you not move into your house ? ' ' Why, my dear sir,' I replied, ' I must have it plastered with lime first.' Said he, ' We do not know as there is a lime quarry within a hundred miles of you, and you need not expect to. live in this pen until there is one found and burned. No, no ; you must move in. We will help daub up the kitchen part on the outside with mud, and when the lime is found you can finish the inside to suit you.' So at it they went (only think. Governors, Esquires and Mayors in prospective, daubing cabins!) and by night we were all comfortably situated in the kitchen. And this is the room in which, a week subsequently, the Scotch-born and English-bred Featherstonhaugh was entertained.

" The size of this room was twenty-four feet long and eighteen or twenty wide - the same length of the dining-room, and situated immediately back of it - wherein they used to dance cotillions, three sets at the same time. The other two buildings were joined on the northeast and southeast corners of the kitchen, leaving a passage, where afterward was » erected a frame dining-room, in which many a weary traveler and hungry wight was fed."

So the first settlers in Madison were Eben and Roseline Peck, and they had with them a son- Victor. Their house, the first one inhabited in " the town, ' was located on Lot 6, Block 107, south side of Butler street. In June, 1838, the Pecks having vacated the house, it was occu- - pied by Robert L. Ream, and there his daughter, Vinnie, the artist, was born. The building was demolished in 1857.

Mrs. Peck, going to Baraboo with her husband in the fall of 1840, was the first while woman to cross the Baraboo Blufis and make her home in the valley north of them. They settled on their claim previously made on that part of the river known as the Lower Ox-Bow, since platted and called Manchester. Here they lived for seven years, when they were dispossessed of their claim. They then moved to Mrs. Peck's present home, having laid claim to a part of the region now known as Peck's Prairie, and commenced the improvement of a farm. Mr. Peck soon after started for Oregon and California, and, while on the way out, was killed by Indians. Mrs. Peck was left with two children to battle for a livelihood, and her subsequent experience was sore enough. Various attempts were made to take her home from her under the pre-emption laws, and, to save it, she was obliged to borrow money at a ruinous rate of interest. In early days, before the coming of a physician, Mrs. Peck treated the sick with much success. She remembers setting the broken leg of a neighbor's child, who lived five miles away, she bemg compelled to ride behind her husband along an Indian trail after dark to reach the house ; and when she arrived there was not a candle in the house, the father of the child being compelled to walk half a mile to a neighbor's, who had some lard, from which a " grease dip " was made. The operation was successfully performed, and the child rapidly recovered. Mrs. Peck says there were no deaths in the Baraboo Valley till after doctors came. Mrs. Peck's children are both alive. The eldest, Victor, was born April 25, 1833, and now resides in Milwaukee; the other, Wisconsiana Victoria, is the wife of Nelson Wheeler, of Chippewa Falls. Victoria was born in Madison, September 14, 1837 - the first white child born there.

Madison On Its Wat To Gloey

On the 10th of June, 1837, A. A. Bird, the acting Commissioner for constructing the capitol, accompanied by a party of thirty-six workmen, again arrived in Madison.

Josiah Pierce, one of Bird's men, was born in New Salem, Hampshire Co., Mass., May 21, 1783 and was devoted to agricultural pursuits ; in 1827, moved with his family from his native State to Butternuts, Otsego Co., N. Y. ; and in the spring of 1837, he migrated with his wife and seven children to Wisconsin. He was engaged by Bird to remove from Milwaukee to Madison to board some of his workmen on the capitol. Mr. Pierce's family also came with Bird's

Mr. Pierce's was the second family that settled in Madison ; but his purpose was only to make it a temporary residence, intending to find a good locality elsewhere and open up a farm. In November of that year, he removed two miles south of the present village of Monticello, Green Co., and made a location ; his nearest neighbors resided in Exeter, seven miles distant. He was an invalid when he settled there ; but his health improved, and he was able to attend ta business for several years. He died December 25, 1843, aged nearly sixty- one years. His widow, Ruth Pierce, survived till June 8, 1867, when she died at the age of seventy-nine.

Mrs. Peck's remembrance of the second arrival of Bird in Madison - this time with his party of thirty-six workmen, as previously mentioned - is of interest :

" Our next large arrival at Madison was A. A. Bird again, with some thirty or forty men, hired in Milwaukee, to commence operations on the public buildings ; he also brought with him a family by the name of Pierce, with two or three grown-up daughters, for the purpose of cooking for his workmen. Bird immediately commenced to put up a log boarding house, and in a week's time had it completed and Pierce moved in. His next work was putting up and inclosing a frame dining-room for us."

William Simonds, Jefferson Holmes, Mr. Holloway, Darwin Clark, David Hyer, Thomas Jackson, David Williams, E. Hewitt, Giles Briggs, Henry Gage, J. W. Corning, D. Mumford, James Tinline, Gilbert and Delos Bundy, Richard Rockwood, Mr. Nelson, George W.' Eastman, H. W. Thornton, Horace and William Laurence, William Ferrill, Jefferson Kinney, Chauncey Leland, Hiram Sleeper, Mr. Toby, Joseph Brewer, Mr. Pratt and Charles H. Bird. Isaac H. Palmer also came with the company, but he was not in Bird's employ.

Of the party who came June 10, the following, it is known, remained in Madison for a longer or shorter period - becoming residents of the place :

A. A. Bird, Darwin Clark (still a citizen of Madison), Thomas Jackson, Isaac H. Palmer, Mr. Nelson, Jefferson Holmes, Chauncey Leland, David Hyer and Charles H. Bird.

" I address you who are left of that then young and daring company, which braved the hardships and difficulties of a pioneer journey to Madison, then occupied, with but one exception, by wild, untutored savages ; the smoke of whose wigwams could be seen from the heights, as we approached, ascending from the beautiful shores of the lakes.

'What a soul-animating sight, as memory bridges the chasm made by nearly half a century, and we stand again upon the eminence overlooking the site of the future city ! 0 ! the joy and exultation of that hour was fit reward for the hardships we had endured in constructing roads, traversing deluged marshes, drenched almost nightly with rain, fording rivers, etc. There reposed before us the object of all our toils - a beautiful elevation upon which the capitol was to * But, surrounded by nature's most enchanting adornments, the lakes of liquid silver, which completely encircled in their embrace that beautiful grove, furnished with a natural growth of I e choicest trees of the West, under the shade of which one could afterward, at almost any time, groups of Indians, of all ages, enjoying themselves hugely in watching us in our various

" Our enthusiasm vented itself in shaking of hands, waving of handkerchiefs, and throwing of caps as high as vigorous hands could hurl them. We had almost reached our desired haven - our Western home ; and the choicest cf fish and game, together with the varied products of the soil, which abundantly furnished our primitive tables, proved that the greatest value of the scene lay not in its beauty."

On the same. day of the arrival 6f Bird's party - June 10, came Simeon Mills, who is still a resident of Madison. The next day he engaged Isaac Towers to build him a log building 16x18 feet, for a store, and went to Galena to purchase goods. Towers was a resident of Mineral Point.

Doty, of course, was, during the first months of the settlement of Madison, a frequent visitor. His arrival in June is thus mentioned by Mrs. Peck :

" Then comes Doty, again, and says, ' Madam, prepare yourself for company on the Fourth [of July], as a riumber from Milwaukee, Mineral Point, Fort Winnebago and Galena have concluded to meet here for the purpose of viewing the place and celebrating the day.'. ' Why, what shall I do?' said I, 'here is my husband and brother, both blind with inflammation in their eyes so that I have to feed them,, and no lumber either to lay the upper or dining-room floor.' 'Just constitute me your agent,' he replied, ' and I will contract for whatever you want; and there is a crib of lumber just run down the Wisconsin River, and lying at Helena, from Whitney's Mill,' the first, and then the only, saw-mill in the Territory. He went and contracted for the lumber at $69 a thousand (I have still some articles of furniture manufactured from that first lumber, and I prize them as others would relics from Mount Vernon or the Charter Oak) ; he also contracted for a load of crockery and table fixtures, provisions, wines, liquors, pickles, preserves, more bed-ticking, bedding, and finally everything that I sent for at Mineral Point, ' and ordered teams to convey them to Madison.

" On the 2d day of July there was a drove of cattle from Illinois driven through Madison to Green Bay, out of which we purchased beeves and veal. On the same day, my husband was led out blind and put into the stage, with his eyes carefully excluded from the light, and sent to Fort Winnebago, for the purpose of having his eyes operated upon by the surgeon of the garrison, where he would try to get a quiet, dark room, away from confusion - pshaw, talk about the time that tried men's souls, just as if a woman had none - but the recruits had just arrived there from Green Bay, and there was more -confusion there than at home, so next day he returned. On the morning of the third our " gim-cracks " had all arrived except the lumber, and that made its appearance about 7 o'clock in the evening. That night our chamber floors were laid, except over the dining-room. We had previously purchased 300 pounds of feathers of Mr. Rasdall, an Indian trader, so our pillows were all ready, and ourbeds were all spread by daylight on the morning of the Fourth, and by 1 o'clock our dining-room floor was laid, our diningtable built and dinner set, and between that hour and sundown quite a large party bolted something besides pork. In the evening there was a basket of champagne carried into the diningroom, and there their toasts were delivered, songs sung, dinner bell jingled between times, and good feeling, friendship and hilarity prevailed generally ; and next mornmg they shot my two little pet crows."

On the 6th of September John Stoner and family arrived^the third family in order of settlement. Mr. Stoner erected a house of logs near Lake Mendota, on Block 262. The fourth family was that of the Widow Bird - the mother of A. A. Bird and brothers.

Besides those already mentioned who came to Madison in 1837, and became residents, for a longer or shorter time, there are remembered John Catlin, Prosper B. Bird, William D. Bird, Zenas H. Bird, William A. Wheeler, Mr. Nelson, Jairus Potter and Horace Potter.

First Meeting Of The Legislatxjeb In Madison

The Legislature of the Territory met for the first time in Madison in November, 1838. The Capitol was not yet in a suitable condition to receive the Legislature, so that the members oi e Council met in a little room on the left side of the hall of the American Hotel, and the House of Representatives in the basement dining-room, in which permanent organizations took place. In the basement room Gov. Dodge delivered his first message at the new seat of government. A resolution was adopted appointing a joint committee to examine the public buildings and report their condition, together with the probable accommodation to be afforded the Legislature. The committee reported the next day that they had the assurance of the Commissioner, A. A. Bird, that the Representatives' Hall and Council Chamber would be in readiness on the succeeding day for the Legislative Assembly. They also reported that the keepers of the three public houses would be fully prepared, during the week, to accommodate the members, to wit : at the Madison House two rooms that will accommodate six persons ; at the Madison Hotel, two rooms that will accommodate four persons each ; and at the American Hotel, eight rooms sufiBcient to accommodate twenty-six persons ; and, further, that not more than fifty persons can be accommodated with sufficient rooms for the transaction of business. A few days later, two rooms on the south side of the capitol were pronounced in readiness for the reception of the wise men of the Legislature, representing 18,130 inhabitants, the population of the then Territory of Wisconsin. The counties of Green, Dane, Jefferson and Dodge were represented in the Council by Ebenezer Brigham, of Blue Mounds.

"None but the ' oldest inhabitants ' of Madison will remember Pinneo, and little was known of him even by them. He was a vagabond naturally, and a long life of dissipation had eonfirmed him in all his vagabond notions and habits. Pinneo came to Madison among the first, and commenced work as a shingle-maker, or ' shingle-weaver,' as he styled himself. He built a hut in the woods, near the outlet of Lake Mendota, and, when sober, used to retire to it and weave shingles, for which the new settlement offered a ready market. He was a queer-looking object; a tall, round-shouldered, large-nosed, gray-eyed chap, never wearing any clothing in pleasant or foul weather save a pair of coarse breeches and a red shirt. He claimed to be a Yankee, but had coasted so long up and down Western rivers, and had imbibed so much poor whisky, that he had in appearance and manner nothing to indicate a ' Down-East ' origin. His cabin was a mere shelter - open in front, and furnished with no article of comfort or convenience save one or two common cooking utensils, and the tools most necessary to his business in shinglemaking. Though orderly and quiet enough when sober, he was the opposite when drunk ; and when Pinneo took it into his head to be agreeable, no place or company was free from intrusion. He was not a very agreeable caller - his long, gaunt form, bare head and feet, and disgustingly dirty appearance were anything but agreeable, still they had to be endured, as the possessor of these qualities was none other than Mr. Pinneo, who had a laugh and a joke for every one, and who was ever ready to do the bidding of those choosing to command his services. When sober, which was only when every artifice and cunning had failed to provide the means of getting drunk, he would retire to his cabin, work steadily and quietly until a customer came for shingles, for which terms of payment were positive - cash down.

When once in possession of money, there was no more work in Pinneo, who would, by a more direct route, reach town in time to get glorious long before the purchaser made his appearance with the shingles. After he had endured a week's drunk, his red face and bare breast sttone in the sun with a peculiar brilliancy, and he was a sight as seen in the morning after a nignt 8 lodging under a tree, or under some outhouse shelter, as he shook himself and started for

18 mornmg potation at the nearest drinking house. He had not worn shoes for years, and in Th I" ° *'^°^'cg he had acquired the habit of kicking out grubs and roots with his bare toes.

priet *'J'^?^'°"*% ^^''^ serious thoughts and sometimes expressed serious doubts as to the proy 0 his course of life. His boon companion was one Butterfield. When the first minister visited Madison, and called the good people together on Sunday, Pinneo was among the first present. He listened attentively to the opening services, and when the minister began to speik of a better life than men were leading in the new country, Pinneo very deliberately rose from his seat and electrified the small audience by saying, ' That's so, Mr. Philo ; that's so. Butterfield's got to be saved, and you just hold on till I bring him in.' Upon which he stalked out of the room, but, failing to find his chum, neglected himself to return.

"Pinneo had but little to commend him, even to a passing notice; still he was a type of many vagabond frontiermen, who, whatever their origin, accomplished nothing useful in life. They generally lived and died wretchedly, as did this Pinneo, who lost his life in a miner's cabin, his clothes taking fire while he was on one of his drunken frolics."*

"When Pinneo was in want of a drink, he was accustomed to go to ' Squire' Seymour, who kept store for the Deans, and run his credit. On one occasion, having reached the utmost limit of his financial standing with the ' Squire,' he endeavored by persuasive argument to have him give him one drink more. The ' Squire,' however, was inexorable ; so Pinneo returned tohis shingle establishment, where he found Adam Smith, from whom he borrowed an empty pistol,, and, with a bottle in his pocket, started for Dean's store. On entering, he held the pistol in one hand and the bottle in the other, and demanded that the ' Squire ' should fill his bottle. The fierce attitude of the belligerent brought the ' Squire ' to terms, and, after filling the bottle, Pinneo coolly showed him the pistol was unloaded. "f

" The earliest inhabitant will also remember Tom Jackson. He was of Scottish origin, a man of intelligence, but peculiar in his manner, amounting to eccentricity. ' Jack,' as he was commonly called, was'^a ship-sawyer by trade, and came to Madison to assist in ripping out with & whip-saw much of the lumber used in the building of the first capitol. Standing in the saw-pit, the old fellow would labor hard and patiently during the long hours of the day, looking forward to the pleasures of the mug and pipe at night. He was a man of ' infinite mirth,' good natured, but awfully profane in the expression of his views, seldom if ever uttering a sentence without mixing in a fearful number of hard words. In person, he was a short, thick-set, ruddy-looking fellow, gray eyes, and his head, with a very narrow belt of yellow hair about its base, shiningly bald. Jack seldom wore anything in the shape of a head covering, and, when he did, it was but the sorry remains of a plaid cap that he brought from Bdinboro' town with him. So accustomed had he been to going without one that, on returning from his work, he would frequently tuck his cap under his arm and march ofi" bare headed, but, on being told he was not wearing it, he would place his hand on his bald head, swear good-naturedly at his carelessness, and trudge back to the saw-pit for the lost cap, never dreaming that he had it under his arm. Jack was once very much confused at a fire. The house where he was boarding, a small log house, caught fire in the night, causing no little confusion among the boarders. Jack was soon on his feet, as crazy as a bed-bug, could find nothing, and relieved himself by many a hard oath directed at persons and things about him. In his search for his pants, he caught hold of a sailor jacket belonging to one of his room-mates, and, imagining the garment to be his breeches, thrust his feet through the sleeves, and, finding them too short for his legs, uttered a fearful judgment upon the man who had cut off the legs of his pantaloons ! Many an anecdote will be remembered of old Jack by those who long ago listened to his story and song. Tom has been dead many years, and the hope is a fervent one that he has gone to a better place than he often wished his own soul.

^" Jonathan Butterfield, of Topsham, Vt., and his partner, Pinneo, who carried on a shingle factory toward the Sugar Bush, were the kind of pioneers it necessarily takes to build up a new country. They were good workmen, and useful in their way, and, "when on a bender, they were the liveliest as well as the noisiest boysin the country. Near our house stood a large oak tree, the one under which Mr. Peck's family had camped when they first landed in Madison. This was a beautiful tree, valued for its shade as well as for its beauty and from association. Butterfield knew how we prized it, and, when strapped and his credit gone, his last resort was an onslaught on this old tree with an ax, and the only condition on which he would stop from damaging it was to give him an order on Nelson's or Than's grocery. In this manner, to save the tree we were repeatedly obliged to compromise with him ; then Pinneo came in for his share of the spoils. Some of the old settlers of Madison will remember the time when Pinneo, on a spree without hat, shoes, coat or vest, captured an old white horse which had been turned out on ih'e common to recruit, mounted the animal bare-backed, minus bridle or halter, in his ri^ht hand holding extended the jawbone of some defunct quadruped (either horse or ox), and proclaimed himself Samson in quest of the Philistines, as he dashed through the most prominent streets of the town, creating a decided sensation. There were then no police or constable to interfere with any kind of sport or amusement one chose to indulge in.

" Another odd character of those days was Baptiste, the half-breed Frenchman, living with some Indians in the adjoining woods, who had a natural propensity to possess himself of valuable articles, such as axes, hand-saws, hammers, hatchets, shovels, etc., almost any article for which we had daily use. He often came to know if we had lost anything, and, if we had, would at once commence negotiations for the missing article. His terms were from one-half to two-thirds of its value. When the contract was concluded to his satisfaction, he Would immediately go to camp and return with it, stating that some bad Indian had stolen it. My wheelbarrow was valuable as well as very useful. It was made by a Milwaukee cabinet-maker, and cost me $12 or $15. One day it disappeared. Baptiste had taken the precaution to ascertain its value before proposing terms for its surrender. We failed to agree on the price to be paid for its restoration, and I never saw my wheelbarrow again."*

" A good many years ago, an incident occurred in Madison, illustrating high integrity, great generosity and singular unselfishness, which, I think, should be preserved.

"Among the early settlers of Madison were two single men - Robert Moore, an Englishman, and James Dow, a Scotchman. Robert was always called ' Bob,^ and James ' Jimmie.' ' Jimmie' Dow lived always, when I knew him, all alone in a sort of hole in the ground on the Sauk road, about two miles west of Madison. ' Bob ' lived in town with old Uncle John Mallow, a brickmaker, with a large family. ' Bob ' often visited ' Jimmie ' at his cabin ; in fact, I think he made ' Jimmie's ' house his headquarters. Thev were both genial, jolly good fellows, and both excessively fond of their toddy. ' Bob ' was famous as a whistler. Every year, for many years, he used to whitewash the old capitol fence, when he would always draw crowds by his remarkable whistling. ' Jimmie ' was a well-digger, and often worked at day's work with his team of mules, which he always owned while I knew him. He could repeat Burns' poems by the hour, and was always, to use his own expression, as ' dry as afesh.' One afternoon, ' Bob ' went out to ' Jimmie's,' and in the evening, feeling quite unwell, he startled his friend ' Jimmie' by telling him he was sure he should not live until morning. ' Jimmie ' protested that he was only fidgety and frightened. ' Bob ' was deeply impressed that he should die that night, and he said: 'Jimmie, I owe you for borrowed money $30 or $40, and I owe Uncle John Mallow more than that for board. Now, Jimmie, I am sure I shall die before morning, and, if I do, I want you to take my gun and a note I have against a man in Columbus for $30, all I have in the world, and give them to Uncle John, for he is poor and has a large family to support, and you must fN^/"" "l^^t- If I live, I will pay you both.' ' Jimmie ' said he would. Sure enough ' Bob ' did die that night. When the funeral was over, ' Jimmie ' took the gun and the note to Uncle John Mallow, and that very morning he brought the note to me at my house for collection, and told me this story. I collected the note, Mallow got his pay, ' Jimmie' lost his debt. ^Jimmie ' remained in Madison for a few years after the death of 'Bob,' but finally left. Whefe he went to 1 do not know. Two or three years ago, he returned to visit his old friends, but this was no PlaM for 'Jimmie.' I did not see him, but those who did said he was still as ' dry as a fesh.' "f

About eleven years ago [1835], a young gentleman left this city to take a tour through the Western country. His object, at first, was to go no further than Fort Wayne, in the State of Indiana. He journeyed that far in company with the late Commissioner of the Patent Office Mr. Ellsworth, who had been deputed by the Government of the United States to make a treaty with an Indian tribe, then in the vicinity of that Fort. Mr. Ellsworth, after remaining there a short time, returned to Washington, while the young man, not then more than eighteen years old, proceeded to the State of Missouri, where he met his cousin, about his own age, residing at or near Hannibal. These young men crossed the Mississippi, reaching Rock River, and ascending to the first of the celebrated Four Lakes, in Wisconsin, where they engaged the only inhabitant residing there to carry them in a canoe up the river of the Four Lakes [the Yahara], to the north side of the Fourth Lake [Mendota], at which place there resided a solitary Indian, [Michael St. Cyr, a half-breed]. In their course up the river to the Fourth Lake [Mendota] they saw but one white man, and no Indian, except the one already referred to. The land in the neighborhood had then just come into the possession of the Government, and the Indians had, of -course, left that beautiful region of country.

They stopped also at the point between the Third [Monona] and Fourth [Mendota],Lakes, where the beautiful village of Madison, the seat of government of the Territory of Wisconsin, now stands.

At that time, the only village in the western part of Wisconsin was Mineral Point. Janesville, in Rock County, now one of the finest places in the interior of the Territory, had not then been thought of; nor had Beloit, a large and flourishing village in the same county. No Legislature had then met in Wisconsin, for the Territory had just been separated from Michigan. No white man lived near the site of Madison, to think of building a town then.

Two or three years after that period [the next year - 1836], it was fixed upon as the seat of government ; and a fine spacious building was afterward erected for the reception of the Legislature.

The two young gentlemen, who traversed this section of the country together, and who looked over it, while the imprint of the Indian was still upon the shores of the lakes, returned East, the one to reside in the city of Baltimore - from whom most of the particulars of this article have been obtained, while the other, delighted with this captivating section of the West, as soon as he reached the maturity of manhood, returned, and settled in Madison, and is now the presiding officer under the charter of incorporation granted to the village at the last session of the Wisconsin Legislature. f

Pioneek Recollections

I. - By Roseline Peck. It may be interesting to make a note of the first-born child in Madison - my own daughter, born September 14, 1837. When she was less than a week old, J. D. Doty, one of the Commissioners for the erection of the capitol, and Treasurer of the Board, arrived from Green Bay, with a large sum of specie, guarded by Capt. John Symington and a squad of soldiers from the garrison at Fort Howard, accompanied by Charles C. Sholes, an early editor and legislator of Wisconsin. They put up at our house. Doty ordered a table spread with wine, and he and his party, standing around it, as solemn as a funeral, sipped their wine, and named the young babe Wisconsiana. Simeon Mills said, as my boy's name was Victor, his sister's name should be Victoria, in honor of the young Queen, who had but a few weeks before ascended the English throne ; so that name was added, making her full name Wisconsiana Victoria Peck.

I visited Madison last summer [1873] with my daughter and a lady friend. The old "stamping grounds " were so changed that I could hardly recognize them. The old log house, which we used as a hotel for over a year, then leased or rented to R. L. Ream, and by him kept as a house of entertainment until we lett the place, has since been removed. Mr. Ream was the father of Vinnie Ream, who was born in the cabin after we left it. I think my daughter and Miss Vinnie were the only children born there.*

You doubtless, wish to know how we enjoyed ourselves at those times ; well, in various We had a regular dancing- school twice a week the first winter in the old cabin. There was quite a number of young ladies and middle-aged people. Mr. Stoner brought four daughters. A. A. Bird had a young lady sister. There were two Brayton girls ; one lived with Charles H. Bird and mother, the other at A. A. Bird's. Charles H. Bird married one of them ; the other taught, 1 think, our first school, afterward. A. A. Bird 'and lady used to call at our dances, and trip the light fantastic toe, and, frequently, visitors from Milwaukee, Fort Winnebago, {jalena and Mineral Point were present. Among them were Uncle Ab. Nichols, his wife and daughter. The latter two went ahead of us in dancing, and stayed with us a week. We had two girls as helps of our own, and plenty of the other sex. So we could hardly call it succotash ; there was too much corn for the beans.

We had various other amusements - euchre parties, Christmas and New Year's suppers, and verbal and practical jokes interspersed. We had also turtle soup suppers, the turtles caught by cutting holes through the ice on what was called " Mud Lake," brought to us by Abel Rasdall. Mr. Peck sent some of them to a Mineral Point hotel-keeper, who informed us he netted $50 on thTsale of the soup. The turtles were frozen solid, and rattled together like stones. They were put in the cellar to thaw, before we could dress them, and, going down a few days after, I found they had thawed out and were crawling around on the bottom of the cellar.

I have not mentioned our boating amusements. Before any one else was in Madison but ourselves, we found a big canoe, about forty feet long, supposed to have been abandoned by the Indians during the Sauk war ; and, while the wind was blowing almost a hurricane from Strawberry Point (then called; now, Winnequah), across Lake Lonona, Mr. Peck, his brother Luther, myself and a boy manned and womaned the canoe, with various implements, tools, sheets, etc., and struck out for the place before mentioned, rigged our sails and returned to Madison ; but it made our hair whistle ; the waves were running high, but we headed her straight, she being such a length she struck two waves at once, which steadied her sufiiciently to carry us safely back. We had quite a number of rides in the old canoe, but after " Uncle Sam's boys " came in, it was appropriated by others,, and soon disappeared. I was determined to have another vessel of some kind to sail or paddle ; so, when the Indians were about to be removed, I purchased of the old Chief Wauconda his canoe for $6, painted with Indian hieroglyphics, in which I took a number of pleasant rides, until the same parties who took the first boat carried off the other through the Yahara to the further end of Lake Mendota, where they were quarrying stone from the bluff on its bank for the capitol, and, in rolling them down and loading the scow, they smashed my little boat all to pieces. I was informed of the accident, but never of the person who did It. So you see I paddled my own canoe alone then, as I have since, in more ways than l»rn aaal^v'* *m American sculptor, once designated by an eloquent Senator as "Wisconsin's fair daughter," was admitted M ft Qf*- ^^ ^*t*iBon, in the firet house occupied in the city. This was when Wisconsin was a Territory. After Wisconsin was r«eiyrt the rr t ""° **'''''''"> parents removed to Washington, D. C, and subsequently to the State of Missouri, where Vinnie Fort Smith jr^ ,.Pf,'^'iJ*^ ^®r education. At a later period, her parents moved over the border into Arkansas, residing at Little Bock and an aoDointm ( i" .^ S became well known and a favorite as a school girl. At the breaking-out of the late war, her father received ment where ah« Si M .'?^'^ Department at Washington, and Postmaster General Blair appointed Miss Vinnie to a clerkship in his depart 'ifiit to the stuili J'?p?^''^'* herself for her extraordinary facility in penmanship. At the time she was thus engaged, she chanced to pay a kome lomo M«» n . Mills, and while witnessing the operation of modeling in olay, she remarked, Why I I can do that." She took -orprised Br Mni >' " 'r" °J *»?= returned to the studio with the model of her drst work, " The Dying Standard Bearer," which greatly Iwlore. Froin Uii t' ^*f ®"Pctiveness of design, as well as for being the production of one who had never attempted anything of the kind rttuation and dflt*rml'^V l^er artistic studies and work at home, after department hours, for about a year, when she gave up her «' llii« time rredvS j °'° herself to art. Wealthy friends offered every inducement to prevail on her to abandon this idea. She also Minnie's success In ha**^ advantageous offer of marriage, but her invariable answer to every inducement was, " I am wedded to my art." *Jand. Rtchnni T n J Pro'esaion is well known to the American people, and need not here be dwelt upon. She is now married. Her hus- . racnam L. Hoxle, is an officer in the regular army. ' " '

You may desire me to give some account of the men who built our cabin. In addition to Joe Pelkie and Abraham Wood, there was a Mr. Lavec, a Frenchman. He had a squaw wife. It was her brother that was stabbed and killed by another Indian, just below our house, on the bank of Lake Monona, which caused such an excitement among " Uncle Sam's boys," as they called themselves, I suppose on account of being employed to work on the capitol at the expense of the Government. They collected around our house under great excitement. Some were for taking the murderer prisoner, and sending Gov. Dodge word ; finally, they appealed to an old miner that had been through the Sauk war, who was sitting upon a wood-pile, for advice. " Well," said he, " you are a pretty set of Yankees ! What do you suppose Dodge would say to you ? I will tell you ; he would say you were a set of fools. If that dead Indian was a white man, I would be the first to take him prisoner ; but because one Indian kills another Indian, not a bit of it ! I don't move a foot ! Let them," said he, " work at it - it is the only way to civilize them and clean them out." The boys finally dispersed to their different avocations. Old Mrs. Pierce and family were very much frightened, and said we would all be massacred before morning. We finally got them quieted, and the sister of the murdered Indian got me to go with her to see the body, and there we found the murderer sitting upon the body of his victim smoking a long pipe as deliberately as if he had just taken a hearty supper, and was about to retire for a peaceful nap, and to dream of happy hunting grounds.*

Madison having been selected as the seat of government, I determined to locate there, long before Horace Greeley had uttered that immortal sentence, " Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."

On the 2d day of June, 1837, with my scanty wardrobe in a carpet-sack on my back, I started, on foot, from Chicago, for the new capital of Wisconsin.

Passing over a sparsely settled country, with here and there a house, often ten, fifteen, and even twenty miles apart, with roads but faintly marked, I arrived the evening of the 9th at the house of Mr. Holmes, located on the west bank of Rock River, perhaps half or three-fourths of a mile below where the depot now stands in the city of Janesville.

On the morning of the 10th, 1 again set out to hunt my way, as best I could, over a country forty miles in extent, which bore no indication that it had ever been seen by white man, except the blind marks left by surveyors two or three years before. Were it in my power, I would describe the feelings and impressions that thrilled my very existence, as I wandered over this landscape of hills and valleys- that spanned the distance between Janesville and Madison. But language cannot paint the intoxicating beauty of this garden of the world, before it was touched by the utilizing hand of civilization. It was a vast rolling prairie, broken here and there with groves and openings, and every hill and valley was radiant with the glossy foliage and thegaylj variegated wild flowers of June. It was a paradise of loveliness, a veritable Garden of Eden ; atall events, it bore this striking resemblance - there was but one man in it.

At every step, at every turn, new and startling beauties came to view. The burr oaks stood out upon the hillsides, like old orchards, while longing eyes peered beyond to catch a glimpse of the plowman at his work, or of the smoke ascending from his dwelling. But none was there ; the people had all gone from home, and taken their houses with them. These fair and fertile fields, studded with mirrored lakes and coursed with silvery streams, covered with a carpet of mellow-green, figured with wild-roses, and crimsoned with ripening strawberries, these undulating meadows, as they lay spread out and laughing in the midday sun, revealed a country "ready-made " for use.

Reader, you who never behold the world you inhabit, except by fitful glances through thfr narrow confines of a car window, how do you like the picture ? ,

A portion of the way, I followed Indian trails, which finally led to the outlet of lbir<* Lake, where I found two Indian boys fishing. I could speak no Winnebago, and they no English, but when I said Madison, they pointed across the lake, and finally, through the medium of two half-dollars as interpreters, 1 made them understand that I wished to be taken over. The contract was soon closed, and they finally landed me, about sunset, on the shore near where the East Madison depot now stands. This, I said, shall be my life-long home.

Upon my arrival, I found the " city " consisted of one log house, about eighteen feet square, one-story high, with shed roof, and used by the family of Eben Peck as a kitchen, parlor and sleeping-room, and in front of which he had put up two -square log houses, eighteen feet by twenty perhaps, set apart, so as to leave an open space in front of the kitchen. These houses had roofs, but were without floors, doors or windows. Also, on the north side of the square, where the post office now stands, was the body of a log house, erected by John Catlin, but without roof The body of this house, I have always understood, was put up by Michel St. Cyr, a half-breed, before the house occupied by Mr. Peck was commenced, but, as it was not made habitable for some months after, it was never regarded as the first house.

Augustus A. Bird, with a company of about forty persons, including the family of Josiah A. Pierce, had arrived the same day, and a few hours before. Bird was one of the Commissioners, appointed at the Belmont session, to erect the capitol, and had brought out this company of workmen from Milwaukee to break ground and commence the work. We were then between forty and fifty persons to be provided for, with the accommodations that I have described. It requires no stretch of the imagination to suppose that Mrs. Peck was put to her wit's end to provide for such an unexpected arrival (for it must not be forgotten that there was not only no telegraph, but no mails, in those days), and for my part I was in a good mood to enjoy a supper, and I do not remember to have ever eaten one in Madison with better relish. Mrs. Peck was, indeed, a model woman for frontier life, and nobly did she perform the onerous duties that fell to her lot in this trying emergency.

The morning sun saw a busy crowd, and early in the day, Sunday though it was, were men hard at work building a boarding-house to be occupied by the family of Mr. Pierce ; and alsoalog building, about twenty-four feet square, was erected midway between the east corner of the public ground and the capitol, for a lodging-house for the men. There was no lumber, and flooring was split out of large logs and hewed, called " puncheons," and long shingles were rived out of oak, and called " shakes," and doors were unnecessary, as burglars never emigrate to an uninhabited country.

There was, however, an inhabitant here before us, and the mosquito, who never cultivates the acquaintance, or claims any hlood relations with Indian tribes, held high carnival over the advent of the Caucasian to the shady shores of Lake Monona. So persistent were these winged pests in thrusting their bills in our very faces that rest by day and sleep by night were quite out of the question. If the truth was known, there probably never was a place on this broad earth worse infested ; and yet the old story was as current then as now - that they were much worse a little further on, so much worse that out on Rock River they actually took the lives of cows that were cempelled to forage in the woods for a living.

On the evening of the 1st day of April, 1838, one of those events which are so common, and made the occasion of great interest and ceremony in older communities - a wedding - occurred, the first in Dane County.

Ihe bridegroom was Jairus S. Potter, a long, lank, jack-knife carpenter, as the saying was, a term used to designate a mechanic who could do good work on a poor job, and he always used wge words in gmall places. He was familiarly known as Long Potter, to designate him from a namesake known as Short Potter.

, I!'®, ''"'^® was Miss Elizabeth Allen, a tall, angular young lady, who found her way West, an tilled the position of maid of all work in the Peck House, where the ceremony was perunng the day the parties continued to work at their usual occupations, and when night e- supper being over, and the dishes cleared away, "time " was called, and the loving pair, matched but not mated, were soon in place. The room was decorated with the early flowers of spring, such as wild tulips and hyacinths, which were found in great abundance on Dead Lake Hill, and nothing was lacking to make it a first-class affair ; but because of certain peculiar characteristics of the day, it was unanimously voted that there should be no fooling on this solemn occasion.

The presents were not costly nor numerous, but they were unique and useful in a younff family in a new country ; prominent among which might be mentioned a milking-stool, an empty champagne basket with rockers attached, and a fish-hook and line, labled, " To supply the family with suckers." The ceremony was performed in the most primitive style by Eben Peck Esq., who had been appointed a Justice of the Peace a few weeks before, and this was his first official act.

Of the friends who gathered to grace the occasion, about nine or ten were called Rihs, while those not so designated numbered some twelve or fourteen. The ceremony over, the cry was " On with the dance ! " and, inspired by the thrilling music of the violin in the hands of Luther Peck, a younger brother of the landlord, the dance went on, and "joy was unconfined," until the morrow's sun was well up to light home the retiring guests.

Having erected a small building on Lot 6, Block 89, in which to house my little family, I set out, on the 5th of April, 1838, in a small skiif, to go down the Catfish [Yahara], Rock River and the Mississippi to St. Louis, unless I could sooner find a boat that would take me to Ohio, where my wife then was. I expected to reach Janesville the first night, but the Catfish, for some unexplained reason, did not continue in one direction for any great length of time, and lengthened itself out so much beyond my calculations, that night was upon me, and darkness covered the face of the earth, before the little craft moved into the waters of Rock River.

Soon after entering the river, a light was discovered on its eastern bank, and, expecting to find the rude shelter of some new settler. Handed to claim entertainment. But I was mistaken; the light came from an encampment of Winnebago Indians. I had no diflSculty in making them understand the situation, and they kindly offered me accommodations in one of the most palatial structures of the settlement. The aristocratic proprietor of the princely establishment did not, however, offer me a chair or a seat on the sofa, but spread a piece of ragged mat on the ground, and, with a grunt, motioned me to double myself down to it. Anticipating that I was not full fed, he drew out from its concealment a large fish of the sucker family, which had been dried and cooked in the smoke over a slow fire, and my supper was spread before me. Having had but a scanty lunch for dinner, and hard work at the oar all day, the dried sucker was indeed palatable, in fact ; I do not remember to have ever tasted fish with keener relish. In the morning, I settled my bill with a half-dollar and proceeded to .Janesville for breakfast.