Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin - Chapter 3: Creation of Fond Du Lac County, 1912

Veyed - First Settler - Reminiscences

At the time of the creation of Fond du Lac county but one family was living within its borders, that of Colwert Pier, and for that reason no provision was made for its organization. Hence, all that could be accomplished by the legisla¬ ture was the designation of the boundary lines, the establishing of a county seat, which was "at the town of Fond du Lac," and the attaching of the county to Brown county for judicial purposes. It was not until March n, 1839, that an act was approved, for the organization of the county, and this act only pro¬ vided that the organization be "for the purposes of county government only."

Section 5. The county of Fond du Lac shall be organized for the purposes of county government only from and after the first Monday in April next, at which time the election for county officers shall be held at the places and in the manner provided by law, and the candidate for county commissioner having the highest number of votes shall serve two years from and after the first Monday in August next ; the candidate having the next highest shall serve for one year from the time aforesaid, and the candidate being third on the list shall serve until the first Monday of August next, or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. The returns of the first election shall be made to the clerk of the county commissioners of Brown county, who shall canvass the votes and certify the result of the election in the manner provided in other cases.

Section 6. The said county shall remain attached to the county of Brown for judicial purposes, and shall pay annually into the county treasury of Brown county five per cent of all taxes levied and collected in said county of Fond du Lac, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of courts ; and the qualified voters of said county shall have power, on the first Monday of April next, to elect a collector to discharge the duties incident to that office in place of the sheriff; and such collector shall continue in office until the first Monday of August next and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, and thereafter a collector shall annually, on the first Monday of August, be elected, and in case of a vacancy in the office of collector, the county commissioners shall have power to supply such vacancy until the next annual election.

Section 7. All duties in relation to any election required to be performed by a sheriff within said county may be performed by a deputy, to be appointed in such county by the sheriff of the county of Brown.

In accordance with the above provisions of the territorial act an election was held August 6> 1839, at which time John Bannister, Edward Pier and Reuben Simmons were chosen as members of the board of commissioners; A. Raymond, treasurer; J. Bannister, registrar. The completion of the organization was upon the meeting of the commissioners, when Reuben Simmons was elected, by his fellow members, chairman, and Mason C. Darling, clerk. These officials at once entered upon their respective duties and the new Wisconsin bailiwick started on its career, continuing to be attached to Brown county, however, for judicial purposes, until March, 1844, when, by an act of the territorial legislature, approved January 22, 1844, the organization of the county was completed. The provision of the act follows.

Section 1. That from and after the first Monday of March next, the county of Fond du Lac shall be organized for judicial purposes, and shall enjoy all the privileges of other counties of this territory.

Section 3. The said judicial county, composed of the counties of Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Calumet and Marquette, shall remain a part of the third judicial district, and the courts therein shall be held by the judge of the said district, at such times as shall be established by law.

Section 4. The first election of sheriff for said judicial county shall be held in the several counties before named, on the first Tuesday of April next, and thereafter at the time prescribed by law; and the return of said election shall be made to the clerk of the board of supervisors of Fond du Lac county, who shall proceed to canvass the same as the law requires.

Section 5. All writs, processes, appeals, recognizances, or other proceedings, sued or commenced in the district court of Brown county prior to the said first Monday of March next, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution issued thereon in the same manner they might or could have been had this act not passed; and execution on any judgment heretofore rendered in said court, shall have the like force and effect, and may be executed and returned by the sheriff of said county of Brown, anything in any law of the territory to the con¬ trary notwithstanding.

Section 6. The county seat of Fond du Lac county is hereby established upon the north half of the northeast quarter of section fifteen, town (ship) fifteen north, of range seventeen east, in the town of Fond du Lac; Provided, a good and sufficient warrantee deed, duly executed, of a public square for the location of county buildings, embracing at least ninety thousand square feet (be delivered by the owners thereof to the county) ; and a bond entered into with the board of supervisors of the county, conditioned to provide a suitable room for holding courts for the use of said county for the term of three years, the whole to be free of charge to the county, and to be entered of record in the registrar's office of said county. But it is herein further provided, that unless such deed and bond, duly executed, shall be thus recorded on or before the first Monday of March next, the county seat shall be and remain as now established by law ; and the supervisors of said county shall be hereby authorized to provide a building for the temporary holding of such courts until county buildings shall be prepared at the county seat; and such building thus provided (a certificate of such fact being recorded in the office of the clerk of the board of supervisors of said county), shall be deemed to be the court house of said county.

Section 7. All appeals to be taken in the manner provided by law, from the decisions of the probate court of the district composed of the counties of She¬ boygan and Manitowoc shall be made and returned to the district court of Brown county, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

Section 8. From and after the first Monday of March next, the county of Marquette shall be organized for county purposes, and the first election for county officers of said county shall be held on the first Tuesday of April next, at the house of S. W. Beall, the place appointed by law for holding the annual town meeting, and the returns of the election of such county officers shall be made to the town clerk of the town of Marquette, who is hereby authorized to canvass the same and to issue certificates of election.

Section 9. Such election shall be conducted in all respects as the law requires for conducting the town meetings, and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the board of supervisors of Fond du Lac county to post up notices of such election, and also of the town meeting of the town of Marquette, at two or more places in such county ten days at least before the day of such meeting.

Section 10. The several towns in the counties of Calumet and Marquette, and the county of Sheboygan, shall annually pay to the treasurer of Fond du Lac county, eight per cent of all taxes, except schoolhouse taxes, levied therein, to assist in defraying the expenses of the courts. And it is hereby made the duty of the collectors of the several towns in the counties aforesaid, and of the collector of the county of Sheboygan, to collect and pay such percentage to the treasurer of the county of Fond du Lac, on or before the first Monday of Janu¬ ary in each year; and the receipt of such treasurer shall be a good and sufficient voucher for such amount in settlement with the treasurer of his own proper town or county, and the collectors of such towns and counties shall be liable to the county of Fond du Lac, under their official bonds, for the payment, as aforesaid, for the percentage herein mentioned.

Section 11. From and after the first Monday of March next, all assessments that shall be made in the county of Fond du Lac, for the purpose of raising taxes, shall embrace improvements on real estate, in addition to the property now liable by law to taxation.

Secton 1 2. The clerks of the boards of county supervisors of the counties of Calumet and Marquette, and the clerk of the board of commissioners of She¬ boygan county, shall be required to forward to the clerk of the board of super¬ visors of Fond du Lac county, on or before the first Monday of April next, a certified copy of the poll lists of the last annual election ; and the board of su¬ pervisors of the county of Fond du Lac is hereby required to meet at the clerk's office, in said county, on some day prior to the first day of May next, for the pur¬ pose of preparing a list of jurors, and taking any other measures necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

Section 13. The clerks of the several towns in the counties of Fond du Lac, Calumet and Marquette, and the clerk of the board of commissioners of Sheboy¬ gan county, shall post up notices of the election of sheriff for such county at the proper places, at least ten days prior to the said day of election.

within the bounds of Fond du Lac county, and is recited in the article entitled "Fond du Lac County Boundaries Established," to be found elsewhere).

Section 15. (This section submitted the question of the annexation of Win¬ nebago county to Fond du Lac county for judicial purposes, to the legal voters of the first-mentioned county, for adoption or rejection, "on the day of the annual town meeting in April next/' The election was held on the 2d of that month, at which time twenty-five votes were cast in favor of being attached to Fond du Lac county, and five against).

On the 7th day of December, 1836, the counties of Brown and Milwaukee were divided, by and under an act entitled, "An Act to Divide the Counties of Brown and Milwaukee." Section 9 of that act provided: "That townships (thir¬ teen) north, of ranges eighteen and nineteen east, and townships fourteen, fif¬ teen and sixteen, of ranges fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, and townships seventeen and eighteen, of ranges fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, shall be and hereby are constituted a separate county, and be called Fond du Lac ; and the seat of justice of said county is hereby established at the town of Fond du Lac."

The territory thus set off as Fond du Lac included all the present county except the towns of Osceola, Forest and Marshfield, and so much of Calumet as lies in townships 17 north, of ranges 18 and 19 east; also, nearly all the south half of what is now the county of Winnebago.

By an act of the territorial legislature, approved January 6, 1840, all that territory included in Fond du Lac county north of townships 16, in ranges 14, 15, 16 and 17 east, was taken from it to form a portion of Winnebago county.

The same act took from Calumet county fractional townships 17, in ranges 18 and 19 east, and added them to Fond du Lac county, constituting nearly the whole of the present town of Calumet.

By the provisions of an act approved January 22, 1844, "all that portion of Lake Winnebago lying south of a direct line drawn from the point where the southern boundary of the Brothertown Reservation enters said lake on the east, to the town (ship) line between town (ships) sixteen and seventeen on the west side of said lake," was made a part of the county of Fond du Lac.

By an oversight of the legislature in the act approved December 7, 1836, constituting, among others, the counties of Fond du Lac and Marquette, already mentioned, five townships in Fond du Lac townships 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 north, of range 14 east - were also included in the county of Marquette. By the erec¬ tion of Winnebago county, two of these townships - townships 17 and 18 north, of range 14 east - were assigned to that county, still leaving three - townships 14, 15 and 16 north, of range 14 east - as belonging both to Fond du Lac county and Marquette. To cure this defect an act was passed, which was approved March 6, 1848, and which brought Fond du Lac county to its present limits as follows :

"An Act to Define the Boundaries of Fond du Lac County, and the Jurisdic¬ tion of Counties to Lake Winnebago ; also to legalize the acts of said county as to certain towns therein organized." Be it enacted by the council and house of representatives of the territory of Wisconsin:

Section 1. That township number thirteen north, of range number eighteen east, and townships number thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen north, of range number nineteen east; and also all that part of Lake Winnebago lying south of a line extending due west from the south line of the late Brothertown Reservation, to a north and south line corresponding to the division line between ranges number seventeen and eighteen, and all that part of the same lake lying south of an east and west line extending from the intersection of the town line between towns sixteen and seventeen with said lake, and running east to the range line hereinbefore mentioned, are hereby made and declared to be a part of the county of Fond du Lac.

Section 2. That townships number fourteen, fifteen and sixteen north, of range number fourteen east, embracing the organized towns of Ceresco, Alto and Metomen, and included by the act of the seventh day of December, 1836, in both the counties of Fond du Lac and Marquette, are hereby declared to be a part of the county of Fond du Lac, as recited by the several acts organizing said towns.

Section 3. The acts of the county of Fond du Lac exercising jurisdiction over either of the before-mentioned townships, or the acts of the towns organized therein, shall not be deemed invalid or illegal in consequence of either of said townships having been included in any other county, or for not having been included in the said county of Fond du Lac.

Section 4. That all that part of Lake Winnebago lying north of the north line of the county of Fond du Lac, as hereinbefore described, and west of the range line separating ranges number seventeen and eighteen, as extending through said lake, is hereby declared to be a part of the county of Winnebago; and all that part of said lake lying east of said range line and north of the north line of Fond du Lac as hereinbefore described, is hereby declared to be a part of the county of Calumet. All process issuing to officers of either of the counties bordering upon Lake Winnebago, may be served upon the waters of said lake by the officer or person charged with the service thereof ; and the said counties shall, for all the purposes of civil and criminal process, have concurrent juris¬ diction on the said waters.

The above-mentioned act brought into the county of Fond du Lac the territory constituting the present towns of Osceola, Forest and Marshfield, and made certain what was left doubtful by the act of December 7, 1836, as to the territory now included in the towns of Ashford and Auburn, by making it unmistakably a part of Fond du Lac county.

Section 10. The district of country included within the following boundaries shall form and constitute the county of Fond du Lac, to wit: Beginning at the southeast corner of township thirteen north, of range nineteen east of the meridian line aforesaid; running thence north, on the range line between ranges nineteen and twenty, to the south line of the Indian reservation; thence west on said south line to a point in Lake Winnebago in the range line between seven¬ teen and eighteen east ; thence south on said range line to the range of the town¬ ship line between townships sixteen and seventeen north; thence west to the northwest corner of township sixteen north, of range fourteen east; thence south on the range line, to the southwest corner of township fourteen north, of range fourteen east ; thence east on the township line to the northwest corner of town¬ ship thirteen north, of range eighteen east; thence south to the souhwest corner of the last named township; thence east on the township line to the place of beginning.

The region now comprising the county of Fond du Lac was visited by French traders as early as the year 1787, for in that year a trading post was established at the forks of the Fond du Lac river, by one Jacob Franks of Green Bay, and Franks' clerk, Jacques Poltier, was placed in charge of the stock of goods. In 1791, Franks sent his nephew, John Lawe, to the post, to take it under his man¬ agement. Shortly after Franks' advent here Augustin Grignon had an Indian trading post on the west branch of the river, below the first rapids. About the year 1819, Peter Grignon, nephew of Augustin, passed the winter in a shanty, which stood between Forest and West Division streets. At about the year first mentioned, it is said that white men traded with the Winnebago Indians at their village, near the present Taycheedah. Other Indian tribes were wont to gather at this point for the purpose of exchanging peltries for gewgaw and whisky with their "white brother" of the French persuasion. The names of some of them have been preserved. Laurent Ducharme, a Canadian by the name of Chavodreuil, who was killed by a jealous Indian; Joseph Rolette, Michael Brisbois and one Ace, a Spaniard, who also met his death at the hands of a treacherous red man. The practice of these traders was to ascend the Fond du Lac river in their canoes laden with articles of merchandise and, making a "portage" to Rock river, they would descend that stream to the Mississippi, which brought them to the Indian villages along its banks.

Augustin Grignon, heretofore referred to, in his "Seventy-two Years Recol¬ lections of Wisconsin," does not agree with the dates given of the opening of the trading post by Franks and the coming of Lawe. But, at the time of writing his recollections, he was a very old man and could have been mistaken. He says : captain in the English army, and his mother an English Jewess, a sister of Jacob Franks, who had come to Green Bay as early as 1795, as a clerk in the trading establishment of Oglevie, Gillaspie & Company, of Mackinaw, who had a store at Green Bay. John Lawe was educated at Quebec, and Joseph Rolette, so well known as a trader and early settler at Prairie du Chien, was one of his school¬ mates. When his uncle, Mr. Franks, had been about three years with Oglevie, Gillaspie & Company, he ceased serving as clerk, and went to Canada and obtained a stock of goods. He returned to the bay and opened a store, bringing

"Lawe engaged in his uncle's employ and the following winter was sent with a supply of Indian goods, accompanied by Louis Bauprez, to Fond du Lac river, which was then known among the French and traders by that name, and took possession of the old trading post, about a mile and a half above the mouth of that stream, on its eastern bank. This had been a winter trading post for many years. Laurent Ducharme, who one year caught a large number of ducks there by means of a net, salting and preserving them for winter's use, was about the earliest trader at that point; then one Ace, a Spaniard, and, subsequently, one Chavodreuil ; and still later, Michael Brisbois and I wintered there two winters.

"The Indians, whose trade was there sought, were the Winnebagoes, who had a village where Taycheedah now is, three miles east of Fond du Lac city, and had other villages along Rock river. Mr. Lawe afterwards spent several winters at different points among the Indian hunting bands between Green Bay and the Mississippi, and up to the time when his uncle left the country and went back to Canada, which was about the commencement of the War of 1812, leav¬ ing Mr. Lawe as his successor as a merchant and trader ; and he continued more or less in the Indian trade as long as he lived."

The Land Is Surveyed

At the close of the Black Hawk war in 1832 and immediately upon the con¬ clusion of the treaties between the Indian tribes and the United States, the gov¬ ernment commenced a survey of the land ceded. The northern boundary of Illinois, fixed April 11, 1818, was made the base line of the surveys. A principal north and south line (known as the Fourth Meridian), was run, extending from the base line to Lake Superior. This line is west of the territory now included in Fond du Lac county, running on the east boundary of what is now Grant county, and on the west boundary of La Fayette and Iowa counties, and thence due north at a distance west of the west boundary of Fond du Lac county of seventy-two miles, striking Lake Superior near the mouth of Montreal river, on the east boundary line of Wisconsin and at the most westerly point of the state of Michigan.

To the fourth meridian parallel lines were run every six miles on the east and west sides of it. Thus townships were blocked out and more minutely surveyed into sections. By the end of the year 1833 a large portion of what is now south¬ ern and eastern Wisconsin had been surveyed and, by an act of congress, approved June 26, 1834, two land districts were created, which embraced all that tract north of the state of Illinois, west of Lake Michigan, south and southeast of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, included in what was then the territory of Michigan. It was divided by a north and south line, drawn from the northern boundary of Illinois, between ranges 8 and 9, to the Wisconsin river. All east of this line was called the Green Bay Land district ; all west of the line, the Wis¬ consin Land district. Fond du Lac county was included in the Green Bay dis¬ trict. A land office was established and opened by the government at Green Bay and a notice was issued by the government land agent that all the lands then surveyed were for sale and early in the year 1835 the sale took place. Lands not disposed of at this sale became open for entry at the Green Bay Land office and a large proportion of the land in Fond du Lac county was thus obtained from the government, by early settlers and speculators, at $1.25 an acre.

Colwert Pier was the first settler in Fond du Lac county and it was through an arrangement made with a land company, formed to exploit this section of the country, that he became the pioneer of the county.

In November, 1835, a number of prominent men of Green Bay associated themselves into a land company, for the purpose of buying and selling land at the head of Lake Winnebago, then in the county of Brown, Wisconsin Territory. Articles of association were drawn up and signed by the parties interested and the organization became known as the Fond du Lac Company. Three hundred shares were issued and sold at the par value of one hundred dollars each. These shares were distributed amongst the members of the company as follows: James Duane Doty, president, 46 shares; Joshua Hathaway, 12 shares; John Parndt, 40 shares; George McWilliams, 20 shares; R. S. Clarey, 10 shares; R. B. Marcy, 4 shares; F. F. Hamilton, 35 shares; David Ward, 3 shares; Brush, Rees & Com¬ pany, 6 shares; C. C. Sibley, 12 shares; William Brown, 64 shares; Henry S. Baird, 3 shares; M. E. Merrill, 10 shares; R. S. Satterlee, 20 shares; Silas Stedman, 10 shares ; Samuel Ryan, 7 shares ; Alexander J. Irwin, 4 shares ; David Jones, 15 shares; W. Alexander, 4 shares; E. Childs, 14 shares; M. Scott, 3 shares.

The company-, by the first of January, 1836, came into possession of 3,705 acres of land, all of which now lies within the confines of the city of Fond du Lac, and the officials of the company, comprising James Duane Doty, president; David Jones, George McWilliams, F. F. Hamilton and W. H. Bruce, directors, had laid out a village and completed its survey in November, 1835, the name of which was designated as the "Town of Fond du Lac." The plat of the village was acknowledged before a notary public and on August 23, 1836, was recorded in the office of the register of deeds from Brown county, of which Fond du Lac county was then a part.

After the necessary preliminaries of laying out the "town of Fond du Lac" had been completed, the company took the main step in the enterprise by making preparations to dispose of its holdings in the embryo city. The plat was lith¬ ographed and widely circulated. The world at large was notified in printed cir¬ culars, made a part of the plat, that "Winnebago lake is thirty miles long and ten miles wide. The town is fifty-eight miles southwest from Green Bay; thirtythree miles from the banks of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Sheboygan river ; fifty-four miles from Fort Winnebago and fourteen miles from Rock river."

Needing shelter for its agent or any settlers that might arrive, the Fond du Lac Company, in a spirit of enterprise and foresightedness, erected a double log cabin, in the spring of 1836, on the east side of Brooke street, east of the present railroad track and between the river and what is now known as Johnson street. This was the first house built in Fond du Lac county and was a double log affair with an open hall running through the center from front to rear. It was two stories in height and had an inside stairway. A party of the civilized tribe of Brothertown Indians came from the village of the same name and put the logs of the cabin together, and in this cabin Colwert Pier and his wife began life in the wilderness of Fond du Lac county. Here Mrs. Pier died, as did also Wil¬ liam Carey, Mrs. Laughlin and Mrs. Carey. George McWilliams, a member of the Fond du Lac Company, occupied a room in the building for some time and in later years it became the shelter for several families at a time. In the year 1864, this old building, which had done splendid service as the pioneer house and tavern of the county, had become old, decrepit and useless. Its logs were taken from their long resting places and many of them were taken to the Boulay farm east of the city.

The Fond du Lac Company remained in existence a number of years and sold to settlers many of its lots in Fond du Lac, but in the year 1844, dissensions be¬ tween the company and Dr. M. C. Darling, a stockholder, culminated in the latter instituting proceedings in chancery against the company, asking for a dissolution of the company, which had been incorporated in February, 1842, and also for the settlement of its business and the distribution of its assets among the stock¬ holders. As a consequence, the court, on the 9th of March, 1844, appointed Edward Pier receiver and in 1846, A. G. Ellis as master in chancery, sold all the holdings of the company, which were situated in Fond du Lac, and the proceeds of the sale were distributed in accordance with the prayer of Dr. Darling. The act incorporating the company had been repealed in 1845 and the company be¬ came legally dead.

The Piers Visit Fond Du Lac

Colwert Pier, who had arrived in Green Bay from Vermont early in 1834, with his two brothers, met and convened with members of the Fond du Lac Com¬ pany soon thereafter and, being impressed with the description of the Fond du Lac country thus secured, he determined on a tour of exploration. On the 16th day of February, 1836, in the company of his younger brother, Edward, he started with a horse and sled from Green Bay for the head of Lake Winnebago and the vicinity, to see what manner of country it was. There being no roads at that time, except what had been made by the Stockbridge and Brothertown Indians as far as the Grand Kaukauna, so that travel in winter* from Green Bay to that place was chiefly upon the ice. Reaching the Grand Kaukauna the travel¬ ers learned that the Indians had cut a road as far as the locality where the Stockbridge mission was afterwards established. That route was taken by them, being attracted thereby from having been informed of the presence of several families who were living at the proposed site of the mission. The Piers reached the place at the end of the first day and stopped over night with a Stockbridge family named Jourdan, living in a small cabin, near which was a shed. The last men¬ tioned building gave shelter to their horse. The Jourdans entertained the travel¬ ers most kindly and in the morning started them on their way, by directing them to the lake, up which, so the elder Jourdan said he had heard, was Fond du Lac, which came into the lake on the west side of the prairie in the timber.

The ice on the lake at this time was frozen over, the roughly snow-covered ice being about eight inches in thickness. The going was slow, difficult and track- less. But, being young and hardy and ambitious to see what was before them they started out on the lake, making their way toward the woods and coming to the shore about one-half mile east of the mouth of the stream. Then bearing west the river was reached. Coming up on the east side of the river the Piers made camp near the spot on which the residence of George McWilliams was subsequently built. Here a tire was soon burning, where the adventurers spent the rest of the day and night. At about three o'clock in the afternoon, however, after picketing their horse, the men started out to look for desirable farm land. Returning to camp in the evening, they found James D. Doty there, agreeably to a promise previously given, and with him were Dr. Richard M. Satterlee, Lieu¬ tenant Merrill, and a trooper by the name of Collins. This party had come up the river and finding the tethered horse and camp equipment, determined to re¬ main for the night, not being certain who their hosts would be. The meeting, needless to say, was a pleasurable one on both sides, and although the night was bitterly cold, all concerned were ready for an early breakfast, after which, hav¬ ing learned all they could of the country from Doty the brothers took their course towards the west ; crossing the river below the forks and walking up across sec¬ tions 9, 8 and 18. About noon snow began to fall and a start was made back in the direction of the camp. The men came down across section io and struck the west branch. Here they became confused in their surroundings and for some time were at a loss to find their bearings, not knowing that the river had two branches. This, however, became apparent after reaching the forks, and then it was not long before they had reached the desired destination.

Feeding their faithful horse and satisfying their own hunger, the brothers broke camp and began a retrograde movement toward Green Bay. The snow was still coming down thickly and reaching a tract of country overgrown with weeds the height of a man's head, making it almost difficult to determine direction, and being fearful of losing their way, Colwert sat on the sled and with a compass in hand, directed his brother Edward, who walked in advance of the horse, which way he should go. About four o'clock in the afternoon the lake was again reached. The snow had ceased to fall and, taking the lake just east of where Taycheedah now lies, a team was discovered there emerging from the timber. Behind the horses were Doty and his party, who joined the Piers and with them returned to Green Bay.

Colwert Pier Settles In Fond Du Lac

The Fond du Lac country, what they had seen of it, had so pleased and im¬ pressed the Pier brothers, Colwert and Edward, that they determined to return to it, if satisfactory arrangements could be made with the Fond du Lac Company. In furtherance of this object they met the directors of the company and extracted from them the promise of the transference to each of them of a quarter section of the company's land and, in the event of the settlement of the parents of the two brothers at Fond du Lac, they also should have a quarter section adjoining those selected by the boys, the latter agreeing, in consideration thereof, to move to Fond du Lac and improve their farms. It was stipulated that Colwert should take the double log cabin and convert it into a tavern. This he did and the "Fond du Lac House" has become a matter of history.

In pursuance of the agreement made with the Fond du Lac Company, Colwert Pier returned to Fond du Lac on horseback, in the month of May, 1836. His wife, in company with a Mrs. Robean, followed her husband, in a boat deeply laden with provisions, merchandise and household goods. The vessel was in command of Captain Samuel Irwin and propelled by Indians and half-breeds ; the route was by way of the Grand Kaukauna. Here a "portage" was necessary. Everything had to be unshipped and carried three-fourths of a mile above the rapids and then reloaded. However, all these difficulties were overcome and on the 6th day of June, 1836, the boat reached the vicinity of the ''Fond du Lac House" and here Mrs. Pier, the pioneer woman of Fond du Lac county, rejoined her husband, who had only preceded her but a few days, and the actual settle¬ ment of the county had commenced. Mrs. Robean, who had left Green Bay with Mrs. Pier, was taken to her husband, who had entered a tract of land on the east side of the lake. Of the leave-taking between the Piers and Captain Irwin the latter relates :

"I bade good-bye to Mrs. Pier with feelings not unmixed with sorrow. She endeared herself to all of us by her uniform kindness. She assisted us in our cooking, and cheered us by her looks and words through all the trying scenes of the nine days we were on the voyage. When we left her on the bank of the Fond du Lac river, a lone region, surrounded by hundreds of Indians, with no one but her husband to protect her, we all felt sad. 'I have often thought,' says a recent writer, 'that if she had lived, her version of those times and those scenes would be of great interest to some of the ladies now living in the county. She once told me that when Captain Irwin's boat was out of sight and she and her husband were left alone - feeling that they constituted the only civilized inhabit¬ ants of the entire region - she sat down upon the ground and cried a considerable time, then wiping away her tears, she resolutely got up and walked to the house where her home was to be and took a calm view of the surroundings. She found the log building to consist of three log cabins united; there was an open hall between the dining room and sitting room, and a kitchen in the rear, the floor of which had been laid by her husband after his arrival, but previous to her com¬ ing. He had also put in two windows and a door. "My husband tried to soothe and comfort me, but I felt that he needed," said she, "some one to comfort him as well ; so I took hold and helped him put up the stove, and I went about put¬ ting our house in as good condition as circumstances would permit." Within half an hour a squaw came in and by signs made Mrs. Pier understand that she wished to exchange some feathers for flour. These she purchased, and, as she afterwards discovered, paid liberally for them, for in half an hour her room was filled with squaws wishing to "swap" feathers for pork. Her stock in trade con¬ sisted of one barrel of pork and two of flour. That afternoon she bought of the squaws feathers sufficient to make two good sized feather beds, and paid for them in pork and flour.' "

Colwert Pier and his brave helpmeet were the only white residents in Fond du Lac county from June 6, 1836, to March 11, 1837. Then it was that Edward Pier, long delayed, arrived, and with him was his family, consisting of a young wife and two daughters, one a baby about four weeks old. The population of Fond du Lac was now six souls, which was increased on the first day of June by mont. On the 17th of June, Miss Harriet Pier, who became the wife of Alonzo Raymond, added one more to the colony, and on September 3d, the parents of the Pier boys, Calvin and Esther Pier, and their youngest son, Oliver W., a boy of fourteen years made the settlement larger by three more inhabitants. The Piers and Albert Kendall constituted all of the population of Fond du Lac county until March, 1838, and then sadness and death came to mar the happiness of all. Mrs. Fanny Pier, the brave and noble wife of Colwert Pier, was unable to withstand the rigors and hardships of a pioneer life and on the first day of March, 1838, was relieved of her burdens. That day marked the first death in the county, and to the little settlement, composed mainly of men and women of the same family, the day was a sad one. The funeral was held on the third day of March, Rev. Cutting Marsh, missionary to the Stockbridge Indians, preaching the sermon.

Edward .Pier, co-pioneer with his brother, Colwert, wrote an interesting article on this period, which was published in a history of Fond du Lac issued in 1880. He tells of many things of which he was conversant and which should be made a part of this chapter. The article follows:

"On the 17th of June, 1836, my father arrived at Green Bay, in search of his three sons, whom he had sent west two years before to seek their fortunes. He had been quite sick on the boat coming up the lakes and was in feeble health. I had purchased one small pony and had engaged others, so that when father came, I could accompany him to where my brother Colwert was. The Frenchmen at the Bay from whom I expected to hire ponies, tried or pretended to find theirs, but without success ; we therefore on the 20th started with one only. I tried every man I met to hire a horse to ride to Fond du Lac, but without success. When we got to Shanty Town, about half way to Depere, I asked an old French¬ man where I could hire a horse for my father to ride to Fond du Lac, to be gone a week. He said that he had a good one and if I would give him a dollar for its use, I might have him. I asked him where his horse was. He said it was on the commons. I told him several men had been looking three days for their ponies and could not find one. He declared he could get his in one hour. We waited two and a half, when he came with his horse. That night we got as far as Grand Kaukauna, and stopped with one of the Stockbridge Indians over night. My father was quite sick during the night, so that I gave up the idea of going any farther. I was up early to look after the horses. The feed was good but the fence was poor. I found the animals all right. My father was very anx¬ ious to see Colwert and his wife, also the country where we intended to make our future homes. An old squaw gave him some medicine and made him a strong cup of tea, which he drank, but he could not eat much breakfast. He said that he would go on as far as he could, for he did not like to go home until he had seen all his children. We found the way exceedingly wet. It was almost one continuous slough of water and mud for sixteen miles to where the Stockbridge Mission was then building. Here we found the Rev. Cutting Marsh, a missionary to the Indians. He had a house up and partly inclosed ; also a stable completed. He let us have all the feed for our horses he had - about six quarts of oats. My friend, Joseph King, was with us, so that we had three horses. We got some dinner with the missionary, and about three o'clock we left to find our way as best we could to my brother's. Before our arrival at Fond du Lac we encountered a severe rain storm ; swam our horses across a swollen creek ; got lost in the darkness as night came on; but finally, after much difficulty, reached my brother's house.

"We stayed here a few days but it rained most of the time and the creeks were overflowed and more than half of the surface of the country was under water. My brother and I were anxious to know what our father thought of the country for farming purposes ; but he was sick, a long way from home, and quite . outside of all civilization. He said but little on any subject. All we got from him in relation to the place was that it looked like a good country for grass. As my father was a farmer and had haying and harvesting at home to attend to, he soon felt it was necessary to start for home. A short distance before we arrived at the Bay, I asked him if he thought mother would ever see this country. After riding several rods he replied that if she ever expected to see her chil¬ dren or be near them, she would have to come here, Tor,' said he, Three of her children are here now and the rest of them will come, and they will never leave such a country as you and Colwert are in and go back to Vermont.' Before he started for home he gave me the money to pay for the one hundred and sixty acres which we had reserved for him, and said that he was going to return to tell his family what he thought of our location, and to consult with them; and that he should write us what they concluded to do. In a few days, he left Green Bay for home. And thus ended my second visit to Fond du Lac.

"In September I received a letter from my brother Colwert, in which he said that he had a quantity of hay cut and ready to stack but that he had no one to help him stack it, and requested me to come to Fond du Lac and help him. On the 14th I started to go there. When I reached Wright's (now called Wrightstown), I stopped - as was the custom of all others at that time - to feed my horse and get dinner. I there met a stranger from New York state by the name of Harkness, who inquired where I was going. I replied that I was going to the upper country. 'Well, sir,' said he, Tvhen you get to Fond du Lac, I would advise you to stop at least a week. I stopped there nearly two weeks to rest, look at the country and get acquainted. Why, sir, they are the best people I ever met and that is the best kept house this side of Buffalo. After you pass there you will not find another such place if you travel five hundred miles.' I said to him that I thought I would avail myself of the benefit of his experience and stop when I got there. The next day I reached my brothers but now came two days of damp weather. Benjamin Funk, from the region of the lead mines, came along the next day with a drove of cattle, going to the Bay. Of him we purchased two yoke of oxen and a cow and calf, to pay for which I gave him an order on Daniel Whitney, at the Bay. The weather now became fair and we stacked our hay. I sold my horse to a man from Manitowoc and walked back home. This ended my third visit to Fond du Lac.

"Some time in December, 1836, I received another letter from my brother at Fond du Lac, in which he told me that he was getting short of provisions of all kinds and that it was not expedient for him to leave his wife there alone for the length of time that it would take him to go to the Bay and return; that he wished me to get some man to pack a couple of horses and bring him some pro¬ visions, if no other way could be found. I spoke to Mr. Whitney about the mat¬ ter and he told me that he had agreed to send some goods to my brother to that the ice on the Lake (Winnebago) was good. 1 said to him that 1 was not accustomed to the lake and that I was not pleased with the idea of attempting to cross it alone. Hut his reply was that I was not accustomed to a frontier life; that there was not the slightest danger on the lake; that I could not make a hole in the ice in half an hour large enough to get a horse into the water, and that, as yet, there were no cracks in the ice. Said he, 'If you will go, I will risk the horse.' So, on the 20th of December, I started from Green Bay for the fourth time, for Fond du Lac. It was a mild, misty morning. Before I got to Wright's it rained quite hard. While I was there the wind came from the north and the rain changed to snow. I started, and before I reached the Stockbridge Mission, the weather was quite cold. The harness on the horse was frozen so stiff that it was hard to get it off. The next morning was extremely cold, so much so that the Rev. Marsh tried to dissuade me from going on that day, 'for,' said he, 'I fear you will perish before you reach your brother's.'

"However, knowing that my brother was short of provisions, I thought best to try to get to him. I went on the lake at Pipe Village. I found the snow so badly drifted that I was compelled to tread the snow for some rods before the horse could get through to the lake. This, I think, detained me near or quite an hour. In the meantime the wind blew so severe from the southwest that it was with difficulty that I could keep my horse from turning around. After I got on the lake, the snow was so strongly driven by the force of the wind that I could only see a few feet before the horse. The snow upon the lake was in drifts, with places of sometimes half a mile of smooth, uncovered ice. The cold was so intense that I was obliged to go on foot or perish. It was the worst day but one that I can remember, and that was January i, 1864. I traveled as fast as possible until about three o'clock, when my horse dropped his hind feet through the ice into the water. I was behind the train. I sprang to him as soon as pos¬ sible and loosened him, but in his struggles to get out, I saw that the ice was crumbling and breaking off. Soon he was in the water all except his head. There was a drift of snow of several rods in width where he went in, so that I was able to stand. I put the lines around his neck and choked him, and, in his struggles I pulled him on the ice, but it immediately broke and when he went in again he took me with him. I sprang on top of him and went over him, and caught on the ice on the other side. I was in the water up to my waist. I then got out. I believe it was pretty quick and spry work I did. My overcoat was frozen stiff. I now discovered that my hands were frozen. I then whipped them ' around my body until the blood was pressed into them, and they felt warm. I then went round the broken ice and placed the horse's head or neck across the shaft. He was quivering, but otherwise motionless. I saw that he was gone and I now started to find the only house in Fond du Lac county.

"My boots were filled with water and frozen stiff. My clothes were wet up to my waist. About this time I saw the sun for the first time through the day.

It appeared to be about an hour above the horizon. Where the ice was covered with snow I could get along very well, but where it was smooth it required all 'my strength and utmost care to stand. I succeeded in reaching land just before the sun disappeared. The prairie had not been burned and the snow was about seven or eight inches, including the grass. Near the lake it was blown to the depth of two feet or more. The wind was blowing strong from the southwest and the weather was intensely cold. I made the best time possible to reach my brother's house, knowing that was the only chance for my life. Of course I was in great anxiety for fear I could not find it. I struck the timber about one hun¬ dred rods north of the house. The cattle had been out on the east side of the timber that day, and I will here say that I never was so glad in my life to see the tracks of a cow, as it was just as darkness was closing in upon me, on the 2 ist of December, 1836. I soon reached the house, when I found that my hands were badly frozen and also my cheeks. I found in the house my brother's wife and a lad from Brothertown, whom my brother had persuaded to stop with her until his return ; for, not having heard from me, and their provisions being short, he had started that morning in company with a traveler who came along, to go to the Bay. Some idea of the storm I encountered may be had when I state that we had passed very near without seeing each other's teams at all. The next morning the young lad accompanied me back to the spot where my horse had been left. I found him in the same position in which I had left him the night before."

Reuben Simmons and his wife, Louisa Parker Simmons, arrived in Green Bay from the state of New York in the summer of 1837 and in the fall of that year, with three other men, Simmons reached Winnebago lake by way of the Fox river and thence on he journeyed by water to the mouth of the Fond du Lac river. The party paddled its canoe up the river and "tied up" opposite the "Fond du Lac House." After exploring the beautiful woods and prairies of the vicinity, Mr. Simmons returned to Green Bay, greatly impressed with his venture. Hav¬ ing become acquainted with James Duane Doty, Mr. Simmons related to him his experiences in Fond du Lac county and it was then that Doty prevailed on Sim¬ mons to return to the settlement and take charge of a farm, afterwards known as the George D. Ruggles place. Doty agreed to furnish the lumber for a house to be built on the farm, which was erected at Doty's expense and, in conformity with this arrangement, Simmons, in the winter of 1838-9, hauled the lumber and other necessary material for the building from Green Bay to Fond du Lac and put up a frame structure 12 x 16 feet, finishing the work in the following spring. This was the second frame house erected in Fond du Lac county, the first hav¬ ing been erected by Judge Doty a short time previously, in 1838, in what is now the town of Empire.

After a roof had been placed on the house, Mr. Simmons put a cook stove in one corner, provisions in another, and here the men lived until the building was completed. In the spring Simmons was joined by his wife, little daughter and four sons ; also two hired men and a Brothertown Indian, which was quite an increase in the settlement's growing population. Within a year the Simmons family was on a large place belonging to Judge Doty, which was afterward known as the Phillips, being situated on section 7, in the town of Empire. From this place Mr. Simmons took his butter, eggs, honey and other farm produce to Green Bay, that being the nearest market place at that time. These were bar¬ tered for family necessaries.

In the fall of 1841, Reuben Simmons built a house on section 23, Fond du Lac town, which became known as the Simmons' homestead. To this place the family moved in the spring of 1842 and the old pioneer died there in 1869. There also the widow spent the remainder of a long and eventful life. The children who came to the wilds of Fond du Lac with this worthy couple, married and raised families of their own. The name of the daughter was Eliza Ann and she became the wife of James B. Clock. The boys were Alonzo L. Simmons, Amasa P. Simmons, William Leroy Simmons and Enos Marcellus Simmons.

George White was a hardy pioneer, upright in his dealings and was looked upon by the Indians, with whom he had many dealings, as their friend and pro¬ tector. White came to the Fond du Lac settlement, from Green Bay, in 1837, at the time that only one house had been built, which was occupied by Colwert Pier. He remained but a short time at Fond du Lac and then took up a claim in the town of Calumet, where he became one of its leading anad influential citi¬ zens. He conducted a small store for a time but always refused to sell liquor to the Indians. For several years Mr. White was the pioneer postmaster of Calumet village and was intimate with the big men of Fond du Lac county of that day, such as: Dr. M. C. Darling, Governor Doty, Governor Tallmadge, Major Tallinadge, George McWilliams, Edward Pier, J. M. Gillet and Dr. Delaney. Mr. White laid out the village of Calumet. He lived to a ripe old age and while an octogenarian was a clerk in the pension department at Washington.

Gustav De Neveu and his charming wife were long residents of Fond du Lac county. When he arrived here and had built a log hut for a dwelling, there were but four resident white people in the county. Mr. De Neveu became a man of importance and influence in this community. He was widely known and being active and alert during the county's callow youth he became acquainted with most if not all of the early settlers and had at his command a splendid fund of in¬ formation pertaining to them. In 1880, a history of Fond du Lac county was published, for which this pioneer prepared a most interesting and valuable rem¬ iniscent article. It is well worthy of a place in this work and is here reproduced almost in its entirety :

"On the 20th day of April, 1838, I came from Detroit to Green Bay on a rickety old steamboat whose name I have forgotten, but believe it was called the Pennsylvania. We had a terribly rough passage and came pretty near going down to the bottom of Lake Huron. The water was knee deep in the cabin ; we had to stand on chairs and tables or lie in the upper berths in order to keep ourselves dry. This was during a dark night opposite Saginaw Bay. We were unable to make the safe harbor of Presque Isle in the dark, as there was not a single lighthouse in those days on the eastern shores of Michigan be¬ tween Fort Gratiot and Mackinaw, a stretch of about two hundred and fifty miles, * and had to put back to Port Huron.

"While in Green Bay, hearing excellent accounts of the country about the head of Lake Winnebago, its farthest end, as the French name of Fond du Lac implies, I made up my mind to visit it. Through the kind offices of Messrs. Charles and Alexander Grignon, sons of Augustin Grignon, of Big Butte des Morts Lake, I procured the services of two Menomonee Indians, who understood French, and started with them in a bark canoe. At night, the canoe was drawn upon the shore, carefully propped on edge, answering the purpose of a tent; a fire was kindled opposite, and as we always had plenty of ducks and fish besides the provisions we had brought along, we were very comfortable. Thus. I visited Neenah, Garlic Island, the present site of the city of Oshkosh and Lake Buttes des Morts as far as Winneconne. At Oshkosh, Mrs. Stanley of that place, wish¬ ing to visit the family of Edward Pier, asked me to give her passage in my boat, which, as there was plenty of room, I readily granted. We passed the old log house erected by the Fond du Lac Company, which many of you no doubt remember, and landed on the prairie near the place where George McWilliams' house stands, this point being apparently the head of canoe navigation, and walked across the prairie to the house of Mr. Pier, which was in sight from that point and about one mile and a half distant. Like all the other houses in the country at that time, it was constructed of logs. It stood not far from the place now occupied by his residence. We were very cordially received. Hearing of a little lake seen by Mr. Pier in the vicinity, I resolved to visit it, and so the next morning I started with Albert Kendall, a brother of Mrs. Pier. We found the lake and walked clear around it, returning to Mr. Pier's house by noon. The lake was charming in its quiet beauty; its placid face reflected the surrounding woods which bent down over it as if endeavoring to kiss the waves. I was quite charmed by the scene and resolved that Uncle Sam and myself would have a trade about that lake. This was consummated on the 17th of May by my pur¬ chasing the lake and all the land around it, and also the quarter section in the town of Fond du Lac now owned by James Wright, being something over five hundred acres.

"Permit me here to correct, for perhaps the hundredth time, a mistake which, the more it is contradicted the more it seems to gain currency, viz : that I pur¬ chased that lake believing it to be a marsh. From that I have just said, my hear¬ ers will certainly know how utterly impossible it was for me to have made such a mistake. I presume that the report originated from the fact that when I arrived at Green Bay to buy the tract, I found that the government surveyor who had surveyed the lake in the winter had failed to perform his duty and had found it more convenient to report it as a marsh than to ascertain its nature and meander it as he should have done. The officers in the land office had no dis¬ cretionary powers in the premises and I had to pay for the lake which the parti¬ ality of my neighbors had named after me, or to go without it. But I do not regret my action. The lake is well worth all I had to pay for it.

"The next day I went back to my bark canoe, taking back Mrs. Stanley to Oshkosh, well pleased with her visit. At Grand Chute, now Appleton, I enjoyed the splendid excitement, not free from danger, of shooting down the fall, some seven feet almost perpendicular, and of admiring the skill with which the guides avoided the rocks in the rapids below, the contact of which would have been instant death.

"A few days later, having completed my purchase and procured some neces¬ sary articles, I took advantage of the company of a body of troops marching from Green Bay to Fort Winnebago, now Portage. Captain Marryatt, the hu¬ morous novelist, was one of the party. We were together much of the time shoot¬ ing pigeons and partridges, while the soldiers were engaged in cutting and repair¬ ing the military road. The Captain was on his way to St. Louis, with the inten¬ tion of visiting the western plains to the Rocky Mountains, and invited me to accompany him at his expense. 1 thankfully but firmly declined the offer, hav¬ ing traced out a different line. After all, Captain Marryatt never visited the west¬ ern plains, being recalled home sooner than he had expected.

"And now commenced for me the hardships incident to a new settlement in a wild country - hardships of such a discouraging nature that when 1 look back upon those early days, 1 often wonder how I could have withstood them, why I did not run away from my purchase and go back to a civilized country, where 1 could earn my living in a far easier way. But Horace was probably not the first who observed that man is so constituted that he is rarely satisfied with the condition in which he finds himself and is seduced mostly by what he does not possess. That is what ailed Robinson Crusoe and many others, besides myself. I had been for a few years past following the profession of a teacher of the French language, for which I was tolerably well qualified; but my perverse nature and desires would lead me to become a tiller of the soil, for which I was not qualified at all, and, let me add, probably never can be, for farming is in the main composed of two things ; a very moderate amount of theory and a very large amount of practice. After a while things began to look very discouraging. There was a large amount of things to be done, such as clearing, fencing, build¬ ing, etc. and an equally large amount of nothing to do them with. My pile never very large, grew smaller by degrees, and I soon found the bottom of it.

"At the time I erected my log house, in May, 1838, there were four others in the county, those of Colwert Pier, of Edward Pier, the old Fond du Lac House and that of Luke Laborde, mine being the fifth and the only one of them still left standing. Dr. Darling, who had originally settled at Sheboygan, came to Fond du Lac about- the time I did, but did not build his log house, long since removed and whose place is now occupied by Darling's block, until the fall following.

"That year a few families settled in the county, among whom I remember particularly Calvin Pier, his wife and such members of his family as were not already here; also Joseph Olmsted, his son-in-law; Mr. Wilcox settled at Waupun. A. D. Clark was erecting a sawmill on the school section. Two brothers by the name of Palmer were staying with John Bannister, Frank McCarty and and Reuben Simmons moved to Taycheedah with large families, in the early spring of 1839. John T. Denniston and family lived with me. Among the early settlers I remember, besides those named above, Patrick Kelly, William Stewart, Alonzo Raymond, John Case, Samuel Wilkinson, William Hayes, Har¬ vey Peck, (later of La Crosse), William Lalondre, Raphael St. Mary and Brouillard, Joseph and Frank King, William Parsons, Samuel Butler, John Trelevan and his three brothers - Joseph, Daniel and Thomas, George W. Elliott, B. F. Smith, Mr. Perry (father of two bankers of Fond du Lac), D. C. Brooks, Charles, Juba and Erastus Olmsted, General Ruggles, Joseph Clark, who, if I mistake not, were all here by or near 1842. In the fall of 1841 Joseph L. Moore started a store at Taycheedah, and Frank Moore, his relative, came with him. It was a great convenience for the people to have a store where they could procure necessaries. Moses Gibson started a store upon Main street of Fond du Lac, about the same time, and Messrs. Clock and Weikert also opened one in the old Fond du Lac log house.

to one. They were generally friendly, bringing venison and other game and wild honey and skins for sale or exchange, but sometimes they would kill hogs that they never paid for and had a way of setting the woods on fire while hunt¬ ing deer, burning up fences and pastures.

" In 1840 John Bannister took the United States census and I think the num¬ ber of whites of all ages was 139, all told, in Fond du Lac county.

"In 1843 Colonel H. Conklin moved with his family to the farm now owned by Lyman Phillips. Governor Tallmadge also came along about that time and the ledge in Empire and Eden was rapidly settled by David Lyons, John and Henry Westervelt, Germond, Shoemaker, Mayhew, Sweet, Hatch, Vincent and many other gentlemen, who came principally from Dutchess county, New York, a valuable accession to the county.

"Before 1841 the settlers received all their goods and furniture from Green Bay by way of the Fox river and Lake Winnebago. They were brought up in Durham boats, carrying eight or ten tons and propelled up the rapids by a crew of ten or twelve men, the price charged being $1 per hundred pounds. The boats belonged to a company with the high sounding name of Fox River Trans¬ portation Company. Considering the laborious process of propelling the boats up the rapids and making several portages, the price was certainly reasonable, although when added to Green Bay prices it made commodities very dear to people who had hardly any means of raising money.

"The settlers generally brought with them clothing enough to last a year or two, but in spite of all the good wife could do in the way of mending and patch¬ ing, it could not last forever. Everything is perishable in this world and some¬ how clothes have a wicked way of being most perishable of all. After awhile the original garments would not bear the patches. What was to be done? Good looks will hardly pay for a new suit, especially in a country where there are no stores. So it came to pass that the settlers bought from the Indians buckskin coats, without being too particular about their being second hand articles and smelling smoky. Almost every one of the early settlers sported his Indian coat in those days, and I must confess that they were quite light and comfortable, but they looked neither dandy nor dignified. Even the grave old doctor who founded the city of Fond du Lac wore one of the things at times and I must say that he did not look like a learned doctor at all. But still he looked some¬ what like an Indian doctor. The Indians called him Mushkiki-enini, the medicine man.

"The pants were often made of buckskin also ; more frequently the tattered garment was faced with buckskin over the front, which operation gave it a longer lease of life and usefulness, and, like charity, threw a mantle over many failings. Could you now see those courageous and worthy men, many of whom have reached their last resting places, leaving honored names and good deeds behind them, file down Main street on a busy day, it would no doubt provoke a smile, but with them it was the result of sheer necessity.

"What about their fare? Milk and butter they had in abundance and also pork and excellent potatoes. They had enough of coarse food, but as you know, variety is the spice of life, and to eat constantly pork and potatoes and beans is apt to become monotonous in the end. George W. Featherstonehaugh, of Calumet, said that he had fed so constantly on pork that he could not look a hog in the face without feeling guilty of blushing. Tea and coffee were quite scarce articles, as well as sugar, and were not used freely, although a little was kept for company. The country was ransacked for substitutes. Even such ar¬ ticles as wheat, barley, peas, beans, dandelion roots, crust coffee and many other substitutes, were resorted to and decorated with the names of tea and coffee, but when you came to taste, especially without sugar, the fraud was too palpable and would not go down in spite of all assurances that the drink was very healthy indeed, far more so than the real articles, which, as everybody knows, are noto¬ riously injurious to the system. 1 drank water mostly in those days.

"The mail carrier had to do many errands for the settlers, buying for them in Green Bay such light articles as tea or tobacco, and he was therefore a very popular character with the settlers. But, after all, the greatest dependence in emergencies, and the one most practiced, was borrowing. Every family knew pretty accurately the condition of the neighbors' flour or pork barrel and supply of groceries. In case of sudden emergencies, some youngster was dispatched to the neighbor with compliments and the request of the loan of a cupful of tea or some sugar, a few pounds of pork or a panful or two of flour for a few days. Those few days were often protracted into weeks, but the borrower was seldom called upon to return the loan until the lender herself found her own provi¬ sions exhausted, when frequently both parties had to wait together for better times and more propitious skies.

"After the establishment of stores the practice became less general. Yet, in spite of these many privations, the settlers had many happy days. The posi¬ tions in which they were placed made them more dependent on one another than now, and they were consequently excellent neighbors and always ready to assist each other, whether for a raising or a logging bee; there was, I think, a greater cordiality. Often they would start in the morning, with the old sled drawn by the yoke of oxen, and visit a neighbor perhaps three or four miles away and make a day of it, returning in time to do the chores and the milking, after en¬ joying their visit far more than our fashionable calls are now enjoyed. At those visits, each party told all its news and talked over its plans for the future. Party politics were entirely ignored in those days and the offices were bestowed upon the best man. There was also an inexpressible charm about the deep soli¬ tudes of the smiling prairies, dotted with beautifully variegated flowers. Deli¬ cious wild strawberries were so plentiful in places that one could hardly take a step without crushing some. The country was a veritable paradise for those who were fond of shooting, and many times I have got in two or three hours as many prairie chickens and pigeons as I could carry ; so that the people of the house declared they would throw them away unless I would do my share of the picking. The fish and waterfowl were equally abundant.

"This county has now attained a large population and considerable wealth. The original one hundred and thirty-nine of 1840 have grown into more than 50,000 in 1875. The poor early settlers are now living either in affluence, or at least, in ease and comfort. Their days of hardships, privations and toil have passed away and they can now sit under their own vine and fig tree to enjoy the repose they have so richly earned. Wealth has increased at a greater ratio than population. Good dwellings have taken the place of the old log cabin, refinement has succeeded cramped poverty. Fine turn-outs and good roads have replaced the sled and the ox team and the Indian trail. Schoolhouses, some of them elegant structures, dot the land. This is as it should be and with you I rejoice that it is so. But are we not running from one extreme to an¬ other? Are we not living a little too fast? Are our cakes and pies and pud¬ dings, our ice creams and sweetmeats and dainty fare generally as conducive to health and bodily vigor as the coarser food of former days? Do we take sufficient bodily exercise? Vigorous exercise creates a vigorous appetite for strong, solid food; a lack of it leads to dyspepsia and pallid cheeks, to a want of desire for food ; the appetite has to be coaxed with dainty delicacies and con¬ diments which are injurious to the system. Late hours aggravate the evil. Please think a little on these things ; they deserve the consideration of all. Re¬ member that there is neither happiness nor beauty without health.

"I would especially say a word of advice to those who are tempted to run in debt for the acquisition of perishable articles of luxury. The day of reckon¬ ing must come and embitter the enjoyment. Debt, in itself an evil under any circumstances, is only tolerable when contracted for purposes of legitimate production, the acquirement of imperishable real estate or articles of necessity, never for the gratification of luxurious living or ostentation. Better wait a year or two and get what you wish when you have the money to pay with.

"The periodical recurrence of commercial revulsions is always traceable, in a greater or lesser degree, to the prevalence of extravagant living and display and consequent debt in the community. Failures are simply impossibilities with those who owe nothing. A man who is largely in debt is like Damocles with a sword suspended by a thread over his head. He does not know when the sword is coming down; he is in constant dread and consequently cannot be happy. Micawber is right; let us live within our means and display nothing but what is our own - what we have paid for.

"A little reflection will enable you to understand how slow the improvement of the county must have been in the early times of its settlement. Nature had done much, it is true ; the climate was healthful, although the winters were cold, the soil was as fertile as could be wished, prairies were inviting and only re¬ quired to be turned over to produce abundantly; but everything had to be done, and there was not even a blacksmith shop or a mill within twenty miles. We frequently ground wheat, or parched corn in our coffee mills, If an ax or hoe was lost or broken we had to procure others from Green Bay, sixty miles dis¬ tant, a journey of three or four days on horseback, the roads being impassable for wagons on account of the deep mud holes ; nor do I think that there was a lumber wagon in the settlement or a good span of horses. Hauling was mostly done with oxen with a sled or a cart.

"Our mails were brought to us on the back of an Indian pony every Friday evening. John Bannister was the postmaster at the old Fond du Lac log house. On that day I usually left my place about five o'clock in the afternoon and walked down six miles to get my mail. But I never went without my dog and my trusty double barrel. Sometimes on my return, between ten and eleven at night, it was so dark that I could not see my way. I had to feel the old Indian trail, which was worn some six inches below the adjoining level, and if I stepped out of that trail I knew it instantly. I occasionally saw glaring eyes apparently looking at me as I walked along, but was never attacked.

"The mail carrier was a French boy of seventeen or eighteen, called Nareisse Baudoin. Upon one occasion, having left the mail bag with Mr. Ban¬ nister. he jumped on his pony to go and spend the night as usual with Laborde, three miles distant. When about half a mile from the house, he was suddenly attacked by a pack of wolves, which bit his nag very badly as well as his own legs, and did not relinquish their purpose until he reached the house and people came to his help with lights. If he had had much farther to go, he would have been inevitably devoured by the ferocious brutes.

"Improvement, 1 repeat, was slow. How could it be otherwise? How far could fifty pairs of arms go toward improving this great county or developing its resources? You need not be told that all improvements are the results of human labor and capital. The labor means men to perform it, and they were not here; the capital, if we except a few tools, house furniture and provisions, was totally wanting. There was not a man who could show $200 in cash, and very few who had even $10. That was the time of wild-cat money. The banks of Michigan had all failed or suspended. There was one bank at Mineral Point which was good. There was also one bank at Green Bay, called the Bank of Wisconsin. In January, 1840, the cashier and teller took the assets of the bank and started in a double sleigh for Detroit. They were pursued and overtaken by some Green Bay people, and surrendered some of the wild-cat money, but it did not make much difference, for the money was good for nothing. Probably what the Waupun man took along with him was better money."