Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 9: Grant County's Distinguished Dead, 1900

Chapter 9: Grant County's Distinguished Dead

These biographical sketches are intended to give the reader as fair an idea of the men they describe as the editor is able to give. They are designed as impartial history, and not as eulogies or obituaries, in which the ancient rule, De mortuis nil nisi bonum (of the dead noth¬ ing unless good) is imperative.

James Gates Percival

Grant County had the honor of having for one of its residents one of the profoundest scholars America has produced and one of its most gifted geniuses as well, whose reputation was coextensive with the civilized world.

Percival was bom in Kensington, Conn.,, Sept. 15, 1795. His an¬ cestors were early settlers of the colony. At the age of sixteen he en¬ tered Yale College, where his talents attracted the attention of Presi¬ dent Dwight. He was graduated in 1815, and for several years after that was engaged in literary pursuits and a part of the time as teacher. His first volume of poems was published in 1820 and was well received. In 1823 he received his degree as M. D., but did not practice, except a short time while in the military service as assistant surgeon at West Point and Boston. In 1827 he published another volume of verses. From 1827 to 1829 he was engaged in assisting in the preparation of Webster9 s Dictionary , a place for which his great philological attainments peculiarly fitted him ; but for some reason his supervision was not continued beyond the first two or three letters of the alphabet. In 1835 he was appointed by the Governor of Con¬ necticut to make a geological survey of that State. His report of the survey appeared in 1842, showing that his work was of a very de¬ tailed and careful character.

Green. In 1854 he was appointed State Geologist of Wisconsin. He was engaged in this survey up to the time of the illness which termi¬ nated in his death, which occurred May 2, 1856, at the residence of his friend, Dr. J. L. Jenckes, at Hazel Green. His advanced age and his naturally delicate constitution rendered the exposures and fatigues of a geological survey too much to be endured.

As a linguist Dr. Percival had few equals in America - perhaps none except Dr. Webster. He had a critical knowledge of most of the languages of Europe. Among his published poems are translations from the German, Spanish, and Italian, and also from such languages as Russian and Magyar. When Ole Bull visited New Haven in 1844, Percival addressed him a poem in Danish. He wrote two or three songs, probably his latest compositions, in German, which were pub¬ lished in the Staats Zeitung at Madison. As a poet Percival has writ¬ ten some things the world will long keep alive. His fancy was vivid but delicate. He rarely revised what he had written, believing that a poet should trust to his first inspirations.

In person he was somewhat below the medium hight and slight and frail, pale of countenance, with large blue eyes, beneath a broad, high forehead. In dress he was plain to eccentricity. His usual suit was of " Hard-times," often the worse for wear, with an old linen cap once glazed, but from which the glazing had mostly disappeared. A stranger meeting him would have thought him an old farmer in poor circumstances. He was called by the miners "Old Stone-breaker."

He was extraordinarily, even morbidly reserved. He was- vety sensitive and shrank from society as from a pestilence. His house in New Haven, Conn., had no entrance except one in the rear. He lived in cities as secluded and cut off from human fellowship as a hermit in the wilderness. A lady to whom he was giving instruction in French and Latin once persuaded him to attend a party given in honor of her birthday. He got as far as the entrance hall, gazed wildly around upon the gay assemblage for a moment with his large blue eyes star¬ ing in trepidation, and then turned and fled. It is supposed, and there are hints of it in his verse, that some crushed affection of his youth turned the current of his life from sunny social and domestic pleasures into the cold and solitary region of purely intellectual pursuits, where, with no companions but books and the works of nature, his stream of life flowed on solitary and sad, but serene, gentle, and uncomplain¬ ing, until it was lost in the sea of death.

"To the casual observer Percival possessed no particular attrac¬ tions, but from those who knew him as the poet and scholar he re¬ ceived proper attention. He had some peculiarities of character that were difficult of solution and were sometimes the object of severe com¬ ment from strangers.

"Heemered upon his new field of labor in the mines with much zeal and pleasure which seemed to increase with the prosecution of his re¬ searches, whether viewing the rocky bluff of a stream or examining the debris from some mineral' range, with the view of deducing some facts connected with industrial science for the benefit of mining. His ardor and earnestness in the discharge of his duties were intense and hardly ever until the fading hours admonished him the day for toil was ended would he turn his steps homeward. This unflagging devo¬ tion to the love of work and the consequent exposure therefrom, prob¬ ably was the leading cause of his last illness. However eccentric or forbidding Dr. Percival appeared to outside observers, in the private social circle he was full of cheer and mirth, his utterances often spark¬ ling with wit and wisdom.

"There were occasional intervals of a few days that an unpleas¬ ant restraint seemed to rest upon him - probably produced bv ill health - at other times his intellectual powers would, apparently, ex¬ ercise free scope in the domain of thought ; then (if he felt communica¬ tive), to sit in his presence and 'drink at the fountain' was an inspir¬ ing pleasure that few men have ever been able to impart. The True and Beautiful were real existences with him. Nothing short of a clear and correct knowledge of everything worthy of investigation would satisfy him.

"Whether botanizing a flower or placing a piece of rock in its prop¬ er geological order, the utmost care and accuracy were exercised. Neither were his intellectual greatness and power confined to geology and poetry, but embraced a variety of subjects. We relate the follow¬ ing incident as an illustration: During the earlier years of Thos. H. Benton's Senatorial career, while addressing the Senate upon a meas¬ ure of importance, he eloquently portrayed the future of his country, predicting that at no very remote time a railroad would span the con¬ tinent, built as a necessity for the wants of the millions yet to people the vast area west of the Mississippi. Upon reading that speech Per- cival (at his home in New Haven) opened a drawer and took there¬ from a previously written article upon the feasibility of a highway across the Rocky Mountains, and the duty of the Government to con¬ struct it, expressing the strongest conviction that the topography of the country was feasible for a railroad that would ere long be needed to facilitate the commerce of the country. He at once forwarded the document to the Missouri Senator, who, after reading it, arose in the Senate and paid Percival a handsome compliment, at the same time asking permission to have it read to the Senate, which was granted; but in those days even Senators deemed such projects Utopian, vis¬ ionary.

"PercivaFs knowledge of the geography and topography of the country was characterized by the same thoroughness that entered into other fields of study and research.

"It is a matter of fact, recorded in his biography, we think, that he wrote no poetry for a number of years previous to coming west. But the Muse had not departed - was only held in reserve - as the fol¬ lowing incident will testify. While surveying the mining land near Sinsinawa Mound for the American Mining Co., in the year 1853, Percivial was lodging for the time at one of the early built hotels in Fairplay in which the sleeping apartments were partitioned with boards with a narrow hall extending the entire length of the building. In those days the boarders, mostly miners, were not governed by any rules of custom for time of repose, but were in the habit of wending their way up the staircase and along the dark hall at all hours of the night. The noise was quite annoying to the Doctor. Wishing in some way to enter his protest against such disorder and confusion, he took a pencil and slip of paper from his pocket and while waiting for breakfast wrote a caustic poem in Greek which, during the day, he read to two or three of his friends, also its translation in English. While not very severe on the landlord, the house and boarders were neatly 'done up.' Another anecdote illustrating his character: after writing a preliminary report of his survey of the Hazel Green Lead Mines to the President of the American Mining Company, he submitted it through the general agent of said company, William Warner, Esq. Mr. W., who was a highly educated gentlemen, suggested a change of a single word, substituting another that he deemed the better. Percival insisted upon the correctness of the word as he had used it. Remonstrance proved unavailing. The definitions of words and their

"We have thus very briefly sketched some points in the history of the declining years of one of the gifted men of our country. His name will ever live associated with the noble and learned in science and let¬ ters. His remains peacefully rest in the spot of his own selection. As a fitting tribute to his memory, as a duty in harmony with the spirit of the age in which we live showing to generations that follow our ap¬ preciation of one who, though dead to earth, will ever live in the liter¬ ature and science of the age, may the desire of his many friends to see a suitable tablet placed over his grave terminate in successful effort. "

The Galena Gazette stated that Percival literally starved himself to death, under the false impression that he had been bitten by a mad dog. Dr. Jenekes, at whose house he was, knowing his weakness, kept medical publications away from him as much as possible, One day, however, Percival got hold of a medical quarterly and there read the report of a case of hydrophobia. Several weeks previous to this he had been bitten by a dog, but no one, not even himself, thought the dog mad. But on reading the report* Percival imagined he felt symp¬ toms of hydrophobia. From that time until he died he refused to take liquid for fear it would throw him into convulsions. His mind could not be disabused of this delusion, and in a few days he died, it is thought more from dread and want of water than from disease.

His sensitiveness was morbid and anyone who attemped to do him a favor or help him in any way was apt to repel and offend him by the effort. His conscientiousness was also morbid. When very much in need of money he refused to accept his salary as State Geolo¬ gist because he had been sick and could not finish his report.

Nelson Dewey

Perhaps the best sketch of the life of this once prominent citizen of Grant County that can be given is his autobiography, which was given by his executor for publication in The Teller of October 24, 1889, as follows :

"I was born in Lebanon, State of Connecticut, December 19, 1813. When about six months old my father and mother moved from there to Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York. When I was four and one-half years old my father took me back to Lebanon, Conn., and I lived with my grandparents in that place until I was nearly eight years old. In the meantime, my parents left Cooperstown and set¬ tled in the village of Louisville, in the town of Butternut (now Mor¬ ris) in Otsego County. In 1821 I was brought home to my parents in Louisville, until I left for Wisconsin in 1836.

"Outside of a common school education, I was educated at Ham¬ ilton Academy, a non-sectarian school at Hamilton, Madison County, New York. I attended that school, commencing in the spring of 1830 and continuing until the close of the school year 1832. Among my class and schoolmates at that school were William Pitt Lynde, late of Milwaukee; Prof. John W. Sterling, of the State University; and Harlow S. Orton, now one of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

"After completing my education at the above school (which has long since been abandoned as an academy), I taught school one year in Butternut, now Morris, and read law more or less with my father, whose profession was law, and with James W. Davis and Nicholas Hansen, lawyers of Louisville.

" In the fall of 1835 I went to read law in Cooperstown in the office of Samuel S. Bowen. This Bowen was elected to Congress in Otsego County in 1840, as a Democrat. He supported Tyler's admin¬ istration in 1841, in 1842, and 1843. In 1843 he was appointed by Tyler register of the land office at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and qualfied as such. He not liking the situation, very soon resigned, and re¬ turned to New York.

"On the 12th of May, 1836, I left reading law with Bowen in Cooperstown, and my home in Louisville, and started for Cassville, Wisconsin. That place was then in Michigan, the territory of Wis¬ consin not being organized until July 4, 1836. I traveled by stage to Buffalo, on the steamer Michigan to Detroit, and by stage to School¬ craft or Round Prairie, in Michigan. There I stopped with Simon I. Daniels three weeks or more, under whose advice and protegeship I came to Wisconsin. Thence I went in a lumber wagon to the mouth of St. Joseph River, thence by a sail vessel to Chicago, and thence by stage to Galena, arriving there on the 19th day of June, 1836. From there I went to Dubuque by steamer, and thence on horseback with Joseph Hogue to the mouth of Panther's Creek, now Buena Vista, and thence on foot around the foot of the bluff to the mouth of Turkey River and across the Mississippi to Cassville. We were ferried across the Mississippi River in a flat-boat by William Walker, who ran the ferry, and stopped at the hotel then kept by Capt. James B. Estes and Robert R. Read. The night before we reached Cassville we camped out in the woods and rain, having missed the Indian trail which was the road from Dubuque to Turkey River.

I filled the position of clerk and bookkeeper for Daniels, Denniston, & Co., the proprietors of Cassville, in 1836 and 1837, till the close of the spring of that year.

"In the spring of 1837 I ceased to work for Daniels, Denniston & Co., and Grant County being organized, March 4, 1837, an election was held for county officers, at which I was elected the first register of deeds of Grant County. In the summer of 1837 I was appointed a justice of the peace of Grant County by Gov. Henry Dodge. In No¬ vember, 1837, 1 moved the office of register of deeds and myself from Cassville to Lancaster, and lived there until the spring of 1855, when I moved back to Cassville.

"In February, 1838, a high-handed murder was committed in the grocery kept by Owen McLaughlin at the head of Snake Hollow, as it was then called - now Potosi - which grocery was entered in the even¬ ing by three men named Linsey Evans, Jacob Derrick, and William Colley. When they left, one of them, supposed to be Linsey Evans, having a cloak, after taking a drink in the grocery, turned and shot one Jim Crow, as he was then called, and killed him.

[The long account of this murder and its sequel which follows is here omitted, except such part as Mr. Dewey took in the trial, and will be found in Chapter V, Part V.]

" J. Allen Barber, who had settled at Lancaster in September pre¬ vious as a lawyer, was employed by the people to prosecute them, there being no district attorney then. He applied to me for a warrant for their arrest, and on his affidavit I issued one which was placed in the hands of Harvey Pepper, the Sheriff, for service. He arrested them and brought them before me. In such cases the law then required that the examination must be held by two justices of the peace, and I called in to sit with me in the examination James Bonham, a justice of the peace of Grant County. We found them guilty of murder in the killing of Jim Crow.

" The offense not being bailable, and there being no jail in Grant County, we committed them to the common jail of Crawford County to answer to the charge of murder to the grand jury of Grant County, at the next term of the district court of Grant County.

"Soon after, the friends of the murderers obtained a writ of habeas corpus from Judge Dunn, and they were brought before him, and on new testimony introduced by them they were admitted to bail. Their lawyers before myself and Bonham, and in the habeas corpus case be¬ fore Judge Dunn, were Thomas P. Burnett and Thomas S. Wilson, now living in Dubuque, and one David T. Anderson, then of Snake Hollow.

"In 1838 I was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the Territorial Legislative Assembly, that first met at Madison in November, 1838. In 1840 I was elected Speaker of the House. In 1840 I was reelected to the House for two years. In 1842 I was elected to the Legislative Council for four years, and was president of the Council one session. I was clerk of the Board of Supervisors one or two years in the 40's, and also district attorney one year, or a part of a year in the 40's.

"In 1845 Henry L. Massey, James E. Freeman (the latter now living in California), and myself, were appointed commissioners to survey, lay out into lots, and sell the Section No. 34, Town 3, Range 3 west, now Potosi, which section was granted by Congress to the territory to aid in digging a canal from the Mississippi River to Grant River slough, opposite or near the mouth of Snake Hollow, now La- Fayette, which duty we performed. James F. Chapman, under the authority of the Legislature, expended the money in partially digging the canal.

"In 1848, myself, Clovis A. LaGrave, and a gentleman whose name I do not recollect, were appointed commissioners to survey into lots and settle claims of preemptors for lots of 200 acres of land com¬ prising the present village of Beetown, which was granted by Con¬ gress as a town-site. We performed that duty.

"In early May, 1848, I was elected as a Democrat the first Gov¬ ernor of the State of Wisconsin, under the present constitution, and qualified June 5, 1848, at Madison. In 1849 I was reelected, and served as the first Governor during the years 1849, 1850, and 1851. In 1853 I was elected State Senator from Grant County by three major¬ ity over Orsamus Cole, the Whig candidate, and now the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. While living in Lancaster I was the director of the school board of that district and built the first school-house in that village. I was one year chairman of the Town Board of Supervisors, and was also the same year chairman of the County Board of Supervisors.

" In the spring of 1855 I moved back to Cassville, lived there three years, and then, in 1858 moved to Platteville, and lived there five years. While living in Platteville I was director of the School Board of the north district several 3 ears, and while such director the brick school-house was built. I was also president of the Village Board of Trustees three years, during which time the calaboose was built, and saloons were ordered closed at 10 of the clock p. m. and to be kept closed on Sunday, which is the law there now; and hogs were stopped from running at large.

"In the '50s and '60s I was several years a member of the Board of Regents of the State University. I was candidate for Lieutenant- Governor on the Democratic ticket with Henr\' L. Palmer as the can¬ didate for Governor; but we were badly beaten by Gov. Lewis, the Republican candidate. This was, I think, in 1863. In the spring of 1863 I moved back to Cassville and have lived in Cassville since that time, and had my home there, although mv family have lived in Madi¬ son a part of the time. In 1869 I was a candidate for the State Sen¬ ate, and was beaten bv George C. Hazelton. I was also a candidate for the State Senate against Noah H. Virgin, when he was a Republi¬ can, and I was beaten. I think that was in 1871.

" After moving back to Cassville I was for several years a director of the Cassville School District No. 1, during which time the second brick school-house, adjoining the one previously built, was built. On my return to Cassville in 1863 I was elected chairman of the Town Board of Supervisors, and hetd the office for seven years in succession. In 1875 I was appointed bv Gov. Ta\dor one of the Board of Direc¬ tors of the State Prison at Waupun; reappointed by Gov. Smith in 1880, and held that office until the Board of Directors was abolished and the Board of Supervision of the State Institutions was established in the early summer of 1881.

"I have always taken a moderate interest in politics as a Demo¬ crat, and attended as a delegate ver\r many county and State Demo¬ cratic conventions. I was a delegate to the Democratic National con¬ ventions when Pierce, Buchanan, Seymour and Greeley were nomnated."

To this cold, bare outline, perhaps it is well to add the glowing and eloquent eulogy spoken by Hon. S. U. Pinnev at his grave, upon the request of the local committee: one long and prominently identified with public affairs, has passed away. Standing by his open grave, I think it is not too much to say that at the time of his death he occupied the most interesting position, and was the foremost figure among the public men of the State.

"Coming to the territory of Wisconsin immediately upon its or¬ ganization, he became at once prominent in public affairs ; a member at different times of both branches of the legislature ; and so strongly and so favorably had he impressed himself by his public career upon the people, and upon public affairs, that he was chosen the first gov¬ ernor of Wisconsin upon its admission into the Union. Upon him in a very' large and important degree was devolved the onerous duty of or¬ ganizing the administrative and executive departments of the new government. With what skill and ability, with what rare judgment and discretion he discharged the delicate and responsible duties of his high office, is well known to all familiar with those events, and was attested by the successful and harmonious operation of the newly or¬ ganized government. Asa governor he was our strong, our tried and trusted chief ; he bore aloft with sturdy and faithful hand the standard of the State, and maintained, without tarnish or stain, its honor and and dignity.

"Governor Dewey belonged to the sterling and hardy' band of western pioneers, and in Wisconsin, was with the foremost among them. But they are fast passing away from the scenes of their labor and usefulness. It was his privilege, with them, to witness, during the last fifty years, a growth and development in Wisconsin similar to that in adjoining States, the like whereof in all probability, the an¬ nals of civilization do not afford a parallel. He was conspicuous and particularly prominent in laying wide and deep the foundations of our civil institutions, and in organizing the State upon its change from territorial to State existence. He had very much to do with shaping its early policy and in starting it upon its subsequent happy and pros¬ perous career.

"The sparsely populated settlements that then existed within our borders soon expanded, coalesced, and developed into a rich, prosper¬ ous, and powerful State, and its progress in material wealth and gen¬ eral prosperity has exceeded the most sanguine expectation.

"Under circumstances such as these the deceased lived a long, use¬ ful, and eventful life, occupying a high position of honor and public trust, and in all of them he acquitted himself most honorably, leaving a public record of duty honestly, unostentatiously, and faithfully per¬ formed. Military heroes and conquerors often achieve an enduring reputation and a wide renown, and at times find their way through slaughter to the throne; but peace has her victories, far more benefcent and blessed than those of war, and those to whom it is permit¬ ted to lay, upon a firm and enduring basis, the foundation of states and nations, and to develop civil institutions, to educate the people, guard their rights, and promote their welfare, attain to the highest and most beneficent triumphs accorded to human efforts. And in his day and generation, for more than half a century, in the State of his adop¬ tion, Governor Dewey bore in this regard, right well, a high and hon¬ orable part.

"He was a man of vigorous intellect, of marked individuality, with traits of character and a nature calculated to exercise and main¬ tain a strong influence among men. Gifted with a clever intelligence, sound judgment, and firmness of purpose, he needed no prompting to the performance of the full measure of duty. The sturdy simplicitj' and rugged integrity of his nature commanded confidence and respect. The common people understood and appreciated him. He was firm and abiding in his friendships, and a man of such positive and decided character that he was always influential among his fellow-citizens and the prominent men of the State. These characteristics rendered the strict performance of official duty comparatively easy, and sus¬ tained him where others would have hesitated or failed.

" The record of his life and public services is interwoven with the history of the State. There is no need, therefore, of massive monu¬ ment of granite, or polished shaft of marble, to keep alive in the mem¬ ory of our people his name, character and public services. His monu¬ ment, like that of his contemporaries of the early pioneers, is the result of their labors. We have but to look around us and observe them; and see what they have builded and developed, so wisely and so well ; to look around upon the material wealth and prosperity of a great and populous State, upon a happy, intelligent and law-abiding people.

44 In the midst of such surroundings, after a long, busy, and useful life, at this most beautiful season of the year, when the land is blessed and covered with an abundant harvest, and filled with quiet freshness and beauty, what more appropriate occasion for the termination of such a career! Governor Nelson Dewey, full of years and earthly hon¬ ors, possessed with the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens,

But the autobiography and the eulogy combined fail to give an adequate knowledge of this peculiar and checkered life, so brilliant in its early manhood and so sad and obscure at and for many years be¬ fore its close.

Governor Dewey first came to public notice in Grant County, as its first register of deeds in 1837. In 1838 his courage and firmness in the notorious "Jim Crow" case, as justice of the peace, brought him favorably to the noticeof the peopleof the county. Entering thelower house of the territorial legislature in 1838, his ability was sufficiently recognized that he was elected Speaker in 1840. In 1842 he was a member of the upper house - the Council - and was chosen as its pre¬ siding officer. This was a fortunate position for him, as he was no orator and would not have been prominent upon the floor, but in the chair his executive ability and his firmness and impartiality made him conspicuous.

After this term in the Council he held no offices for a few years. His autobiography is in error in stating that he was district attorney "one year, or a part of a year in the forties." The records show that it was in 1838.

While Wisconsin was a territory the parties were not organized and party lines were not usually drawn in elections, but in 1847, when Wisconsin was about to be admitted as a State, the parties were organized. Mr. Dewey threw himself into the work of organiz¬ ing the Democratic party in the embryo State with energy, and his organizing capacity was so well recognized and his executive ability as Speaker of the lower house and President of the Council so well re¬ membered, that he was made Democratic candidate for the first Gov¬ ernor of the State, and as the State had a decided Democratic major¬ ity, he was elected. In 1849 he was reelected for a second term. Thus before he was thirty-five years old he reached the zenith of his career and attained the highest place in his adopted State. From this high point his political fortunes suddenly declined. His party soon afterward went into a minority in the State, and from its sympathy, real or supposed, with the Rebel wing of the party, became odious to a large majority of the people of the State and Grant County in partic¬ ular. While his party was at this low ebb, he was given the profitless honor and thankless and hopeless task of being its candidate for sev- eral offices; but when the reaction of 1873 came, giving a brief lease of power to the Democratic party in the State and in Grant County, the old war-horse of the party was treated with scant honor, and even neglect; and when a Democratic nominee in Grant County was sup¬ posed to stand some chance of election, younger men came forward to grasp the honor of a nomination, and Dewey, a "wheel-horse" indeed, pulled at the load while others drove. Therefore the statement in Judge Pinney's eulogy : " At the time of his death he * * * was the foremost figure among the public men of the State," though good as eulogy, is bad as history.

Governor Dewev was never popular in his own county. His abil¬ ity was recognized and admired, and his integrity relied on; but he was no orator and he had none of that personal magnetism which makes friends of the most casual acquaintances, and which is so ne¬ cessary to a continuously successful political career. On the contrary, his reserve toward casual acquaintances was marked. He was not the man to carry his home district against a political majority. When he was elected for Governor in 1848, he not only failed to carry Grant County, but ran considerably behind the other Democratic candidates in the county, and it was the same in the gubernatorial election of 1849. In 1853 he received a majority of three votes over Orsamus Cole for State Senator, but the parties were then in a transition state and were so split up that it is impossible to compare Dewey's vote with that of other Democratic candidates.

But while Governor Dewe}r's political fortunes declined, his finan¬ cial affairs prospered and he became wealthy. In 1863 he went to Cassville to live for the second time, and used his ample means to re¬ vive the waning fortune of that once ambitious little town. A few miles above the village between the towering bluffs and the broad river he built a mansion that would have attracted attention even in a city, but in that lonely locality was little less than a marvel. He doubtless had the intention of making this a pleasant home for his old age and a heritage for his posterity. But these pleasant anticipa¬ tions were doomed to disappointment. He had, while a rising young politician and lawyer, married the beautiful and accomplished daugh¬ ter of Judge Charles Dunn, a lady well fitted to be the wife of the highest official in the State, but apparently not one that relished the lonely life of a farmer's wife under the shadows of the Missis¬ sippi bluffs. The Governor says : " My family have lived in Mad- ison a part of the time," and except for this one vague allusion, one would not know from the autobiography that he ever had a wife. He lived for a time a lonely life in the grand but isolated house, while his wife was in Madison or in Europe, and then even that home was taken from him, being destroyed by fire, and never rebuilt by him.

In the last years of his life fortune seemed to persecute him finan¬ cially as well as in politics and domestic affairs, and at last he died a lonely and disappointed man - lonely, although he had some warm and devoted friends.

He died in Cass ville, July 21, 1889, and was buried at Lancaster July 23. The funeral was attended by Governor Hoard, ex-Governor Taylor, Dr. Lyman C. Draper, General David Atwood, and other prominent men from Madison. The only relatives or members of his family who attended the funeral were his daughter, Mrs. Kate Cole, of St Louis, and his brother, W. P. Dewey, of Yankton., S. D.

Although Governor Dewey was a lawyer, and from the time he came to Lancaster in 1838 till he became Governor he was a member of the firm of Dewey & Barber, the most prominent law firm in the county, he practiced little if any after he was Governor. He had an extensive business, and as in his latter years he traveled over the county in his one-horse buggy, he was a familiar figure in his long black frock coat and old-fashioned collar and tie, surmounted with a heavy mass of iron-grav hair.

Joseph C. Cover

Joseph C. Cover was born at Smith ville, Fayette Co., Pa., Febru¬ ary 1, 1819. He is said to have inherited from his mother a strong love for books, his father being a lover of active out-door life and ad¬ venture, especially hunting. He came to Lancaster, Grant County, in April, 1846. For a time he obtained employment assisting the county officers in their work and in teaching school. Though his writings bear internal evidence that his facilities for obtaining a regu¬ lar school education were not good, yet his omnivorous reading had stored his naturally good memory with a great and varied fund of information. He was especially interested in politics, and being ready with the pen, it is very natural that he should seek to become an editor. Therefore he purchased the Grant County Herald in 1851. He had long been an ardent advocate of anti-slavery doctrines, was a member of the Liberty party and voted for the Abolition candidate for President, James G. Bimej' in 1844. His well-known anti-slavery sentiments at first caused a serious decline in the subscription list of his paper, but gradually, as anti-slavery sentiment grew in the countyf his paper became popular and prosperous. He also took great inter¬ est in agriculture and horticulture, and wrote much about them, not only in his paper, but in private letters. This served to increase his popularity among the farmers, who by 1860 had become the large majority of the citizens of the county, and the Herald became a " fire¬ side companion " in most of the households of the county.

The war came on and the cause Mr. Cover had so long cham¬ pioned became the cause of the great Union party of the countrj and he was recognized as its principal champion in the county, and stood high in the councils of his party in the State, and within the county he was almost a political dictator. But a change came. A new man appeared in the county and aspired to party leadership. He was young, audacious, energetic, and a brilliant orator, and far more than all the rest, he brought into play political tactics learned in the hardfought political battles of New York, and quite unknown in Old Grant. He was a political Napoleon pitted against old-style competitors. When this adventurer reached out his hand to wrest the leadership in the county from the old war-chieftains, Mr. Cover protested forcibly and threateningly, but when the deed was done, he, whose courage was thought to be equal to anything, and who had never quailed be¬ fore any man, seemed to decline the contest, and his pre-nomination thunders died away like those of a receding storm. He obtained a consulship to the Azores and left the count}'. His health was much broken and no doubt he hoped the mild climate of those semi-tropical islands, and a withdrawal from the harassing duties of an editor and publisher, would restore his waning health and vigor. But added to this was probably a strong unspoken reason. He foresaw more clear¬ ly than others the coming mastery by Hazeltonof the party machinery in the county, and the man who had till then been in the habit of speaking with high authority on all political matters could ill brook such a master as the young New York lawyer.

Somr months after his arrival at Fayal, the location of his con¬ sulate, beseemed to improve in health ; but he then declined. In June, 1872, he sailed in the bark Fredonia for Boston. He bore the first part of the voyage very well, but he suddenly sank, and on the fourth of July his soul took flight from that little vessel in the broad waste of the Atlantic.

Joel Allen Barber

Mr. Barber, the son of Joel and Aseneth Melvin Barber, was born at Georgia, Franklin County, Vermont, January 17, 1809. His great¬ grandfather was from England and settled at Canton, Conn. His mother was of Welsh descent and her father was a captain in the Revolutionary army, serving through the war. Mr. Barber worked on a farm till his eighteenth year when he entered the academy of his native town to prepare for college. He entered the University of Ver¬ mont in the summer of 1829, and left at the end of two years and a half. He read law with Hon. Geo. P. Marsh, of Burlington, Vt., and was admitted to the bar in Prince George's County, Md., in 1834, after teaching school there two years. He then returned to Vermont and practiced in Fairfield until 1837. In September of that year he came to Lancaster, Wisconsin, which had a few months before commenced its existence as a village and as the county seat. Here he practiced law the rest of his life. He speculated in land to some extent. He soon ac¬ quired a high standing as a criminal lawyer, and was honored with official trust. He was the first County Clerk of Grant County and held that office again in 1842; he was District Attorney for three terms; several years on the County Board and for five years its chairman ; member of the Wisconsin Assembly for three terms; State Senator, one term ; and a member of the Forty -second and Fortjrthird Congresses. As a legislator it is noted that he made few speeches, but was a great worker on committees.

Mr. Barber was a Whig as long as that party lived. His strong "Free-soil " tendencies naturally led him to join the Republican party, as soon as it began to rise in the place of the dying Whig party.

Mr. Barber died at his residence in Lancaster June 28, 1881, of peritonitis, after a short illness. His funeral took place June 28, and was largely attended. The pall-bearers were Judge M. M. Cothren, ex-Congressman Henry S. Magoon, Messrs. Wm. E. Carter and A. W. Bell, of Platteville, John G. Clark of Lancaster, and C. K. Dean, of Boscobel. Manifestations of wide-spread and general sorrow and tributes of esteem and admiration of the deceased appeared, not only in the local press, but in the periodicals of the State generally. A meeting of the Grant County Bar was held in Lancaster during the October term of the Circuit Court, 1881, and appropriate ceremonies in honor of its distinguished departed member were held.

" J. Allen Barber, at the time of his death, and many years before, had few equals in those qualities deemed essential in the institution of tfie highest manhood, or in the estate of the good and useful citizen. There may be truthfully added to the record already given [a sketch of his life from the U. S. Biographical Dictionary ], that although fre¬ quently honored with high political station, he had an intense dislike of all office-begging, and scrupulously avoided contaminating himself by this popular, and it is to be regretted, popular vice; that he was a friend and supporter of all rational public enterprises ; a free giver in charity, and as a creditor to worthy but unfortunate debtors, a marvel of indulgence.

"It may also be added that he possessed a rare attainment in an¬ cient and modern lore, and kept pace with all the developments of scientific research. He was a man who held his family endeared to him by the ties of affection, constancy, kindness, and liberality. We are able readily to understand how, by virtue of his correct personal hab¬ its, his professional honesty and ability, his love of liberty and regard for public justice, and his impatient hatred of every grade of mean¬ ness and corruption, he early won and lastingly held the esteem of all good citizens having knowledge of his virtues.

"One, to have seen him in his most noble carriage, had but to hear him in conversation among friends; or pleading at the bar; or. more conspicuously still, addressing a popular assembly on matters touching the rights of any oppressed person, however humble, or of masses of people, or touching the maintenance of the honor and integ¬ rity of the Union. Then the ordinarily hidden impulses of his nature would become strikingly manifest in his earnestness of speech and gesticulation, set off by the glow of his highly intellectual features."

But as this is a historical sketch, and not merely a eulogy, it may be added that, notwithstanding Mr. Barber's many and high virtues that commanded respect and trust, and his great talents and attain¬ ments that compelled admiration, he was not a very popular man. For one thing, he was too radical and too far in advance of the ma¬ jority, and did not cover this with any arts of cajolery or efforts to please. Of the nine members from Grant County to the first conven¬ tion to form a State Constitution, he received the lowest vote, being far surpassed by such men as James Gilmore and Franklin Z. Hicks; and the constitution he helped to form was very unpopular, especially in Grant County, and was rejected by the people, being too radical and in advance of the times, the people wanting no "experiments" in government. Mr. Barber was willing to try experiments where they reasonably promised good. His wit was sharp and caustic, and in an active career as attorney too many had felt the sting of his sarcasm. He was beaten as a candidate for District Attorney, in 1848 (although his party was in the majority) by W. R. Biddleeome, a man far his in¬ ferior in ability. But this, in view of Mr. Barber's eminent fitness for the office, and his high character, shows only that vote-getting is a poor measure of worth. Nor is success in getting and keeping control of a party machine any better measure, lor Mr. Barber, an old citizen, a staunch and leading Republican, of spotless character, could hardly hold his own in the county councils of his party with a newcome ad¬ venturer whose character was sharply questioned.

Joseph Trotter Mills

Judge Mills was born in Paris, Bourbon County, Kv., in 1811. His uncle, Benjamin Mills, was a judge and a man of great literary at¬ tainments, and he became Joseph's tutor as soon as the boy was old enough to study. When a small boy his father and mother went to Bond County, Ill., leaving him with his uncle, where he obtained an excellent education. He joined his parents in Illinois before he came of age and after remaining at home a short time, went to college at Jacksonville, not far from his home. Edward Beecher, brother of Henry Ward Beecher, was at that time president of the college. Rich¬ ard Yates the famous war governor and brilliant Senator of Illinois was his classmate.

While attending college he caught the miners' fever from stories of the wealth gained in the lead mines of northern Illinois. So he set out for the mines and spent a summer digging - a summer of severe and illpaid toil. This was probably in 1832, as he said that he saw Black Hawk a prisoner that fall. Returning to college, he remained there until he received, through the recommendation of the president of the college, an offer to become a tutor in the family of Col. Zachary Tavlor, commander of the post at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, and thither young Mills went. This must have been in 1834, as he stated in an address before the Old Settlers' Association of Prairie du Chien that he came up the river on a steamboat in that year (see p. 45).

While in the family of Col. Taylor he had the opportunity to see considerable of Jefferson Davis, afterward the famous Secession leader, then a lieutenant in the command of Col. Taylor and a suitor of Tay-

In a few years }'oung Mills left Prairie du Chien and came to Lancas¬ ter. Just what year is not known. The records show that he bought eighty acres of land in Section 26, North Lancaster, in 1838. Louis Reynolds related at an Old Settlers' meeting that he was once riding along and overtook a young man on foot who said his name was Joseph Mills, and that he was going from Prairie du Chien to Platteville to attend a theological convention, and he (Reynolds) allowed the young man to ride as far as they went together.

Among his pupils while he taught at or near Prairie du Chien were the daughters of Elihu Warner, father of the later well-known Jared Warner. Mr. Mills soon married the eldest, Evalina. Within a year he took his wife down to Bond County to see his parents. There she died in giving birth to a child, the child also dying. In 1842 he mar¬ ried Rebecca, the youngest daughter of Elihu Warner.

After coming to Lancaster he taught school awhile. Although a lawyer, he seemed to have more love for teaching than litigation, and during most of his life, while practicing law and on the bench, he had private pupils whom he taught for love of instructing, refusing all re¬ muneration. He was always a student and seemed to love all other book's better than law books, although he was a deeply read lawyer withal. Ancient and foreign languages were his especial delight, and he read Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish with great facility.

As a lawyer the antiquated and absurd fictions of the old common law were revolting to his logical mind and he entered vigorously on the task of having the new Code of New York, in which the old fic¬ tions were abolished, adopted in Wisconsin. Being a member of the legislature in 1856 and 1857, he made good use of his opportunity and through his efforts Wisconsin was the second State to adopt a new and rational code, an example which all the other States have since followed. He also systematized his work by a device apparently then unknown, but now common, annotating the margins of his books with references to decisions, etc., bearing on the same subject.

In politics Mills was an advanced Radical. In his younger days the slavery question was beginning to overshadow all others. Mills was more than an anti-slavery man - he was an abolitionist, although reared in a slave State and in pro-slavery Egypt of Illinois. In 1844 he was the candidate of the Liberty (abolition) part}' in the county for

District Attorney. The ticket received eighteen votes in the county - just the number of names on the county ticket. Evidently the party was like Artemus Ward's company - there were no privates in it. In 1848 the party again put up James G. Birney for President, and Mills and his few fellows and followers rallied again with a county ticket. It is difficult now to realize the virulence of the abuse heaped upon the abolitionists of that time, even in the North. An abolition speaker named Matthews attempted to speak in Lancaster, but the meeting was broken up by a mob. Mills and his wife, assisted by Stephen Mahood and David McCord, guarded the speaker to Mills's house, amid the din and threatening demonstrations of the mob. The crowd gathered' in front of the house and became more threatening. Matthews escaped by a back way and spent the night at Stephen Mahood's a mile west of town.

The Whig party wrent to pieces in 1853, and the anti-slavery men formed the Republican party. Mills joined the party, not because it represented his views to the full extent, but because it came nearer to his views than any other, and he hoped that it would eventually come all the way. In 1854 the Republican party carried the county and Mills had the unwonted luxury of being with the majority.

During the war he was zealous in the Union cause and assisted to the best of his ability in the prosecution of the war, though unfit phys¬ ically to bear arms.

Late in life, wanting something radical, he ceased to act with the Republican party and espoused the cause of free- trade and woman suffrage.

Judge Mills was District Attorney in 1 859-60 and 1863 - 64. He was a member of the Assembly in 1862 and 1879, besides the two terms before mentioned. He was Circuit Judge twelve years from 1855 to 1877 inclusive.

In religious faith he was a Congregationalist and an ardent cham¬ pion of his theological views, in essays, newspaper articles, and lec¬ tures. In early life he had frequent encounters with his brother-in-law, Jared Warner, an able and aggressive agnostic, or "infidel," as he was then called. But he seems to have had due respect and admiration for Warner, as he named one of his sons Jared Warner.

His second wife died in 1857, and in 1860 he married Miss Mary A. Coumbe; who died in 1893. His children having all grown up and left home (except one son who died in early manhood),

Judge Mills was left alone in the old homestead, and as it was home to him no longer, he went to live alternately with one and another of his children. While at Denver with his son Warner, he experienced un¬ usual trouble with his throat, which had always been affected from drinking strong lye when a child, mistaking it for maple syrup. The affection grew rapidly worse and the aged Judge died November 3. 1897. The corpse was brought to Lancaster for burial by the side of the mother of his children, where his funeral could be attended by his old neighbors. The burial was attended by the bar of Grant County, of which the deceased had been so long an honored member and an ornament.

John Hawkins Rountree

John H. Rountree was born in Warren County, Kv., near the Mam¬ moth Cave, March 24, 1805. His great-grandfather, Randall Roun¬ tree, came from Ireland to Virginia in 1720. The only school educa¬ tion young Rountree had was obtained in a primitive log schoolhouse. He removed in 1824 to Hillsboro, Ill., where he was appointed as Deputy Sheriff, which position he held till he was twenty-one, when he was elected Sheriff and held the office till 1827, when he came to Wisconsin. An account of his settlement at Platteville will be found in Chapter II of Part I and in the History of Platteville in this volume.

41 Major" Rountree, as he was always called was married August 7, 1828, to Mary G. Mitchell of Galena, Ill., and the next day he brought his young bride to a log cabin on the site of the present Platteville. His wife died in 1837 and Sept. 3, 1839, he was again married to Miss Lydia H. Southworth, of Platteville, who died June 16, 1881.

Major Rountree gained his title by being appointed Major of the Illinois militia in 1826. At the breaking out of the Black Hawk War in 1832 he raised a company of miners and served as Captain. In 1829 he was appointed postmaster at Platteville, and was reap¬ pointed several times, the last time in 1857. In 1834 he was ap¬ pointed by the Governor of Michigan as Judge of the County Court of Iowa County. In 1837 he was appointed Probate Judge of the new Grant County. In 1839 he was commissioned as Aide to the Governor of Wisconsin with the rank of Colonel. In 1838 he was elected a member of the Council of Wisconsin Territory, and was re¬ elected in 1842. In 1847 he was elected a member of the Constitu- tional Convention and took a prominent part in it. In 1850 he was elected to-the State Senate and in 1851 he was appointed a Regent of the State University. In 1853 he was appointed Major General of Militia of the Second District of Wisconsin. In 1863 he was elected a member of the Assembly and in 1866 to the State Senate. He was many times president of the village and mayor of the city of Platteville. He was president of the Old Settlers' Club of Grant County from its organization till his death. He took great interest in the Club, and being the oldest inhabitant, could contribute most of the reminiscences, the relation of which formed a large part of the pro¬ ceedings of the Club.

From his first coming to Platteville (or the site of that city) he was the most prominent business man in the community, and such he remained until advanced age compelled him to lighten his business burdens. He was postmaster, justice, miner, smelter, merchant. He was foremost in aiding all enterprises that promised to build up Platteville. The first newspaper in the village and the county owed its existence largely to his generosity. Coming to the county when its white inhabitants, outside of the few miners at Platteville and Hard¬ scrabble, could be counted on the fingers, he lived in the county to see it containing nearly forty thousand inhabitants, with its agriculture developed to immense proportions. He long stood as a monument of pioneer days, a link between the past generation and the present. He not only saw all of Grant County's history, but made much of it.

Major Rountree was of stalwart frame and commanding presence. Though not an orator, his long participation in public affairs enabled him to speak clearly and readily before an audience. He was a busi¬ ness man and not a politician nor an office-seeker and the long list of official honors that were heaped upon him speaks more than words of the estimation in which he was held in his community and in the State.

Much more relating to this representative pioneer will be found in the History of Platteville and other parts of this volume. He died at Platteville June 27, 1890.

Thomas Pendleton Burnett

Thomas P. Burnett was born in Pittsydvania County', Va., Septem¬ ber 3, 1800, and was reared in Bourbon County', Kv. He had an aca¬ demic education and such private instruction as he could get, support- ing himself by manual labor and teaching. He read law at Paris, supporting himself partly from the small fees of such offices as con¬ stable and deputy sheriff. He was District Attorney for one term. Paris was then the home of some of the ablest lawyers in Kentucky and young Burnett had the advantage of daily contact with them.

He took an active part in the campaign which resulted in the elec¬ tion of General Jackson as President and received, October 15, 1829, the appointment as sub-agent in the Indian Bureau, to reside at Prairie du Chien, then far out in the wilderness. It was far below his expectations, but as he had some time before been crippled by having one of his legs crushed while zealously fighting a fire in Paris, he deter¬ mined to accept the appointment rather than attempt to regain the practice he had lost by being so long prostrated by his accident.

He arrived at Prairie du Chien in June, 1830. There were then only two or three American families there, except the families of the officers at Fort Crawford, The bulk of the inhabitants were Canadian French and half-breeds, who spoke only French, or some Indian tongue, alike unintelligible to Mr. Burnett. Under the circumstances he was naturally homesick and despondent, and detested the place and every¬ thing in it, but at last he became firmly attached to it. The salary of his office was $500 a year, and he was allowed to practice as a lawyer, prosecuting some suits for the Government and for private individuals. In 1834 he withdrew from the Indian Agency and devoted himself to the practice of law. In January, 1835, he was appointed District At¬ torney for the counties of Crawford, Iowa, Dubuque and Des Moines, then in Michigan Territory, but held the office only during thesummer of that year, and, finding the great amount of travel necessary incon¬ venient and expensive, he resigned the office. In October, 1835, he was elected a member of the Council of Michigan Territory (the upper house of the legislature), and was chosen President of the Council. The session was of questioned validity and did little except to send a memorial to Congress in favor of the immediate organization of Wis¬ consin Territory. Upon the organization of this new territory the claims of Mr. Burnett for appointment as Secretary of the Territory or Judge of the Supreme Court were strongly but unsuccessfully urged upon President Jackson by influential friends, including several Sena¬ tors.

taken in 1836. Crawford County was allowed two members of the lower house, but no member of the Council. The people of Crawford claimed that, under the organic act, each county was entitled ^rep¬ resentation in both houses, and they elected Mr. Burnett as a member of the Council. As the full number of Councilors had been elected from other counties, in accordance with Governor Dodge's apportionment, Mr. Burnett's election was not certified by the Governor, and he was not admitted to a seat. As a compensation he was nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Council as District Attorney of Craw¬ ford County. He declined the appointment on the ground that the Council was not legally organized nor competent to perform any legal act, such as confirming his nomination. This action, very character¬ istic of Mr Burnett, was doubtless a satisfaction to him and the dis¬ satisfied people of Crawford County, but the legislature thus alleged to be illegally constituted went on with its work, which has always been treated as valid by the courts, just as has been the legislation of subsequent legislatures, illegally constituted by the admission of post¬ masters and other Federal officials, in plain violation of the Consti¬ tution.

In December, 1836, Mr. Burnett was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin Territory, which position he held until his death. "The decisions of the court were prepared for publication by him.

Mr. Burnett prided himself on being an 4 4 independent," unconfined by party ties or the decisions of conventions. In territorial times party lines were not generally drawn, but candidates for important offices were generally nominated by conventions. More than once Mr. Burnett refused to abide by the decision of these conventions and ran for office as an independent candidate, but on all such occasions he was beaten. The most important of these was his candidacy for Delegate in Congress in 1838 and 1840.

While living in Prairie du Chien he married the daughter of Rev. Alfred Bronson, a prominent pioneer of Crawford County. In 1837 he removed to Cassville and remained there a short time, when he again removed and opened a farm on the Military Road in what is now the town of Mount Hope. Here he built a comfortable double log cabin, which is still standing in tolerable preservation, a mile and a quarter west of the village of Mount Hope. He was planning to build a substantial stone house, but death frustrated his plans. He naqied his home "The Hermitage," in imitation of his hero, General Jackson, and not because he, ambitious and in the prime of life, had any idea of becoming a hermit, as had Jackson, old and tired of public life. He embellished his grounds and garden with great taste and was preparing a pleasant home for old age.

In 1845 Mr. Burnett was a member of the lower house of the leg¬ islature of Wisconsin, and in 1845 he was a delegate to the Constitu¬ tional Convention. Suffering from illness, he did not take his seat in the Convention till October 14th. He was appointed a member of the Committee on Claims and served nearly two weeks. On the 25th of October he was informed that his wife was very ill with typhoid fever. Starting home in the evening, he rode more than eighty miles to his home, and enfeebled by previous sickness, he reached home only to be prostrated by the fever. His aged mother, who had recently come from Kentucky, was also lying ill with typhoid fever, and died on the first of November. On the fifth of that month both husband and wife passed away in the same hour, each conscious that the other was dying. The wife, unwilling to bear separation from her husband, was quite willing to die with him ; but he was inconsolable that her death should leave his children motherless. The three members of the famly were buried near the house, husband and wife in the same grave. Although the region was comparatively unsettled, the funeral was largely attended from Prairie du Chien and all the northern and west¬ ern part of the county.

On the 10th of November J. Allen Barber announced to the Con¬ vention the death of Mr. Burnett. That body adopted resolutions of condolence, respect, and sympathy, and took the usual means of pay¬ ing respect to the memory of a deceased member.

Jared Warner

Jared Warner was born in Canfield, Ohio, December 6, 1811. In 1838, his father, Elihu Warner, removed with his family to Wiscon¬ sin and settled on the Wisconsin River at Millville, or " the Pocket," as it was at first called. They were towed up the Mississippi in a keel-boat with other families. Elihu Warner and his son and partner Jared were not mining adventurers. They came to make homes and engage in manufacturing and agriculture. The little stream running through "the Pocket" into the Wisconsin furnished sufficient water¬ power to run a saw-mill, and one Was established by the Warners.

Here pine logs rafted down the Wisconsin were sawn and furnished to the pioneers of Grant their first pine lumber. Here Jared Warner built up an extensive business and made much money. But he worked be¬ cause he loved work and business, and not because he was devoted to money-making. He also during the fifties owned a grist-mill on Rattle¬ snake Creek, since called McKemmie's Mill, and lived there some time. When he thought he had enough money for a competency he sold his mills and retired to the village of Patch Grove, where he built a com¬ fortable house and bought a small but fertile prairie farm near the vil¬ lage. Here he had considerable leisure to indulge his literary tastes, and spend his hours with his books and periodicals.

During the hard winter of 1879-80 he suffered much from the breaking down of his system, but he bore it with uncomplaining forti¬ tude. He was collector of taxes for his town, and endeavored to per¬ form the duty with his usual faithfulness, but it was discovered that the once perfect memory was failing. The end came on the 4th of February, 1880. It is thus described in the obit urary notice in the Herald.

"He was original in. his modes of doing business. He believed men were more liable to pay a debt when not bound to it by mort¬ gages and securities. He often lent money without even a note of hand, making a memorandum of it in his account book. Recently he forgot some of his loans, but those he accommodated readily came forward and told what they owed. On the day he died he was ob¬ served in the morning to be writing something on a sheet of paper. He placed this paper in an atlas where it was accidentally found after¬ ward. He then went to his barn, about a hundred yards distant from his house, to turn out his horse and cow. Mrs. Warner, knowing his custom was to walk every day down to the post-office and through the village, thought nothing of his absence. At dinner-time it was found that he had not visited Mr. Paul's [the postmaster]. Miss Weed, who was then living in the family, immediately ran to the barn. Mr. Warner was lying on some hay as if asleep. She attempted to arouse him, but stepped back affrighted. Jared Warner was dead !

" Mr. Warner thought an obligatory will might cause contention. The paper he had written in the forenoon was found to contain his wishes in reference to the division of his property. Such was the effect of this simple writing that his wife and children all met together at his house, in obedience to his wish, and by solemn writing and deeds di¬ vided their inheritance precisely as he advised.

"Thus had passed away one of the most remarkable men known on the roll of the old settlers of Grant County. A large concourse of people, the representatives of three generations, pressed around his coffin to take a last look at one they knew so well."

Jared Warner was considerably in public life. He was a member of the Assembly in 1861, and was for many years a member of the County Board. He was a man of too independent and original char¬ acter to train well in party harness, and he was several times an inde¬ pendent and defeated candidate. Indeed, considering his independent character and unpopular religious views (far more unpopular forty years ago than now), it is a wonder that he was ever elected at all. He was an agnostic, a person who fifty years ago was called an "in¬ fidel " and many worse names, and was nearly as much reviled as an abolitionist. And Jared Warner was not content to keep his views on theology to himself; he was aggressive, and being very able and wellread, he was an adversary as much dreaded as disliked by the sup¬ porters of the accepted creeds of theology. The principal sect in early times in this county was the Methodist, and Jared Warner was a veri¬ table bogie-man to the Methodist ministers of those days.

George W. Jones

This prominent pioneer of our county was born in 1800 in Mis¬ souri. He was graduated at the Transylvania University of Ken¬ tucky, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1826. In 1827 he caine to Grant County, locating near Sinsinawa Mound, where he successfully engaged in mining and smelting. He took an active part in the Black Hawk War as aide-de-camp of Gen. Dodge and filled var¬ ious civil offices, among them was judge of the county court of Iowa County. In 1835 he was Delegate in Congress for that part of Michi¬ gan Territory left out in forming the State of Michigan. In 1836 he was elected as Delegate in Congress for the Territory of Wisconsin. In 1838 he was defeated for that office, having become somewhat unpopu¬ lar on account of his acting as second in the duel in which Congressman Cilley, of Maine, was killed. He was Surveyor-General of Wisconsin and Iowa in 1840, but was removed by Tyler in 1841, and restored in 1845 by Polk. After this term of office he was attracted by the rap¬ idly growing city of Dubuque and made his residence there. He was Senator from Iowa many yearsv He died a few years ago in Dubuque. While he lived in Grant County he did much to advance the interests of his neighborhood and of the Territory

Milas K. Young

Milas K. Young was born at Salem, Indiana, July 18, 1812. He was raised a farmer, and was graduated at Hanover College, Indiana. He came to Wisconsin in 1846. He at first practiced law, but aban¬ doned it for agriculture, and was long a prominent farmer in Grant County. He was a member of the Assembly in 1853, and of the State Senate in 1862-65.

He was a prominent member of the Blake's Prairie Grange, an or¬ ganization that took considerable part in politics. He died May 16, 1875, from wounds inflicted by his son Albert. An account of this murder will be found in the history of Glen Haven in this volume.