Sauk County, Wisconsin - Chapter 23: Pictures of Southern Sauk County, 1918

Chapter 23: Pictures of Southern Sauk County

Towns Adjoining Spring Green - Town op Troy - Bear Creek - Franklin's First Settlers - Honey Creek - Schools in Troy - Last Log Schoolhouse in the County - John Wilson, op Wh^son's Creek - Early Times in the Honey (.reek Valley - Naming ok Spring Green - Naming op Honey Creek and Troy - Harrisburg and Cassell Prairie - Twenty Indians to One White - Plain and White Mound.

The townships of Spring Green, Troy, Honey Creek, Franklin and Bear Creek embrace not only some of the most fertile and charming tracts in the valleys of Honey and Bear Creeks, but the most beautiful and productive stretches of the Wisconsin River Valley itself. Like the eastern townships, they were early settled, especially Troy and Spring Green adjacent to the parent stream. The sketches which follow require no further introduction.

"Comment upon and rumor of a prospective semi-centennial celebration for Spring Green seems to have awakened considerable interest among the residents of adjoining towns, and incidentally created a demand for information regarding the early history of those adjacent towns, including Troy, Franklin, Bear Creek and Honey Creek, geographically including the settlements of Cassell and Black Hawk.

"The town of Troy is perhaps the more important of this group, inasmuch as it is the largest in topographical area, containing as it does fifty-three sections, and being, therefore, the largest in area of any Sauk county town, and embracing with its southern borders the interesting little settlement called Cassell. I am unable to find anything bearing upon the origin of the name, Troy, as herein applied, but find that the settlement of Cassell was so named in honor of a Dr. Cassell.

its probable earliest white settler, though the first settler within the limits of the town of Troy was a Thomas Wilson, from whom Wilson Creek received its present name. Mr. Wilson was a miner employed in the old 'shot tower mines' below Helena. With a miner's desire of locating new fields, Mr. Wilson did some prospecting on the north side of the Wisconsin river as early as 1838, and during 1840 moved his little family across the river and built a cabin in the Troy hills. He was closely followed by J. A. Sprecher and later by a party from eastern Ohio, consisting of J. W. Harris, J. Keifer and others, and a school was established about 1848.

"Some very interesting stories could be told relating to the early settlement of this town. It certainly contained some interesting characters at an early date.

"Of the town of Bear Creek much might also be written. Getting its name from the little river which wends its way in and out among its rugged hills and picturesque scenery, it was appropriately named, the creek being named by the Indians and so called by them when the first white settlers, the McCloud brothers, William and Robert, located upon its banks about 1840-44; and herein lies a tale. These two men, adventurous by nature, and trappers by profession, originally located in what is even now called Hood's valley. For reasons known only to these two men and the Indians a feud sprang up between the white blood and the red. In a skirmish with a party of Indians (probably Sacs or Foxes) a member or members of the McCloud family lost their lives, and from that day the McCloud brothers became veritable Indian-hunters. Owiug to their superior number the Indians were enabled to make it necessary for these two pioneers to remove their families westward and nearer to the protection of the guns of old Fort Crawford in 1850. The next settlers were the Phetteplace family, and later the families of J. Bancroft, J. Seaman and others.

"Dewitt Slanter, coming from the town of Troy, was probably Franklin town's first settler, about 1848 or 1850. He was followed by T. J. Morgans, who went there from Spring Green town in 1850. Franklin's first school was started in the following year, indicating rapid settlement-

Creek, and come close to the mark. It was so named on account of the locating of an almost endless supply of the so-called wild honey trees along its wooded banks. That these honey mines existed in unusual quantities in that vicinity at an early date can be understood when it is told of an early settler there who, being short of money and unable to meet a payment due upon a piece of land, hitched up his team and with his wife's assistance was enabled to procure in the woods along the banks of Honey Creek, within gunshot of his little cabin home, sufficient 'sweetness' to pay for his land, he having sold the product of their two days' honey gathered for an amount exceeding $100 at nearby settlements."

The first school meeting was called by J. Bear, to be held at the home of William Young, January 10, 1850, to elect officers and vote upon a school site, and to build a schoolhouse. The district then extended as far as Nathaniel Mitchell's, who lived upon the farm now owned by Ferry Wiess in the Town of Franklin. They voted to lease a piece of ground of Joseph Cracroft for two years for the sum of six cents. The schoolhouse stood in the western part of V. Schneller's field and $90.00 was the sum first voted for it - quite a difference with the modern schoolhouses. The first officers were: John Bear, treasurer; Henry Keifer, director; James Taylor, clerk. H. B. Stains was town clerk at this time.

The schools were carried on in a little different way at that time than at the present. Then, if a person wanted to teach, he went to the town superintendent, who asked him a few questions. For instance, T. A. Cooper says that once his examiner was cutting up a hog and asking him questions, one of which was how many letters the alphabet contained. Nevertheless, the first teacher was Miss Orasa Drew of Prairie du Sac, and this was her certificate: "I hereby certify that I have examined Miss Drew on the points acquired by law, and belief her to possess a good moral character and sufficient learning to teach school in this town.

Joint District No. 5, Town of Troy, has the distinction of possessing and occupying for school purposes the last log schoolhouse in the county. In pioneer times many of these rude structures dotted the county, but all have yielded to more pretentious structures, except this one, an illustration of which accompanies this article. Forest Robson says it was built in 1879 and is still being used for school purposes. The building is 20 by 22 feet, built of logs that were purchased at fifty cents each from the following persons: Joseph Reuisehlein, 8; C. Fuchs, 31/2 ; Thomas Schwartz, 3 ; J. and C. Page, 7 ; J. Proctor, 2 ; S. B. Robson, 5; Frank Stewart, 4; William Schweppe, 3y2; F. Sebaker, 1, and Alexander Stewart, 4.

W. H. Lonsdale was the first teacher, receiving $26 a month for a term of five months. At the present time Miss Florence Mabbott of Spring Green is teaching the term of eight months at $45 per month.

John Wilson (often incorrectly mentioned as Thomas) was the first settler in the Town of Troy. He was born in Scotland, educated in Edinburgh, his native city, and served as a youth on board a British man-ofwar in the capacity of a cooper. While thus engaged, in the War of 1812, he was wounded in an engagement with an American privateer. That fact did not prevent him from emigrating first to Canada and thence to" Buffalo, New York. There he was married, came to Wisconsin in the late '30s, and was first employed on the Fox and Wisconsin rivers improvements, having charge of a crew of men engaged in digging the canal at Portage. He was then in the employ of Judge McPherson, and through him was transferred to the Helena iron furnaces. In July, 1836, the Judge sent him to St. Louis, where he was placed in charge of a large plantation owned by that gentleman. In 1839 Mr. Wilson returned to Helena to engage in the manufacture of kegs, but when the Mineral Point Bank failed and so many of the industries of the region collapsed, he bought land on the creek which now bears his name, and in 1840 brought his family there to reside. At that locality, on the direct route from Qalena to the Wisconsin pineries, he erected a double log house, cultivated his land, entertained travelers "at the regular price," and became widely known and very popular. Mr. Wilson was a man who was far above the average settler in education and general information. He was well read, his early life as a marine had furnished him with a rich fund of anecdotes based on his experiences, he had a good library in his homehotel, had talent as an artist, and was altogether an interesting character. He died at the old homestead on Wilson's Creek on December 1, 1866.

"Early in the spring of 1846 we left Richland county, Ohio, and came to Sauk county, Wisconsin, settling at what is now known as Harrisburg. on Honey Creek, then a vast wilderness. Our nearest neighbor was five miles distant - John Wilson of Wilson creek. The next was Thoma** Williams, living where Thomas Norton now lives. They were the only settlers on the prairie, except Thomas and James Watson, who lived in a little cabin on the bank of the slough a short distance south of Tom Williams'. Neither one was married. They were the only settlers on the prairie until you came to Bear Creek, where lived two families, William and Robert McCloud. In the summer of 1847 Evan Jones moved back from Dodgcville. They had been here before and located land. In a short time his son Thomas moved over and started a store on the bank of the Wisconsin river, known as High Bank. That was the first store on this side of the river.

"As there has been considerable comment on the naming of Spring Green, I beg leave to give you a few items in relation to the origin of the name: In about 1842 a Mr. Turner moved in and settled on the edge of the prairie, on the place where Thomas Norton lives. There being quite a number of low places called swales, and being quite wet in the spring they became green earlier than any other part of the prairie. Mrs. Turner proposed to her husband to call it Spring Green on account of so many green places in the spring. So it has always gone by that name. I got my information from Mrs. Turner, then Mrs. Thomas Williams, after Mr. Turner's death. Mr. Williams came over from the shot tower in August, 1844, to take charge of Mrs. Turner's business, and in a short time married her. When the township was set off it was called Spring Green township; also, when the railroad went through and the village was laid out, it was called Spring Green village.

"In regard to the log schoolhouse built on section 7 at Spring Green, it was built in the fall of 1848, Andrew Bear being the principal one in building it. It stood not far from where Tom Daley built his house. Andrew Bear taught the first school, the next Mina Cass, the next Tom Watson.

"About two months after we had located land and settled on Honey Creek two families came in from Indiana, Thomas Wells and Dewitt Slauter. In the spring of 1847 Dan Held followed us. From that on until 1853 or 1854 settlers came quite fast. John Rulan, Oliver Ward. Henry Halflech, Stephen Miller, Henry Clay man, John Feller, Andrew Bear and Nathaniel Mitchell. The Young brothers - William, Pearson, John; Joe Bear and Samuel Davis; the Bonham brothers, Elijah, George aod William; Samuel Walster, Arthur Dickerson, Henry Bear; the Cramer brothers, John, Jerry, Adam and Solomon ; George Morgan and Henry Dickerson; the Carpenter brothers, Daniel, Jerry, Jason, Tim, Isaac and John ; Thomas Dickerson, George and Abram Nickey, Joseph Seiders, Simon Spyker and Jacob and William Keifer. They all came from liiehland county, Ohio, and from Bloomfield and Troy townships; also J. W. Howe, Jacob Rainey, D. B. Young and Smith Love from an adjoining county. They reminded me of a flock of sheep - when one starts the rest follow.

""Honey Creek had its name before we settled there in 1846. I would like to inquire where the information came from that Honey Creek received its name from the endless supply of wild honey found along its banks, and I would like to inquire also, who the man was that gathered over one hundred dollars' worth of honey in two days, and where the near-by settlements were in which he sold it? I admit there was here and there a bee tree found, but to no such an amount.

' ' When we settled on Honey Creek there was not an inhabitant to the very headwaters of Honey Creek, nothing but deer, wolves and bear, that roamed over the hills and through the valleys.

"Early the next spring John Sprecher and Nick Danutzer, two Germans, moved in and settled on the north side of Honey Creek. Others followed and they soon had a large German settlement.

' ' Bear Creek, Spring Green and Honey Creek had their names before we came here in 1846, but Franklin and Troy were named afterwards. In regard to the name of Troy : When they were going to set off another town Henry Keifer proposed to call it either Bloomfield or Troy, in honor of so many of the settlers coming from Bloomfield and Troy townships in Ohio. The name Troy was chosen.

Ii Akrikburg And Cassell Prairie

"In regard to the schools at Harrisburg: There being four or five families there who had children they were anxious to send to school, and no settler's cabin being large enough to accommodate a school, the settlers went together, cut logs, built a cabin, covered it with clapboards held on with weight poles, split puncheons out of logs for a floor and made benches to sit on of the same material, chinked and daubed it with mud and the house was ready for school. They got a girl from Prairie du Sac to teach, paid her so much a pupil and she boarded around with those who sent children. Had two summer schools taught in that way before we had any school district set off.

"As to Cassell Prairie, there was no one living there when we came on Honey Creek, but Doctor Cassell came soon after, followed by Messrs. Ausdell, Cadwell, Regan, O. Thomas, Alexander Stewart and others. Stewart settled on the west end of the prairie among the bluffs. As for churches, there were none at that time. The first minister there was a Mr. Fullerton, who came up from Helena shot tower through Spring Green prairie and preached at my father's cabin. The next was a Mr. Bunce. He preached at our cabin several times. At first the congregation consisted only of eight or ten hearers ; but how times have changed !

"When we tiret came to the territory we stopped at Whitewater a short time, traded our horses for oxen and came on to Sauk county with ox teams. In company with my father's family we built a little log cabin and moved into it with neither floor, window or door. The door was a quilt hung up, a stick of wood laid on the bottom to keep it down. The window was a log cut out and a paper pasted in and greased to let light in. The floor was the solid earth. The furniture: Bedstead, poles put in the wall with one post, clapboards laid on for slats, and a tick laid on filled with prairie hay; the chairs were slabs split from logs sawed in blocks and legs put in ; a table made of the same material ; cupboards, pins put in the wall, and clapboards for shelves until such time as we could have better. I lived on the ground floor all summer and the greater part of one winter, until the men could split puncheons out of trees for a floor. We had not the advantage of those that lived along

"I have been often asked if there were Indians there at that time. Yes, I would see twenty Indians before I would see one white man. Every fall they would go up Honey Creek, 150 to 200 in a drove, mostly men, to make lead. They would be gone two and sometimes three weeks ; come back with their ponies loaded. They often came to our house. They were very friendly. We would give them pumpkins, turnips and such things that pleased them. There was one called Indian John, a chief. I think he was a Winnebago. Mr. Keifcr tried to get him to go and show where they got their lead. 'Oh, no!' Mr. Keifer offered him ten dollars if he would go and show him. 'Oh, no. Other Indians kill me.' But he showed about three feet (holding his hand about that far from the floor 'lead' he said, and indicating a further distance down by pointing from the joists down to the floor of our cabin, he said, 'heaps of lead.' Mr. Keifer and a man by the name of Held went up Honey Creek one fall bear hunting. They came across where the Indians smelted their lead. There were about two acres of timber cut off around where they smelted it. The men brought home some of the little bits of ore. Judging from what the men said, it must have been somewhere above where the Carpenters lived where they found the smeltery, but the ore might have been brought from miles away."

Plain and White Mound are old points in Franklin Township. Although they lie off the line of any railway they are in the midst of such a prosperous cheese country that they show marked evidences of thrift. Plain, especially, is a well built village and is, moreover, incorporated. It thus formally became a village in 1912. It has a water works plant, its supply coming from a 150-foot well. The consolidated school is graded and taught by an experienced teacher. There is a large German Catholic Church at Plain in charge of Rev. George Pesch, who has been the resident priest for many years. The Catholic Knights of Wisconsin also have a strong organization of some sixty members. As stated, the village is the center of a rich country. Five large cheese factories are within a radius of two miles. These industries, with a substantial population of farmers, have depended upon Plain for their banking accommodations since 1911. In November of that year the Plain State Bank was organized, with M. B. Paulus as president, and John B. Weiss as cashier. Mr. Paulus died in 1909 and was succeeded by J. B. Liegel, who is also president of the Village Board. Mr. Weiss is still cashier. The capital of the bank is $10,000 ; surplus and undivided profits, $1,500 ; average deposits, $175,000.

Plain was formerly called Cramer's Corners. John Cramer distributed the mail throughout the Town of Franklin, from the time it was organized in 1855 until 1859, when postoffices were established at White Mound and Logtown (also Plain). The first store was opened at Logtown in 1869. There are now three general stores, the largest conducted by Cramer Brothers, descendants of the John Cramer who is considered the father of the village. At Plain are also two agricultural implement depots, and the town is noticeable also for the handsome appearance of its residences.