Walworth County, Wisconsin - Chapter 1, 1882

Chapter 1

Topographical Sketch - The Indians - The Indian Village - First Settlement by White ]VIen - Formation of the County- - The Roads of 1836 - The First Road Made by White Men - The First White Settlers - The Early Neighborhoods - War at Geneva - First Town Organizations - Further Subdivisions - Early Surveys.

WALWORTH COUNTY is one of the southern tier of counties in Wisconsin. It is bounded on the north by the counties of Jefferson and AV'aukesha; east, by Racine and Kenosha Counties; south, by the State line: and west by Rock County. Its eastern line is twenty-foui' miles west of the shore of Lake Michigan. Elkhorn, the county seat and geographical center of the county, is in latitude 42° 48' north, and longitude 88° 26' west. The county embraces sisteen Congressional tovsTiships of six miles square, and constitutes a square of four towns on each side. The towns in the governmental survey are numbered and designated as Tovras 1,2,3 and 4 north, in Ranges 15, 16, 17 and 18 east. It "contains an area of 576 square miles, or 368,640 acres, two thirds of which is arable land, the siu'face of the lakes and some small tracts of swamp lying aloug the creeks and streams comjirising the remaining portion.

The siu'face is, thi'oughout. gently undulating, in no place breaking into sharp hills or rising to sufficient elevation to prevent its being denominated a level country. It is not, however, a plain, and has few of the characteristics of the vast stretches of prairie lands lying south and east in the States of Illinois and Michigan. It is, by the measure of geological epochs, a much older country than that of the Illinois prairies. It was high and diy, 50(1 feet above the present level of Lake Michigan, ages before the lake had an existence, and was planed down to its rotigh level by the glacial drift that preceded the formation of the gi'eat lakes, which are believed for an indefinite period to have covered Illinois, and to have found an outlet thi'ough the Valley of the Mississippi. The formation of an eastern outlet for these gi'eat inland seas, and the consequent subsidences of the level of the lakes, lirought up to the sunlight the vast alluvial prairies at the South at a much later period than that which marks the existence of Walworth County with essentially its present topographical features.

Marks of the glacial action and consequent formation of its surface are apparent. The ledges of the rock, wherever they appear, have the glacial polish and marks, while the sand deposits, with gravel and bowlders of rock not of the underlying strata, prove conclusively the extreme antiquity of the formation as diy land.

At that remote period, the county was thickly studded with inland lakes, where now are seen the small prairies. The deeper ones, like Geneva and Delavau, still remain. Their short-lived rtisters, which once covered Spring Prairie, Delavan Prairie and other fertile spots of the county, subsided before the alluvial dei)osit of ages had leveled the bottoms and left them the rolling land seen to-day, with a thin black soil compai'ed with the uniform great depth of that deposit found in the prairies fiu'ther south.

It is not unlikely that the mysterious j^eople whom tradition has forgotten, only known now through the shadowy memorials of the moitndsof Wisconsin, might have occupied the land, built their fortifications and floui'ished in the heydey of their semi-barbarous civilization, at a period so remote that their most adventurous explorers knew Illinois and the vast prairie land beyond only as the Southern home of the water-fowl, and a boimdless water-waste of unexplored lagoon.

The evidences that the i)re-historic race now generally designated as the Mound-Builders once inhabited this region were not infrequent when the first white settlers came in. They consisted of the mounds that appear in other parts of the State, many of them in form resembling animals, reptiles and implements. They were raised from two to live feet above the level of the suiTounding ground. Often the soil or debris of which they were composed was entirely different from that suiTounding them, and, however extensive the mounds, the excavations from which the supply of earth to reai- them was obtained is never discernible. Their great antiquity is in no way more jilainly shown than in the fact that they have existed a sufficient time to allow all traces of excavation or other physical evidences attending their construction to have become entirely obliterated. Only the mounds themselves, lying prone upon the eartb, covered often with the accumulated soil deposit of a thousand years, and bearing above the ancient oak, that was old before the first white man visited the region, tell of the race that builded them.

These animal mounds were less numerous in Walworth County than at the mouth of Milwaukee River, through the Rock River Valley and along the courses of the other large rivers of the State, but sufficiently numerous and marked to prove that the Mound- Builders formerly occujned the region as a part of their domain.. They appeared mostly in the vicinity of the large lakes in the southeastern pai't of the county.

Mr. James Simmons, in his excellent history of Geneva, states that, as late as 1843, several were still to be seen; one, a large mound in the form of a tiu'tle, or lizard, nearly sixty feet long, lay with its head toward the lake, its legs spread out on either side, and its tail extending northward across what is now the junction of Main and Lake streets in Geneva Tillage. Mr. Simmons describes it as " clear in its outlines, and rising some two or thi-ee feet in the center above the sm-face of the ground surrounding," and as "bearing uj^on its back the witness of its age - the stump of a large oak ti'ee, whose concentric rings kept the tally of many a jsassing year." Another, of much larger size, " stretched his brawny limbs and foimidable tail completely across Main street." Many others ^ess notable for size and form, but evidently belonging to the same class, are mentioned. On the old Beckwith farm, five miles west of Geneva Village, on the Delavan road, was a peculiar mound, some ninety feet in length, in the form of a bow, drawn, with its arrow pointing toward Geneva Lake. Other circular mounds were found in the vicinity; also, rude specimens of pottery, evincing more skill in the mechanical arts than was possessed by any of the aborigines inhabiting this region since it was known to Em'opeans.

Few human " remains" are found in these ancient mounds, and such as have been found are perhaiss not cotemjioraiy with them, but may have been interred by Indians at a compai'atively modem period, as it is known that they often chose them as places of sepultiu'e, viewing them as too sacred for desecration. The Indians knew as little of their origin as do the Americans of to-day, and held them in a mysterious awe that shielded them from destruction till the advent of modem civilization, that fell desti'oj'er of sentiment and mystery which makes the old so sacred to the simple mind. Few, if any, of these mounds remain to-day, and soon only the record of an unknown people will remain in the printed pages to tell that the mounds themselves existed,

The history of Walworth County, so fai" as it is of interest or value to the present or future reader, dates fi-om the first occupancy of white men, and, prior to thiit time, little is knovm of it beyond what is in the geological record and what appears in the mound relics, of which note has been made.

It is not recorded ^hat any white man ever visited the region pi-ior to 1830. As far back as 1663, Joliet coasted up the western shore of Lake Michigan, and touched at points along the coast, and AUouez, as early as 1665, was at Green Bay. In 167], the Jesuits had established a mission at what is now De Pere, Brown County, and from that point ministered to the benighted Indian tribes of Wisconsin.

In none of the records of these early explorers is any mention made of the region lying inland between the foot of the lake and the mouth of the Milwaukee River, and it is therefore almost certain that the land was unknown to the explorers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centiu-ies, and that, up to the time of general Western immigration, which commenced after the close of the Black Hawk war, in the summer of 1832, no white man had lived within the boundaries of the present county, and none had visited the region, except, perchance, some fur-trader from Milwaukee or Chicago, and of such visits, if they occurred, no records have been preserved and no traditions exist. RIi's. Kinzie, wife of John Kinzie, one of the early pioneers of Chicago, crossed the county with her husband in the fall of 1S32, on a joiu-ney to Fort "Winnebago. She has left an account of the journey in her story entitled " Waubun," in which she describes the sceneiy about the head of Geneva Lake. She was in-obably the first white woman who ever visited Walworth County, and her party was the lirst of the white race known to have viewed the land.

At the close of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, the Government set about extinguishing the Indian title to the lands of the Northwestern Territory, and thus opening them to the settlement of the whites. At that time, the Pottawatomies and their allies, the Chippewas and Ottawas, were the acknowledged possessors of a vast domain embracing all of the present State of Wisconsin lying south and west of the Milwaukee River, and extending into the interior an indefinite distance to the boundaries of the territory of the Winnebagoes. wherever that might be. The undefined western boimdaiy was no bar to obtaining a full title to the domain, as will be seen, September 15, 1832, the Government made a treaty with the Winnebagoes, whereby they relinquished all claim to lands lying " south and east, of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers of Green Bay. September 26, 1833, a treaty was made with the Pottawatomies, Chippewas and Ottawas, by which those nations ceded to the Government all their lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, and between that lake and the land ceded io the United States bi/ tlie Winnebago nation by the treaty of September 7.o, 1832, The northern boundary of the land ceded was the country lately ceded by the Menomonees (north and east of the Milwaukee River). The southern boundary was defined by the land ceded in a treaty with the same tribes in 1829, whereby they had ceded all lands claimed by them in Northwestern Illinois. The territory thus acquired by the Government by the treaty of September 26, 1833, extinguished the Indian title to 5,U()(),0()0 aci-es of land, and included all of the southeastern part of Wisconsin. The pi-ovisions of the treaty were that the tribes should remain in peaceable possession of the lands for two years fi'om the ratification of the treaty. Owing to some informalities occasioning delay, the treaty waa not duly ratified and signed by both the high contracting parties till so late in 1834 as to delay the final evacuation till 1836. Prior to that time, the Government could give no clear title to the land, and white men had, in Walworth County, no rights which an Indian was bound to respect.

The Indians who owned and occupied the territory, and sold or ceded it to the United States, are worthy of a passing notice. The leading tribe was known as the Pottawatomies, and had, ever since known to white men, shown capabilities and tendencies to civilization in advance of neighboring tribes. They were more peaceful in their disposition, showed little deceit or treachery, and, among their fellow-tribes, had managed to cement friendships that remained un broken through the vicissitudes of tribulation that followed the ajjpearance of a strange race, which, by ways and means inscrutable to them, dispossessed them of their heritage.

In 1665, when the French Jesuits first knew them, they were settled about Green Bay, and received the Gospel of the Great Master with a readiness that showed them endued with an appreciation of the doctrines of peace and mercy which He taught. Even then, the gi'eat doctrines of civilization - an alliance to preserve peace and prevent war - had brought them into a close communion of interest with other tribes, so intimate that only the tribal relations of government distinguished them from the Chippewas and Ottawas, who held with them in common a joint interest in the lands they claimed as their hunting-grounds and their homes. It was a barbaric confederacy of nations, which all the craft and cunning of enlightened diplomacy was never able to destroy, and it is an historical fact that no treaty or alliance was ever made with one of these tribes, except it was confinned and ratified by all. So the motto " E phu'ibus unum," had its inception in the union of nations, for the coimnon good, in the hearts of these barbarians, long Itefore the days of the American Republic.

They gradually moved soiith and west during the period embraced from 1670 to 1830, giving way to the Menomonees and the Sacs and Foxes on the north, and the Winnebagoes on the

Several villages were located about the shores of Lakes Geneva and Delavan. There was one at the foot of Geneva Lake, on the site of the present village; another at Williams' Bay. some four miles further west: and still another at the head of the lake - the most imjjortant, it beinc the family residence of Mauk Suck (Big Foot), one of the leading chiefs of the Pottawatomies. Big Foot is remembered as the last of the chiefs who ruled his people while they remained in the land of their fathers. He was a stm-dv hater of the whites, and ref^ised to cede the lands until all the other chiefs had signed the treaty. He had, however, a sense of honor which made him hold his pledges sacred when given, and, having given his word, he held it inviolable. So, in the Black Hawk war, being bound under former treaties not to take up arms against the whites, he remained neutral, and surlily kept his faith, against all the instincts of his savage nature, and later, in 1886, the terms of the treaty requiring him to leave forever the huntinCT-oi-ounds of his fathers and the home he loved, with the instinctive intensity of his wild blood, he remembered his vow, and disappeared, never to return.

Yet hfl re iche:! no high ideal, either in character or demeanor. Like all Indians, he took on the vices of the whites more readily than their virtues, and would get most beastly dnmk when circumstances were favorable. Mrs. Kinzie saw him on her visit in 1S3'2. and describes him as " a large, raw-boned, ugly Indian, with a countenance bloated by intemperance, aud with a sinister, unpleasant expression." With this most uncomjilimentary and prol_)ably truthful portrait, he should still be remembered as the Indian ty]ie of honor aud truthfulness, which goes to the extreme of keeping faith, once pledged, even with an enemy.

The Indian Village

The village of Big Foot was at the western extremity of Geneva Lake, on what is now Sec tion 14: in the town of Walworth. It consisted of a cluster of huts reaching along the shore for a quarter of a mile, and back nearly as far; and was the home of about sixty families. Big Foot's wigwam was quite pretentious in its dimensions, and, for the time, might be considered a permanent structm-e. It was on a knoll, a little way fi-om the shore of the lake. It was some twenty feet in diameter, and circulai- in form. It was made from posts set into the groimd, and was covered with mats woven from grasses and bark. It was the council house and seat of justice for the section of thi^ tribe that gave allegiance to Big Foot. On the elevation, ueai- the coimcil house, was a tall tree, from which was often displayed the insignia of his rank and jiower; the stump was, at a very recent date, still standing, and knowai as Big Foot's Flag-Staff. No traces of the village remain. Rev. S. A. Dwiunell. an early pioneer and a chi'onicler of the earlier days gives the following entertaining sketch of the tribe as living in 1836, just prior to leaving the country, and of their final departure, which took place in September, 1836. His accoimt is as follows:

" The Pottawatomies possessed much of the southern part of the Territory, as well as of Northern Illinois and lands further east. In the year 1832,* John Kinzie, of Chicago, as agent of the United States, bought of them, their title to all their lands west of Lake Michigan, agi-eeing to make annual payments, as was usual in such cases, in coin, guns, blankets and other articles needed by them. The Goverument agreed also to protect them in the occupancy of the soil for four years more, or until 1S36, then provide another possession for them, west of the Mississippi, and remove them to it.

" The lands which they sold were much better adajited to the wants of the red man, in his uncivilized state, than the vast prairie regions west of the Mississippi, although less so, by tax, than the heavy timbered lands of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, with a mild climate and abundance of game of almost every variety.

"Although oui- climate was rigorous, and, in consequence of abounding prairies and openings, aud the absence of hills and mountains, was often swept in winter by cold northern blasts, they

«Mr. Dwinnell was in error as to the treaty whereby the Pottawatomies relinquished their claims to the territory in question. Kiuzie's treaty, if any such was made in 1832, was never ratified, or acknowledged jis the basis of a Government treaty. As has been previously shown, the land was ceded by the treaty of September 26, 1833, made at Chicago. The error occurs from confoundinj; the preliminary treaty of peace, at the close of the Black Hawk war, in which Kinzie was a Government agent, with the su'.sequent treaty whereby the lands were ceded by the Pottawatomies, who took no part in the war.

obtained a comfortable living, for savages, from the animals of the forest, the fish of the lakes and streams, wild honey from the trees and sugar from the rock ma|)le. Their game vras taken with guns, their fish with hooks and trnps, and their honey Isy climbing trees by means of rude ladders and cutting into them with their hatchets, taking out the comb, often obtaining fifty or sixty poiinds in each tree. Their sugar was made by boiling down the sap in brass kettles. The sap was caught in trays made of white birch liark. Most of the Indians also cultivated patches of corn and beans, eating them not only in their green state, but drying them for winter use.

" Their largest villages in the region where I settled, soon after the Indians left, were at Mnkwanago, also at the Bay of Big FoDt Lake, and at the head of that lake.

"At the last-named place lived Big Foot, a prominent chief of the tribe. His village was situated upon an elevated plateau, overlooking the upper portion of the lake. It had a council house made of posts set in the ground and covered with mats, near which was planted a signal ))ole some twenty-five feet in height. Their jjermanent wigwams were usually about ten feet in diameter. Some of them were square, made of posts and poles, fastened together with bark, and covered with slabs made from hollow trees, both on the sides and the roof. I^pon each side of the wigwam was a platfonn some four feet wide, elevated two feet from the level of the earth, which served for a bedstead, while the fronts were used in place of chairs. They could, by this means, enjoy the warmth of the fire, which was made in the middle of the cabin, a hole being left in the center of the roof for the egress of the smoke. Other and more temporary wigwams were circular and oval, the frame-work being made of saplings and covered with mats woven from rushes and flags.

" When the time arrived, in 1S8<'>, for their removal, the ludian agent collected the various bands at Chicago, preparatory to their removal to their lands on the north banks of the Kansas River, opposite to where the city of Lawrence has since lieen built.

" Big Foot's band was all gathered into his village at the head of the lake, so as to be taken to Chicago. This was in the month of September. James Van Slyke had removed to that point a few weeks before, and his family were living in a partially finished log cabin, in full view of their encampment. Noticing one morning a great commotion in the Indian camp, and not knowing the cause of it, he imagined that an outbreak upon the white settlers who had trespassed upon their lauds was contemplated. For some reason not now known - whether from cowardice or not - he at once fled for his life, leaving his family in the cabin. Mrs. Van Slyke watched every movement of her savage neighl)ors through the unchinked walls of her dwelling. After a time, she was relieved of anxiety by seeing them pack their movable property upon their ponies and squaws, and, taking a trail toward the South, disappear one after another through a wooded ravine.

''After all were gone, as she supposed, Big Foot appeared, and, proceeding to the council house and placing one arm around the signal pole, stood for some time in silence, thoughtfrilly viewing the scenes which had been familiar to him from childhood, and which he was never to behold again.

" He had refused to sign the treaty of 183'2, but was overruled by a majority of the other chiefs, who, thi-ough some influence brought to bear upon them, either just or unjust, were induced to cede their lands. The time had now come for his unwilling removal. He was evidently sad. His soul was burdened. He wished to be alone with the Great Spirit and the graves of his fathers .md kindred. A year or two jireviously, he had lost a youthful son, whose body he caused to be encased in a rude coffin and fastened to the limbs of an oak some forty feet from the ground and overlooking the lake. He gave as a reason for this novel mode of sepulture that his son was unusually fond of lake scenery, and he wished him to enjoy a fine view of it from that country to which he had gone. The usual mode of disposing of the dead among the tribe was by a slight bm'ial in the earth, protecting the graves from the inroads of wild lieasts by a small covered pen made of small tree.s. They usually deposited with the dead, food, tobacco, trinkets and other articles of which the deceased was fond, or which they imagined thoy would use in the state to which he had gone. * * * * * * #

"After this silent leave-takinp-, the chief walked over to see Mi's. Van Slyke. Leaning his tall form against the dobrless doorway of her cabin, ho talked kindly to the woman who was ever a friend to his race, and then, bidding her a final farewell, turned away to join his band and was seen no more.

" The Pottawatomies were not pleased with thfir locution on the Kansas River, and many of them afterward returned to Wisconsin, and are found roving over the wild and partially settled portions of the State. In June, 1867, 1 met at Necodah, Juneau County, an Indian who was formerly connected with Big Foot's band, and removed with them in ISSI) to the West. He seemed to be intelligeiit. His answers to my inquiries as to the Indian names of several lakes and streams in Walworth County convinced me that he was truthful, as they corresponded precisely with those given by the Indians to the whites before thoy loft. He told me that Big Foot was alive when he left Kansas in 1865, although a very old man, and that the reason of their dissatisfaction with their new home was a sickly climate and the scarcity of wild game in that locality. '

'- The United States, by recent treaties or legislative enactments, have admitted to citizenship 1,604 of this ti'ibe, and we have information, official and semi-official, to the effect that a majority of them, after selling their lands in Kansas, which each family received when made citizens, have gone to the Indian Territory and associated themselves as a tribe."

First Settlement By White Men

The foregoing sketch will have prepared the reader for the advent of the white race. The first steps toward the settlement of the county were made by the Government, in surveying the domain acquired from the Indians by the treaty of 183:^. John Brink and John Hodgson were the original surveyors, having taken the contract to run the town lines of what are now Rock and Walworth Counties. The two surveyors had each a sejiarate corps, and took sei>arate routes of sm-vey. Brink's party surveyed the southern range of towns. He had with him Reuben T. Ostrander, William Ostrander and Jesse Eggleston. Hodgson, with Henry Mullet and others, whose names have not been recorded, ran the lines of the towns north. Brink completed his survey of towns nmnbered 1 to the eastern bouncVii'y of Walworth County in October, 1835, and he, with his party, first reached the foot of Geneva Lake early in that month.

The party, .all practical surveyors and engineers, were not slow in discerning the splendid water-power at the outlet of the lake, and made the only claim convenient at that time by blazing trees to indicate the priority of their claim, and entering a description in their field notes. The land thus claimed by Brink and the two O.strauders was upon Section 3(), in the present town of Geneva, and covered a part of the present site of the village, including the outlet of the lake and the water-power. They at that time named the spot Geneva, and went on with their survey, intending to return and improve their claim at some subsequent time. This was the first claim made in the county after the Government survey was made. It did not. as will appear, prove in all particulars valid, yet, as the first, is worthy of record. The claim was made jointly, on October 8, 1835, by John Brink, Jolin Hodgson, Reuben T. Ostrander and William Ostrander. On the return of the party, later in the fall, claims were made by individuals of the party of land adjoining their first joint claim, which were not contested. Eighty acres lying west of the village, claimed by Reuben T. Ostrander, was held by him for mEuiy years, and subsequently went by purchase into the possession of H. B. Couaut, and, later, of Shelton Sturges. This latter tract is jirobably the first of which a clear and uudisiiuted title was obtained from the Government. The claim was made by Reuben T. Ostrander in October or November, 1835, and the purchase made in accordance therewith at the fii'st Government land sale, held in Milwaukee in February, 1839.

The actual settlement of the county dates from 1836. Prior to that date, no claims were made on which the claimants remained as settlers. The most interesting period in its history is embraced within the two years succeeding Brink's, attempted location at Geneva in the fall of 1835. Early in 1836, imniigrants began to appear, and the settlement of the country was actually begun. The surveys had been completed, the Indian title to the land had been e.xtinguished, and the country "lay in its native loveliness, waiting to welcome the stm-dy pioneers, who, with their descendants, have made it to " bud and blossom as the rose," and become the home of as happy and contented a civilized community as exists anywhere on God's fair earth. So, starting at 1836, the i)ro])or history of Walworth County begins.

The history of Walworth County began with the history of the Territoiy of Wisconsin. One of the earliest acts of the first Territorial Legislature was to divide, geographically, the domain into counties sufficiently small tu enable the citizens of the new country to begin under the forms of law. At that time, Milwaukee and Brown Cou^nties, under the old laws of Michigan Territory, embraced all of what is now Wisconsin east of a meridian running north and south through the four lakes near the present site of Madison. In the division of those two counties, the present boundaries of Walworth County were defined. It was one of the original counties of Wisconsin, and was named " Walworth " in honor of Chancellor Walworth, of New York, at the suggestion of Col. Hamuel F. Phcenix, then a pioneer settler of Delavan, who attended the session as a lobby member. The county, by the organic act which defined its geographical boundaries, had none of the functions of self-govei'nment conferred upon it. It was attached to Racine County for judicial purposes, and, except in the election of Commissioners, who had the power to lay out roads and levy school taxes, was essentially a j^art of that county till 1838, at which time the first town organizations were made, and provisions made whereby it took upon itself the functions of an independent government. Diu-ing the time intervening between the erection of the county, in 183(5, and its organization, in 1838 and 1839, the county was settled, and experienced all the throes incident to the birth and establishment of a new life in a new country.

The country at that time was in a state of nature. There was not a house within its borders, except the rude wigwams of the Indian, and its soil had never been touched by the plow or harrow. Here and there a patch of corn showed that the Indian farmer sought to gain from Mother Eai'th something to add to the fruits of the chase. A few Indian villages skirted the lower lakes, and beyond that no traces of human occupancy wore apjsarent. The roads were only the trails that stretched fi'om one Indian village to another, and were, according to the accounts of early settlers, as follows:

The only roads found by the first settlers were the Indian trails, many of them trodden for hundreds of years. Unlike the raised turnpike of the whites, they were depressed, by constant travel, below the sui'face of the ground, and, but for the instinctive wit of the Indian, which unerringly led him to the highest elevation, would have proved only drains and ditches for the floods of spring, and have been impassable for foot travelers diu'ing a large part of the yeai\ They were, however, although trodden some six to ten inches below the sm-face, always passable, and are now the chosen grades for the railroads laid out by the engineers, who, with level and comijass, have only confirmed the traveling instincts of the aborigines. The trails were jierhaps two feet wide, and looked more like ditches than roads. The beds were trodden almost to the solidity of a macadamized road, and are, after the lapse of forty years of disuse, quite plainly marked in some parts of the county. The principal trail led fi-om the head of Big Foot Lake (Geneva) in a northeasterly direction, through the towns of La Fayette and East Troy to an Indian village in what is now the town of Jlukwanago. This was known as the " army trail," it being the route taken by a regiment of Government soldiers^ on their march from Fort Dearborn to Fort Howard in ] 83^). Another trail started from the foot of Geneva Lake, led through Spring Prairie, and thence easterly to Lake Michij^'an, with a diverging branch to the Mukwanago Village. Still another started from the foot of Delavan Lake, passed through Elkhorn, La Fayette and Troy to Prairieville, now Waitkesha. There was also' an old trail leading from Milwaukee to the Rock River, near where Janesville now stands. It passed through East Troy, Troy, Sugar Creek and Richmond. These were the only paths or roads in Walworth County in 1836, except a track made in the fall of that year, from Spring Prairie to Delavan Lake, which was

The First Eoad Made By White Men

The road was very primitive in its construction, and was made by di'agging an oak tree from the settlement in Spring Prairie to the jsresent site of Delavan - a distance of twelve miles. The ti'ack thus marked out became the main traveled road between those two places, and one of the main thoroughfares of to-day is essentially on the line then marked out.

To the early explorers, the country seemed a very paradise, waiting only for man to enter into possession. The southern and eastern part, generally first viewed by prospectors, was watered by the most considerable lakes in the county. Geneva Lake, lying east and west, stretched for a distance of nine miles through a heavily wooded, rolling country, opening out at its southern extremity on to the beautiful prairie of Big Foot. Across the country, some three miles northwest, another beautiful lake, then known as Swan Lake (now Delavan), lay in all its native loveliness, quite heavily wooded about its banks, but flanked fiuther north by open prairie and gi-oves, or oi^enings, as they are termed, of oak. if any smaller lakes dotting the country were interspersed with stretches of prairie, bordered with oak openings, entirely free from undergi-owth. In the southwestern part of the county, the countiy was more heavily wooded, with a more diversified hard- wood growth, consisting of birch, maple and other varieties not generally found bordering the prairie lands.

In the northern part of the county, a cluster of small lakes lay stretching fi-om what is now East Troy, through Troy, La Grange and Richmond, in a continuous chain, there being sixteen in a distance of as many miles east and west, within a belt five miles wide. Small creeks and streams threaded the coimtry. Those to the west of the highest laud along the center of the county are tributary to Rock River. Those fui-ther east mostly rim into White River, which has its source in Geneva Lake.

Deer in large herds fed upon the prairies or browsed in the thick woods south of the lakes. Animals of prey were not plenty. Accounts of bear, and occasionally lynx, and of one catamount, are o-iven by the early settlers, but they were never numerous enough to occasion any inconvenience to the settlers, and disappeared almost simultaneously with the settlement of the country. "Wolves were for awhile a pest to snch as kept sheep, and commanded a bounty till a quite recent date. Even now. a gray wolf is sometimes seen, and are increasing. Fm--bearing animals were, except the muskrat and mink, not plenty. Otter were occasionally seen at an early day, and the dams of the beaver were to be seen in the vicinity of the Troy lakes. Fish were abundant in all the lakes, and, in the season, water-fowls covered the marshes in flocks inmtmerable. Prairie chickens and other fowl of the grouse species were plenty. A few flocks of wild tm-keys were noted by the settlers who came in prior to 1838. The deer ceased to be common after 1842, and by 1844, had virtually disappeared from the county. The lakes still abound in fish, but neither fowl nor animal are now sufficiently numerous to make it favorite ground for sportsmen.

Before the disappearance of the deer, their abundance was such as to fiu-nish an easy supply of food to the hunter. Rufus B. Clark, of Troy, shot ninety eight during the winter of 1838-39.

The principal prairies became known as soon as the early settlers came in by the following names, which they still retain: Meacham's Prairie, in Troy; Romid and Heart Prairies, in La Grange; Elkhorn" Prairie, in Elkhorn, Geneva and Delavan: Spring and Gardner's Prairies, in Spring Prairie; Turtle Prairie, in Sharon and Darien; Big Foot Prairie, in Walworth: and Sugar Creek Prairie, in Sugar Creek.

The oak openings had a peculiar fascination for the incoming explorers. Few of them had ever seen the like before. Emerging from the deep woods lying east and soitth, they came upon these natural parks, as cleiu- of underbrush as an ordinary orchard, and skirting the prairies on every side. As an old pioneer expressed it, " They seemed like the old apple orchards of York State, only tlie fences ivere all gone, and they extended as far as the eye could penetrate the shade." Along the borders of these openings where they skirted the prairies, the fii-st farmers' claims were made, generally embracing a strip of the timber and a strip of the adjoining prairie.

The First White Settlers

Prior to January, 1836, it is believed that no efforts had been made tosecm-e any pei-manent land title, except those of Hodgson-Brinks party, which have already been noticed. Early in 1836, the prospectors began to ajjpear, and, by the opening of the winter of 1836-37, considerable settlements had been made at several points in the county, where the most important villages now are.

The actual residents, who had erected cabins and determined to remain, numbered not far fi-om twu hundi-ed, including men, women and children.

A peculiar interest attaches to these early settlers of 1836. They were the Pilgrim Fathers of Walworth County. They comprised thirty-one families, and some thirty men without families. The names of such as ai'e known, with fii'st place of settlement, are given below:

At Spring Prairie, Dr. A. A. Hemenway, David Pratt, Solomon Harvey, Isaac Chase, Robert Campljell, Rufus Billings, Daniel Adams, Luke Taylor, Benjamin Perce. Reuben Clark and Gilman Hoyt.

In La Fayette, lying directly west of Spring Prairie, and at first embraced within its boundaries, Isaiah Hamblin, Sylvanus Laugdon and Isaac Fuller had settled with their families.

In Geneva, at the foot of the lake, where the beautiful village of that name now stands, C. Payne, Robt. W. Warren, G. S. Warren and P. K. Vanvelzer had taken up family quarters.

In Walworth, at the head of Geneva Lake, at the Indian village, lived James Van Slyke, with his wife and one or two children. Mrs. Van Slyke was one of the fli'st women (perhaps the first) to peiTuaneutly settle in Walworth County. She was brave to the extent of heroism, as appears in fmiher accounts of her, elsewhere given.

In addition, several men without families had taken up claims. Palmer Gardner, I. T. Hunt, Horace Coleman, A. L. Memck, Samuel Britton, David Patten, Perriu Smith, Joel Smith, William J. Bentley, Daniel Salisbury and Benjamin C Perce were located in the vicinity of the Spring Prairie settlements; Alpheus Johnson, Henry Johnson and S. A. Dwinnell were in La Fayette; John Davis was at Suarar Creek; Col. Samuel F. Phoenix and several hired men were at Delavan; and Charles A. Noyes, William Ostrander, Samuel Ross, Jonathan Ward, George W. Trimble and two or three others, whose names are not remembered, wintered at Geneva.

There were also several men without families at the Troy settlements. At East Troy were Gorham Bunker and Elias Jennings, both maiTied men, who made their claims, but did not bring in their families till 1837; also, Delanson and Reuben Griffin, and possibly Allen Harrington aud Gaylord Graves. In Troy were the three grown-up sons of Jesse Meacham, Edwin and Edgar, long since deceased, and Urban D., now a lawyer, living in Freeport, 111.; also, Sylvanus Spoor, a cousin to Adolphus; Alex Beardsley, a young man named Roberts, and one or two other unmarried men, who came in from Indiana with Othni Beardsley and family. The Robinson brothers, John and Simeon, made claims and stayed during the sunnne)-, but did not winter there. A young man named Ruggles also came in with Spoor.

At this time, there were no town organizations, yet it will be seen that the settlers had located sufficiently near to make defined neighborhoods. There were five in the county - Geneva, Spring Prairie, Delavan, Troy and East Troy - not then known, however, by those names. Spring Prairie was by far the largest, comprising some twenty families and a dozen single men - perhaps a hundred in all - within a distance of five miles from Dr. Hemenway's house.

The next in importance was the settlement at the outlet of Geneva Lake, where the waterpower had been already improved by the building of a dam and the erection of a saw-mill, not completed till spring of 1837 - the first erected in the county. There were six families at Geneva and about the lake, and some six or eight single men - perhaps thirty in all

Delavan was the only settlement in the western part of the coimty, and consisted of the families of Allen Perkins and William Phcenix, Col. Samuel F. Phoenix, one of the founders of the village, and two or three hiretl men, engaged by him in fencing, plowing and getting out timber for a saw-mill, which he built the following spring. Two log houses constituted the only settlement there at that time, and the only settlement in the western part of the county.

The Spring Prairie settlement became known at a cptite early day as Franklin Post Office. The first settler in the tovmship was Palmer Gardner. He came in and took his claim on Section

25 or "26, on the loth day of April, 1836. He was at that time over thirty years of age, and unmarried. His claim was made on a beautiful prairie, which still beai's his name. It was heavily wooded along its western edge, and he built his cabin in the edge of the timber, on the northeast quarter of Section 2(5. He is still living in Burlington, Raciue County. A more complete biography appears elsewhere.

Mr. Daniel Salisbury, now living at Elkhorn, gives the material for the following sketch of Spring Prairie settlers in 1836 and 1837, before there was any town organization:

The settlers near Palmer Gardner, in the east part of the township, were: Israel T. Hunt, who was from Ohio, and worked a year for Palmer Gardner. James Nelson, wife and two children, came in A|)ril 30, 1836, and lived in Gardner's house a month, and then moved into Racine County. Mrs. Nelson was the tirst white woman who ever lived in Walworth Coiinty, but her residence was of too short duration to render her the first woman settler. Mrs. Van Slyke came in a few weeks later than Mrs. Nelson, but remained for years, and raised a family in the county.

Lemuel R. Smith came in fi'om Racine County and made a claim on Section 25 May 20, 1836. He jilowed the first week in July, and made sufficient improvements to establish his claim, but did not take up his permanent residence in the county till 1841. He is not living. He was a Whig, afterward a Republican. His religious faith is not known. His son is still living in the town.

The Spring Prairie settlement, which was known afterward as Franklin Post Office, was in the western part of the township, at the half-section corners of Sections 30 and 29, some three miles west of Palmer Gardner's cabin.

The claims in this vicinity were made on Sections 28 and 29, by Isaac Chase, W^illiam Benlley and Joel Smith, who came from Western New York. The claims were made May 20, 1836. Ml'. Chase was married, but his wife did not come till fall. Beutley and Smith were single men. The next arrival was Daniel Salisbiuy, an unmarried man, who (^ame in five days later and made his claim on Section 29.

David Pratt, wife and live children, and Solomon Harvey, wife and three children, came in June 1, 1836. The two families settled on Section 30.

Dr. A. A. Hemenway, with his wife and one child, came June 6, 1836. He settled on Section 30. He came from Indiana, and, being naturally a man of affairs, started the village by opening his house as a tavern. He was a Free-Thinker and a Whig, as everybody discovered who stopped at his house over night. A further sketch of him appears elsewhere.

June 23, lS3(i, Col. Perez Merrick arrived from Delaware County. N. Y., and took a claim on Section 28. His family, a wife and six children, joined him the following spring. He remained on his farm till 1853, when he sold and moved into Racine County. Both he and his wife died several years ago. He was a- Democrat and a Universalist. At the same date, Austin li. Merrick settled on Section 29. He sold out his lu'st claim within a year, and bought on Section 21, where he still lives. He was married in 1839. The family by this marriage consisted of two sons and foiu' daughters. His wife died May 5, 1855. He is now living with his second wife. He, like his brotlier, was a pronounced Democrat, and, in religious faith, a Universalist.

Horace Coleman, then an unmarried man, came in with the Morricks, and settled on Section 30. He subsequently married Miss Juliette Merrick. He died some years since. He was a Universalist.

Luke Taylor and wife moved iu from Racine County some time in the summer of 1886, and settled on Section 25, near Palmer Gardner. He attempted to put up the first frame house in the town, but was thwarted liy ill luck. He erected a frame, and, to procure lumber to cover it and finish it inside went into the Racine woods and cut and drew logs to the mill, and had them sawed on shares. He drew his part home and packed them up in shape to kiln-dry. In a day or two, the pile took fire and was totally destroyed. He became discouraged, and moved to Delavan the next spring. It is stated that he took the Allen Perkins place. Allen came to Spring Prairie about the time that Luke left. Perhaps they swapped claims. Taylor fought through the rebellion, and is now an inmate of the Soldiers' Asylum at Milwaukee. He is a Methodist, a Republican, and a worthy veteran.

Robert Campbell, long deceased, came from Permsylvania in Se])tember, 1836, with his family - a wife and six children. He was a Baptist and a Whig. Daniel Campbell, brother to

Robert, came in at the same time, with a wife and four children, and settled on Section '28, where he lived three years. He died in Lyons some two years ago. He was a Methodist and a Whig.

Rnfus Billings came from Oneida County, N. Y., and settled on Section 23 in November. His family consisted of a wife and two boys - Rnfus M. and Levi. He lived there 1,111 1869, when he sold out and removed to Burlington, Racine Co., where he still resides. He was formerly a Whig. His religious affiliations were with the Cougregationalists. Daniel Adams and David Patten, also fi'om Oneida County, came in at about the same time. Adams had a wife and one child, and wintered in the house of Palmer Gardner. He lived in the town some eight years. Patten took up a claim on Section "21, and brought his wife and one child the next sjiring. He sold out and moved away in 1809. He was a Whig and a Congregationalist. Benjamin (J. Perce, a native of New York, came in from Racine County some time in the summer of 1836, and made a claim on Section 36, and bnilt the first frame house in the county. He was unmarried, but the family, consisting of the father. Rev. Benjamin Perce, his mother and a sister, moyed into the new house in December, 1836. The shingles and clapboards were all handmade, riven from oak logs and shaved with a commtm di-aw-shave.

Samuel Daniels came from Indiana in the fall of 1836, and remained through the winter with Dr. Hemeuway. He located on Section 21, afterward married, and sold out and removed from the country in 1845.

Capt. Charles Dyer, fi-om Herkimer County, N. Y., came in July, 1886, and purchased his claim on Section 23. His family did not arrive till the following spring. His children were Norman, William, Arvilla, Mary and Hattie. Norman is still living in Illinois. William, a most exemplary young man, closely identified with the Baptist Church as Superintendent of the Sabbath school, and Chorist.-r, met a sudden and untimely death in the autumn of 1848, by falling from a tree. Hattie (now Mrs. Bunnell) is still living in La Fayette. Other children did not come with the family. Among them was Dr. E. G. Dyer, of Bm-lington. Capt. Dyer was honored, before emigrating from New York, by being elected to the State Assembly. His son. Dr. E. G. Dyer, has had the same honor in Wisconsin, as has had his grandson, Chai'les E. Dyer, of Racine, now District Judge of the United States Com't - one of the most popular and learned jurists of the West.

George Gillispie came in the fall of 1836, and settled on Section 15. He was married in 1851, and still lives on his claim. He is one of the oldest male settlers now living in the town. He was formerly a stanch Whig in politics, and an exemplary member of the Free- Will Baptist Church.

The above are believed to comprise all settlers of 1839 who came into the township now known as Spring Prairie. There were several settlers in the La Fayette Township on the west, and in the Troy Townships north. The accounts which can be gathered of them are from various sources, believed to be relial)le, though not complete.

Jesse Meacham and Adolphus Spoor were the earliest prespectors. They came into the county in the fall of 1835, from Lodi, Mich., and chose the spot they subsequently claimed for their homes, on Honey Creek, in Section 25. On the 28th of May, 1 836,' they retiu-ned with their families, and there remained as long as they lived. H/h: Meacham died about the year 187(1 A fiill biographical sketch of him ap])ears elsewhere.

Adoli^hus Spoor died in the fall of 1807. He was a good farmer and generally liked by his neighbors. None of the family remain. One son, Henry, is in San Francisco, Cal., doing a prosperous business. Another. Aaron H., resides in Milwaukee. A daughter, Mrs. Bovee, is believed to be living in Washington. D. C.

Othni Beardsley was the tirst family man in the neighborhood. He arrived a few days before Meacham and Spoor, and had already plowed round his claims and otherwise marked them when they arrived. In the later years of his life, he was afflicted with a pulmonary disease, and. with the hope of regaining his health, spent some time m the South, and subsequently in Minnesota, where he died. His widow and family returned East. He was a shrewd business man, a good, reliable citizen, and represented his distj-ict one or more terms in the Territorial Legislature. The present whereabouts of the surviving members of his family are not known.

Sylviinns Spoor was a cousin of Adolphus. He was a native of Clarence, Erie Co., N. Y., where he was born December 19, 1796. He was bred a farmer, and on attaining to years of manhood, kept a hotel in his native town till he was forty years old. In the spring of ISBti. he sold out and came AVest, arriving in Troy June It!, 1S36. He bought a claim of 157 acres on Section 2i, where he built a house. There he lived till 1N7.S, at which time he sold out and moved to the village of East Troy, where he died Jime 12, 1879, at the advanced age of eightytwo years.

He married Miss Caroline Goodrich, a sister of Mrs. Adolphus Spoor, who had come in with the family November 16, 1837. They had three children - a son, Austin, who died at the age of eighteen; and two daughters, still living - Maria, now Mrs. F. F. Adams; and Sophia, now Mrs. A. J. Hayes - both residents of Milwaukee. Mr. Spoor was strictly upright in all his dealings, a strong temperance man, and an exemplary member of the Congregational Church for twentylive yeai's [jreceding his death. He left a reputation untarnished, and a memory unlilemished.

The Eobinsou brothers retiu-ned in the spring of 1887 and held their claims made the jireceding year: Simeon died November 2'2, 1838. He was biu'ied on a hill a little west of East Troy Village. His was the second bm'ial in the town. John Robinson went to New Orleans and died there.

Austin McCrackeu, who kept the first tavern in East Troy, moved many years ago intoMai'- cpiette County, where he repeated his experience of beginning a village, which was named Mackford, the first syllable of the name being in honor of McCracken. familiarly known in that region as " Mack." He was a man of more than ordinary natural abilities, and, in addition to running his tavern, worked at his trade - that of a cooper - and often appeared as an advocate in the Justice courts, where, although he had never bi>en admitted to the bar, and had only a smattering of the law, with his strong common sense he often proved no mean adversary for Lawyer Babcock and other "regulars" of the legal profession. He was an inveterate checkerplayer, and no worldly misfortune threw him into such utter despair as to be beaten at the game. He was a man of upright habits, and refused to sell his land to any ])arties who desired to sell strong drink on their premises. Mrs. McCracken was one of the most zealous adherents to the Methodist faith, and one of the earliest members, who organized the first Methodist Chiu'ch in the town.

Daniel Griffin was another Methodist, a very loud exhorter, and did much toward the establishment of Methodism in the vicinity. He died in East Troy nearly thirty years ago. Delanson, his son, moved into some northern county of this State many years since. Daniel, a younger son, is now living in Jericho, near Eagle.

Gorha'm Bunker was a blacksmith - one of the first, if not the first, who moved into the county. He had a shop on his place, where he worked, in addition to caiTying on his farm, which was near the old Jennings Mill. He died some time about 1871 or 1872. He was a substantial citizen, a man of strict integrity, and a most determined Democrat.

Elias Jennings was a worthy, industrious and valuable citizen. He built a grist-mill on his claim on Section 23, in the eastern part of the town. He died in East Troy tweuty-five years ago.

Asa Blood came in from Indiana. He remained but a short time. He moved into the present town of Sugar Creek in 1837 and took up a claim adjoining that of John Davis, on Section 14. He was very eccentric, and is well remembered by the old settlers. He claimed to have gi-eat skill in the curative ai-t, and, although lacking a diploma, was known as Dr. Blood. The children, a son and two or thi-ee daughters, evinced great musical talent, and often furnished the music for the social gatherings of thirty years ago. Some twenty years ago. he sold out and moved to Independence, Iowa, where he died not many years since.

John Davis, who built his cabin near Silver Lake, in the present town of Sugar- Creek, came from Indiana. He was unmarried, and remained but a few years. He sold his claim to John S. Boyd in 1838. It cannot be ascertained where he went, nor whether he is still living.

War At Geneva

The Geneva settlement commenced inauspiciously. It will be remembered that Brink, Hodgson and Ostrander had made claims at the foot of Geneva Lake, while running the town lines in the fall of 1835. Ostrander, on his return in the spring of 1830, found no disputant to the claim he had personally made, but Brink and Hodgson were less fortunate. During their absence, Christopher Payne, an old fi'ontiersman, then living at Squaw Prairie, on the Kishwaukee, in Illinois, who had known of the place from the description of trappers and tj'aders as early as 1832, and had already made one ineffectual attempt to discover it, set out from his home a second time in search of it, early in Februaiy, 1836, accompanied by two comjiauions, G. W. Trimble and Daniel Mosher. His second attempt was successful. On the evening of the second day, the party arrived at the foot of Geneva Lake. A thoroiTgh examination, as to the fall of water, the amount flowing fi-om the lake, and the heavy growth of timber skirting the shore, convinced Payne that the value of the site for a mill and a futm-e village had not been overstated, and. like Brinks' party, he determined to make claim to the valuable property. He found no shanty, brush-heaps, or other signs of previous occupation then common and familiar to the pioneer land prospectors - nothing to show that white men had been there before except the town line marks of the sm-veyors between Geneva and Linn. The party accordingly proceeded to occupy and make claim in the usual way. They cut down trees, made the usual number of conspicuous brush-heaps, and marked trees all along the boundaries of their claims, which embraced the quarter- section at the outlet of the lake. They remained live days, and then, being short of provisions, returned to Squaw Prairie. In March, Payne came the second time to his Geneva claim, accompanied by G. W. Trimble, Daniel Mosher, and his son, Uriah Payne, They built a log house, 10x18 feet in size, od their claiia, and retm-ned again to Payne's home in Illinois. Early in April, Payne's party made their third visit to Geneva, moved into the house they had built, with the intention of remaining through the summer, and beginning improvements by building a dam and erecting a saw-mill. They discovered at this time indications that some one had visited the spot during their absence, and made fresh claim marks by blazing trees. These indications gave Payne no uneasiness, as he was a man of undaunted courage, and felt able and willing to defend against all comers what he deemed his imdoubted rights, now doubly established by actual occupation. The party at once set about building a dam. and hewing and fi-aming the oak timber for a sluice-way to the projected saw-mill.

Things moved on quietly till near the end of .Ipril, when a party appeared, on the scene in the employ and interest of Brink and Hodgson, the surveyors bef(jre mentioned, who supposed they had made a valid claim to the property prior to Payne's first appearance. There is no proof that, up to the jieriod between Payne's second and third visits, either party had any suspicion that the other had made claim to the coveted property.

They had, it is believed, been working at cross purposes, each ignorant of the other's designs, and with information as to the value of the claim, gathered from widely diverse sources. Brink first saw the land in the fall of 1835, and, as he supposed, made a valid claim, although the evidence that he marked his claim at that time is as obscure as the marks he claimed to have put upon the trees, but which Payne failed to discover on his first and second visits. It is quite probable that his field-liook aad entries of the claim on his uote-ljook were deemed by him suffi cient evidence of his claim, till he discovered, the following spring, that it had been occupied, and a house built upon it by other parties. Payne, from his tirst visit to the time of the appearance of the opposing j^arty. had no reason to believe that he was not the first bona tide claimant. He had known of it since 1832, and, up to his second and successful effort to reach it, had been informed by hunters and traders that it still remained unoccupied.

It is ap))arent that, on the arrival of the Brink party, there was little chance for compromise with so sturdy and determined an occupant as Payne. His substantial log house, his partly finished dam and hewn timbers (all in spite of the blazed trees he had discovered on his last retm-n) showed plainly that he had come to stay imless he should be forcibly ejected. William Ostrander, one of the early claimants, headed the invading party. They immediately attempted to drive off Payne's party, but, in tlip first contest, came off second best, and withdrew from the field till re- enforcements should arrive fi-om Milwaukee, to which place they liad dispatched a messenger for aid on discovering the full vigor and covu-age of the enemy the}* had to encounter. In due time, more men arrived from Milwaukee, increasing the luimerical strength to twelve men. The recruited army did not immediately commence active hostilities in the field, but built a substantial log house on the east side of the outlet, a little northeast of the present seminai'y grounds, which was the headquartei's and general living-place of the party. The claim of Payne, the northwest quarter of Section 36, extended but a short distance below the outlet of the lake, but controlled the flow. He was building his dam and mill at the immediate outlet within its boundaries. The Brink claim took in the whole of Section 36, including Payne's. So long as thev kept off his quarter, Payne raised no objections to the operations of the intruders, though he kept a sharp eye upon them, and worked or sat in the door of his tent, with his loaded rifle within easy reach. Having the fear of Payne before their eyes, the plan was adopted to build a dam further down the stream, near where the grist-mill now stands, on land northeast of his claim, and thereby, by back llowage, render his water privilege valueless. As they found it dangerous to drive him out, they resorted to strategy, and adopted the less courageous method of drowning him out.

They made some efforts and a slight lieginning on the proposed dam, but the formation of the ground rendered it an unfeasible undertaking, and, by the advice of Mr. Charles A. Noyes, who had purchased a quai-ter-interest in Brink & Hodgson's claim, and joined the force May 21, 1836, the project was abandoned, and it was decided to build a race from the outlet to where they proposed to erect their mill. This could only be done by trespassing on Payne's rights, and the war clouds began to lower. They continued to get out timber for their mill, but confined their warlike demonstrations to dire threats of vengeance on Payne whenever they might catch him alone without his gun. Payne, meanwhile, kept with his men sm'lily at work on his dam and sluice, in a constant state of armed neutrality. Some time in May, the Brink men built two more log houses, one near the eastern boundary line of Payne's claim, neai' where they proposed to open their sluice-way, and the other on the west side of the line, onhis land. Payne made no move till the latter house was finished, but, on its completion, coolly proceeded to occupy it, by establishing in it, as his tenant, the family of James Van Slyke. The occupancy was silently effected in the night, and, when the fact became known to the bviilders, their rage knew no bounds. It was not long before they got temj)orary satisfaction. They had set fire to and destroyed the frame- work of his bulk-head, and were watching every opportunity to get between him and his gun, threatening his life whenever they could get him in their power. One morning, near the 1st of -Tiuie, Payne, being alone, concluded to go over and visit the Van Slykes, in the cabin he had so ixnceremoniously taken from his enemies and appropriated to their use. Ilnfortunately, he forgot his gun. The Philistines were upon him liefore his visit was fairly begun, put him under guard, and, after a most determined resistance on the pai'tof Payne's men, took the provisions out of his house and demolished it comjiletely. The victory was complete, and Payne and his men, with bruised faces and black eyes, received in the fray, sullenly left the field and tiu'ned their faces toward Squaw Prairie. On their way, on Big Foot Prairie, they met Robert W. Warren, a millwright, whom they had engaged, with an assistant, on their way to Geneva to assist in building the mill. The pummeled faces and disheveled appearance of the retui'ning party told them plainer than words that the times were not jiropitious for building a mill on Payne's claim, and they accordingly turned back with the retreating party.

The history thus far has treated Christopher Payne as the sole proprietor of the Geneva claim, but he had made over a third interest to Daniel Mosher, one of his companions, on his first visit to the ])lace, and his faithful co-worker ever since; and one-third to his son, Uriah, reserving one-third for himself. The disastrous end of their attempt to establish themselves completely disheartened the two partners. Mosher went to Chicago, and forthwith sold out his shai-e in the ventui'e to Lewis B. Goodsell, then doing business as a merchant, in connection with George L. Campbell and Anch-ew Ferguson. The consideration is differently stated by different authorities. One statement is that Mosher received a coat and a pair of pants; another-, that Van Slyke, an old Eastern fi-iend and acquaintance of the members of the firm, sold the shai-e to them for $30, which he received in pork and other family stores. At any rate, the price paid was exceed- ingly small, and Mosher's title by some means passed into the hands of the firm, and he left the scene of his pioneer labors and disappointments never to return.

Uriah ofiered his share to Robert W. Warren, on condition that he would assist his father in reclaiming the property. Warren readily accepted the proposition, to the great satisfaction of the old pioneer, who felt that he had now a partner of equal pluck with himself, and, greatly elated and inspired with fresh hope, he and Warren set out for Chicago to lay the case before the tu-m who held a joint interest with them in the confiscated property at Geneva. On consulting with the firm, ]Mr. Goodsell was averse to any attemjjt to recover the property if it v;as to entail any further outlay, deeming the small amount already jjaid a sufficient investment in so unpromising a speculation. Mr. Ferguson, however, became sufficiently interested to propose to join Payne and Warren in a reconnoiter before giving an adverse decision. Accordingly, the three, accompanied by G. S. Wan-en and Mr. Thrall, set out for Geneva. Having arrived on the southern shore of the lake, they spent a day in exploring the woods and in taking a general survey of the country around the lake, taking care not to make their presence known to the occupants of the claim. Mr. Ferguson, being convinced that the claim was worth contending for, he, in company with R. W. Wan-en, went over to have a parley with the enemy. They offered various terms of compromise, all of which were peremptorily rejected. Finding friendly negotiation impossible, they retiu-ned to their companions for fiu'ther consultation. They spent the night at a log house then standing on the Manning farm, and at that time occupifd bj' Lucien Wright. It was certain that the claim could not be recovered by peaceable means, and the party, if unanimously in favor of resorting to force - which was not the case - was not strong enough to cope with the Brink party, which outnumbered them three to one. They accordingly started on the trail for Chicago the following morning, discussing the situation as they went on their way. Warren and Payne were fully determined to repossess themselves of the claim, at all hazards, and it was finally decided that Payne should go home and gather recraits in his neighborhood, while Warren went on to Chicago to raise a force there. This was on Satiu-day, and the two parties were to meet at a spring near the head of the lake on the following Tuesday. At the appointed time, Warren appeared at the place of rendezvous with between thirty and forty determined men, where he found Payne, with his force, jiist preparing dinner. Some of the men had brought their families and household goods along, loaded in wagons in true emigrant style. The men were well armed. After dinner, the train look up its line of march for Geneva, where it an-ived in early evening, and camped near the present seminary grounds. The party, assured of their success if force should become necessary, again resorted to dijslomacy, and invited their adversaries to come over and have a talk. As none of the proprietors were then on the grovmd, a truce was gi-anted, to enable them to send to Prairieville (now Waiikesha) for John Hodgson, who promptly answered the summons and put in an appearance. He saw the situation at a glance, and it took but little time for him and Warren to arrange terms of capitulation and evacuation. The entire Brink & Hodgson claim, with improvements, was sold to Payne, Warren & Co., for the sum of $2,000, possession to be given on the full payment of that sum. A jiart payment was made in teams and provisions on the spot. For the balance due on the purchase, R. W. Warren set out for Chicago on foot, traveling in a direct line, by the aid of his compass. He made the journey thither in two days, spent some days there in raising the money, and, at the end of nine days, retiuned with the funds required, jsaid off Hodgson, who, in turn, paid off his men. They immediately dispersed, and Payne, W^an-en and their followers took peaceable possession of the disputed claim, as well as of the remaining land of Hodgson and Brink, to which they had never claimed title until it vras established by the jjurchase above mentioned. Thus ended the first war in Walworth County. Those of the Chicago and Squaw Prairie warriors not inclined to peaceful and industrial avocations returned to their homes, and peace smiled on the Geneva neighborhood. Further sketches and notices of the early settlers of Geneva appear elsewhere in this volume.

The Delavan neighborhood was, during its first year, little more than the home of the Phoenixes and their hired men. They were preparing for a " Temjierance Colony," which was to be made up from immigrants whom they expected to join them from the vicinity of Peny, N. Y., their Eastern home, together with such others as might come in who were morally, religiously and tetotally disposed. Col. Samuel F. Phoenix, the leading spirit, was a man of remarkable energy and strong traits of character. His religious and moral convictions seemed to be the ruling forces of his life, and on the temperance question he took what, even in these latter days, would be considered radical ground. He inserted in all deeds of conveyance made by him a proviso forbidding the sale or manufacture of spirituous liquors on jiain of the reversion of the title to himself and his heirs. "Whether or not the provision was valid in law, or whether it wjis ever tested in the courts, does not a]:)pear, but it is certain that this proviso, backed by the determination of Col. Phcenix, kept the settlement virtually free from the evils arising from the liquor traffic till the time of his death. He died in the prime of life, at the age of forty-two - September (i, 1840. A more extended biographical sketch of this early pioneer ajipears elsewhere.

Of the settlers in Troy and East Troy, Asa Blood and Austin McCracken had located their cabins on the north bank of Honey Greek, where the " army trail " crosses it. it being on the site of the present village of East Troy. On the jtrairie (afterward known as Meacham's Prairie), two miles west, had settled the families of Jesse Meacham, A. Spoor and Othni Beai'dsley. They were possessed of means, being j)erha})s the wealthiest of all the comers of 183(), with the excep tion of Col. Phoenix, of Delavam.

They built themselves very comfortable log houses, with board floors. The boards were sawed bv hand, with whip-saws. They were located on what is now the site of the village of Troy.

Thus it appears that the commencement of live of the villages of the county was cotemporaneous with the earliest settlements in 183(). These oldest villages are Geneva, Delavan, Spring Prairie, Troy and East Troy.

In 1837, owing to the extremely severe and long winter, immigration did not set in till late in the spring, but, when fairly commenced, was large, and constantly increased till fall. During that year, settlements were made in every township, and the i^opulation was quadrupled. At the beginning of 1837, the population did not exceed 200. At the close, it was at least 800. It is impracticable to attempt to give the names of those who came in during the year. Such as are known, with special mention, will be found in the various town histories. During this year, settlements were made on the sites of the present villages of Elldiorn and AVhitewater. The settlers at Elldiorn were Hollis Latham, Albert Ogden, Le Grand Rockwell and Milo Bradley. Those settling on or near the present site of the village of Whitewater, all being on Sections 5, G and 7, were Samuel Prince, the first settler in the town; Norman and Freeman L. Pratt, AVilliam and Leander Birge, Charles Hamilton, Dr. Edward Brewer, Rufus Clai'k and Dean Williams.

First Town Organizations

In 1838, January 2, the county was for the first time, by act of the Territorial Legislature, set off into towns. Their boundaries were defined as follows:

Delavan embraced the fom- townships comprising the southwestern quarter of the county, being Towns 1 and 2, in Ranges 15 and 16 east - now Darien, Sharon, Walworth, Delavan - and the southwest section of the present village of Elkhorn.

Elkhorn embraced the northwestern quarter of the county, being Towns 3 and 4, in R;mges 15 and 16 east - now Richmond, Whitewater, La Grange, Sugar Creek - and the northwest section of the present village of Elkhorn.

Geneva embraced the southeast quarter of the county, being Towns 1 and 2, in Ranges 17 and 18 east - nov? Linn, Bloomfield, Lyons, Geneva - and the southeast section of the village of Elkhorn.

Spring Prau'ie embraced two townships, described as Tovnis 3, in Ranges 17 and 18 - now r n g Prairie, La Fayette - and the northeast section of the village of Elkhorn.

Troy embraced the two adjoining townships in the northeastern corner of the county, ded as Towns 4, in Ranges 17 and 18 - now Troy and East Troy.

Further subdivisions were subsequently made, which, although chronologically are out of place, are, for the convenience of the reader, given here, showing the various changes that have brought the several towns of the county to their present geographical limits.

The subdivisions of the original town of Delavan have been as follows: Walworth, Towns 1, Ranges 15 and 16 east, set oft' into a separate town in 1889. Sharon, Town 1, Range 15 east, set off from Walworth March 21, 1843. Darien, Town 2, Range 15 east, set oft" from Delavan January H, 1810, leaving the limits of Delavan as they now are, embracing Town 2, Range 16, less Section 1, which was set oft' to form a part of the present town of Elkhorn February 2, 1846.

The subdivisions of the original town of Elkhorn have been as follows: Whitewater, Towns 3 and 4, Range 15 east, was set off into a town August 13, 1840. Richmond, Town 3, Range 15 east, was set off from Whitewater January 12, 1841. La Grange, Town 4, Range 16 east, was detached from Elkhorn March 21, 1843. Sugar Creek was incorporated from what remained of the original town of Elkliorn February 2, 1846, being Town 3, Range 16 east, with the exception of Section 36, which was reserved as a part of the present town of Elkhorn, which was formed at the date last named.

The subdivisions of the original town of Geneva have been as follows: Hudson (now Lyons), Tovm 2, Range IS east; Bloomfield, Town 1, Range IS; and Linn, Town 1, Range 17, were all set off by act of the Territorial Legislature January 23. 1S44, with the exception of five acres, a part of the Geneva Village plat, which was reserved from the Hudson Township, and remained attached to Geneva. February 2, 1846, Section 6 was detached from Geneva, and became a part of Elkhorn.

The original town of Spring Prairie was divided March 21, 1843, La Fayette, Town 3, Range 17 east, being at that date set off" into a separate town. February 2, 184(5, Section 31 was detached frow La Fayette, and became a part of the present town of Elkhorn.

The original towTi of Troy was divided April 10, 1843, at which date the town of Meacham (now Troy), Town 4, Range 17 east, was set off'. Subsequently, the name of Meacham was changed to Troy, and Town 4, Range 18, took the name of East Troy.

The town and village of Elkhorn was incoiiiorated, and its present limits defined, by act of the Legislatm'e, February 2, 184(5. It consists of foiu- sections, cornering at the geographical center of the county, detached from the adjoining towns as follows: Section 36, fi'om Sugar Creek; Section 31, from La Fayette; Section 6, from Geneva: Section 1, from Delavan. It contains an area of foui' square miles, and is the seat of justice of the coimty.

From 183S, when the original towns were incorporated, up to the time that they had been generally subdivided - say 1842 or 1843 - they were little more than election precincts. No records of town meetings for the election of town ofiicers are found of any of the original towns earlier than 1S42. The voting- places, designated in the incorporating act of 1838, were as follows: Troy, at the house of Othni Beardsley; Spring Pi-airie, at the house of Dr. Homenway; Elkhorn, at the house of Asa Blood; Delavan, at the house of Col. Samuel F. Phoenix; Geneva, at the house of Andrew Ferguson.

Early Surveys

The Government surveys began in 1835. At that time, the range and tovm lines were run. The survey was completed in 1836 and 1837, and township limits and section lines run as appears below :

WhiteKater. - Contract dated December 26, 1835; completed June 15, 1836. H. Burnham, Deputy Surveyor; Jonathan Hicks and A. Stout, Chainmen.

Walirorfli, Delavan, Linn and Geneixi. - Contract dated January 26, 1836; completed July 20, 1836. Sylvester Sybley. Deputy Sui"veyor; John Newman and Samuel Hubble, Chainmen; Christopher Bate, Marker.

La Grange. - No date of contract; done in summer of 1836. Noah Brookfield and Robert Clark, Jr., Deputy Surveyors: Franklin Emerson, Thomas Barker, E. Stewart, S. Holmes, John S. Gallup and William R. Thompson, Chainmen and Markers.

Troy. - No date of contract. Robert Clark, Jr., Deputy Surveyor; Noah Brookfield, S. Holmes, J. S. Gallup and William R. ThomjjBon^ Chainmen; Thomas Barker, Axman.

Of the settlers of 1836, except the children, of whom there are many still living, the following are still alive: Daniel Salisbm-y, living at Elkhorn; Luke Taylor, Milwaukee Soldiers' Home; Palmer Gardner, Burlington, Wis.; Rufus Billings and wife, Builingt*in, Wis.; William J. Bentley, Iowa; Mrs. David Pratt, Minnesota; Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Hareey, Iowa; Mr. Austin L. Merrick, Spring Prairie; Mr. Samuel Britton, Spring Prairie; Mr. Gilman Hoyt, in the northern part of Wisconsin; Mrs. Sylvanus Spoor, in East Troy; Urban D. Meacham, Freeport, 111.; Dr. A. A. Hemenway, Oregon; Mrs. Daniel Adams, California; Samuel Britton, Spring Prairie; George Gillispie, Spring Prairie; Mrs. Susan Phcenix, wife of William Phoenix, Utter's Corners, Richmond, Wis.; Ajidrew Ferguson, Geneva; Gay lord Graves, Iowa.