Walworth County, Wisconsin - Chapter 2, 1882 (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 2

Incidents and Reminiscences, 1836 to 1842 - First Thokoughi'aees - First Voyagers - Early Mail Facilities - Their Houses - Annoyances - Hardships - First Conflagration - Claim Associations - Legal Lore - The First Judge - The First Influx of Swine - Recreation - The Pie Story (First Version in Print.) - The Pie Story (Manuscript Version.) - Moral and Religious Germs - Moral Agitation - Walworth County Branch Underground Railroad - The Beginning of Husbandry.

TT will not be attemi)ted to give a connected or chi-onological account of events transpiring diu-ing the six years succeeding the first settlement, so much as to present to the reader a varied picture of the experiences, trials and pleasiu'es of pioneer life in Walworth County forty years ago. From it each reader may gain information as to the ethical development of refined society from these crude elements; or he may, it is hoped, derive the more wholesome and natural pleasure of reading the traditionary tales of his fathers, unsickened by the pale cast of philosophic thought.

It will be seen that as early as 1837, there were at least seven well-defined centers of population or neighborhoods within the limits of the county, at each of which was a tavern, or, at least, a place of entertainment for all who might come. Spring Prairie was often known as Franklin, a name given the post office at the four corners where Dr. Hemenway lived. The doctor utilized his house to its fullest possibilities. It was his home, office, store, a boarding-house and a tavern, and, among the early settlers, " Hemenway's " meant Spring Prairie, as that was where they could get lodged and fed.

Maj. Meacham kept the tavern at what is now Troy, so that '' Meacham's " meant Troy. He was not only the first tavern-keeper, but the Postmaster in that town, being appointed some time in 1838. The neighborhood two and one-half miles east of Meacham's, now the village of East Troy, was known as " McCracken's," while the whole Troy region when the first settlements were made, was known as Honey Creek. " Bradley's " tavern at Elkhorn designated that locality, while "Phoenix's" and " Tm'tle Creek" designated Delavan, at the foot of Swan Lake, where Col. Phoenix first designed to have his village; and the present site of the village, where Allen Perkins, in 1836, and William Phoenix, a cousin of the Colonel, subsequently kept tavern. Whitewater was somewhat " off the trails," and seemed, from its geogi-aphical position, to be for some years but a distant relative of the Walworth County family, though she always comforted herself with cordiality, and was held in warm regard by the other neighborhoods.

At Geneva, the Widow Warren and her two sons, kept open house from their arrival in the summer of 1836. In 1837, R. W. Wari'en built a log-house near the present site of the St. Dennis Hotel in that village, and opened a regular tavern.

Outside localities were known by names still familiar to old settlers, but conveying no very definite idea of locality to modern visitors or strangers. Big Foot Prairie designated the present town of Walworth, called " Big Foot" for short. East Delavan was for a long time called Shattakee.

The First Th0Roughfare.S.

The first stage route was established through the county in 1836 or 1837 by John Inman and his associates, who had made a settlement on Rock River, at what he termed the ''head of navigation," near- the present city of Janesville. There they had laid out a' city on paper, and named it Wisconsin City. The city went out of sight in the financial crash of 1837, which ruined the hopes of thousands who had become infected with the speculative mania that raged for the two preceding years. It never existed except in name and in the visionary brain of its banLTuinp founder. Its name and mythical existence, however, resulted in benefit to the settlers of Walworth County, as Inman's stage route from Racine to Wisconsin City passed through the county from east to west, by way of Hemenway's and Turtle Creek. The stage made but a few trips before the project was abandoned, but the road, rough as it was, remained as a passable thoroughfare for the inhabitants.

In 1838, through the efforts of Jesse Meacham and other settlers in the northern range of towns, a mail route was established from Milwaukee to Janesville, and a Government road laid out. It was on the direct route from Milwaukee to Madison, and, for many years, was a much traveled thoroughfare. It is notable that, after the lapse of forty-four years, stages are still rutiaiug essentially over the same route, carrying the mail to East Troy, Mayhew (in Troy), Millard (inSu^'ar Creek) and Richmond. Two railroads now run on either side the entire length of the route, and the whistle of the locomotives, that long ago superseded the stages on the other old roads, can be heard on one hand or the other the whole way. It is a remarkable instance of the survival of a time-honored institution against the pressiu'e of modern improvemjnt. It is now the oldest stage line in the State, if not in the Northwest. The mail was at first carried once a week, on horseback. It is now carried triweekly west from East Troy, and daily by two routes from Milwaukee, on alternate days to that point.

Another quite important road was laid out early fi-om Southport (now Kenosha) to Beloit It was an important thoroughfare. It extended through the southern tier of towns, passing through the Geneva settlement. Much of the grain and produce from Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, as far west as Rock River, found its way to market by teams over this road, and Geneva became the favorite half-way stopping-place for the teamstei's. It was also the outlet to the civilized world for the earlier settlers of Sharon and Walworth.

The present means of railway transportation which are now accessible to nearly every township in the county, did not enter into the prophetic dreams of the most far-seeing. Those who saw clearly that the land was destined to teem with an industrious and productive population, looked, not to the railroads, but to water navigation as the future means of transportation. Increase A. Lapham, then a young siu-veyor, who had come out in the employ of Byron Kilborn, the projector of the Rock River Canal, in 1842, sjaoke of the advantages of the locality. He said; '- The ])osition of Walworth County, midway between Lake Michigan and Rock River (which will ultimately be made navigable) must render it important, by having a chance for two markets for the surjilus products." The Rock River was never made navigable sufficiently to become an important factor in the development of the interior counties. The only water navigation of which any mention is made in the history of Walworth County, has been confined to the pleasiu'e craft on her lakes and two commercial voyages, made at an early day, of which the following accounts have been preserved.

Fibst Voyagers

Early chroniclers state that Christopher Payne made the first voyage, on his retmm from his first visit to Geneva. One account states that, "having cut down trees, made piles of bnish and marked the trees on the border of the lake as evidence of his claim and of its extent, he ma<le himself a log canoe out of a black walnut tree, and in it floated down the outlet to Fox River, and down that stream to the big woods in Illinois, and then went home." Other accounts of Payne's retiu-n are silent as to the voyage down White River, but it is certain, if he floated down, he did not retm'u by the same route.

A more successful voyage was made from Spring Prairie, of which the following account is furnished by Daniel Salisbmy, then living at that place:

" If Geneva claims to be the head-waters of navigation in Walworth County, because of having shipped the first boat-load, in 1836, lier claim should be closely contested, as Spring Prairie shipped three loads to her one in 1837, the boats arriving well loaded on their retiu-n voyage, and we have never heard of the return of the boat which sailed from Geneva - only the living freight."

The energetic men of Spring Prairie, in the spring of 1837, wishing to sow and plant all the grain possible, and being short of seed, and finding it impossible to drive a wagon, owing the wet and soft condition of the soil, after due deliberation, agreed that the only way to procure it was by means of water navigation to some point in Illinois accessible by way of Fox

River. Accordingly, tlu-ee companies wont into the woods, near Sugai' Creek, cut three of the largest trees they could find suited to the purpose, and from theui made three canoes. They launched them in Sugar Creek, and started on their voyage down Honey Creek into White River, thence into Fox River to the '" big woods " in Illinois. There they purchased gTain and potatoes sufficient to load their boats to within three inches of the water's edge, and started on the return voyage, which was, as may be easily discerned, not an easy one to make against the current, with no " prosperous gales," but only the propelling power of muscle exerted with the paddle and setting-pole. The boats did not return in company, but were several days' voyage apart. No misfortune occm-red on the return voyage till one of the boats entered a lake where, the water being high, the navigators could not keep in the cmTent, and the boat foundered. The unfortunate craft was in the command of Daniel Campbell, assisted by David Patten. In attempting to extricate their boat from its perilous position, they broke one of their setting- [loles, and, for some time, absolute shipwreck stared them in the face. By dint of much hard labor, and with the exercise of cool judgment, they were at last relieved of their difficulty, with only a little gi-ain wet, Mr. Patten'r. coat well soaked from having fallen into the river, together with some books which he had borrowed to read, to while away the passing hours as they floated down the sb'eam. One of the books is kept in remembrance by the writer, and shows the stains from the soaking it received during that memorable voyage of forty- four years ago. This fleet, with its return cargo, arrived in Spring Prairie in the latter part of May, 1S37." The only names of these old Walworth navigators that are remembered are Campbell and Patten before mentioned, and Sylvanus Langdon and Solomon Harvey, who were in another boat. The crew of the third boat has faded from the remembrance of the few survivers of that time.

The mail facilities were somewhat restricted. In 183G, when the first settlers came in, there was no post office nearer than Racine, where all letters were sent for residents of the county, and all letters mailed, written by them. The difficulties and delays attending the receiving and transmission of intelligence to and from the outer world, was one of the annoyances if not hardships, of pioneer life. Some time in 1837, a post office was established at Biu'lington, and the mail matter for Walworth County distributed from that place. In 1838, several post offices were established in the county. Among the first was that at Spring Prairie, named Franklin Post Office; Dr. Hemenway was appointed Postmaster. The Oeneva Post Office was established soon after and Andrew Ferguson appointed Postmaster. For two years after its establishment the mail was carried to and from Spring Prairie weekly, in the pockets and hat of a man named Harvey, who made his trips on horseback or on foot.. Another was established at Troy, Maj. Jesse Meacham being appointed the first Postmaster. The exact date of his commission is not known. IMr. Dwinnell, in a biographical sketch, says: "Upon the establishment of a mail route from Milwatikee to Janesville and the Mississippi River, in 1838, Maj. Meacham was appointed Postmaster at Ti-oy, which office he held many years." Mr. Solden Powers, still living in Troy, came in May, 1837, from Milwatikee. He states that on his way he met JNlaj. jMeacham on horseback, who. having been-appointed Postmaster, was going to Milwaukee after his mail. The statement of Mr. Powers leads to the belief that Mr. Meacham was the first Postmaster appointed in the county, and that he brought in his own mail from Milwaukee, before the mail route was established. The same year, a post office was established at Delavau, and William Phcenix appointed Postmaster. The first mails were carried over this route by a man named Douns, on horseback. He sowed white clover all along the trail which grew Itixiu'iantly. This was the first white clover-seed sown in the coitnty. Diu'ing the sticceediug two years, post offices were established at or near every considerable settlement in the county, but tlie periods of arrival were not oftener than once a week, and the mail service so imperfect that the miscarriage or losing of letters was as nearly the rule as the exception. These annoyances did not cease for many years, and did not entirely disappear till good roads and well appointed stage and mail lines threaded the entire county. Mr. S. A. Dwinnell, in one of the historical sketches, portrays his trials, which were common to all the early settlers, as follows:

"During my first six months in Wisconsin, I was almost entirely shutout from the civilized world. I knew but little of what was going on outside the range of my own vision. During that winter there was no emigration or travel. The spring of 1837 was very late, and emigration did not reach us until some of the last days of May.

" For this entire period I think I saw no newspaper, except two or three numbers of the Milwaukee Advertiser, then recently established and containing but little news. It was the only paper published north of Chicago and south of Green Bay.

" Afti>r this long seclusion, word was sent me that the Worcester Spy, from my native State, had been regularly forwarded to my address from my paternal homs, to Racine, the nearest post office, thirty-live miles distant. I had several times sent for my mail and received letters only. Upon going to the post office myself, about the middle of June, I found all my papers. They had beea kept in a se])arate place from letters and had been overlooked when my mail was called for. During most of those lonely months my reading had, from nece.ssity, been limited to Goodrich's history of the United States and tha Bible. Could I have received the .S'p(/ and have thus obtained a glimpse of the outside world occasionally, it woiild have been a source of pleasure and instruction which none can fully appreciate but those who have been similarly situated.

-'A few j'ears subsequent to the establishmjnt of a post office at Spring Prairie, and dm'ing the period when we received only a weekly horseback mail from the East, we were informed that a letter had come to the office for us. Letters from Eastern relatives were then esteemed of great value and were filled, usually, with iuform:ition eagerly sought for. As postage was then charged by the piece and not by weight, as at present, large sheets of paper were used, and often those of mammoth size. After the pajjer was once written over, it was generally written crosswise, with red ink; so that each letter contained a large fund of information and was regarded as no small treasure. At that time postage was 25 cents on all letters carried over 800 miles. Cash was not plenty and letters of not every day occurrence.

'-As we had baen looking for one for some tim?, I hastened to the office, on foot, four miles away, eager to obtain it You can judge of my disappointment when no letter could be found for us. The Postmaster said that the mail brought one, but he conld give no further account of it. It seems that he carelessly put it into the mail-bag again and it was carried west. It returned about a year afterward. How far it had traveled we never knew; but as Wisconsin Territory embraced what is now Iowa and Minnesota, it had a chance for an extended circuit, which it probably made.

" In the year 1S44, a letter was forwarded to us, from New Ham[).shire, containing the news of the sudden death, with all particulars of the funeral, of a very dear relative, which did not reach us. Other lettei's came, containing allusions to the sad bereavement. We waited in suspense for the facts, some three months, whten the letter was forwarded to us from an office ten miles away, from which we never received our mail. It had been illegally detained. These are specimens of the trials and annoyances experienced by the pioneers, from incompetent men in public positions.'' The post offices in the county in 1840 are given in the United States census report of that year as follows: Big F<3ot, Darien, Delavan, Elkhorn, Fairfield. Franklin, Heart Prairie. Lyonsdale, Round Prairie, Sugar Creek, Troy, Whitewater - twelve in all.

Their Hodses

A few of the pioneers who came in with abundant means erected houses having all the requirements for comfort and convenience that could be brought or supplied in a new and unsettled country. But, at the best, these dwellings lacked most of the modern conveniences. With no stores within fifty miles, and no roads over tho intervening distance, no liunber except as it stood in the trees, no saw-mills, no tools, except what they brought, no brick, no lime, till it was cpiarricd and burned, and no carpenters, builders or laborers except themselves, the circumstances were not favorable for architectural display.

Most of the houses-were of rude construction, made to keep out the cold and wet, and to fm-uish a place to live. Many of them were made without the use of any tools save an ax and a hammer. Four tools were considered a full with which to build a comfortable house - an ax, a saw, a hammer and an auger; happy he who came thus well equipped. Rev. S. A. Dwinnell, who came in 1836, describes the dwellings of the inhabitants at that time:

"In 1886, there were two frame houses, one of Benjamin C. Pearce. covered with siding i-ived from the trees standing on the banks of the Whit? River, on the eastern line of the county, near Burlington, the other being built by Luke Taylor a little west of it; neither of them were finished and were more uncomfortable than the rudest log cabins. There were thirty-live dwellings constructed of logs - generally of one story, covered with clapboards rived from the oaks called shakes, fastened to their place with small logs laid upon them; the doors of the same material were pinned to upright posts at the sides, hung upon wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch the string of which always "hung out." Some of these cabins had the natm-al eai-th for a floor; others had floors made of jauncheons, or planks, hewed from the trees, and laid upon sleepers and kept in their places by their own weight; a few had board floors. Meacham and Spoor sawed theirs by hand with a whipsaw. Some were without chimneys, as were those at Geneva, the smoke and sparks making their way thi'ough an opening left in the roof for that piu-jjose; others had chimneys made of sticks covered with mud mingled with grass. The chimneys were usually large and were often the best and sometimes the only window to light the apartment. Very few of these cabins had more than six panes of 8x10 glass, to let the sunlight in upon their inmates. Many of them were made without a nail in any part, not even in the door. Some of them were furnished with two or thi-ee old kitchen chairs; others had only threelegged stools to sit upon. The tables were usually made from the trees, the top fastened upon foiu- legs which crossed each other in the manner of those of a cot bed. The bedsteads were made in the same rude manner as the other furniture, illustrating the truth of the old adage that "necessity is the mother of invention." Each bedstead was made to stand upon one leg - the other ends of the rails being inserted in the logs which composed the walls of the building. The bed. which was made of dried grass called " prairie feathers," was laid upon shakes in the place of cords. The bedstead thus constructed was called by the strange and unaccountable name of "catamount." The covering to the bed was generally so light as to require the clothing of the sleepers to be added to it to make them comfortable.

Tools were few and a general co operative system of borrowing and lending was in vogue till the first scarcity was over; till then individual rights in personal property seldom asserted themselves against the more communistic and human rights of a needy neighbor. If a tool was not in use, it was cheerfally passed into the temporary possession of him who had need of it. Borrowing and lending and " changing works " made a community of interest not now known, and cemented friendships only to be broken by death. One man hewed timber for his neighbor and helped him build his cabin; he repaid him in jilowing, lending him his oxen or plow, or otherwise reciprocating.

The long distances traveled to obtain conveniences now in every house or easily accessible, was no small hardshij) and illustrates the great value of insignificant things brought out by being deprived of them. The very earliest settlers carried their gi-ist from ten to forty miles to mill, or resorted to the more primitive mode of grinding them with a round stone on the top of an oak stump hollowed out for that purpose For several years there was but one fanning-mill on Spring Prairie, which was borrowed indiscriminately by all living within five miles of its owner. The miles that were traveled in search of it and in returning it are incomputable. S. A. Dwinnell states that before commencing work on his cjaim, he was obliged to send to Chicago, eighty mile.=i, to ])nrchase an ax, as the one he had in his trunk when he started from Indiana, was accidentally left at South Bend. An ax was one of the few things hard to borrow, as it was the one itidispeusable article that could not be spared even for a day. Palmer Gardner, of Spring Prairie, had the first grind stone in the county. It was too heavy to borrow, and people came long distances to use it, always in couples, as it took an extra man to turn. It was thus sometimes a good day's work for a man to get his ax or scythe ground. First, some miles journey to get the man or boy to turn, and then some miles fiu'ther to get to the stone. It is related that, July IS, 1836. Dr. Homeuway per.suaded the wealthy pi-ospector. Col. Phcenix, then his guest, to go over to Gardner's with him, three miles, to help him grind his scythe. Even after some blacksmiths had come into Geneva, Spring Prairie. Troy and Delavan, the majority of the settlers had to go many miles, at a very slow ])ace, to get an ox shod.

Mr. James Aram, an early settler still living in Delavan, relates that at an early day, having immediate occasion for a whole and presentable pair of boots, he foiind it impossible to buy a

One settler in Honey Creek purchased a barrel of ilour in Milwaukee and wheeled it in a wheelbarrc^w all the way home - some thirty miles, over a very rough road to travel. Another relates that as late as 1838 or 1889, he went to Milwaukee with an ox-team and there purchased what was then a rare household luxury - a cooking stove. On reaching home with his treasiu'e, it was found to be so cracked as to be useless until it was repaired, which could not be done nearer than Milwaukee. Without unloading, he started again for Milwaukee. In fording a stream which had become swollen bj' recent rains, he unfortunately dumped his bos, which, after much laljor and delay, he succeeded in getting across the stream. At the end of seven days he returned with the stove in condition for use.

The mending of plows or other castings involved a jom'ney of three days, to Racine or Milwaukee. Plow-shares, requiring to be mended, and other ironwork, even often carried on the backs of men a distance of fifteen miles to the nearest blacksmith.

Ml'. Baker, in his historical address before the old settlers' society, states that one pioneer brought on his back, a stone chiu-n from Chicago. The gentleman to whom was attributed this extraordinary feat, is still living, enjoying in quiet alHuence, the lengthening years. In vindication of the truth of history, it must be said that it was not a stone ehui'n which he brought in, but a five-gallon stone jar.

When, as occurred as early as 1840, there began to be asvu'plus of gi'ain. it had to be hauled from forty to sixty miles to the nearest market - Racine, Southport or Milwaukee, when 50 cents per bushel, half store-pay, was the average p)'ice for wheat. If the cash paid the expense of the journey, and the farmer got home with the goods he considered it a lucky trip. Any breakdown on the road or unusal delay swallowed up the entire value of the load.

In the siuumer, constant annoyance and much suffering was occasioned to both man and beast by dense swarms of insects. Black tlies tormented the cattle, and clouds of mosquitoes infested the opening.s, and drove sleep and slumber from the settlements at night. They occasionally alighted in bunches, swarming like bees on the necks and heads of the cows, who would thus come home at night bellowing with torment. Here sympathy for the sufferings of the pioneer cattle would not be misplaced.

The massasauga, a torpid reptile of the rattlesnake species, was ijuite numerous on the wet lands. Its bite was very venomous, but, owing to its warning rattle, which was promptly and loudly given, few serious results occurred fi'om encounters with them. They were soon thinned out, and ceased to be a soui'ce of anxiety, but while plenty, as they were for the first two or three years, they were certainly annoying, if not dangerous.

The inconveniences of distances met the pioneer at every turn. The eai'ly marriages were not seasons of feasting and dancing so often as fasting and traveling. The securing of the bride often cost the groom less trouble than the getting of the proper license and obtaining a magistrate to tie the connubial knot.

Charles A. Noyes and Nancy Warren, the first persons living in the county to be man-ied, could find no magistrate within its limits to perform the marriage ceremony, and accordingly took the " Indian Trail " for Milwaukee, where they were married. The wedding tour was made over the same trail, back to Geneva Lake, which was their home.

Sylvester Spoor, who married Miss Caroline Goodrich in November, 1837, lived in Troy. He was obliged to go to Racine for his license, and to Rochester for a Justice of the Peace .to perform the eeremonj'.

A. H. Bunnell, still living in La Fayette, married, in the fall of 1839, Miss Mary, daughter of Capt. Charles Dyer, then living on Gardner's Prairie. The marriage took place at the house of the bride's father. This involved considerable extra exertion on the part of the groom, before the young couple were fairly settled in their own caliin. He was determined to bring his bride home in style, and he ransacked Waukesha County for a rig worthy of the occasion. He hired a horse of L. G. Smith, of Sjiring Prairie, and a buggy (the only one in the county) of Hemy Phcenix, of Delavan. It took a journey of some miles to get his horse and buggy together, and more miles to get to the place of the wedding. The wife being secured, he di-ove home with her. and then proceeded to Delavan to return the buggy. Returning on horseback, he stopped at dark at the house of Mr. Mollis Latham, Elkhorn. From there, it being a moonlight evening, he concluded to leave the beaten path, which v?as somewhat indirect, and make a " bee line " through the openings to his home and his bride. He pushed on with a light heart, riding, as he expressed it, " miles and many miles away," and, after several hours, arrived again af Latham >i hoHse. He turned his horse's head homeward a second time, in a wiser and more contemplative mood. This time he took the beaten path, and reached home some time during the night.

There were few horses, the work being mostly done by oxen, and the light travel, by the men, on foot. Not unfi-equently, in traveling off the trails, foot travelers became bewildered, and lost their bearings completely, com'sing round in a small compass till discovered by some one who had not lost his coiu"se.

Ml-. Allen Perkins, the tirst settler at Tm-tle Creek, where the village of Delavan now stands, selected his claim July 20, 1836, and started for Hemenway's in the evening. He intended to keep the track which Inman's teams had recently made on a trip from Racine to " Wisconsin City," but soon lost it, and, becoming liewildered, wandered about in the openings north of Elkhorn Prairie all night, and till the afternoon of the next day, without food or sleej), when he was met by Col. Phoenix returning fi-om a prospecting trip, who piloted him to his place of destination. Mr. S. A. Dwirmell states that Perkins' mishap was the cause of the tirst roads being laid out, as, to prevent the recurrence of like or more serious perils, the settlers of Spring Prairie soon after tiu'aed out and drew a tree through the grass to make a track - a distance of twelve miles - to where Delavan now is.

" The dangers connected with losing one's way, especially after the cold weather set in, were greater than can now be realized. A little incident in the experience of the wTiter, trivial in itself, will illustrate this: A few days after coming to the county, on a Satiirday, I set out on an exploring torn- to tind me a claim, as the land was not then in the market. I came to the beautiful Imrr-oak openings on Sections I'J and 20, in the present town of La Fayette, thi'ee miles northeast of what is now Elkhorn. The east half of Section 20, now occu[iied as farms by R. B. Burroughs, Joseph Bell, John Bell, William Baumis, was a tine tract for a farm, comjwsed of timber, grass, prairie land and openings, and sujiplied with water. I went to the northeast corner and made what was then called a jack-knife claim, which would hold for thirty days, by blazing a tree and wi'iting my name and the day of the month upon it. Then, going west to the quarter-stake, I did the same there. Fearing to cross the center of the section to the south without any guide, and the day being cloudy, I undertook to follow the lines around the west side of the section, ^\1len near where the road now runs, not far from where the house of A. H. Bunnell is built, I took my line across a wet prairie before m-^ that I might strike the sm-veyors' blazes again in the openings beyond, and was proceeding along the west side of the present farm of Jeremiah Parmelee when a large tlock of deer crossed my path and diverted my sight trom my course. After crossing the low and untimbered land, I had a long search in vain to tind the section line again. I then proceeded south, as I supjjosed, to tind the east and west line on the south side of the section. After looking a long time, I struck a line which I thought to be the right one, and followed it, as it seemed to me, toward the east. The country looked strange; a stream seemed to be on the south of me which I had not anticipated. I soon, however, saw a fresh claim blaze ahead of me, and supposed that some one had just been there making a claim in advance of me. Judge of my surprise when I came to the corner to read on the tree, in large black letters, " S. A. Dwinnell, November 19, 183()." I saw at once that I was lost, and the points of the compass were all vn'ong. I was at the quarter-stake on the north side of Section 20, instead of the south side, as I supposed. I stood there until, by force of will, I brought myself straight. I then took my course one mile through the center of the section, measuring the distance by pacing, and came out within a few feet of the quarter-stake on the south side, when I tinished marking my claim and retiu'ned to Spring Prairie. I ran an immense risk of losing my life, without a compass, without fire- works, as Inciter matches were then not to be obtained here. I might have wandered for days, and, in some directions, for scores and hundreds of miles, without coming to a settlement. The risk I ran of perishing of cold and hunger was very great."

The early settlers of Walworth Coimty suffpred as little from hardships incidental to pio ne;^r life as was possible in a new country, when the fii-st crop was yet to be harvested. Indeed, they were peculiarly favored. No hostile tribes of Indians remained to molest them or make them afraid. The "timber stood at convenient distance, ready for the ax. , The surface of the laud was neither covered with rocks nor broken into bleak and barren hills, vs in New England. The soil was fertile and ready for the plow.. Food and supplies could already be obtained by a jom-ney to the lake. So it will be seen that the first occupancy of the land was fi-auj^ht with no exciting danger, and accompanied by no extreme perils or hardships, except such as were incidental to pioneer life forty years ago, under the most favorable circumstances. Nevertheless, such as they were, they were endured with indomitable ])luck. and. to their descendants living in these later days, surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of life, they should teach the needed lesson of perseverance and patience, lacking which their fathers would have left them no such heritage as they now enjoy. Their hardshij is, though then the common lot, were cheerfully endured, and through them the path of ease was hewn for their descendants.

It is not known that any case of starvation or of extreme suffering from the pangs of hunger ever transpired. Several, fi'om peculiar circumstances, got short of food during the winters of 1880, 1S37 and 1838, and suffered all the uatold agonies of apprehension and anxiety. Subsequent to 1838, the second crop had been raised In' the tirst-comers, and there was no lack of food, those too poor to get in a crop being able to supply their wants by working for their more fortunate neighbors till they could get a start for themselves.

Deacon John Reader, who settled in the town of Walworth in Febriiary, 1837, went to Illinois for supplies. Owing to various causes, his trip was prolonged till the family were reduced to the verge of starvation. It is stated that only a little bran was left, which had been sifted for the third time by Mrs. Reader, and that, on the night of Mr. Reader's retmm, she had put the children to Ised with a scanty meal even of that. She met her husband some distance from the house, and cautioned him to silence, lest the hungry children might awake before she could have a meal cooked for them. Of the hoiu-s of weary waiting of this faithful wife and mother, alone in the lonely cabin, with only the voices of her helpless children within, and the moan of the winter wind" or yelp of the prairie wolves without, through the long days and the longer nights, no record has been" presei-ved. She was one of the " silent heroes " who wrought to the full measm-e of her strength, and died unsung. May these lines awaken in the heart of the reader affectionate and tender memories for her and the other faithful women who silently and imcomplainingly bore their noble part in the labors and anxieties of those early times.

Milo E. Bradley, during the winter of 1837-38 - the first winter after moving on to his fcum - depended for his "supplies on his ritle and the results of his labor as a carpenter. Sickness in his family kept him from labor and the hunt for many weeks, and thus shut up, his provisions became reduced to a few crusts of bread and a marrow bone. Of these he made a soup for breakfast, which left absolutely nothing in the house for the next meal. His wife was too ill to be left alone while he should go for supplies. He was a firm believer in the direct efficacy of prayer, and. in his sore distress, he fell upon his knees, and, as he says, " prayed as he had never prayed before." He f lu'ther stated that, while thus engaged, he saw in a vision, as plainly as he ever saw anything with his natural sight, a large buck standing near a biu-r-oak tree some eighty rods from his house. He peremptorily closed his prayer, took his rifle, went out and foimd the deer standing exactly as he had seen it while on his knees in the house. He killed it, and was thus supplied with food until he was able to otherwise provide himself. The truth of the above is established on the testimony of the late S. A. Dwinnell, who had the narrative from Mr. Bradley himself.

During the first year of settlement, before the first bounteous crop could be harvested, the food lacked variety, to say the least. Many families subsisted almost entirely upon beans and potatoes, without meat, butter or milk, and instances are related of families being found in a state of health and hapjsiness living on potatoes alone, without even a seasoning of salt. Some affluent families of to-day well remember when bean soup, potatoes and milk at one meal were considered a bounteous repast.

The danger and suffering from extreme cold was great, as places of covert were widely scattered. The memorable cold snap of December, 1836, is still remembered with a chill by the sui- Tivors of that time. Mr. Dwinuell thus describes it:

" The pioneers of Wisconsin must ever remember the 20th of December for one of the most sudden changes to severe cold ever ex[)erienced in our history. It had rained all day upon some fifteen inches of snow. Early in the evening, the wind veered to the northwest and the temperature ran down at a rapid rate. Having no thermometer, I can form no certain estimate of the intensity of the cold. It soon became unendurable in our cabin, and, building a large fire and hanging up blankets before it, I sat down in front of them to keep from freezing.

" It was so terribly cold that, had a person been caught foiu- or five miles from a house, he must have perished. Fortunately, few were thus exposed. James Van Slyke, with his hired man, were on their way from Belvidere, 111., to his house, at the head of Geneva Lake, with a drove of hogs. They had reached Big Foot Prairie, three miles froin home, when the change came. They soon left their drove and started at a rapid rate for their house. Van Slyke succeeded in the undertaking, but his boots were so loaded with ice that it took a teakettle full of boiling water to thaw it off, as his wife afterward told me.

"A mile from home, the hired man, named Disbro, fell, exhausted and overcome with the intensity of the cold. He must have perished had not a man, providentially at the house, stai'ted out .'it once and brought him in. As it was, his feet were so frozen that he lost several of his toes, which Mrs. Van Slyke amputated with her shears, having made unsuccessful efforts to ob tain a surgeon to do it. .Ml the hogs, except two, froze to death that night."

The First C0Nfl.A.Gbati0N

The first destruction of a dwelling house by fire in the county occuri-ed in Spring Prairie, and came near depriving the county of two of her future citizens. Samuel C. Vaughn came in 1837 and built a loo- house, in which he lived till the fall of 183U, at which time he built him a frame house some eighty rods from his cabin. Into this he moved, and his brother David took possession of the cabin, with his family, consisting of a wife and two boys, George and Henry, then two and four years old. On a bright moonlight evening in December (1839), David proposed to go over to Samuel's house to settle up some unfinished liusiness. His wife proposed to accompany him, leaving the two children asleep in the house. Mr. Vaughn, without any good reason at that time known to himself, strenuously insisted on taking the boys along, which was accordingly done. The house of his brother where they went was over a knoll, out of sight of the cabin.

About 10 o'clock in the evening. Dr. Hemenway, who lived a mile away, discovered a fire in the direction of Vaughn's cabin, and, on reaching the spot, found it a pile of glowing embers, with no signs of any of its inmates alive. In great pertiu'bation, he rushed off to Samuel's, where, greatly to his relief, he found David, with his wife, just starting for home, each with one of the boys in their arms. Dr. Hemenway, with a gasp of relief on finding them safe, asked them where they were going. " Home," was the reply. " You have no home," said the Doctor: which was true, and they had little, also, except the clothing they had on, and the two boys, safe and sound. They found a shelter for the winter at the house of Isaiah Dike-, a brother-in-law. David Vaughn and his wife see now a reason for taking the boys along. George and Henry Vaughn, plucked as brands from the burning shanty, are still living near the scene of tht^r early escape from prematm-e destruction in the first conflagration of Walworth County.

Claim Associations

When the fii-st claims were made, just subsequent to the completion of the Government survey, the tenure to the land was not assured to the claimant by the Government, except by appeal for relief through the Territorial Courts, which, from the distance and the expense attending such resort, rendered it unavailable ti> the poor claimant whose worldly possessions often comprised little more than his ax and gun, and the land he had claimed, and on which he hojjed to make his home. By custom rather than by sanction of written law, certain acts became acknowledged as necessary to identify a claim made, and certain others to hold the claim against future comers. Trees along the line of the claim, if in the openings, were blazed, and the name of the claimant nicarked legilily upon thorn, with the date of the claim. The (jiiarter-stakes .set by the surveyors were generally marked in like manner. As jn-oof of occupancy, the claimant, if not making an immediate settlement, was expected to leave unmistakable marks of occu})ation and " improvements '' on the land. The most common consisted of the cutting down of a few trees, })iliug heaps of brush where they would easily be discovered by explorers, and, if time permitted, the erection of a rude shanty. Having thus secured priority of title, the claimant often left his claim for mouths, to jjrepare for a more permanent settlement. Sometimes, on his return, he would find some interloper, not having the sanctity of the right of discovery before his eyes, quietly settled on his claim, and perhaps determined to hold it unless forcibly ejected. The disputes arising from this cause increased in number as the settlers became more numerous, and there were many cases of extreme hardship and injustice, when the claims of honest settlers were jumped and held against them by brute force or intimidation, regardless of all principles of humanity or right.

Fm'ther, many bogus claims were marked, and thus formally made by speculators who never intended to settle, but only to cause the bona tide settler to buy him ofl' to gain peaceable possession.

To obviate these difficulties, and to secure each other in the })eaceable possession of their lands, the settlers of the different neighliorhoods eai'ly formed societies for nuitual protection against the prevailing evil. They were known as "Claim Associations." The by-laws of these societies were the first laws concerning the tenure of jjroperty ever observed or enforced in Walworth County. They were primarily intended to protect all l)ona tide settlers in possession of their rights, as against all comers and at all hazards, even to that of forcible ejectment, if milder means failed. The Qumbjr of acres was detined which should constitute a claim for the head of a family or for an unmaiTied man, and the conditions under which his claim should be deemed valid by the members of the association. Such claim having been recorded on the books of the association, each and every member was Ijound to defend him in its possession till such time as he might acquire it by purchase from the Government. These associations were the only reliable safe-guard to the sqiiatters [)rior to the tirst laud sale, which did not take place until February, 1839. The exact number of associations cannot be ascertained, but they embraced in their jm-isdictiou the entire territory of the county, and, by the moral force that lay in their mmierieal strength, jnit a sto[) to claim-jumping, or, in exceptional oases, by more vigorous and arbiti'ary proceedings, promptly reinstated the true claimant in his possessions.

The institutions worked harmoniously throughout the county, with rare exceptions. A slight unpleasantness grew out of an amendment made to the by-laws of the Claim Association of Round Prairie, which withdrew protection from unmarried men holding claims there. On the justice of this by-law, which differed from those of the other societies - which gave equal rights of preemption to single and married men - opinion was divided, as it acted as an e.r jiost facto law in the case of all single men who had already taken claims.

Out of this grew a quarrel between Bradley Newall, a single man, and a man of family named Day, who, under this by-law, ignoring Newalfs claim. Imilt a shanty and settled upon it with his family. Newall went to Troy, where he enlisted the sym[)athy of Maj. Meacham and others, who retiu-ued with him to mete out what they deemed justice. They found Day with some of his fi-iends in a state of siege in the cabin, with the door barricaded. The besiegers held a short parley tTii-ough the window, and were assui'ed by Day and his party that they were armed, and that the resistance would be desperate. The besiegers thereujion commenced active siege operations. They procured an oak log or timber, and, using it as a battering ram, stove the door in at the first assault. At this time, a gun was fired in the air from the window, with such undeadly effect as to rouse Maj. Meacham to feats of valor. He led the assaulting i)arty through the deadly breach, entered the house, collared Mr. Bigelow, father-in-law of Day, and the heaviest man in the besieged ]>arty, dragged him out of the house and sat down on him, while his followers overpowered the remaining force, took out the household goods and tore down the house. This was one of the few cases on record where the claim associations failed to adjust conflicting claims without resort to violence.

As the time approached for the land sale, a new danger, outside, thi'eatened the settlers. Many of them had not sufficient means to piu'chase their claims, even at the minimum Grovernment price of $1.25 per acre. The lands were to be offered by auction, and sold to the highest bidder, at or above the minimum price. It was certain that these, the most desirable farming lands in the State, would lind ready speculative purchasers, with cash in hand, ready and willing to pay double and treble the Government price for most of the desirable claims in the county, unless some means could be devised to get rid of their competition at the sale.

The functions of the claim associations were accordingly extended, and the members entered in a solemn compact to stand or fall together at the land sale, and to allow no member to be overbid till all the land of the actual settlers had been bid in at the Government price.

Full lists of all claimants were made, and a committee or agent appointed to bid in each lot at the Government price when offered. The names of these important agents, so far as they can be ascertained, were as follows: Jesse Meacham, Gay lord Graves, for Troy and East Troy; R. H. Mallory, for Geneva and vicinity, Le Grand Rockwell, for Elkhorn; Jednthan Spooner, of Sugar Greek, bid for the towns of Whitewater, La Grange, Sugar Creek and Richmond ; William Hollinshead was the agent for Delavan and vicinity; he employed James H. Reese, of Chicago, to assist him in the work.

The sale was at first proclaimed to take place in November, 1838. The settlers were many of them unprepared to pay for their lands, and, thi'ough the intercession of Jesse Meacham, C. M. Baker and other leading residents of the county, it was postponed to February, 1839. It was a season of more intense interest to the settlers than any other that had ever occurred. Every town sent, in addition to their purchasing agent, a strong delegation of their most influential, determined and muscular men. From some towns, nearly every man holding a claim went np in j^erson to see fair play and seeiu-e his land. A thorough understanding between the associations of this and other counties within the limits of the Milwaukee Land District, that no person should be allowed to make a speculative bid on the claims of actual settlers, on pain of personal indignity or violence more or less disagreeable, as the case might warrant. So the sale opened and progressed, under the management of the I'nited States oiiicers, but under the supervision of a mild form of latent lynch law. which occasionally thr(>ateued activity sufficient to keep sjjeculators in the background. The sale was attended by vast crowds from all parts of the district. They came in on foot, on horseback, and every other conceivable vehicle of locomotion then known, and the town was tilled to overflowing while the sale lasted. Delegations from the same section generally took quarters together, often sleeping three in a bed or on the floor. Many took their rations along with them. All had a common interest in seeing the land sold to actual occupants, and few cases occm-red where a speculator had the temerity to bid against the agent of a " claim chtb." A^Tienever such a bid occm'red, the luckless bidder was seized and summarily dealt with. A ducking in Milwaukee River, accompanied with dire threats on a repetition of the oSense, kept things satisfactory. Prosper Cravath, in an allusion to the sale in an address delivered before the Old Settlers' Society, summed up the discipline maintained thus:

" In 1839, at the land sale, your own squatter sovereign law protected your homesteads from the money power and the land-sharks. He who had the audacity to break the least of your commands, you baptized in the Milwaukee River, and out he came, converted and reconstructed."

" Tne first land sale, as before stated, was appointed for November, 1838, and among those who went up to attend it was C. M. Baker, who, in his capacity of farmer, and to accommodate a friend, went on foot, driving a yoke of fat oxen to be sold for beef. On his retm-n alone, upon an extremely dark night, he got benighted in the pathless depths of Milwaukee woods, but came out right in the morning. He also went up with some forty others from this place and its vicinity in Febiiiary, 1839, wading through slush and swollen streams; and, on his return, the thermometer marking zero, he was obliged to hire an Indian pony from some squaws to carry him across Root River. An agent who had been sent to Milwaukee by the Geneva Claim Club for that purpose secured quarters for them at a tavern on Walker's Point. Among the nixmber who stopped there was Dr. McNish. The fare was coarse and the cookery bad, and the Doctor, having endured it as long as he could without boiling over, one morning, just as he was sitting down to the full breakfast table, picked up u biscuit, cold, hard, baked to a dark brown, and as suita- ble for a grape-shot as a Dutc-h cheese is for a cannon ball, and startled the whole comjiany by throwing it with all his might against a thin pine door directly o])posite, and then, rising instantly, he declared that it was an insult to a dog to offer him such trash, and left the table in high dudgeon.

" The Genevans remained at Milwaukee about two weeks, occupying a room hired for themselves, and, when at length their lands were offered for sale in their turn, McKaig, holding a map in his hand, announced the names of the claimants, and Mallaiy bid off the lauds in their names."

It is believed that in every instance the bettlers of Walworth County secm-ed their land or had it bid off in their name. The usurers and land-sharks, though thwarted at the sale, did not fail of reaping a rich harvest from those so unfortunate as to lack the money with which to make the payment after it had been bid off to them. Having no longer the fear of the claim clubs before their eyes, they did a thriving liusinoss by furnishing the money required to make the payment. This had to jye done within twenty-four lioiirs of the time it was bid off to prevent a resale, and for such money furnished, the lender took for seciu-ity the Government deed of the land, giving the borrower a bond for a deed on the payment of double the amount fiu'nished, on such terms of payment and at such rates of interest as might be agreed upon. Thus many a poor settler jiaid double the price paid by his more fortunate neighbor, and it was many years bef<ire these usurious claims were all wiped out.

Legal Lore

The administration of equity and justice began lirst in the coiu'ts of the early Justices of the Peace, who were appointed as soon after the settlements were begun as men of intelligence and probity were indicated by the settlers as eligible and tit for the position. Among the early Justices of the Peace some are remembered for their impartial decisions, some for their sound judgment, some for their sterling- common sense, and others for their arbitrary and eccentric modes of disposing of questions of law. beyond their grasp of intellect, or outside their range of legal knowledge.

It is told of a Squire in Sharon, that, on becoming completely bewildered in a maze of legal sophistries, put forth by Robert Menzie, Esq., he brought the case to an unexpected termination. Bringing his fist down upon the table with an oath, he loudly proclaimed: " This court is riz! " and, taking his copy of the statutes under his arm, marched home, thus leaving the court and Menzie in a cataleptic state of suspended animation.

Among the early Justices of the Peace, before whom many im})ortant cases were tried, were: Perez Merrick, Spring Prairie, believed to be the first Justice appointed in the county; Thomas McKaig, Geneva; Gaylord Graves, East Troy; Daniel Salisbury, Spring I'rairie; Hollis Latham,

Williams' Bay, near the northeast corner of Walworth; Jas]ier Griggs, Delavan; Perkins S. Childs, Richmond; Christopher Douglass, Walworth. These, with perhaps one or two others, whose names are forgotten, were the early conservators of law and order, and it is believed that, thoiigh not o^erlearned in the law, their decisions were given as nearly in accordance with principles of equity and justice as in these more enlightened but less scrupulous times.

The majesty of tht^ law with which they were invested enshrouded them with a dignity, when hearing a case, that no Chief Justice now possesses, and their decisions were considered as too important to be lightly made. There was no venality in the courts of those days. In that region,jthe old " Squires" of Walworth County kept the ermine spotless.

Thomas McKaig, of Geneva, was a Justice of acknowledged integrity, and intelligent, but not deeply versed in the law. The fii'st criminal case in the county was tried before him, and Squire Williams as Associate. Two brothers named Huff, then living in the town of Salem, Racine County, came to Geneva to mill. On their return, they discovered a fat ox belonging to P. K. Van Velzer, which they drove into the woods, slaughtered, and hid the hide and beef under their meal bags, where they were found by the owner and others in search of the missing ox. Thieves were rare, and the spirits of the exemplary Genevans were stirred with righteous indig- nation. A purse was made up to bring the miscreants under the pains and penalties of the hiw, and C. M. Baker employed to conduct the prosecution. The elder brother was arrested and brought before Squire McKaig, who, not over-couiident that he could manage so important a case single-handed, against two expert lawyers, associated with him Squire Williams. Before this full bench the case was tried, Gen. Bullen, of Southport, conducting the defense. The trial resulted in the conviction of Huff, who was thei-eupon sentenced to pay a fine of $iO, and adjudged to work out the fine on the highway. The bond was given, but, owing to its getting misplaced, the tine was never worked out in full. It is not a matter of record as to whether Huff retained the beef and hide or not. If he did, the sentence showed that " the quality of mercy was not strained " on that occasion, as the ox stolen was worth .180. It is stated that Huff afterward paid Van Velzer for the ox, and subsequently changed his residence, becoming a forehanded and respected citizen.

In the tu-st criminal trial in the District Coiu-t, that of R. T. Ostrander, indicted for perjury in swearing falsely before Squire McKaig, he being a witness, it came out in his cross-examination by H. N. Wells, who was defentling Ostrander, that the Squire had never been fully natiu-- alized, not having made his second application. This rendered him ineligible to the office, and all his acts and decisions as Justice of the Peace void and of no effect. As a consequence, in the case of Ostrander, a nolle prosequi was entered, and the sentence against Huff fell through. Worse still, several very worthy couples, who supposed they had been married by the Squire, were astounded at the disreputable life they had been leading since that time. A law was passed by the next Legislature, legalizing the official acts of the worthy but mis-appointed magistrate. Judge Baker, in commenting on the law passed, said:

" Now, I propose it as a moot question to my brethren of the bar, whether this law made valid the judgment against Huff to work out his tine on the highway, or made the alleged false swearing of Ostrander perjuiy."

Another novel and imjwrtant case was that of Capron, Wheeler & Whipple, who sued Charles M. Goodsell, then a miller in Geneva, for damages resulting from his refusal to grind their grists (for their distillery) in tm-n, as then required by law. E. Estabrook was for the prosecution, and G. M. Baker for the defense. The case, owing to local prejudice, was to be tried before Hollis Latham, Esq., at Elkhorn, some ten miles distant. The day appointed for the trial was bitter cold, and a di'iving snow-storm had set in. Mi\ Baker proposed a postponement to Estabrook, who curtly refused. Accordingly, both parties started for Elkhorn, Baker on horseback, and the prosecutors, with their witnesses and attorney, in a lumber wagon. Baker, unencumbered, reached the court at the appointed time, but the stonn and a lost linchpin so delayed the other party that a non-suit was granted, and Baker was on his retiu-n home before they put in an appearance.

Subsequently, the same suit was brought again, the second time before Christopher Douglass, Esq., of Walworth. This time it came to trial. The refusal of Mr. Goodsell to " gi-ind the grist in tm-n" was in plain violation of the existing law, however it might appear in the higher code by which Mr. Goodsell conscientiously sought to squai-e his actions. The case was decided against him, and judgment rendered. He appealed to the Circuit Court, and, pending the trial there, went to Madison, and procured the passage of an act, which is still in force, exempting millers from grinding for distillation. The act was approved Februaiy 5, 1841.

Of Squire W'illiams, who sat in judgment with McKaig in the ox suit before related, the following is told by. James Simmons, Esq., alike creditable to his head and heart:

" Diu-ing the absence of James Van Slyke from his home at the bead of Geneva Lake, a suit was brought against him before Justice Williams, and judgment rendered against him far exceeding the justice jurisdiction (then limited to $50), and his property sold to satisfy it. The Justice, although intelligent and well informed on other matters, was not posted as to the duties and powers of his office. On learning the position in which this aBsum])tion of power had placed him, he bought back the jjroperty sold and retiu-ned it to Van Slyke."

One of the most celebrated cases of expensive litigation that occurred in early times was known as the " black stack " suit. The litigants were living in what is now the town of Sugar Creek. Asa Blood, Freeborn Welch and William Bohall, three neighbors, entered into a joint arrangement to cut some hay on the Government lands. The result of their joint labors was, unfortiuiately for them, four stacks of bay. Each took a stack, leaving the foiu-th as common property, to he divided at some futiu'e time. Before the division was made, the stack began to sensibly diminish, each hauling from what h(> deemed his share at his own convenience. Asa became dissatisfied with the rapid shrinkage, and felt, when it had all disapjieared without any division being made, that he had not got his share of the stack. He accordingly brought suit before Squire Thomas to recover from his partners his fnll share of what became afterward known as the black stack. The whole value thereof would not have exceeded $8. The case, for the convenience of the litigants, was trieii before Squire Thomas, at the house of Hollis Latham, in Elkhorn. The array of coimsel was out of all proportion to the amount involved in the suit. Edward Elderkin and Charles M. Baker appeared for the plaintiff; Milo Kelsey and C. D. Pulver, for the defendants. A cloud of witnesses were summoned from Sugar Creek to prove the quantity, the quality and the value of the whole stack, and the quantity and value approjjriated by the defendants, as well as to give testimony as to the terms of the cop;irtnership, and the v;unous conversations they had held or heard concerning the said stack and its joint ownership. The claims of the United States were not brought into the case. Everything else, relevant or otherwise, was offered in testimony. The case lasted four days, the intervening nights being spent by the witnesses and coiinsel in dancing. H. Bradley, now the Postmaster of Elkhora, fm-nished the music. AVliether it went into the costs of the suit, deponent saith not.

Blood won his case before the Justice, but the defendants took an appeal to the District Court, where the case was tried before Judge David Irvin. The case was eventualh' decided as in the court below. Mr. Elderkin, one of the counsel employed, who fm-nished a verbal rejiort of the case, states that the total cost of the " black stack suit" to both parties, including lawyer's fees, could not have fallen short of $1,000, while the amount in dispute did not exceed f8.

Another, nearly as expensive, grew out of a misunderstanding between Christopher Payne and Elias Hicks. Hicks hauled three logs - one black walnut and two [>oplar - to Payne's mill to be sawed. The custom was to notify the owner the day his logs were to be sawed, and he was expected to take his boards away forthwith. If they remained, they were at the owner's risk. Hicks was notified, but failed to appeal-, and, on demanding his sawed lumber, got neither satisfaction nor boards fi-om Payne. He brought suit before Justice Dwinnell, who awardi>d him 6^ cents damages, which threw the costs on Payne. He carried it to the higher court, where the case was tried three times, the jury failing to agree. At last the Judge got tired of the case, and threatened to strike it from the d(jcket. ThroTigh the kind offices of mutual friends, the litigants agreed to a comjiromise. Their two sons were to Hip coppers, best two in three, heads to win. The loser was to lose the case; the winner was to treat the crowd. Jackson Payne represented the interest of his father, as did Jackson Hicks that of Elias Hicks. The crowd adjovu'ned to the hotel, where young Payne won the case for his father (Hipping two heads to Hicks' one), who fialfilled his part of the agreement by treating, as he said, " about half the county." Mr. Edward Elderkin, one of the attorneys in the case, estimates the cost of the suit at over- $1,000.

The ends of justice were not alwayssubserved, nor the summonses of the magistrates heeded. A case of contempt of both court and officers occurred in Troy. Maj. Meacham, as has been recounted, led the party who demolished Day's house and ejected him fi'om the jiremises. Day at once resorted to Justice Merrick for such relief or vengeance on his assailants as the law provided or the court would administer. He prociu'ed a warrant from Justice Merrick, of Spring Prairie, for the arrest of the Major and his jiarty. It was placed in the hands of Constable Solomon Harvey, who went up to Troy and arrested Meacham. The papers being duly served, he expressed himself as willing to be earned, b;it under no obligations to put forth any personal exertions in getting there. If the law required his presence at Spring Prairie, the law must get him there. He should neither walk ten miles to see Justice Merrick, nor would he fiu'nish a conveyance, but he would offer no resistance. On the contrary, his passive carcass, weighing not less than 250 pounds, was at the disposal of Harvey, who was himself a man of slight build, and who had come unprepared for the emergency, mounted on a jiony as diminutive as himself. The Constable returned, without his prisoner, for further instructions. Squire Merrick found no law precedents that would warrant him in sending an ox team and a posse of men to load nnd haul in an unresisting prisoner, so the case was dropped from his docket.

The First Jltdge

The first District f!om-t was held in the county in April, 1839. From that time forth, there was a convenient place of appeal from the judgments and decisions of the local magistrates, and litigation, as a natural consequence, increased. Those having a natural bent for the law had a new avenue opened where the strife could be prolonged and the costs accumulated.

The coiu-t was held in a small fi-ame building in Elkhorn, built and owned by Le Grand Rockwell. Its (!onveniences were limited to one room, used also as the Register's and Clerk's office, and post office.

The tii-st two cases tried were appeals from a Justice's court. It is stated by a chronicler that " the jury before whom the causes were tried was sent out under a biuT-oak tree to agree upon their verdict."

Hon. David Irvin was the first United States District Judge who presided in the county. He was a Virginia gentleman of the old school, and sustained the dignity of the law, while on the bench, as only such a gentleman could. He was a bachelor, of somewhat eccentric habits, and, having no family on whom to lavish his affections, bestowed them in full measure on his horse, Pedi'o, and his dog, York. He was passionately fond of hunting, and prided himself on being an unerring marksman. It is stated that, although above all worldly bribes, the siu-est avenue to his favor was through praises bestowed on Pedro, or favors shown to York. Be that as it may, it is an historical fact that no prudent attorney practicing in his court ever spoke of Pedro except in terms of adulation, nor failed to keep on intimate terms of friendship with York.

He was a constant sufferer from neiiralgic pains in his back, and heard his cases in a halfreclining position when the paroxysms of pain were most severe, having his seat constructed in the form of a lounge, with one end raised, into which clamps were set to sustain an upright board slanting back a little, against which he could recline.

His favorite game to himt were of the smaller varieties- -prairie chickens, squirrels and pigeons - as he aveiTed the skill of a marksman was reqiiired to bring them down without shooting them to pieces.

No attack of his malady was so severe as to prevent his going on a himt if he had set his heart on it. On a sunny Saturday in the late fall, he was holding coiu*t. The leaves had just turned brown and the sun shone briglitly. The air was that of the balmiest Indian summer days. The squirrels, chattering in the near woods, could be heard even upon the bench, and diverted the attention of the worthy Judge to that extent that he was strongly moved to adjourn was himself a " mighty hiinter," the struggles between duty and inclination which had filled his breast diu-ing the forenoon, and assured him that if the counsel could be induced to ask a continiiance of the case till Monday, he should accede to the request, and that, in that case, he saw no further obstacle in the way of a squirrel shoot during the afternoon.

W undertook to bring about the desired result. During noontime, he casually mentioned to the counsel in the pending case that the Judge was evidently laboring under one of his severest neuralgic attacks, and that it would be the handsome thing to at least offer a respite till Monday, as they knew his reluctance to adjoiu-ning the coiu-t on account of his ailment. On the opening of court in the afternoon, the counsel who was to be ffrst heard stated to the court that he had noticed with regret the physical siiffering under which His Honor had labored through the forenoon, and that he deemed it but courteous to postpone the further argument in the sitiiation, and, reclining on his loimge, with his face expressive of suppressed agony, thanked the gentleman for his kind offer, but did not feel free to adjoiu'n the case, if he could possibly endm-e, unless the opposing counsel saw fit to join him in a request for a postponement. As the party was about to arise to address the court. Judge Irvin saw, through the open windows, his dog, York, and Barney, another favorite hunting dog, trudging off toward the woods.

and, with a countenance that told the spectators of his pent-up suffering, whispered huiriedly in his ear: " I fear the counsel will insist on the adjournment of this case. I observe Barney and York making for the woods. Hadn't you better go after them? Tliey may be wanted in the next case." Then, falling l)ack upon the lounge, he listened to the opposing counsel, who cheerfully joined his brother in requesting a postponement. The Jtidge, after a moment's consideration, reluctantly consented to the j^ostponement and adjourned the court. The remainder of the day he spent in the woods with W and the two dogs.

He never acknowledged that he had missed a shot. One day, when he was in ill luck, he tired into a flock of ducks several times, failing to bring down the game. At each futile discharge he would exclaim: " It is astonishing what an amount of lead those birds will carry! " His legal attainments were sinmned up by Judge Baker as follows:

" But of truth it can be said of him, he was a lover of justice, detested meanness, was well grounded in the principles of the law, and was possessed of very respectable perceptive and reasoning powers. He seldom consulted law books, with which the bai- of those days was poorly supplied, but on the whole, for the times, was a fair and respectable Judge."

The First Intldx Of Swine

During the earlier years, a pig-sty, or a hog-pen, was unknown. The hogs run in the woods, and fatted on acorns or grew poor for the want of them. The first considerable drove was brought in by Ephi'aim Perkins, of Burlington, from Illinois, in July, 1837. There were two himdred or more. They were left in the woods on Sugar Creek, in the town of Spring Prairie, where they remained until late in the fall of that year. They thrived well, and were most of them recovered by their owner, or sold on sight and captm-ed by the purchaser. They grew <iuite wild and shy of piu'suers. Mr. Daniel Salisbmy, noticing thi-ee or fom- of them in the woods near his place, entered into negotiations with Perkins for the purchase of one. They discovered them, but to cajsture them was imjiossible. Salisbury pointed out the one he wanted, as they were making through the woods, and bought him on the run for .$10. At the end of two weeks, by strewing corn in their way, he so gained their confidence that they came near enough to enable him to shoot his hog. Other lai'ge droves were driven in in 1838. One driven in from Central Illinois by R. H. Mallary and C. L. Oatman, of Geneva, was thus described by James Simmons in his history of Geneva:

" These animals were of a breed then familiarly known as the Center breed. Tradition (which sometimes exaggerates a little) describes them as being slab-sided, with slim legs, skins clinging closely to their bony fi'ames and the crown of their heads just in the center between the beginning of the snout and the conclusion of the tail. They were no doubt nearly related to the Third Row breed, whose long slender necks enabled them to reach and devour the third row of corn through the interstices of the fence. Some of their descendants are probably still to be found in the country. On their arrival, they were turned into the woods to fatten on acorns, and when wanted for use, were hunted and shot down like deer."

It was yeai's before the wild hogs, sprung from these early droves, were exterminated. Long after the deer had left, the discovery of a wild hog's nest, or the killing of a wild boar, were among the sports of the huntsmen of Walworth County.

Recreation

The people were not so absorbed in the labor or overcome by hardships as to lose zest for healthy recreation and relaxation. The violin was tuned early, as soon as couples could be found to dance a square dance. Foui'th of July was celebrated in Troy as early as 1837. An old settler, in answer to the question whether he celebrated "the f oiu'th " in 1846, replied, "There were only three of us in the to^vn and one gun, but we fired the gun." The singing- school also put in an early appeai-anco. The frequent " raisings " brought men together from long distances. At these gatherings, the work went vigorously on, and the fiui was always uproarious before the separation. A broad smile immediately overspread the face of an old settler at the slightest allusion to an old-time "raising." The memory of the healthy recreations of those days throws a ruddy tint of cheerfulness over the somber and serious labors that made up the daily life of the pioneers.

The long distances necessary to travel have been already classed as among the annoyances and hardships endured by the early settlers. This proved no obstacle in the way of the young folks, if a dance was at the end of the journey. The swain who received an invitation to a ball fifteen miles away through the woods would lose favor in the eyes of his lass should he fail to get her there in time foi' the first dance. The ride, or walk, even, was no hardship to them - quite the reverse.

The first grand ball was held in Geneva on the opening of Warren's new hotel, January 8, 1838. It was held in the dancing-hall on the second floor; the plastering was not yet on, but the spring floor, which was the especial pride of the landlord, was finished and tested for the first time that night. One hundj-ed gentlemen and ninety ladies were present, from all parts of the county - Spring Prairie, Elkhorn, Delavan, Troy, and even from Elgin, Beloit and other towns beyond the limits of the county. Wan-en took in $700, which was a princely haul for those times.

The above was by no means the first dance. Mention is made in the annals of Troy of a dance held at Othni Beardsley's on July 4, 1837. That is believed to have been the first in the county. Although not so elaborately gotten up as the Geneva ball, it was a season not to be forgotten by those who participated. It was the closing act in the celebration of the day. It came oft" in Beardsley's upper room - a sort of cross between a hall and a gaiTet. The roof came down low on the sides, making it necessary for the taller couples to confine themselves to the center of the floor along the line of the ridge-pole. Windows in each end allowed air sufiBcient for breathing purj^oses. Here, to the music of two violins, played by Hta-atio J. Murray and his brother, the dancing went on from the afternoon, all through the night, till the 5th of July had broken into daylight. The women had no surcease, as they were scarce. They numbered only seven - four married and three unmarried. Busy as they were, it is related that each of the maidens received a hiuried proposal of marriage before the dance was over tfom a thrifty young farmer who had an eye to business. One of them accepted, and was married a fortnight after. The marriage proved a happy one.

Following the ball at ^\'arren's was a dancing-school, the first kept in the county. The teacher was A. M. Clark, whose home was somewhere in Illinois. He taught that winter on a sort of weekly circuit, at Chicago, Waukegan, Racine, Milwaukee and Geneva, making the rounds once a week in a rather dilapidated jumper. He carried with him his violin and his rifle, and often came in to till one of his numeroiis appointments with a deer he had shot on the way. Ancient fame places him high as a horn-pipe player. He furnished miTsic for dances and taught the accomplishment of dancing in the county for several years, and, in the eyes of the young folks, stood at the head of his profession. Two years ago, he returned to visit the scenes of his early labors and triumphs. He was over seventy, but played for a dance at Spring Prairie dui'ing his visit, which was attended by many old and gray, like himself, who, in the ruddy days of youth, had stepped nimbly to the sound of his music forty years ago. There was a tinge of melancholy in the picture, as the dances of Auld Lang Syne, trod with somewhat stiffened steps, the maze of the old dances to the old familiar tunes of the gi-ayhaired fiddler, now broken with the weight of years.

Other early musicians who were favorites were Charley Abbott, of Milwaukee, who died some twelve years ago, and Hess, the German, who still lives in Milwaukee. There were also the Murray lirothers; Asa Blood, Jr., and his sister Sally, l>oth left-handed players; Hiram Boyce and Henry Bradley, now, and for many years, the Postmaster at Elkhorn.

The first singing-master was Monsieur Durgin, a French teacher who lived at Southjiort (now Kenosha). He taught at Geneva, Spring Prairie and other places in the county during the winters of 1838, 1831) and 1840. Seth Cowles was the first resident singing-master. He lived in the north part of Geneva. He only taught the rudiments, but that was sufficient to bring the young folks together, and Cowles' singing- schools were popular if his pupils did not attain to a high degi'ee of proficiency in the art or science he professed to teach.

Social gatherings were not confined to dancing parties. Invitations to social parties, where games, story-telling and a bounteous repast made up the entertainment, were responded to from a distance with a hearty unanimity that showed how warmly those old hearts beat for each other.

An account has been given by several of the early chroniclers of a ludicrous dcnoument, after a panic of fright, which occiu'red at one of the early gatherings. Two versions of the story are given, dift'ering widely in detail, though both retaining the cathartic ingredient whicli gives them the stamp of essential truth and traces them to a common origin. It serves as a fit ilhistration of how honest authorities may diii'er:

" Some of the residents of our village who participated in it, with many from other parts of the county, cannot restrain their laughter when reminded of the pumpkin-pie party at Dr. Hemenway's, on Spring Prairie. The doctor had that year raised a crop of pumpkins, the iirst in the county, and, to make the most of them, gave notice that a ball would be held at his house, and his guests would be regaled with a plentiful supply of pumpkin pie. The bait took, and scores of Yankees scattered through the country, attracted by it, thronged his double log house and tilled it to overflowing. The pies were produced and duly eaten, and the dancie commenced, and, for a time, '' all went merry as a marriage bell," but suddenly one and another turned pale and left the chamber. Soon all was confusion and dismay. Countenances so lately lighted up with smiles of joy and mirth were now distorted with pain and fear, and the voice of laughter and gayety was changed to signs and groans of distress. The house was at once turned into a hospital, and the doctor had more patients on his hands that night than had ever before fallen to his lot at one time. He immediately began to search for the cause of this alarming state of affairs, and to inquire into the constituents of the feast. He learned that his family, being entirely out of other spices, had seasoned the pies with allspice. This did not explain the mystery until some of the berries were brought for his inspection, when it flashed upon his mind that he had lirought with him into the country a large lot of Lee's pills, and laid them carefully away in his ])antry. These, after lying there forgotten and undisturbed for a long time, had become cb-y and hard and been mistaken for allsjnce. The murder was now out and the wild fears of the company soon subsided and gave place to renewed merriment under the doctoi''s assurances that this wholesome and timely medication would prove beneficial to their health, although it would be likely to destroy his prospects as a physician for the season. In due time the company separated in high good humor notwithstanding the disasters of the evening."

"In the fall of 1837, Col. Perez Merrick's family, consisting of foiu- sons and three daughters, a number of whom bad passed beyond their teens, desired to enlarge their acquaintance with the young people of the sxuToimding settlements, and proposed having an evening party, as in the days of former years, and, accordingl}', an invitation was sent abroad for the young people to assemble at their house (which was comfortable and commodious for those days) on a certain evening designated. When the time came, a large company assembled, some from ten miles distant. All were joyous and happy at meeting each other, and in pronouncing the jests and jokes upon the conveniences of a new country. No time was lost in renewing old acquaintances and making new ones. In due time supper was announced. No pains had been spared to make it a bountifttl luxury.

-' They having succeeded well in raising poultry that season from a stock which they brought with them fi-om the State of New York, and which was then a great rarity, had a full quantity of chicken-pie. In due time recreations commenced, and the dancing went merrily on for some time, but after awhile one after another was taken sick and obliged t(3 leave the room, and then came a time when all was confusion, dismay and distress among the throng recently so happy and joyous. The strange sensation of the guests led to the suspicion that poison had in some way been administered, and a search was immediately made for the cause, and it was soon discovered to be in the allspice, which they had procured at the store the day before. Mi". Crawford, having placed a lot of goods in Dr. Hemenway's bar-room, the doctor's medicines had been crowded into a small corner at one end of the shelf where some of ^he goods were placed, and his pills had been sold for allspice, which was ground and i)ut into the pie. No fears were entertained then but what the cholera would abate, and that they should again be permitted to see daylight."

Still another account has been tendered, locating the scene at the house of Dr. Mills, in La Fayette, in which a pumpkin-pie becomes the mysterious source of trouble. The latter story is deemed too apocryphal to be embalmed in history.

The moral and religious elements and forces brought to bear in molding the general conduct and character of the community are worthy of record and consideration. Many of the earliest settlers who came in. though not, perhaps, ranking above the average of their neighbors for integrity, uprightness and large-hearted generosity, were men of strong moral and religious convictions, which they held with conscientious tenacity and propagated with untiring vigor. Some of them came' out with the express purpose of helping to establish a higher standard of righteous living and a place of refuge for the oppressed. Col. Samuel F. Phcenix and his brother Heiuy were doubtless impelled to sell out a lucrative business in Perry, N. Y., and to move West, in the hope of here establishing a colony, free fi-om the curse of intemperance and irreligion. Samuel marked upon the stakes as he made his first claims about Delavan Lake and Turtle Creek, "Temperance Colony," and wrote home to his brother of killing on the a rattlesnake, which he deemed an omen of coming success, in killing the venomous serpent - intemperance," among the peoi)le who might settle there. His religious convictions were too ardent for silence, and almost as soon as he set foot in the county, he is found leading a prayermeeting and preaching lay sermons. On the second Sunday after his arrival, he held what is stated by Rev. S. A.. Dwinnell to be the first religious meeting ever held between Fox and Rock Rivers, in Wisconsin.* The meeting was held in the house of Dr. Hemenway, who, though himself a most decided doubter, showed a commendable sjurit of tolerance in throwing open his house for the occasion. The accoimt of this and a subsequent meeting, held at the same place on the Sabbath following, is thus given in Col. Phrenix's journal:

"Sunday morning, July 1(1: I feel deeply my responsibility in respect to the meeting I am about to hold. My dependence is in God - nevertheless I look anxiously across tlie prairie to see if brother Daniel Salisbury is coming ' that there may be at least two or three to meet in the name of the Lord.' At meeting time, all the neighbors, save one family, came together, making an assembly of fifteen souls. A portion of Scripture was read and prayer ofi'ered for the special blessing of God on this first effort to hold a religious meeting in the settlement and observe the Sabbath in a religious way. We sung a h\Tnu. I then read my letter of commendation from the Chiu-ch in Perry. I also gave a little of my religious experience and the blessedness I found in the religion of Christ. I gave reasons for appointing the meeting and spoke of my desire to do good to the souls of my fellow-men. I then addressed the company from Gal., vi, 7 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sowetli, that shall he also reap. I endeavored, as I always do, to adapt my subject to the wants of my hearers. Brother Salisbury offered a good prayer and we closed by singing the hymn, ' "When I can read my title clear,' etc. There were four professors of religion ]iresent."

"Sunday, July 17th: I again held meeting at Dr. Hemenway's. When the hour of meeting came, there were present, besides the family, Daniel Salisbury, Palmer Gardner and David Pratt and his daughters. Nothing daunted, I went forward and opened the meeting with reading the Scriptures and prayer. Had no singing. I discoursed upon the parable of the barren fig-tree. Although I was as animated as iisual, soon two of my unbelieving auditors were nodding. Dr. H. got sound asleep. I had only three adults to preach to. I shortened my discourse to some twenty minutes. As I closed my discourse, seven more came in, which made the usual number. So we sung a hymn, Bro. Salisbui-y prayed and we closed. The late comers apologized for their tardiness. I felt to say, '(Jan these dry bones live.' Thus has the Gospel been preached for the first time between Fox and Rock Rivers in this infant Territory. May the Lord bless the effort and cause that some gocd may result! I hope tliis week to effect an arrangement for holding meeting at Godfrey's (Rochester) and Meacham's (Troy).

"Dr. Hemenway I find to be a rejector of the Bible. In conversation with him I realize how wretched a soul is who has not the Rock, Christ, to build its hopes upon. The Bible is doubly sweet to my taste. O ! it is good to be like a new born babe desiring the sincere milk of the word that we may gi'ow thereby."

*Mr. Dwinnell ft^d Col. Phceiix .are proij I'lly in error a-i t) this hAnj the firdt religious meeting. Rev. Mr. Griffin held an open-air prayer-meeting in East Troy Sund.iy, July .3, IbliG. Nj sermon was preached on the occaaion.

an earnest advocate of temperance. He instituted and conducted the first series of weekly prayer-meetings held in th* county. Of his early reiigioiis work, he gives the following account :

''The first prayer-meeting in the county was established in May, 1837, at the cabin of D. Campbell, on Spring Prairie, on the spot where Deacon Bacon and his son John have since lived. Some of those who attended walked fi-om Burlington, and others from the northwest part of Spring Prairie an extreme of ten miles, and made an assembly of about a dozen in all. The fii-st sermon was preached in June, or July, by a visiting Methodist minister - the only one I heard for some eleven months, at the same house. The earliest Salsbath school known to me was commenced at my house in June, in 1838, by my wife and myself."

Elder Benjamin Perce was the first ordained minister who preached a sermon and held public religious services in the western part of the county. The service was held at the house of Allen Perkins, in Dalavan, on the evenin;^ of Ojtober 7, 183t); his test was from Matthew xix, 20 - " What lack I yet ? '"

The first denominational Christian organization in the county was efl'ected by the Methodists in East Troy. The old Aztalau Circuit held a quarterly meeting at that place, Februai-y 3, 1838. The Presiding Elder was Rev. Salmon Stebbins. The mseting was held at the house of Daniel Griffin, where a class was formed. The first preacher was Rev. Jesse Halstead. There was occasional preaching at other points in the county on Mr. Halstead's circuit during that and the following year; at Meacham's Prairie (Troy), Spring Prairie and Elkhorn.