Walworth County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 4 of those read), 1882 (part 2 of 3)

Time would fail me to s]ieak of the delights of going to school in winter, after breaking prairie in the summer. What schoolhouses we had ! A log taken out of the side, and a sash filled with 7x9 glass put in the log's place ; auger holes bored in the log below the window ; pieces of rail driven In ; a board as long as the schoolhouse laid on, and that was the desk. A slab, with the bark side down ; legs driven in auger holes, and that was the seat. Nothing in the world to attract our attention from our books. How delightful it was to learn ! What rovinds of spelling we had ! How the heart beat as we dashed through the conjugations I How thrilling the victories in the rule of three which we won ! How manl.y the boys ! How noble the girls, who stood side by side !

Funerals have become so common that the community takes little note of them. Grief grows tame. It is overburdened with demonstrations. There are no funerals ; none such as we attended when breaking prairie. In the midst of that is the rushing tide of life. When Hope reigned, when every pulse beat high and strong, when life seemed all renewed and fresh, how strange a thing was Death I Was there ever a sorrow more honest melted the young settlement, than when the first one was lowered into the grave, and Death began his settlement 't How the heart melts to-day in the recollection of that lone grave, where timber and prairie meet I

Yes ! The days of prairie-breaking are past. But the grand results go marching on. You know not what you did, as you drove out your prairie-breaking team that bright May morning. The great results lay hid from view. But. when you were breaking prairie, you were bringing in the da}' of railroads and telegraphs, of mighty cities, of cylinder presses, of colleges and churches, and all the marvelous machinery b}' which a nation has. under God. been transformed frotii an infant to a man. In l)reaking prairie, you were shaping destinj-.

At this our yearly meeting. To welcome tliose who saw this land. In primal beauty from God's hand; While yet the Indian's wigwam stood By crystal lake and stream and wood. Ere telegrapli and iron rail Supplanted quite the Indian trail. Those who had for their evening cheer, The flesh of pigeon, quail or deer. Who gave for whoop and savage yells. The music of sweet Sabbath bells.

The westward sloping hill. And flrndy through this wayward land. Still walks miscratched our friend O. Hand. "Finger and voice," he yet doth raise. The wrong to chide, the good to praise. And Golder, sage with probate lore,

"The widow's and the orphan's friend." Still, Preston keeps his pleasant ways. And smiling wears new added bays. Let Elderkin, now, since he will. Remain the peerless speller still, Winsor, with sparkling wit and jest. The quaint old story tells the best. Now, Wylie checks the wily ways Of stealthy thieves and craft}- knaves. And quick detects the cunning snare, They for the innocent lucpare. And Bradlc}' is the hunter liold He ever was in days old. There's not a duck upon the lake. Nor chicken hiding in the brake.

And, early came those younger men, OneCowdery, with the graceful pen, Beckwith, who wields with finished skill The painter's l)rush. the read}' quill. The hand of Dewing still can' hold The line, as deftly as of old. And Walton's mantle never fell On one, who plied the pen so well. We come, with retrospective eye,

AVho lirightened once our ways. To teach our children to revere The memor}' of each pioneer. And from their good examples draw Reverence of God and love of law. Teach them that blessings, such as these. Were never won by slfjtiiful ease; That tliinking lirain and toiling hand Will make a garden of the land. Their hands have cleared tlie brush away, And smoothed the path we tread to-day.

Like that which fills the quiet air. Where we retire for silent prayer. _ Oh, sires! j'our foililes, few, are hid - Deep buried 'neath the good you did.

May health and plenty with you stay, And love, to make your pathway bright, When, at the end of your duration. You take the final emigi'ation, Heavy with years, to lay awaj' The soul' sold mantle, worn and gray. May loving angels kindly come And hear the unfettered spirit home.

At this last and perhaps most interesting meeting of the society, in addition to what has already been stated, obituary addresses in memory of the deceased members of the year were pronounced as follows: H. J. Wilkinson, ^Vhitewater, in remembrance of Mi-s, C. R. Beach; Judge C. R. Gibbs, of IVIrs. S. B, Edwards; John Jefifers. of Mrs. Lydia Lippitt; C. D. Long, of Leander Dodge; M, P. Bishop, of C. P. Ellis; W. D. Chapin, of Mi's. Betsey Tupper; and an obituary of Mrs. Tripp, of Whitewater, was promised for publication.

The foregoing reports of the annual re-unions, though far from complete, will give the reader an idea of the constantly increasing interest that centers about the pioneer society. It is to-day the most vigorous society of its kind in the Northwest.

Its efforts to compile a history of Walworth Cotiuty. as shown in its action at the eleventh annual meeting, held at Whitewater in Jime. 1879. although not resulting in a printed volume, restilted in the gathering of much vahiable historical information that would otherwise have been lost, but which is now compiled, with everything which can be gathered from extraneous sources, in this history. The officers of the society fi-om its organization to the present time have been as follows:

Roster Of Officers

1879-80 - President, Charles R. Beach, Whitewater; Vice Presidents. Seymom- Brooks, East Troy; J. R. Kling. Troy; O. G. Ewing, La Grange; C. R. Gibbs, W^hitewater; John Pemberton, Richmond; Jesse R, Kinne, Sugar Creek; George W. Wylie. La Fayette; A. M. AJdrich, Spring Prairie; C. P. Taylor, Lyons; D. L. Flack, Geneva; S. G. West. Elkhorn; H. G. Hollister, Delavan; H. A. Johnson, Darien; Henry Dennis, Sharon: Cyrus Chm-ch. Walworth; George Allen, Linn; A, H. Abell, Bloomtield; Recording Secretary. James Simmons, Geneva ; Con-esponding Secretaiy. E. Elderkin, Elkhorn; Treasiu-er, Hollis Latham, Elkhorn; Executive Committee, William De Wolf, C. M, Sykes, William E. Wright, George A. Ray. C M. Clark. Subsequentlv, at a special meeting held at Elkhorn, the Historical Committee was elected as follows: James Simmons, Geneva; Rev. Joseph Collie, Delavan; and Stephen G. West, Elkhorn.

The society is not now what it started to be - an association of first settlers. It embraces such residents of the county as have resided, at the time they became members, thirty years in Wisconsin, and are present residents of Walworth County. It is not only proper, but almost imperative, to draw the distinction between the first settlers, who came in prior to 1840, and their descendants and later comers, who, with the lapse of years, will themselves become the old settlers in their town.

Railroads and Telegeaphs - Corpohate History - Early Fiscal Affairs - Early Schools and School Districts - County Property - Support of Paupers - Roster of County Officers 1839 TO 1881 - Legislators - Constitutional Conventions - State Government - Courts and Offices - Walworth County Bar - Statistics - Press of County - Conclusion.

THE advent of railroads had a marked influence in developing the resources of the county. The first to enter it was the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad, which was built through Whitewater and beyond as far west as Milton during the year 1852. This road was continued to Stoughton, in 1853, and through to Prairie du Chien in 1856. It was afterward known as the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Railroad till merged into the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul Railway. It is now designated as the Prairie du Chien Division of that road. Whitewater was the first town in the county to derive advantages from railroad facilities, which, in connection with the mauufactui-ing enterprises that centered there soon after, made it the leading village of the county, both in size and commercial importance, and it has maintained its supremacy ever since.

This road was first incori)orated as the Milwaukee & Waukesha Railroad Company and was organized November 23, 1847. At that time its terminus was undecided. The Milwaukeeans were only seeking to open some more reliable avenue than the muddy roads of those days provided with the interior triliutary country. The charter was subsequently amended, emjiowering the company to build the road to the Mississippi River, in Grant County, and its name changed to the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Com[jany. After many trials on the part of the projectors of the road, it was completed to Waukesha in 1851. The money of the company realized on bonds of the City of Milwaukee, was expended on this twenty miles, and for farther extension the directors depended largely on subscriptions and loans of town credit along the line of the proposed road. The location of the route at that time was to be determined not so much by the engineers as by the amount of subscriptions and aid that could be obtained along within hailing distance on either side of a direct line to the Mississippi. It was said that the directors were ready to build the road in any direction from Waukesha that led away from Lake Michigan and toward Grant County, provided sufficiently liberal local inducements were held out. Strong efforts were made to establish the route south of its present location, through Mukwonago, East Troy and thence on to Janesville, nearly over the line of the old stage road. Neither the advantages nor disadvantages of a railroad were then so well understood as they have come to be since that time. Sentiment was far from unanimous in its favor among the inhabitants of the towns along the proposed route at the outset, and, as the subject was discussed, a strong feeling of opposition was developed. It was claimed that the immense travel over the highway would cease, that the tavern business would be ruined and the villages along the line would cease to floiu-ish; that there would be no further use for horses, etc., etc. - in fact, they gave the innovation the cold shoulder, and allowed the road to be built farther north, through Eagle and Palmyra. They, however, sought to hold the travel and traffic over the old route liy improving the thoroughfare. A ]ilank road was projected over the whole route, and built from Milwaukee as far as Mukwonago. The efforts of the conservatives did not avail against the railroad, and the main travel and traffic over the thoroughfare fell off, being diverted to the railroads as soon as they were built, leaving the old stage road deserted, except by the stage and mail lines, which still go over it together with the local travel. Thus the fears of the old tavern-keepers were realized through the comj^etition they feared, although its route was not established through their towns. In a certain way. this early victory re-acted disastrously to the towns. The sudden growth of Whitewater after the railroad reached that point, created a revulsion of pojjular feeling, and the advantages of railway communication came to be as much over-rated as they had been formerly decried. So, when the project was broached to build a line from Milwaukee to Boloit. to pass through East Troy and Troy, crossing the old stage road, l)ut not running parallel with it. it found the Troy people, as well as others along the line, all too ready to further the project by loaning the credit of the towns, or by the still more imprudent means of personal subscriptions or loans, secured by mortgages on their farms. The litigation that grew out of the railroad farm-mortgage.s. and the hardshijis they brought vii)on the farmers all over the county before they were finally wiped out, would, if fully detailed, furnish ample material for a chapter, and a record of bad faith on the one side and credulity on the other, almost unparalleled in business history. It is sufficient here to explain the plan and workings of the fai-m- mortgage system, as it came into vogue as a means of build ing railroads through the new country, and the outcome of it at a later day when the day of payment came.

As it is well known, when the railroad fever first began to rage in Wisconsin, there was absolutely no surplu.s capital in the State. It was. therefore, necessary to raise the capital at the Eastern money centers, which could easily bo done if by any means a margin of homo capital could be raised sufficient to guarantee the Eastern capitalists from ultimate loss. This was effected through various methods - by obtaining stock subscriptions from those most directly interested in the road: by obtaining stock subscriptions from counties and towns along the proposed route, for which municipal and county bonds were paid; and by the more reprehensible means of inducing individual farmers to subscribe for stock, mortgaging their farms on five or ten years' time as security for their ultimate payment for the stock taken. With these in hand, the directors would issue bonds, on which annual or semi annual interest was to be paid, the bonds running a series of years, giving as secm-ity the municipal bonds, the farm-mortgage bonds and all the rights and franchises of the road. On these bonds thus secm-ed, money was raised (often at ruinous sacrifice), wherewith to build the roads. Some were pushed to completion, others were abandoned, half finished, and a few were scarcely begun. It is believed that in every ease the roads were sold or went into the hands of the bond-holders, when built, not one of them being now owned or controlled by the original stockholders.

These roads were, many of them, started during the years 1852. 1853, 1854 and 1855. Those finished before the close of 1856 are now running under the control of new owners. Those in process of construction when the financial panic of 1857 paralyzed business, and brought all enterprises requiring money to a stand-still, have never been built. The municipal bonds, as well as the farm mortgages, had. however, all passed into the hands of Eastern moneylenders, and, after years of litigation, they were decided by the higher coiu'ts to be valid, and payment enforced, whether the railroad for which they were given had been built or not. When it "is stated that nearly half the farms in the county were mortgaged, and that two of the principal roads projected thi-ough the county were never built, the injustice, and. in some cases, villainy, of the transaction is apparent. For years, this cloud of debt, incurred without consideration, and the payment of which was enforced in accordance with law. but in violation of right and ecjuity. hung over the county and overshadowed its prosperity. Some farmers lost their homes and many toiled for years before the incumbrances were removed.

Having thus given an outline sketch of the processes by which the roads were biiilt or begun, the history oi the railroad system of the county can be given \vithout fm-ther digression.

From 185H to 1855. three lines were projected through the county, viz.. the Wisconsin Central, diagonally across the county from the southeast to the northwest corner; the Milwaukee & Beloit, from the northeast to the southwest corner, and the Racine, Janesville & Mississippi, extending fi'om east to west thi-oiigh the center of the county. Of these three roads only one was completed before the panic of 1857.

The Racine. Janesville & Mississippi Railway Company was chartered in 1852. The route as originally laid out was in nearly a direct line from Racine to Janesville. and passed through the northern half of Lyons, Geneva, Delavan and Darien, touching the village of Delavau. Thi-ough local inducements held out, the route was changed before the road was built. Beloit became the first objective point, instead of Janesville. and the com-se was deflected north to Elkhorn. These changes were effected through the energetic efforts of the enterprising citizens of the towns named. Elkhorn subscribed |2().()00 -$15,000 in Ixmds and $5,000 in individual cash subscriptions; Delavan subscribed $25,000 in bonds; Beloit and vicinity succeeded in drawing the road from Janesville to that place by a large issue of bonds to aid in its construe tion. Farm mortgages were resorted to before it was finished to Beloit. The road was completed to the eastern border of the county in 1855, and thi-ough to Beloit during the following year. This was the first general railroad communication established through the county. In 1859, the road passed into the hands of the bondholders, and the original stock became worthless. The road was completed to Freeport that year, and subsequently built to Savannah, thence to Rock Island. In 1866, the road was sold by the bondholders, and a new organization effected under the name of the Western Union Railroad. A controlling interest was pui'chased a few years after by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, which has since operated it as a division of its road, designated as the Southwestern Division. The Eagle Branch road from this road, running from Elkhorn to Eagle, and connecting with the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at that point, was built in 1869. It passes through La Fayette and Troy. It was built by the '\^'estern Union cor])oration, and is a part of that road, but, like the main trunk road, is a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. Although the aid given this road never brought any direct return to towns granting it, the object was attained. The road was built and the general enhancement of the value of property along the line, with other benefits derived from it, if computed, would far exceed the individual and municipal losses sustained in its establishment.

The Wisconsin Central Railroad Company was chartered in March, 1853. The leading spirits of the organization were residents of Elkhorn, and the officers of the embryo railroad were at that place. Le Grand Rockwell was the first President; Edwin Hodges was Treasurer, and Messrs. Winsor and Smith, attorneys. The Board of Directors took in citizens favorable to the project all along the line of the road, with a fair proportion of Elkhorn men. Otis Preston and George Bulkley, as well as Rockwell and Hodges, were on the board; also Rufus Cheney, of Whitewater, C. M. Baker, of Geneva, and other leading citizens of the county, whose names are not remembered. The charter empowered the company to construct a railroad from the terminus of the Fox River road, at the State line, at Genoa Village, to some point on the head- waters of Lake Superior. Its proposed connection with Lake Michigan was with Chicago via the Fox River road to Elgin, 111., thence to Chicago over the Chicago & Galena Railroad.

The route through Walworth County passed diagonally through the county from Genoa in the extreme southeast corner, through the villages of Geneva, Elkhorn and Whitewater, in the northwestern corner. Thence, in nearly a direct line via Jefferson and Portage, it was to take to the woods and come out on Lake Superior at some point near where Superior City is now situated.

The project at once became extremely popular, and liberal subscriptions in money were made and bonds issued by the towns to give it a start all along the line as far as Jefferson, in Jefferson County, which was to be the first resting-point in building before extending it farther north. Whitewater, Elkhorn and Geneva all issued bonds in aid of the enterprise - Geneva, $25,000; Elkhorn, iflS.OOO; Whitewater, 140,000.

The work of building the road did not progress with the vigor shown by the directors in raising the stock. Considerable grading was done at various points along the line as far as Whitewater, and the rails were laid as far as Geneva, in Jvine, 1856. Then the panic of 1857 overtook it, and the enterprise fell into a state of confusion and insolvency. The offices and books were transferred to Whitewater, when the company dragged out a sickly coi-porate existence for a few years in vain endeavors to raise funds to revive it, and then gave up the ghost, leaving only a heritage of blasted hopes, unfulfilled pledges, the unfinished road-bed and eighteen miles of railroad, with its corporate name and franchises to show that it once lived a plausible dead-beat life, and drew its sustenance from the too credulous inhabitants of the county.

The history of the completed portion of the road, from Genoa to Geneva, and the hand Geneva took in the Central Railroad game, is given in Simmons' History of Geneva as follows:

"Many, if not a majority of oui- citizens, preferred a connection with Racine or Kenosha, but some believed that a direct line to Chicago would prove most beneficial to the interests of the village. That, at all events, was the best we could secm-e, and it seemed just within ouigrasp. Consequently our capitalists directed their means and their energies to the construction of that road. The same year an act was passed authorizing the towns along the road to issue their bonds in aid of its construction. Under this provision, a special town meeting was held August 21, 1855, and a vote passed by a majority of fifty-seven, to issue bouds to the amount of 125,000, payable in twenty years with 8 per cent interest, to be exchanged for stock of the road. The bonds were issued accordingly on the '27th of February, 185H. This was con.iidered a glo rious opportunity to get something for nothing, as the bonds would pay for the stock - and the stock would in turn pay the bonds - and the dividends would pay the interest.

"In June of this year the long-expected railroad was completed to the eastern boundary of the village, and a great jubilee was held upon the occasion of the arrival of the first train of cars from Chicago. Trains immediately commenced running daily to and from Elgin, in connection with the Chicago trains on the Galena road, and great benefits were anticipated from the opening of this communication with that great mart of the West. A heavy job of grading through the hill in the east part of the village remained to be completed before the rails could be extended to the permanent depot grounds at the head of Broad street, and, as no great delay was anticipated, there was no inducement for any one to build warehouses for the reception of produce at the temporary stopping-place, and consequently but little was purchased to be shipped over the road. In 1857, A. Ferguson and James Simmons erected the red warehouse which stood near the depot grounds until the spring of 1873, purposing to use it for storing grain and produce: but, on the an-ival of the railroad at that point, it was rented and used for a depot. Shortly before this, a great financial crash had put a quietus upon nearly all railroad projects, and it was only by the aid of subscriptions among the citizens that the cars were brought into our village. For several years they continued to visit us regularly, the travel and freight constantly increasing, notwithstanding the general stagnation of trade thi'ough the country, and the failure of crops, and we began to realize some of the benefits we had so long anticipated, but some time in the fall of 1860 they ceased coming. The road being laid with the old style of iron, in long flat bars spiked to wooden stringers, previously used on the Galena road, had become out of repair, and busine.ss on so short a route was hardly sufficient to warrant any extensive outlay for its improvement. For some two years after the trains ceased to run, a flat car was operated by a pair of horse or mule engines under the superintendence of Ben Fish and others, during which time one of the engines jumped the ti-ack and broke its back, and the other was compelled to go it alone.

"In October, 1867, the holders of the bonds issued by the town in aid of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, submitted to our electors a proposition to accept half the face of the bonds in full satisfaction. Our people knowing that they had received no value for them, and believing that they were neither morally nor legally bound to pay them, almost unanimously rejected the proposition. The decision proved unfortunate, as the bonds subsequently fell into the hands of unscrupulous parties, who have succeeded in overcoming all our defenses and recovered their 'pound of flesh.' "

In 1871, the citizens of Geneva obtained a charter under the name of the State Line & Union Railroad Company, C M. Baker, President. The charter authorized them to construct a road fi-om the State line, at Genoa, to Columbus and onward to some point on the Fox or Wisconsin River, at or between Sauk City and Berlin. The company contracted with the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company to construct the road over the grade of the old Central, which had been in disuse since 1860, to the village, they leasing the road to that company for ninety- nine years. The road was thus completed a second time to Geneva, July 26, 1871, thus renewing her railroad connection with Chicago after an interim of eleven years. This branch has been run to that point since its construction to the present time. That the old Wisconsin Central was considered a totally defunct institution is sho\vn in the fact that its name (Wisconsin Central) was ruthlessly appropriated in June, 1871, by the Portage, Winnebago & Superior Railroad Company, and is still retained by it. Its franchises, right of way, road-bed and whatever else was left of the old wreck, is now claimed by the Chicago, Portage & Superior Company, under a sale on foreclosm-e of a mortgage. The company was chartered by the Illinois Legislatm-e in 1872. The route is intended to be an air-line fi-om Chicago to the southern terminus of the old Central at Geneva, thence, under its franchises, over the old road-bed through Walworth and Jefferson Counties in a direct line to Duluth. Under the stim- ulus of land grants in Wisconsin, considerable work has already been done in Northern Wis conain as well as in Illinois, and it is not improbable that, after the lapse of thirty years under this company, the rails may yet be laid along the old line, and the sanguine hopes and visionary schemes of the projectors of the old Central become a reality to the later generations.*

The Milwaukee & Beloit Railway was chartered in 1854 or 1855. It was a Milwaukee enterprise. The offices of the company were there. Horatio Hill, of that city, was the President. Of the directors, a majority of them were Milwaukee men. It was proposed to run the route in nearly a direct line h-om Milwaukee to Beloit, passing in a southwesterly direction through East Troy, Troy, Elkhoru to Delavan, thence over the route of the Racine & Mississippi road through Darien and Allen's Grove, to Beloit. It was a feasible railroad project for Milwaukee, and running in a direct line through a rich farming coimtry, held out |)lausible hopes of being a paying road, if built. Having raised sufficient cash capital among its Milwaukee fi-iends to give it a stai't, the ordinary methods of obtaining aid fi'om the towns along the road, and by farm -mortgages were resorted to. The farmers along the whole line through East Troy, Troy, La Fayette, Elkhorn and Delavan, were thoroughly canvassed, and almost a clean sweep of farmmortgages in those towns was made. It was the old story - considerable grading done, some bridges built, the road nearly ready for the rails, the crash of 1857, credit gone, a struggle for a few years and a total collapse. The road was never built, and thus far no successor has appeai'ed upon the scene of its ruin, to renew the enterprise, as in the case of its unfortunate companion in tribulation - the Wisconsin Central. Every dollar of stock subscribed proved a clear loss. The fai"m-mortgages had not all been disposed of at the time of the financial collapse in 1857, and, as it was impossible to negotiate loans on them East, during the long period of depression that followed, many of them were sold to Western money-lenders in lots to suit purchasers and at prices to suit the emergencies of the occasion. They gradually floated into strong hands and payment in full was enforced through the cotu'ts, when com])romises were not effected. The poor farmers, in addition to the injustice of being forced to submit to legalized robbery, were subjected to the bitter chagi'in and helpless humiliation arising from the knowledge that the holders of the mortgages, with whom they were forced to settle, had, in many cases, doubled their money by the nefarious speculation. It is no wonder that, remembering the bitter experiences of twenty years ago, an underciu-rent of bitterness toward railroad corporations prevails among the fai'mers even to the present day. In addition to the roads already mentioned, two others have just entered the boundaries of the county.

The Kenosha & Beloit Railroad Company was incorporated in 1853. to build a road from Kenosha to Beloit. The route was afterward changed to Rockford, and the road became known as the Kenosha, Rockford & Rock Island Railway. It rims west through Kenosha County, striking the State line at Genoa. It was finished to that place in 1862. Like all other railroads of that time, it failed, and was sold out on foreclosure. It is now a pai't of the Chicago & North-Western system, and is designated as the Kenosha Division of that road.

The Chicago & North-Western Railway Company, after various discouragements in its infantile struggles for existence, under vai'ious names and diverse charters, both in Wisconsin and Illinois, got consolidated and fairly on its feet under the name it now bears, in 1855. In 1850, the Wisconsin Division was completed to Janesville, passing thjrough Shai'on, the southwestern town of the county.

The railroad connections and communications which have grown out of the efforts, labors and saci'ifices of thirty years are summarized as follows:

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (South-Western Division) passes thi-ough the towns of Lyons, Geneva (the northern part), Elkhorn, Delavan and Darien. There are within the county on this road six passenger and freight stations, viz. , Lyons, Springfield, wher& stage connections was made with Geneva Village, Elkhorn, Delavan, Darien and Allen's Grove, Two passenger and two freight trains pass over the road East and West daily. The Eagle Branch, connecting with the road at Elkhorn, passes through La Fayette and Troy. It has three stations in the county - Peck's Station, in La Fayette, and Mayhew and Troy Center, in

* Since the text was written, a transfer of SI, ''00,000 jmi-I-up stock of the Chicago, Portage & .Snperior Raih%'ay Comp my to the Chicago* St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Company, operat..il to transfer tlie land grant also to the latter-named C'ompany, which, apparently, will not beat serve its own intereetd by building the road so long hoped for by the people of Walworth County, to wit, from Chicago, by way of Geneva, Elkhorn and Whitewater, to Jefferson or Portage.

The Chicago & North-Westera runs thi-ee trains through Genoa to Geneva each day. The villacre of Sharon, situated on the main trunk line of the Wisconsin Division, has all the facilities of the most favored stations on that well-appointed and well-managed road. Thi-ee passenger ti'aius pass daily, going north and south.

Telegrajihs were established along the lines of the railroads nearly as soon as they were built, and offices established at every depot. In addition, a telephone line is completed from the office at Mayhew Station to East Troy, which is the only point lying off the main lines having telegraphic communication.

Corporate History

The corjjorate history of Walworth County began January 7, 1839. at which time the first meeting of the first Board of Commissioners was held at the house of Daniel Bradley, in Elkhorn, where the fii'st county business was transacted. There were present Benjamin Ball, Nathaniel Bell and William Bowman, who constituted the first Board of Commissioners. The board proceedetl to organize by appointing a clerk. The fu-st and only business done at this meeting was to grant a license to R. W. Warren "to keep a tavern at the village of Geneva, for the sum of S5." after which the board adjourned to meet at the same place on the 8th day of March. 1839.

At the adjom-ned meeting, the full board being present. Hollis Latham was appointed Clerk pro tem.. and it proceeded to select "the following named persons for grand and petit jurors, to serve at the District Court (the lu-st held), April term, 1839; "

Following the selection of jiu-ors, the board received a petition for the first county road which was "to commence at the center of the county, and running to ]\Ii-. Bai'ker's house, thence north to the north line of the county." The board then adjourned sine die.

William Hollinshead was appointed County Treasurer, following which ap}>ointment it was Toted "that there shall be a special election held in the county of Walworth for the purjiose of electing township officers on Thursday, the 9th of May next, in the several towns of said county, said elections to be held at the several places above mentioned."

It was further voted that the ' ' Board of Commissioners require that the following persons make an application to them immediately for license to keep an inn or public house in their respective towns, and that the said ijersons applying for such license shall pay $5 for each license." The early landlords thus invited to contribute were G. S. WaiTen, A. A. Hemenway. Israel Williams and Othui Beardsley.

It was further voted that the following named persons "shall make immediate application for license to keep a store or sell goods, etc.," for which license they were to pay |10 into the County Treasury. The early merchants thus mulcted were Andi-ew Ferguson, Geneva, and H. & S. F. PhcEnix. of Delavan. It is presumable that they were at that time the only men in the county doing a mercantile business.

Following the defining of the road districts, the laying out of several new roads, the granting of a license to soil goods, to H. & S. F. Phoenix, and a tavern license to G. S. Warren, the meeting adjourned.

At these meetings the county was fairly started in its corporate career. Its further history will partake less of detail or chronological order, presenting, in varied form and manner, all points on which the county records throw light.

Early Fiscal Aftaies

The first assessment was ordered by the Board of Commissioners July 1. 1839. and was laid at 5 mills on a dollar on the whole amount of real estate and personal property as taken by Perez Men-ick, Assessor of said county. The assessment roll of Mr. MeiTick is not on file in the Clerk's office and was not copied. The amount realized from the tax levied was $1,868.82, which, added to $291.54, delinquent tax, gives as the total tax raised in 1839, $2,160.36. This sum being the result of a tax on the valuation of 5 mills on the dollar, the total valuation of the county at that time is computed at $432,000.

The first Treasm-er's report is a model of brevity, if not perspicuity. It was rendered on the first Monday of January, 1840, and reads as follows:

The total tax levied in 1840 was $4,447.97 - county, $3,770.29; school, $1,029.78. The cotmty tax was to be 1 per cent on half the valuation of real estate and 1 per cent on the full value of personal property. No record of the valuation appears. From the above statement it will be ascertained to be, approximately, say $650,000, real estate.

In 1841, no new valuation is recorded. The complete assessment roll for the vear amounted to $3,550.73. The amount raised for schools was $610.79.

In 1842, the first complete equalized valuation list by towns is recorded. It is as follows: Troy (two townships), $112,002; Elkhorn (two townships") $92,202; Geneva (four townships), $168,494; Walworth (two townships), $86,547; Richmond, $29,984; Whitewater, $31,968; Spring Prairie (two townships), $155,443; Delavan, .$54,148; Darien, $52,970; total, $783,758. The number of acres taxed is given in all towns but Geneva, then embracing the four towns in the southeast quai-ter of the coimty. In the towTis given, the total number of acres taxed was 144,- 344. Estimating Geneva at 40,000 acres, the land subjected to taxation in 1841 amoimted to 188,344 acres. The total amount of tax raised was $2,(J0(). In 1843, the valuation was not essentially changed, the total being $789,301. Amount of taxes raised, $2,675. From 1844 to 1881, the valuation of projierty each year-, so far as it appears on the records, will be hereafter presented in tabular form.

Eaely Schools And School Districts

Mention of the first schools established appears in the town histories. The county in its corporate capacity made the establishment of schools only secondary to that prime necessity in all new countries - the establishment of roads. In 1840, the first school tax was raised, amounting to $1,029.78. The fii-st complete report of the schools on record bears date April 4, 1842, of which a summary is given below. The reports of the Clerks of the several school districts gave the number of scholars as follows:

The total number of districts reported was 27; number of schools, 29; number of scholars, 797, In addition were thr(>e disiricts in which schools were not taught during the preceding year, viz.. Delavan District, No 2. Geneva District, No. 4. and Geneva District, No 3.

Thus early were schools established in every considerable settlement in the county. They have increased in number with the increase of population, and in excellence with the increase of wealth. Further mention of their progress and present state appears elsewhere.

County Phoperty

The property of the county consists of the park (eleven acres) with buildings thereon and jail lot with buildings, in Elkhorn, and the poor-farm (160 acres), situated on Section 4, in the town of Geneva. In addition, the title of small lots of property in several towns and villages is vested in the county. These have been deeded by old or decrepit persons to secure a home for life, or other benefits from the county, and are not considered as permanent investments, being sold whenever an advantageous sale can be effected. The Elkhorn park was purchased at the land sale of 1839, at the Government price of $1.25 jjer acre, it being a part of the county quarter-section bought at that time. A more extended sketch appears in the Elkhorn history. The jail lot, on which the present jail and jailer's buildings are built, is located on the northwest corner of Church and Walworth streets. It was purchased in 1877-78, at a cost of $1,000.

The county buildings now standing are: The jail building, on the lot last mentioned, which was finished in 1878 at a cost (including lot) of $10,546; the courthouse, finished in November, 1875. cost $21,287, with fm-niture, $2,467, making a total cost of $23,755; the fire-proof office building, erected in 1866, at a cost of $4,265. A fuller account and a description of these and the old county buildings appears in the town history of Elkhorn, the county seat.

The poor-farm is sitiiated on Section 4, in the present town of Geneva. It embraces a quarter-section (160 acres). It has been purchased at different times. The first purchase (of eighty acres) was made of Dudley Harriman December 23, 1852, and was described as the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 4, in Town 2, Range 17 east. There was a good-sized farmhouse upon it. The farm, with improvements, cost $1,500. April 29, 1865, an additional forty acres was pm-chased of Jesse Rhodes for the sum of $875. November 26, 1872, forty acres more, lying adjacent and in the same section, was purchased of Charles Dunlap and wife for the sum of $1,800. The total amount paid for the farm (160 acres) is $4,175. The first house was used for the county poor. It was a wooden structiu-e. 18x24 feet. in size and one and one-half stories high, with a one-storj' wing of 16x28 feet. To these accommodations were added dm'ing the year 1852, another dwelling-house, 24x40 feet in size, costing $850. The same year was built a separate building for insane paupers, 20x24 feet in size, at a cost of $300. Subsequently, a brick building was built for the insane inmates. A barn was also built in 1853. These fu-st buildings have, with the exception of the asylum buildings, all been destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The barn burned in the spring was rebuilt in 1868. The dwellinghouse was totally destroyed by fire December, 1872. It was rebuilt in 1873. The membei's of the building committee were N. M. Littlejohn, James Aram, Charles Dunlap, T. W. Hill, Hollis Latham. The contractors were Messrs. Sykes & Hulbert. The total cost of the new building was $9,885.12. It is built of brick and the size and dimensions and description of the building are as follows: The main building is 38x58 feet in size, three stories high; the wings on either side are 30 feet long by 28 feet deep, two stories in height; a cellar extends under the whole structure. The basement is divided into various rooms for laundry purposes, a milk room and the storage of vegetables, provisions and fuel. On the first floor are the living rooms for the overseer and family, three dining-rooms, a sewing-room and a few rooms for inmates. On the second floor are the women's apartments, consisting of a sitting-room, a sick-room and donnitories. The stairs leading from the lirst floor to the third have no connection with the second floor, which is occupied entirely by the female inmates. The third floor is fitted up as sleeping apartments for the male inmates. The old asylum building was enlarged and modernized in 1881. at an expense of $1,300. The addition is of brick, 24x36 feet in size and two stories in height. The buildings are all fitted up with modern improvements and appliances for the health and comfort of the inmates, as well as for the most convenient and economical working of the farm, which is a model of excellence for the purposes for which it was designed. The total cost of the farm and present buildings was nearly $18,000.

Suppokt Of Paupers

The poor have been carefully provided for from the first organization. The separate towns, after the town system was adopted, each supported their own poor, except such as had by some means become a charge to the county, but could not justly be charged to the towns. The bills were rendered by the several towns and audited by the County Board, and paid from the poor fund. As the towns increased in population, the bills became more ntmierous, entailing yearly more ti'ouble on the board and not a little local dissatisfaction when the town bills were questioned or cut down by the Auditing County Committee. It was accordingly determined to abolish the whole cumbersome system and adopt that which has been since so successfully carried out. November 23, 1852, the following resolutions were adopted abolishing the town pauper system:

Resolved, By the Board of Supervisors of Walworth County, that all distinction between Town and County paupers be, and the same is hereby abolished, from and after the fii'st day of April, 1853, and that said determination be tiled in the office of the Register of Deeds of said Count}', as required by law.

(2.) That there be levied a tax of one and one-half mills on the dollar as assessed, for the purpose of purchasing a farm not to exceed 160 acres, and the necessary stoek and implements for the man.igement of the same.

(3.) That there be elected at this session of the board, three Superintendents, who shall decide by lot the length of time that each shall serve; one for one j'ear, one for two years and one for three years; and at the annual meeting of the board hereafter there shall be elected one Superintendent who shall hold his office for three years and till another is elected to fill his place.

(4. ) That the Superintendents be hereb}" instructed as soon as consistent after the notice of their election, to proceed to purchase a farm and the necessary stock and implements for the same, and that the Clerk and Chairman of the Board of Supervisors be authorized to issue the necessary orders for the amount ordered to be paid for said purchase by said Superintendents, and that said Superintendents be required to give bonds to the Treasurer of said County in double the amount of taxes to be raised, conditioned for the faithful performance of their duty.

(-5). That the per diem allowance of said Superintendents be established at $2 per day while necessarily, employed in the discharge of their duties.

In accordance with these resolutions, the first Superintendents of the Poor were elected. They were: N. L. Gaston, for three years; H. B. Clark, for two years; David Williams, for one year. They ptirchased the farm, as heretofore stated, and, in May, 1858, opened it for inmates, and inaugiu'ated the present system. From their first aniitial report, the items below are given as showing the initial sticcess of the new system.

Earl M. Irish was employed as overseer of the farm at a salary of $350 per year. A female assistant was employed at $90 per year. The cost of starting the farm and providing for the inmates, exclusive 'of farm and bitildings, was as follows: Stock, $176; tools, $100; seed grain, $30; household furniture. $30H; total, $612. They rented, for $56 per year, an adjoining fortv acres of laad. The crop raised the first vear was: Oats, 150 bushels, valued at $30; wheat, 300 bttshels, $225; corn, 800 btishels, $280;" barley, 350 bushels, $122.50; hay. 30 tons, $120; potatoes, 100 bushels, $20; total, $797.50. There were, dtu'ing the first six months, for which the above report was made, eighteen paupers cared for, three of whom were insane, at a cost of $400. The report showed the experiment a success.

The Superintendents of the Poor, from the ptirchase of the farm to 1881, have been, dating from the fall of each vear when elected, as follows:

The following sketch of the inmates and management, published in the Walworth County Independent, November 17, 1881, was written by Mr. M. T. Park, editor of that paper, who visited the farm with A. O. Wright, Secretary of the State Board of Charities and Eeforms, on his annual tour of inspection:

"There ai'e now in the county charge fifty- two persons - twenty-seven men and twenty-five women, varying in age from twenty years to the oldest. Miss Mary Gilbert, who is seventy-six years of age. She came from the town of Richmond but a few years since, where she had worked for a livelihood until old age came, and she found a home in her present place of abode. Eveiy time Supervisor Hulce. Richmond, comes to the house, she thanks him over and over again for sending her to such a good home. Among the charter members ai-e Mary Hutchinson, from Lyons, and Betsey Thompson, fi-om Troy, who each count twenty-eight years of life as county charges. The " character " of the institution is Mrs Stearns, sixty-six years of age. She was" brought to the home from Whitewater twenty-one years ago. After remaining a short time, she was sent to the hospital for the insane. Madison, but after a few years she was returned as incurable, since which time she has presided, as she thinks, over the whole institution. She issues her orders with the confidence of a queen that they will be obeyed, and the language and invectives of a pirate. Tirelessly she toils in the laundrj', as chamber-maid, mopping the rooms, working on as landlady of a great hotel. Her "boarders " pay her $1,()U0 a day. In her little room she takes her meals alone, accepting nothing from the common table, only such as comes from the Superintendent's table. Occasionally, the little table is set for two, herself and 'George,' it is supposed a son, but he comes not and her life goes on from day to day, nearing the goal where there is perfect rest. Mrs. Stearns was, years ago, a successful teacher in Richmond and Whitewater. Her maiden name is luiknown. A few years of man-ied life, a son liorn to her, deserted by her husband, crazed, she is now as she is. The son. it is said, was a cripple, and no one knows what became of him. This is all that can be said of the wreck of a once beautiful, accomplished woman. A victim of man's desertion, a life, may be, uncomprehended by herself, she will pass away miknown by relatives or friends of early days. One cannot walk through these rooms without feelings of soitow at the spectacle of human misery, mind and liody. crippled, sufierers from loathsome diseases, idiots, the insane, most of whom are in this condition from gratifying their appetites and passions, and now their possessors are wrecks of the worst description. Others there are, who, from sickness and misfortunes, occupy their present places. A lesson to all can be learned frcm these poor inmates.

" Hon. Charles Dunlap is Superintendent. In his onerous duties he is ably assisted by Mrs. Dunlap, who has an eye to all the inner management of the various affairs of the house. Mrs. Eaton is matron, and has the charge of certain portions of the work. Any person who will take the pains to visit them and pass through the various apartments, will need no assertions to convince him that those in charge are faithful to their trust, that there is no management of the poor that excels the care and discipline of the unfortunates of Walworth County. Not only are the physical wants fully attended to, but strenuous efforts are made to so engage those not incurably insane as to lead them from the thought of their woes, to dispossess their minds of the mania controlling them. Every person who can has some light task to perform. In this, as well as some other featm-es. the partial insane are better eared for than m ary insane hospital iu the land. The managers of the poor-house are indeed faithful public servants. Their positions are no sinecures. The man who so faithfully carries on the work so ably performed by the late T. W. Hill, will not be found in the person of every applicant. Mr. Dunlap ably performs his trust. The county cannot afford to do without him. In his efforts to make the institution perfect in its way, the Superintendent receives the cordial support of the other two mem- bprs of the boai-d, Hons, Hollis Latham, of Elkhorn, and E. Hulco, of Richmond. Notwithstanding the comparative small expense attending the keeping of these paupers, from $1.25 to $1.50 a week, per capita, they are remarkably well cared for They have good, palatable food, comfortable clothing and good rooms. The whole matter, in a nut shell, was given by Secretary Wright when he said to the wi'iter: 'You are welcome to say for the State Board of Charities and Reform that the Walworth County Poor House is the best in the State.'"

The report of the Suptu-intendents of the Poor for the year 1881 shows an annual expenditure for the support of the poor of $1,555.70, fur outside relief, and $118.11 for transient paupers (tramps). The whole number of inmates of the poor-house for the year was seventy-three. The average number was fifty-six. The cost of their maintenance per capita, exclusive of what was raised on the farm, was $64.04: per annum, or $1.23 per week. The products of the fann were: Wheat, 150 bushels; corn, 1,500 bushels; oats, 505 bushels; potatoes, 350 bushels; barley, 2() bushels; onions, 25 bushels; beets, 200 bushels; tobacco, 1,000 pounds; hay, 60 tons; hogs sold, 7,660 pounds; hogs slaughtered, 5,400 poimds; beef slaughtered, 3,000 pounds; 40 turkeys; 70 chickens; 34 pigs; 32 lambs. The inventory of personal property aggi-egated $6,- 714.05.

first Board of SuperviBora under the " towu system" of government was elected in April, 1842. New boards elected at the spring ections annually.

1862 - Register of Deeds, B. B. Humphrey; Treasurer, John F. Brett; Coroner, G. C. Gardner; Sui-veyor, James L. Tubbs; Superintendent of Schools, A. J. Cheney; *SuperviBors -

law; March 28, 1861; - One Supervisor to each Assembly District. This law was repealed February 17, 1869, and the town system re-established.

1863 - Register of Deeds, Otis B. Houghton: Treasurer, John F. Brett; Coroner, Julius A. Treat: Surveyor, James L.Tubbs; Superintendent of Schools, A. J. Cheney: Supervisors, T. W. Hill, Chairman; S. "Wakeley, J. L. Edwards, Charles Martin, Charles H. Sturtevant; Clerk, M. E. Dewing.

1804 - Register of Deeds, Otis B. Hoiighton; Treasurer, John F. Brett; Coroner, Julius A. Treat: Surveyor, James L. Tubbs; Superintendent of Schools, A. J. Cheney; Siipervisors, Thomas W. Hill. Chairman: Christopher Wiswell, George Allen, F. P. Ai-nold, J. L. Edwards; Clerk, M. E. Dewing.

Walworth County was not organized at the time of the first TeiTitorial Legislative Assembly, but at the four sessions of the second Assembly, held during the years 1838, 1839 and 1840, the two counties of Walworth and Rock were I'epresented in the Council by James Maxwell, of Big Foot Prairie, Walworth County, and in the Assembly by Othui Beardsley, of Troy, Walworth County, and Edward V. Whiton, of Janesville, Rock County. At the first session of the Third Territorial Assembly, James Maxwell was President of the Council, representing the two counties at this and the succeeding session - winters of 1840-41 and 1841-42. The members in the Assembly from Walworth County during these two sessions were Jesse C. Mills, Elkhorn; Hugh Long, Dai'ien, and James Tripp, of Whitewater, in place of Hugh Long, resigned. Following are the names of the members representing Walworth County in the subsequent Territorial Assemblies:

First Session of Fourth Legislative Assembly, 1842-43 - Council, Charles M. Baker, Geneva; Assembly, James Tripj), Whitewater; John M. Capron, Geneva: AVilliam A. Bartlett, Delavan.

First Session of Fifth Legislative Assembly, 1847 - Council, Henry Clark, Walworth; Assembly, Charles A. Bronson, Palmer Gardner, Sjwing Prairie.

C0Nstituti0N.4L Conventions

The fii-st Constitutional Convention assembled at Madison on the 5th day of October, 1846, and adjom'ned on the Ifith day of December, 1846, having framed a constitution which was submiited to a vote of the people on the fkst Tuesday in April, 1847, and the same was rejected. The following were the members fi'om Walworth County: Solmous Wakeley, Whitewater; Joseph Bowker, Delavan; Charles M. Baker, Geneva; John W. Boyd, Geneva; William Bell, Walworth; Lyman H. Seaver, Darien; Sewall Smith, East Troy; Josiah Topping, Delavan; William Beny, Spring Prairie.

The second convention asserhbled at Madison on the 15th of December, 1847, and framed a constitution which was submitted to a vote of the people and adopted. The following were the members fi-om Walworth County: James Harrington, Spring Prairie; Augustus C. Kinne, Sugar Creek; George Gale, Elkhoru: Experience Estabrook, Geneva; Hollis Latham, Elkhorn; Ezra A. Mulford, A\'alworth.

State Government

The first se.ssion of the State Legislature was -held at the capitol at Madison on Monday the 5th day of June, A. D. 1848. Below ai'e given the names of the members representing Walworth County in the Senate and Assembly.

1868 - Senate, Pre.sident, Wyman Spooner, Lieutenant Governor; N. M. Littlejohn, Whitewater; Assembly, Josef)h F. Lyon, Darien; John A. Smith, Geneva; George A. Ray, La Grange.

1876 - Representation unchanged; the niunbers designating the Assembly Districts were changed, the Second being named the First, and the First the Second; the Third remained unchanged.

The aijportionment of 1881 gave to Walworth County two Assembly Districts. It proved invalid, and the old apportionment remains in force till a new apportionment is made.

Courts And Officers

The first United States District Com-t was held in Elkhorn in April, 1839, by Hon. David Irwin, Judge. This court held sessions' for the whole Territorial period, and constituted the principal Cou.rt of Appeal till the State was organized and the State Circuit Courts established, in 1847. Dui-iug that time Judge Irwin occupied the bench. He appointed Le Grand Rockwell as Clerk of the Court, who held the ofiice so long as Judge Irwin presided.

The Territorial Sheriffs were: Sheldon Walling, two years; R. H. Mallory, two years; William K. May, two years; Nathaniel Bell, two years. The District Attorneys for the same period were: C. M. Baker, two years; E. Estabrook, two years; S. S. Barlow, four years. Judges of Probate were: Joseph Griffin, 1839 to 1841; John F. Potter, 1841 to 1847.

The State coiu-ts were organized in 1848, and Walwoi-th County became a part of the First Circuit, embracing the counties of Rock, Walworth, Kenosha, Racine and Green. The designating number of the circuit has remained unchanged. In 1809. Rock and Green Counties were detached from the cii-cuit, which has since embraced the three remaining counties - Racine, Kenosha and Walworth. The Judges and court officers of Walworth County have been as below stated:

Judges - The first Judge was Hon. Edward V. Whiton. He was elected to the Supreme bench before the expiration of his term. Hon. Wyman Spooner succeeded him by appointment, for the October term of 1853. He was succeeded by Hon. James R. Doolittle, who was elected in Juno, 1852, taking his' seat as Judge in January, 1853. He resigned in the spring of 1856, and resumed the practice of his profession; but he was elected to the United States Senate, January 23, 1857. Hon. Charles M. Baker was appointed to serve the unexpired term, but declined to be a candidate for election before the people. He was succeeded by Hon. John M. Keep, who, in 1858, was forced to resign from ill health before the expiration of his term of office. Hon. David Noggle served by appointment the unexpired term, and also for a term full by election. He was succeeded by Hon. William P. Lyon, January 1, 1800, who was elected to the Supreme bench January 20, 1871. The vacancy was tilled by the appointment of Hon. Robert Harkness, who served till February, 1875, when he resigned. Hon. Ii-a C. Paine served ad interim till the election of John T. Wentworth. He served till the expiration of the term, which expired December 31, 1877, and was re-elected. His present term expires on the first Monday in January, 1884.

The list following comprises, so far as they can be ascertained, the names of those who have been admitted to the bar, and such as have been known as regular practitioners in the Walworth County Courts, from 1839 to 1881. It has been compiled from the conrt rolls and further supplemented by the revision of the oldest siu'viving members now in practice:

The political complexion and changes in sentiment are shown by the votes polled at the various Presidential elections since the organization of the State. They have been as follows:

The first full valuation of farming property by townships as they now exist (with the exception of Elkhorn, which then comprised what is now Sugar Creek), was made by the County Supervisors October 1, 1844, and was as given in the table below:

In contrast with the above, and showing increase in wealth during the past thirty-seven years, the assessed vahiation of property, as made in 1881, is given below:

Acreage Under Cultivation In 1881

The growth of the county press can be traced in detail by a reference to the histories of the towns. To give an idea of its progi-ess, however, a statement follows, in chronological order, of the establishment by towns of the iirst joiu'nals throughout the county, with a mention of those at present alive. The first paper, the Western Star, was established at Elkhorn August 8, 1845, by George Gale. In 1848, the Geneva Gazette was founded by David M. Keeler. The first paper published at Delavan, and the third in the county, was the Walworth County Journal, established in December, 1852, by J. C. Bunner. Next, in order of time, was the AATiitewater Gazette, started by H. J. Curtice, in January, 1855. The Register was founded bv H. L. & L. H. Rann, in March, 1857. In 1868, Rev. J. G. Schseffer commenced the publication of the Sharon Mirror, the first jotunal bom in that town, East Troy following her example in August, 1879, by the issuing of the Gazette, by F. D. Craig. The principal papers in the county, at jsresent published, are the Whitewater Register, E. D. Coe, editor; the Whitewater Chronicle, Pitt Cravath, editor: the Walwoiih County Independent, S. S. Eockwood, editor; Delavan Republican. W. G. Weeks, editor: Delavan Enterprise, E. W. Conable, editor; Geneva Herald. J. E. Heg: Geneva News, 3. S. Badger: Sharon Reporter, Messrs. Phelps & Ziegaus, proprietors: East Troy Gazette, C. A. Cook, editor. Detailed accounts of the above publications will be found in the town histories.

Conclusion

The foregoing chapters contain the chronicles of the early settlers. How they came to the country, how they lived, how they thrived, how they biu-ied their dead, how they tilled the earth, "how they got possession of "their land, how they established schools and churches, how they came to be a wealthy and prosperoiis community - all that combined to make the county what it is, has been recounted - qiiite imperfectly, but sufficiently to give the futm-e historian data from which to write a history of Western civilization.

An agricultural community has little of the sensational in its life or growth. It keeps the even tenor of its way, unvexed by the storms that rage in the great centers.

The history of Walworth County is that of the growth of a prosperous community, under the fostering care of the best Government the sun ever shone upon.

Forty -five years ago, the settlement of Walworth County laegun. The man who first put plow into the virgin sod. Palmer Gardner, is still alive. Outside of the American Republic, it has never before been recorded that the fathers should live to see their sons established in a new country. Here the earliest settlers, who came in in 1836, and viewed the country in all the wild loveliness of nature, still live to see it the home of their children.

The history is not eventful. It is nevertheless instructive. It shows how out of nothing which man possesses, much which God wills can be made, and as such may prove instructive fiir beyond the intrinsic worth or literary merits of the work itself.

Organization

The present town of Elkhorn embraces but a single section of the original town within its limits. The prairie from which the towoi took its name aboiuided in the antlers of the elk, when the first white e.\])lorers visited it, and from that circumstance its name was derived. The honor of naming the prairie Elkhorn is given to Col. Samuel F. Phcenix. the founder of Delavan, who, in his joui-nal, states that on a journey from Swan Lake (Delavan) in the early part of July, 1836, on coming out upon the prairie, where the army trail crossed it, about a mile or mile and a half east of the present village of Elkhorn, as he lay down to rest under a huge buiT-oak, he saw in the forks of the tree the antlers of an elk, which some passer-by had hung there, which suggested to him the name of Elkhorn for the prairie, and he so christened it on the spot. Certain it is that all subsequent comers knew it by that name.

The original town of Elkhorn was one 6i the five organized by act of the Territorial Legislature, January 2, 1838, and embraced the four townships in the northwest ijuarter of the county now known as Whitewater, La Grange, Richmond and Sugar Creek. com[)rising an area of 1-14 square miles. The first town meeting was held at the house of Asa Blood, who lived in what is now the town of Sugar Creek, on the bank of Silver Lake. The town was divided by act of August 13, 1840, Whitewater being formed from the two western townships, Nos. 3 and 4 in Range 15, now Whitewater and Richmond.

March 21, 1843, the town of La Grange was detached from the remaining ten-itory (Town 4, Range 16), leaving under the name of Elkhorn Town 3, Range 16, it being the present town of Sugar Creek, less a single section. Its boundaries remained unchanged until February 2, 1846, at which time, by act of the Legislatiu-e, a new town of Elkhorn was incorporated, which embraced but a single section of the original town, viz.. Section 36, in Town 3, Range 16. By that act, the present town of Elkhorn was established. The boundaries were described as follows: "All that part of the county of Walworth comprised in Section 36, in the town of Elkhorn; Section 1, in the town of Delavan: Section 6, in the town of Geneva, and Section 31, in the town of La Fayette, is hereby set off and organized into a separate town by the name of Elkhorn," and except Section 36, the remaining part of Elkhorn was organized as a new town under the name of Sugar Creek. The town of Elkhorn, as organized by the act of Februaiy 2, 1846, is a square of two miles, embraces the geographical center of the county, and is the seat of justice. The history of Elkhorn is properly confmed to its present boundaries, leaving the earlier chronicles of the old domain of the town to be treated in the histories of the towns formed therefrom.

Location And Natural Features

The present town and village of Elkhorn lies on the summit of the water-shed of the county, and was, before its settlement, one of the most beautiful spots in the county. Nearly all of Section 6, and the southern part of Section 1, was a beautiful prairie (a part of Elkhorn Prairie). The edge of timber just skirted along the north part of Section 6, and ran in a southwesterly direction to the middle of the western line of Section 1,- Sections 36 and 3, were all covered with a growth of old oak trees, and were what was termed oak opening, being quite free from undergrowth, sirfficiently so to enable teams to drive through without hiutlrance. It was one vast natui-al park. The soil is generally a black loam, with a clay subsoil.

Early Settlement

The town was first settled in the spring of 1837. or, to give the exact date of the first settlement, February 27, 1837. The circumstances resulting in the settlement were as follows: The coimty of Walworth was set off and its limits defined in 1836. The Government sm-^'ey was completed that year, and the general excellence of the land had become quite well known to the residents of the lake villages at the close of that year, and, as settlers had begun to come in quite rapidly, a mauia seized nearly everjbodj- to secure claims for speculative purposes. Among the sharp men then entering the business of land speculation was Le Grand Eock-well, of Milwaukee. He was possessed of some means and was one of the shrewdest young biisiness men in the Territory. He conceived the plan of pre-empting the land at the geographical center of the county, judging, as has proved quite coiTectly. that it would become the seat of justice whenever -the county should become sufficiently settled to organize a complete county government. Accordingly, he. with a friend, whom he had enlisted in the enterprise, Horace Coleman, came out to look the ground over and Jivd the center. On their way out, they stopped at the house of Dr. Hemenway, where Hollis Latham, then a young, immarried nian, had been living for several months. Latham joined them, and the three prospectors reached Elkhorn. and found the intersections of the lines that marked the center of the county, February 13. 1837. The general aspect of the country in the winter showed none of the beauties that so entranced those who viewed it for the first time clad in the verdiu-e and bloom of sjiring and summer. The exact center was a sort of slough, but at a little distance in all directions, the country seemed all that was desirable for settlement, even should the embi'yo county seat never be established there. The three retiu'ned. however, without making any claim. The speculative inducements did not strike deep enough into Coleman's heart to take root, and he did not return. Mr. Rockwell, however, was more favoraljly impressed, and had no difficulty in making up a syndicate in Milwaukee to secm-e the land he desired. The company as organized consisted "of Le Grand Eockwell. J. S. Rockwell, L. J. Higby. Allen W. Hatch and Daniel E. Bradley. It was proposed that the company should claim the four quarter-sections, one square mile, commencing at the center of the county, and start thereon a dairy farm until such time as the county seat project might develop. Accordingly, a party wa.s oi-ganized to immediately secure possession of the promised land. It consisted, on their arrival, of four persons - Le Grand Rockwell, representing the interest of himself and brother; Milo E. Bradley, who rejiresented the interest of himself and father, Daniel E., he having gone East for the family; A-lbert Ogden. then a young man in the employ of Higby. and Hollis Latham, who came on with them from Spring Prairie. The four men reached Elkhorn February 27, 1887. They brought a moderate stock of supplies, and a small tent which they pitched nbout a mile east of the center, in a poplar grove on the edge of the timber. They immediately made their claims to the four coveted quarter-sections, and commenced building a rude log shanty half a mile east of the center of their claim, near the north line of Section 6. The shanty was completed in about a fortnight, and the party moved in. all except Rockwell, who started for Indiana to purchase cows wherewith to start the dairy business. The young men. Latham and Ogden, not being interested in the claims of the Milwaukee company, took claims for themselves. Latham directly east on the northeast quarter of Section 6. Range 17 east, and Ogden directly west of the company's claims, on the northwest quarter of Section 1, Range 16 east.

The company's claim at the center was designated in the Government siu'vey as follows: The southeast quarter of Section 3(). Town 3. Range 16 east; the southwest quarter of Section 31. Town 3. Range 17 east; the northwest quarter of Section 6. Town 2. Range 17 east; the northeast quarter of Section 1. Town 2. Range 16 east. In addition to these claims, the company made large claims in Townshija 2. Range 17, lying southeast of the claims above described. The center of the claim was at the southeast corner of the lot in Elkhorn Village now occupied by O. Livingston as a blacksmith-shop and residence, at the southwest corner of South and East streets.

The occupants of the shanty, after the departiu'e of Rockwell (Ogden, Latham and Bradley), enjoyed all that labor, novelty and youthful hope could give them. They set to work with their axes to cut down the trees and hew the timber for a frame house for the expected colony, consisting of the Bradley families whom Daniel E. would bring with him. and in getting out fence rails to inclose some parts of the claims made. They were none of them expert housekeepers nor good cooks, but took turns in cooking - one day Ogden fried the pork, the next Latham tried his hand at pan-cakes, and the next Bradley made saleratus cake or some other mysterious compound from the material at hand. It mattered little with their good appetites what was set before them. With the assurance that it was not poison, it all went down. They had tea and coffee, with sugar. They labored assiduously - cut the oak timber, hewed and framed it. and some time in May had the frame of the first house in Elkhorn raised. In raising, they were assisted by two men named Cook and Smith, who had taken claims some two miles west, and had --shantied'" with them while j)reparing a shelter for themselves on their own claims. The covering of the house, oak siding, and the flooring were obtained from the Geneva saw-mill, just fairly started. The windows were bought in Milwaukee. The chimney. also, consisting of a few joints of stove-pipe, came from the same metropolis^ then consisting of three stores, two taverns and other buildings, enough to make a village of perhaps 400. The interval of ten weeks, while this house was being built, was enlivened with such episodes as fall only to the lot of pioneers in a country possessing no resoiirces except those in nature's own storehouse. The colony did not suffer any actual privations, but they occasionally came, by stress of circumstances, to the verge of short rations. In addition to the labors of house-building, the provisions were to be obtained from a distance. Mr. O. Preston, in an article in the Elkhorn Independent. March 11. ISSO, gives an entertaining account of the foraging eflbrts of the pai-ty during the period. Beginning with the building of the shanty, it is as follows:

" A cabin of logs was at once decided upon, and immediately commenced, yet it was some two weeks before the exceptionally cold weather yielded sufficiently to admit of filling in the crevices between the logs, so as to make it habitable. After two weeks of dreary waiting, the cold so far abated as to admit of digging up the earth to the south side of the cabin, and. with hot water, obtained a plastic mud, with which, with wooden paddles, the chinking was done, and the new residence was thus completed. The inhabitants of the whole town were Eockwell, Bradley. Latham and Ogden - foiu- persons - who occupied the new building, the first dwelling of Elkhorn. the futm-e county seat of Walworth County.

"The larder question next became the paramount subject of solicitude and inquiry: so Milo Bradley improvised a hand-sled, with which he and Ogden made a trip to Spring Prairie for supplies Be it borne in mind that flom-, meal and salt pork were, at that time, the standard necessaries of the day. Having successfully made the trip, they there also learned that one Alpheus Johnson, who had a cabin in what was then and is now called the Dwinnell Settlement, in La Fayette, had a few potatoes, and it was decided to add that excellent vegetable to their frugal far^. Accordingly, the next day Ogden. equipped with the hand-sled, made his way through the brush for th much-coveted luxury. The trip was void of success. The old man positively denied the suspicion of having any potatoes. As he was slowly wending his way homeward, he discover! d in the softening crust of snow, coon tracks, which were but another confirmation of the maxim that Providence or Hercules helps the persev ring. A new field of enterprise was here opened: he followed the trail until he found where the coon had ensconced himself for his night's repose. Returning to the cabin for an axe and re-enforcements, the siege of the coon commenced. The coons had probably heard of the discussion of one of his relatives with Capt. Scott, and. being like-minded, surrendered. Two of them were captured and brought alive to town. and. for a few days, the colonists fared sumptuously on "baked coon.' But at that time, the example of the boy and the woodehuck had not materialized, but the analogy of being "out of meat' had. The day of such a luxury was di-awing to a close: so Hollis Latham started on foot for IMilwaukee for the pm-pose of piu'chasing provisions. He went by the way of Skunk's Grove, Racine County, near what is now Franksville, and contracted with Mi-, Joseph Nickson to haul out some provisions. Reaching Milwaukee, the provisions were purchased, and Nickson agreed to be at Elkhorn as soon as Latham, who determined to return by the V7ay of Mukwonago, a nearer route. When he arrived here, no Nickson had appeared, and the sequel showed that Nickson on his return by way of his home, had concluded to accept an invitation to a wedding in Kenosha County, and it was some ten days before he put in an ap- I^earance. In the meantime, having nothing except the rib bones of some salt pork, Ogden' s rifle was brought into reiiuisition, to the detriment of the prairie chickens, of which, with the rib bones, they made a stew: and the chickens feeding at that season of the year upon hazel buds, they were about as savory as the celebrated political crow, which politicians sometimes diet upon, and it is a notable fact that at this day, none of the old settlers at that period enthuse worth a cent during the chicken season."

The house was not entirely finished till the middle of the sunmier, but sufficiently so for the occupancy of a murerous family, on the arrival of the Bradley families early in June. It was, for the times, a veiy pretentious structure. Its size was 18x30 feet. It was a story and a half high. It had two outside doors, the main entrance being on the south side, the other at the southeast corner, on the east end. The whole east half of the lower tloor was in one room, being kitchen, dining-room and general sitting-room. The west half was divided into three small rooms. The upper floor was Tinpartitioned and constituted a grand dormitory, sheets being hung up to define personal rights and insiu-e privacy. It was guiltless of paint, and a stove funnel, stuck through the roof, did duty as a chimney. A small dairy or cheese-room was subsecjuently attached to the northeast corner of the house. The order of architecture was undefinable, and suggested comfort and utility more than aesthetic taste. It has given way to more modern and convenient dwellings, but is still remembered as the abode of comfort by the early settlers, and the welcome place of sojourn of many a weary traveler of the early days.

Rockwell returned from Indiana with his drove of stock early in June - about the 5th. He brought some twenty-five cows, three yoke of oxen and a horse. They were not what a farmer of Walworth County would to-day call a fancy lot; there is not, probably, in all the county, among the thousands, twenty-five as scurvj' as those which constituted Rockwell's drove. As they were safe from the disgrace of comparison, there being no others near, they were satisfactory to their owners, and were put to grazing on the fresh-grown grass of Elkhorn Prairie. The colony luxuriated on bread and milk till the women might arrive. It is not believed that either of the men attempted to churn before that time.

Soon after Rockwell" s i-etm-n, Daniel E. Bradley amved in Racine with the families of himself and Milo. The ox-team was immediately dispatched for them, and they reached Elkhorn and took up quarters in the frame house, not yet plastered, June 12, 1887. This addition of women and children made the colony complete. The families who arrived with Mr. Daniel E. Bradley consisted of three women- - Mrs. Daniel E. Bradley and daughter (now Mrs. HoUis Latham), and Mrs. Milo E. Bradley, with six children, the oldest of whom, then a youth of foiu'- teen years, is the present Postmaster of Elkhorn - Mr. Henry Bradley. The census taken at that time showed the population (all inmates of the new house) to number foiu'teen, viz., five men, three women and six children. Mr. Bradley, Sr., with his wife, constituted the head of the united family. Business began in earnest. Some twenty-five acres of prairie were broken during the latter part of June, partly on the claim of the company on Section 5, in what is now the town of Geneva, and a few acres on each of the claims of Latham and Ogden, on Sections 6 and 1, within the present limits of the town of Elkhorn. So the first laud broken by the plow for cultivation was by Messrs. Latham and Ogden on their respective claims. The crops that year consisted principally of corn, with a bounteous crop of riitabaga turnips, taken from six acres, which helped the cows through the following winter.

Bradley's house, besides being the home of the colony, was a tavern and a favorite stopjjing-i)lace for travelers. It was the fii'st tavern in Elkhorn, and in subsequent sketches it should be so understood. Travelers never asked Mi\ Bradley to " show them a room " - there was only one, embracing all up- stairs - they were only too glad to be shown a bed.

It is not certain that any other actual settlers came into the town during the year 1837, though prospectors were plenty, mostly unmarried men. looking about for a favorable location.

As a peculiar interest attaches to these early pioneers, and the comjjany who first claimed the laud, their history, as a whole, is continued out of the consecutive line of narrative. The members of the company, consisting of the Rockwells, Higby, Hatch and Daniel E Bradley, kept a joint interest but a short time. Hatch's interest never amounted to much, being contingent on putting something into the venture, which it is believed he did not do, and his interest, such as it was, lapsed into the hands of the other partners. Mr. Hatch is still living in Milwaukee, an old and respected citizen. L. J. Higby kept his interest for a year; growing business interests in Milwaukee then engrossed his entire attention, and he accordingly sold out in the fall of 1838. In the divide, he took a large share of the stock, which was driven into Milwaukee by Mr. Ogden, and the dairy business was thereafter abandoned. Mr. Higby became one of the leading business men of Milwaukee, at one time almost controlling the warehouse business of the city. He subsequently removed to New Orleans, where he died in 1878 or 1879.

183(3. He took th- bouse and fifty acres of hmdon wbicli Wcis the site, and the northeast quarter of Section 7, in the present town of Geneva. He lived bat a few mouths after. He was a native of Vermont, but liad lived some years in Delaware County, N. Y., jwior to emigrating to Wisconsin. He was a carpenter by trade, and, at the time of his death, was not far from fifty-live years old. Thus, before the first land sale of February, 1839, the company was dissolved, and all the claims made by it were purchased and became the property of the Rockwell l)rothers - L. G. and J. S. - except what fell into the possession of Daniel E. Bi'adley, as before stated. The Rockwell brothers both died some years ago. Further biographical mention of them appears elsewhere in this work.

Not a member of the original firm, except Hatch, of Milwaukee, is now living. With the actual settlers, who made up the colony, time has dealt kindly. Mr. HoUis Latham and wife and Mr. Albert Ogde'i are still living in Elkhorn: as is Henry Bradley, the oldest of the children. Milo E, Bradley is still living in West Salem, Wis. His wife, who came in in 1837, is deceased. Of the six children, all are alive but one; William, son of Mrs, Latham, died some years since. More extended notices of these survivors appear in the biographical department of this work.

At the laud sale of 1839, the Rockwells, Latham and Ogden, bought in their claims ias originally made, thereby perfecting their title to a large part of what is now the site of Elkhorn Village, Milo E. Bradley made a claim for himself, in the fall of 1837, on Section 4 in the town of Geneva, built a house and moved into it with his family, leaving the Elkhorn colony reduced to nine persons.

The next year, Gen. Sheldon Walling came in with his three boys, bought a few acres of the Rockwells, on which he erected a log house. This was near the present residence of Edward Elderkin, He also made claim of the southwest (juarter of Section 7, in the present town of Geneva - the place now owned by Fred Baker, His wife came in the fall of 1838, The family occupied the cabin and did some farming on the claim This was the only accession in 1838, The only other building done was the erection of a house by Le Grand Rockwell, for the occupancy of his hired man, Mr. Daniel Bowen, who, with his family, attended to the farming interests on the Rockwell estate: also a building for otfice purposes, on the east side of the present park, which afterward became historic as the first court-room of Walworth County. It was a one-storv building:, I8x'.2'2 feet in size. The bnildino;s described, viz., the frame house first built, the log house occupied by Daniel Bowen, the log house of Gen. Walling and the office of the Rockwells, were all on the present site of Elkhorn when it became the county seat, and the total population did not exceed twenty -three.

In the fall of 1838, by vote of the citizens of the county, the center, at the center of the present town, was selected as the county seat by a majority of thirty-five votes over the competing points of Spring Prairie, Geneva and Delavau, The selectiim did not bring any great accession to the population, as, in October, 1839, when the first court was held, it does not appear that any other buildings had been erected, or any permanent settlers came in, except Mr. Edward Elderkin, who, having already studied law, appeared on the fir.st opening of the "United States Circuit Court, October 25, 1839, and tried his first case during the term. He was the first lawyer of Elkhorn, and the second in the county, Hon. C. M. Baker, of Geneva, being the first, H, S, Winsor came in December, 1839. The accessions of that year comprised only these two lawyers, and the families of Gen. Walling and Mr. Bowen. before mentioned.

Unlike Geneva and Delavan, there were no special natural advantages which indicated Elkhorn as a favorable location for a village. There was no water power nor was it in the line of travel between any settled points; nor a converging point favorable to trade; nothing but its position as the geographical center of the county gave it any prominence or promise as the site of a future village - indeed, the location was handicapped with many serious disadvantages, as against the two points named. Nevertheless, owing to dissensions and jealousies between the other competing points, added to the fact that it had next to no population of its own to raise enmity, it was selected as the seat of justice, and conseiptently as the central village of the county. The selection gave the Rockwells the realization of their hopes when they made their claims, and they had only to enter in and enjoy their fruition. With the prestige appertaining to a shire town, Elkhorn did not grow rapidly. The settlers of the following two years were not numerous. Among; the comers of 1840 were Moses Bartlett. from the State of Maine, with a family of live children; James Farnsworth, Richard Hogaboom Benjamin Arnold, William Coulson, Hudson Van Bnmt, George Watson, John Hall and H. H. Hartson and family.

In 1841, there came Zenas Ogden, with his family, consisting of a wife and thi-ee children, from Delaware County, N. Y. : Phineas M. Johnson and family. Levi Lee and family, Richard Beals and family. Isaac Beals and family, from the State of New York, and Hon. George Gale, from Vermont.

In 1843, settlers came in in large niunbers. and took nearly all the Government lands left for pre-emption. Among the arrivals of that year were William E. Gregory, George Young and family. Dr. George H. Young and family, Dexter Dewing and family, George Dewing and family, Sanford Garfield and family, William Garfield and family, (I. N. Meigs and Miss A. C. Beardsley.

Others doiibtless made settlements within the present limits of the town prior to 1843, but those mentioned above are all of whom authentic information can be obtained. The biographical sketches will supplement what is lacking in the above record. The growth of the settlement was slow for the first ten years, notwithstanding it was the county seat.

In August. 1842. there were but nine buildings, an increase of five in four years. Two of them were stores, and the first hotel (except Bradley's, before mentioned) stood on the corner where Snyder's Hotel now stands. A log jail was also one of the buildings. There were nine families and the population had increased to fifty-three. The village was platted and the park reserved and the streets laid out essentially as they now are.

The Village

The village, as will be seen, was the result of the selection of the center as the county seat. This occiu-red in the fall of 1838. By a Congressional act, each county on the selection of a location for the seat of justice, had the guarantee of the first pre-emption right to a quartersection, for county pnrposes; on the payment of the Government price - $1.25 per acre. The Rockwells relintpiished to the county their claim to the southeast quarter of Section 30, Town 3, Range iti, and it was purchased by the county from the Government at the land sale of 1839. The tract was located north and west of the southeast corner of O. Livingston's lot. comprised 160 acres, and covered the park and a large pai-t of the site of the present village. It was platted by Edward Norris. then a surveyor living in Delavan. The county made special reservation for specific piirposes - one lot for a jail: one lot for a schoolhouse, donated to the village of Elkhorn: iom- lots, numbered 9, 10, 11 and 12, at the northeast corner of Walworth and Wisconsin streets, to whoever would erect and maintain a commodious hotel on that corner: and the entire block, now -'the pai-k, " for the site of the county buildings and for the other county offices. Thus laid out, its progi'ess was as detailed below.

The Qbowth Of The Village. '

The growth from 1843 to 1849 was that of a healthy Western village with a fine local trade, and at the last-named date, it had attained to a population of 539. The buildings had increased to eighty. For several years after, the population increased but slightly. Many of the inhabitants emigrated to California. In 1849, the exodus l)egan. The gold-seekers of that year were: Z. Chittenden. Lewis Lewis, Edward Pentland, John Wood, D, G. Weston and family. F. S. and George Walling, and George Allen. In 1852. the fever was at its height, and took off many citizens lielieved to be permanent residents of the town. They went mostly overland. Among the emigrants of that year were: Hem-y Bradley and wife. Andrew Mayo, Asaph Gregory, Frank S. Mason, H. Van Brunt. J. A. Norris. Wyman Spooner. Jr., John Gillispie. S. P. Townsend. Stanbmy Ogden. .John Cromley. J. Pettit. Henry Clem ens. Alex. S. Brown and fam'ily. Nathan Colburn and family, and Edward Pentland and wife. Also, by steamer, via New York, during that and the following year: H. F. Spooner, W^illiam Pentland, Lewis Lee, Dyar L, Cowdery, Samuel Mayo. Horatio Potter, H. N. Hay, Solomon Hicks. Chester and Philo Baird. John Schleyburg. Carrie and Fannie Beardsley, Mrs. Susan Church and Mrs. Pearce. Many retiuned. and some of them are still residents of the town, while not a few found graves in " El Dorado." Among those who never returned were: H. N. Hay and Solomon Hicks, who died on the voyage and were biu-ied at sea: Misses Fannie and Caroline Beardsley, Lewis Lee. Smith P. Townsend. Nathan Coll)iu-n. Mrs. Alex. S. Brown and her son. Daniel. C. Baird. Charles Garfield, Lewis Lee and John Gillispie. Smith P. Townsend, Chester Baird. Charles Garfield and John Gillispie. of 1S5'2, came home and went again after some stay here, and died in California.

The list above given of those who went or those who never returned is by no means complete, but siafficient to show that a serious depletion was made in the population at that time. It was sufficient to check the growth of the town for some years, and not till the railroad fever broke out, in 1854. did the town take a fi-esh start. At that time, the leading citizens of Elkhorn had obtained a charter for the Wisconsin Central Railroad, of which a full accoiint will be found in the county history. And the old Racine & Mississippi road was also in process of construction, although not then located, as it eventually was, so as to pass through the village. Still another road - the Milwaukee & Beloit - was chartered, which was to pass through the town. With a junction of two roads crossing the county diagonally, and the probability of still another, the Racine & Mississippi, it became evident that Elkhorn would become the most importiint railroad center in the county, and one of the most important in the State.

The village took a fi-esh start. Real estate rapidly increased in value, and large accessions were made to the population. At the beginning of 1854, the po]iulation did not exceed 500: in June. 1855, in had increased to 737. In September, 1856, the population exceeded 1,000. which, in another year, had increased to 1.500. In 1856, there were erected sixty-eight new buildings, and in 1857, before the panic of that year, forty more were added. At that time, there wei-e 220 dwellings and a population exceeding 1,500. For population, this was near the maximiun it has ever attained. The financial crash of that year dissolved into thin air the hopes that had been based on the Central and the l\Iilwaukee & Beloit Railroads. The Racine & Mississippi road was, by extraordinary efl'orts of the citizens of Elkhorn. backed by bonds and subscriptions to the amount of $20,000. diverted from the original route and brought thi-ough Elkhorn in 1850. This remained the only railroad connection till 1870. at which time the road was built from Elkhorn to Eagle.