New Glarus, Wisconsin

In July, 1845, f°ur men5 Armstrong, Greenwood, Slater, and Jackson bv name, had claims in what is now called New Glarus. There was not a single inhabitant there who owned the place on which he lived ; but the time had come when the long waiting of the unoccupied township was to be rewarded. Here w7as to be shown, as it was to be shown in no other township in the county, how the superfluous- and poverty-stricken children of the old word are transformed in the United States into prosperous and useful citizens. Early in 1S45 *-ne Emigration Association of Glarus determined to relieve the crowded population of that canton by sending a colony to the United States, and Fridolin StreifF and Nicholas Duerst were delegated to come in advance of the colony and select a place for the settlement. They left Switzerland March 8, 1845. At the conclusion of a long voyage they were met in New York by friends of the society, and on the nth of May they started with Joshua Frey of Pennsylvania, on their search for a home for the colony. They arrived at Chicago the morning of the 19th of May, and here the search began. They traveled over Illinois and a large part of Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Their aim was to rind a place with a healthful climate, convenient markets, good soil and water, and plenty of timber. They selected the township named by them New Glarus, and on the 25th of July they purchased twelve hundred acres in sections fourteen, fifteen, twenty-two, twenty - three, and twenty-seven of that township. The purchase was made at Mineral Point, where Mr. StreifF took the first step towards becoming a citizen of the United States. Not being sufficiently acquainted with the language to take the usual oath, the ceremony, so far as he understood it, consisted in kissing the bible.

Passage source: History of Green County, Wisconsin, published 1877.

The first work of the commissioners was to lay out a road from Green's Prairie to the prospective village, after which, on the 6th of August, Mr. Frey left them to return home. Meanwhile, Messrs. Duerst and StreifF had hastily erected a few shanties for the colonists who were daily expected. The society had not wished to send the colony so soon, but the emigrants became so impatient that it was impossible to restrain them, and they were permitted to start the 16th of April. Some communities paid the traveling expenses of those of their emigrants who could not pay for themselves, and during the night of the 15th and 16th of April, charitably disposed persons raised the money to pay for the passage of a number of families that wished to come but for whom no provision had been made. The colonists went to St. Louis and thence to New Glarus, where thev arrived August 12. Their progress had been delayed by some misunderstanding, on account of which the commissioners were looking for them in Chicago while they were waiting in St. Louis for instructions from the commissioners. At first they were crowded together in a few shanties. Then, as they were able, they built log houses; and whenever a house was built, a shanty was taken down and the lumber used to make the floor and the door of the new house. Few of the houses had two windows, none had more than two. The doors had wooden hinges that Mr. Streiff made himself. Two months after the land was bought, Mr. Duerst, who had never intended to remain in this country, returned to Switzerland, shaking as he went with the ague. The whole care of the colony now devolved on Mr. Streiff. Some of the colonists had a little money, but most of them were so poor that, as one of them expressed it, "if they had to pay six cents for a cat, they couldn't buv it." A few went to Thompson's settlement to work, and a few others spent the winter in Galena; but as a whole the colony was so helpless that Mr. Streiff was compelled to ask for help. The Association sent him <£ 1,000, with which he bought provisions, oxen, seed, agricultural implements, and whatever else was indispensable before the people could take care of themselves. Provisions were bought by the quantity, and sold to families at the lowest possible price. There was little in the houses, and little room for anything besides the folks and the beds. One stove and a few chairs were bought. Bedding had been brought from Switzerland, and beds were made on the floor so close to each other that a housekeeper who confesses to many tears because the men stuck their dirty boots against them, says that while she made her bed she always stood on some other woman's bed. In the mountainous land of their birth, the people had never known such winds as swept through their cabins that long, first winter; and sometimes when they crept shivering to bed they had to take their few umbrellas with them. Fearful of being deceived by the harmless appearance of the Indians who visited them occasionally, timid men and women told till they trembled with terror the stories they had heard of Indian perfidy and cruelty. No wonder. that whereever Mr. Streiff turned he found a woman in tears; no wonder that his incessant labors excited little gratitude, and that he wrote home, " I shall remember the year 1845." The wonder is that on a thousand dollars he could keep nearly a hundred persons from fall to spring in such a way that they should be grateful to him in after year's. He did this, but, though often urged, he has never consented to take charge of another colonv from Switzerland. Through the winter, the men were busy cutting wood and splitting rails. In the spring, the work of breaking prairie began. The Association sold each man twenty acres at three florins an acre, on ten years' time without interest. Some men bought more land, and some claimed land adjoining them, and paid for it in 1855, when the deeds were given by the Association. The commissioners divided the land so that the shares were as nearly as possible alike in their advantages in wood and water, and then, when all had promised to abide by the result, the shares were drawn by lot. Rules for the government of the colony provided that no one should cut wood from another's land, but all might cut from the road. During the first year, two families at least should live in one house, and colonists should help each other in building houses and barns. Until their land was paid for, they were not to dig for mineral. After it was paid for, they might dig; but if lead was found, the land was to be given up to the society, in which case the owner was to be paid the original cost of the land and the value of his improvements in cultivation and buildings, but nothing for the lead.

Passage source: History of Green County, Wisconsin, published 1877.

The reports that went back from the colony were so encouraging that several times in the summer of 1846 recruits came from the mother country. One of them was J. Jacob Tschudy, who was sent to assist in the care of the colony. A report of the condition of the colony dated November 20, '46, and printed for circulation in Switzerland, contains the following: The owners of lots were Fridolin Hoesli, John' Kundert, Paulus Kundert, Henry Hoesli, Leonard Hammerli, Mathias Smith, George Legler, Mrs. Barbara Hoesli, Abraham Schindler, Balthasar Durst, Niklaus Durst, David Schindler, Markus Hoesli, Mathias Duerst, Fridolin Hefti, Fridolin Legler father, Fridolin Legler son, John Caspar Legler, Oswald Babler, Fridolin Babler, Henry Aebli, Hilarius Wild, Mathias Hoesli, Jost Triimpi, Jost Becker, Fridolin StreifF, Gabriel Baumgartner, Caspar Zwicki, Fridolin Oertli. Six men with their families had gone away, and three men, J. Jacob Tschudi, Peter Hoesli, and Jacob Ernst had not yet drawn their lots. There had been two births and seven deaths, and the colony numbered at that time 125 persons. There were twenty houses, of which thirteen were in the village. One hundred and nine acres had been broken, seven hundred bushels of corn and " more than enough potatoes " had been raised. The live stock owned by individuals consisted of two horses, ninety-seven head of cattle including eighteen oxen, one hundred and ninety-nine pigs, and nine sheep. Fowls were still owned in common. A few orchards had been set out. A few garden vegetables, "as peas, chiccory, cabbages and tobacco, also pumpkins were planted bv way of trial." Fortunately, the experiment succeeded, especially in peas and pumpkins. The ground was thought to be too new for wheat, and there was complaint that the potatoes "were not so good as in Switzerland. There were as yet but few fences, and the crops were much injured by the swine as well as by field mice. The prairie fires destroyed hay stacks and fences, and some of the colonists lost their hair in saving their hay-covered houses. Published extracts from Mr. Streiff's letters show that the people were well, but, on account of the hard work they had done, very ragged, also that there was a general desire for a minister and a school. After Mr. Tschudy's arrival, he was, until the people were able to pay for all services rendered, overseer, minister, physician, and teacher. In the summer of '46, the first Swiss school was taught. The next school was Eng- lish. The first frame house in the colony was a school house, though previous to its erection some of the log houses had been boarded over. The people showed no great anxiety to learn the English language, but the children learned it at school, and it gradually made its way in the colony. More efficacious than the schools in Americanizing the people was the habit of the young men and women of going out to service. For years all the hired girls in Monroe were from the colony, and with the language they also acquired in their various homes many of the ideas and customs of the countrv. Married women sometimes left their families, walked to Monroe, washed three or four days, took their pay in flour, old clothes, or whatever they could £et and carried it home on their backs. The men were naturalized very soon. Usually before an election each party had an agent at the colony who offered to pay the naturalization fees of all who would vote for his candidate. The second or third year after the arrival of the colony, Conrad Ott opened a store in the village. Mr. Frederick Egger, who succeeded Mr. Tschudy as agent of the Emigration Society, was the second merchant. The third store was that of Mr. Tschudy, who soon sold it to Mr. Gus. Alder. About the time of its appearance, Dr. Samuel Blumer, the first physician, and the Rev. Wm. Streisgood, the first clergyman, came from Switzerland. In 1855, a stone church was built. For five or six years there was no blacksmith in the colony, and for ten years the people went to Winnesheek to mill. Mark Luchsinger was the first blacksmith, and David Klassy built the first mill. One of the colonists has had the curiosity to search the county records to see how early and how often the names of New Glarus and her citizens appeared. The result is as follows: April, 1847, New Glarus school district was credited with forty children and school three months. Frederick StreifF was appointed road supervisor. January, '48, said supervisor made his report and was paid. A road was laid out from Exeter by way of New Glarus and Green's Prairie to the Mineral Point road. July, '48, J. Jacob Tschudy was allowed an account for bringing; witnesses to United States Court. February, '49, J. Jacob Tschudy was petit juror. November 16, '49, a petition from township 4 north, range 7 east, asking to be set off from the town of York as the town of New Glarus was granted, and it was ordered that the first town meeting should be held at the school house in the village of New Glarus the first Tuesday in April, 1850. January, 1S50, J. Caspar Legler was paid $2 for a wolf scalp. November, 1850, the result of the first assessment of the town was recorded, to which is added by way of contrast the assessment of '76 :

Passage source: History of Green County, Wisconsin, published 1877.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on New Glarus Town - it names this place 44 more 44 times.