Clarno Town (part 1 of 2)

Clarno Town

The first man who came to Green County to farm was Andrew Clarno. He visited the county as early as 1827. In 1829 he selected a part of section 30 of the township which bears his name, for a farm, and, after spending the winter of i829-'3o at Skinner diggings, he began work on his claim. In 1831 he persuaded Wm. Wallace and Joseph Paine, Mr. Wallace's son-in-law, to settle near him with their families. He had been acquainted with his new neighbors in Illinois, whence they all came to Green County. The next year the Black Hawk war broke out, and the Wallaces and Paines went to Willow Springs, where, to use the phrase of the time, they "forted" during the war. On the day selected for going to the fort, Mr. Paine, fearing no immediate danger, walked leisurely to the Pecatonica, three or four miles south-west of his house, to bail out the ferry boat. The two families were nearly ready to start and expected to overtake Mr. Paine by the time the boat was ready for use. At the river, Mr. Paine was surprised and startled to find that the Indians had been there before him. They had stolen his ferry boat and gone he knew not whither. Their camp fires were still smoking, and lie thought he could discern one dusky warrior lurking in the grass and watching him. No long time elapsed before Mr. Paine was again at his cabin. Almost in despair, he saw that Air. Wallace still sat smoking his pipe, and that the preparations for the journey had made no progress whatever since he went away. Very soon, however, the wagon was made ready and the flight began. It was not much like the removal of patriarchs. They took no large flocks and herds, no rich treasure with them. As Mr. Paine expressed it, they threw in the women and children, and started. In a short time darkness overtook them. There were no roads except Indian trails. With a wagon, it was difficult to follow the trails in the day time ; after dark it was impossible. They stopped for the night in a little grove on the Capt. Foster place in the village of Monroe. Here, without daring to strike a light, they sat in silence and waited for morning. Sometimes the long silence of the night was broken by a wild whoop in the distance. Once they saw Indians passing by, and great was their fear lest some movement of the horses or the children should betray them. But a strong wind carried all sounds of the little camp in an opposite direction. Morning came at last, and the travelers went on in safety to the fort, crossing the Pecatonica nearly as far north as Argyle. The day after their flight the deserted home was visited by soldiers sent out from the fort to warn and assist the settlers ; but they found the cabin burned and its contents destroyed. At this time, Mr. Clarno was in Illinois, where he had gone after his two sons. Hostilities having begun, he stopped on his return at Fort Hamilton, so-called in honor of a son of Alexander Hamilton, Col. W. S. Hamilton, who, as early as 1823 had distinguished himself by his bold enterprises in Illinois and Wisconsin, and who used to say, half in earnest, half in jest, that he might have been quite a man but for his distinguished father, with whom people always compared him. Mr. Clarno was made captain of a company of soldiers, and his son O. H. i*. Clarno, then a little boy, had charge of a gun inside the fort.

After the war, the settlers returned to their homes, or rather to their land, for this was all they had. Mr. Clarno, who had neither oxen nor horses, helped his boys across the streams, and father and sons walked from the fort. In 1S33 ^r- P^me induced James Hawthorne to come to Clarno. Mr. Hawthorne had come to the mines in the western part of Iowa County in 1827, had afterwards returned to New York state, and had again come west on hearing that Uncle Sam had given miners permission to work on the Dubuque side of the river; but he was soon driven from Dubuque by the cholera, and during the war he was at White Oak Springs. When a boy of seventeen, Mr. Hawthorne served in the war of 181 2 as a substitute for a drafted man, though, as substitutes were not accepted by the government, he was known through his soldier life by the name of the drafted man. In 1832, wishing to try again the life of a soldier, he offered $125 for a horse, but he could not get one for that amount, and, as a horse was an indispensable part

During the winter of iS33-,34, O. H. P. Clarno was left alone on his father's claim. To while away the long evenings, the Indians undertook to teach him their language. After a time, he observed that the woods around his cabin were full of little piles of corn cobs, and now was explained the hitherto mysterious diminution of his corn. While some of his instructors were giving him a lesson, the habit had been for others to shell a few ears of corn, putting the corn into the bags or pockets always carried on their persons. This exercise being over, they went into the house, to relieve the teachers who had preceded them. In 1834 Abner Van Sant and his son-inlaw, John W. Deniston, moved to Clarno from Missouri, and in iS^^-^6 they were joined by Matthew. William, and Peter Wells, Jonathan Snyder, A. De Haven, Calvin Hale, Adam and Levi Starr, and Joseph Kelly of Ohio, John Patterson of Indiana, T. S. and Wm. Bowen, natives of New York but directly from Illinois. O.J. White, Wm. Chilton, and Wm. Draper of Illinois. Jacob Starr of Virginia, Joseph Smith of Pennsylvania, P. C. Grupe of Missouri, Wm. and John Blunt, Wm. Brown, Henry Ater, and -, - *-*-*- McDonald. Mr. De Haven returned to Ohio in 1836, and remained several years, during which time his brother-in-law, John Cameron, worked his Clarno farm. Besides these men who made homes, there were probably many single men, Certainly there were Cutler Wilkins of Missouri, Wm. Baird of Ohio, now, as for many years a prominent citizen of Sylvester, and James Campbell of New York, the first settler in the town of Albany. Whenever a new settler came, those here before him helped him raise his house. One of the best attended of the Clarno raisings was that at Mr. Starr's, where both house and barn were built the same, day the logs were cut.

In October, 1S35, occurred the first wedding in the county, being that of Mr. J. R. Blackmore and Miss Nancy Wallace. In the same month, Chas. Deniston, Green County's eldest son, was born. When he was but a few months old, a squaw stole him from his cradle, leaving her own baby in his place ; but timely pursuit forced her to make another exchange of children. Christmas was celebrated in 1835 by a dance at Mr. Deniston's. People came thirty and forty miles to attend it, and many of them waited in the vicinity a week in order to attend a New Year's ball at Mr. Paine's house in Monroe. Sometime in the winter of iSt,^-^6, John Patterson, who, with his family, lived on what is called the Goodrich farm, went to Mineral Point to enter his land. Coming home he lost his way, and was out all night. He suffered so much from cold that soon after reaching home he died. He was the first white person to die a natural death in Green County.

In the absence of other sources of amusement, the Indians were sometimes' found amusing. One of Mrs. Deniston's visitors was a squaw who wrapped her baby in a wolf-skin. The child's condition was not that of happy comfort which babies who listen to their mother's songs associate with rabbit-skins, and Mrs. Den- iston gave the mother clothes for the child. The squaw was pleased, but quite unable to use the gift, and a white girl offered to dress the baby, on condition that she was first allowed to wash it. The puzzled mother gave assent, and the pappoose was washed and dressed. Then the mother put it on the floor and for a whole hour danced around it in ecstacy of delight, accompanying the dance with such strange noises and contortions that those who went in to see her were convulsed with laug-hter. Indian visitors were sometimes so loath to go away that Mrs. Deniston, the gentlest and kindest of women, was forced to keep a stick with which occasionally to clear her house. After one of his hastiest departures, a Winnebago chief flung back to her the name "cross squaw," and she was thenceforth known by that name among his followers. Until she had learned by experience that they were not dangerous, the Indians were likely to impose upon a woman. A few Indians entered the house of Mr. Jesse Mitchell in Sylvester, just before supper one washing-day ; and seeing that Mrs. Mitchell was afraid, they took from the line where they were drying, all the stockings of the family, filled them with mush from a kettle on the stove, and carried them away. The first sermon preached in Green County was preached in August, 1835, at the residence of Matthew Wells, by Daniel Harcourt. In the summer of 1836 Rev. James McKane, who resided in Illinois, and belonged to the Rock River Conference, organized the first religious society organized in Green County. The members were Matthew Wells, his wife and daughter, Mrs. Maria Blunt, and Wm. Baird.

Among the good gifts which nature has bestowed upon the town of Clarno are Richland and Honey creeks. The name of the former creek explains itself. Tradition says the other records the experience of a man who was looking for a place to make a claim. He felled a tree, upon which he walked across the stream. In the course ot his travels he returned to the bridge, and drank from the brook. To his surprise, the water had the taste of metheglin, and, though examination showed the reason of this to lie in the fact that he had felled a bee tree for his bridge, he ever afterwards spoke of the stream as Honey creek, and others followed his example. It was upon Honey creek that Van Sant and Deniston built in 1S36 the first mill in the county. So great was the desire for a mill that nearly every man in the county offered his assistance in building; it. Beginning as a feed mill, it soon grew into a flour mill. Van Sant and Deniston hauled flour (.0 Galena even' week, and did business for their Green County friends at every visit to the city, until it seemed as though nothing could be done in the county without the assistance of these stirring, wholesouled men. In 1 S37 two saw mills were built on Honey creek. One, near the grist mill, was built by Van Sant and Deniston and Henson Irion, the other, where Banta's mill is now, was built by Joseph Smith and Joab Enos. A year or two later, John Church built another saw-mill near Smith's mill. By 1S38 Clarno farmers found in Madison a market for much of their produce, and Madison was largely dependent on Clarno. After the completion of the capital, the garrison at Fort Winne-

A lady who moved to Clarno in 1838 gives a glimpse of things as seen through a housekeeper's eyes : We, like most families, brought flour, meat, and a little money with us. When our money was gone, we did without things. Flour was $13 (it had been $16), and pork $30 a barrel. Calico was fifty cents a yard, and other kinds of cloth were proportionally high ; but in many families the men wore buckskin clothes, tanning the skins themselves, and the women were so industrious with the spinning-wheel and the loom that the cloth of the family cost only what was paid for the warp of its linsey. I bought some soft soap and paid a dollar a gallon. The next year I made soap to sell, but it wasn't worth much then. At first butter was fifty cents a pound, and after awhile we had to do without butter ; we had no money, and nothing to barter. By the time we had cows, butter was down to a shilling. That was the way with everything ; so high we couldn't buy it the first year, so plenty we couldn't sell it the next. The usual meat was bacon from Galena. After a year or two, men killed hogs here. Sometimes they went into the woods and killed those belonging to other people, much as they took other people's timber. Visits were all-day affairs. That was southern fashion. Invitations to spend the afternoon were never given here until New England people became numerous. At first the eastern and south-

In 1840 Daniel R. Howe, now pastor of the Christian church in Monroe, taught the first district school in Clarno. There were other district schools in the county that year, but it is thought that Mr. Howe's school was the first to begin. Before the school began he was required to pass a written examination, the arithmetical part of which consisted of the question, How much would twenty bushels of oats come to at thirty cents a bushel?

The part of Clarno's history most widely known, is that which relates to the Hawthorne burglary. The burglars entered Mr. Hawthorne's bed-room between midnight and daylight, July 25. 1S57, moved a cradle which stood near the bed and in which was a sick child, drew from under the bed a trunk containg $1500, and carried the trunk to the barn, where they took out the money. It was evident the theft was committed by some one acquainted with the house, and two men, Samuel Jackson, who had worked for Mr. Hawthorne, and his friend Wm. Garrington, were arrested the next morning. The money was not found in their possession, and, as they proved by the clerk of the Monroe House that they were in their room at 1 o'clock that night and came down to breakfast at the usual time the next morning, they were discharged. But several circumstances indicated their guilt. The track made by the thieves from the barn to the house showed that the thieves had only socks on their feet ; and wet and dirty socks, which a washerwoman identified as Garrington's, were found near the barn. Moreover, a peculiar boot-track from the barn towards town was like a track which one of the men had been seen to make at the hotel. A detective policeman was employed. He introduced himself to Garrington and Jackson as a counterfeiter, and so far gained their confidence that they entered into partnership with him. Davis, so the officer called himself, then went away to engage a woman to assist them. In his absence, and by his direction, the suspected men were re-arrested, Monday, August 10, and put under bonds so heavy that bondsmen could not be found. Davis returned, and passed a counterfeit bill, for which he was arrested Friday, August 14, and put into Garrington's cell. Davis then wrote a letter to a friend, asking to be bailed out. This letter he read to Garrington. The next morning Davis' friend, a second detective officer, appeared and granted his request. Later in the day, in accordance with a promise which Davis had made Garrington the day before, the friend visited Garrington in jail. Garrington's bail was $2,000. His visitor told him that he had $1,500 good money; that he would add to it $500 in counterfeit bills, deposit it all in the bank, and, with the certificate of deposit, procure Garringron's release, if Garrington would, as soon as he was out, go with him to the place where Mr. Hawthorne's money was concealed, and get him $500 in gold, with which he could redeem the counterfeit bills before their real nature was discovered. Garrington gladly agreed to this plan, and was released just at dark. The greater part of the money was buried near Smith's millpond. That night Garrington went with the policemen and dug it up, and, while thus engaged, told his new friends that he had a short time before killed a man in Ohio. As they were returning to town, merry as larks, a number of men sprang from the brush on either side of the road, and took Garrington prisoner. On the 28th of August, Wm. Morgan, alias Wm. Jones, Wm. Marcy, and Wm. Garrington, was given up to an officer who came with arequisition from the governor of Ohio. He left behind him a complete set of burglar's tools and a knife, which Mr. Hawthorne, believing it was meant for him, cherishes with peculiar care. Garrington was sent to the Ohio prison for life, since which he has attempted to kill one of the wardens. He is regarded as one of the worst men in the prison. Jackson was sentenced on the 8th of September to nine years in the penitentiary, but two days later he made his escape from jail, and he has never been retaken.

The only village in Clarno is Shueyville, a place which Mr. Van Sant first selected for a milling town, before he went to Cadiz, and of which J. W. Shuey built the first house in iS47-'48. It is a village only in name, and the place derives its only importance from the saw-mill and flour-mill which Mr. Shuey built near it on Richland creek, both of which are now owned by Henry Truempy. Besides these two, there are four other mills in Clarno : the flour-mill of Jared Banty, and the saw-mills of M. Bowers, H. Beckman and David Fritz.

There were in 1876, four cheese factories in Clarno: Jacob Niklaus made Swiss cheese, F. Lenherr made both Limburger and Swiss cheese, and Zumbrunnen and Wittmer had two Limburger factories.

Clarno is the best farming town in the county. Other towns have as good land, but in none of the others is all the land of the best quality, as it is in Clarno.

Largest Farmers In Clarno In 1S76 Largest Stock Growers

Clarno has one of the three town-houses in the county. It was completed in the spring of 1858. The first annual town meeting was at the residence of Isaac Callender, and the elections were held that year at the residence of John Blunt.

Source changes here: from History of Green County, Wisconsin, by Union Publishing Company, Springfield, Ill., Pub. [from Old Catalog], published 1884; 28,702 words in this source stream.

Clarno Town

The village plat was located on land on section 2, which was first settled by William Sherry, in the spring of 1841. In the fall of that year he was joined by his wife and her father, Dr. Peter Springsted, with his family, consisting of his wife and eight children; also James Sherry, a single man, brother of William. Two years later Dr. Springsted moved to section 4, and improved a farm, which is now occupied by Mrs. Mary Douglas. The doctor and his family moved from this town to Decatur several years later and died there. None of the family are in this town at this time. William Sherry built a house and a blacksmith shop. Both families lived in this house. Sherry in 1845 sold to A. D. Tenny and settled on the place where Aug. Giese now lives. He left the town in about 1855.

Soon after, A. D. Tenney, who came from New Hampshire, bought out Sherry. He sold an interest in the property to B. J. Tenney, who came from Beloit (they were not of kin) Some time after this A. D. Tenney platted a part of the land and sold lots. B. J. Tenney opened a small store. The place was known in those days as Tenneyville, and was later, in honor of Squire Derrick, called Clarence, the name of a town in which he had resided in State of New York. H. C. Green was the next to open business. He built a bedstead and chair factory, with steam power, and operated

Caleb Knowles and several sons came from Winnebago Co., 111., in 1853. Mr. Knowles was father-in-law of A. D. Tenney by his second marriage. His first wife died soon after he came here. Two of the sons, Horatio and C. C. Knowles, went to Kansas in 1859. C. C. Knowles formerly owned the Austin farm. After the war the father and the rest of the family went to Kansas. A. D. Tenney and his family joined a spiritualist community at Harmony Springs, Ark., in 1859. He later died in Kansas.

John B. Sawyer came from Decatur in 1 853 and bought produce. He now lives in Brodhead. Mr. Sawyer, A. D. Tenney and Horatio Knowles succeeded to the trade formerly carried on by B. J. Tenney, and owned the hotel, blacksmith shop and store. Morris Derrick, a brother of Squire Derrick, at one time kept a small stock of groceries and liquors. Myron Halstead in I

1854 bought out Sawyer, Tenney & Knowles. He was the last merchant of Clarence. Upon the building of the railroad, he moved his stock to Brodhead. Dr. Towne, now of Brodhead, came to Clarence as his clerk. C. A. Warner bought the blacksmith shop in 1854, and worked there one year. He now lives on section 1. He sold to Storrs Smith, who now follows the same business in Albany. Mr. Gregory bought out Smith and closed the shop about 1859. In

1855 Thomas Martin opened a harness shop and worked two years. The old hotel building and barn have been destroyed by fire. The postoffice was discontinued in 1857.

This little hamlet was formerly called Spring Grove. It is located on section 30. This place originated with the erection of a carding mill by Isaac Kline in 1843. The first business was opened by A. J. Hoffman, in 1847. Many changes have taken place among those who sold goods in the one store building in the place. But among those who have been in trade

Samuel Mattison, the oldest in years and in service of any blacksmith in Green county, is the blacksmith of the place. He commenced here before the war, and has worked for over fifty years in iron, and most of the time in this town.

Spring Grove In The War

Out of a voting population of about 250, she sent 100 soldiers to the war from first to last. The following military organizations were represented by her soldiers: The 3d, 13th, 18th, 22d, 36th, 38th and 46th Infantry regiments ; the Ist, 2d and 3d Cavalry regiments, and the Ist Heavy Artillery regiment.

There were a number of Spring Grove soldiers in the war who were credited to other towns on account of local bounty and other causes at time of enlistment, whose names we cannot now get at, and there may be here and there a name enumerated in the above list as credited to Spring Grove tha,t is claimed elsewhere; but from the town records and our own personal knowledge of enlistments, we believe the above account to be substantially correct so far as it goes. We are satisfied there are some names of Spring Grove soldiers we are unable to get at, as some enlisted in Illinois regiments and were credited to that State, whose names do not appear on our home records. Among the list of names given above, the names of Benjamin S. Davis of company B, 18th Wiscon Infantry, and Zachariah P. Davis of company K, 22d regiment Infantry, was killed in battle - the former in a bayonet charge at Jackson, Miss., May 14, 1863, and the latter in the same manner at Resaca, Ga., during Sherman's Atlanta campaign in the summer of 1864. Of those who died of wounds and disease, were Ransom Condon and John Penn of the 13th Wisconsin, and William Barnhouse, Johii

A. Farmer, Isaiah Kirby, Joseph L. Show and Chester W. Williams, of the 18th Wisconsin, campany B; and George Newcomer of the 38th Wisconsin. There may be some others, but we have no knowledge who they were, if any.

Of those who were wounded in battle and recovered, and are still living in Spring Grove and vicinity, we give the names of George W. Davis, Mahlon I. Bussey, Frederick Teis, Henderson Farmer, J. W. Young and James D. Davis, all of company B, 18th Wisconsin Volunteers, and all wounded in the charge at Jackson, Miss., on the 14th day of May, 1863, except James D. Davis, who was wounded in Alabama with five others of company B from other parts of the county, including the names of George S. Loucks of Brodhead, who was shot through the body, the ball piercing the lungs; and J. R. Knapp, since dead; William H. Denson and George W. Webb, belonging to other towns. There are ^oubtless many other matters of interest pertaining to Spring Grove in the war deserving a historical record or mention, that for want of correct knowledge and information, I am not able to give. Of company

B. 18th Wisconsin Volunteers, which I had the honor to command until about the close of the war, I would mention the names of Hiram E.Bailey and William H.Spencer,killed atSbiloh;John

C. Bryant, killed at Corinth; James M. Carpenter, at Vicksburg, all of Green county. Of those wounded in the different engagements through which they passed during the war, and of those who died of wounds and disease from other parts of the county, for lack of a correct record of the same, we will not try to give it. There were a good many of them. At the close of the war honorable promotions were conferred on several old veterans. Commissions of captain to Henderson Farmer, and that of lieutenants to Frederick Teis and Peter Vauorman, and non-commissioned appointments of sergeants to George W. Davis and one or two others.

Recollections Of Early Days

Sirs: - In compliance of your request for me to give you a statement of my early recollections of, and the part that I have taken therein, of the early settlement of Green county, and especially of the town of Spring Grove, in said county. I make the following:

In October, 1836, John Chadwick and Thomas Woodle, of Fayette Co., Penn., (the county in which I was raised) influenced by an article that appeared in the Gazette and Galena Advertiser,'''' contributed to that paper by Elder Brunson, (a Methodist preacher stationed at Prairie du Chien) and copied extensively in the eastern papers, giving such glowing accounts of the fertility of the soil, and other advantages of northwestern Illinois, and southwestern Wisconsin, concluded to take a tour of observations to this country, and if they found it as represented, they would make it their future home. They did so, and each of them entered a quarter section of land. Chadwick entered his on section 2, in what is now the town of Jefferson, and Woodle, on section 35, now town of Sylvester. Upon their return home, (like the spies of old, that were sent out to view the promised land) they declared that the "half had not been told." This caused an endemic western fever. Chadwick's son James, and myself falling victims thereto. So in January, 1837, James Chadwick and myself entered into an agreement of partnership, (verbally) to come [go] out here and follow the mill wrigh ting business, (that being my profession) and if we could not find employment at that business, to follow that of carpentering. So we set about making arrangements for an early start in the spring. In the meantime the elder Chadwick made arrangements with us, that we should erect for him, on his land in this county, a cabin house, as he intended to move out here as soon as he could dispose of his property there. By this time three other young men of the neighborhood, to-wit: Daniel Goodwin, William Hurlbut and Joseph Reed, concluded to accompany us, (all of us just entering upon our majority). So about the middle of February the elder Mr. Chadwick went to Bridgeport, a thriving town on the Monongahela river, sixty miles, by water, above Pittsburg, to make arrangements with the officers of the steamer, Eiapire, then building at that place, for our transportation to St. Louis, (her point of destination). The officers enjoined Mr. Chadwick to have us on hand on the 23d of that month, as the boat would positively sail on that day. So on the 22d of February, ISSv, in company with James Chadwick, Daniel Goodwin, William Hurlbut and Joseph Reed, I left my native home in Pennsylvania, arriving at Bridgeport that night. Upon our arrival we found that the boat was not completed, which detained us at that point several days. But we at last got off, and arrived at Pittsburg, where the steamer was to take on her furniture. But on arriving at that place, the boat's furniture was not ready, (the furniture was made at that place). After waiting a number of days, for the boat to start, we became restless under delays and demanded of the officers a return of our passage money, but after repeated promises of starting "to-morrow," and after as many failures to get off, the officers finally made arrangements with the steamer, Loyal Hannah, and we were transferred to that steamer. The next day after our transfer to the latter steamer, we got started. The boat ran down to Wheeling, Va., stopping there a number of days awaiting the arrival of the western members of Congress, (who, in those days, traveled from Washington to their western homes, by stage, to Wheeling, from thence by river steamers to points on said river, nearest their residences). But on the 10th of March, we got started from that place, having on board the great Daniel Webster, (who, that year, made his great western tour), and a number of other western notables, including the notorious G. W. Jones, dellegate from this, then Territory, who acted as second for H. A. Wise, of Virginia, in the duel between Wise and Billey, which resulted in the killing of Billey. The boat having to stop at all principal places to give the great Daniel an opportunity to address the people on the political topics of the day, but more especially the grea;t principles of the whig party. At St. Louis, we took passage on the steamer, Astoria, for Galena, but when arriving at the mouth of Small Pox creek, the river at the head of the island was gorged with ice, so that the boat could not proceed, and not knowing when the gorge would break, we left the boat and proceeded on foot to Galena, at which place we arrived about noon the day after leaving the boat. At Galena we parted company with Goodwin, Hurlbut and Reed, they going to Mineral Point and Chadwick and myself, going (coming) to this (Green) county, leaving Galena about 2 p. M., stopping over the first night out at White Oak springs. The next morning Chadwick was quite unwell, attributing his sickness to the rancid butter that he had eaten for supper, which out-ranked any officer that was in the northwest at that time. We concluded not to take breakfast at that place. Thinking that a morning's walk of a few miles would improve Chadwick's appetite, we started, intending to take breakfast at Gratiot, which they told us was on our route, about five miles ahead, but not knowing, at that time, that two log cabins and a stable covered with straw, constituted a western village, we passed through it without stopping, wending our way across almost a trackless prairie without seeing a habitation, until we came to Wolf creek, a small tributary of the West Pecatonica, where we had to stop over night, as our next stopping would be ten miles ahead. At this place, we found two cabins and a diminutive orist mill. One of the cabins was occu- pied by the miller and his family, which consisted of a man by the name of Curtis and himself. The other was occupied by a man and his family, by the name of Hastings, who kept entertainment and bad whisky. After supper I went over to the mill (which was located on the opposite side of the stream from the tavern) to take a look at its working machinery, which I found to be of the most primitive order. In conversation with the miller, he told me he had bargained his mill to a man from the east whom he expected to take possession next June, and in case he sold, he intended to erect, in company with a man by the name of Gil let, a more pretentious one on Richland creek, a stream that heads in Green county, near Monroe, this mill site being at a point on said creek where Orrangevillej in Stephenson Co., 111., is now located. At the mill was a customer from Rock Grove, having a grist to grind, who who said he was going to return home next day if the mill could get his grist ground out by morning, and we could accompany him as he had to go the same route, an invitation which we gladly accepted. At this place an incident occurred which for a short time affrighted us badly. On my return to the tavern from the mill I found an acquisition of some three or four to our company, who were drinking and playing cards, and I made up my mind that the place was a tough one. Chad wick being tired and unwell, had retired early. Among the guests was a man by the name of Armstrong, who resided near Wiota. Though somewhat set up, he was not taking part in their card playing. With him I soon got into conversation. He had come into the country prior to the Black Hawk War; had taken quite an active pai't in the war; was very communicative and inquisitive. In reply to his questions I told him where we were from; where we were going to; what our professions were; and that we had come to the country to build mills and houses, but, I continued, from the appearance of the country and the quality of the timber, (which up to this place we found to consist only of the veriest scrub burr and white oak varieties) we had a good show of starving in that line. He replied that he expected that we would have to rough it for a few years at least. As the conversation began to lag, I retired to bed, but not to sleep, for I must confess that if I ever had the blues it was at this time; but in time tired nature succumbed and I fell into a sound sleep, to be awakened by Chadwick punching me in the ribs with his elbow and whispering my attention to the fact that a person was removing the clabboards from the roof near where our bed stood. In a few moments I was completely awake. I silently raised myself on one elbow to watch the movements of the man, who, by this time, had got through into our room; and, after standing awhile and looking around, apparently in an amazed condition, he started a few steps in the direction of our bed, stopped, looked around, finally turned and walked to the otlier end of the room and threw himself down on some old clothes that lay in the corner of the room. By this time I was in a profuse sweat, having nothing in our possession with which to ward off an attack if the man had intended one, but I soon came to the conclusion that the man meant us no harm, as in a few minutes he was in a sound sleep and snoring loud enough to wake the seven sleepers. In the morning we told the landlord of the circumstance. He immediately went up stairs, waked the man up and brought him down. The man proved to be one of the parties of the night before, who, having filled up with bad whisky, had started for his shanty some three or four miles away; had got bewildered, and had wandered around the greater part of the night; had finally in his wanderings got back to the tavern, where (he said) he had thumped on the door to wake up the landlord, and not succeeding, concluded to gain an entrance in the manner above described. In the morning we started in company with our guide, traveling some fifteen miles or more to Brewster ferry, on the

Pecatonica river, where was kept a small boat for the purpose of crossing. Here we found a small improvement on the south side of the river, while the dwelling stood on the north side. Plere in crossing we had to (after drawing the wagon as near the water as possible) separate the oxen from the wagon, ferry the oxen over, then return for the wagon, which we had to run on the boat by hand; after crossing the wagon, hitching on the oxen and pulling tlie wagon up the river bank. On reaching the high prairie, east of where Oneco now stands, we separated from our guide, he pointing out to us the direction we should take to reach New Mexico, a place laid out the summer before by Jacob Andrick, intending it for the county seat of Green county, (as there was a movement on foot at that time to have a new county laid out), and containing at that time one house. At this house we inquired for a man. by the name of William Woodle, (that being our point of destination), a son of the elder Thomas Woodle, who some years previous had moved to Illinois, but in 1836 had moved to this county, and had settled three miles east of where Monroe now stands. Mrs. Andrick could not tell us where he resided; had heard the name; thought he lived east of there; telling us to go about a mile northeast where we would find a store and they could inform us where he lived. After traveling the distance and direction indicated by Mrs. Andrick, we came to a log house in which was kept by a man by the name of Smith a small grocery store with a sprinkling of dry goods. Smith at the time of our arrival was shaking lustly with the ague, the first case of ague I had ever seen.- At this place we learned that it was three miles to Woodle's, and being tired and hungry, having eaten nothing since early morn, we concluded to stop over night, which we did at Joseph Paine's, who, at that time, resided near the store, and kept entertainment, arriving at this place on the evening of March 30, 1837. After supper we walked over to the stoi'e, where we found several persons discussing the county seat question - some congratulating Mr. Paine and some Mr. Andrick, on having the county seat. I learned from their conversation that, in 'addition to Mr. Andrick's town, which he named New Mexico, Mr. Paine had laid out a town, which he called Richland City, as a competitor to Mr. Andrick's, neither of them having their plats recorded, as required by law. At the first session of the first legislative assembly, which convened at Belmont, in December, 1836, in the bill defining the boundaries of the new county was a section declaring that New Mexico should be the county seat. Mr. Paine, finding that his point could not succeed, proposed to Mr, Andrick to purcliase a half-interest in his (Andrick) site, but Mr. Andrick was obdurate, and refused to sell, so Mr. Paine slipped ofi:' to Mineral Point and had liis town recorded New Mexico. Now, in those days the mail arrived at this point when the mail carrier came; provided, he did not let it wash away when crossing the streams of water on his route, and the carrier would arrive once a week when the water in the streams would let him; hence,- at this particular time they had not had a mail for over a month, hence they had not heard anything definite about the county seat question since the passage of the bill. The next morning on our way to Woodle's we met young Thomas Woodle, a brother of William, who was at that time making his home with William. He said he was going to the store on an errand and proposed to us to accompany him, which we did. At the store there were several persons, and among them a big strapping Indian, who proposed to run a foot race with Woodle for the treats. Woodle accepted, the distance they were to run stepped off, the judges chosen, and the racers started. The judges decided that Woodle was the winner, but Mr. Indian refused to treat, claiming that he understood it that the one coming out ahead was to buy the whisky. Arriving at Woodle's we concluded to re^t over Sunday, visiting with the Woodle's. The next Monday after our arrival, in company with the two Woodles and Joseph Smith, (a former brother-in-law of the Woodle's,) we started to look up the Chad wick land, which was five miles east of Woodle's. After finding it (which we did by means of the section and quarter stakes which the prairie fires had not yet destroyed,) and selecting a location for a cabin, we returned to the store to procure an outfit for housekeeping, which (with us) consisted of two coffee pots, two tin pans or ])latters, a frying pan, two tin cups, one empty oyster can, two Indian blankets, (as they were named,) one pound of coifee, a few pounds of flour, and ten pounds of bacon, (the two latter articles we procured from Daniel S. Sutherland as they was not to be had at the store.) We returned to the land and commenced operations by first putting up a small shanty to live in while building a more pretentious one. The shanty we built out of logs, by splitting them; and for the want of better material we roofed it with brush. Having got the shanty completed the second day, we moved into it and began cutting logs for the cabin. The second night after moving into our shanty there came up a snow storm, snow falling to the depth of six inches. Our roofing not being close enough to turn the snow, in the morning we found ourselves under a covering of three or four inches of snow; the weather turning quite cold and having about enough logs cut for a cabin we concluded to abandon the shanty for the present and go back to Mr. Paine's and try and find some way of getting our traps from Galena, as we needed some of the tools, as at that time we did not know how to build cabins without tools. Upon our arrival at Mr. Paine's (or I should rather say at the store) we found a Mr. Palmer or Parmer, who said that himself and another man (I think Mr. Lutteral) was going to start in a few days to Galena with a load of lead mineral, and was to bring back a part of a load of groceries for Mr. Smith, the merchant, (^hadwiok proposed to him to bring out our traps, which he consented to do, provided

Chadwick would accompany them, saying he did not know what them d - n steamboat men had done with them tools, and was not going to spend time hunting them up; and as there was no other alternative Chadwick consented to go. In the mean time I agreed with Mr. Paine to work on his tavern house which he was about erecting on his town site to be used as tavern and court house, until Chadwick returned. But as Mr. Sutherland was to boss the job and lay out the work, and as Mr. Sutherland could not commence work until the following week, I had a few days of leisure which I improved by taking a stroll down Richland creek to look up any mill sites that I might find, and especially the one mentioned by Mr. Curtis in my conversation with him at Wolf creek. On my return to Paine's, the next Monday morning, I found Mr. Sutherland on hand, and I commenced work on Paine's tavern and court liouse, the first frame building I believe erected in Green county. In a few days after 1 commenced work on this building a man by the name of Burrett came to where we were working, and after a short conversation with Sutherland inquired of him if he knew of any millwrights in hi8(this)neighborhood, saying that himself and a Mr. Gray of Mineral Point had entered into partnership to build a saw mill on Whiteside branch, a small tributary of east Pecatonica stating that a Mr.Armstrong(my communicative friend at Wol f creek) had informed him that a couple of millwrights a few days previous had passed Wolf creek on their way to New Mexico. Mr. Sutherland pointing to me replied, "I presume that man is the one you are looking for." I accompanied Burrett home, took a level of his millsite, and agreed with him to build his mill the coming summer. Burrett agreeing to let us know when he got ready to begin, as he had to build a cabin at the site to accommodate the hands employed, as his residence was at least a mile distant, and the hands would have to bach it. On my return to Paine's I again went to work on his house. On the return of Chadwick from Galena, (having been gone at least ten days,) we resumed work on the cabin. On the afternoon of the following Saturday we went to Paine's (which we usually did every Saturday to stay over Sunday except when we staid at the cabin and took a stroll over the prairie and through the timber adjacent thereto) where we found a young man from Ohio by the name of John Crawford, a cousin of Chadwick, who had heard of our coming through Chadwick's folks, and had come out to take a look at the promised land. Crawford agreed to stay and work with us during the summer, going with us the following Monday to work on the cabin. A few days after Crawford's initiation to our manner of life and mode of living, occurred one of those laughable incidents which materially assists in driving away that lonesomeness which I believe is the common inheritance of all or nearly all early pioneers of western life, who having left the advantages, pleasure and busy scenes of civilized life, and having settled in those western wilds, miles, miles from any human habitation, save that of the wild Indians, to hew out for himself and family a home. The incident was this. On one of our frequent visits to New Mexico we visited the cabin of Hiram Rust and Jarvis Rattan, located near Avhere Monroe now is. We saw them turning their pancakes which they were cooking in their frying pan. After the pancake was sufficiently baked on the first side they would take hold of the handle of the pan, would give it a few vigorous rotary motions suflScient to loosen and give the jnancake a certain rotary impetus, would suddenly change the motion of the pan to a vertical one by which means they would flop the pancake bottotn side up to complete its cooking. After seeing them do it,, we would for the purpose of amusement after the days work was done, practice this slight of hand )»erformance. Chadwick in a short time became quite an adept at it. After Crawford's arrival, Chadwick would often perform it for the purpose of showing Crawford (as he said) what could be done. One morning while Chadwick was baking pancakes for breakfast, Crawford who was near-sighted got on the opposite side of the fire, squatted down on his haunches for the purpose (as he said) of seeing how Chadwick did it. Chadwick mistaking the degree of baking given the pancake, when he undertook to flop it over, the pancake instead of coming over doubled up and falling upon the rim of the pan, bounded into Crawford's face, but happily for him the pancake was not very hot, so that he was but little burnt; but it made Crawford terrible mad and he was for whipping Chadwick thinking that Chadwick had done it intentionally, but upon Chadwick's solemn protestation of innocence and myself keeping in between them for a few minutes, Crawford's good nature (and he had a good share of it) returning the thing passed off pleasantly, but it gave us a full half hour's good laughing. The cabin completed we gathered up our traps taking them to Woodle's. Next day went to Paine's where we worked on Paine's house two or three days, when Mr, Burrett came after us to commence work on his mill. Arriving at the cabin we found four hands employed in its completion, whom Burrett had engaged to work on the dam and mill pit. Here we had to bach it and although we, us millwrights, were exempt from any cooking, as Barrett in his contract had to furnish the cook, but often did I think of and endorse the sentiment of the miner when lying in his bunk and looking at his partner getting their breakfast, exclaimed: "Joe, there has an idea struck me." "The devil," replied Joe. "I would rather believe that lightning would strike you, but since you have been blest with a stroke pray tell us what it is." "Well," replied Jim, "while I have been lying here and looking at you trying to fork that meat out of the fire where you spilled it, by upsetting the frying pan in which it was cooking, while you was tryiug to get tbera potatoes out of the ashes where you put them to roast, what a great invention woman was." After we had been at work on the mill a short time we received word that the elder Mr. Chadwick had moved to the country aiul was settled in the cabin and requested us to pay them a visit, so on the following Saturday we started on foot a distance of twenty miles to visit them; the day being one of those cool, drizzling, rainy days in May, which frequently occurs in this country. When getting within a mile or a mile and a half of the Chadwick cabin we came to a cabin in which a man by the name of Joseph Woodle aiid his family was living, who had come from Pennsylvania, and who had built his cabin since we had left. We stopped to have a hand-shake, and it being near evening they insisted that we should take sup- ])er with them, which we did, as we had had nothing to eat since morning. By the time supper was over the sun was down. We stirled to find Chadwick's, but instead of going around the timber (both of the cabins being in the edge of the timber, the one occupied by Woodle on the north edge and the one by Chadwick on the south) as we had been in the habit of doing, we concluded that we could save time and distance by going through it, but in doing so we missed the cabin, and when we came to the prairie we became bewildered and did not know which way to go, as by that time it had got very dark, but like all lost persons eacli had his course marked out, and each one knew his course was right, so in turn each would lead awhile until we became satisfied that each one was lost, and coming to a precipice (over which Chadwick fell) we concluded to call a halt and put up for the night, but as our clothes were thoroughly wet and the night cold, and having no means of making a fire we could not stop traveling. So selecting a large white oak tree (we did not know at that time that it was white oak) on the top of the bluff we walked around it all night, and I thought it tlie longest night ever made. Before leaving it I took my knife and made a peculiar mark in the bark so that if I should see it again I would know il. When dayliijht came we concluded to travej west as we were satisfied that we were east of Richland timber, and if we could strike that timber we could find some settler, but as it was still very cloudy and as we were lost we could not tell whicli way west lay, but determined to strike out and try to find a section stake which would decide the course for us to take. After traveling a short distance in a southeast course we came to the section stake at the southeast corner of section 16, in what is now the town of Spring Grove. We then started west through the timber and on coming out on the prairie at the southwest corner of Spring Grove timber we came across John Kline, who had a few days previous moved to the country from Laporte Co., Ind., and who at the time was encamped in his wagons on section 29; his father having the fall previous entered land on that section. Kline at that time was goingacross to Richland timber to try to find an old neighbor of his by the name of Harcourt, who the previous year had moved to the country and settled somewhere near Richland creek. We told him how we were lost and had lain out all night, and inquired if he could direct us to a resident by the name of Chadwick who had just moved into the country. He said that he could, as his wife's uncle, a man by the name of Riley, had been out and had entered land at a grove a few miles north of us and that his (Riley's) land joined that of lands owned by that name (Chadwick). We went with Kline to the divide between the waters of Spring and Richland creeks where he pointed out to us the timber grove where his uucle Riley had made his entr}'. Kline finding out that we were millwrights said that his fatlier and himself intended to build a saw mill the coming fall, and that his father intended to bring a millwright from Indiana, but if we would do the work he would induce his father to leave the millwright at his home. We arrived at the cabin that afternoon, and found Mr, Chadwick's folks mucii excited, as Woodle, the man we had taken supper with the night before, had come to Chadwick's that fore- noon to visit with us, and inquiring for us was told that we were at work on Burrett's mil', when he related tlie circumstances of our leaving his residence the night previous about sundown. Mrs. Chad wick insisted that her husband and Woodle should immediately start out to look us up as she believed that we had either perished or were scalped by the Indians, as a number of them had passed in sight of the cabin the previous day; the latter she insisted being the more reasonable conclusion, Mr. Chadwick and Woodle, taking their guns with them, went to the highlands southwest of the cabin and saw us ascending on our way to the cabin from the south, all parties arriving at the cabin nearly at the same time. We completed the Burrett & Gray saw mill the latter part of September, as the work was matei*ial!y delayed for the want of the irons, as they had ordered them from St. Louis and from some unexplained cause they did not arrive for two months after being ordered. After the completion of the saw mill, we commenced work on the Kline saw mill, the first mill erected in the town of Spring Grove. After getting out the timber for the mill, cold weather setting in, we suspended work on the mill and went to Galena for the purpose of getting work in some of the shops, but failing in this we hired to a contractor to assist in getting out timber for some buildings to be erected in that place the next spring. We went upon an island in the Mississippi river, a few miles below that place to obtain the timber. After we had got out a quantity of timber, the sheriff, at the instance of the county commissioners, came to the island and attached it, the commissioners claiming that the timber belonged to the county, under an act of Congress giving to the different counties all the unsold overflowed lands lying within the -county. Again being without employment, we concluded to take a stroll through Iowa, finally turning up in ]>urlington, where the second session of the first legislative assembly was in session (Wisconsin and Iowa being at that time under the same Territorial government). Upon our arrival at that place we called upon our representative (William Boyls) from this county, who informed us that he had introduced a resolution in the assembly that would settle our county seat question, and kindly invited us to call in the next day, which we did in the afternoon, when we found Mr. Boyls' resolution under consideration. The resolution, in brief, was one defining what was the intention of the former session in locating the county seat of Green couaty, declaring that the intention of the legislature was to locate the county seat at the point known as Andrick Town. Now, to a novice like myself, I did not think there would be any opposition to its passage, but I was mistaken, for it met with a most determined opposition from a number of members. Finally the measure was disposed of by a member moving an amendment to strike out the words "And rick's Town" and insert ''New Mexico," which prevailed, thus leaving the question as it was. From Burlington we went to St. Louis, and upon the opening of navigation in the spring we returned to Green county and again commenced work on Kline's mill. While at work on the mill, in one of our strolls through the timber, we came across the tree that we had tramped around the greater part of the night in May, 1837; it stood on the bluff, near the center of section 16. After the partial completion of the mill there arose a misunderstanding between the Kline's and a neighbor by the name of Judkins about the water flow of Judkins' land. Work on the mill was suspended. We then went to work on a small grist mill for Dr. Vanoaljah, on Cedar creek, in Illinois, and afterwards on a saw mill on Richland creek. In October, this year (1838), I was taken down with the typhoid fever at Mr. Chadwick's, where I lay a number of weeks, hovering between life and death, the doctors and everybody else, including myself, believing that I could not possibly live. But thi'ough a vigorous constitution, and the kind care and at- tention that I received from Mother Chadwick, I finally recovered; and here let me record, for the gratification and encouragement of her descendants, that if there ever was a mother, Mother Chadwick proved to be one to me at that time, and as long as memory holds its sway will I ever remember with gratitude with what care, sympathy and patience she administered to my wants on that occasion. But that is long years ago, and Mother Chadwick has long since passed to her final rest and reward, while I am left here to struggle on only a few years longer, at best. After my recovery we builtasmall house and barn for Levi Wilcox,some three or four miles south of where Cedarville now stands. In March, this year (1839), having learned of the death of my father, I concluded to visit ray old home in Pennsylvania, but being detained so much in Galena and other points on the river between there and St. Louis, on account of low stage of water in the river and the sinking of the steamer on which I had taken passage, I concluded to return, having, previous to starting, agreed to build a barn for Mr. Chadwick the coming summer. I returned in May, and we finished and started the Kline saw mill that month, as, previous to that time, Kline and Judkins had settled their difficulty, and Judkins had deeded to Kline a right of flow. After starting the mill we went to work on Chad wick's barn. And here I must relate a circumstance that shows what manner of man Jacob LyBrand was, who at that time kept a variety store in New Mexico. While working on the roof of the barn I broke my hatchet. The shingles for the roofing being made out of hard wood, and no pains being taken to joint the edges, it was impossible to lay even a fair roof without some means of straightening their edges. It's true, we might have fastened them in the bench vise and taken a plane or drawshave to them, but this was a feat that I felt no disposition to undertake, so I went to New Mexico to buy one of LyBrand, knowint; that lie kept them on hand. After looking them over and inquiring the price, (which I thought was enormous,) T asked LyBrand if his price was not pretty steep. "Why," he replied, "do you think it too much?" I said I tiiought that it was, whereupon he laid the hatchet back on the shelf. I then went to where some carpenters were at work on a building near by, thinking to borrow one, but they having none they could sj^are, I went back to the store, intending to buy. Upon going in I said to LyBrand that I guessed I would have to take that hatchet. He replied that I could not have it. "Why not?" I said. He replied, "Did you not say that the price was too much? And I don't intend any person shall buy any article of me that says the price is too much." I then related to him the circumstance of ray breaking the hatchet, and the necessity of my having one. He said, "Oh, I will loan it to you," which he did. After I got through using it I returned it, proposing to pay him for the use of it, but he refused to take anything for the use of it. After completing the barn we went south of Cedar creek and built a house and small barn for Dr. Vanvalzah, on his farra, he having previously soici his mill property on Cedar creek to Air. Neigh tic. The winter of 1839-40 we ran the Wilcox saw mill, on Richland creek. In the summer of 1840 we built a house near Cedarville for Reason Wilcox, and a barn at Walnut Grove for John Kleckner. In October, of this year, Chadwick took unto himself a life partner, marrying a daughter of Deacon David Davis; and I, feeling unwilling, if not unable, to fight the battle of life single handed, concluded to take a partner, choosing for this purpose a sister of Chadwick's wife, and no time throughout our married life have I regretted the choice I - or raiher, I should say she made, for in my opinion, in this matter of marrying the girls have it all their own way, for Shakspeare, or some other person who has had experience in these matters, truly says that - myself - a partnership that had lasted nearly three years, and during all this time, so far as I know, there was no a harsh word or unkind feeling existed between us. Shortly after marrying, Chadwick settled on and opened up a farm on section 22, in now the town of Jefferson, this county, and myself on section 19, town of Spring Grove. In the spring of 1841 I built a house for Samuel Myers, at the then saw mill of Kline & Myers (formerly Kline's mill), on section 20, being the first frame built in the town. In the summer, fall and winter of this year, I did a number of jobs in the neighborhood, laying floors, (which formerly consisted of hewed puncheons,) making doors, putting in additional windows, etc., in houses, as the lumber for that purpose could be obtained at the saw mill. In the summer of 1842 I built a barn for John Kline on section 29, now owned by Hugh Alexander, the first frame barn erected in the town, and in the fall I assisted in the building of a store house for John Fisher, in Rock Grove. The winter of 1842-3 was an unprecedented hard one, snow falling to the depth of one foot or more, on the 12th of November, ajid by March had accumulated to fully three feet, and continued to lay on until in April. The month of March was terrible cold, the thermometer at Rock Grove ranging from one to six degrees below zero every morning throughout the month, except the last morning, when it commenced thawing, and a gi-eat number of cattle throughout the country died from exposure. In the spring of 1843 I built the carding mill on Spring creek for Kline & Myers. After completing the carding mill, I was employed by a Boston company to run a a grist mill at Winslow; they having erected one there in 1841. I ran the mill until the following May. Returning to Spring Grove, I built the second saw mill on Spring creek, on section 15, for William Hussey. This summer (1844) was a terrible wet one, raining almost continuously from March to September. Work on the mill was nuich delayed on account of the rain and high water in the creek. We laid the foundation timbers for the mill three different times, and as often having them washed out. At one time some of them being washed two miles below. The wheat and oats crops were nearly ruined by the continuous wet weather. In the fall of this year I built myself anew residence, on section 30, being the second frame house built in the town. This winter (1844-45) the residents of Spring Grove and adjacent country petitioned the postoftice department for a postoftice to be named Spring Grove, and located at my residence and the appointment of myself postmaster. This request the department refused to grant, on the ground that the oftice asked for was not on any established mail route. The residents then entered into an arrangement whereby each one was in turn to carry the mail from Monroe and Rock Grove, the nearest postoftices to this point, and through the kindly intercession of Mr. Walworth, then postmaster at Monroe, I was granted permisscion to handle the mail and account to Mr. Walworth (a kind of side oftice). In 1847 or 1848 Congress established a mail route from Rockford, by way of Monroe to Mineral Point, and the oftice was included in the lettings, and I was commissioned postmaster. This oftice I held until the summer of 1857, when I resigned, as I intended to change my residence to a more easterly part of the town, for the purpose of farming, as I had become tired of carpentering, having to be absent so much from my family, a profession that I have since followed, except at short intervals, when I would starve out at it, and was forced to resort to the tools to replenish my larder. Upon my resigning the postoftice the patrons of the oftice petitioned for the appointment of Matt Herrington as my successor. Herrington & Hauver at that time, were in trade at what is now called Oakley. The department referred the application to Alpheus Goddard, then postmaster at Monroe (that being the rule of the department at the time). Mr. Goddard being an uncompromising demo- crat and a firm believer in the Jacksonian policy, that to the victors belong the spoils, refused to endorse Mr. Herrington upon the ground that Mr. Herrington could not repeat the party shibboleth, and not finding a democrat to his liking in the neighborhood who would accept the oflice, the oflice was transferred into the town of Jefferson,two miles northwest of its then location, and Israel Lake appointed postmaster. After the removal of the oflice it became very inconvenient to those patrons living in the east part of the town, so they petitioned the department for a new office to be named Pee Dee, and located at the northeast corner of section 33, and with our recent experience in choosing an incumbent, we thought best to select a democrat for that position. This oflSce was established in June or July, 1859, with G. W. Zimmerman postmaster. In a short time Zimmerman becoming tired of the oflice, as it interfered too much with his farm duties, he arranged with my wife to run the oflice as deputy, and the oflice was transferred to my house, on section 18. In the fall of 1862 we were having a very exciting congressional election, growing out of our diversity of views on the war measure. The State central committee (of which Mr. Rublee was chairman) sent to the office (directed to the postmaster,) a package of political documents, including the address of the central committee with a request that the postmaster distribute this package (as was the rule with all packages so directed), was given to the postmaster, who upon receiving it declared he would not distribute them, saying that if the committee wanted them distributed they could come and do it themselves. Upon hearing this I wrote the chairman that in the future in sending such documents to the oflSce, to direct them to either E. R. Allen or myself, saying that the postmaster was an old line democrat having no sympathies wuth the republican party, not even suggesting a cliange, when in less than a month, I received a commission as postmaster, with a notice to the incumbent to turn the office over to me, which was the cause of two of the most surprised men ever in the town. This oflice T held until 1867, when I resigned (having sold my farm) for the purpose of changing my location, and Fred Teis was commissioned my successor, who ran the (/ftice a short time, resigned, and the present incumbent, Mrs. Coulter, was commissioned. In 1868 I moved with ray family to Kansas, intending to make that State my future home, but becoming dissatisfied with the country, I returned in 1870, with broken health and $800 out of pocket, to Spring Grove, where I intend to reside until the Master calls, "Come Home.'" In politics, from boyhood I was a firm believer in those divine truths as promulgated from that immortal instrument, the Declaration of Independence and cornerstone of our American edifice, that all men are created equal, and from early manhood I have been a persistent advocate of those truths, and when in 1842, the first political anti slavery society was organized in Green county, I was one of the immortal seven (as we were faceciously called) that assisted in its organization, and continued a member of that party until 1854, when the party was merged in the republican party, and have been a member of that party up to the present time; and I have voted at every election that has been held in the county since its organization, excepting the two years that I resided in Kansas. Upon the temperance question my neighbors say I am fanatical, and perhaps I am so, as I have not taken any alcoholic or fermented beverages for over fifty years, and I can see nothing but evil, and only evil, in its use. I am also a sti'enuous advocate of woman franchisement, as I cannot comprehend by what theory or law of creation men have rights that women are not entitled to; and I fully endorse the exclamation of the old deacon, who, when his elder was preaching, (his subject being man) said when he spoke of man he included woman as by creation they were the same as man, with a little variation," exclaimed, "Yes, bless God."

Prominent Citizens

The following biographical skecthes of prominent citizens of the town of Spring Grove, will give an idea of the enterprise and thrift of this town:

Mrs. Mary Clemans, the widow of J. H. Clemans, lives on section 22, town of Spring Grove. She is a daughter of Isaac Kline, who settled in this town in May, 1837. Daniel Baxter (who came the same year) and Mr. Kline were the first two permanent settlers in this town. Mrs. Clemans was born in April, 182 2. In November, 1830, she was married to J. H. Clemans, and settled the next year on the place where Mrs.. Clemans now lives. To them were born nine children - Catharine, now wife of Samuel J. Smith; Isaac, now living in Todd Co., Minn.; Jane, deceased, wife of Jacob Newcomer; Eliza Ann, now wife of Ira Mellen, of Yankton, Dak.; Elizabeth, who died when four years old; Thomas J., who lives with his mother; Charles A., now living at Yankton, Dak.; Lucinda, now wife of Francis Jenkins, of Todd Co., Minn., and Estella, wife of Henry Long. Mrs. Clemans was bereaved by the death of her husband in April, 18'7'7. lie was formerly from Kentucky, and came to Green county in 1838. Thomas J. Clemans, who lives with his mother on the old homestead, was married Nov. 29, 1874, to Polly, daughter of J. W. Kildow. The have two children - Orpha G., born Nov. J, 1880, and James F., born Oct. 12, 1875.

Mrs. Elizabeth A. Davis lives on section 30, occupying the same land settled upon by her husband, Archibald Davis and herself, July 7, 1838. Mrs. Davis was born in Pocahontas Co., Va., April J, 1812. She is now (1884) vigorous, doing all the house work, and attending to care of stock, etc. She was married Sept. 19, 1834, to Archibald Davis. His father, .Jeremiah Davis, moved from Maryland to Warren Co., Ind., in 1822, where he died Jan. 16, 1853. His wife, Mary Davis, died there Oct. 2, 1863. Mrs. Elizabeth A. Davis' father settled in Warren Co., Ind., in 1830, where he died. His wife died there also in 1832. Archibald Davis had two children by a former marriage, who made a part of the family when they came to this town. Their names were -Mary, who married James Kenyon, who died ill 1863; Jeremiah, in Warren Co., Ind., in 1853. By the second marriage of Archibald and Elizabeth A. Davis. The children born are - James D., who served in company B, 18th Wisconsin Volunteers, and now lives in Brodhead; Sarah C. M , wife of John Ostrander ; Benjamin S. also served in company B, 18th Wisconsin Volunteers, and was killed in a bayonet charge at the battle of Jackson, Miss.; George W., member of same company and regiment; Rachel J., wife of Samuel i^rant; Nancy E. and Archibald A., both living in this county; Elizabeth A., wife of John Mass)^ of Benton Co., Ind.; Maria V., wife of John Alexander, of Durand, 111.; Nancy E , wife of Philip Kilwin, of Decatur. Mr. and Mrs. Davis came from Warren Co., Ind., to this town. Mr. Davis was a great hunter and fond of the chase. Many an early settler was indebted to his prowess for his fresh meat. Mr. Davis was a good specimen of a pioneer, active, full of life and energy,- generous and true to his friends. He died Dec. 30, 1879, aged nearly seventy-four years.

George Davis, son of the early settlers, Archibald and Elizabeth A. Davis, is one of the first born of the town of Spring Grove, that event having occurred Jan. 24, 1842. He lived with his parents, working on the farm and attending school winters until he reached manhood, or nearly so, when he enlisted in company B, 18th Wisconsin Volunteers, and one week from the day of leaving the State was in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, a rough beginning for a soldier boy. He participated in every engagement of the regiment until the battle of Jackson, Miss., May 14, 1863, when he was wounded and taken prisoner, and carried east to Libby prison at Richmond, and later released on parole, and taken to Annapolis, Md., and then sent to the parole camp at St. Louis. In December, 1863, he was exchanged, and rejoined the regiment at Huntsville, Ala. He was in the campaign against Atlanta, and in the heroic battle at Allatoona Pass. Mr. Davis has a trophy captured in that battle, a Queen Anne musket full six feet in length, captured on the skirmish line. Veteranizing with a part of the regiment, he returned to Wisconsin on a furlough in December, 1864. Then returning to the command rejoined Sherman's grand army at Goldsboro, N. C, in April, 1865. He was in the battle of Kingston, N. C, and was in line at the grand review of the army at Washington in June, 1865, and was mustered out with the regiment at Milwaukee. Mr. Davis was married to Ann E. Brant, daugnter of John A. Brant, Oct. 1, 1865, and commenced keeping house on seventy acres of land purchased Irom his father on section 80. He has since added eighty acres of adjoining land in the town of Jefferson. They have a very comfortable home eiilivene<l by four children - Francis E., born Oct. 25, 1866; Mattie J., born July 8, 1869; Judd E., born Aug. 24, 1870; and George B., born June 10, 1873. From 1866 to 1883, with the excej)- tion of one year, Mr. Davis has served as justice of the peace. He is a member of the W. W. Patton, G. A. R. Post, No. 90.

Thomas Hamilton lives on section 34. He has a farm of 240 acres, with fine buildings. He was born in the State of Indiana Aug. 4, 1822. When quite young, his father, George Hamilton, moved to Edgar Co., 111., where he died in 1842. When sixteen years of age, Thomas took his fortune in his own hands. Leaving home he went to Winnebago Co., 111., worked at farm work until 1842, when he came to Green county. The first few years he worked summers in the villages of the county, and in the winter in the pineries, running in the seasou on rafts below; thus he was occupied until he was married in 1845. His wife was Levanche Randall. By this marriage six children were born, five of whom are living - George, residing in Brodhead; Thomas, of Winnebago Co., 111.; Alexander, in the same county; Emma,wife of Myron Bliss, of Winnebago Co., Ill; Eva, wife of F. Burke, resides at Virginia City, Nev.; Lenora, wife of Isaac Davis. She died at the residen<!e of her father in February, 1875. In March, 1866, Mr, Hamilton was bereaved by the death of his wife. He was again united in marriage with Mrs. Jane Forbes, widow of Isaac Forbes. She was living at the time of marriage in Davids township, Stephenson Co., 111. By her first marriage she had two children - Emma and William. Emma married Mr. Hamilton's son, George. William Foi'bes is married and lives in Brodhead. Thomas Hamilton has by his second wife five children - Walter E., born in 1868; Josephine E., born in 1870; Kate Maud, born in 1873; Scott, born in 1878; and Eleanor, born in 1881.

Daniel Dedrick was born in Herkimer Co., N. Y., Feb. 22, 1836, and came to this town with his father's family in 1842. His father, Nicholas Dedrick, came from Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. Daniel lived with his father until 1847, in which year, March 3, he was married to Melissa A. Ward, who was born in Michigan. Her mother was the second wife of Daniel Vanderbilt. Mrs. Dedrick has one boy - Eddie Dedrick, living in Topeka, Kansas, and a daughter, Lovinna, also at Topeka,Kansas. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dedrick moved to Durand, Wis., and later a short distance out in Bear creek valley, taking a homestead claim, and working at carpenter's trade, in which work he was engaged at the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted Aug. 9, 1862, in company G, 25th Wisconsin Volunteers, and served two years and two months, when he was discharged on account of disability. After this he moved to Pontiac, Mich. Remaining there only a few months, he went to the oil country in Venango Co., Penn., locating at Rouseville. He there engaged in livery and express business and kept a boarding house three years or more, but domestic trouble caused a separation from his wife. Then he gave up his town business and became a contractor for drilling oil wells, and followed that occupation until he lost his property. He returned to Spring Grove in 1877, and bought lot 6, on section 2, thirty-three acres, where he now (1884) resides in a house built by an old settler, B. J. Tenney, who about thirty-four years ago sold out and went to Salt Lake with the Mormons. Mr. Dedrick's present wife was Sarah Jane Gordan. He was married to her in June, 1870. She was born in Pennsylvania. Their tirst child, Charlie, died at the age of thirteen months. They have two daughters - Mabel F. M., born May 15, 1872, and Zada Bell, born Jan. 11, 1880.

Charles A. Warner was born in Madison Co., N. Y., June 20, 1820. He learned the blacksmith's trade when a boy, and at nineteen years of age was out from his apprenticeship. In May, 1842, he came west to Milwaukee, and in September of that year to this county, buying 160 acres of land on section 11, town of Sylvester, remaining only long enough to commence some improvements. He went to Southport, on Lake Michigan (now Kenosha) and worked at his trade the following winter, returning to improve his land the summer of 1843. In the fall he returned to Southport and remained there at work until the fall of 1844, when he went to McHeury Co., 111. 'I'here he ran a shop which he owned four years, then in the fall of 1848 he returned to this county and located in the village of Decatur, then about to be platted. While in McHenry county, Mr. Warner was married to Elizabeth Ward, Dec. 7, 1847. She was born in Vernon, Oneida Co., N. Y. At Decatur Mr. Warner built a shop and worked there about eight years, when (1856) he moved his family to the village of Clarence, in order to be able to improve 192 acres of land which he had some years previously Vjought on section 1, town of Spring Grove. Mr. Warner worked at his trade a short time in Clarence, but in the spring of 1857 made his residence on his land on section 1, where he now (1884) lives. Mr. and Mrs. Warner have had four children born to them - Ella E., born Nov. 1, 1849, now wife of Willie D. Bigelow, of Sun Prairie, Wis.; Francis Ward, born Nov. 20, 1851, and died Sept 26, 1856; Charles M., born July 8, 1857, and now lives at home; Catharine C, born July 18, 1861, now living at home. Mr. Warner has led an active life, never idle in his younger days, if not hard at work, could generally be depended upon to bring in game or fish. He and Dr. Springsted were fast friends, and it was a bad day for all kinds of game, when they started out for a hunt. Mr. Warner speaks kindly of his old friend as a man, and of his skill as a physician. Daniel Dunwiddie, one of the pioneers of Green county, is living on section 6. His fine farm comprises lots 3,4 and 5, fractional additions to section 6, 127 acres, and fifteen acres of adjoining land. He also owns twenty acres of valuable timber near by in Decatur. He has occupied this place since 1847. Mr. Dunwiddie was born in Green Co., Ohio, Jan. 6, 1822, and is a son of John Dunwiddie, who reared a family of eleven children, ten boys and one girl, all of whom lived to be married, and rear families. Seven of the family were living in 1884. At the age of twenty-one, (1843) the subject of this sketch came to Green county, and lived with his uncle, Thomas Woodle, an early settler. In 1845 he bought the southwest quarter of section 34, in the town of Sylvester, and in December of that year was married to Rebecca Austin. She was born in Burlington Co., N. J., but at the time of her marriage was a resident of Kosciusko Co., Ind. Her parents were, for nine years, residents of Green Co., Ohio, and it was there that Mr. Dunwiddie formed her acquaintance. Mr. and Mrs. Dunwiddie first settled on his land in Sylvester and after living there one year, he sold, and purchased his pi'esent farm. They have had nine children born to them - Priscilla, wife of John Swan, born Feb, 5, 1846; Ezra, born Jan. 12, 1848; Celista, wife of Alouzo Barnes, born Nov.

2, 1849; John M., born Dec. 1, 1851 ; Louisa, born June 29, 1854, and died April 23, 1856; Theresa, born Dec. 4, 1856, now the wife of W. F. Holcomb of Yankton, Dak; Idella, born Sept. 1*7, 1861, now the wife of Charles Cronk, of Dane county; Minnie, born Oct. 30, 1863, and died May 5, 1866; and Myrtle, born Dec. 15, 1865, and living at home with her parents. Mr. Dunwiddie is an active, public-spirited citizen, and has served as town supervisor fifteen or sixteen years, a part of the time as chairman.

Moses Kirby was born near Oldtown, Hampshire Co., Va., in 1812. While a child his parents, James and Prudence Kirby, emigrated to Pickaway Co., Ohio. His mother died there and in 1828 bis father moved from there to Vermilion Co., 111. His father died some years later near Vincennes, Ind. The subject of this sketch was married in 1833 to Rachel Corry, and ten years later removed to Stephenson Co., 111., and in the fall of the same year settled in Spring Grove, buying 160 acres of land on section 26 where he now lives. Mr. and Mrs Kirby have had six children - Julia Ann, wife of William Clements, residing in Champaign Co., 111.; John, living in the same county; Isaiah went with company B, 18th Wisconsin Volunteers, and found a soldier's grave at Corinth, Tenn.; Elisha, living in Spring Grove; Lovina, wife of Polk Waller, of Winnebago Co., III., and Mary, married to Leroy J. McKinley. She and her husband live with Mr. Kirby on the old homestead. They were married July 30, 1869. They have had five children, three of whom are living - Olive, born Oct. 4, 1870; Myrtie, born Dec. 31, 1880; and Arthur, born May 16, 1883. The two deceased are - Jennie, born Dec. 21, 1874; died Sept. 5, 1876. Warren, born June 1, 1877; died April 12, 1880. Mr. McKinley's father is William McKinley, a merchant in Rockford, 111. Leroy J. was born in Winnebago Co., 111., April 20, 1849. When a few weeks of age his mother died, and he was reared by Mr. and Mrs. James Waller of Avon, Rock Co., Wis.

William H. Oneall was born in Warren Co., Ind., Feb. 15, 1829. His father, Robert E. Oneall, came to this town in its early days, going in 1843, from Warren Co., Ind., he rented a farm of the old settler, Samuel Myers, on section 19, where he lived one year; then on Mr. Judkins' farm two years. Mr. Oneall brought quite a large family here, consisting of a wife and seven children - Susan, now married to Philo Tracy, and living in Buchanan Co., Iowa; William H., the subject of this sketch; Rebecca, was married to Matthew Farmer, and died in Buchanan Co., Iowa; Martha Jane, who was married to P. Atwood, and died Nov. 22, 1882; Thomas K., who lives in Benton Co., Iowa; Mary Ann, who was married to William Kline, and died in 1864; Elizabeth R., who was married to Peter Albert, and now living in Buchanan Co., Iowa. There were born to the parents, six children, after their settlement in this town - Sarah E., who was married to Charles Morton, and lives in Parker, Dak.; John B., who lives in this town; Alexona, who is the wife of Joseph Keihle, aud lives in Independence, Iowa; Edwin and Robert E., who died quite young; and Charlie, now living in Nebraska. Mr. Oneall bought on section 36, a claim, (now owned by Cyrus Putnam), and lived there several years, then moved to Richland Grove, and subsequently bought prairie land in the town of Jefferson. He shortly sold this land, and went to Iowa, leaving his family here. Engaging in business in Iowa, he made an occasional trip back to visit his family. While on one of these trips coming home, he was taken sick, and died not far from home, after a short illness, in May, 1854. His wife died Jan. 10, 1855. William H. Oneall was married to Marcia Jones, Aug. 3, 1856 She was born in Ashtabula Co., Ohio, and was a daughter of James Jones, an early settler of Rock Co., Wis. They have six children - Teta Jane,born July 6,1 857, who was married to George Johnson, and now lives in San Francisco; Cyn thia L., born Sept. 3, 1858, now wife of Oliver W. Martin; Florence A., who lives at home;

WyattE., born May 14, 1866, at home; Catharine v., born April 15, 1871, at home; and Ora E., born Oct. 27, 1874, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Oneall commenced their married life where they now live. It was formerly the home of their mother, and at that time contained eighty acres. It was an old farm, settled back in 1841 by Aaron Cooley. It is located on section 22. Mr. Oneall lives on section 16, and there owns 120 acres, and owns also 130 acres on section 16. He is one of the sterling men of the town, and has served the public on the board of supervisors.

John B. Oneall, son of the old settler, Robert E. Oneall, was born Dec. 21, 1844. After the death of his father and mother, which occurred when John was about ten years old, he was partially homeless, and consequently was early thrown upon his own resources. The first year after his parent's death, he went to Iowa and lived for a time with a married sister. Coming back, he lived until about nineteen years old, with his brother, William II. Oneall, then with a young, xiatriotic impulse, he enlisted in the army, in company B, 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, Aug. 23, 1863. He participated in twenty-four engagements, among them, were Dandridge, in east Tennessee, and one near Dalton, Ga., May 9, 1864, and last, but not least, the one at West Point, Ga. He was always on duty, and never, except to visit sick comrades, saw the interior of a hospital. He was honorably discharged with the regiment, July 19, 1865. Feb. 14, 1867, he was married to Mary A., daughter of Charles Woodling, who came liere from Indiana, in 1846. He was born in Union Co., Penn., and went to Indiana in 1837. He was one of the sterling men of early days, in Spring Grove. The newly married couple settled on the Woodling estate, in the place his wife's father had lived, who died in November, 1852. His widow subsequently was married to William Farmer. She died July 4, 1871. The present home of the subject of this sketch was occupied by him in September, 1871. It was the property of Mrs. Oneall's mother, at the time of her death. The farm is a very valuable one, with good improvements and fine buildings. They have two children - Carie J., born March 23, 1868; Hancy A., born Oct. 13, 1870. Mr, Oneall is one of the trusted citizens of Spring Grove town, and is now (1884), town treasurer. He has served three terms on the town board of supervisors, and is a man of excellent reputation.

William H. Coldren has lived on section 5, town of Spring Grove, since November, 1873. His farm of 145 acres is known as the "Kline place" having been the home of an old settler named John Kline. Mr. Coldren was born in Warren Co., Ind. His father, William Coldren, in 1844 with his wife and seven children settled in the town of Jefferson. I'he children were - Margaret, Martha, Matilda, Reuben, Minerva, William, Orth, and one was born in Wisconsin, Evaline. Margaret and Matilda are not now living. The father and mother were both living in 1884. The subject of this sketch, William H., enlisted in the War for the Union in August, 1862, in company K, 22d regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers, and served until the regiment was mustered out after the close of the war. He was never in the hospital but always in the ranks, and was in every engagement in which the regiment participated, from the first at Spring Hill to the last at Averysboro, N. C. He was in the battles about Atlanta, and with Sherman on the memorable march to the sea and up through the Carolinas to the grand review at Washington in June, 1865. He was a faithful, valiant and valuable soldier. He was married Oct. 16, 1867, to Eslie Woodle, daughter of A. H. Woodle of Sylvester, and lived on rented land until 1873, when he bought his present home. They have had four children - an infant, born and died in 1868, Fred, born Aug. 2, 1869; Frank, born Dec. 2, 1870, now deceased; and Chauncy,born Sept. 30, 1878. Mr. Coldren is a trusted and valued