Madison City (part 10 of 20)

The first church was of the Lutheran denomination, erected 1854 - Rev. Mr. Preuss, pastor. The first school house was built on section 7, in 1851.

The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad enters on the south line at section 36, and passes through the town northwesterly, passing out at section 6. Waunakee is a flourishing village and station on section 8. Westport post office is on section 21. Lake Mendota covers a part of sections 33, 34, 35 and 36.

The town derives its name from the village of Westport, in Ireland. Among the early settlers were the Montanders, Boyles, O'Malleys, Collins, etc. The town was organized in 1849. First school was built on section 9, in 1846. First mill was built in 1847. In 1867 a R. Catholic church was erected on section 22. The northern and western portions of the town are principally prairie - the rest marsh and timber. There were some Indian mounds and graves where the Hospital now stands.

The Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane is located on section 35. The entire length ot the hospital building is 569 feet, the centre building being 65 x 120 feet. The elegant and commodious buildings are sur¬ rounded by ornamental grounds, wood and farming lands to the extent of 293 acres, and when some contemplated ..improvements are added, a com¬ plete institution, creditable to the enterprise of the people of Wisconsin and their philanthropy, will suitably accomodate the unfortunates need¬ ing its protection.

Windsor

The surface of the country is prairie and oak openings. It is an ex¬ cellent township, and adapted to the production of corn, wheat and other cereals.

As originally organized it included the present towns of Vienna, Windsor, Burke and Westport. The first town meeting was held at the house of Horace Lawrence in 1847. The first supervisor was Charles M. Nichols.

The Madison and Portage railroad passes through the town, entering on the south line on section 32, and passing out on the north line on section 6. De Forest station and postoffice is on section 17 ; Morrison station and postoffice, on section 6; and Windsor station and postoffice, on section 29, at which place are a few stores and mechanical shops. Population in 1870, 1,256.

York

The township of York lies in the northeast corner of Dane county, known as township 9 north, of range 12 east. It is watered in the south¬ west part by Waterloo creek.

The town was organized April 1, 1848. B. B. Freeman was chosen .chairman, D. E. Emery and Walter Brown, supervisors, Martin Mead, justice of the peace, and Otis B. Lapham, town clerk.

Additions And Corrections

On page 282, is an account of the organization of the Baptist Church and the erection of the church building. Rev. Foster Henry, of Ver¬ mont, informs the writer that he made an effort, during a sojourn at Madison in the winter of 1849, '50, to raise a subscription to build the church edifice. That he succeeded in raising some $6,000, conditioned on the sum of $10,000 being subscribed. The latter amount was not reached and the effort was a failure. In 1854, Rev. M. D. Miller suc¬ ceeded in raising funds for the purpose as the narrative shows.

In chapter six we omitted to notice among the organizations in the year 1854, that of Hiram Lodge, No. 50, of Free and Accepted Masons, which was effected on February 21. This Lodge is in a prosperous con¬ dition, as is also the " Concordia Lodge," No. 88, which was organized March 20, 1857, which was not noticed.

Capitol Lodge No. 1, Independent Order of Good Templars, was insti¬ tuted March 19, 1856, and has prospered well ever since, now possessing one of the finest lodge rooms in the State, in Ogden's block.

Among those who passed through the Four Lake country in early times, and have left a record of their journey, is one family who have been inadvertantly overlooked. On the 8th of March, 1831, John H. Kinzie, Esq., then Indian agent at Fort Winnebago, having occasion to visit Fort Dearborn, left the Fort (Winnebago) in company with his young wife and a few attendants. They encamped the first night on a stream emptying into Fourth Lake, and the next day passed around the lake- Scattered along its banks was an encampment of Winnebagoes who were friendly; they passed on to the " Blue Mound," and thence seven miles further to Col. Morrison's place, and thence to Kelloog's, to Dixon's, on Rock river and thence to Chicago. Mrs. Kinzie, in her very interesting work, "Wau-bun, the Early Day in the Northwest," N. Y., 1856, 8 vo.r has an account of this journey.

Index

Beecher, early settler at Cottage Grove, 160. Benedict, S. G., referred to, 252, 282. Beouchard, E., in Black Hawk war, 19. Billings & Firmin, 325.

Mutual Ins. Co., incorporated, 239, 291. "Sacred Music Society, incorporated, 224. St. George's Society, organized, 255. School District No. 1, organized, 139. Select School, opened, 140.

Ubeldine, resident 1837, 103, 208, 209. Underwood. J. H., artesian well, 310. Union Congregate Church, organized, 265. University Hill, Account of. 31.

War of Rebel ion. See Rebellion History, Warner, C. E., wounded in war, 296. Warren, - , killed by lightning, 111. Waubesa, Second Lake, account of, 15. Wauconda, Indian Chief, 84.

Wis. Argus, newspaper, 77, 148, 179, 189. Wisconsin Bank, at Madison, org'd, 257. Wisconsin Democrat, newspaper, 140. Wisconsin Enquirer, newspaper. 92-3, 138. Wisconsin Patriot, newspaper, 231. Wisconsin Statesman, newspaper, 219 Wisconsin Stale flistor. Soc. See State Histcr. Society.

Source changes here: from Madison, Dane County and Surrounding Towns; Being a History and Guide to Places of Scenic Beauty and Historical Note .., by Park, Wm. J., & Co., Pub. [from Old Catalog], published 1877; 160,639 words in this source stream.

Preface

In presenting to our readers the History of Madison, Dane County and Surrounding' Towns, we do it with some degree of gratification; - not because we have the presumption to conceive that we have issued a complete work, or that it is free from errors; but simply because we have had so many kind helps rendered us in bringing the work up to its present condition, and without flattering ourselves that we have composed some grand strain, or even been in full harmony with all our parts, we have, at least, struck the key-note from which we have built up good, if not square work.

To show that our work was needed, it is only necessary for us to call the reader's attention to the many chapters so freely contributed by many of our citizens, who, making no pretensions to any great literary acumen, have related the facts and incidents of their towns in terms sometimes vmfinished, but never lacking power and simplicity to express what they knew, thus commending to our admiration the free and unvarnished manner with which the story of pioneer life, trials and sufferings is related, and the evident delight taken in looking back on those difficulties, to enact them over again.

We think our work has been instrumental in saving from oblivion much that would have passed unheeded hi the annals of the early settlement and development of our county. Our citizens, in their early pioneer life, forgetting that they were makers of history, saved comparatively little of the past dates or records.

History by towns has not, we believe, been published in this state before, and we feel certain that no surer way could be devised for reaching facts than the plan we have adopted, as there are none better able to write a family history than one of its members. To the writers of the ensuing chapters we suggested the following subjects, which our readers will see have been conscientiously adhered to: The early settlement and organization of each town; pioneer trials and difficulties ; scenic beauty and hygiene ; industrial pursuits and markets; schools and churches; early intercourse with the Indians; camps, trails, graves or mounds, etc.

The work has exceeded, by several hundred pages, our agreement with subscribers, but having been assured of remuneration therefor by an increase of names on our subscription list, we have decided to make no advance hi price.

The adjacent towns have been added to our book at the suggestion of citizens of those places, and it is proper that they should be, as socially and commercially there are no boundary hues between us; and with all the cordiality of neighbors, it affords us pleasure to invite the attention of the reader to these chapters not only as a partial exhibit of their in lustrial pursuits and business tact, but also as evidence that we are linked together by a stronger tie than sectional lines.

The chapter on Lake Koshkonong is from the pen of Prof. Kuuilien, a scientist of no mean mark either in this country or Europe. Although he has devoted a life time to the study of natural history, and his labors been heralded abroad, there are but few of our citizens that even know that this se^r is living at our very doors. Forty long years has he quietly and unobtrusively spent in studying the botanical life of many of our plants, as well a3 giving us a clearer insight into the ornithology of this continent, and we feel our duty but begun in our meager effort to make these facts known.

The "Historical Introduction" will be found full of interesting dates and facts, as also the chapter on "Personal Recollections," whde the list of County Officers, obtained at considerable labor, and the only list published, will be used as a useful reference.

Our county is the largest in population and wealth of any other in our state, except Milwaukee, and is largely on the increase. The healthful character of our climate, together with our rich and varied displays of scenic beauty beheld every where around us, is bringing hundreds to our doors who are not only invigorated by our pure and bracing atmosphere, but enchanted with the landscape grandeur that foreign lands but tamely mimic. Historical places point to ages as yet comparatively unknown, and if a people, whom we designate as Mound Builders, lived here, it is but right to infer that they were neither ignorant of our climate or our scenery, but as is shown, left larger evidences of their labors here than in any other section of this country.

We have been much gratified at the cordiality with which our citizens have entered into the enterprise, and take this opportunity of offering them our grateful acknowledgments, and especially to the writers of the different chapters, for their kind and unselfish interest in collecting the many facts and pleasing incidents therein related. Such men are, as a rule, the bone and sinew of a community, and never weary in well doing. We are also indebted to the following gentlemen, who have made it a matter of interest and labor to aid us in our undertaking: Hon. Simeon Mills, Wm.

A. Wheeler, E. M. Williamson, E. Burdick, Geo. B. Smith, Wm. Vroman, N. T. Parkinson, Wm. Welch, S. W. Botkin, Hon. Lyman C. Draper, Prof. S. H. Carpenter, Prof. R. B. Anderson, D. S. Durrie(who aided us materially, by the use of several of his MSS.), Phillip Barry, (for the use of county records,) Gabriel Bjornson, P.

B. Parsons, 0. S. Holum, Hon. J. A. Johnson, Gen. S. Cadwallader, Judge N. F. Hyer, Judge J. T. Clark, Capt. John Nader, Jas. R. Stuart, (for draught of design on back of the volume), N. P. Jones, (for photographs to the engraver), N. T. Hawes, John Corscot (for city records), and others. W. J. P.

Contents City Of Madison

Dates and Facts: - First justice, election and judges; first books and stationery, juries, indictment, chancery suit, wolf bounty, licenses and treasurer; first jail, circus, metal casting and post office box ; first woolen mill, blacksmith and auctioneer - Naming of Aztalan - Early assessment of lauds and tax - Completion of public buildings - Mineral waters, etc , 210

In The Beginning

Soon after Pere Marquette made his way to the Mississippi, from the Lakes, this "Western country was overrun by Canadian French voyacjeurs, whose country, language and religion, were considerable aids to trade among the tribes of Indians, recently gathered into the fold of the Catholic church. There is no positive evidence that they were on this identical spot, but a probability, all but overwhelming, suggests their presence in the Lake country, because the Indians were here, and, moreover, because the conformation of the country, the large and beautiful lakes, and other well known features, specially adapted this particular locality for the supply of peltry. There was a mission house at or near Green Bav before Marcpiette's world-famous canoe voyage by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers; but there is no mention by which our topography is identified until more than a century later, in the records of Capt. Carver, as published after 1768. His " Travels through the interior parts of North America " make unmistakable references to the Blue Mounds, which he knew, probably from the Indians, were supposed to be rich in lead. The captain shrewdly suspected the trappers of having purposely misrepresented the territory for their better security as to ulterior designs of their own. The Jesuit maps of the Lake Superior country, prepared a century earlier in Paris, were very good, considering the limited facilities of the priests by whom the information was supplied, but the operations of the Canadian voyageurs, jealously defending their trading privileges after their old home had passed under the rule of strangers, would be subject to very different rules.

The Sacs and Foxes held this territory from time immemorial, so far as we have any positive knowledge, until the year 1825, when the Nations sold their rights to all lands east of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, for the red men, they were persuaded by some of their leaders to play fast and loose with their treaty, and after the first removal, there were almost continuous returns, and on many occasions marauding parties inflicted damage on property and life by way of asserting a right to their old hunting grounds. In the year 1831 things had become unendurable, and it was found necessary to drive the Indians back across the newly agreed upon barrier, the Mississippi. The "Winnebago outbreak and the Black Hawk war, the first named in 1831-2, and the latter concurrent with or immediately following, were parts of the same scheme of aggression, intended to recover for the tribes the lands already sold and delivered by their chiefs and themselves. Eventually the Indians were repressed and forced back with a firm hand.

The first attempt at settlement in this county was made in 1827-8, by Col. Ebenezer Brigham, who died in this city at the advanced age of seventy-two, in the year 1861. He visited Wisconsin in 1822, but it was not until five years later that he came hither to make a permanent abode. The lead mines were the chief attraction, but after a brief sojourn at Platte river, on what is known as the Block House branch, he and his party retired to Galena, not being strong enough to hold their own in a country possessed by hostile Indians. Early in 1828, Col. Brigham and his associates took up a position in the Blue Mounds, still mining for lead. Food supplies, at first procured from Galena, were afterwards obtained from Fort Winnebago, and it was while returning from Fort Winnebago that the beauties of the Lake country were first discovered by Col. Brigham. The Indians had told him about the lakes, but the beautiful reality vastly exceeded their description. The pioneer is not always capable of appreciating the picturesque, but the colonel predicted the greatness of the village that would be built where Madison now stands, being impressed by the charms of the scene, and he even assumed that the capital of the Territory and State would be here located.

from their nearest friends. Dodgeville was the residence of their next door neighbor, and to the southeast they could call upon somewhat distant acquaintances on the O'Plaine river, hardly twelve miles from Chicago. Col. Juneau was located near the junction of the Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers, laying the foundations of the beautiful Cream City, which is now the commercial metropolis of Wisconsin. It will be seen at once that every settlement in those days had to rely mainly upon its own means of defense against the Indians, who were established in populous villages in every direction. As a rule there was a good understanding, and from time to time treaties were made defining the boundaries of the new comers, but the stipulations of the natives were extended and broken repeatedly. So slowly did the people migrate hitherwards, that Col. Brigham was still the nearest settler when the capital was located, and his residence was distant twenty -five miles. Gov. Lewis Cass, the chief executive of Michigan Territory, had jurisdiction from the earliest settlement, and he made Col. Brigham the first justice ever appointed here, but his office was almost a sinecure during the four years that he retained the honor. The difficulties under which these hardy miners opened up their lucrative calling cannot readily be made to appear to the modern reader. The traveler of to-day is transported in a few hours from Madison to Chicago, can dispatch the business of the clay in the metropolis of the northwest and return, without a sense of fatigue or a stain of travel, to his home at night, but there was no such luxury possible to the adventurous colonel and his companions who sent their product to Green Bay, Galena or Chicago, and who had not a wagon track to guide them toward the village which has now expanded to the colossal proportions of Chicago. That mighty Babylon was then an insignificant village, in which there seemed to be no probability that the people would master the difficulties incident to the position and render it habitable in the better sense. The old colonel was naturally and fitly included in the earliest attempts to organize a government in this territory, when the severance from Michigan was effected in 1836, and for very many years he was identified with the succeeding forms of administration.

A trip from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, on horseback, was undertaken for the first time in May, 1829, by Judge Doty, afterwards Governor, and two attorneys of the first named settlement, Henry S. Baird and Morgan L. Martin, guided by a Menomonee Indian whose acquaintance with the country was by no means perfect; but their seven days pilgrimage made them conversant with the topographical features of Lake Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, our own Four Lakes, the site of our city, the Blue Mounds and Dodgeville, besides the vast range of country included in their interesting detour. There had been many transits by the Fox and Wisconsin to the Mississippi, since the days of Pere Marquette and his voy- ageurs, but this, so far as can be known, was the first journey made by white men overland. Three years later Judge Doty again visited this spot, having been much impressed by its beauty, and being desirous to see a town started in the midst of so much natural grandeur.

The ambitious designs of Black Hawk, who had obtained an ascendency over the braves of his own and of neighboring tribes, led to a disastrous war with the Indians in 1832, as already indicated, and the settlers of this portion of Wisconsin were not backward during that eventful period. There was an actual alliance between the deceitful "Winnebagoes and the more immediate followers of Black Hawk, the Sacs and Foxes, some time before hostilities were openly commenced; but the savages were full of protestations as to their peaceful and friendly disposition. Col. Brigham could not be hoodwinked by their flatteries, and he, with the cooperation of his little army of industry, built a block house fort, on the prairie, near Blue Mounds, as part of their system of defense. "When hostile demonstrations were anticipated, the whole of the settlers near at hand, with their families, congregated within the palisade that surrounded the main buildings. The Winnebagoes were still persistent as to their friendship and alliance, until the beginning of June, 1832, although there is good reason for believing that they were supplying information and help to their more warlike neighbors, long before that date. Preparations for war were made, regardless of the Winnebago promises, as it was well known that Black Hawk's followers would cause trouble without much delay. The commanding officer at Mound Fort, Capt. John Sherman, saw the probability of war to be so imminent that he communicated his apprehensions to Col. Dodge, afterwards governor, and the colonel marched to the reinforcement of Sherman with two hundred men, collected from other and less exposed positions in the mining districts. Shortly after this timely aid arrived, James Aubrey, the first commander at the fort, was killed near the residence of Col. Brigham, while procuring water from a spring. The Sac Indians killed him, being guided to their ambush by the treacherous "Wmnebagoes, within a few days of the time when they were most lavish in expressions of friendship. Their part in the murder was surmised, but not known, at the time of Aubrey's death. A second ambush was planned, and succeeded on the 20th of the month, fourteen davs after the death of Aubrey. The savages having made their dispositions for the purpose, caused some few of their body to reveal themselves to the occupants of the fort. Lieut. Force, accompanied by a comrade named Green, the latter leaving his wife and children in the stockade, made a reconnoisance, in the course of which they were decoyed by the retiring Indians into a trap laid for the destruction of a much larger body. Force and Green fought and maneuvered with bravery and skill, but they were so completely enmeshed that there was no possibility of escape. The savages mutilated their victims in a shameful manner after death. The watch worn by Lieut. Force was subsequently recovered from the body of a dead Indian, by a trader named Wallis Rowan. The red man, overtaken by fatigue, had apparently lain down to rest, and in that way was destroyed by a prairie fire. The efforts and the deaths of Force and Green were seen from Mound Fort.

Notwithstanding these cruel and purposeless successes, the Indians were pursued by the main body of settlers and troops, under the command of Col. Dodge, over the Crawfish, near Aztalan, across the site of this city, to the north end of Monona, and at Catfish Ford, a brisk engagement with the rear guard of the flying foe, taught the Indians what they might expect in the way of punishment. One Indian was shot sitting upon the newly-made grave of his squaw, having calmly taken that position apparently with the hope that he would thus readily join her in the Happy Hunting Grounds. Eventually the Black Hawk war was ended by decisive battles, the only kind of argument that can be conclusive with savages, and nearly the whole of the reel skins that had been in arms were killed, captured or dispersed. Black Hawk and his accomplice, the Prophet, who had buoyed up the tribes with delusive promises, were surrendered to General Street, at Prairie du Chien, on the 27th of August, 1832, by the chiefs of their own people, One-Eyed Decorra and Cha-E. Tar. The treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, made at Rock Island in September of that

Histoby Of Madison

Shortly after the Black Hawk war had been crushed out, the attractions of this site brought settlers here, and on the 15th of October, 1832, an encampment was made by Capt. Low, James Halpin and Archibald Crisman, on Mendota Lake ridge. There were numerous Indians then located on the city site, having been concentrated here by the facilities offered by a French trader, whose abode was on the ground now crossed by Johnson street. Rowan, the Indian trader into whose hands the watch of Lieut. Force fell as lawful spoil, had long before taken up his location in this neighborhood. Mr. Abel Rasdall, a native of Kentucky, another early resident, commenced his "Wisconsin experiences as a lead miner, and thence diverging into the avocation of an Indian trader, was connected by marriage with a "Winnebago woman. After her death, he married another of the same tribe, but she eventually migrated west with her own peo pie, and her husband was not entirely inconsolable. Rasdall had been for a considerable time a prosperous trader among the Indians before the war commenced, but during the continuance of hostilities with Black Hawk, Abel Kasdall was one of the readiest and most daring of our volunteers. He continued a resident in Dane county until his death at Token Creek, in 1857, when he was fifty-two years old. After the conclusion of his Indian engagements, Mr. Kasdall took to himself a wife of his own race in this city, and raised a family as the result of that marriage. He had traded in Dane county, and more especially around the Four Lakes, since the year before the Black Hawk war.

From the time of the first colony planted in Illinois by La Salle, in 167S-9, the Canadian voyagers and colonists had customarily intermarried with the Indians with, as a rule, no other result than that the more civilized race was absorbed by the other, and the result did not exhibit a corresponding increase of capacity to appropriate the advantages of civilization. Some of the half breeds were sharp and dangerous, but few are known as estimable men. One of the earliest traders here seems to have been an exception to that rule. His name was Michel St. Cyr, son of a Canadian Frenchman, by a Winnebago. Living always on the frontier and among the Indians, he had not participated in the advantages of schools, but he bore an excellent character as a man of veracity, a virtue not always found associated with civilization, although certainly a part of the highest. St. Cyr was one of the traders in the Four Lake country, dividing his attention between the traffic by which he made money and a small garden, that gave him and his Winnebago children a subsistence. His cabin served occasionally as a caravanserai and something more, when travelers visited the lakes. Eventually St. Cyr sold out his improvements to Col. Slaughter, and retired to the Winnebago reservation in Iowa. His sons were considered worthless, even by the In- dians, and that atom of civilization was utterly erased. The F. F. Y.'s would not trace their lineage to Pocahontas, rt the husband of that lady had been domiciliated among the tribes, and if the result of that marriage had been given over to Indian customs and general training.

Preliminary steps for the survey of the lands in this locality were taken by the general government in 1834, and before the end of the year, that duty had been completed. The survey and plat of this city were made under special directions from Judge Doty, who had long before that time been impressed by the beauty of this site and its surroundings. The further proceedings of the early settlers must be dealt with in a future chapter.

Locating The Capital

Settlement had made little progress when the question aro'se, " where shall we fix our capital ? " Suddenly, from all parts of the territory, arose the voice of indomitable advocates, and when the first legislature was convened at Belmont, there was a display of logrolling such as could hardly be excelled. Judge Doty, who had traversed nearly the whole territory on horseback or in his canoe, accoutred " with his green blanket and shot gun," might have been trusted to make the selection, but for the fact, that he had long since decided in his own mind, and had joined with Gov. Mason of Michigan, in purchasing the site occupied by this city for $1,500. Fond du Lac, Dubuque, in Iowa, which was part of our territory, Portage, Belmont, Helena, Eacine, Milwaukee, Platteville, Mineral Point, Cassville, Green Bay, Koshkonong, Belleview, Wisconsinapolis, "Wisconsin City and Peru, were all advocated with unscrupulous zeal, and every one of the rival cities, many of which, like Madison, lived only on paper, had anxious friends who were ready to abandon their own chances for the time, to unite on any of the others, only to defeat the most dangerous competitor. Madison was, perhaps, chanrpioned in the same way as most of the other cities of the brain, but with more success. Corner lots were much in request, among the men whose votes could make or unmake a capital at Belmont, and lobbying was the rule. It is tacitly admitted by many, and openly stated by some, that Madison ~mio-ht not have been selected as the site, had not Judge Doty permitted many legislators and their bosom friends, a pecuniary interest in the venture which Gov. Mason and he had made. The majority in the legislative council, as it was, proved to be only one in an aggregate of thirteen, and in the house of representatives, only four in an aggregate of twentysix. The margin was too small for comfort, but it was sufficient. Thus it happened, that after an exciting contest, the peninsula between the third and fourth of the Four Lakes was chosen as the home of our territorial government, and became the site of the handsome city which we claim has become the admired of all observers.

The time in which this lively conflict occurred was especially full of land speculators. The public domain had enriched hundreds, and millions were hoping that the same process might cover all their needs forever. It was being realized in 1836 that there were blanks as well as prizes in the lottery, and a collapse was felt to be imminent. The founders of paper cities were snatching a new eloquence from despair, and this location of the capital was one of many schemes on which fortunes depended. The elegance of some of the maps, the fervor of some of their expounders, might have charmed an impartial legislator, could a phenomenon so rare have been found in the territory of "Wisconsin, to record his vote for either of the projects. Happily, the proposition of Judge Dotv von a controlling interest, and three commissioners, chosen by joint ballot, were entrusted with the task of selecting plans, making contracts and superintending the erection of the capitol.

The sparse settlement of the territory generally, and of this section more particularly, cannot be better illustrated than by recording a few of the experiences of travelers, about the time of, and soon after the passage of the act which determined the seat of government. The sessions of the legislative assembly were appointed to be held at Burlington, in Des Moines county, now Iowa, until March 4, 1839, unless the government buildings here should be completed earlier; and it was necessary to bring from a distance every man that was wanted to assist in the work of preparation. The commissioners chosen for the task before named were Augustus A. Bird, acting commissioner, James Duane Doty, treasurer, and John F. O'Neill. The sum appropriated for the erection was $20,000, a very small amount, considering the difficulties under which the work was to be undertaken, but help was expected from congress.

In the month following the choice of commissioners, that is to say in January, 1837, Madison was visited from Milwaukee, by a young lawyer and land surveyor, since known to fame as the Hon. Moses M. Strong, of Mineral Point, who from that time has been associated with the progress of Wisconsin by his identification with railroads, river improvements, and other public works, as well as by repeated terms of service in various offices, and in the legislature of the territory, as member and president in the constitutional convention to form a state constitution, and in the house of representatives of the state, for some time speaker. Mr. Strong, accompanied by Mr. Marsh and Mr. Potter, explored this section of country, and after much trouble, found the locality on which the capitol now stands; but they were not quite so' fortunate in discovering Michel St. Cyr's cabin, where they hoped to obtain quarters, so that they were compelled to pass the night without shelter or food for their horses or themselves, on the spot where Ashton post office now stands, in the town of Springfield. From that bivouac, the party made their course by the Blue Mounds to Mineral Point. Mr. Strong was employed, in February of the same year, by Judge Doty, to survey and stake off capitol square, and some of the adjoining lots in this city, and the haste with which the work must needs be pushed through would not allow time to be lost in waiting for genial weather. Mr. John Catlin and Mr. George Messersmith accompanied the surveyor on this expedition, and Mr. Josiah A. JSToonan joined the party on the way. The commissariat department was much better cared for than it had been in the preceding month, as Mr. Strong and his party stayed with St. Cyr, and were probably regaled with the half-breed's standing dish, musk rat pie, while the actual survey was progressing. The several days journey to and from this city were thus recorded: The first day out from Mineral Point, the party reached Mr. John Messersmith's, just twelve miles east. On the 18th of February, they called at Brigham's, where they procured provisions, and then pushed on to Haney's Creek, near the Cross Plains station on Black Earth Creek, spending that night at Steel's. The following day the party arrived at St. Cyr's, early enough to permit of the work being commenced. St. Cyr's place was so far from the scene of their labors, that the party camped out part of the time, despite the inclemency of the season, but heavy and incessant falls of snow compelled them to desist from their labors for many days, making the halfbreed's cabin their headquarters. After completing their survey for the time, Mr. Strong and his party returned by way of Wallis Rowan's, who lived where Povnette now stands, about twelve miles south from Fort Winnebago. Going by the Wisconsin river, the party reached Helena, and thence struck across to Mineral Point. The scanty narrative indicates the nakedness of the land; but the work just accomplished led the way to the building of numerous habitations. Other travelers passing over various routes toward the mines, or with this city as their objective point, reveal the existence of Prairie Tillage where Waukesha now stands, and also the intermediate halting place at Fort

History Of Madisom

Atkinson, en route to the Catfisli river. Mr. Alex. F. Pratt and Mr. Augustus Story made that route in February, 1837, shortly after the survey party had set out on their return to Mineral Point, and the new comers had been twenty-four hours without food, when they left their camp near the present site of Dunkirk. The men who went exploring in those days had no reason to expect luxurious living. A few cold roast potatoes, unceremoniously found in a wigwam from which the owners were absent, were consumed with abundant relish at noon after their long fast, and no other food was obtained until the next day, when they discovered St. Cyr's cabin on Fourth Jake. The travelers had camped without supper, in a ravine near where the State University now stands. The savory musk rat was a treat, by comparison with such short commons, and the party started for Blue Mounds well prepared for a journey. Similar lodgings and fare would not now be considered tempting, but pioneer life does not encourage a too critical taste.

More spacious and comfortable quarters were to be made ready on the site of Madison by Mr. Eben Peck and his wife, Kosaline. Two months only had elapsed since the second visit of the surveying party, when the Peck family started from Blue Mounds to open a pioneer boarding house here. The snow had not gone when Mr. Peck commenced the erection of his premises, on land bought immediately after the location of the capitol; but Mr. Catlin had already caused a log house to be erected where the post office now stands. Owing to an accident, the interior of Mr. Catlin's house was destroyed by fire before it could be occupied; thus it happened that the Peck hostelry was the first residence in Madison.

There were some rough and ready specimens of humanity then on hand in this region. Two Frenchmen, who had associated with a party of "Winnebago Indians in the Blue Mounds during the winter, were employed to build the house, the work being superintended by Abraham Wood, who subsequently put up a saw mill at Baraboo. Wood was at that time living at Winnequah, then known as Strawberry Point, where he enjoyed the distinction of being the son-inlaw of De Kaury, son of a Frenchman, a Winnebago chief. Wood bore an excellent reputation, but some of his surroundings were very hard cases. One of the Frenchmen was shot, in a dispute about land, by Berry Haney, a rival claimant, and generally, life was but cheaply held in those troubled times.

Snow and the howling of wolves awakened Mrs. Peck from her slumbers in a tent, three miles from Madison, on Saturday, April 15, 1837, and she pushed on through the storm to the site of her more substantial dwelling, where she sat down under a tree in her wagon, twenty-five miles from the nearest white residents at Blue Mounds, and nearly one hundred miles from the settlers at Milwaukee. The building was not far enough advanced to satisfy the demands of the hostess, and a temporary habitation was constructed, to serve until tlie larger place could be comfortably floored and plastered. The little hotel was speedily crowded with guests. Milwaukee and far away New York were represented by visitors, and even England had contributed its quota to the roll of occupants. The comforts of the establishment were substantial from the first, although necessarily the bill of fare consisted of such articles, as could be transported from considerable distances; but very soon the table was a marvel to beholders, and cleanliness, the first requisite towards elegance, was a welcome feature from the beginning. The grand dining room was as well ventilated as the winds of heaven could make it, the hospitable board being spread in the open air to meet the requirements of some fifteen new arrivals. Judge Doty, Col. Brigham and Commissioner Bird, with others whose names are historical, were frequent visitors, and the unfinished building was tapestried with bed sheets to furnish sleeping accommodations. The troubles incidental to pioneer housekeeping are always of interest to people living in the west, and, with few exceptions, the men who sought accommodation then in Madison made themselves completely at home, hunting, fishing and otherwise during their leisure, increasing the variety of the table. Judge, afterwards Governor, Doty gave an excellent example of helpfulness by assisting a party of amateur plasterers to make the kitchen habitable, and one day's work under his direction effected much. The cheery spirit thus indicated was worth more than all the material aid, as it nerved the sturdy matron to master the situation. Before long the sounds of gayety within that building would have been a surprise to the languid pleasure seekers in much more costly mansions. Really, at all times, the pleasure that can be found in palace or cottage depends upon glad hearts, and not upon the presence of luxurious viands.

Madison was then so great on various maps that it might well have been matter for surprise that the. legislative assembly had been convened for its first session at Belmont, and for its subsequent sessions, until 1839, at Burlington, now in Iowa; but, as will readily be understood, it is far more easy to construct a city on paper than to build one on the solid earth. " Castles in the air are very often erected before breakfast, but there is just one drawback, that nobody ever dines in such structures. Madison city was then, vide prospectuses, the metropolitan center of cities, corresponding to the seven hills of Rome, when, in fact, it was only a village in faturo.

The beauty of the surrounding country, with its twelve lakes, might well have concentrated attention upon Dane county, and the four lakes in Yahara, or Catfish valley, lying almost in a direct line from northwest to southeast, could not fail to be recognized as the regal crown of all this natural loveliness. Kegonsa, or First Lake, lowest of the four bodies of water, covers five square miles, having a circumference of nine miles and a half, its longest diameter being over three miles, and its shortest fully two.

History Of Madison

Waubesa, the Second Lake, is three miles and a half above Kegonsa, in the towns of Dunn and Blooming Grove. This lake has an average depth of twelve feet of crystal clear water, through which the pebbly bottom can be seen as if through glass. This beautiful sheet of crystal is three and a half miles long by about two miles across. Monona, the lovely Third Lake, is only seven-eighths of a mile above Waubesa, covering an area of six square miles, being six and a half miles long by two broad, and the strip of land which divides this lake from Mendota, the Fourth Lake, is the site of the capital of Wisconsin. The painter's pencil can alone do justice to the scene; words fail to convey an adequate conception of the picturesque effect which is mirrored to the brain, when an artist looks from the high ground, or still better, from the cupola of the capitol, upon the hills and lakes which seem to rival the loveliness of the moon and stars in the azure firmament under which they are now lying silvered before us. Mendota is by far the largest of the lakes, as it covers an area of more than twenty square miles. Its longest diameter is six miles, and its breadth is fully four. Could the whole of the legislature have been brought to this spot in the spring or summer of 1836, it may be hoped that there would have been less scope for the logrolling process at Belmont, in the succeeding winter, which came within one vote of negativing the proposition to make Madison the capital of the territory; but perhaps even then it would hr.-e been difficult.

The commissioners charged with the erection of the capitol building, in which the functions of government were to be undertaken, were not dilatory in commencing their duties, and by the tenth of June there were thirty-six workmen upon the ground, under the direction of Commissioner Augustus A. Bird. The party had traveled with their teams from Milwaukee, making their roads as they came, fording streams, and threading their devious way through occasional swamps, much of the time under a drenching rain, for just ten days, to effect a transit which is now daily accomplished in little more than four hours. The sun gleamed out once upon the travelers, and the spot, made glorious by that welcome illumination, has ever since been known as Sun Prairie. Other workmen speedily followed, and it is interesting to note, in their several narratives, the progress in settlement along the traveled route, as the summer wore on. E^rly in August there was a log house and an Indian camping ground at Prairieville, formerly Prairie Village, now Waukesha, and five miles beyond that location, a log house occupied by a family named Pratt, which had settled on 160 acres. Half a day's journey further on, some settlers of the name of Brown had taken up a quarter section, and about eight miles from the lapids of Pock river, near the site of Watertown, were three brothers named Setchell, preparing homes for their families. A dam and sawmill were in course of erection at Water town, by Mr. Goodhue, and at Lake Mills the Atwoods had made a comfortable abode just twenty-eight miles from the capital. Settlement had made no nearer approach to Madison on 'that line of road, but the trail was well defined, and there was no difficulty in traveling where so many had already passed. The clear air of the capital, and the bustle of preparation, must have made the appetites of the workmen keen, as the records of the time continually mention expeditions to Galena and elsewhere, to replenish an often exhausted commissariat. Such creature comforts as pork, flour, and some few luxuries, were dealt out with no sparing hand, as all testimonies go to show.

The corner-stone was laid at the southeast corner of the capitol, on the 4th of July, 1837, and there was no lack of eloquence to celebrate the event ; but the press was not represented on the occasion, hence the speeches are not recorded. There was another celebration in November, when the foundation was completed and the stone work ceased for the season. The money to pay the hands had to be brought from Green Bay; and Mr. Peck, wdio acted as courier in that emergency, swam several of the rivers, so that his wallet of paper money was somewhat dilapidated when he reached home. By November, 1S38, the assembly and senate chambers were finished, but the plastering was not dry, so that the sessions of the legislature were held for a time in a new building, the American Hotel, erected at the corner of Piuckney street and "Washington avenue, where the Park Savings Bank now stands, by Mr. A. A. Bird, the

Most of the workmen erected their own rude dwellings in the vicinity of King street, near the Third lake, immediately after their arrival ; but none of the buildings remain at this time. There was a very hearty and unanimous celebration on the 4th of July, 1S37, and Mrs. Peck claims that there were from two to three hundred persons present, including the Indian chief, Little Dandy and his party; but Gen. Mills and Mr. Catlin believe there must have been a misapprehension as to the extent of the gathering. The glorification lasted several days, and Madison has never entered with more general gusto upon the national celebration than was realized on that occasion by the little handful of white men and their Indian allies. Probably some of the confusion that was subsequently found in the accounts of the commissioners was due to the spirit that pervaded the first and many subsequent convivialities.

Under the act which provided for the building of the capitol, and appointed commissioners for the purpose, there was an appropriation of $20,000, to which congress added a like sum, making $40,000 in all.

The first meeting of the legislature in the city of Madison was held in the American Hotel on the 26th of February, 1838, and Governor Dodge delivered his first message to the legislature in Madison in that building. A committee reported that the hall and council chamber would be ready for the representatives and for the senate on the first day of March, and after some little further delay the rooms were actually occupied, but it was an act of hardihood to attempt the transaction of business under such difficulties. Col. Childs, one of the members who was entrusted with the task of carpeting the rooms and rendering them habitable, has left a record of the sad condition of affairs, in which Contractor Morrison's hogs were better sheltered than the law makers for "Wisconsin. If under such circumstances there were some efforts at log rolling, it may have been merely to maintain animal heat, by such exercise. The legislature adjourned for twenty days, to permit of the hall and chamber being rendered, in some degree, warm and comfortable. There was a difficulty in procuring hotel accommodation also, although there were now three houses where guests could be received. The Madison Hotel had two rooms that would lodge four persons each; the Madison House also two rooms that would lodge six altogether, and the American Hotel had eight rooms, in which twenty-six members could find accommodation. The prices charged were high enough to satisfy the most fastidious, but in every other respect, there was abundant room for complaint. Happily the pioneers were inclined to make the best of things .as they were, although Judge J. G. Knapp asserts that six men were placed in a room, only sixteen feet square, in the Madison Hotel, and that the floors all over that populous establishment were nightly covered with shake downs, for transient visitors.

Chapter Iii Pioneers And Celebrities

The pioneers of our city were not the first settlers in the territory, now known as Wisconsin, and therefore we shall look outside our own borders to construct a sketch of the early days, which will connect the house of Eben Peck and his wife Rosaline, with the remote past, as well as with the present. The chief whose name is spelt by different writers in so many differing ways, De Kaury, Day-Kau-Iiay, Decorrah, Decori, and otherwise, in every manner that will give even an approximation to the original sound, is said to have been the son of a French voyageur, or trapper, who had made his home among the Indians, giving rise to a succession of able men, who were influential in the affairs of the tribes. One of that family, a Winnebago, surrendered Black Hawk to Gen. Street, the Indian Agent, at Prairie du Chien, after the close of the Black Hawk war in 1S32. The Frenchman Pellkie - whose name is undoubtedly a corruption from the original, who assisted to build the first log house for Eben Peck - was officered by another resident among the Indians, named Wood, afterwards a mill owner, who had married into the family of a De Kaury. Some exquisite stories could be written of the Four Lake country, connecting Indians with white men, in the days before the city of Madison was even imagined. One of the De Kaurvs exercised the powers of a chief in this immediate locality. Gray-headed Day-Kau-Ray or De Kaury, with a considerable force, met Gen. Atkinson at Portage, while Gen. Dodge was in the field during the troubles preliminary to the war, which was ended at the Bad Ax. They were various in their characteristics, as well as numerous and widely diffused, these Franco-Indian warriors and sachems. One-eyed De Kaury of La Crosse bore a good reputation, but another of the family was suggestively described as Rascal De Kaury. Mrs. Kinzie says that the mother of the race, a Winnebago, was alive in 1831, and supposed to be more than a century old. There were four or five brothers, of whom the Winnebago chief was one, and Washington - or Wau-kon - De Kaury another. One sister married a French trader named Lecuyer, another was twice married to Canadian French traders, named De Riviere and Grignon, and three married Indians'. But enough about the De Kaurys. They were pioneers in this territory, busily en£rao-ed in the war of 1812 on the side of the British, and the advent of white settlers was the prelude to their removal by death or transfer. Descendants from the Lecuyer marriage were united in wedlock with white settlers at Green Bay, and elsewhere, and prospered according to the customs of civilized life. Eben Peck and his wife came to the Blue Mounds, where they rented the tavern stand owned by Col. Brighani, and boarded the old colonel and the hands employed by him. "While so engaged, Mrs. Peck entertained Judge and Mrs. Doty on one occasion, and the conversation turning upon Madison, where the location of the capital was yet recent, the judge and his good lady made a promise, which was afterwards forgotten, apparently, that if Mrs. Peck was the first to commence housekeeping on the village site, she should have the best lot in the township, and also a present. Mrs. Peck was the first housekeeper, but it is probable that she did not care to recall the promise, which in the hurry of affairs, at that time, might easily have been forgotten by Judge Doty. Boarding houses must have been expensive and troublesome institutions to run, in the early days, as we find that flour fetched $17 a barrel in Milwaukee in 1838, irrespective of the cost of freight, in the days when travelers made their own routes, and carried axes along to cut down the timber that blocked their course. Pork cost as high as $33 per barrel, and potatoes $3 per bushel ; add thereto the cost of transfer, and the profits incidental to boarders must have been whittled down considerably. Some courage was wanted then to open an establishment, such as the Peck family meant to run, when Indian villages were the only habitations near, and deserted wigwams along the borders of the lakes and streams told of the red men who had flourished and faded in this locality. Until now the cabin of Michel St. Cyr had served all the purposes of a

There was certain to be a much greater demand for hotel accommodation, because the capitol had to be soon erected, and visitors were sure to become more numerous as the works advanced, but the workmen, as the event proved, would build their own lodgings before long, and make arrangements among themselves about cooking provisions. Travelers who came to see the country, to visit the mines, or to see the spots made famous by engagements during the Black Hawk war of five years before, seldom failed to visit Madison, which had charms of its own sufficient to justify a detour. Before long there were numerous hotels doing a prosperous business on the ground which had at first been exclusively possessed by-Eben Peck's log house; and hundreds occupied their leisure in exploring the sparkling lakes, skirted with every kind of scenic beauty. Groves and meadows, suggestive of love in a cottage, capes, bluffs, ravines and prairies, the peninsula itself with its elevation seventy feet above the lakes, on which the capitol stands, now in the center of a lovely park, the undulating lines descending thence to rise again in numerous ridges, and most beautiful of all, in the grounds now occupied by the university, offered variety enough to gratify the most persistent searcher after loveliness. Mrs. Peck became the owner of a canoe which had been the property of an Indian chief, and Cleopatra never enjoyed her famous voyages, celebrated by the poets, more than did the few who were privileged to glide over the lakes of crystal in that vessel. Only to see that boat freighted with pleasure seekers was a delight equal to all that is realized by the average looker on in contemplating a regatta. The joy of the rowers, and the charms of the scene could not be surpassed. A picture painted by C. A. Johnson, a fine and truthful representation of the first residence in Madison, with the canoe in the distance, is one of the most valued properties of the Historical Society, and an engraving of that scene accompanies this sketch. The primitive looking dwelling was at one time quite a luxurious abode, on Butler street, near the Lake House, lately destroyed by fire, not far from the Third Lake.

Professor Chapman has recorded one fact which should long since have been tested by experience, in the natural desire of the early settlers to vary the supplies on their table. He states on the authority of Mr. Rasdall that the Indians used a root which grew in the marshes, as a substitute for potatoes, called by the red men no-ah-how-in. It was bulbous, but did not resemble arrow root. Mr. Rasdall said that having been cast ashore, without provisions, from Mendota Lake, in 1835, while arranging a trading establishment near the First Lake, he had subsisted on the root in question for ten days. The early settlers were not very speculative, as it appears that water for daily consumption was brought from the lakes until 1S30, when the first well upon the plat was excavated on the American House lot, the labor being performed by two soldiers, James ISTevil and an Italian named "Whildean. Mr. Darwin Clark, onr fellow citizen, gives a vivid idea of the state of society in the summer of 1837, and while glancing thereat, we can understand that a fully employed population, engaged upon a task which must be finished in a hurry, and surrounded by hot blooded Indians, had little opportunity for making permanent improvements, which others would probably enjoy. That summer a party of Winnebagoes camped on the shore of the Third Lake, on the flat just below the old Lake House. During the continuance of the encampment, a quarrel occurred between two young Indians, one of whom stabbed the other, and from different sources we learn that the murderer sat on the body of his victim with perfect unconcern, smoking his pipe, as though modestly disclaiming special merit in a very creditable transaction. The white workmen, who were unaccustomed to look upon murder with satisfaction, were much incensed, and by way of warning that the knives of the red men must not be too freely brought in as umpires, they carried their rifles and shot guns to and from their work. The Winnebagoes took the hint in a proper spirit, and soon after left for parts unknown. The Indian stabbed as above described, was the brotherin-law of Pellkie's partner, another French Canadian, and, as stated elsewhere, Pellkie was himself shot on a subsequent occasion. There were consequently other matters deserving attention besides digging wells, and seeking roots as substitutes for the potato. The vigorous action of the volunteers, who provided their own rifles and ammunition, may have prevented worse trouble. Public o^pMoidh, speaking through the rifle barrel, was a power which the red skins did not wish to provoke.

About two weeks after the arrival of Mrs. Peck in Madison, a party of fifteen men came on from Milwaukee via Janesville, and the work of the hostess began in earnest. Commissioner Bird was one of the arrivals, and he was accompanied by hired hands whose work had consisted in blazing and preparing a road by which other workmen and supplies would follow. It was important that proper tracks should be defined where so much traffic must shortly occur and the acting commissioner was provident. The American Hotel, already mentioned, was built in 1838, and circumstances g-ave that establishment an advantage over all competitors, for a time. It continued to be a place of considerable note, until it was destroyed by fire in 1868. The Madison Hotel also dated from 1838, but the structure was at first quite small. The territorial supreme court was organized in this building, in June, 1838, and held its first session here when the legislature assembled in the American Hotel. Gov. Dodge and many of the leading members of both houses made the Madison Hotel their headquarters. The structure belonged to Commissioner Bird, and was at first kept by his brother. The long continued efforts of the other side to remove the seat of government from Madison found in this building an unceasing watchfulness which could not he evaded. There were numerous hosts, after the hotel passed out of the hands of the Bird family, and the name was changed several times, but it was known by the old name at the last, in March, 1863. It was situated on King street on the present site of Dean's block. The establishment kept by Mr. and Mrs. Peck, has already been mentioned. The new comers, whose names and influence have been beneficially associated with Madison since that date, would defy enumeration, but there are some who cannot be omitted, from a record, however brief, which aims at any measure of completeness. The scene enacted in plastering the kitchen of the Peck boarding house, in which Judge Doty, Col. Brigham, and all the available masculinity of Madison, took part, is historical. The pioneers of Wisconsin were well represented and well occirpied on that occasion. One of the earliest visitors from abroad, was an English geologist named Featherstonehaugh, afterwards a British consul until his death in 1866, and he provoked the ire of his hostess at a later date, by some ill-mannered jokes and very unnecessary criticisms, about Mrs. Peck and the accommodations obtained in her pioneer restaurant, which Avere published by him in London. There is unexceptional testimony, from a witness no less reliable than Gen. Mills, that Mrs. Rosaline Peck made excellent coffee, a point expressly denied by the earliest writer whose lucu- brations concerning Madison, were published in Europe. The somewhat vulgar and untrustworthy book served its purpose in procuring him a government appointment under the British crown, so that Madison helped at least one man to fortune.

Before the days of Featherstonehaugh, there had been celebrities in Wisconsin, and not a few of them had stood where the capitol has since been erected. Capt. Jonathan Carver may have been a visitor to this precise locality, certainly he was for some time in the lake country. Gen. Dodge, who came occasionally to the capital, in discharging his official duties as governor, was in that way a Madisonian, and it is no small matter that we should be identified with the man whose conduct . of the war did most toward effecting- the defeat of Black Hawk in 1832. Col. Zachary Taylor was for some time in command of the troops in Prairie du Chien, and while there, a young lieutenant, Jefferson Davis, was sparking the daughter of the commandant, so that there were two celebrities in Wisconsin; the one destined to become president of the United States, after serving the country for many years in the field with "rough and ready" effectiveness, and to die of the turmoil of political life; the other, to lose by ill-directed ambition, the repute won as a soldier, and to find the grave of his success in the presidency of the confederation whose ruin it was his fortune to survive. Both officers rendered good service in the Black Hawk war until the end was reached in the battle of the Bad Axe on the second of August,

1'832. But for the vigor with which the United States troops and volunteers fought then, in vindication of the faith to be placed in treaties, and in defense of property and life, there might have been no Madison on this peninsula. In that sense the men named were pioneers.

The Hon. John Catlin was essentially among the first comers. He was one of the party that accompanied the surveyor, Moses M. Strong, to survey and plat the town, and a lot purchased by himself, near the present post office, was utilized by him by the erection thereon of a log house, to be used as the post office store. That building was the first erected in Madison, as it was commenced some time before Eben Peck began his structure; but an accident destroyed the interior of the building, a fire having been by some means originated, and in consequence the primeval log house was not the first residence. Mr. Catlin was the pioneer par excellence. He was a Green Mountain boy, as he came from Orwell, Yermont. He" was a partner with Mr. Strong in the law business at Mineral Point in 1836, and clerk of the supreme court. He became postmaster in this city in 1837. Pemoved from office by Gen. Harrison, he was reappointed by President Tyler. Subsequently he served as chief clerk of the house of representatives; was district attorney for Dane county, and judge at a later date; in 1816, he became secretary of the territory. Mr. Catlin was a good citizen and an able man of business. He died in 1871.

Hon. Simeon Mills ranks in the same category, with this difference, that he still remains in our community. Born in Norfolk, Litchfield county, Conn., in February, 1810, he is now in his sixty-seventh year, and he has spent his lifetime in "Wisconsin since attaining the age of twenty-five. Mineral Point was his first abode in this territory, but immediately after the location of the capital, he moved to this city when there was only one house upon the ground, and on the 10th of June, 1837, he commenced a small building of hewed logs, in which to begin business as a storekeeper. For five years from 1837, Mr. Mills carried the mails to and from this city for the government, and about the same time the responsible duties of a justice of the peace were imposed upon him by Gov. Dodge. Numerous offices of honor and emolument have since that date been conferred on Mr. Mills. He was one of the commissioners for Dane county upon its organization in 1839; clerk of the United States district court; territorial treasurer; first senator for Dane county; one of the regents engaged in the organization of the state university, and subsequently paymaster general of the state during the war, from 1861. The record left by Gen. Mills, in every relation of his well spent life, reflects credit on one of the oldest pioneer families in Dane county, and his industry has contributed, in no small degree, to the prosperity and growth of the city.

Histop.Y Of Madisox

work as a cabinet maker on the capitol, and since that time he has been a resident in Madison, holding many offices of trust with honor to himself, and conducting for many years a very extensive business. He was born in Otsego county, N". Y., in May, 1812, in which state he also married his first wife. He set out foi the west when twenty-five years of age, to make a home where there would be better opportunities than in the crowded east. The pioneers had among them few more estimable men. A young mechanic of mark in the early days, when there was only one family in Madison, and growing up with the place, figuring in its gayeties in the first New Year's festivities, which lasted two clays, a guest at the first wedding when a young woman in Mrs. Peck's household became the wife of Jairus S. Potter, his name is interwoven with most of the early celebrations, as well as with many later responsibilities.

The community was very limited when that marriage occurred, on the 1st of April, 1838, and the better half was held in high esteem. Gen. Simeon Mills, not then holding military rank, but a prosperous storekeeper, and in office, rose betimes to gather an early bouquet of wild flowers to grace the occasion. The spring, in honor of the event of course, came early, or that feature would have been wanting from the festival. The wedding ceremony was performed by Mr. Eben Peck, in his capacity as justice of the peace, and when the dance followed, the better half of the Peck family played on the violin, assisted by Luther, her husband's brother, according; as the exigencies of the time demanded. Mrs. Peck played well, but she danced well also, and there were so few ladies to take the floor that one could hardly be spared to form the orchestra. The disparity of the sexes was happily expressed by Mrs. Peck: "You cannot call it succotash; there was too much corn for the beans." Both bride and bridegroom have since passed away, but the memory of the event is part of the domestic history of the city. Mrs. Prosper B. Bird was present, and she yet remains to honor and grace our community, a living memento of a time from which sad memories, mingled with few delights, yield a gentle perfume as of bruised but never dying flowers. Mr. Potter died in Madison, somewhere about the year 1841. His wife's maiden name was Elizabeth Allen. There were two Potters then in the village, Jairus, known as " Long Potter," for he was a man of great altitude, and Horace, whose more stunted proportions caused him to be known as " Short Potter." Miss Allen, after considering " the long and the short of it," did not follow the maxim " of two evils choose the least," consequently there was more husband in her home than in any other household near the capitol. Darwin Clark was good for many things, besides, being good company, in the early days, as thank goodness, he still remains. In the summer of 1S3T, when "Win. A. Wheeler came here to erect a steam saw mill west of the foot of Butler street, on the bank of lake Mendota, the young cabinet maker was able to give valuable assistance toward the erection of the works; and although owing to the fact that the engine and machinery had to be brought from Detroit, operations were not commenced until nearly the end of the year ; much of the timber used in the old capitol was sawed in Wheeler's mill. The McDonalds, the Smiths, and others whose names have escaped us, who mingled in the throng when Commissioner Bird and his wife led off in the "Virginia reel " or "Hunt the squirrel," will never have for us more than a phantom existence, as they "come like shadows, so depart; " but friend Clark is a reality.

The days in which Judge Doty, treasurer of the board of commissioners, came in from Green Bay with specie and currency to pay the men, guarded by ( 'apt. John Symington and a squad of soldiers from Fort Howard, were not without their charm; more especially when we see the commissioner laying aside the pomp of office to stand sponsor at the informal christening of the first white child born in Madison; and editor Sholes, who wTas then in his company, must have been favorably impressed by our band of pioneers. Some four years later we find the Hon. C. C. Sholes identified with the publication of the Enquin r newspaper, the material of which journal was eventually removed to Milwaukee from this city. Mr. Sholes was more actively identified with Kenosha. The name most intimately associated with our early press is that of the Hon. George Hyer; but his work in that capacity will appear in reviewing our news- paper history. He was one of our pioneers, and before Madison was platted, he had accustomed himself to thread his devious track through the woods, having on one occasion made his way from Milwaukee to Green Bay, and on another in 1837, from the same starting point to Rock river settlement, when he was specially sworn in by old Solomon Juneau to carry the mail.

In the earliest apportionment of offices for Dane county, the name of John S toner occurs as treasurer, and that of R. L. Ream, father of the famous Yinnie Ream, a Madisonian, as register of deeds. Ream succeeded to the old log house erected by Eben Peck, after another residence had been built for that family. Geo. P. Delaplaine was surveyor, JNL T. Parkinson, the first sheriff, William A. Wheeler, assessor, Adam Smith, collector, and the three commissioners were, Simeon Mills, Eben Peck and Jeremiah Lycan, with LaFayette Kellogg for clerk. The father of Yinnie Ream assumed the management of the pioneer " Tavern Stand," as Mrs. Peck phrases it, when Eben and his wife gave their attention to farming, unfortunately for themselves, cultivating a piece of land which had been deeded to them by mistake. The change was made in the spring of 1838, and the birth place of the sculptress was torn down in 1S57, after twenty years of peculiarly eventful service. The old Madison House, the picture of which we preserve, was, under the presidency named, the resort of the aristocracy of Wisconsin, and it long continued to be the stage house. According to Judge Knapp, the charges were not very moderate, as " two feet by six of floor could be had for the night," only upon payment of " two pence per square foot," and "the weary traveler might spread his own blanket, using his saddle or portmanteau for a jiillow, rejoicing that he had so good a bed." The other hotels were no more sumptuous than Ream's, as in all of them, the lakes, the woods and the slow coining " prairie schooner," were drawn upon liberally to supply the table. Sleeping accommodation was at a premium everywhere, even after the American Hotel, the largest on the ground, was raised.

The first treasurer of Dane county, John Stoner, was born in Washington county, Maryland, in 1791, consequently, when he died in this city, in 1872, he was in his eighty-first year. He served in the war of 1812, and was one of the early arrivals in Madison village. His pioneer log cabin was in the second ward, abutting on the lot now occupied by the church of Norwegian Lutherans. The old landmarks are nearly all effaced, so far as they were raised by men in the springs and summers of 1837-8. The log house on the marsh is gone, the first frame house built in the city at the southwest corner of Wilson and Pinckney street, for J. S. Schermerhorn, has given place to a large two story brick dwelling. The old steam mill on the bank of the lake is so entirely gone that it is not easy to find even a trace of its foundations. A grey sandstone slab, erected to mark the spot where a

" Chief Justice of the Peace, Seymour," who is mentioned in a very pleasant and appreciative way in " Reminiscences of Madison," by Judge Knapp, loomed large in our early days, at once a pioneer and a celebrity. Mrs. Peck mentions him as possessed of a feather bed, once her property, and containing " over thirty pounds of fresh geese feathers," so that he had ideas of luxury. Judge Pratt says, that " his pipe was part of the man; with that in his mouth, he was clerk in the commissioners' store, kept books, dealt out silks and dry goods, tea and powder; was surveyor of the town plat, only he read the degrees and minutes at the wrong end of the needle; tried causes, civil and criminal, administered justice, mingled largely with equity and common sense. . . : . . All knew he was the Gazette, the very latest edition, and he had under his special care all the affairs of town, upon him and Seymour lost Lis pipe, the city losing its best guardian." Gov. Dodge appointed Seymour justice of the peace, upon the recommendation of Eben Peck, when Dane county was organized, and the commissioners set about bridging the Cattish, and erecting the jail, reducing " the bounty on wolves' scalps," to render their funds available for such works as have been suggested. "Win. IS. Seymour published a directory of Madison, a copy of which is in the hands of the Historical Society. He has lived to see several other works of a similar character, but none of them mure interesting than his own. The stroke of paralysis under which he fell in November, 1S59, has not deprived him of the satisfaction of witnessing the steady growth of the city, the infant steps of whose village days were in part guided by himself. His form is well known on the streets, and most of the old pioneers can tell of some good deed in his career, which retains for him a pleasant place in their memories. The Masonic fraternity stood by the "Chief Justice of the Peace " in his affliction, and by their aid he is comfortably circumstanced.

Gen. Geo. P. Delaplaine was county surveyor. "We find him on the Fourth of July, 1839, reading the Jeffersonian Declaration, when William T. Sterling was Orator of the day, and the music on the occasion was anything but first class. The dinner that day c< nsisted of bacon and fish, with the addition of much whisky. Customarily the dinner comprised fish and bacon with less whisky. The celebration lasted three days. The pioneer Geo. P. Delaplaine came from Milwaukee to clerk in Jas. Morrison's store, and his ability no less than his high character soon made him master of the situation. His name stands honorably identified with most of the movements in early days for the advantage of Madison. Another of the early pioneers whose life has been honorable to the community, although there are no brilliant deeds to be pointed to in his career, is Mr. E. M. Williamson, of Pinckney street, one of our earliest school teachers, and identified with the establishment of the Episcopal church, which will be found more particularly mentioned elsewhere. Many names that should have had notice have been omitted, but that is inevitable because of our limitations. The position and labors of Mr. and Mrs. Peck have already been briefly indicated. Eben Peck started overland to California when the gold fever spread over this western country, and it is supposed that he was slain by the Indians on the plains, but there is no record of his death, and it is claimed that he was heard from at a later date. His wife, a brave and able woman, has written many piquant papers, descriptive of pioneer life, in which her own experiences made her proficient. In her house the earliest visitors to Madison found a home, in her dining room the gayeties of several seasons found their earliest expression. Her husband as justice of the peace united in the bonds of wedlock the first couple lawfully married in this city, and after the irrevocable knot had been tied, as we have seen, the violin of the justice's lady gladdened the hearts of the assembled throng while they threaded the mazes of the dance. In the old log house was born Miss Wisconsiana Victoria Peck, the first child that saw the light in this city, concerning whose christening some particulars are given. Mrs. Peck and her husband were the pioneer settlers, and subsequently the lady became the first settler in Baraboo, where she still resides.

Mrs. Prosper Burgoyne Bird, formerly Miss Hewitt, another of our pioneers, came of good revolutionary stock, and was one of the most valued of our early residents. Her husband built a house for her in this city, while she remained in Milwaukee. There was only one house in Janesville when the lady came through to her destination. The party had seen enough of pioneer life to have discouraged most people, before they left Milwaukee. While they were neighbors of " Old Solomo," as the Indians always called Col. Juneau, they witnessed an election, in which the principal argument used in favor of the successful ticket was a dipper placed in a barrel of whisky, by the founder of the Cream City. The potency of such logic was manifested in the fact that a sober man could hardly be found in the settlement at the close of the dav. The first boat launched on Lake Michigan, "The Juneau," kissed the water while Mrs. Bird was remaining in Milwaukee. The party set out on their road altogether, but at the last moment Mr. Bird, having business to transact on account of the capitol, for the building of which his brother was acting commissioner, returned to the village, leaving his courageous wife to prosecute the journey without his guidance, until sundown the following day. The ferryman at Janesville was not at home, so the little band went round by Beloit, where there were two log houses, one on each side of the river. The home provided for their accommodation was an uninclosed frame building, on the street now known as Webster street, on lot eight, and the building was not com jdeted until April, 1838. During part of the interval, Mrs. Bird resided in a log house on the site where Kentzler's livery stable now stands, and afterwards moved into the old log; boarding house near Mr. Pyncheon's residence. There were, when Mrs. Bird arrived in the village, only four log houses; that built for Mr. Catlin, and partly consumed by tire; that occupied by Mrs. Peck, and known long after as the Madison House; the residence of Mr. Stoner, already mentioned; and one other of less note. Such an addition to the village was important.

The workmen engaged upon the capitol- boarded with the newly arrived housekeeper, and there were rough times and hard work for all hands when she began her pioneer experience in this locality. In Mrs. Bird's mother's home the first death in the new settlement occurred from typhoid fever, and the second happened from her own house haying been struck by lightning, The cemetery then in use forms now a part of the university grounds. The Bird family was one of the most numerous and energetic among the pioneers, but a volume would be required to record their several fortunes and adventures.

Col. Wm. B. Slaughter, whose eloquence is still the pride of his fellow townsmen, was born in 1797, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and came to reside in Green Bay in 1835, where he was appointed register of the land office. While serving as a member of the legislative council of Michigan, winch assembled at Green Bay in the winter of that year, he initiated the memorial for the organization of Wisconsin. About the same date, he entered the lot held by St. Cyr, near this city, and gave the half-breed $200 for his improvements. When the capital was located, he made his residence where the City of the Four Lakes was platted by M. L. Martin, Judge Doty and himself, and continued a resident until 1845, when Virginia attracted him to his old home. On the commencement of the war, the colonel was appointed commissary and quarter-master by the president; and now, nearly eighty years of age, he is one of the most active and intellectual of the residents in this city. There are but few men to be found who, from their personal experience, know more about Madison from the beginning. Soon after the capitol was commenced, and when Commissioner Bird's residence was small and cold, Sheriff Childs from Green Bav mentions a visit to Col. Wm. B. Slaughter's, on the west bank of the Fourth Lake, near Pheasant Branch. Lung before this time, all the land business of the territory had passed through the colonel's hands at Green Bay. When the location of the capital was under debate, and long before it came to the vote, Col. Slaughter made arrangements with St. Cyr, under which the half-breed enabled the colonel to enter the tract in the summer or autumn of 1835, and he subsecmently conveyed an interest to Judge Doty, with the hope that the capital would be there located. The arrange- ment witli Gov. Mason of Michigan, and the purchase of the peninsula for $1,500, wrecked Col. Slaughter's project, seeing that he was absent in the south while the session was being held at Belmont, upon which the location turned. Sheriff Childs, already mentioned, says that the votes which determined the matter were those cast by representatives who knew that their several localities would be erected into a distinct territory soon afterwards. Iowa had six councilmen and representatives, so that the influence of the outsiders really determined the issue, and the country west of the Mississippi was separately organized with little delay. Childs says that the town plat of Madison was divided into twenty shares, and that he was offered one share for $200, apparently with the hope that he would in that way be induced to vote for the location. His Roman virtue was equal to the emergency, and Green Bay was pleased with the course taken by him. Col. Slaughter's site had been very wisely chosen, upon the historical ground where Gen. Dodge held his " talk" with the Winnebagoes, when the Black Hawk war had begun, and after Stillman had sustained his defeat.

Josiali A. Koonan did not come to our territory until the year 1837, and in 1810, removed to Milwaukee, whence, still later, he migrated to Chicago to take charge of the Industrial Age; but as the founder of the first newspaper issued in this city, the Wisconsin Enquirer, he must have a place among our pioneers. The first press and printing materials bought for this enterprise, "were thrown overboard, off Mackinaw, in Lake Huron, in a storm, on the voyage from Buffalo to Green Bay, and in consequence the Racine Argus, with its material, was purchased and removed, to do duty in the capital. The paper was published on King street, in a room over the commissioners' store, and eventually some of the ablest journalists in the state were identified with its career. C. C. Sholes became a partner in the paper in 1839, as is elsewhere mentioned, and it lived until June, 1843, taking an active part in all public affairs until its death. Judge Knapp was for some time its editor. That gentleman has left on record a brief description of the Fourth of July celebration in 1839, and according to his winged words, there was no lack of spirit among the celebrants. There was an oration, and the declaration in proper order, but a liberal supply of "Pecatonica" and "Bock River," the latter a peculiarly strong water, with an orchestra consisting of two violins and a flute, filled every soul with martial music. A fat steer which had been brought to grace the tables of the citizens on the Fourth, was forgotten until three days later, when the keg was empty, and there was then but little superfluous fat upon the bones of the delayed sacrifice. It must not be supposed that all the citizens were affected by " old rye," but the carrier, who had brought the steer, had kept the secret of its whereabouts, until his senses were sobered by the emptying of the keg. Abel Rasdall cannot be utterly omitted from a record of our pioneers ; his bravery during the troubles and his good faith at all times, entitle him to be mentioned, but he has been referred to at large in the first chapter, as will be remembered.

The schoolmaster was in request, but the number of pupils was not great. Mr. Edgar S. Searle taught school in the summer of 1839, and was followed by Mr. E. M. "Williamson, mentioned among our pioneers, who had six pupils. Mr. "Williamson taught at the corner of Pinckney and Dayton streets, one term, in a very primitive building. In the winter of 1842-3, Mr. Theodore Conkey also taught. Miss Pierce was at the same time engaged in the tuition of girls in an old building near the spot where Dean's block is now standing. Another step in the same direction, aiming at the improvement of adults, was an association for church purposes, entered into in July, 1839. The instrument of association indicated the establishment of a parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church as the object of the members. There were sixteen signatures to the document. The first Sunday school was also started about this time and conducted by Rev. Mr. Clark, Presbyterian clergyman. It was held in the capitol.

The State Univeesity

The example set by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1636, in preparing for the foundation of Harvard, less than sixteen years after their landing on this continent, has been fruitful in suggesting like works all over the Union. An endowment of public lands for a seminary in Wisconsin was provided by an act of congress which was approved on the the 12th of June, 1838. The land thus given amounted to 46,080 acres. Prior to the passage of the congressional act, and anticipating its provisions, the territorial legislature, in January, 1838, prepared to incorporate the University with all the powers and limitations common to such institutions.

The first quorum of the board of visitors stands on record as having met pursuant to adjournment, December 1, 1838, when Henry L. Dodge and John Catlin were chosen treasurer and secretary. Col. Slaughter was one of the most active members, and the requisite steps devolving upon the board were fulfilled. Regents were appointed, and an act was passed specifically incorporating the University, immediately after the inauguration of the state government, in 1848.

Barber, Alex. L. Collins, Julius T. Clark, Henry Bryan, Edw. Y. Whiton, John H. Rountree, Eleazer Root, Simeon Mills, Bufus King, Tlios. W. Sutherland and Cyrus "Woodman. Four of the members were nominated for six years, and the others were appointed, four for four years and four for two only; their successors thereafter to hold office for six years. Part of the land of the University was purchased from Mr. Aaron Vanderpool of New York, on the 17th of October, 1848, subject to the approval of the legislature; and a building in the village of Madison, erected as a private venture for the purposes of an academy, having been tendered to the regents, rent free, by the citizens, it was determined to open the " department of science, literature, and the arts," by means of a preparatory school, on the first Monday in February, 1849, under the superintendence of Prof. John ~W. Sterling. The next step was the election of John H. Lathrop, LL. D., as chancellor of the University, at a salary not to exceed $2,000. The preparatory school was opened at the time named, with twenty pupils under Professor Sterling and Chancellor Lathrop. The cabinet of natural history was formed by Horace A. Tenney, who rendered his services as agent free of cost, and gave excellent aid to the institution at all times.

The formal inauguration of the chancellor took place on the 16th of January, 1850, and buildings were erected, the north dormitory in the following year and the south dormitory in 1854, from the in-

History Of Madis03St

The intention of congress in granting a liberal endowment of public lands to the University was to a great extent defeated by manipulations in the legislature, under which the lands were appraised at very inadequate prices, and so passed into the hands of speculators and others, who became the recipients of advantages which should permanently have assisted the intellectual culture of the community. Under such injurious action on the part of honorable members, some of the best lands in the state were preempted, or otherwise obtained, at less than one-fourth of their actual value, and the authorities of the University were powerless to defend the interests entrusted to their charge. The fund necessary for University purposes being thus rendered inadequate, congress was once more approached, and mainly in consequence of the exertions of Gen. Simeon Mills, a further grant of seventy-two sections was obtained. Mr. Tenney, already favorably known by his services, selected the lands thus given for the purposes of learning. The selections made by Mr. -Tenney were among the choicest lands in the state, and although there was some delay in reporting them at Washington, in consequence of which private parties procured many of the best, other lands fully equal were eventually procured. Once more the legislature using its powers defeated the express design of the endowment, by ap- praising tlie picked lands of the state at $3.00 per acre, reducing a property which was well worth $500,000 to a selling value of only $138,240. Even then the designs of the manipulators were not exhausted, as it was found that by pushing the lands into sale by auction, away from the centers of population, still lower prices could be made to rule, and yet the representations made by the institution were without avail. Even worse, during the summer session of 1854 a bill was hurried through one house, and came very near passing the other, under which all the lands sold, and to be sold, in the interests of the State University, some of which ranged as high as $30.00 per acre in value in open market, should be subject to patent at $1.25, and that all moneys already paid in excess of that amount should be refunded. A proposition more shameful was never submitted to a legislature; but Mr. Tenney, then reporting in the house, and a number of members acting with him, by whom he was called upon for a statement, only succeeded in defeating the nefarious project by two votes. Two purposes were served by the members who voted for the despoilment of the University: one, the enrichment of individual speculators, and the other and more justifiable design was the encouragement of immigration. Precisely similar tactics were pursued when the Agricultural College act was passed by congress in 1862; but no good purpose can be served by recapitulating discreditable details. The Regents of the University faithfully discharged their duties in the premises, and at length, in 1872, procured the passage of an act granting from the state a sum of $10,000 per annum, as compensation to the University. That amount was not an equivalent for the loss, but it was something to have procured a recognition of the principle, that the lands granted by the federal government for purposes of education, should not have been sacrificed in pursuance of personal gain, or in carrying out schemes to promote immigration, in the lower interests of the territory and state.

The legislature acted for some considerable time as though the funds accruing from the sales of land granted for the University by congress were, in fact, taxes levied upon the state, and in consequence there were dark days and great causes for discontent among the promoters of learning in this city; but thanks to a more enlightened spirit which now prevails among the directors of the press of the state, and in the main, among the people at large, a better understanding has been reached. The fact that the University was doing its best under the disadvantages incidental to want of funds, during the dark and troubled times, is now admitted on all hands; and it is too apparent to require comment, that the cause of that poverty consisted in the breach of trust of which legislators were guilty. A bill aiming at the reorganization of the University was introduced, and came near passing both houses of the legislature in 1858. The chancellor of the institution, taking up the leading ideas of that measure, carried out most of the proposed al- terations during the same year, with the concurrence of the board of regents. Chancellor Lathrop suggested the several changes apparently demanded by the public, and in pursuance of the change, resigned his position as chancellor, which was afterwards filled by Henry Barnard, LL. D., who united therewith the duties of professor of normal instruction. Chancellor Lathrop was elected professor of ethical and political science, but he subsequently resigned his office, and was reelected to the position he had previously filled as president of the University of Missouri. Beyond doubt, that gentleman fell a sacrifice 'to circumstances not properly chargeable to himself; but his retirement, and the change of administration consequent thereupon, permitted the complete establishment of a good understanding between the people and their most valuable institution. The new scheme originated by the retiring chancellor was, in effect, a full recognition of the right of the people to control the University, and it devolved upon them the fullest share of responsibility.