Register, and Rufus Parks, Receiver. The first sale was advertised to take place November 18, 1838, and found the settlers generally unprepared to purchase their claims. They therefore petitioned to President Van Buren for a postponement of the sale for one year. It was granted for three months only, and commenced February 19, 1839. The settlers were afraid of having their lands bid upon by speculators at the sale, and formed combinations to protect each other in obtaining their lands at $1.25 per acre. To effect their purpose, one man in each township was previously chosen to bid off each man's land and give his name to the clerk of the register. Thus all confusion was prevented, and each man obtained his claim. The sale in the Milwaukee District was conducted in this manner. It commenced on the south line of the Territory, near Lake Michigan, and proceeded to the north line of the district, when they offered the next range west, and so continued until the whole was passed over, making about 132 townships in all, and nearly 27,000,000 of acres. In offering a township for sale, the register began at Section 1, and went through each section in regular order until he reached Section 36, except Section 16, which was reserved for school purposes. Each section was offered for sale in 80-acre lots, beginning at the northeast corner and going through in regular order, making 228 offers in each township. Each purchaser had his name taken down by a clerk of the register, with the description of his land, the number of acres purchased, together with the price paid. At the close of each day's sale a copy of these sales was given to the Receiver, who took the money of each purchaser and gave him a receipt therefor, which was called a duplicate. The duplicate was by act of Legislature made evidence of title upon which deeds could be made, until the issue of the patent from the General Land Office. The patent was a deed from the United States to the purchaser, made upon parchment and signed by the President of the United States and the Commissioner of the General Land Office. At the close of each public sale, the office was closed for three months, to give time for the land officers to make their report to the General Land Office, and prepare plats of each township, showing that lands had been sold. When the land office was opened for private entry then land could be purchased in lots of 40 acres, which could not be done at public sale. At the sale of lands in the Milwaukee District a very small amount was bought for speculaton, the experience of 1835-36 not having been forgotton, when immense sums were lost in the purchase of wild lands during the terrible speculative mania of that period; so that nearly all the lands not taken by actual settlers were left open for private entry of actual settlers. It was the unfortunate policy of the United States Government in the earlier period of its history to discourage the settlement of its lands previous to their sale, and to sell, when they sold, in very large tracts. After a time this policy was changed, permiting persons living upon the public lands at a given time to buy 160 acres previous to the sale, at the minimum price of $1.25 an acre. They also changed the law in regard to the sale, so that they were offered in 80-acre lots at the public sale, and could be bought at private sale afterward in lots of 40 acres. The early land surveys in Wisconsin were made under the direction of Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, the father of Maj. Charles H. Williams, now of Baraboo. Mr. Williams was appointed Surveyor General of the Northwestern Territory by Andrew Jackson. The number of acres contained in each of the townships in Sauk County is as follows: Township 8 north, Range 3 east, 10,851.53 acres; Range 4, 6,485.46; Range 5, 2,601.36. Township 9 north, Range 3 east, 23,059.87 acres; Range 4, 23,059.32; Range 5, 22,850.29; Range 6, 13,106.91. Township 10 north, Range 3 east, 23,071.26 acres; Range 4, 23,034.59; Range 5, 22,713.25; Range 6, 22,489.38; Range 7, 5,626.83. Township 11 north, Range 3 east, 22,960.75 acres; Range 4, 22,991.89; Range 5, 22,754.56; Range 6, 22,399.36; Range 7, 22,812.87. Township 12 north, Range 3 east, 22,737.85 acres; Range 4, 23,066.96; Range 5, 22,651.22; Range 6, 22,804.47; Range 7, 22,703.31. Township 13 north, Range 2 east, 23,242.44 acres; Range 3, 23,079.65; Range 4, 22,894.11; Range 5, 22,480.42; Range 6, 16,885.01; Range 7, 2,187.26. CHAPTER II. THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT-COUNTY OFFICERS FROM 1844 TO 1880-LAYING OUT THE TOWNS-TERRITORIAL, STATE AND CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATION-TERRITORIAL DISTRICT COURT AND STATE CIRCUIT COURT-COUNTY JUDGES-POLITICAL PARTIES IN SAUK COUNTY. THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. Early in the spring of 1838, Berry Haney, who was then engaged in staging between Mineral Point and Fort Winnebago, now Portage City, received information of the ratification of the. treaty with the Winnebago Indians for the purchase of their lands in this region, and on his next trip to the fort took with him Jonathan Taylor and Solomon Shore, for the purpose o making a claim on Sauk Prairie. Taylor was left opposite the prairie, while Shore accompanied Haney to the fort, and returned to him with a skiff, in which they crossed over the river. They marked out a claim for Haney on the present site of Sauk City. Taylor made a claim on an adjoining tract above, and Shore took a third claim still farther up the Wisconsin River. In the month of June, 1838, Haney employed James Ensminger and Thomas Sanser to break ten acres. When these men came to perform their work the Indians threatened to burn their camp. They therefore dug a pit, walled it with logs, and protected it with a covering of earth, as a fire-proof dwelling. These were the first permanent locations and improvements made by white men on the soil of Sauk County. There had been an attempt made in the fall of 1837 by Archibald Barker and Andrew Dunn to pre-empt a piece of land at the Winnebago corn-fields near Baraboo, but the Indians destroyed their shanty and compelled them to leave the country. Mr. Barker subsequently returned and became a permanent resident, and still resides in the county. James S. Alban, December 20, 1838, moved with his family to the south end of Sauk Prairie, where he built a cabin in the midst of a small cluster of trees. His was the first white family in the county. Mrs. Alban survived but a few years. The beauty and fertility of Sauk Prairie soon attracted others hither. In December, 1838, Albert Jameson, accompanied by Andrew Hodgett, Alexander Bills and Nelson Lathrop, came and located claims on the prairie, farther back from the Wisconsin, near the present southern boundary of the town of Sumter. William Johnson arrived soon afterward, from Belmont, crossing the Wisconsin River on the ice, and established himself near Jameson, in the valley of Honey Creek; erecting a cabin, he engaged, during the winter, in getting out rails to fence an inclosure. Jameson and Johnson brought their families about a year later. Early in April, 1839, Charles O. Baxter came to the prairie and purchased the claim of Solomon Shore. A short time previously, the site of Prairie du Sac Village was claimed and occupied by David P. Crocker; and about the same time, Albert Skipner and John Wilson brought the second and third families into the county. Other claims were occupied during the spring by H. F. Crossman, Burke Fairchild, William Billings, William May, E. B. Harner, a person by the name of Hunter and another named Parks, with his family. In the course of the spring, also, Berry Haney moved in with his family and occupied his claim. His son, Charles B. Haney, was born here November 30, 1839. he being the first white child born in the county. The 4th of July was this year celebrated at the site of Prairie du Sac, by twenty-five persons, among whom were four females-Mrs. Alban, Mrs. Skinner, Mrs. Parks and Mrs. Haney. Jonathan Hatch, Cyrus Leland and George Cargel, with families, became residents of the prairie during the summer. The German settlement at Sauk Prairie, was founded in 1840, by Count Augustine Haraszthy, and his cousin, Charles Halasz, who set out from Hamburg, in March, 1840, accompanied by a considerable number of German and Hungarian followers. They found the most desirable portion of the prairie occupied by the Americans, but here they decided to establish themselves. The Count bargained with Fairchild for a portion of his claim, thirty rods in width upon the river, and extending a mile into the interior, for the sum of $400. He then made a trip to Milwaukee for supplies. While visiting Milwaukee again in the fall, he made the acquaintance of an Englishman of rank and wealth, by name of Robert Bryant. A partnership was formed between them, and together they purchased Haney's claim. Upon this tract of land, in the summer of 1841, they laid out a village, which was at first named Haraszthy, subsequently Westfield, and still later, Sauk City. In the fall of 1840, Edmund Rendtorff, a prominent citizen of German birth, became a resident of Sauk City. The village of Prairie du Sac was laid out by David B. Crocker, Calvin Frink and John La Mesuere, in 1840, two miles above Sauk City. This village was settled chiefly by Americans, and when Crocker came here, in 1839, he brought with him a stock of goods, and opened here the first store in the county. The location of these two villages so near together engendered a spirit of rivalry, which was maintained for many years. The first saw-mill in the county was erected by Robert Bryant, on the site of the present Sauk City Mills, on Honey Creek, in 1842. William H. Clark, the first lawyer in the county, took up his residence at Sauk City in the spring of 1842. The first physician was Dr. J. B. Woodruff, who located at Prairie du Sac in 1843. Rev. John Cramer, an itinerant Methodist minister, preached the first sermon in the county, at the house of Henry Teel, in May, 1840. The first wedding ceremony occurred at the same place, August 15, 1841, in the union of the Rev. James G. Whitford and Mrs. Sarah Sayles, a widowed daughter of Mr. Teel. In January, 1841, a Presbyterian society of nine members was organized at Prairie du Sac, by Rev. Š. Chafee, and about the same time a Methodist class was formed at Teel's house by Rev. James G. Whitford. John Wilson, who has already been mentioned, came with his family from Helena, Iowa County, and located by the creek which bears his name, near the line between the present towns of Troy and Spring Green. A little later, a man by the name of Turner located still further down the Wisconsin River Valley, near the site of Spring Green Village. They were the pioneer settlers in this portion of the county. From Sauk Prairie the settlement of the county extended in radiating lines up the labyrinthian valleys of the Honey Creek region, and over the hills into the broad basin of the Baraboo River. In the summer of 1839, Alban, while reconnoitering the highlands north of Sauk Prairie, came suddenly upon a singular miniature lake, cradled far below his feet between precipices, against whose wild, towering rocks tall, clinging pines appeared like mere dwarfs. The opening through its lofty barriers upon the north side disclosed to Alban a glimpse of the Baraboo Valley. While at Madison, soon afterward, he related what he had seen to Eben Peck, at whose suggestion the two immediately set out to explore the country, Arriving near the present site of Baraboo Village, they found upon the north side of the river, near the lower part of the rapids, the village and corn-fields of the Winnebago Chief, Caliminee. Here Peck proceeded to mark out a claim, including the fine water-power at the lower ox-bow or great bend of the stream, at which the Indians manifested strong displeasure, and obliged the intruders to re-cross the river. In the fall, Peck visited his claim, accompanied by his wife, Roseline, on horseback, and while here they met Abraham Wood and Wallace Rowan coming up the valley from Fort Winnebago, who immediately laid claim to the water-power at the upper great bend of the river, in the western outskirts of the Baraboo Village. There was a second Indian village at the time near Wood and Rowan's claim, at the site of the village of Lyons; but there were no longer any hostile demonstrations from their occupants. Wood was living with a Winnebago woman, said to be a daughter of the chief, Dekaury, and remained during the winter, making preparations to build a dam and saw-mill; their mill was completed during the winter of 1841-42. About a month later, James Van Slyke came to the Rapids, concluded to "jump" Peck's claim, and likewise engaged during the winter in constructing a dam. He enlisted in his ,་ enterprise James A. Maxwell, of Walworth County, who furnished teams, provisions, mill-irons and means to pay the men. Thus equipped, Van Slyke, early in the spring of 1840, commenced vigorously prosecuting the work. In the month of June, however, high water carried away the greater portion of his dam. Meanwhile, Peck had commenced proceedings in court at Madison to maintain his right to the claim, resulting in a decision in his favor. Van Slyke, thus doubly discouraged, sold his mill-irons to Wood and Rowan, returned Maxwell the remainder of his outfit, and abandoned his undertaking for the time being. In the early part of the fall of 1840, Peck moved on with his family, but for want of means never undertook to improve the water-power. Joseph H. Finley was the first man to ascend further up the Baraboo Valley and select a location. He began opening a farm in 1839, about six miles above the Rapids, within the present town of Excelsior, near the village of the Winnebago Chief, Dandy. Though the Indians were in general hostile to such intrusion, Finley was not molested. They were removed out of the country by United States troops early in 1840; and in March of that year, the site of their village was claimed by James Christie, a Scotchman, who became a prominent and much respected citizen. He removed from the county in 1852. When he came, two lodges were all that remained of the deserted Indian village, one of which he occupied as a dwelling for his family until a better could be constructed. It was several years from that time before this part of the county began to be rapidly settled. Prominent among the early settlers of Excelsior were A. W. Stark, a descendant of Gen. Stark, of Revolutionary fame, who came to the town in 1850, and S. V. R. Ableman, now deceased, who came in 1848, and after whom the village of Ableman was named. In the fall of 1844, Don Carlos Barry, who then resided at the Rapids, in inspecting the country farther up the valley, discovored a lode of copper in Section 1 of the present town of Reedsburg. He occupied the place the following spring, and, with the assistance of two miners from the lead region, proceeded to test the value of his discovery. It was quickly exhausted however, yielding only about two tons of ore. In May, 1845, James W. Babb settled upon the prairie which bears his name, just west of the site of Reedsburg. He erected a hewn-log house, and in the fall, leaving his house and chattels in charge of some Indians, returned to his family in Ohio. His son, John Babb, and family, accompanied him hither the following spring. His own family and a son-in-law, Stern Baker, joined him in 1847. In The settlement of the county extended up Wisconsin River to the northeast part of the county in 1841. In the spring of that year, John Mead, J. B. McNeil and Samuel Bradley located at or near the mouth of Dell Creek, where the village of Newport was laid out. 1852, Edward Norris and a man by the name of Marshall built here a saw-mill and laid out the village. It had a rapid growth; nearly a dozen large stores were erected and heavily stocked; in 1854, lots were held as high as a $1,000 apiece; and it is said that in 1856 the place numbered nearly one thousand inhabitants. The La Crosse line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was to have crossed the river at this point, but the crossing was afterward located where Kilbourn City now stands; consequently, Mr. Norris and eight or ten other families are all that remain of that once flourishing village. In 1841, the Dell House was built in this section of the county by Robert Allen, a bachelor; it was first occupied by J. B. McEwen and family. The present site of the village of Delton was selected, in an early day, by Edward Norris. In 1847, he associated with himself Jared Fox and Henry Topping, and commenced the erection of a fine flouring-mill, which was completed in 1849. During the latter year, Fox & Topping brought here a large stock of goods for sale, and, the following year, erected a fine block of stores. Immigration, following close upon the steps of the pioneers, spread rapidly over the adjacent country, and, in a brief time, every township in the county received a thrifty and enterprising population. COUNTY OFFICERS FROM 1844 TO 1880. At an election held at the house of Samuel Shaw, in Sauk Prairie Precinct, in the county of Sauk and Territory of Wisconsin, on the 11th day of March, 1844, the following-named 332 HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY. persons received the number of votes set opposite their respective names for the following- On the 23d of September, 1844, a second election took place for county officers, resulting as follows: Sheriff, John B. Woodruff; County Commissioners, Prescott Brigham, John Russell and Levi Moore; School Commissioners, Wallace Rowan, Don C. Barry and Abram Crane; Assessors, Jonathan Hatch, Abraham Wood and Harris Searls; Collector, James J. Waterbury; Register of Deeds, E. M. Hart; Treasurer, Charles O. Baxter; County Surveyor, W. H. Canfield; Clerk of the Board, Andrew Garrison; Judge of Probate, Lorrin Cowles; Coroner, Thomas L. Clarke; Road Supervisors, Isaac Gibbs, McC. Thacker and Adam Dunlap. These officers entered upon the discharge of their duties on the 1st of January, 1845. At an election held September 22, 1845, the following officers were chosen: County Commissioners, Alexander Crawford, Prescott Brigham and John Russell; Clerk of Board, Edmund Rendtoff; Register of Deeds, Prescott Brigham; School Commissioners, Jonathan Hatch, Albert Jameson and Harvey Canfield; Assessors, John Gallard, Isaac Gibbs and Valencia Hill; Collector, Harris Searle; Coroner, Richard Clark; Surveyor, Charles O. Baxter; Treasurer, Charles O. Baxter. 1846-Sheriff, H. F. Crossman; Register, Prescott Brigham; Treasurer, Curtis Bates; Commissioners, James Christie, A. Jameson and Egbert Cary; Clerk, R. H. Davis; Judge of Probate, George Cargel; Collector, James H. Haines; Coroner, Lewis Benson; Surveyor, Charles O. Baxter; Assessors, Edward Cadwell, J. B. Crawford and Francis Webster; School Commissioners, H. Canfield, Hiram Bailey and William H. Hibbard. 1847-County Commissioners, Jabish T. Clement, James Christie and Curtis Bates; Clerk, R. H. Davis; Register. Prescott Brigham; Treasurer, James Maxwell; Collector, Charles Halasz; Coroner, Andrew Hodgett; School Commissioners, John H. Shearer, Cyrus Leland and Silas Remington; Assessors, J. H. Haines, Uriah Kendall, Cyrus Hill and J. B. Crawford. At this election a vote was taken upon two important subjects-the new constitution and negro suffrage. There were 111 votes cast in the county for the ratification of the (first) constitution, and 157 for its rejection. There were fifty-eight voters who cast their ballots in favor of giving the colored man equal rights, while 143 free and unfettered American citizens exercised their privilege against the proposition. 1848-Sheriff, William Dunlop; Treasurer, Harvey Canfield; Commissioners, Charles Kearns, Charles Halasz and Jacob Sientz; Clerk, R. H. Davis; Judge of Probate, William H. Clark; Clerk of Circuit Court, Boswell R. Clement; Register, E. P. Spencer; District Attorney, C. C. Remington; Surveyor, Charles O. Baxter; Coroner, Philip Slaymates; School Commissioners, Harvey Canfield, A. Haraszthy and J. B. Crawford. There were 245 votes cast for and twelve against the new constitution. The vote for President and Vice President was as follows: Van Buren and Adams, 159; Cass and Butler, 158; Taylor and Fillmore, 149. |